Summary

Employee engagement is a serious bottom-line issue. It fuels organizations during times of economic growth and, more critically, when market conditions are uncertain and volatile. Many business leaders don’t realize how significant the problem is. The Steelcase Global Report found that more than one-third of workers in 17 of the world’s most important economies are disengaged and another third are somewhere in the middle, not working against their companies, but not driving business results either.

Luckily, this study also uncovered a strong positive correlation between employee engagement and the workplace. The data show that workers who are highly satisfied with various aspects of their workplace also demonstrate higher levels of engagement.

These findings led to two important design principles that can help organizations create resilient and cost-effective workplaces that address the issue of employee engagement. First, design for the wellbeing of people with solutions that support the physical, cognitive and emotional wellbeing of people. Secondly, give people choice and control over where and how they work, by creating an ecosystem of spaces that provide a range of privacy, posture and presence solutions.

An ecosystem of spaces enables an organization to be more resilient. It uses real estate more efficiently and cost-effectively, making it easier for organizations to experiment with different types of spaces and evolve the workplace over time.

For more details on designing for engagement, visit Resilient Workplace.