WORKSPACE SOLUTIONS IN GOVERNMENT
Work is in rapid change. It’s more agile and collaborative in nature. For the first time, up to five generations are blended in the workforce at the same time. Teams join and disband as the organisation’s needs dictate. New demands are placed upon workspaces to meet targets, like occupational density. New technologies connect people in ways we couldn’t have imagined a decade ago.
Government agencies, like organisations across all industries, need to rethink the physical workspace to embrace these new ways of working and communicating. With the rapidly evolving ways of working, how can you use furniture solutions to support the productivity, wellbeing and engagement of your people?
Business Interiors (a brand of Winc) has the experience, product, team and insights to help you use flexible and intelligent furniture solutions to create a dynamic workspace.
BUSINESS INTERIORS’ CAPABILITY FOR GOVERNMENT
Working with Government day to day, Business Interiors understands the demands placed upon you during periods of change, such as Machinery of Government changes. Whatever the scale or space, we have the capacity and flexibility to deliver successful fitouts for these demanding schedules.
Business Interiors has delivered a range of successful furniture fitout projects for Government, including One Canberra Avenue. Actively using 30 years’ experience in the furniture industry across various sectors and environments, our team brings a unique breadth of skills, seamless service, thought leadership and local expertise to the table. We provide a broad range of services and activities, from sourcing, importing and consulting to product development and project management. Our team of Project Coordinators and Project Managers ensure every detail of our projects is delivered accurately, on time and to an exceptionally high standard.
CASE STUDY
ONE CANBERRA AVENUE
Business Interiors delivered a successful furniture solution for One Canberra Avenue, which is occupied by the Department of Finance and the Department of Human Services. We achieved 24,000sqm of premium sustainable office accommodation over five floors, incorporating a range of high end, quality designed, ergonomic and sustainable furnishings in open plan office space, formal and informal meeting spaces, and breakout areas.
THE WORKPLACE IN CHANGE
Workplace culture is being redefined. Government faces the relentless challenge to increase collaboration, information sharing, creativity, productivity and wellbeing – not to mention managing the upsizing and downsizing of employee numbers for projects.
To keep up with these shifts, your workspace design needs to stay flexible. You need to find ways to accommodate people to minimise disruptions to workflow during periods of change. Also, as five generations interact within the workplace, you need adaptive, agile workplace design that meet the needs of everyone.
Business Interiors can help transition you to a new style of working using tailored furniture solutions. Our goal is to strike a balance between Activity Based Working (ABW) practices, agile and flexible workplace design to suit your individual workplace needs.
THREE KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR A NEW STYLE OF WORKING:
1. Engagement
To foster engagement of your people, you need furniture solutions that don’t restrict the style of working. Rather, your people are empowered to choose where and when they work, whether it be at a workstation, collaborative hub, café style space, or focused working space. This approach has the added advantage of blending different people, experience and styles of thinking, which ultimately leads to more innovation.
2. Flexibility
A high level of flexibility is critical. You need to be able to respond quickly and effectively to rapid change in the workplace. For example, when people are needed on short-term projects, you can utilise spaces normally occupied as meeting rooms and collaborative spaces and rapidly convert them into workpoints. Not only will the types of furniture we select help you achieve this with ease, our short lead time and stocked ranges mean you can rapidly expand workpoints to accommodate churn.
3. Mobility
Furniture with a high level of mobility is increasingly important. Desking, tables, storage, room or area dividers; they all need the ability to be moved and altered bringing people, processes, connectivity and technology together. This improves space utilisation, reduces property costs and helps to meet the Government’s occupational density targets.
OPTIMISE WELLBEING
Employee wellbeing is a bottom line issue. When cognitive, emotional or physical wellbeing is optimised, organisations see increased productivity, creativity and problem-solving among employees. When wellbeing is compromised, the results are costly stress, disengagement and lack of productivity.
Providing the right furniture to address your specific concerns is where Business Interiors can provide insight to contribute to wellbeing, including:
Planning the Right Space
Designing a workplace for productivity starts with broader space planning. Look at the location of furniture placement in context with utilities, such as kitchens, bathrooms and café areas. By putting workstations some distance from these utilities, you can encourage greater levels of movement throughout the day. Increased movement directly impacts upon increased brain activity making for more productive focussed periods.
Acoustic Design
With the rise of open space environments, the right workplace acoustic design has become an imperative. People talking around us causes conversational distractions, which impacts productivity. Acoustic solutions (such as sound absorbent materials) on wall finishes and workstation screens can reduce the impact of noise from collaborative and café spaces on focussed work areas. To support complex knowledge work, many people seek out quiet places. That’s where Pod furniture can be introduced to provide both privacy and acoustic benefits, boosting the concentration of employees, and ultimately their wellbeing and productivity.
Ergonomic Design
Rethink ergonomic requirements across a range of furniture. For example, sit-to-stand desks can promote movement throughout the day and inspire a healthier way of working. Look to products that extend to higher maximums for very tall staff members.
Activity Based Working (ABW)
Use furniture solutions to create quiet rooms, meeting areas and collaboration spaces will facilitate ABW. Employees can choose to work in the area most appropriate for their task, whether that requires collaboration, learning, communication or focus. This can reduce stress, improve productivity and support your wellbeing agenda.
CHOOSING FURNITURE THAT’S FIT FOR PURPOSE
No two organisations are the same. Not even Government organisations. You need a workspace solution that is tailored to the way your people work, your goals and your needs. Business Interiors works with you to fully understand your complex needs and objectives, then we use our expertise to select products that are fit for purpose – your purpose. Finding the right solution may include samples and prototyping to ensure fit to the organisation’s long-term needs.
HOW IT WORKS
Your need
Multiple workstation configurations to be turned around quickly on demand.
Our solution
Workstations that can be moved into various configurations at speed. We can train your facilities managers to achieve a consistent design, or you can use our skilled technicians.
Your need
Flexible and static workspaces to accommodate various workstyles, collaboration and mobility needs.
Our solution
A range of static and flexible workspace products that utilise soft wiring to support fixed and mobile technology. Changes can be made by your facilities managers with training (except in Victoria and Queensland where an electrician is required).
Your need
Furniture for shift workers.
Our solution
We provide 24/7 furniture suitable to shift workers are also available with warranties to suit.
Your need
Storage for everything from hazardous goods to confidential documents.
Our solution
Freestanding storage caddies or lockers for optimum mobility, storage for highly secure applications or hazardous goods, and high-density storage solutions for organisations with significant documentation requirements.
Your need
Assurance that furniture will last, even with heavy use.
Our solution
Rigorous testing for all our products, including weight ratings for task chairs, quality testing such as AFRDI, and environmental certification requirements. Business Interiors also offers extensive warranties on products, such as task chairs and workstations.
WORKPLACE AS A SERVICE
Organisations can change quickly – perhaps none more so than Government. Changing employees, diverse and distributed teams, new projects and demands, and increasingly complex business needs. In this often-unpredictable environment, large investments, such as technology and furniture, become a risk. Instead, organisations need a responsive workplace that can be easily scaled up and down, adapted and evolved on demand.
Our ‘Workplace as a Service’ program is designed for this exact purpose. It gives you the freedom to pay for all your business products on a per month, per user basis. So, you no longer need to invest capital in the tools necessary to run your workplace smoothly. Instead, you can ensure your organisation and employees benefit from the most up-to-date furniture solutions without having to worry about a large capital investment. With a modern workplace design that is always fit for purpose, you can engage, empower and inspire people to always do their best work.
INDIGENOUS PARTNERSHIPS
Business Interiors, as a part of Winc, partners with charitable organisations that support the wellbeing and education of Indigenous young people. We have partnerships with Clontarf and AIME, the latter we support through a unique product range with all profits going back into AIME programs.
In 2010, we implemented our first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and were the first in our industry to make this commitment. Our goal was to create awareness and integrate knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and cultures, whilst also facilitating their secure economic independence by enhancing opportunities for education, gainful employment and partnership through supplier diversity. Building on its success, we are currently working on our fourth RAP to be implemented over 2018-2020.
