Christopher Zheng

Building Better Business and an Engaged Workforce Through Design

Posted by Christopher Zheng, Jun 30, 2016 0 comments


Christopher Zheng

An office, study space, or hospital room is rarely seen as a space that is ripe with opportunities for artistic engagement. However, Steelcase—a global leader in office furniture, interior architecture, and space solutions—sees each spatial design opportunity in much the same way an artist views a blank canvas, inviting creativity and ingenuity to create individualized solutions. Even beyond its design projects, Steelcase embodies artistry in its office culture and its prioritization of employee engagement in order to cultivate a sustainable and enthused workforce.  

A dynamic market may ensure unpredictability in economic prospects, but one thing that remains constant is the fact that businesses are no more than the products of their employees’ efficacy. Numerous studies have demonstrated that employees’ work ethic and quality of production are directly correlated with their satisfaction and loyalty to the company they work for. With nearly 3.1 million American workers voluntarily quitting their jobs in December of 2015, and turnover costing businesses more than 20 percent of an employee’s salary, retention must be a top priority for companies seeking stability and growth.

Steelcase understands the important role employee engagement plays in retention and successful business. In partnership with global research firm Ipsos, Steelcase recently published “Engagement and the Global Workplace,” a report that provides concrete data on worker satisfaction, engagement, and workplace culture from 12,480 participants in 17 countries around the world. This landmark report offers data-driven conclusions on how an employee’s environment shapes his or her behaviors and performance. The global report is vital to establishing how the path to securing a driven workforce is rooted in proactively engaging employees in the workplace, which Steelcase translates by engaging them through physical environments, layouts, and the design of spaces.

This is precisely where business has a point of tangency with the arts. The corporate priority of seeking applicants with creative thinking skills points to the bourgeoning trend of employee engagement through the arts. Steelcase has long been a passionate advocate of integrating the arts into spaces where employees can interact with them. It boasts a 3,000-piece corporate art collection displayed internationally inside its cooperate offices and facilities. In a 1986 speech, previous Steelcase Chairman and CEO Robert Pew II spoke of the power of art as a galvanizing force in the workplace. Employees can take inspiration from the artistic influences around them and create innovative designs.

As a company that has built itself upon a foundation of creative solutions to spatial problems, Steelcase retains an office culture that is oriented towards artistic development. Its designs allow for mobility, control of space and privacy, and the facilitation of collaboration. Incorporating each of these elements into an office, school, or hospital space requires resourceful and imaginative solutions by artistic minds. Businesses like Steelcase provide opportunities for employee development and growth, which in turn can positively affect engagement, morale, retention, and performance.

Americans for the Arts has long promoted strong relationships between businesses and the arts, and has increasingly focused on developing an engaged workforce through the art, much the way Steelcase has advocated for better design to connect employees to their spaces, fellow workers, and daily practice. With workbooks that assist in the development of Business Volunteers for the Arts®, Arts-Based Training, and Corporate Arts Challenge programs, it’s easy to take the first step toward integrating the arts in the workplace.

Steelcase’s global report found a positive correlation between employee engagement and employee satisfaction, and also found that employees who were more engaged had more control over experiences in the workplace. It is clear that, despite the costs it might incur, investing in engagement programs that provide expressive freedom to employees must be a priority. A happier workforce means a more motivated one, and employees who work in spaces that adapt to their needs instead of the other way around will be more effective. 

Artistic engagement is a timely win-win situation that shields businesses from phantom costs in efficiency. In June 2013, Gallup estimated that highly disengaged employees and their resulting losses in productivity cost the United States $450 to $550 billion per year. These costs are only mounting in recent years. Steelcase’s report found that in 17 of the world’s most important economies, more than one-third of all employees are disengaged. In the domestic sphere, only 32% of U.S. employees are engaged, according to a January 2015 Gallup report. Providing employees with unique opportunities to engage with one another and with their spaces is the key to reversing this worrisome trend, and the arts are a perfect facilitator as a tool that inherently creates connections and opens minds.

Steelcase’s comprehensive global workspace report, as well as research and empirics on employee engagement compiled by Americans for the Arts, demonstrate that the best way to keep up with a rapidly-changing global marketplace is to ensure that employees can find ways to engage with the arts in the workplace. 

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