“More than just an office”: Human Experience and the Workplace of the Future
March 01, 2022 
What is the Human Experience?
The human experience is the holistic experience a person has within a building or space, both virtually and physically. A positive human experience will encourage people to thrive in their workplace. This can have a knock-on effect on the health and well-being of employees, actively encouraging happiness in the workplace, thereby enhancing productivity, and increasing staff attraction and retention.
Through design, we should look to develop strategies which aid in creating valuable connections between people, their purpose and brand. In a post-covid world, we should aspire to utilise occupier-centric thinking to reconnect people, strengthen their sense of collaboration, brand identity and team culture collectively, and create the opportunity for a positive human experience within the workplace.
Focus Area 01: Design Structure
The workplace of the future should be more than just an office in the traditional sense. It should be meticulously considered, particularly at ground level, and in relation to the amenity spaces provided to occupiers. This could include facilities such as showers, adequate and secure bike storage, and locker spaces, all of which are important for supporting a sense of self ownership within the workplace. This in particular applies to more flexible environments, where many companies are moving away from 1-1 desking, towards shared-desking or more flexible hybrid arrangements.
Ground level spaces are key for attracting prospective occupiers to buildings. We should consider what innovative experiences these spaces can provide, which other buildings cannot. This thinking will be key in attracting and retaining businesses/tenants, and for connecting brand culture, community, and identity.
Workplaces of the future should maximise the potential for positive social engagement. This means considering how office structures can contribute to the wider community. We should foster synergy between the workplace and its surroundings, to create spaces which reflect the community existing within. We should also be looking at constructing mixed-use developments which encompass retail spaces, multi-purpose facilities, healthcare provision and activity/fitness spaces, thus creating workplaces which are also destinations within the city.
Focus Area 02: Occupier-Centric
A positive human experience relies on occupier-centric thinking which should be reflected throughout the design stages, during pre-occupation and post-occupation. Effective engagement is integral to understanding brand identity and the community and culture of a team or business, now even more important to facilitate in a post-pandemic context. Questions we should be asking when designing a workplace include: how are the present spaces and systems working? In what areas are they succeeding, and in what areas are there space for improvements?
Pre-occupation engagement is fundamental in the transformation of the existing business model. Design projects become a catalyst for this change, and so it is critical to understand the client’s vision and purpose and be able to translate this into an exciting and inviting workplace design where the positive human experience becomes a driver for motivating staff to return to the office. This means anticipating when occupier engagement should expand and facilitating the creation of soft landings to ease people into the future office. The language we use (particularly during fit-out) should be about the occupier and how they will experience the workplace, rather than centering around the building and property itself.
Focus Area 03: Leadership to create “Team-ship”
New thought leadership drives “team-ship” in the workplace. This focus centers on community, culture, brand, and identity on an internal level. A developed discussion around the experience of corporates over the past two years will be key to understanding how the human experience has been impacted in this area, and for establishing the strategies which are being implemented to re-engage these key areas of a team in the workplace. It is highly likely that many corporates will have experienced the disengagement of departments and teams over the past two years, and so it is important to design spaces which support the revitalisation of team-ship and enhance connectivity. We should encourage and maintain strong team culture and brand identity in an increasingly hybrid world.
We are seeing variations upon trends emerging across multiple projects: the accelerated use of technology to connect those working remotely and in the office; increased break out and social space; greater demand for spaces which provide collaborative opportunities; more amenity space; and finally, a home-like feel. The workplace of the future is already being informed by the lessons learnt and the emergence of new thought leadership styles.
Focus Area 04: Technology & AI
Technology and AI are extremely influential in determining whether the human experience within a space is positive. For example, laptop enabled workspaces encourage flexibility by design. Installing systems which feature integrated technology and support hybrid working strategies (maintaining team culture and brand identity whilst working remotely) signals a step towards future-proofing the workplace. We should also be looking towards constructing smart buildings, featuring environmental sensors which measure and record air quality, lighting, and noise levels and which are adaptable, to support user comfort. The BCO’s Use of Wearables in the Office report goes further and highlights how this data could be paired with data from individuals’ wearable devices to identify optimal physical environments for the individual or collective within the work space. The installation of occupancy sensors which connect to booking systems through building and staff apps can be highly beneficial, with the aim of promoting high impact behaviour patterns for the general wellbeing of occupiers. Furthermore, occupiers should be provided with a thorough guide to using the building/workplace in such a way that will maximise their individual human experience within the space. Evidently, well-equipped AV and physical technology in the modern workplace is essential.
Focus Area 05: Health and Well-being
Supporting health and well-being is pivotal to designing a future-thinking and positive human experience within the workplace. This focus area could be expanded through design concepts and strategies. Establishing which are the most important to a business and which have the most beneficial impacts on the workplace experience will be key. For example, the Park Concept encourages the integration of biophilia and biomimicry, the availability of views, and outdoor spaces in the workplace. Activity Spaces encompass the availability of fitness facilities and gyms, supported by ancillary spaces which encourage building users to get active. The availability of doctors and dentists is also a possibility, and there is the question of whether we should be looking to integrate Healthcare Facilities into the design of the future mixed-use developments to support workplace occupiers. The integration of Mindfulness spaces would offer users a place to destress, rest, or to conduct private prayer. Lastly, the idea of creating spaces which are Versatile and Multipurpose echoes the aforementioned potential availability of fitness spaces but could also be further expanded on, to include social events, arts spaces, and community forums.Workplaces of the future should be vibrant, engaging, productive, and magnetising destinations in the city.
We would like to thank WILL+Partners and the BCO Research Committee for their continued support and research findings.
Follow BCO NextGen’s Beth Starling, Interior Designer, WILL+Partners on LinkedIn.
By BCO Media 
