The PCA Skin sales are generated through outbound sales and inbound support calls, positions that are hard to attract, train, and retain qualified staff. We created a business/facilities strategy that generated measurable improvement.
The conversation went something like this: me: We may need to fill in with some furniture from Ikea to hit the budget. Client: Ha! I am hoping to upgrade to Ikea! I laughed because sometimes, that is just so true! When you are in start up survival mode as a business, you are at the bottom levels of Maslow’s hierarchy. You can’t really afford to care about looks and if you hire an architect to help with your space, it is only because you have chosen a business or space where by law you have to have a permit. Your […]
Research shows that people are better at conceptual thinking under high ceilings and better at decision making and execution under lower ceilings. Think furniture stores where you can imagine your entire house with new furniture under high ceilings and then are guided to a counter under dropped lights or lowered ceiling alcove to select the fabric for the sofa and sign the purchase agreement. What does that mean for office design? Different job descriptions? Different tasks? Different departments? Research shows that you are significantly more likely to launch a social relationship with a stranger each time that you run into […]
I work with a variety of companies, helping them negotiate the changing physical landscape of today’s workspace. With my more conservative clients, it is almost predictable that at some point in the process someone will bring up the slide at Google’s offices. It is something that they use to illustrate the excesses of the new “play at work” landscape, something that is a perfect illustration of dumb design trends and definitely something that they do not want. No slides. This week I had the opportunity to talk to a senior level Googler and asked, ” so, what is with the […]
I have seen a number of interesting discussions debating employee freedom vs the importance of building an office culture through proximity. What bothers me about that is the “vs” part….why not both? The basic assumption of the “vs” argument is that if you want proximity you have to force it and that just isn’t true. Retail and Hospitality have long used the physical space and programming to draw people to them. As the freedom of choosing when and where to work moves from employer to employee, the design of offices need to focus on providing the amenities, look, and feel […]