Beyond the Workplace Zoo

I can’t believe my last blog post was around Xmas time last year, where has the time gone? But it doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing, just through a different media. My own lockdown baby came in the form of a new book: Beyond the Workplace Zoo: Humanising the Office. It was published two weeks ago with a cosy book launch last week and its official airing at Workplace Trends yesterday.

It has been over 20 years since my last “proper” book, Improving Office Productivity. A book I co-authored with Paul Bartlett, who sadly passed away last year. Paul’s views on office economics and productivity paved the way for much of my thinking in the new book – his humour and candour are deeply missed.

Beyond the Workplace Zoo captures my thoughts, ideas and advice on office design based on over 30 years as a practicing environmental psychologist – 11 years as a human factors researcher and 23 years as a workplace consultant. The first half of the book draws on often forgotten or overlooked, but nonetheless fascinating and relevant, research in psychology and related disciplines relevant to office design. The second half presents my proposed workplace solution, a revived and revised version of Bürolandschaft, combined with the Action Office and Free-range Office, that I term the Landscaped Office. In addition to numerous psychological theories, I have integrated biophilic design and activity-based working into my ideal workplace.

The summary I presented at yesterday’s conference was:

• 
  The office is an enabler not a cost burden – balance wellbeing and performance against cost and space.
• We are all one species but very different animals – offer freedom, flexibility and the choice of work-settings as well as environmental conditions, avoid homogeneity.  
• Design for the range (of humans) not the average – office space and environmental standards based on the average do not reflect the needs of most occupants.
• Embrace our individuality and diversity – accommodate individual (psychological, personal and physical) needs.
• Office design is non-binary – implement the Landscaped Office rather than pure open-plan or enclosed offices.
• De-densify the office – especially post-pandemic, add some partitioning and break-up the space.
• Spread the news – read and review Beyond the WorkplaceZoo.

Find out more about my new book here. I look forward to your comments and reviews.