ACCOMMODATING FOR NEURODIVERSITY THROUGH WORKPLACE

SHELDON CREATED A SPACE FOR NOVO NORDISK THAT ENABLES DIFFERENT WAYS OF WORKING AND BENEFITS ALL ITS PEOPLE THROUGH SPATIAL VARIATIONS, COLLABORATIVE AND FOCUS ZONES.

Novo Nordisk, a global pharmaceuticals company headquartered in Denmark, engaged Sheldon to design and construct its new office over two floors in North Sydney. Having designed their previous office, Sheldon guided Novo Nordisk through an extensive workplace strategy and design process that enabled them to better cater to their team’s diverse needs in a post-Covid working world.

Workplace Strategy Highlights Need For Diverse Spaces

The strategy process involved consultations with Novo Nordisk’s leaders to understand current workplace design trends and their future needs. Feedback showed that employees desired more focused areas and simultaneously more places to socialise and collaborate. This formed the basis of our split-level design, with one floor dedicated to quiet spaces and the other to social spaces. This strategy also tied into Novo Nordisk’s need to better cater to neurodiverse employees and different working styles.

The office is cater to people’s needs on any given day, with a variety of workstations and environments. “We found when we only had one floor, we were trying to do two different things on the same floor. Obviously, you can’t have a quiet area and a loud area when it’s one open plan floor, so being able to separate the floor has a real demarcation effect when going between floors, or which floor you consciously choose to work on in a day,” said Novo Nordisk’s Director of People and Organisation, Eleanor Clifford.

As is evident in our workplaces, everyone has unique preferences for their working environment, which may fluctuate day to day or change over time. Neurodiversity includes those with diagnoses of conditions including ADHD and autism, but also those who are undiagnosed. Due to the significant number of people who are affected by neurodiversities, it is important that a workplace provides flexibility to accommodate the needs of staff.

“ WE FOUND WHEN WE ONLY HAD ONE FLOOR, WE WERE TRYING TO DO TWO DIFFERENT THINGS ON THE SAME FLOOR. OBVIOUSLY, YOU CAN’T HAVE A QUIET AREA AND A LOUD AREA WHEN IT’S ONE OPEN PLAN FLOOR, SO BEING ABLE TO SEPARATE THE FLOOR HAS A REAL DEMARCATION EFFECT WHEN GOING BETWEEN FLOORS, OR WHICH FLOOR YOU CONSCIOUSLY CHOOSE TO WORK ON IN A DAY. ”

Eleanor Clifford, Director of People and Organisation, Novo Nordisk

THE DESIGN OF NOVO NORDISK INCLUDES A FOCUS FLOOR FOR QUIET, CALMING WORKSPACES, ENRICHED WITH PLANTS AND SERENE ENVIRONMENTS. THE BIOPHILIA ENHANCES THE CALMING NATURE OF THIS SPACE, WHILE THE SCANDINAVIAN AND DANISH DESIGN FEATURES, REFLECTING NOVO NORDISK’S HERITAGE, ALSO PROVIDE TOUCHES OF TRANQUILLITY.

The Focus Floor

The design of Novo Nordisk includes a focus floor for quiet, calming workspaces, enriched with plants and serene environments. The biophilia enhances the calming nature of this space, while the Scandinavian and Danish design features, reflecting Novo Nordisk’s heritage, also provide touches of tranquillity. The key highlights of the focus floor include a beautiful wellness area that wraps around into this organic shape that looks out over the harbour, with an emphasis on biophilia to make people feel calm. Moving through the space there are several little library nooks and quiet booths that people can retreat into and have a quiet focus area. Other elements of this floor are the small collab rooms and café area with booth seating and an island kitchen for employees to take a break.

The Collaboration Floor

In contrast, the collaborate floor is intended for social interactions, with open and stand-up meeting spaces. Each space is designed to emphasise workplace happiness, wellbeing, and inclusivity, which are key values of Novo Nordisk. They also featured First Nations culture and art through a mural, furniture from Indigenous suppliers and meeting rooms named after Indigenous places.

On the collaboration floor Sheldon made sure that a lot of the elements that we put into the design were completely hackable and movable. The level 10 kitchen is a multi-use space, for staff socialisation, town hall settings, Friday drinks, training, and presentations. On this level all of the meeting / breakout rooms are completely different, causing staff to have a different experience in all of the rooms, inspiring collaboration, innovation, and team bonding moments. Material highlights include biophilia, incorporation of branding colours, and the large wrap around stone top island unit in the kitchen area.

Adaptability And Flexibility

These workplace trends were central to the design. This is particularly evident on the collaboration floor, a collaborative space with modular, fully movable seating and future-focused meeting areas, contrasting with the focused environment on level 6. The two-floor approach also tackles the challenges in their previous space where people working close the kitchen breakout area were easily distracted. Sheldon’s design successfully met Novo Nordisk’s brief for a space that promotes flexibility, caters to the diverse needs of employees and fosters innovation.