Motivate My Office

I’m currently reading “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” and the premise is that we are moving away from an externally motivated culture (i.e. the carrot and stick) to a more internally motivated culture that wants to be engaged by our work, wants to feel like it matters and wants to collaborate with our coworkers. (Please accept my apologies Mr. Pink for not doing your book justice in this brief synopsis.) This change is evident in office leasing in a number of ways.

• Space Layout: – One of the most obvious changes is the move to more open designs of office space. I don’t mean the trend towards great open floor plates jammed with a sea of cubicles. I mean the move away from perimeter offices to low cubicles in well-lit areas with walls for break-out rooms and meeting rooms constructed in the internal areas of the office suite. This creates a more collaborative environment.

• People Space: Office designs are incorporating more “people space” for conversation, breaks and meals. In the past, this was unproductive space; but the trend continues to move towards creating comfortable space for people to congregate.

• Casual Feel: The demand for “brick and beam” space with wood beams and exposed brick is an indication that this isn’t your dad’s office. It is hard to argue with “cool”. This type of space represents the antithesis of being a cog in the corporate machine. It engages employers, employees and clients.

• Industry Divisions: Older industries tend to lease more traditional office space, younger industry sectors tend not to.

• Green Space: As I mentioned in a previous post, outside livable space is becoming more important.

• Environmental Footprint: People and companies not only want to do good work, they want to “do good” so expanding their environmental concern to the workplace is a natural extension of what people are already doing in day-to-day life. As corporations have moved to align their corporate social responsibility with that of their employees and customers, the space they inhabit is reflecting those changes.