Workforce Geology – How Employee Stratification Impacts Workplace Design
As a traditional geologist will research and analyze the stratification of rock and sediment to learn about the earth and its resources, a human resources professional, or workforce geologist as I see it, should do the same when it comes to the design, planning, and construction of an organization’s workplace.
Like the way different layers of rock and sediment tell a story about the earth, or define certain events either past or present, the same can be said for the individuals that make up a company’s workforce. Employees can be viewed as “layers” within the company, each with his or her own story to tell based on their own personal traits, characteristics, and experiences. In addition, each employee brings to the workplace their own needs, wants, desires, and expectations of their employer and the physical environment in which they work. So, the more a human resources professional, as well as others within a company (i.e., real estate and facilities, marketing, etc.), can identify and understand the layers (employees) that make up the company, the better equipped and designed the workplace will be to support each employee and facilitate the work that needs to get done from day to day.
When identifying, researching, and analyzing employees, most human resources professionals will focus on the most obvious of all – age or generation. Starting in 2019, Gen Z individuals, those born between 1997 and 2012, began to enter the workforce and, with that, a company could realize as many as five generations of people in their workforce (Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y/Millennials, Gen Z).
With each generation comes a preference for how and where to conduct work, socialize, collaborate, use technology, be managed, etc., and as much of this as possible should be taken into consideration when designing a new or renovated workplace.
For example, on average, Baby Boomers prefer to work independently and in more quiet settings, whereas Millennials prefer more collaborative work and don’t mind ambient noise as much. How does the workplace enable this? Gen X individuals are comfortable talking on the phone in front of others, whereas Gen Z individuals prefer not to. What does this mean for the layout of offices or desks? While the list of generational differences and preferences can run far and wide, this is not the only layer that should be considered when it comes to workplace design and strategy.
Another stratification can be based on personalities. While as many as 16 different personality types can be found within an office setting, a human resources professional could start with just two: introverts and extroverts. Because each of these personality types has a preferred or different way to collaborate, socialize, manage, be managed, conduct their work, etc., this too should be taken into consideration when designing a company’s workplace. For example, if an organization or department is made up of mostly introverts, maybe there is less need for social space or certain amenity space, or the layout of desks can be configured in a certain way to appease these individuals.
Beyond age/generation and personality, there is a third layer to consider, which is based on the neurological differences between people, or neurodiversity. Here companies are realizing that not every employee is wired the same and while some individuals might like working in bright, well-lit conditions, others might be more comfortable in a low-light setting. Same with ambient noise. Some employees can work in a setting with noise in the background, while others prefer silence. Here too, a company can make the workplace that much more effective and conducive to work in as this layer is given the attention it deserves.
While the workforce is comprised of these and other layers (e.g., gender, culture, religion, physical disability, etc.), there is one more layer to consider which might not be so obvious, the functions or departments within the company. For instance, the employee make-up of the sales department will be different than the accounting department, the technology department will be different than the marketing department, and so on.
As a human resources professional acts as a geologist and studies the various layers of employees within a company, the goal to keep in mind is how best to design and construct a workplace environment that promotes employee comfort, engagement, flexibility, and satisfaction. It’s also just as important that the workplace is designed to effectively support and facilitate the interactions and collaborations which are necessary for individual and/or group creativity and innovation to thrive.
Although most companies would have the capability and capacity to conduct the type of research and analysis mentioned above, in some instances it might be useful to partner with an architect or designer which focuses on workplace, because they know how best to translate needs, wants, desires, etc., into the finished product. Also, workplace architects and designers know how best to incorporate time-tested best practices and other types of research-based information and findings (e.g., wellness, sustainability, etc.) into a design.
Lastly, by studying the stratification of the workforce, human resources professionals can also use this information to determine how best to manage the change which employees will experience as they move from old workplace to new.
Roger Marquis, AIA Associate, Business Development Director
