How do we want our workspace to be designed?
How will we value work in the future?
How do we improve working lives for everybody?
These were some of the things we were asking as we embarked on our first event as A+E, organised by the impressive Enabled by Design to bring practitioners together for a new look at the aging and disability debate. Whether it’s our homes, our workplaces, our products or our technologies, instead of designing special ‘stuff’ for those with access needs (and which often looks grim, let’s face it), Enabled by Design says: can’t we just make sure we’re designing great stuff for all? For more on Universal Design principles, head over here.
A+E were invited to facilitate the session on the Future of the Workplace, a subject very close to our hearts. As we work with organisations to keep them adapted and ahead of trends, it would be stupid for us NOT to care about this area given change is happening rapidly. We’re particularly interested in post-retirement earning, and what needs to happen to better enable those 60+ to earn money. On their own terms.
We know that the situation is still pretty dire when it comes to older and disabled people in the workplace. But before zooming in on the obstacles, we started by looking at some of the big questions we’re all facing in our relationship with work, before going into groups to talk about what everyone thinks. We were really lucky to be joined by Catriona Watt, an employment lawyer with Fox Laywers, and John Williams, who’s just written a book called Screw Work, Let’s Play: How to do what you love and make it pay.
Here’s where you can find out about John’s book including a free sample chapter giving the download on how our formats of working are changing.
Here are Catriona’s slides from event day [NB. This is a general account of the law as it currently stands. It is always best to seek legal advice for specific queries]:
And here are our slides, which also include summaries of the groups discussions that followed:
Some really important things emerged here, which we offer up as challenges which need looking at some more:
1. Those cool offices in San Francisco with collapsible meeting rooms and zen meditations pods? Great, love ‘em. What about your average small business over here, in Cornwall, Scunthorpe or Watford? Because most employers in the UK are small businesses and they can only do little things on the cheap. So what can we do? Better lighting? Look at the way desks are configured? Put wheels on our tables? We remember hearing about fascinating piece of research that a calligrapher carried out with Xerox: when a workplace swapped from wheely-chairs to those without, colleagues stopped turning to each other to check things and communicate, which then had a huge impact on productivity. It’s the small changes that make a difference.
2. Flexi-working, remote working and virtual teams are often setups we aspire to, particularly when thinking about engaging and retaining older and disabled workers who find 9-5 in a physical space more challenging, but what are the repercussions? Something really strong came out: people get lonely working alone, no matter how many Basecamp accounts you’re a part of. How do we create the watercooler when we’re all dispersed? John Williams pointed out #watercoolermoments, a virtual daily gathering on twitter for home-based entrepreneurs, started by Enterprise Nation.
3. We’re still stuck in time-based valuations of an employee’s contribution. Ok, so we don’t want to go to 100% commission deals, that’s overboard, but if an experienced 70 year old can achieve in two hours what a 30 year old needs two weeks to do, and can only work a few hours a week, surely that works out well both sides? Maybe we need more results-based reward, something that Seth Godin explores in his new book, Lynchpins. Maybe it’s about new contractual relationships that connect the best of freelancing with payroll.
All complex, but there are ways through here. If you know of any great projects that are improving the way work works, leave a comment or get in touch – we’re keen to keep the conversation going, and will share interesting ideas via the blog.
