Jon Barker looks at the part internal comms can play in helping to interpret and shape what people really want from their workplace

What’s your preferred type of office environment? Open plan? Hot desking? Or would you prefer to work from home? And how about the way you want to be informed and communicated with about the big office move? While some staff would be happy to raise their hands for questions with the MD in the breakout area, those more introverted personality types might be better engaged through a one-to-one with their line managers.

The reality for many companies is that the workforce’s rich tapestry of personalities and individual preferences are seldom observed. Yet decisions about where you are going to sit and how you are going to communicate with your colleagues are issues that affect millions of office workers every day.

According to business psychologists at OPP and workplace design expert KI, communicators are missing a trick here because the relationship between personality and office conditions can have a profound impact on employee engagement, wellbeing and productivity in the workplace. They surveyed 311 office workers, who each knew their MBTI personality type [See breakout box], to explore whether companies are doing enough to address this issue.

A key discovery of the research is that the link between work environment and satisfaction/happiness at work operates in a different way for extroverts and introverts. Introverts working in fully or partially open plan offices reported significantly lower levels of job satisfaction and happiness at work than extroverts working in the same environment.

This is interesting when considering the rise of open-plan office working, which has become popular in recent years largely because of cost savings. They have been built on the false premise that this type of environment enables communication and diminishes the negative effects of rigid hierarchies in organisations. On the contrary, the benefits are often outweighed by the negative effects of the open-plan environment, such as noise levels, distraction and lack of privacy.

John Hackston, head of research and development at OPP, says, “One of the things MBTI gives an insight into, particularly on sensing and intuition, is the sort of information that you respond to and prefer to receive, and also through thinking and feeling, the way you make decisions. Putting those two functions together can really give a clue as to what communication will be effective and persuasive for different types of people across the organisation.”

A big issue for many companies is that HR might be reluctant to collect the data. Jonathan Hindle, group managing director for EMEA at KI, says, “HR often focuses on raising employee engagement through means over which they have a direct influence – training, management structures, salaries, benefit packages. However, the physical environment itself can have a dramatic impact on the average employee’s day. Proximity of breakout and dining facilities, rooms to have confidential meetings or make sensitive phone calls, appropriate storage for personal or job-related materials, adjacency to amenities – these are just a few examples of elements of the physical environment that can help improve the worker experience.”

Hackston adds, “Silos have historically created barriers in terms of gathering data on employees and communication preferences. So you might have had HR responsible for one thing and facilities managers responsible for [another]... while communications specialists have been charged, often with incomplete data, with communicating the reasons why the company is doing certain things. It’s an unenviable task for the communicator if they haven’t got access to the right type of information.”

Internal comms practitioners often make the perfect champions for any workplace transformation, whether it’s integration following a company merger or an office-wide move. That’s why sourcing information on personality types and workplace preferences should fall under the domain of internal comms – especially if HR is reticent.

Rachel Miller, director of internal communication consultancy All Things IC, says, “It’s important for comms professionals to fully understand the realities of the workplace for employees. This should inform all comms activity and enable you to make smart choices around channels, distribution and feedback opportunities. It’s daft to dismiss data that could help your organisation thrive. I heartily encourage people to do their research and draw on other areas of specialism such as HR and psychology.”

Accurate data that will help to provide genuine insights into what employees want from their workplace is highly prized. Anything that will allow companies to, “Better understand the diverse needs of their teams in terms of their workspace”, says Hindle. “It goes without saying that one person’s ideal work environment might be another’s worst nightmare but a better understanding of who needs what can help [teams] to work together to get the right mix. This type of internal communication is essential to enrich the organisation as a whole, rather than data being held in silos.”

Financial services firm Societe Generale adopted this approach. Having gathered feedback from staff, the company discovered the need for more collaborative areas, quiet zones and small meeting rooms, as well as an unexpected love for sit-stand desks. Subsequent projects have seen a huge increase in the provision of these types of workstations.

Likewise, at mobile phone operator Three, the successful refitting of its contact centre in Glasgow pivoted on the company’s decision to communicate with a large section of the workforce to find out what employees really wanted. As a result it invested in innovative breakout spaces, a bespoke gaming area, an ‘Inspire Zone’ where employees can connect with technology and a ‘Nurture Zone’ where staff are encouraged to switch off from their smartphones.

The approach helped shift Three’s engagement score from 46% to 86%. Sean Jones, formerly head of property and corporate facilities management at Three, says, “We were able to deliver 92% of our employees’

wish list and that was a very powerful message. It demonstrated that we listened, understood and delivered what our people wanted in their workplace, as well as meeting our wider business objectives.”

It’s a case of HR, facilities managers and internal comms working together to engage the workforce and provide the feedback that will support employees. Monica Parker, founder of workplace strategy firm Hatch, says, “If internal comms has built trust through authenticity and transparency then it will be able to carry that through the workplace change. If it has historically lacked transparency, then it will have to work doubly hard to build the trust necessary to facilitate change. It is sometimes hard for internal comms departments to recognise that change is not comms. Comms is just one element of change – that’s why HR is also critical. Without the support of HR around new behaviours, comms is just a mouthpiece for a lift and shift solution.”

For internal comms practitioners then, it boils down to knowing more about who you are trying to communicate with. Arguably, the data collected around personality type and workplace preference provides another avenue for making that communication more effective.

As Miller says, “Equip yourself with knowledge, translate it based on the culture of your company, and then make changes and recommendations. It’s ok to make mistakes, but bring employees along that journey with you – office design should be an iterative process and, done well, it can produce outstanding results.”