‘The disconnected office’ - Transforming the Future of Workspace

Our Associate, Cian Scanlon, has been highly commended for his entry ‘The disconnected office’ in this year’s BCO NextGen ideas project competition. A new concept for 2022, this idea generation competition challenged entrants to present their boldest, most innovative and creative ideas for the future workspace.

In Cian’s words ‘My entry took the form of a transcript of a podcast interview with the HR manager of an innovative occupier who has recently moved into their new office. It focused on the impact of increasingly invasive technology used for digital connection, imagined this escalating to an extreme over time, and put forward an idea of what our response to this might be. The entry is intentionally playful and provocative as it's important to have a bit of fun with these competitions, but it also tackles what I believe to be an important issue and is grounded in data from Leesman studies and others rather than simply based on my own experience. The importance of employee experience is amplified now more than ever. Employees, employers, building owners and designers need to understand why employees come to the office. It's about clear intentionality and demonstrating how you value physical presence.’ Read the full transcript below:

Q. To begin with, can you describe the key aspect of your new office?

A. Yes, of course. We’ve created a place for digital disconnection.

Q. Digital disconnection?

A. Yes. A place where our staff can unsubscribe and insulate themselves from the digital ‘noise’ that has become ubiquitous in the hybrid working age. It’s a place where not only can you disconnect, but it’s encouraged. We describe our office as a disconnected network of people brought together in a tailor-made physical environment.

Q. Is the office completely disconnected?

A. No. That would be crazy! If you’re in the office, we want you to connect with other people in the office. We have dedicated areas where staff can connect digitally with clients or colleagues working remotely, but it’s the exception not the rule.

Q. Why did you feel that you had to ‘disconnect’ the office so to speak?

A. When we analysed the data, we made two critical findings. Firstly, we found that for most of our staff the working day had become a process of clearing ‘notifications’ resulting in a short-term dopamine driven feedback loop, which was negatively impacting their productivity and mental health. Secondly, we saw that staff in the office spent a significant amount of their time connecting with colleagues working remotely. They were overconnected digitally and ‘under-connected’ physically. In response to this we sought to create a workplace that improves people’s ability to focus and enables social interaction and connection. We felt that physical presence in the office should count for something, for a lot actually, and we concluded that the best way to value this was to uncouple the office from the remote working network. We found that the immediacy demanded by digital connection left no room for reflection and impeded clear and effective thinking. It may seem counter-intuitive but it’s part of a strategy to decrease the pace of digital communication.

Q. Couldn’t your staff just spend less time clearing notifications?

A. At some point technology outran our ability to absorb it in a healthy way. We realised that over time the gamification of work via ‘innovations’ like notifications and likes had made our staff increasingly ineffective at focusing on medium to long term tasks. Now staff typically come to the office 2-3 days a week depending on what they need to create the right balance.

Q. How has this impacted productivity?

A. The limited data we’ve gathered to date shows that productivity has increased and so has mental wellbeing. Reduced invasive stimulation helps our employees to focus, minimise reactive work and reduce anxiety. Studies have found that employee’s sense of their own productivity is most influenced by how well their work environment supports their individual focused work. So, it’s important to us that the office provides the best possible space to allow staff to perform to the highest standard. We not only want staff to be productive, but we also want them to feel productive. This leads to increased work satisfaction.

Q. All that simply by removing the constant threat of being ‘pinged’?

A. Yes, but importantly they must want to ‘disconnect’.

Q. Would you say that you are anti-technology?

A. Absolutely not. At the core of our strategy is the selective use of technology to maximise productivity while optimising employee experience and wellbeing.

Q. Most occupiers are focusing on a seamless connection between working remotely and from the office. Did you consider this approach?

A. We understand that the overall workplace experience has its base in the complex ecosystem of the physical and virtual infrastructure, and we intentionally wanted to create a fundamentally different experience when working in the office compared to working remotely.

Q. Interesting. What is the working environment like?

A. It would be more accurate to say environments. We offer a range of different workspaces suited to different activities from quiet spaces for individual focused work to more stimulating spaces for collaborative problem solving. We consider the workplace a live space. What we mean by that is we are constantly gathering and analysing data on how the space is being used and performing so we can make constant improvements and tweaks.

Q. Is there a danger that the office is a bit insular?

A. Quite the opposite. We’re very engaged with and active in the local community. Part of removing the distraction of the digital network is encouraging our staff to engage not only with their colleagues in the office but also the wider community around the office. We’re involved in several community-based initiatives that we’re very proud of.

Q. What’s been the most successful outcome for you?

A. People want to come to the office.

Q. What next?

A. We’re currently working on a digital workplace in the metaverse that staff can plug into using VR headsets. This time it’s about exploiting the potential of the digital realm to offer a new and distinct experience that will hopefully tackle some of the issues we’ve identified and complement our physical office offering.