Here’s a secret that accounting and financial consulting firms can let you in on: growth and new offices don’t always mean more real estate and higher costs. It’s true! These industries have been evaluating their workplaces and culture significantly over the years.
Office work culture is continuously adapting and now roughly 80% of US companies offer employees flexible work arrangements. Four drivers that all companies should consider when changing their workspace are:
- Financial – How to right-size real estate and facility costs? It is not always a reduction in RSF.
- Physical – How can the business manage rapid growth when the growth outpaces physical space available?
- Cultural - How can the workplace become more engaging, supporting the exchange of knowledge and a collegial environment? Many companies have great cultures, but their space does not support it.
- Recruiting - In terms of attracting and retainment of talent, how can the workplace help with the talent race and offer a vibrant environment to engage their employees.
The national consulting/accounting firm EisnerAmper, LLP is a perfect example of this. As office leases have expired the firm has been examining industry changes, degrees of mobility, and how their multi-generational workforce spends their day. FCA workplace experts have led the charge in aligning goals along with change management activities in the design of their offices in MetroPark, NJ; Philadelphia; San Francisco; and, most recently, New York City. EisnerAmper is implementing its first desk reservation system in NYC where they have over 700 employees. San Francisco led the way in 2018 with a pilot project that introduced a new workplace; the people-centric and transformative design goals of which was led by the local leadership and executed by FCA. In NYC, a fully unassigned workplace is under construction. Large service line departments are converted/dispersed into more intimate neighborhoods where staff can reserve a desk for a day or a week. When not in use, unassigned partner offices are aligned to double as additional meeting spaces. Varying the seat leverage ratios allows the firm to repurpose space that is historically unoccupied 40% of the time into a rich mix of amenity and collaborative spaces for all to enjoy.
Clear communication within the organization is key to success. While moving from traditional 1:1 seating ratios can seem intimidating, tools such as online reservation systems and detailed attention to daily storage requirements help facilitate the change. Listening, learning, workshops, piloting, onboarding, and maintaining a continuous feedback loop with employees will ensure a well-received and properly designed workplace environment. The result of this continuous loop is a balanced workplace, fully able to adjust at any moment to the office’s needs.