Project Location 550 Bourke Street Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia Client Deloitte Climate makes for an effective workplace at Deloitte To explore the influence of the Climate workplace program on people and business outcomes, Schiavello conducted a pilot installation for a Deloitte Digital team.
Climate was installed in the workplace in a staged process over several months to examine the employees responses to the malleable workplace program and its elements in comparison to the usual fixed workplace. Throughout the pilot study, Schiavello s Workplace Research Psychologist, Keti Malkoski, and internationally recognised Environmental Psychologist, Dr Jacqueline Vischer, collected structured feedback from the employees in the Deloitte Digital team of ten, using a variety of research methods. After conducting structured surveys, interviews and focus groups with the employees that had spent several months working in the Climate workplace, the results demonstrated that the overall perceptions of the Climate workplace were very positive. Climate was considered to be more supportive of their diverse personal and work needs than any other system they had been exposed to at Deloitte, Malkoski said. Workplace adaptability for privacy and collaboration Climate s ability to respond to the work requirements of the individuals and teams was particularly well received. Employees felt they were able to do more private and collaborative work at their individual Climate work points. It was noted that in comparison to the original Deloitte system they were able to easily shift between private and collaborative work at their Climate work points. Employees attributed this additional ease of shifting between work modes to the inherent malleability of the Climate program. Nick said: I find the flexibility of Climate really useful - that I can pull a few people together, I can sit at someone else s desk, I can have more of a collaborative conversation, and that really has not been possible in our current workspace because it is so fixed. So we have really used the mobility of the new system I think to get those advantages and I find that it really helps me and my work. able to do more private and collaborative work at their individual Climate work points. 1
Improved collaboration Following a demonstration session on the functionality of Climate in supporting work needs, the research results demonstrated that the majority of participants perceived Climate s inherent malleability as valuable and felt that it had positively contributed to their individual and team effectiveness to some extent. Specific employee responses and observations established that Climate particularly assisted collaboration between team members. Participants generally felt that the most significant value of the Climate workplace program in improving effectiveness, was its ability to better respond to collaboration needs and subsequently improve communications. Overall, the Climate workplace was perceived to have fewer barriers and enabled collaboration behaviours, Malkoski explains. One employee noted that the team had many collaborative work requirements and Climate had positively influenced behaviours such as the willingness to pull-up next to someone else and work in a collaborative style as needed. Employees also noted that with Climate there was less of a day-to-day need to use formal meeting rooms for collaboration. Employees reiterated that meeting at the Climate work point was easier and more time efficient as there was no need to source and book a meeting room based on availability, and meetings were able to flow naturally without time restrictions. Meetings were also considered to be more constructive as the employees had all the materials they needed, immediately available to them. The workspace supports my tasks really well. I am working on a product at the moment that requires a lot of collaboration not working on my own which sometimes happens. Over the last three to four months it has been about having meetings and talking to other designers and developers - a very collaborative environment. But in between that, you have times when you really need to focus to get the design done, or concepts. It s changing everyday and having the flexibility in the workspace is supportive - supporting me through the changes, Heiko said....people are less likely to come and interrupt you. Communication cues Some employees felt certain elements of the Climate workplace program could be used to communicate their work and personal needs to other team members and teams; Climate was visually able to communicate work and personal needs. What participants were effectively doing was using Soft Boundaries and Markers to communicate privacy or collaboration needs to others, if they were closing off their workspace they were saying to others that they didn t want to be disturbed, Malkoski explains. Nick explains: Soft Boundaries allow you to create a low level of personal working by using these elements to come in closer to your workspace. It also sends a great signal to those around you that you re looking for more privacy and people are less likely to come and interrupt you. I would remove the dividers I d put up around me. I work a lot with the person sitting opposite me, I can remove the markers so I can see him and we can talk, and when we have finished, I can put them back up, that might take one minute between opening and closing the space; great! Previously I would not have had any way of making those changes; I would have put in my headphones to indicate that I am busy and removed them to indicate that I want to communicate with somebody, Heiko said. You can stay at your desk and move the soft boundaries around. For us with multiple screens and laptops, that s perfect because you do not really want to move everything just being able to stay at your desk and show people hey I am busy, don t annoy me, Damian said. 2
Personalisation and personal comfort The Climate workplace program allowed for greater personalisation of the workspace and this was something the employees utilised frequently. Various Climate elements were used to personalise individual and team workspaces to represent identities and communicate individuality and commonality. One project team utilised a particular Marker colour scheme to distinguish their tribe. Marker colours and textures were also used to communicate diverse individual characteristics; some consistent and some state orientated which were ever changing, Malkoski says. Employees not only personalised their workspace through the choice of Markers. They also moved the positions of their monitors, power outlets, paper trays and storage element to make their workspace their own personal space and to increase their personal and work comfort. I got rid of the paper trays because I don t like paper; I got rid of every tray! The angle of the desk, I changed slightly so it was a little offset to the person sitting opposite me so that we don t feel like we are looking directly at each other, said Jason. Observations of the Climate workplace demonstrated diverse comfort needs. Some employees identified that their goal was to create a workspace that was as comfortable as their home space. Generally, employees felt that they were more comfortable in the Climate workspace because they were able to adjust it to their changing needs. Importantly, Climate empowered the employees to make changes to their workplace as they saw fit without the need to call a facilities manager or technician. Observations demonstrated a varied uptake of the Climate malleability, some employees made changes from the beginning and throughout the entire pilot study, while others took a more staggered approach to making changes. It has taken me a while to come up with the perfect configuration I have also played around with the soft boundaries to block off the bad energy from behind me as it is a wide open space I have always felt uncomfortable having the void behind me so I have closed that off with the soft boundaries, that is exactly what I would have done at home; I feel like I have been able to set up my workspace exactly how I want it. It has taken me a few attempts, once you find that perfect balance, then you don t have to think about it anymore until your requirements change and you change a few things around. I re-evaluate my workspace every week because I can and I m trying to be as individual as possible I think that all up I have been able to do that, it feels like my space, Heiko said. employees felt that they were more comfortable in the Climate workspace... Feelings of empowerment and value As employees were given more control over their workplace and were able to change it in response to their needs, they communicated that they felt more empowered and subsequently valued by their employer. Having the option and freedom to change their workspace was perceived as positive in itself, demonstrating to many of the employees that their employer valued them and had actually invested some thought into making their working life easier. It is healthy from the perspective that around me is what I want; not what I ve been told to have, said Jason. The best thing about Climate for me, was knowing that it had been designed for people to use, rather than to get the maximum number of people on the floor. It was nice to know that someone had thought about the space that I was using. It made me feel that workspaces are being more valued by the organisation, the environment that the company puts people in, obviously that has an impact on morale, James said. Feeling in control and having input, people have responded well viewing the space as a toolkit, taking into account all the elements and adjusting them according to their own needs, Heiko said. 3
Space planning and workplace expectations From a space planning perspective, employees perceived Climate to be less fixed and more open with fewer barriers; they could make more changes to the workplace in response to individual and team changes. Specifically, team members were able to be added and subtracted to the workplace immediately and with ease. Damian felt that Climate was easy to move around and dependent on how you set up the desks. We had some extra people join us and we just pulled up some extra tables and they still sat next to us. No space around us currently let s make space, move the tables, that s it, you just get it all working you just can t do that with other systems....the Climate workspace had altered their perceptions regarding what an ideal workplace should be. Heiko said we work on different projects and activities, some of the projects are very short, some are longer term, sometimes you work by yourself, sometimes you work with other designers and developers for a day or two, or a week. This space has allowed us to do all that in a much more efficient way compared to what we had before. Many of the employees felt that working in the Climate workspace had altered their perceptions regarding what an ideal workplace should be. They communicated formally and informally that they would find it difficult to return to the original Deloitte workplace and would miss many aspects of the Climate workspace, particularly its malleability, Malkoski said. I moved back upstairs for a couple of weeks (because of a project), when I went back up there were so many little things that I missed. For example, if someone says can you come over and check this? you need to go around all these huge partitions; there are more efficient ways of getting around the office. The ability to move the Soft Boundaries around, put up and down barriers as required, you miss that, Damian said. Finally, some employees felt that Climate influenced their creativity outputs as the workplace generally had a more creative feel. The biggest impact with a creative team is encouraging creativity and inspiring them. Being able to arrive in a workspace that is new, fresh and inspiring and reflective of how you want it to be, to me, this is the biggest impact that you can have on a team of creative individuals, that s what it allowed us to do, Nick said.