CREJ - Building Dialogue - March 2016
As the federal government’s landlord, the U.S. General Services Administration maintains more than 377 million square feet of space. In the Rocky Mountain Region, GSA manages close to 20 million square feet of real estate in six states. Recently, our regional headquarters office at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood transformed its workspace into a model 21st century office. The new GSA office space features a complete open-office concept with a plethora of meeting and collaborative spaces, assigned/unassigned/hoteling seating options, a quiet zone, and two large social zones. The space represents how GSA does business and focuses on the importance of mission and people. It is about choice and flexibility, and it puts an emphasis on wellness through daylighting, mobility and variety. The space strives to provide a balance between private and collaborative options in an activity-based and zoned design. GSA has been looking at ways to improve and streamline the federal workspace for years. We’ve identified workplace solutions that are helping drive down cost, increase productivity and incorporate green office space elements. At our Lakewood headquarters office, GSA reduced its real estate footprint from 104,000 square feet to 55,000 square feet, creating 35,000 square feet of office space that will welcome new federal tenants in the building. The office supports 390 GSA employees now and we are achieving a per person utilization rate of 135 usable square feet. Rent savings exceeds $850,000 per year, with a projected payback realized in less than three years. GSA is using six factors to evaluate its success: • Create a place where people want to come to work • Provide a professional workplace • Encourage and support collaboration • Improve productivity • Produce energy savings • Improve the utilization of real estate Most federal agencies are faced with having to reduce their real estate footprint, doing more with less and saving money. GSA is responsible for delivering expert workplace solutions to other federal agencies and showcasing our own office helps customers better understand their options. We conduct tours through our workspace for mostly federal agencies but also for some private-sector organizations like the American Institute of Architects, Fentress Architects and Steelcase. Employee Engagement Our space was designed with our employees in mind. Engaged employees are key to any organization’s success, including ours. Benchmarking studies by research company Prosci have found that workplace projects with an effective change management component are six times more likely to meet their objectives and succeed. To help GSA employees transition into the new workspace, we developed a change management program that supported the regional culture and meets employee needs. The program involved a workplace survey, leadership engagement, manager and team lead engagement, employee engagement, and a comprehensive communication plan. Employees at all levels were able to engage in the project by participating in these activities. The results were that more than 75 percent of employees participated in the pre-occupancy survey; there was approximately a 90 percent participation in the engagement sessions; and 100 percent participation in “creating your workplace profile” – an opportunity for employees to tell the project team how they would work best in the new space. Project Challenges Individual storage space proved to be problematic. Employees claimed to need more than what they actually used. GSA in turn took the approach to identify short-, medium- and long-term storage options and employees will be encouraged to do one last purging at the completion of the project. Another challenge we faced was the logistics and organization of office supplies. Realizing that each office had its own cache of supplies proved challenging. GSA ended up creating a well-organized central supply room that is monitored and used by all now. Workplace Trends GSA is noticing that workplaces are becoming increasingly infused with residential elements. For example, our agency incorporated lounge areas scattered throughout our space and what used to be considered a lunchroom is now a place where people can work, meet, socialize, relax and recharge. For more traditionally minded managers, getting comfortable with not always being able to see employees can be a major adjustment, but through technology and smart office design, finding those people should never be an issue. GSA is seeing a growing trend around the use of small conference rooms with large screens, teleconference abilities, etc., delivering truly effective collaborative spaces.