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Workplace Strategy

Workplace Strategy (wûrk pl s str t -j ) n is defined by Savage as:

"The dynamic alignment of an organization’s work patterns with the work environment to enable peak performance and reduce costs."

The key role of the workplace strategist is to understand the organisation's requirments and recommend a workplace solution that will help them meet their current and future needs. The workplace strategty may facilitate meeting business objectives such as: reducing property costs, improving business performance, merging two or more organisations/cultures, and relocating or consolidating occupied buildings. In more simple terms, the workplace strategy provides a response to either running out of space, having too much space, or wanting to introduce organisational change. The workplace strategy and its implementation quite often occur at an opportune moment such as a property lease break or a company merger or aquisition. In the UK. the workplace strategy is oftenassociated with the Royal Institute of British Architects Plan of Work stages A and B [1]

The proposed workplace strategy will focus on how to use the space more efficiently and effectively. Recommendations often include moving from cellular (predominantly private office) environments to open plan, or introducing new ways of working and moving to a flexible or agile working environment, as first proposed by Frank Duffy (architect). Flexible working is where the occupants have acccess to a range of work settings, including working at home or on the move, but also share workstations, often referred to as hot desking or the related hotelling. An easy to follow review of workplace strategies is proviced by Eley and Marmot .

Recently, the National Centre for Partnership and Performance in Ireland has established a National Workplace Strategy NWS defined as:

"the Government's blueprint to help transform Ireland's workplaces into Workplaces of the Future, by promoting greater levels of partnership-led change and innovation in our places of work, regardless of size or sector. As Ireland continues its economic and social transition to a knowledge-based economy and society, the Strategy’s underlying premise is that all companies and organisations can achieve improved performance and an enhanced quality of working life by improving their capacity to manage change and innovation within the workplace."

Research is currently under way by the GSA to test the impact of workplace stategies, desgn and new technologies on business performance [2].

Workplace strategies tend to be developed by specialist workplace consultants or the service may provided from within an architectural practice. Savage notes that

"The successful implementation of a workplace strategy requires an interdisciplinary team, internal and external to the organization ... A workplace consultant may be retained to engage the team, help define success criteria, manage the process, and assess results."

External workplace consultants are professionals from a number of backgrounds: interior design and architecture, building surveying, real estate and facilities management, human resources and building research. Workplace Consulting is a growing profession, see for example Workplace Consulting Organisation or CoreNet's Workplace Community or Workplace TV.