On design and workplace strategies:
As an MNC with a global presence, Microsoft has conceived several large-scale office campuses. While their success deeply is reliant on social engagement, interaction, and productivity, what are some of the core principles that the company follows for its built spaces?
John Bowden (JB): The design principles at Microsoft align with anything that can contribute to productivity. The choice of workplace types, within the premises, is adapted to support different work requirements during the workday – this varies from open and reconfigurable zones, to acoustically or visually-private spaces. The aim is to encourage mobility and barrier-free access by giving employees the freedom and not limiting them to one assigned space.
Riku Pentikäinen (RP): We (Microsoft) spend a lot of time and resources to determine what makes our employees productive and satisfied in the workplace. For example, We look at how productivity attributes such as the amount of code, quality of code, and speed of code vary in connection to different physical spaces and then turn this knowledge into our workplace guidelines. In terms of the core principles for engineering workplaces, we believe in providing a sufficient amount of support space that allows concentration, customisation, and overall flexibility of the workspace. We do not believe in vast, “factory hall” type open spaces, but rather in the importance of teams sitting together so that what they overhear is directly linked to the work their team is doing.
How does the nature of work impact the interior landscape of offices? What are some of the fundamental aspects taken into consideration when conceptualizing workplace design?
Jagwinder Mann (JM): Interior design plays a critical role in including cultural aspects that create a sense of belonging and make one feel proud of the century-old Indian art forms. The concept amplifies the convergence of one’s attachment to the region/nation with technology and modern workplace designs. Multiple space variations provide employees with several options to choose from, thereby creating a sense of freedom within the workspace. Some of the other fundamental aspects are adding biophilia, especially air-purifying plants, improving visual connectivity, and providing recreational areas, this helps make work fun and also lets inhabitants of the building relax.
JB: Work is personal and, simultaneously, collaborative. It is no longer enough to provide rows of open desks, a handful of meeting rooms, and private offices for senior management. Planning the right look-and-feel, making provision for flexible furniture and spaces, minimising corridors, maximising daylight, etc, – each of these aspects plays a very crucial role in an office space design.
RP: While there are subcategories, for most parts we split the workplace guidelines between software engineering, hardware engineering and sales. Both of our engineering workplaces are based on the notion of a team and ensuring that the team remains connected while having acoustical privacy from other teams. While the solutions look different, we focus on allowing a level of customisation for both the teams as well as the individuals. The input to the research does not purely come from observational and analytical research, but we also build mock-ups and bring teams of engineers to comment, and accordingly evolve the concepts prior to introducing it into our workplace program.
Microsoft offices (in India) are an agglomeration of a diverse workforce – be it their culture, working patterns, preferences, etc. How does the company seek to establish a balance within its workplace to address and accommodate this diversity?
JB: Each generation of new workers has differing expectations. Microsoft invests in detailed research into what future generations of the workforce will expect and recognises the fact that what might suit sales might need to be different for customer support, software, or hardware engineers. The company also recognises different needs by gender, physical ability, and other employee preferences to create as Inclusive an environment as we can.
RP: On a global level, we have created a global design language for the exteriors and interiors of our offices. The aim of the design language is to strike a balance between being locally relevant and globally aligned. We aim at making all our offices feel like Microsoft while looking locally relevant.
What are Microsoft’s approach and direction in defining “What is the future of the workplace”?
JB: We look within our own work environments and beyond our own offices. We invest heavily in research teams within Microsoft, who develop new directions through external consultants, universities, focus groups and surveys. We also keep in touch with global workplace futurists and manufacturers of office equipment, who are also keen to know what future office needs would be. The design team runs pilots globally to test the potential of new workplace environments and technology, and upon completion, we also test each office to compare pre- and post-occupancy staff responses. We recognize that one solution does not fit all, that people expect different things in different countries, and that the future can change in an instant (COVID) and that we need to quickly and effectively adapt when that happens.
RP: We also start looking at how behavior is changing in schools, how children are learning and working together differently, and interview potential future Microsoft employees from grade 1 to University students, along with having constant engagement with our own engineering teams. On top of this, we overlay what we know through our research and what we believe to be possible from a technology perspective in the future to form our future vision.
The company intuitively connects the brand and its culture. Can you elaborate on the “interlink”?
RP: Historically years ago, prior to developing our Microsoft Design Language for space, We were creating great-looking offices, but they didn’t really have much to do with one another, there was no “red thread” between them − so while locally relevant, it also feels like a Microsoft workplace to ensure that sensation of “togetherness”, which is essential to support our company culture.
Technology and intelligent spaces have not only been shaping but also have been constantly transforming the workplace environment. Being a tech giant itself, how is Microsoft reining in its control in this domain?
JB: ‘Reining in’ suggests limiting digital transformation. We would never do that. Keeping up with technology developments and adapting them to our needs takes time. This involves selecting the optimal tools from a huge variety that are developed across the world or building our own. We have large teams working only on that, making our workdays more hassle-free, improving our building management automation, improving communication, collaboration, enabling mobility, etc. Our MS Cloud technology makes all this possible, secure, and manageable.
RP: We look to build our physical and digital environments together, so it is a seamless experience vs. building the digital on top of the physical. Project by project we are getting better at it and what makes it intriguing is that as technology evolves at a faster pace, you continuously need to adapt to the new digital solution. We want to ensure that our workplaces are also ‘showcases’ for digital transformation in the physical workplace − enabling both customer demos and employee satisfaction and productivity.
On COVID-19 Impact on workplace design & managing the facilities
The industry is now witnessing differing reviews about open floor planning. How has the company been responding to the evolution of the open office space in your schemes?
JB: This debate is not a new one; it has been running since the 1930s when mass-offices first started to develop. MS has not supported the basic ‘open office’ concept for many years. In moving away from assigned closed offices ten years ago our Intelligent Workplace concept has always recognised the need to provide workplaces that might be in an open zone but with neighbourhood subdivisions, human-scaled spaces and particularly the addition of alternative closed or semi-enclosed spaces that anyone can use either ad-hoc or through pre-booking. This adds to our floorplate area requirements but is essential for productivity. We provide almost as many seats in closed or semi-enclosed workspaces on a floor as we do assign or standard mobile-worker desks. Post COVID-19, of course, we expect that the proportions of open and enclosed spaces may change as mobility, WFH and other staff preferences become known.
RP: By allowing more space per individual than what you regularly see in the market, it already helped us to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19. Having elbowroom in our planning also enabled us to re-layout our spaces without losing too much capacity. Beyond it we have placed a lot of focus on our service/cleaning levels and ensuring employees feel safe in their work environment.
How is the Covid-19 pandemic impacting office design and its effect on the future of work? What are we learning about the role of design in the current corona virus outbreak?
JB: Microsoft Research teams are still assessing the impact of COVID on the workplace. Since so many offices globally are still not fully functional it is unrealistic to predict exactly what will work best when people do eventually return after almost a year of working differently. MS has introduced Hybrid Workplace solutions to accommodate what we have heard so far but data collection can only be completed, and new directions tested once people return to work and can respond on any new directions that might work better for them than the old ones did. We do expect changes, but thorough research needs to support or modify the assumptions that employers have had to make in the short term. Luckily, we have the Microsoft Workplace Research Teams to do that.
Technology is changing the future of facility management. How is Microsoft combining the competence of man with technology to enhance operational delivery and employee satisfaction?
JM: A warm welcome by a robot versus a smile by the receptionist cannot be compared. Technology will play a key role, but human touch and services will continue to play a pivotal role in enhancing employee satisfaction. The feel of having flowers that bloom in springtime at the office counters will enhance each experience and will also be perceived differently.
JB: A balance of man and machine is needed. Technology allows us to improve the way our buildings are operated, save on power and water, be more sustainable and environmentally responsible, enable the differently-abled, measure occupancy in real-time, inform how space is being used so that we can provide more of what is needed and reduce what is not. It also speeds up the process of daily business and maintenance operations, reduces maintenance, manages waste, and increases security, almost all of which is invisible to the average occupant. Although generally unaware of how technology is making their days easier, we are enabled and more productive because of it.