Over the last several years, a developing body of research is revealing the profound impact employee engagement can have on an organization. When employees are in alignment with a company’s mission and feel supported by their employer, they are able to perform at their best. Conversely, those who feel alienated and unsupported not only perform poorly, they can also erode an organization’s overall effectiveness and ultimately hurt the bottom line. According to Gallup, a highly regarded analytics and advisory firm, the total cost of disengagement in the US is estimated at a staggering $450 - $500 billion per year(1). As employees grapple with changing RTO policies, often plagued by lack of clarity and weak enforcement mechanisms, employee satisfaction has only continued to decline.  Today, offices are seeing historically low utilization rates. Faced with these issues, four in ten Fortune 500 companies are looking at reducing their real estate footprint(2).  It seems to make intuitive sense - why pay for space that isn’t being used?  But when examined alongside recent data on engagement, this tactic may prove to be short sighted. Rather than focusing on real estate reduction to achieve financial goals, now is the time to evaluate the situation through a different lens, focusing on the things that matter most to the people using those spaces. To better understand what these latest discoveries could mean for individual organizations, we dove deeper into the statistics.  What we found painted a sobering picture but also revealed a better way to move forward. The numbers tell the story of disengagement Another Gallup survey of workplace trends illustrates how the aftermath of the pandemic affected employees’ outlook. Since 2020, engagement has decreased by 4% and the number of actively disengaged employees has increased, reaching a high of 18% in 2022 and settling in at 16% in 2023(3). The largest sources of this dissatisfaction were found to be: Lack of clear expectations Feeling disconnected from the mission or purpose of the company Limited opportunities to learn and grow, lack of mentorship Not feeling cared about or that one’s opinions matter Lack of meaningful friendships This becomes especially concerning when we consider how rising disengagement can affect a company’s overall performance.  According to Gallup estimates, actively disengaged employees result in 18% lower productivity, 15% lower profitability, and 37% higher absenteeism(4). High employee turnover is another drain on resources, with the cost of replacing one employee estimated at minimum 50% of that employee’s annual salary(5). For knowledge workers, that could mean anywhere from $30,000 – $90,000 per person. Disengaged employees can also have a negative impact on a company’s customers.  Poor service that leads to reduced customer satisfaction, can damage a company’s reputation and result in a direct loss of business. Gallup’s overall estimate of $450 - $500 billion per year translates to a cost of 34% of the salary of every actively disengaged employee(5). To put this into perspective, consider a medium size company of 1,000 employees whose median employee salary is $80,000. If 16% of those employees are actively disengaged, the company stands to lose approximately $4,352,000 per year. The Way Forward While a physical workplace alone can’t solve the disengagement dilemma, providing an inclusive, thoughtfully planned environment with enough space to meet employees’ various needs can have a substantial effect on overall employee satisfaction. An important consideration is the adoption of desk sharing policies. With the latest advancements in mobile technologies, this idea can seem like an obvious and easy way to address vacancy concerns.  But these practices have been tested many times over the years and come with well documented downsides. Not only can they make an office feel impersonal and unwelcoming, but employees can come to resent the additional burdens of finding a new desk every day, carrying belongings back and forth, and being separated from their teams.  Furthermore, studies show those who lack their own dedicated desk tend to feel unmoored, disrespected, and less connected to the organization. Looking again through the financial lens, let’s consider that same 1,000 employee company.  Deciding to move from a 1:1 to a 2:1 desk sharing model could result in a space savings of around 24,000 rentable square feet.  Factoring in an average cost of $60 per square foot for Class A office space, the company stands to realize a real estate savings of approximately $1,440,000 per year. But when we compare this to the price they pay for disengaged employees, a different story emerges.  With disengagement costing a company roughly $27,000 per person per year, alienating just 54 employees (or 5%) could quickly eliminate that entire savings. Cost Comparison 1,000 Employee Company Desk Sharing — Disengagement Cost — In addition to a dedicated desk, an engaging workplace needs to accommodate a variety, and adequate quantity, of meeting spaces to support the various ways collaboration happens in the post-pandemic era.  Equally important are dedicated spaces for employees to focus, socialize, find respite, engage in recreational activities, connect with nature, or simply change the scenery. As organizations continue to grapple with meeting the evolving demands of hybrid work, we stand to benefit from a more human centered approach. Rather than focusing on real estate reduction to achieve financial goals, now is the time to leverage that space as a means to inspire and motivate our most valuable resource: our people. If you are interested in exploring the ways in which space can increase engagement, contact our workplace strategy team email workplacestrategy@nbbj.com (1) Karlyn Borysenko, How Much Are Your Disengaged Employees Costing You, Forbes (2) Celia Young, Nearly Half of Companies Will Cut Office Space Next Year, Commercial Observer (3) Jim Harter, Are Remote Workers and Their Organizations Drifting Apart, The Gallop Organization (4) State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report, The Gallup Organization (5) Shane McFeely and Ben Wigert, This Fixable Problem Costs U.S. Businesses $1 Trillion, The Gallup Organization (6) Karlyn Borysenko, How Much Are Your Disengaged Employees Costing You, Forbes

This post, the first in a six-part series outlining a framework for five different work modes, originally appeared on CoreNet Global. It lays the groundwork for each mode, while subsequent posts explore a single work mode in greater depth—including focus, collaborate, learn, socialize and rest. For knowledge workers, teams and organizations to flourish in a post-pandemic world, work environments must nurture the ability to focus, collaborate, learn, socialize and rest. These five work modes can provide a balanced framework for increased creativity, health and productivity for organizations pursuing knowledge work. To help bring people back to the office and strategically deploy investments, it is critical to identify these work modes and also understand how organizations and design can shift to accommodate them. Origins of Work Modes Different modes of work originated within the fields of knowledge management and creation. In the 1990s, organization experts Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi identified four knowledge-building activities that drive business innovations. These include socialization, externalization, combination and internalization. The most innovative companies, they argued, combine these work modes to launch a continuous cycle of knowledge. Outside of business management, organizations have adapted and augmented these work modes with social science studies and research findings to apply them to the changing nature of work. They’ve also been able to utilize a set of tools — including the physical work environment — to enable their success. For over a decade, we have crafted our workplaces to enable the modes of work critical to knowledge creation—focus, collaborate, learn and socialize. Based on recent research and the information it reveals about what humans need to be successful, we propose an additional work mode—rest. While the original four are critical to developing new ideas and sharing knowledge, the fifth enables individual reflection and further clarification of ideas and concepts that benefit the shared knowledge of teams and organizations. Below is a look at the five key modes that organizations and companies can promote in the transition back to the physical office, not just for improved innovation, but for wellness too. Focus Create zones for distraction-free work that power company success on an individual, team and organizational level across distributed environments, from the workplace to the home office. Focus work—what we typically think of as heads down or solo work—is a core element of most knowledge work. This work is essential to efficiently absorb and process complex pieces of information so it can be effectively used. It is the “super power in our increasingly competitive twenty-first century economy,” writes Georgetown professor Cal Newport in his book, Deep Work. Focus work encompasses tasks such as contemplation, strategizing, research and idea-generation. Think of jobs such as the coder, the accountant, and the writer. Central to focus work are spaces that enable the ability to concentrate without interruption for chunks of time. Two factors can help unlock successful focus work: physical separation that offers a quiet zone and the ability to control the environment. In conversations with clients, including tech companies like Google, employees are known to wander far to find the best place for heads-down work. At the company’s office in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, a variety of home-like focused work areas are integrated throughout. There are booths near windows, darkened lounges, a library room, private seating niches and more, so staff can easily find a place for the right level of seclusion if needed. Collaborate Offer places that harness team synergy and serendipity to drive creativity and innovation. Collaboration—working with others—is required to advance ideas and is the backbone of the world’s most innovative companies. Critical to an organization’s success, it fosters creativity, increases bigger-picture thinking and aligns team goals. Most important, it expands initial ideas by welcoming a diversity of perspectives. Collaboration involves discussion, active listening, brainstorming and co-creation. Almost every knowledge worker collaborates in their work, although certain creativity-driven roles employ collaboration more than others, such as consulting, human resources and media. As we may see more heads-down work completed at home after the coronavirus, workplaces that provide a range of easily accessible and inviting areas for collaboration is key. This could include flexible spaces for 1:1 touch bases and small team huddles to larger tech-equipped places for strategy sessions. Dedicated team areas situated near work stations can provide a hybrid digital-analogue space to collaborate. These areas could feature tactile digital walls for brainstorming and project check-ins, as well as space for teammates to pin up posters and leave behind analogue messages. Equipped with video cameras, remote team members could video conference in, and collaborate in real-time on the digital wall with distributed teams. Yet as much as it is essential to offer areas that facilitate planned collaboration, enabling serendipitous moments are critical too. At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, staff shared how before the pandemic they loved standing in line at the foundation’s café: they said it was wonderful to not only catch up with friends, but a perfect opportunity to exchange “half-baked” work ideas with colleagues. Learn Create spaces that celebrate mentorship and learning across all levels of an organization to improve business performance and growth. Lifelong learning and mentorship are essential at all stages of life, but especially at work for the acquisition, transfer and application of ideas. Learning expands perspectives to help individuals, teams and companies grow so they can rapidly adapt to changing circumstances and deliver high-impact services and products. Learning includes activities such as training-by-doing, conversations with advocates and group lectures. It can also encompass unintentional connections with colleagues or even overheard conversations, which are nearly impossible to have at home on Zoom calls. To foster learning, organizations must provide effective environments in tandem with the right policies and practices. It’s essential to create workplace conditions that make learning a priority and a positive experience so knowledge can be easily shared. Offices can provide opportunities to accommodate pop-up learning moments, library-like reading nooks and multi-purpose rooms that change with ease to support different learning environments. Learning spaces can also provide a place to remove everyone from the demands of their day-to-day work to immerse themselves in new information and new ideas. Organizations can also foster greater knowledge by opening themselves up to the community. Classrooms in office buildings and corporate campuses can help activate underutilized retail space both during the day and evening via partnerships with outside organizations like community colleges. As learning is active and adults learn by doing, providing places that offer a balance of instruction and application enables the development of new skills. At the F5 Networks headquarters, a 28-story continuous stair spirals up through the tower to heighten connections between employees, clients and visitors. It encourages unique opportunities for them to more easily interact and informally exchange knowledge, exponentially expanding the sphere of learning to colleagues across floors and departments (and to even get in some brain-stimulating and stress-reducing exercise!). Socialize Foster opportunities to build culture and social connections through environments that grow trust, meaningful work and mental wellness. People feel less stressed and happier with more high-quality relationships at work, which helps foster risk-taking and innovation. We think the areas where social capital — the social bonds and shared values that enable trust and teamwork—is formed, is evolving. Before the coronavirus, the office as a shared physical space became an increasingly important place to build social cohesion and meaningful connections. The pandemic is challenging work relationships, with social distancing hindering our ability to gather in shared spaces. In a post-pandemic world, workplaces that allow for formal and informal socializing can set the groundwork for stronger collaboration, learning and compassion, which in turn can drive greater creativity and wellness. This could include café areas where staff can gather around the kitchen during meal prep to niches facing windows with comfortable couches for casual conversations. Yet socializing is also about connections outside an organization. Welcoming ground level amenity spaces can draw the community inside and employees out of the office to intermix. Public spaces, like art galleries, cafes and outdoor lounges, can also be dispersed throughout office buildings and campuses to better facilitate social opportunities. When the renovated headquarters of a coffeehouse company opened, the former CEO noted that the design of the new interior space seamlessly reflected the culture and human connection-focused mission of their organization. Before the coronavirus, staff relayed how much they enjoyed discovering new places to sit and connect with colleagues, especially in the multi-tiered lobby, which allows for unique intersections between employees and the public. Rest Provide purposeful spaces for respite, engagement and positive distractions that encourage relaxation so people can let their minds wander. Working smarter, not longer, may be the key to better performance. Numerous studies show rest is essential to creativity and productivity, and as such, it must be considered an essential work mode too. A short break—ideally every 90 minutes—is helpful to reduce work errors, improve productivity and prevent burnout. In addition, a 26-minute nap can dramatically improve alertness by 54% and performance by 34%, a NASA study found. Rest can also take the form of other deep breaks, like daydreaming, walking and mindful meditation. It is helpful to create policies and appropriate spaces—from simple to more advanced—to encourage rest when needed. Calm, peaceful areas in the workplace away from digital screens can enable rest so staff can better reflect and absorb ideas, skills and knowledge. This can range from cozy high-backed chairs in a quiet corner with restorative nature elements to full-fledged napping rooms with gentle circadian lighting, cooler temperatures and sound-reducing features. Rest is an important component to the Google work experience. In their South Lake Union workplace, a relaxing jellyfish lounge with dimmed lighting provides a peaceful place to rest, while a dedicated nap station and a “treehouse” lit via circadian lighting help mitigate Seattle’s dark winter days. In Summary Organizations that incorporate these five modes— focus, collaborate, learn, socialize and rest —into their work environments may achieve greater innovation and wellness. As the pandemic accelerates these modes in different types of settings, it’s crucial we apply these insights to help shape a real estate and workplace strategy now and for the future so we can enable the best work experience possible. A workplace can help support a company’s business goals by fostering greater knowledge-sharing, and as a result, set staff up for success on an individual and team level. The time is ripe to plan, experiment and try something new.

It only takes one "Yes" Los Angeles has a homelessness problem that will only continue to grow. In 2020, the documented count of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County was nearly 65,000! If all homeless people in LA showed up to Dodger Stadium, 10,000 would have to stand outside the gates. It is anticipated that by 2025 (just 3 years from now) the documented homeless count will reach 80,000 people. Let’s put that in perspective: there are only 107 cities in the state with a population higher than 80,000 people. And talk about what’s being done so far…according to the Los Angeles County Jail, the Jail is the biggest provider of behavioral health services is Los Angeles County Jail (yes, those twin towers that loom over DTLA)! 1/3 of the LA County Jail population has a mental health diagnosis – that is 5,666 people – every day – who are being cared for in the prison. Prison is not the right place for homeless people or those diagnosed with a mental condition. Source About a year ago, someone asked me if I had any ideas about how to help solve the homelessness problem in Los Angeles. Being a healthcare planner in the state of California aware of the impact SB1957 has had on health systems and hospitals, in my head, I developed a scenario where the hospitals slated for closure would be re-purposed for a new model of care for homelessness and people experiencing mental health challenges. I call it California Dreaming. For those of you who don’t know, SB1957 is the result of hospital infrastructure failure after the 1991 Northridge earthquake that rocked a hospital to the ground. After that quake, California decided that its hospitals needed to be seismically sound enough to sustain earthquakes and remain standing. That meant for many health systems (after seismic assessment) up and down the state, their hospitals would need to be retrofitted, replaced and/or re-purposed. Therein lies the challenge – what to do with the old buildings? Source As I look around this City of Angels, I see failing infrastructure for both humans and buildings alike. I’d love to see that change and for these two things to come together and help support each other. These old hospital buildings with all their heavy infrastructure don’t need to be re-built to HCAi Acute Care standards; instead, they can be repurposed into a “whole health” environment! This promotes the health and well-being of a population in need inside buildings designed for healing (and bonus, already built!). Example uses of existing hospitals include the conversion of an Emergency Department (ED) to a “crisis stabilization unit”, with observation beds and outpatient services. Re-developing these massive structures into rehabilitation and single-unit living quarters provides shelter, safety, and a space to heal. The structures can include spaces for counseling and group therapies to help people cope. As people can do more for themselves, they can earn agency by learning skills through building work programs while earning a wage. These buildings can offer a safe place for people to take the time they need to change. Let’s face it, building anything new takes a long time in the state of California. But, by re-purposing existing hospitals, there is no need to build new. Since these spaces would be turning into residential/outpatient services at the most, the requirements to convert are minimal and adaptable building re-use has a low carbon footprint. Additionally, there is no “not-in-my-backyard”: since this is a renovation and not a new build, there is no public recourse to protest. Ideally, area hospitals whose EDs are overfilled with, and financially impacted by, behavioral health and homeless patient populations will divert clients to these crisis stabilization units designed to provide the right services in the right location. The cost in California for a patient who leaves the ED without being seen is $685, and the hourly cost of diversion is $5,400/hr! Building off of the idea of Alameda County’s John George Model of Care, in Portland, OR, we helped to develop an organized approach to health systems coming together to help share the burden of over-impacted EDs. It can be done. Los Angeles, what are we waiting for? California – what are you doing with your Structural Performance Category 1 & 2 buildings that need repair/replacing by 2030? I see this as an opportunity to do good with what we have. Don’t you? Additional Resources: Homelessness & Housing Map (ArcGIS Storymap): https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/400d7b75f18747c4ae1ad22d662781a3 https://hcai.ca.gov/visualizations/inpatient-hospitalizations-and-emergency-department-visits-for-patients-with-a-behavioral-health-diagnosis-in-california-patient-demographics/

This post, which is part of a series on how to reduce carbon in the built environment, was co-authored by Tim Johnson and Peter Alspach. The first post in the series served as an introduction, and the second focused on embodied carbon reduction. The nature of work is changing in a myriad of ways, with more talent relocating to areas outside of cities and the seemingly permanent shift to hybrid schedules. As a result, corporations are rethinking their headquarters, designing them for a different set of uses and an evolving workforce. These same companies are also increasingly concerned with social responsibility, including their offices’ carbon footprint. Recently, our firm was tasked with designing a net-zero building for a corporate client on the East Coast. While the adaptive reuse of part of the current headquarters served as a jumping-off point, the organization’s suburban location required an addition to the existing building as well as increased focus and diligence in managing elements such as embodied and transportation carbon—two main areas of concern in a net-zero energy facility. The client also specified that carbon neutrality be achieved through the construction and operation of the building itself rather than supplemental means such as the purchase of carbon offsets. How can an organization reconcile the need to expand their presence with their obligation to decrease carbon emissions? Below, we explore strategies and solutions for companies to do so through the planning, design and construction of their buildings. Innovate through Materials and Building Techniques For our East Coast corporate client, the use of sustainable materials and building practices factored in greatly when planning and designing the addition to the existing headquarters. One environmentally friendly, cost effective and beautiful alternative to traditional building materials like concrete and steel is mass timber. Substituting wood instead of conventional building materials can reduce emissions by 69%, and using mass timber in half of expected new urban construction could provide as much as 9% of global emissions reduction needed to meet 2030 targets. In addition to curbing greenhouse gas emissions, mass timber’s benefits extend to the building and construction process. It is well suited to offsite manufacturing and prefabrication—another highly sustainable building method that can reduce construction waste by 40% and carbon emissions by 35%—since much of the labor (cutting and assembly) is done in factories. It is estimated that because they are prefabricated, use of mass timber panels can bring significant cost savings for construction projects and reduce construction time by up to 25%. Employ Alternative Energy Sources While embodied carbon is of greater concern in the long run, operational carbon—a building’s everyday energy use—accounts for 28% of the built environment’s carbon footprint. Alternative energy sources like wind, solar and geothermal can significantly reduce a building’s reliance on fossil fuels. For example, the Thermal Energy Center at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, WA, employs a geothermal system comprised of hundreds of wells drilled 550 feet underground that serves as the heating and cooling source for the campus, eliminating fossil fuel usage. Cities are also beginning to require the use of alternative energy sources in both new construction and adaptive reuse projects to meet their carbon reduction goals. For example, Boston’s BERDO 2.0 ordinance mandates that buildings of a certain size must report their carbon emissions to the city on an annual basis and pay a fee on any overages, and in the past 18 months Washington, DC, New York City, Denver, Seattle and St. Louis (among others) have all enacted building performance standards. Microsoft’s Thermal Energy Center in Redmond, WA, taps clean energy deep underground for the organization’s new campus. Curb Transportation Carbon with Amenities that Attract Talent and Benefit the Community Transportation carbon is a concern when dealing with a suburban workforce that mostly commutes using cars. According to a Pew Research study from 2016, 21% of urban dwellers use public transit on a regular basis compared to only 6% of suburban residents. The movement toward hybrid work means fewer people commuting each day has positive implications for transportation carbon, especially when coupled with amenities that benefit the community and attract talent. In addition, due to public and private investment making suburbs more dense, walkable, bike-friendly and less dependent on cars, as well as the competition to attract bright young talent who want to live and work in lively places, many companies are imbuing their suburban campuses with shops, restaurants, hotels, residences, affordable housing, community services and public parks. When going to work also includes a stop at the gym, a quick trip to the grocery store and a dinner out, the transportation carbon associated with making separate trips is reduced significantly—not to mention providing an experience that draws talent to the office. Lastly, there is an increased trend in electric vehicle infrastructure required of commercial office projects. The electrification of the transportation sector is a key part of global carbon emissions reduction plans, and the build-out of the supporting infrastructure is vital to its success. At Amazon’s HQ in Arlington, VA, the “helix”—a walkable ramp wrapping the building with trees and greenery planted to resemble a mountain hike—is open to the public on weekends, providing a green amenity for employees and the community alike. Reuse, Renew, Reposition According to JLL research, two-thirds of the national office inventory is more than 30 years old and likely to become obsolete, while 91% of net occupancy growth for the past decade is new and repositioned supply. An increased emphasis on energy reduction in buildings coupled with the fact that many aging commercial properties are transforming from assets to liabilities means that adaptive reuse, renewal and repositioning are viable strategies to help reduce the embodied carbon impact of the built environment, enhance a building’s value and decrease energy use and costs. Implementing upgrades that increase sustainability and energy efficiency—such as replacing aging infrastructure, proactively adapting to regulatory changes and designing for resiliency—as part of a larger repositioning of the property creates a compelling product in the marketplace that appeals to both developers and tenants. In Conclusion Balancing the energy savings of sustainable building practices and renewable energy sources with a building’s embodied, operational and transportation carbon footprint is a complicated equation. However, large corporations have an obligation to address carbon emissions due to their outsized role in driving global climate change. By making informed decisions about materials, building techniques, energy and transportation, organizations can significantly decrease the carbon footprint of their buildings while also setting an example for how to create sustainable, responsible buildings

Hospital design experts Teri Oelrich and Bryan Langlands explore ways to improve the efficiency and experience for nurses in hospital settings. Teri OelrichContributor Coronavirus FrontlinesContributor Group Healthcare I am a Partner, Clinician and Healthcare Design Strategist with NBBJ. Bryan LanglandsContributor Coronavirus FrontlinesContributor Group I am a Principal and Senior Medical Planner with NBBJ. An open core design at Mount Carmel Health System’s East Campus in Columbus, Ohio. NBBJ/CHUCK CHOI Two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, frontline nurses report feeling overworked and burned out—and the U.S. is in the throes of a nursing crisis. While the pandemic has undoubtedly contributed to nurses’ stress and fatigue, the nursing population is unique, as are the factors contributing to the staffing shortage. A significant segment of the nursing population is nearing retirement age, while changing demographics signal a need for more nurses to care for an aging society. And while nursing school applications are up—a positive trend—enrollment is still not growing fast enough to meet the projected demand. Lastly, nursing has one of the highest turnover rates in the medical profession, with 16.5% of all nurses employed in hospitals quitting their jobs within the first year, costing hospitals $4 to $6 million annually. “The nation’s healthcare delivery systems are overwhelmed, and nurses are tired and frustrated as this persistent pandemic rages on with no end in sight. Nurses alone cannot solve this longstanding issue. If we truly value the immeasurable contributions of the nursing workforce, then it is imperative that HHS utilize all available authorities to address this issue,” says American Nurses Association President Ernest Grant. While we as designers are removed from administrative or policy decisions, we can create environments that improve operations, efficiency and working conditions. Here are four ideas to consider when planning and designing better work environments for nurses and other staff on inpatient bed units. Plan for Efficiency To achieve an efficient nursing unit, it is important to focus on the number, type and location of specific rooms; provide adequate support space; plan layouts and grouping of patient rooms that align with nurse-to-patient staffing ratios; and provide space and features that support and welcome non-dedicated staff. Understanding how nurses work and allowing that to inform the layout of a nursing unit results in a better-functioning care environment. On average, nurses spend only 31% of their time with patients, while the remainder of their time is dedicated to activities such as waiting for lab data responses, patient transfer, searching for required equipment and documentation. For example, aside from patient rooms, the rooms most frequently accessed by nurses are medication, clean and soiled rooms—so, the number and placement of these rooms are critical to allowing nurses to spend more time with patients. An effective nursing unit design solution is called “open core.” In an open core hospital design, patient rooms are located on both sides of a central work zone corridor, eliminating physical imped­iments within the areas of direct care. Between the banks of patient bedrooms, anything not related to direct patient care (such as elevators, mechanical shafts, stairs, electrical closets, offices, and toilets) is removed, leaving an unobstructed area to create an effective care team workplace. The standard eight-foot-wide corridor seen in many hospitals is doubled to sixteen feet. This accommodates circulation a clinical zone that houses decentralized team workstations, and supply and equipment alcoves stocked with the most frequently accessed items by staff. In addition, this layout creates neighborhoods for caregivers that locate nursing staff near patient rooms and supplies, with greater access and visibility to both. Select Finishes, Fixtures and Equipment That Improve Working Conditions The Covid-19 pandemic highlights the limitations of many design elements that have been used for decades, and positively reinforces design advancements introduced on newer nursing units. One example is the advantages of glass over solid doors. Feedback from nursing staff on older units with traditional solid wood swing doors to patient rooms indicates that these types of doors contribute to staff isolation and compromised communication. Full-height glass doors, whether swing or sliding, allow for greater situational awareness, the ability to nurse from outside the room, maintain sight lines to patients, improve visual communication, increase natural light to the support areas, and reduce social isolation. Motorized overhead patient ceiling lifts are another example of a solution that can be included at the beginning of a project. However, these lifts are often one of the first things to go when construction projects are over budget. While removing these pieces of equipment results in initial savings, injured staff and days away from work may end up costing hospitals far more in the long run. According to a 2018 article published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, overexertion and bodily reaction as a result of excessive physical effort (bending, twisting, lifting and repetitive motion) accounts for 45.6% of all injuries occurring to nurses, and work-related musculoskeletal disorders resulted in 8,730 days-away-from-work among nurses in the private industry. To reduce occupational hazards and benefit nurses, patients and the healthcare system, keeping ceiling lifts in the project is optimal. Another solution is to provide the infrastructure—structural support and tracks—so ceiling lifts can be added in the future. Embrace Technology to Save Time and Enhance Communication Service robots, or automated guided vehicles, can make life better for nurses and staff working on units by performing simple yet time consuming tasks like delivering supplies directly to the unit, the room and even the patient. On many nursing units, technicians meet robots outside patient rooms, where they unload nurse carts and put away supplies, while new robots pick up the empty carts and quickly flip them for their next use. They can also keep workers safe by transporting supplies in areas where pathogens are a risk—an added benefit discovered during the pandemic. Other healthcare technologies like radio frequency identification and real-time location systems minimize time lost looking for equipment and can lead to an overall reduced inventory need. In addition, nurse call systems now offer digital wall staff terminals which enable nurses and housekeeping staff to indicate whether a room needs servicing or has already been serviced—and what specifically is needed—by simply tapping a screen. Similar technology puts the control in the hands of patients and their families with digital tablets. These tablets can be used to control lights, temperature and window shades in patient rooms while also allowing patients to order meals, watch educational material customized to their ailment and recovery, and even FaceTime with friends or family members. Finally, wearable devices allow nurses to communicate without having to leave the patient room, and more easily and accurately request help. These types of communication devices can also contribute to reduced noise and disruption to patients as they eliminate the need for overhead intercom systems. Bring Amenities to the Unit to Reduce Stress Like airports—which provide a variety of dining and seating options, Wi-Fi and computer access, and amenities like massages or yoga immediately adjacent to the gate—bringing amenities onto nursing units allows nurses and other staff to refresh and regroup “off-stage” without the stress of leaving their post. In a virtual roundtable with leaders from healthcare systems in the U.K. and U.S., participants noted that on-unit staff support spaces and convenient access to things like lactation rooms, showers and healthy food made a tremendous difference in quality of life for frontline caregivers. These amenities are also scalable, with some requiring little added space or cost. For example, small scale solutions like the creative use of small alcoves or leftover spaces such as the informal opportunity areas off stairwells or corridors, improvements to shared spaces like bathrooms or common areas, healthy food delivery or grab-and-go options, or the installation of rest pods are easier to implement than a large, centralized café, gym or wellness space—and are often more useful given the close proximity to nursing units. Recently, institutions have started providing other concierge services to staff with the goal of increasing employee happiness and satisfaction and improving retention and recruitment. While amenities like staff retail pharmacies have been in existence for years, healthcare institutions are now incorporating services like day care, pet care, dry cleaning, salon services and made-to-order food to take home after a shift. America’s nursing crisis is complex, and the staffing shortage may seem dire, especially amid the Omicron surge and the continued exhaustion felt by nurses and healthcare workers alike. Design solutions, technology and services that improve working conditions and prioritize efficiency, well-being and satisfaction can help to attract and retain nursing talent and create a better experience for nurses and staff.

Three Ways Design Computation Empowers Better Decision-Making This post was co-authored by Megha Sinha, Nate Holland and Melissa Alexander Computational tools—which harness the power of computation to streamline decision making—were once considered “nice to have.” Now they are integral to the design process. So why should clients care? The reason is simple. Computation gives planners and designers the ability to quickly translate thousands or even millions of data sets into actionable insights. Not only does this lead to better engagement with clients and the community, it also creates more successful projects. While important to all aspects of design, it is especially relevant to planning neighborhoods, districts and cities. Here, we explore three main opportunities—and corresponding real-world examples—for the use of computational tools in urban planning projects. Simplify the Design Process to Create More Tailored Outcomes Opportunity: Computational tools can simplify the planning and design process by allowing project teams to organize and analyze mountains of data sets into leverageable insights. Example: At Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, planners were tasked with developing a comprehensive long-term master plan grounded in data. Using computational tools, the project team was able to translate over a terabyte of data related to land use, ground water information, topography, trees, and use and conditions data about each building and room on campus into models. These models quickly showed how planning decisions would affect physical space and identify use patterns and opportunities. Further, the insights helped the university decide which facilities could be renovated or replaced, pinpoint the best areas for new investments, identify the most strategic targets for limited capital funding, and budget for the most impactful interventions on their historic land-grant campus. For the LSU Campus Master Plan, linking robust data sets related to all campus systems, landscape, building size, function, age and architecture through a custom-built interactive 3D GIS-based model quickly and accurately showed how planning decisions affect physical space. Deepen Community Engagement, Co-Design and Input Opportunity: Computational tools can make the planning process—and outputs—empathetic by giving communities more transparency into the design process, and more opportunities to provide feedback and build consensus with other stakeholders. Example: On the LSU project, a 24-7 data exchange portal allowed planners to get input from students and staff on how they travel throughout the campus, including their typical paths and modes of travel, and note how they feel while moving across campus. On another project, the Wilburton Commercial Area plan, an upzoning planning study in Bellevue, WA, citizens advisory committee members were able to mark up a 2D map of the area with crayons which became automatic inputs for 3D tools, generating different city forms based on the land use ideas. This rapid visualization enabled quick iteration to build consensus around numerous differing inputs and collectively determine next steps. Computational tools allowed citizens advisory committee members to mark up a 2D map of the proposed Wilburton Commercial Area plan as an interactive input for a custom data rich 3D modeling platform. Empower Clients to Make More Informed Decisions Opportunity: Computational tools make the design process more collaborative by providing clients with the tools to make objective and informed decisions. Example: The Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Knoxville, TN—the largest US Department of Energy science and energy laboratory—needed to develop an interactive 3D GIS-based decision-making tool to guide its multi-year planning and budgeting process for facilities and supporting infrastructure on the 300-acre Experimental Gas-Cooled Reactor (EGCR) campus. In response, the planning team created a tool with an easy-to-use interface that allows a user to easily manipulate physical campus planning scenarios and test and compare development options for feasibility and cost implications. The tool is now being used by the client team to test out potential sites on their campus to locate development projects as the need arises. In many cases, planning tools like this one created for Oak Ridge National Laboratory are becoming final deliverables for clients, allowing users to easily test and compare development options within their own organizations. One important thread that weaves through the examples above is the growing interdependence between designers and planners, and the tools they use. The artful interweaving of data and information with empathy and intuition can improve our urban environments and create lasting results for clients and the community.

Editor’s Note: As we work with our clients to improve the health of people and the planet, addressing carbon emissions from the built environment is imperative. In this series, we focus on the ethics and economics of carbon-based decision-making, as well as actionable steps to reduce both embodied and operational carbon. This post was co-authored by Peter Alspach, Margaret Montgomery and Megha Sinha It goes without saying that the conversation around climate change dominates news headlines. Seemingly every day, we read about extreme weather events, rising energy prices and dwindling resources. This year alone, the US has experienced eighteen separate extreme weather disasters costing up to $1 billion each. Ethically, carbon-based decision-making is imperative. Six of the top 10 greenhouse gas emitters are developing countries, and the US and Canada emit more than double the global average per capita. The least developed countries emit the least carbon dioxide, but the effects of climate change are felt most strongly by these nations. And globally, climate change disproportionately impacts women and communities of color. For example, weather events fall harder on disadvantaged communities, who generally have fewer resources and take much longer to regain equilibrium. So, how does the built environment come into play? According to a 2019 report by the World Green Building Council, the building and construction industries together are responsible for 39 percent of all carbon emissions in the world. Moreover, according to UN Habitat, cities consume 78 percent of the world’s energy and produce more than 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions–yet they account for less than 2 percent of the Earth’s surface. The conversation about how to get to zero-carbon can feel daunting, but we believe that creative and world-changing solutions are within our reach. In this series, we will discuss the main considerations to achieve zero-carbon in our cities and the built environment, with the goal of counteracting the building industry’s growing impact on climate change. Beyond the Building Footprint The scale of the challenge at hand necessitates that zero-carbon thinking start well before the building footprint—at urban, district and campus scales. It is at this scale that critical carbon reduction strategies and policies as they relate to energy infrastructure, transportation, land use, urban tree canopy preservation, existing and new building construction, and public-private partnerships must be made to create meaningful and long-lasting change. Cities are leaders in the climate change movement in large part because city government—and mayors in particular—are more directly connected to their constituency than state or federal legislators. They also hold the majority of carbon emissions for most of their locations, and they have the authority to move more quickly than state, federal or national government. For example, the City of Boston has introduced the Carbon Free Boston initiative, a comprehensive plan to become carbon neutral by 2050 by putting strategies in place to cut emissions from cars and buildings. Likewise, Denver recently became the eighth US jurisdiction to pass a building performance standard, and Seattle’s Mayor Durkan issued a Climate Executive Order during the COP26 Summit to accelerate efforts toward net-zero emission buildings. Applying carbon-reduction strategies at the city level is important in mitigating the built environment’s carbon footprint. Tencent’s Net City, in China, prioritizes people and the environment, rather than automobiles, for a healthier experience. A Shift in Thinking Zero-carbon buildings require a shift in thinking at the onset to meet the aggressive targets we need to achieve by 2030. Where a project is located, its height, massing, materiality and whether it needs to be built at all are considerations that can affect a building’s contribution to carbon emissions. On a recent high-rise office tower, our design team made the early decision to incorporate a steel, below-grade parking structure when concrete would be more conventional path. As a result of these and other design decisions, this project has a projected embodied carbon 10% below the ILFI Zero Carbon threshold of 500 kg/m2. In addition, a project’s location touches issues from preservation of the natural environment to equity and accessibility. For example, building in an urban area accessible via low-carbon public transportation as opposed to a suburban or rural area where the automobile dominates affects emissions—and employee and community well-being. A client recently considered relocating a new headquarters from downtown to a suburban site and found that it would be detrimental to many of their employees who depended on local transit for commuting. Instead, they chose a site where transit access was more available. Planning around low-carbon public transportation options such as subways or designated bike lanes not only impacts emissions, but also touches issues such as equity and accessibility. Amazon’s Seattle HQ features a two-way cycle track and a dedicated entrance for bicycle commuters, promoting health and ease of access. The Economics and Benefits of Integrated Thinking The best approach to carbon-based decision-making is through integrated thinking early in the process. Often, we can leverage one design strategy to achieve multiple goals and amplify value. While sustainability measures may appear costly at a project’s onset, the overall energy savings throughout the lifecycle of the project are exponential. Integrated thinking at the onset enables successful zero-carbon buildings by avoiding the layering of costs further down the road. Embracing carbon-based decision-making as an economic opportunity allows us to build the building of 2050, today. Future retrofitting for sustainability requirements will be more costly, not to mention more environmentally damaging, than an up-front investment. In addition, the costs associated with many sustainable solutions are changing rapidly, with solar and wind power now tracking lower in price for the grid than coal or gas power plants. Employing long-term thinking that recognizes the cost of energy over a building’s lifetime pays back in dividends. In Boston, the BERDO 2.0 city ordinance dictates that buildings over 35,000 square feet or those that have 35 units or more report their energy and water use to the City of Boston every year. Those buildings not meeting the city’s emissions standards must then pay a fee on any overages. And in Southern California, our team recently designed a net-zero energy hospital where the cost of on-site solar power was less than half ($0.05/kWh) of the typical utility rate, not counting demand reduction benefits. Creative and innovative solutions to reduce the building industry’s carbon footprint are within our reach. Microsoft’s corporate campus expansion taps geothermal wells 550 feet underground to provide power and achieve the company’s goal of becoming carbon negative by 2030. Now that we are aware of the implications of our decisions regarding climate change and carbon emissions, we are ethically bound to act responsibly. In the words of UNESCO in an article on the ethical principles of climate change, “Adapting to climate change and trying to mitigate its impacts are not just a matter of scientific knowledge and political will; it demands a broader view of a complex situation.” In the next installment of our series on carbon-neutral buildings, we dig deeper into the subject of embodied carbon and the urgency of addressing it for the architecture, engineering and construction industry.

This post was co-authored by Peter Alspach and Margaret Montgomery Editor’s Note: As we work with our clients to improve the health of people and the planet, addressing carbon emissions from the built environment is imperative. In this series, we focus on the ethics and economics of carbon-based decision-making, as well as actionable steps to reduce both embodied and operational carbon. The first post served as an introduction to carbon reduction in the built environment. A version of this piece also appeared in The Architect’s Newspaper under the title, “Op-ed: Strategies to reduce embodied carbon in the built environment.” A growing consumer demand for transparency—especially around sustainability and environmental practices—has implications for industries from apparel to healthcare products. Mars Inc. recently released a cocoa sourcing map to tackle deforestation and increase accountability, and the Fashion Transparency Index pushes apparel companies to be more forthcoming about their social and environmental efforts. Now it’s time for the building industry, characterized by a lack of information around the materials and practices used in construction and throughout a building’s lifecycle, to catch up. The cost of inaction is too high to ignore. That’s because buildings account for 39 percent of total global carbon emissions. Traditionally, most carbon reduction efforts in the building sector focus on operational carbon—a building’s everyday energy use, which accounts for roughly 28 percent of emissions. The remaining 11 percent comes from what is often ignored: embodied carbon. Embodied carbon consists of all the emissions associated with building construction, including extraction, transportation, manufacturing and installation of building materials on-site, as well as the operational and end-of-life emissions of those materials. It is also largely “upfront” carbon—the greenhouse gas emissions that are released in the early phases of a life cycle—which means that its negative impact now cannot be reversed later. Most importantly, the magnitude of embodied carbon emissions between now and 2030 dwarfs the incremental impact of operational carbon, therefore, the immediate focus for embodied carbon reductions must be on the next decade. To reduce embodied carbon in the built environment, the following strategies should be applied across building typologies and sectors. Select Low Carbon Materials According to Architecture 2030, concrete, steel, and aluminum are responsible for 23 percent of total global emissions. There is great opportunity for embodied carbon reduction in these high-impact materials through policy, design, material selection and specification. A McKinsey report on embodied carbon in buildings explains, “Two materials may look identical, cost the same amount, perform to the same standard—but have totally different embodied carbon characteristics. For example, a 100 percent recycled-steel beam produced using renewable energy may appear identical to a virgin-steel beam produced using a coal-fired furnace—but have significantly different levels of embodied carbon. Where each steel beam came from and how far it was transported add further complexity.” Using fewer materials without compromising quality and selecting the right building materials with recyclable content is important to achieving embodied carbon savings. For example, use of recycled aggregates, greener concrete options, reclaimed structural steel, FSC certified timber, or other innovative carbon-negative materials such as plant-based insulation help to sequester carbon and reduce the measured materials’ embodied carbon content. Certified sustainable materials should also be sourced from supply chains that have committed to transparent environmental product declarations and operate a net zero carbon business. While it can be difficult to discern the embodied carbon in a specific material, certain materials have inherently lower embodied carbon, such as mass or cross-laminated timber (CLT). The use of CLT in healthcare buildings is especially advantageous, as demonstrated in the new Ohana Center for Behavioral Health in California. While hospitals are typically some of the most energy-intensive buildings on the planet due to the use of specialty equipment and the need to operate 24/7, they can benefit from CLT’s low carbon impact and its anxiety-reducing biophilic properties. CLT also lends itself particularly well to modular construction and offsite assembly, which is often faster, more cost effective and more sustainable than traditional methods of building. The Ohana Center in Monterey, California, redefines the behavioral healthcare environment with natural, cost-effective materials like cross-laminated timber. As one of the largest healthcare buildings to use CLT, the facility benefits from its low carbon impact, its modular components that can be assembled off-site to reduce cost and schedules, and its anxiety-lowering properties. Perform a Whole Building Life Cycle Analysis Life cycle analysis refers to the quantification of an entire building’s potential environmental impact. Conducting a whole building life cycle analysis after material selection allows design teams to spotlight potential environmental issues and identify more sustainable alternatives. Life cycle analyses involve compiling an inventory of relevant material inputs and the associated environmental outputs (for example, climate change) associated with a building, evaluating the potential impacts of these inputs and outputs, and interpreting the results to make environmentally responsible decisions. As the importance of addressing embodied carbon gains momentum, methodologies and protocols on how to measure embodied carbon in a standardized way continue to emerge. For example, publications that give guidance on and suggest benchmarks and targets for assessing the embodied carbon of buildings and construction materials, or digital tools like Tally, OneClick LCA, EC3, or Athena that can help to accurately calculate embodied carbon. To bring better carbon education and awareness during the earliest phases of our projects, our firm designed Zero Guide, an internal tool that estimates the carbon equivalent of emissions associated with all aspects of a project, providing educated recommendations for how to lower its carbon footprint. Implement Low Carbon Procurement Policies For some major materials—for example, concrete—designers can request the embodied carbon footprint information of the mix designs, of which there are many that can meet the design intent if specified by performance requirements. Then, the compliant bid can be selected based on carbon footprint as well as cost, resulting in significant savings. The Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3)—a free database of construction environmental product declarations (EPDs) and matching building impact calculator for use in design and material procurement—is intended for this purpose. For example, Microsoft’s commitment to becoming carbon negative by 2030 means a reduction in emissions across operations, from buildings to datacenters. The new headquarters in Redmond, Washington, employs innovative energy-saving techniques such as geothermal wells and serves as a pilot program for EC3. The Thermal Energy Center at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, powers the campus almost entirely through electricity provided by geothermal energy exchanges. The project acts as a pilot program for the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3), a free database of construction EPDs and matching building impact calculator. Invest in Carbon Offsets In addition to offsetting the ongoing emissions of building operation, the embodied carbon from construction of new buildings or renovations can be offset through a one-time purchase to zero out the construction emissions. Transparency, however, is a critical prerequisite to selecting, analyzing, purchasing, and offsetting embodied carbon. To effectively reverse climate change and create a healthier planet, carbon-based decision-making is critical. By addressing operational carbon and then embodied carbon in the built environment through low carbon materials, building lifecycle analysis, low carbon procurement policies, and investing in carbon offsets, we can minimize the built environment’s carbon footprint and spark meaningful change.

The most important asset of a company is its people. At no time has this been more evident than now, during the great resignation. To be at their best and thrive in the workplace, people need to feel safe – emotionally and physically. Psychological safety is key to building robust, connected, innovative, happy teams[1],[2],[3],[4],[5]. Psychological safety is being able to show and employ oneself without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status or career, it can be defined as a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking. The positive effects of psychological safety present themselves in a variety of ways: Innovation breakthroughs. Innovation is a break from the norm: in order to move away from the status quo towards something better you have to feel comfortable expressing a different idea - standing up in front of a boss, colleague or complete stranger to challenge how things are done Retention and Engagement. Having a strong social bond with those around you leads to people feeling connected, like they belong and like they want to continue to contribute. Employees with a best friend at work are 7x more likely to be engaged in their job.[6] Open Communication. Feeling safe to share or correct critical details prevents errors and miscommunication but requires trust and openness. Asking for help and admitting errors are also vital team characteristics that require a firm foundation of psychological safety. Why the need for psychological safety is so deeply engrained Our brains have three distinct parts that developed at different points in our evolutionary past. Each has its own purpose and functions. The lizard brain is primarily focused on reactions, instinct, and basic survival. The mammal brain handles emotion, memory and basic decision making. Finally, the human brain, gives us the ability to problem solve, to imagine a future that doesn't exist, and consciousness. The executive functions of the human brain are the abilities employers seek. However, in order to fully unlock them, the concerns of the mammal and lizard brain must first be addressed. Building codes, laws, and social programs largely appease the survival fears of the reptile brain, but the emotional relationship concerns of the mammal brain are a constant battle – psychological safety may well be the antidote and the built environment plays a key role. How to influence psychological safety One of the most effective ways to build psychological safety and strengthen a culture is through constant and consistent belonging cues. Belonging cues are signals that come from the outside in, signals from the environment that that convey closeness, safety and a shared future[7]. What the brain hears is “hey, it's all good, you're comfortable, you can relax, you can focus your energy on higher levels of cognition.” The four primary belonging cues are: 1. You're safe here. You are safe physically. You're safe emotionally. You're safe relationally. You are safe. 2. You're free to be yourself. You can express your opinion, what's important to you, and nobody is going to judge you. 3. You're valued. The community around you want to know what you have to say - you make a difference. 4. We have a shared future together. People are going to look out for you and encourage you. Together you're going to create something that's more than a sum of your parts. Most of these cues are behavioral as they deal with relationships, and the signals group members send to one another. Humor and laughter are strong belonging cues – for people engaging in the laughter it creates an emotional bond, for those nearby it signals that this is a friendly space (safe) and encourages them to let their guard down (be yourself). Setting high standards is another interesting cue because it signals two things, first that you believe in the other person’s ability (value) and second it is future oriented encouraging all parties to imagine a positive shared outcome (future). Mind control: Designing a better default behavior Psychological safety is based on a continuous flow of trust building behaviors and interpersonal interactions. The physical environment has a strong influence on the behaviors of those using the space. Therefore, the design of the built environment can and should be used to nudge people towards the behaviors that build psychological safety in teams. Consider the three images below: there are three similar desks, three similar people working on three similar computers, but one of these people is more likely to take a healthy exercise break and another to eat junk food. Clearly, the environment can subtly cue us towards a specific action. With this in mind, it is possible to design a space with a desired result in mind by making use of a concept known as cognitive friction. The idea is behind cognitive friction is that the brain craves energy saving shortcuts often choosing the path of least resistance without you having to think about it. By designing a space to make the desired route easier or more accessible you can lead people towards a desired behavior. What would it mean to design a space to make psychological safety the default? That type of a space would not only influence behavior, but also culture, employee retention, innovation, and much more. What might this look like? Locating social spaces that support friendly multi person activities throughout the building, particularly near circulation and other common areas to increase their visibility and encourage their use. Team zones and furniture that position people to work and engage face to face rather than turning their backs towards one another Curated and prominently displayed strategic artifacts from the company or team’s history can share a story of success tying the group together and inspire high aspirations for future work. Narrower hallways can encourage employees to pass in closer proximity to each other with frequent break out zones enable those chance encounters to become deeper conversations. Warm natural materials and comfortable furniture create a home like setting that encourages people to let their guard down and share which builds bonds, trust and psychological safety. Conclusion Clearly, choices made in the design of the physical environment all influence behavior and the way team members engage with each other – the question is were they purposeful choices? In your space, how are you setting the stage for psychological safety: for innovative, happy, connected, open, productive teams? How are you enabling people to thrive as employees, as team members, and as fellow humans. [1] https://hbr.org/2017/08/high-performing-teams-need-psychological-safety-heres-how-to-create-it [2] https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/what-is-psychological-safety-at-work/ [3] https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/psychological-safety-and-the-critical-role-of-leadership-development [4] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html [5] https://www.forbes.com/sites/shanesnow/2020/05/04/how-psychological-safety-actually-works/?sh=3f910396f864 [6] https://hbr.org/2017/08/having-work-friends-can-be-tricky-but-its-worth-it [7] Hardy, Benjamin. Willpower Doesn't Work: Discover the Hidden Keys to Success. Hachette Books, 2019. *Special thanks to Chao Dou and Crystal Inge for their contributions to the graphics and content of this post

Last year, we abandoned our workplaces practically overnight. Now, as companies plan a phased return to the places we left behind, they may no longer be suited to how we do our best work. Despite the comfort and flexibility in working remotely, research shows that employees miss connecting with their colleagues, and crave a change in scenery that an office provides. In-person interaction is also crucial for innovation, productivity and profitability, not to mention building culture and connection. The pandemic provides us the unique opportunity to rethink our old offices and rituals to improve productivity and employee satisfaction. So, how can we take the best of working from home and imbue it into the office? Embrace Flexibility Work is no longer about absolutes—office or home, heads down or heads up, independent or team-based. Instead, each mode has a role to play in creating healthier, more effective work. An organization should invest in environments that support a range of work modes throughout the day. Hyper-flexible workplaces with movable, adjustable infrastructure like walls, furniture and technology, can accommodate a range of needs. Flexible arrangements also offer more personal choice and agency (which is crucial to employee satisfaction) as well as adapting quickly as safety and work policies evolve. After months of working at home, the constant flurry of activity in an office may feel overwhelming. Build in library, booth or café spaces for quiet, heads-down work where people can be alone but not isolated. In the same way, encourage side-by-side problem solving and passive collaboration with drop-in teaming spaces and tools such as digital whiteboards, monitors and multipurpose wall space that help teams see their work clearly, even if some members are in the office and others are online. Finally, accessorize. Equip communal spaces with phone props or provide sanitized headsets for impromptu video calls. Encourage Community The past year and a half taught us that it is difficult to maintain community and build culture online. However, embracing a hybrid work model seems to be the norm for the immediate future. In addition to investing in and expanding technology offerings to better connect with remote team members, changing the appearance of the workplace so that remote workers are not met with a “sea of workstations” when on video calls—an image that implies people must be at a desk and are missing out if they are not in the office—evens the playing field between in-person, hybrid and remote employees. In the office, encourage people to think about who they need to see or work with, rather than defaulting to the same desk every day. Building on the routines we established while working from home—uninterrupted concentration in a home office, collaborative problem-solving at the kitchen table, virtual brainstorming on the couch—every space in the office is now a place to work. Create areas for communal interaction that are not explicitly geared toward work as well. Expanding places to share a meal or grab coffee helps people create new rituals and come together after a long absence. Offering “whole life” amenities and shared or learning experiences such as yoga or gardening also contributes to a feeling of community and organizational health. Take it one step further and introduce amenities that are also neighborhood touchpoints, such as a public garden where your company can host health and cooking seminars, or a maker space to mentor local high school students. Take Cues from Hospitality Consider the hotel lobby. Often the only common area in a hotel aside from the elevators and restaurants, the lobby must offer a variety of spaces for different types of activity. Groupings of furniture such as low tables with surrounding seating encourage conversation, whereas high-backed chairs tucked into corners or nooks along a wall provide more privacy. This idea can also be applied to the office. Invest in multipurpose furniture that is shaped and configured to work in multiple ways, and that adapts as needs reveal themselves, makes it easier to collaborate. The more home- or hospitality-like an office feels, the less stressful the environment. Introduce softer lighting, more texture and organic shapes. Likewise, think about the check-in process. You’re greeted graciously, often offered a refreshing drink or warm towel, and given clear directions for how to get to your room and use the amenities. What if this type of experience was present at the office? Many hygiene and safety elements that will need to be incorporated into the workplace, such as wayfinding and cleaning, can also create pleasant rituals and experiences. For example, attractive cleaning stations with welcoming designs or ambient effects could be located as intentional arrival points to common areas. Design with a Healthier Workplace in Mind Supporting employees’ mental and physical well-being is no longer optional. After months of working from home, employees have figured out what works best for them in terms of concentration, productivity and stress management—a walk to regroup, movement around the house to support different types of focus, a catnap to refresh. These same options can extend to the workplace, from incorporating walking paths (or scheduling walking meetings) to more spatial and experiential variety inspired by residential and hospitality design. Long-term, focus on access to fresh air by improving ventilation and filtration in mechanical systems. Employees will feel safer and breathe better. Increase views and daylight in the office, which reinforces people’s circadian rhythms and helps with productivity during the workday. Build in moments of respite in the work environment. Horticulture, sound or aromatherapy can quickly transport people to a calmer and more soothing place. While sleeping at work may not be an option, areas to rest—and the cultural permission to take a break—can help people feel more focused and supported. The pandemic has allowed us to re-examine how we want to work and live. Design can be a transformative tool for reshaping work into a healthier, more purposeful experience. By bringing the comforts of home and hospitality into the workplace, organizations can provide the best of both worlds.

More than a year after the pandemic caused an abrupt shift to working remotely, offices are starting to reopen. However, in many cases, hybrid work policies are here to stay. This year-long work from home experiment showed that some tasks are more productive at home, while others benefit from being in the office (and others, such as essential workers, are required to do their jobs in-person). According to a recent study by Microsoft, 73% of workers prefer a flexible work environment, and 46% of the global workforce is planning to move now that they can work at least partially in a remote configuration. From the employer perspective, remote work could upend the demand for companies to locate in competitive markets near an established talent pool and offering geographic flexibility could be a talent attraction strategy. If some employees are offered a flexible work environment, and many employers can now hire from anywhere, where might people choose to locate? Enter the concept of “zoom towns.” Zoom towns are locations that are beginning to see a significant influx of remote workers. Initially, many zoom towns were in vacation destinations like Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Aspen, Colorado and Lake Tahoe, California. But as employers make hybrid and remote options more permanent, zoom towns are evolving to a wider variety of locations, such as Austin, Texas, Charleston, South Carolina and Butte, Montana. Publicly available data has already started to give us a glimpse of the future. The USPS “Change of Address” dataset shows an increase in both overall moves and in net out-migration from larger cities. A national Bankrate/YouGov survey found millennials are most likely to have moved in 2020; movers preferred smaller cities or less-dense neighborhoods and; movers tended to relocate within the same region as their previous address. The survey also revealed that 21% of people relocated for their job, while 17% moved because they can now work from anywhere. Given the availability of this data, new tools can help employees and employers identify ideal locations for their homes and businesses. A zoom towns location analysis tool developed by our firm uses geographic layers that capture a specific data theme, and compiles those layers to produce a weighted location suitability index for every area in the U.S. For example, an employee is ready to work remotely and move her family out of a major city. Her ideal home is in a location with a temperate climate (more important) and a low tax burden (less important). First, each data layer is classified, giving the best locations a score of 9, and the worst a score of 1. Second, each layer is weighted based on importance. With the layer classification and weighting complete, a simple arithmetic analysis produces the result: the best locations to live with both a temperate climate and low taxes are throughout the middle of the country, in certain locations throughout the Rocky Mountains, and along the Pacific Northwest coast. The analysis is quick and easy, and the employee can now see multiple location options that perhaps she hadn’t previously considered. As zoom towns continue to see an increase in population, it’s also important to think about how we make these smaller, more remote areas more community-oriented and sustainable. People who are considering or have already moved to a zoom town may need to find new ways to network and connect outside the workplace. Activities like supporting small businesses, volunteering, joining neighborhood or civic associations, and researching local issues and causes allow zoom towns to support and accommodate their new residents, and to thrive as strong, resilient communities. Additionally, many small towns are not prepared for a large influx of new residents, which may strain resources and cause problems like congestion, unaffordability and infrastructure constraints. This so-called “amenity migration” can have destructive consequences if not planned for and managed, according to researchers from the University of Utah. Adequate infrastructure, denser development, cleaner and more accessible public transportation, and access to a stable, fast Internet connection can all help zoom towns to retain both new and existing residents. Zoom towns may also help counteract the widely researched effects of “brain-drain” – the loss of highly-educated residents from rural environments to large cities. Zoom towns do not mean an end for more traditional large cities, or the destruction of urban growth. Rather, zoom towns may need to be more like cities, adapting to challenges such as housing and transportation, and developing sustainably. With new tools and the ability to choose where and how we live and work, the two can coexist and even benefit one another.

Editor’s Note: This is the sixth and final article in a six-part series on five different work modes. The first piece outlined a framework for each work mode, while subsequent posts explored a single work mode in greater depth — including focus, collaborate, learn, socialize and rest. This post was co-authored by Kelly Griffin and Edwin Beltran. The coronavirus crisis has shown more than ever that rest is essential to life — and especially work. It is critical to being effective, productive and creative. Yet rest is typically viewed as a counterpoint to work and a waste of time. While society typically doesn’t think of rest as a critical knowledge-building work mode, it is important to understand the role rest plays in the ability to generate new ideas and build knowledge. As organizations soon return to offices, it is time to think of rest as an essential work mode too. Neuroscience points to the incredible benefits of rest. A NASA study found that a 26-minute nap can dramatically improve alertness by 54% and performance by 34%. Other studies show that when we sleep, our brains are incredibly active, removing toxins to make way for new growth. (And poor sleep has tremendous costs, not just physically but financially as well. Experts say that U.S. businesses lose $411 billion annually due to reduced performance and lost work from sleep deprivation.) In the post-pandemic return to the office, restorative rest will be even more essential to health, wellbeing and the ability perform at the highest level in the workplace, both individually and as a member of an organization. The office fortunately can provide these valuable benefits — with the comfort and expanded flexibility found in current work-from-home setups. Here are five strategies to implement in the workplace so employees are refreshed and rejuvenated so creativity and productivity can flourish. Embrace a culture of rest. To encourage rest in the workplace, it is helpful to first create or reframe organizational guidelines around rest activities. Consider when, where and how employees are most productive when their mental and physical wellbeing are supported. Engage with and observe staff: What restful activities are they drawn to and where do they occur? The key is to be intentional and keep an open mind when implementing new procedures and configurations. An office “rest ambassador” that champions the power of rest can provide a supportive link between staff, leadership and the design team. Extend opportunities to rest outside the workplace. Promoting restful activities outside the workplace can be beneficial, while encouraging the importance of rest in the community. Cabanas or benches underneath a tree can offer joyful, calming places for respite. Outdoor public spaces with immersive media experiences that feature customizable nature scenes and sounds from around the world can bring the powerful benefits of nature to an urban city block. These scenes can be tailored to adjust to different times of day, seasons, holidays or visitor preferences. In addition, inspirational slowdown routes or scenic “hikes” that reconnect employees and visitors with the purpose and mission of an organization can re-energize and inspire. For example, restorative, landscaped paths lined with scented plants like rosemary, jasmine and honeysuckle can create moments of rest. They can also be strategically placed at arrival and exit zones and even transform the experience of walking through a parking lot from car to building, bus stop, or drop-off area. Provide active rest zones to restore and rejuvenate. Rest can be an active and extroverted experience. Areas that allow teams to unplug together can offer unique ways to collectivity unwind, connect with colleagues and perhaps even learn a new skill. For example, sound-proofed music rooms — outfitted with a piano, guitars and drums — can enable staff to come together to create uplifting music that enhances cognition, lowers stress and even improves the immune system. In addition, maker spaces and art studios can also provide opportunities for teams to transfer the creative energy of a soothing hobby into innovation-building and problem-solving at work. Furthermore, multi-purpose areas or conference spaces can transform into areas for calming group meditation, breathing exercise and yoga stretches with flexible furniture that can be stored away when needed, customizable circadian lighting and built-in speakers with peaceful music. Furniture selections in these spaces could be cleverly tailored to successfully support the dual functions of collaboration and leisure with the ability to change from formal, upright table-side postures to softer, lounging postures. These informal postures can help people feel more relaxed and better able to share ideas. Offer calming respite spaces for positive passive distractions. Peaceful areas in the office to engage in low-key activities can provide employees much needed opportunities to recharge from the stressors of the day. These spaces can also allow the mind to wander, helping people reflect on bits of information or problems in the background while engaging in other low-demand activities. The best ideas can present themselves when they are least expected. To refresh the mind, these more introverted spaces can feature garden-like elements that provide the inherent calming benefits of nature. For instance, an indoor room filled with immune-boosting lavender, air-purifying snake plants and natural light — as well as views or access to outdoor green spaces and porches — can offer a meditative place to get away. These spaces could also feature the rejuvenating sounds of running water and gentle bird calls. In healthcare settings, Snoezelen rooms — multi-sensory rooms with gentle lighting, relaxing sounds, soothing scents and tactile materials — have become popular not only as therapeutic offerings for patients, but also as restorative relaxation environments for staff. These sensory experiences aren’t limited to dedicated rooms of course. They can also include napping zones with comfortable high-backed chairs at the end of a hallway to extra-long window seats in stair landings, both providing relaxing places to reset and reflect. In Google’s South Lake Union workplace, rest in the office is an important component, from a circadian-lit “treehouse” to a jellyfish lounge with dimmed lighting. Finally, consider implementing a range of workplace setups, from the simple to the advanced. The strategies discussed above can be designed at three levels: Simple. The easiest to implement with changes to behaviors, culture and technology. Medium. Is more robust and increases effectiveness not only through changes to behaviors but strategies to “green up” the space and adjust furniture. Advanced. Provides the maximum benefit with additional spaces and programs that support all aspects of rest. For example, the hallway napping niche discussed earlier could expand into a dedicated napping zone that supports multiple senses. This could include a designated room in the office with a lounge chair, sound-reducing materials, gentle lighting and cooler temperatures. Rest has never been considered a critical work mode but it should be. Society is learning that humans, when tired and stressed, do not bring their best ideas to work. The workplace design strategies that support productive rest outlined above can boost wellness and productivity — essential to an organization’s long-term success.