Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 7, 1994 TAG: 9408110006
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By T.J. Becker Chicago Tribune
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Long
Such poor design is making the workplace a hindrance rather than a help, particularly in the case of gold-collar workers, the experts say.
Gold-collar workers, a term coined by Robert Kelley, a business professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, refers not to how much individuals are paid - although gold-collar workers often have high salaries - but to why they are paid: brain power.
Also called ``knowledge workers,'' gold-collar workers collect, analyze, create and disseminate information. And leveraging these ``intellectual assets'' requires the right environment, experts say.
``There's nothing worse than working in an office where nothing works right,'' said Peter Hoyt, design director at CUH2A, a multifaceted design firm in Princeton, N.J. Besides hurting productivity, ``it takes a psychological toll on these workers.''
Yet many companies don't recognize the connection between intellectual productivity and the physical workplace, Hoyt said.
Speaking in Chicago recently at NeoCon, a show attended by interior designers, architects and facilities managers, Hoyt warned that companies ignoring the physical design of the office will not be likely to achieve desired gains in efficiency.
Working in adverse conditions can mean anything from not having enough drawers to having poorly placed equipment and acoustics.
That's something to cause concern, because knowledge workers today encompass a broader range of people, including not just computer engineers and scientists, but investment bankers, educators, executives, even many sales people.
Experts estimate that gold-collar workers represent more than 25 percent of today's work force, a percentage that continues to grow.
Whereas designing for clerical and administrative personnel is a ``very ergonomic situation,'' with gold-collar workers, you need an environment that stimulates ideas and teamwork, said Melvin R. Schlitt, vice president of marketing for contract furnishings and new developments at Merchandise Mart Properties in Chicago.
Indeed, teamwork is emerging as a major theme among the gold-collar ranks. Knowledge workers, who once spent their time cloistered in an office ``being wise,'' are now out rubbing shoulders with each other.
Teamwork can be supported in a variety of ways: lots of whiteboard for collaborative brainstorming, an extra chair in offices or cubicles for team members to drop by, or conference rooms wired appropriately - outlets for laptops and screens for teleconferencing - so workers don't have to bring their technology with them.
Yet that's not to say privacy goes out the window.
Although gold-collar workers spend considerable time in teams, individual quiet time remains crucial for concentration. Studies show that when someone is interrupted, it takes up to 20 minutes to get back up to speed, office experts say.
``It's not an either/or situation. You need both,'' Hoyt stressed, referring to the Catch 22 between teamwork and individual space.
Robert Luchetti, head of his own design firm in Cambridge, Mass., calls the concept ``home bases and bullpens. He says the home base (private area) doesn't have to be expansive, just not ``claustrophobic'' for gold-collar workers.
Many office experts believe private space should be permanently assigned, which is why they are concerned about ``hoteling'' and other non-territorial design concepts.
Luchetti likes the idea of designing offices around a campus setting, much like schools, where workers have an assigned place, but move to other spaces as dictated by their activities. Work is not done in one place anymore, Luchetti points out.
Unfortunately, there's no cookie-cutter formula to achieve the ideal setting for gold-collar workers. Different firms and different people have different spatial needs. And needs may change over time, making flexibility all the more important.
Proximity is another concern for knowledge workers. Research has shown if people are more than 50 yards apart they tend not to interact with each other, Kelley said.
That's not particularly good news in a business climate where downsizing refers both to headcount and physical space. Yet, office experts offer some ammunition to throw back at the executive suite: poorly designed space that negatively impacts gold-collar workers costs money.
Case in point: at one company, gold-collar workers lost considerable time traveling between floors due to slow elevators - about 40 minutes a day per person, Kelley estimated - resulting in a weekly payroll waste of some $120,000.
If the company fixed the elevators, an estimated $1 million cost, they could have recouped the investment in about eight weeks.
Acoustics is one of the biggest stumbling blocks when designing for gold-collar workers, experts say. Overhearing conversations by accident is fine if the talk is from people on your team. But if noise comes from other sources, it's distracting.
Gold-collar workers also need lots of horizontal work space - ``parking areas for works in progress,'' Hoyt said - which serves as visual reminders of work to be done.
by CNB