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ACTIU Berbegal y Formas, S.A.
Working spaces are key for promoting and boosting talent

Working spaces are key for promoting and boosting talent

DECEMBER 2016 | 3 minutes

Currently, space distribution and conditioning are considered to be an intangible asset as part of a company’s brand strategy. This is an interesting change when we recall that it wasn’t very long ago that when offices were renovated or a new branch was opened, the only objective was ‘reducing costs and optimising the space’.

In Actiu’s showroom in Madrid, Grupo Vía organised the Workplace Strategy: FM & Design workshop. Around a hundred professionals from Facility Management, design and architecture attended the event to debate on new needs of understanding working and how the agents involved can offer solutions in designing these new spaces.

In today’s day and age, the working environment is designed as a tool for attracting and retaining talent, for generating creativity, trust, well-being and thereby, increasing productivity. In fact, and according to what the Gensler US Workplace Survey study (2014) indicates, “90% of employees recognise that their attitude at work is adversely affected by the quality of their working environment”.

Concepts such as ergonomics, comfort, communication, flexibility and the decentralisation of work spaces are present when it comes to proposing the design of a place for working. Furthermore, “people are now at the centre of establishments and companies are looking to create more human offices – as seen in the recent cases of Abanca, Liberbank, Cepsa, Sabadell or Coca Cola - highlighting the importance of aligning different messages within the company and how the physical changes in the space contribute to cultural changes”, noted Óscar Fernández from Aguirre Newman, one of the participating firms. 

The DO-WE architects, Sandra Brenes and Silvia Rivela, workplace specialists, reflected on the new preferences in office design to offer diversity in space types. In an increasingly digital context, the analogue is endowed with the greatest importance. Users are given more freedom of choice – given that having control over our surroundings increases well-being and productivity. Spaces for innovation are also being generated. In this way and according to the Adecco research on work satisfaction and the key factors for achieving it, “96% of workers think that work satisfaction makes them more productive”.

Other companies who have been analysing the current situation and contributing their vision and strategies, are: EASAEDRO, Construcía, Aguirre Newman, Chapman Taylor, DEMO Arquitectura, B.O.D., Rafael de La-Hoz Arquitectos and Ortiz León Arquitectos. All of them pointed out a real trend towards more flexible buildings and ways of working that are more decentralised, as well as a change in client needs and a transformation in working environments and fittings. In the same way, they stressed the significance of creating cultural changes in business as a key for being able to motivate workers

Actiu, one of the sponsoring companies at this event, along with Tarkett and ABB/Niessen, recently presented their Cool Working Travel Guide, which identifies and precisely recognises all of these trends and practices debated in the Workplace Strategy: FM & Design meeting, as a reality which is steeply paving the way in designing new working environments.