Impact of Facilities on Effectiveness at Workplace

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The ‘Effectiveness at workplace’ starts with attracting best in class talent. One cannot attract best in class talent without having facilities that satisfy their needs. When a new employee joins an organisation, the first impression is formed by the facilities at the workplace. The employees feel proud to be working in a modern building with impressive landscaping and modern amenities. It’s the overall workplace experience of an employee that determines the Willingness to Work and continue in an employment. 

The ‘Effectiveness at Workplace’ framework consists of three critical factors that determine the effectiveness of a person in performing a task at personal or professional level. The ‘Ability to Work’ , ‘Willingness to Work’, ‘Work Environment’  and the ‘Process’ are further expanded in separate articles. The Environment, Process, Facilities, and Tools & Equipment act as enablers for effectiveness at the workplace. This article focuses on the impact of Facilities on Effectiveness at Workplace.

The work environment consists of physical, emotional, and business aspects. The physical environment has a hard component and a soft component. In the article ‘Impact of Work Environment on Effectiveness at Workplace’ the focus is on the soft component of the physical environment that deals with aspects that affect our sensory comfort and feelings about the workplace. The ‘Facilities’, which is the subject of this article,  is the hard component of the work environment, consisting of elements  such as buildings, roads, landscaping, utility, and other infrastructure. 

Facilities play a supporting and facilitating role to the core activities of an organisation and as such they are the facilitators or enablers of Effectiveness at Workplace. The supporting role is played by physical structures such as buildings, roads, utilities etc. and the facilitating role is played by elements such as parks, recreational facilities, and landscaping.

In most of the organisations the responsibility of managing the physical environment is that of the Facilities Management (FM) function. The scope of FM includes several responsibilities which may not be directly linked to the effectiveness of employees at the workplace and therefore, in our discussion the term ‘Facilities’ represents only the infrastructure that makes up the physical work environment such as buildings, roads, landscaping, utilities etc. 

In terms of amenities, until a few years back the facilities related decisions were primarily based on the monetary and business function considerations, from which a transition is taking place to make them more people centric. Yoga rooms, meditation centres, rooftop gardens, think rooms or ideation rooms, and outdoor workspaces are all considered part of modern workplace facilities.

Key features of effective facilities

The key features of facilities that impact the effectiveness of employees at the workplace are briefly discussed below.

Functional

To be effective, the facilities must be fit for purpose i.e. appropriate for the nature of business. The facilities established for an IT industry cannot be useful for an educational institution or for a manufacturing firm. They must be structurally fit to meet the functional needs and at the same time provide safety and security. 

The Facilities must be strategically located. Although there are various considerations for location and layout of the facilities, what we consider in our current context is the location for making employees effective in their work. The layout of the buildings must be in a logical order taking into consideration the workflow or the service flow. The support facilities such as warehouse, maintenance workshop etc. should be also located in such a way that they can provide services effectively with minimum time delay. In case the organisation provides accommodation to its employees, the location must be convenient for commuting to work, schools, healthcare facilities, and transport hubs. The layout of various elements of facilities within the premises determines the time taken for movement of men and material, smooth coordination between different functions and safety of personnel and property. Minimising travel time is indirectly adding productive time for the employees and also adding to their personal time for family and social needs, which are essential for enhancing Willingness to Work.

The facilities must be well maintained and regularly upgraded to meet the changing functional needs of business. The changes may be due to business expansion, adding new products and services, infusion of new technology, change in the level of automation, changes in legal and regulatory requirements, geopolitical changes  or even those resulting from climate change.

Based on the nature of business, the Facilities portfolio may include elements like conference venues, playgrounds, recreation facilities, medical facilities etc. Convenience of all the employees should be the prime consideration while locating these facilities. 

Support Wellness

The facilities must be able to promote and facilitate wellness of the employees. Wellness includes both physical and emotional.

A clean and hygienic workplace, restrooms and surroundings have a direct impact on the physical and mental health of employees and their Willingness to Work, which can reduce absenteeism and improve employee engagement. 

Natural lighting, pleasing colours, proper ventilation, noise control and locally controllable temperature and humidity are the contributory factors in providing workplace comfort which is essential for employee effectiveness. 

The buildings must be suitable for workplace diversity and people with disabilities with features such as braille signages and wheelchair friendly work spaces.

Breakout spaces are more and more sought out by the employees today; especially the younger generation;  to get a few moments of respite from the gruelling work or the boredom of the task. 

Residential units or accommodation is an important element of facilities impacting the willingness to work. While the workplace is important for the employee, the residential units are important for the employees and their families. Often the family members influence the employee’s Willingness to Work to a great extent and can have a profound impact on the employee’s behaviour and Effectiveness at Workplace.

The biophilic design is another aspect that has drawn the attention of the architects and facilities developers in recent times.  Inclusion of biophilic design in the facilities, both outdoors and indoors, impacts the perception of happiness of employees. Human beings are closely associated with nature. Developments such as skyscrapers and mega cities have imprisoned us in our own creations, cutting us off from nature. A trekking trip or a visit to nature reserves such as national parks, nature tourism places etc. rejuvenates a person like recharging a battery. Thanks to the recent advancements in this field, now architects and facilities developers have started to incorporate the concept of biophilic design to bring nature closer to the employees at the workplace. The elements of nature that are incorporated in the facilities design are natural air, natural flow of water, sounds of nature, simulated natural weather, plants and even animals. This closeness to nature makes employees more comfortable at their workplace and triggers a feeling of positivity and happiness, taking away the work stress and helping them focus on their work. The biophilic design of facilities has a clear and distinct impact on the emotional wellbeing of the employees. 

Personalised workspace is another aspect that is showing an upward trend in recent times. When we talk of the effect of Facilities on Effectiveness at Workplace, we need to realise that the effectiveness comes from individual employees and each employee is different. The standardisation of facilities is necessary for ease of management, maintenance and providing a sense of equality at the workplace. But for enhancing effectiveness, focus on individuality is essential. The steps at the entrance may be a norm for all employees, but the physically challenged need a ramp for the wheelchair. A feeding area is needed for mothers with young babies.The level of temperature that makes an employee comfortable varies and accordingly there’s a need for localised temperature control in workplaces. The standardisation of colours for example may be important from a branding perspective, but studies have shown that certain colours have a soothing and stimulating effect on the employees and help them in focussing on the work. However, the stimulation from colours depends on the age, gender, personality of the employees and the nature of work carried out. Some organisations have now started recognising this aspect and allow employees to customise the colours of their offices to enhance employee effectiveness.

Pet friendly workspace is another feature that is visible in several large organisations, especially in the IT industry, which is contributing to the wellness of the employees.  

Safe and Secure

The facilities must be safe and secure with features such as peripheral security (walls, gates, fences, crash barriers), inbuilt building security such as physical separation, explosion proofing in some instances, surveillance systems, access controls, vehicular controls, and intrusion detection. Periodical threat and risk assessments must be carried out and preventive and corrective actions implemented to address the risks and threats adequately.

The safety and security considerations of a workplace is always a balancing act between the accessibility and security. A fortress-like environment with too many access controls and security checks can easily put off employees and impact their effectiveness. While a feeling of security is important, that feeling should emanate from control of access to outsiders rather than putting too many restrictions on the internal movement of employees.

Facilitate social interactions and community building

Social interactions are essential both during the working hours and outside, which means that the social interactions must be encouraged and promoted at the workplace and at the living place. They all contribute to the wellbeing of the employees, their happiness and the Willingness to Work. 

Outside the workplace, especially when the organisation encourages community living and provides accommodation to its employees, the layout of the residential buildings, provision of parks and children play areas, provision of recreation facilities and the rules governing their usage etc. should aim at facilitating social interactions and community building. Enhanced social interactions are even more important at a workplace with diversity in age groups, nationalities, gender, economic strata, social strata, race etc. The employee engagement in such situations is more difficult compared to a homogenous workforce, but diversity is the norm and need of the day. 

The need for social interactions should always be balanced with the need for privacy and personal space at the workplace. This is a very delicate balance, that calls for need based personalization of the workspace to some extent.

Convenience

Some of the facilities, although not necessary from a functional perspective, provide convenience to the employees and thus contribute to their effectiveness. Childcare centres, cafeteria, canteen, shuttle and  internal transportation are some examples of such features.