A recent New York Times article reported a growing trend of companies transforming their pantries into sleek social kitchens in an effort to foster employee collaboration. Think about how Starbucks has become the virtual office for many business people. This got us thinking about how environment plays a role in employee communications.
Brands provide tactile experiences. They affect the senses. Think about how environment plays a role in that tactile experience. Now think of how a corporate environment could reflect its brand. How do internal branding elements play into the overall employee engagement experience? Does the environment intentionally or unintentionally send messages? What kind of signage do you see? What’s the color palette? Are there open spaces for collaboration? Consider executives’ office locations. Some companies’ executive offices are all in the same wing while other companies embed their execs within their respective departments.
While companies might say engagement is a top priority, often times their office spaces send the opposite message. Seas of cubicles with scattered closed-off conference rooms are a mainstream of corporate America. They are the medium for this (often unintentional) message: “We don’t want your stinkin’ ideas!” They stifle inspiration and creativity.
We’re not advocating corporations shell out wads of money to give their office spaces extreme makeovers. Maybe there are small steps to take. What can employee communicators do to chip away at the office space walls? How can we regularly integrate physical settings into our communications strategies and make our environments work in our favor?