Look and feel of a modern office

Picture this. You walk into the office in the morning, grab your laptop and head to the office bar or balcony where you get down to work. In this office, there are no designated work stations and everyone, including the general manager, sits wherever they choose.

You can work sprawled on the couch, and if you crave a private moment, there are sealed compartments that offer this privacy. No one questions what time you report to work, because here, deliverables, and not the number of hours clocked, is what matters. Interestingly, you are at liberty to have a drink at the bar—if that’s what stimulates your creative juices.

This is the future of the workplace, a dramatic departure from the traditional office set-up where workers in different departments sit in an open plan office, supervisors have labelled private cubicles and the company chief executive occupies the corner office. Here, furniture, type of equipment and privileges differ by rank, where senior employees have the best quality.

In the old-fashioned office set-up, interactions are also limited between specific people. The office plan influences who interacts with senior managers, when the interactions happen and for what reasons, usually in a top-down fashion.

Everyone frowns upon being in the boss’s office. This though is fast changing. The modern office format dismantles the conventional hierarchical layout, and instead emphasises freedom, flexibility and fun at work.

As the world of work fast evolves globally, managers and employers are having to reimagine the workplace, and to project future developments in response to the preferences of employees, especially millennials whose tastes are more erratic.

East African Breweries Limited (EABL) blazed the trail of the changing office plan landscape in the region when they recently launched a new office complex at their headquarters in Nairobi.
The fully automated space occupying three floors is characterised by agile sitting spaces of bar-like stools, cosy chairs and couches, working benches carved out of rustic wood, bars, kitchens, all accentuated by minimalistic yet vibrant décor of predominantly Afrocentric theme.

Its décor, lighting, somewhat eccentric furniture and sheer size all lend this space the look and feel of a giant restaurant. Staff engrossed in their smartphones and laptops cut the figure of patrons minding their business at an eatery. Only these are busy working.

“Our seating spaces are divided into personalised sections, open plan spaces with no barriers and those that encourage collaborative working. Based on what an employee wishes to do on any given day, they might want to use the various spaces differently,” she adds.

Radically transform
According to Otieno, the growing desire among professionals to telecommute, noting that when the workplace provides comfort and flexibility, this reduces the need to work from home.

“Creating and recreating the most desired setting for employees every day at work enhances their productivity,” she notes.

Isn’t this arrangement chaotic? And what limitations does it have? Is it possible to monitor if people are actually working?

“The automation allows an individual or a group to book a space real time. This effectively bars different groups from booking a space at the same time,” she says.

This feature also eliminates the common workplace occurrence where teams clash over extended use of conference halls.

On monitoring employees’ behaviour, she says: “The performance pressure is so high today. No one has the time to inspect when you come in, where you sit or how you’re dressed,” Otieno observes.

“Sway in your seat as much as you want. At the end of the day, you must deliver,” she says, noting that EABL has hard metrics to ensure that people deliver results.

“Our goal was to make our employees happy. There is a performance dividend when you work with happy people,” she says.