Measuring The Effectiveness Of Workspace

Most service industries have a clear desired outcome: leave a barbers and expect shorter hair; order a taxi and expect to arrive at your destination; order coffee and expect a coffee. At Hermit, we believe that when businesses rent an office they should expect a productive environment in which to work. It seems boringly obvious, and it is.

We also believe that ‘productive’ office space is comprised of three core parts; Comfort (in the space provided to employees), Convenience (in its location and accessibility) and Cost-efficiency (relative to other business overheads). It’s not the kind of insightful wisdom to pass to your grandchildren, but a relevant form of measure for businesses looking to re-locate.

The problem is, as I’ve highlighted previously in another thirst-quenching post, service industries are heavily involved in up-selling. Barbers now provide coffee, taxi drivers offer tepid bottles of water and coffee shops contain libraries filled with pretentious literature. These services are secondary to the customer’s desired outcome, but now seem pointlessly necessary to consumers and enable the industries to increase their cost to consumer.

It’s a trend that has seeped into the office sector and led to business employees expecting glass staircases, inspirational wallpaper and a chill corner. These newfangled trinkets add up to an unquantifiable ‘Wow Factor’, but rarely have an effect on the more critical factors of Comfort, Convenience and Cost-efficiency. Ultimately, productivity probably doesn’t go up and money is being wasted.

At Hermit, we understand that different businesses require different measures of each C-Factor. We ensure that businesses aren’t paying excessively for facilities disassociated with the 3Cs and focus on the ‘productivity benefits’ to our service in an effort to maximise our clients’ capacity to grow.