In theory Global Workplace standards make sense for large organizations. You create a consistent real estate product that can be delivered quickly and efficiently. You can negotiate furniture contracts in advance and commit to certain volumes to lower prices further. Seems simple.
Reality shows that exceptions begin to grow quickly. First the headquarters gets its own standards – do your execs really want to be in the same 12 x 15 office as all the other managers? Then overseas the India teams get squeezed because you can’t get enough contiguous space for everyone so you have to go to the 5 x 5 workstations instead of the 6 x 6 or 6 x 8 everyone else is in. Suddenly the technology team wants an open concept and convinces someone to do it for them.
Your Global Standard is now so riddled with holes as to be no standard at all. It’s not even a firm recommendation.
Any process that allows multiple exceptions is not a process at all. This world is not one that can fit everyone into a nice little box. Cultures have their own unique work styles and needs. Different job functions can perform better with special equipment that doesn’t fit neatly in a global standard.
I’ll grant you that Global Standards sound great in a board room and look good on paper. But if they can’t actually be implemented they aren’t worth the effort and time spent putting them together.
Instead I’d like to propose the idea of the Flexible Workplace Standard. This standard starts by having the workplace being designed focusing on three points:
- Collaboration
- Concentration
- Community
If you can define how the workplace needs to support these three areas the design and requirements will create themselves. Having a selection of approved workstations and furniture that can then be selected to meet the workplace needs given the areas above will satisfy the cost saving and procurement needs that are driving the global standards.
1 thought on “Why global #workplace standards will never take off.”