For Millennials, the workplace is more important than the salary

In 2017, Gitte Andersen of SIGNAL examined how coworking concepts could support innovation in large companies. The presentation treated workplace strategy as the curation of experiences linking space, people and productivity. It framed organizational performance as the intersection of corporate, people and facility performance, and described space as a tool for changing how employees related, innovated and cooperated.

The deck traced a shift from work understood as a fixed place to work understood as an activity. It contrasted cellular and shared offices with activity-based environments extending into the city, then linked this spatial change to evolving forms of cooperation. Aggregated cooperation was associated with stable, repetitive settings; sequential cooperation with dynamic conditions requiring continuous adaptation; and mutual cooperation with coordination in action under unpredictable conditions. The latter was connected to greater emphasis on scrumming, diversity and connectivity.

A space-efficiency example compared 32 m² per person for working alone with 7 m² per person for co-sharing. The presentation also argued that jointly owned facilities could place more amenities together and that broader facility provision could support collaborative space. Its concluding message prioritized organizational outcomes and the curation of experience over the workplace as a location.

Key findings

• The deck traced a shift from work as a fixed place to work as an activity supported by activity-based environments and the city.
• Mutual cooperation was associated with unpredictable settings and an increased focus on scrumming, diversity and connectivity.
• The deck compared 32 m² per person for working alone with 7 m² per person for co-sharing.

Presented by Gitte Andersen, SIGNAL, at Coworking Europe 2017