This timely book focuses on an overview of the fundamentals behind high-performance workplaces underpinning occupants' satisfaction, health, and productivity. To this end, it covers human, ...environmental, and organisational aspects proven to be of great relevance to the design of high-performance workplaces. Perhaps most significantly it looks at these characteristics both before and after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
From the exodus from private offices to the rise of open-plan workplaces, where, how, and when people work was changing rapidly pre-COVID. Post-COVID, pandemic-imposed restrictions banished workers from offices into their homes fast, leaving organisations scrambling to keep workers functioning away from HQ. After the immediate shockwaves set by the pandemic, workers and organisations have had time to learn about the positive and negative aspects of remote working, with the vast majority now questioning the need to go back to HQ and the purpose of offices. In this book, the contributors share and discuss lessons learned from research conducted in workplaces pre- and post-2020 with a view to providing a clear picture about what high-performance workplaces are about, including the key drivers behind workers' satisfaction, health, and productivity. This handbook builds on a programme of applied research conducted in workplaces led by the editors over the last decade which is aimed at understanding the synergies between the design, performance, and experience of spaces. It examines ergonomics, biophilic design, acoustics, indoor air quality, thermal comfort, diversity, leadership, psychological safety, culture, and much more.
Research findings are presented side-by-side with case studies selected from the research database led by the editors. Industry experts add to the academic voice, reinforcing the authenticity of this book and its relevance to other stakeholders found outside the academic arena, including the property and design industry, students, government, and the community in general.
COVID-19 calls for new approaches and frameworks for the delivery of work-integrated learning (WIL). Standalone WIL opportunities are also increasingly difficult to realize, with the current economic ...climate limiting industry resources available for placements and WIL partnerships. The hybridized WIL model presented in this paper thus proposes the scaffolding of simulated WIL experiences into core undergraduate design curriculum to promote deep, authentic, transformational learning, fostering broader student employability. Noting a gap in design educational research relating to embedded scaffolded WIL, the paper refers to examples of scaffolded WIL experiences across core design studio subjects of a four-year embedded honors interior architecture program. Conceived as a way to prepare students for more significant standalone, cross-disciplinary and cross-national WIL, the authors argue that this model develops the professional skills required by industry and better prepares students to navigate the dynamic real-world problems that societies face, particularly during the pandemic. Author abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a snapshot of workers’ experience while working from home (WFH) during the Australian lockdown in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. It focuses on lessons to ...inform organizations, employees and the design of the workspaces post-2020, human, organizational and environmental considerations may affect satisfaction, productivity and health.
Design/methodology/approach
Two separate surveys were designed for this study to target Australian organizations and knowledge workers. Participants included 28 organizations and 301 employees, and descriptive and correlational analyses were conducted.
Findings
Organizations stated productivity losses, maintaining culture and workplace health and safety concerns with WFH setup while employees were more concerned about their social interactions, internet connectivity and increased workload. Employees also found the social aspects of WFH challenging and disclosed that face-to-face interactions with their colleagues was the most important reason they wanted to return to the office. High level of trust and value was reported amongst the organizations and workers.
Originality/value
In the scarcity of academic literature around negative and positives of the WFH experiment during the COVID-19 pandemic, the main sources of information have been industry-focused reports. This study aims to contribute to this knowledge gap by identifying positives and negative aspects of WFH during the first wave of lockdowns in Australia in 2020 from the organization and workers’ perspective, including human, organizational and environmental considerations.
(1) Background: Pandemic-imposed lockdowns have heightened our awareness of the value of (work)place and made apparent the role it plays in establishing our sense of belonging and professional ...identity. The opportunity to work remotely during the pandemic has given us an appreciation of the benefits from access to increased flexibility, but there is consistent evidence emerging showing how much workers miss in-office social and learning interactions. This paper focuses on results about (i) reported perceived effectiveness and performance, (ii) sense of adjustment to remote working, and (iii) sense of belonging during the first two COVID-19-induced lockdowns, as reported by managers and workers in Australia in 2020. Findings shed light onto (i) how remote working experience affected our connection to, and the importance of, (work)place and (ii) how to harness insights towards creating spaces responsive to the activities we prefer to undertake in the workplace, permitting employees to choose the workstyle and pattern that suits their professional role and personal circumstances. (2) Methods: Correlational and thematic analyses were conducted on findings from 1579 online surveys focusing on remote working experiences during the first and second rounds of COVID-19-imposed lockdowns. A total of 668 managers and 911 workers from 12 different industry sectors participated in two rounds of the Bates Smart remote work survey (BSRWS). Surveys targeted knowledge workers of all career stages, age, and experience. (3) Results: Employees felt (i) technologically supported and productive whilst working from home, but (ii) aspects of connection, collaboration, and sense of belonging suffered; (iii) collaboration and togetherness are main motivators for returning to the office. Managers’ experiences were significantly different with (i) perceived productivity, collaboration, knowledge sharing, sense of belonging, and performance dropping; (ii) face-to-face interaction and business development were key priorities for returning to the office with (iii) challenges of mentoring and managing emotional wellbeing of teams evident. (4) Conclusions: From these surveys we conclude space is an enabler of organisational culture and professional identity, playing a critical role in establishing psychologically safe and equitable workplaces. This paper reports snapshot data showing knowledge workers’ experiences and effects of WFH under strict lockdown circumstances on wellbeing, productivity, and culture over time. It proposes two lenses (togetherness and place), through which the future workplace should be considered by industry and researchers alike.
Background
Pharmacists’ roles are expanding to delivering a wider set of professional services including medication management optimisation, vaccinations and screening services. Robust research ...determining whether pharmacists have the capacity to offer such services in the Australian community pharmacy setting is lacking. This protocol details a mixed methods study that investigates the variation in pharmacists’ daily tasks and the workspace they work in as a measure of their workload capacity for expanding pharmacy services.
Methods
An observational time and motion study will be conducted in up to twenty community pharmacies in metropolitan and rural regions of Australia. A trained observer will follow a pharmacist and record the type, location and duration of tasks undertaken over the course of their working day. Data will be collected and analysed using the electronic Work Observation Method By Activity Timing (WOMBAT) tool. Pharmacists’ work patterns will be described as time for each task, and by proportionating multitasking and interruptions. This information will be combined with workspace data collected using floor plans, photographs and a qualitative assessment of the working environment completed by the observer. Analysis will include heat‐mapped floor plans visually highlighting pharmacist movements.
Discussion
Pharmacists may provide solutions to the strained health workforce and system. There is limited quantitative evidence on whether pharmacists have the time or work setting to support such needs. The use of time and motion methodology is novel to Australian community pharmacy research, and the findings will provide a better understanding of pharmacists’ capacity and work environment.
Place is critical to the success of a high-performing workplace and the human psychology that underpins its potential and value, namely, our innate condition for place attachment, need for belonging ...and evolving professional identities. Explained through the framework of self-determination theory, with evidence from Australian research, the potential of individual and organisational outcomes is outlined covering the spatial, temporal and emotive enablers which organisations need for the continuing evolution of workplace environments. Data reported illustrates motivational triggers of belonging and professional identity that drive behaviours and changes in our ways of working, office environments and organisational practices to build resilience and high performance. The nuances, shifts and future challenges that the pandemic has brought to workplace cultures, design and management for both employees and organisations is discussed with prompts for the path ahead in workplace recalibration.
Conclusion Candido, Christhina; Durakovic, Iva; Marzban, Samin
Routledge Handbook of High-Performance Workplaces,
2024
Book Chapter
The evidence explored in this book shows that high-performance workplaces are those that have a positive effect on individuals, organisations and the community more broadly. The interpretation of ...what defines high-performance as explored here comes from the workers' perspective and how the design, performance and experience of workplaces can be harnessed to enhance satisfaction, productivity and health in practice. Evidence harvested from research and practice over time shows that the successful delivery of high-performance requires a commitment to three pillars - physical, human and organisational. This book is the fourth publication added to the Transdisciplinary Workplace Research and Management Series led by Prof. Rianne Appel-Meulenbroek and Dr Vitalija Danivska.
Office design Candido, Christhina; Avazpour, Behnaz; Durakovic, Iva
Routledge Handbook of High-Performance Workplaces,
2024
Book Chapter
From the rise of open-plan offices to activity-based working supportive environments, workplaces changed dramatically over time. The removal of physical barriers and individual offices to introduce ...open-plan layouts aimed to facilitate a permanent flow of incidental opportunities for work, to learn from one another, collaborate, and ultimately innovate. The further shift towards reduced office footprints meant the adoption of landscapes that support various work activities of a mobile workforce where desk ownership may or may not be removed. The successful implementation of these changes, which were prompted by the need to encourage collaboration, has depended on the office design supporting the work and the workers' ability to learn how to harness the office infrastructure available to them. Post-pandemic, office infrastructure needs to embrace the possibility of shrinking and expanding to support the needs of a workforce that is no longer bound to the same location and time. This chapter reviews different types of office layout designs with a view of identifying key lessons relevant to static, untethered and adaptive workplaces, including reflections on the needs of an unshackled workforce post-pandemic.
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