Exploring the Healthcare Workplace.
Designing for the future of work.
Improved patient care and experience. Innovation and discovery. More flexibility. Work-life balance. Increased productivity. Staff safety. Cost savings.
These outcomes, and a host of others, are driving healthcare organizations to embrace new workplace strategies to support their mission.
Sabanera Health Dorado
Cover: Sheikh Zayed Tower and The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center Building
We recognize that the range of workers in a healthcare setting is diverse – including providers, researchers, faculty, administrative, operations and facilities staff. And the places they do this work varies widely as well – from clinic to lab to academic to office space. At Perkins&Will, a significant portion of our design work and focus is on clinical, lab and academic space – specialized, technical, and purpose-built. However, administrative office space, often a sizable portion of real estate on an academic or regional medical campus, has it’s own unique challenges. In the words of one of our clients, “Our office space is 15% of our real estate portfolio, but it takes up 50% of our time to manage.” It may not be as technical as other space types, but offices are important to staff and serve an important purpose, often overlooked.
For the last several years, Perkins&Will has facilitated a group of our clients – individuals with a background in real estate, human resources, facilities, planning, design, workplace strategy, or change management, who are employees of top academic medical centers and health systems – to meet regularly, brainstorm, benchmark, and talk about the unqiue issues and opportunities specific to administrative office space for the healthcare. We’ve highlighted some key insights they have shared with us.
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University of California, San Francisco, Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building
1. There is a strong business case for consolidating administrative office real estate holdings.
Most healthcare organizations have or will be consolidating administrative workspace, and some are exiting leases totaling hundreds of thousands of square feet. Cost reduction is a driver behind this strategy, but not the only one. In addition to cost savings, consolidation of underutilized, poor performing, siloed administrative space has provided an opportunity to introduce new ways of working and make way for improved and expanded patient care facilities, especially on campuses, with space constraints.
During a recent Healthcare Design Conference (HCD) panel, we took a straw poll, asking over 200 participants to share if their health organization has “been able to consolidate administrative office space in your real estate portfolio over the last few years.” Eighty-two percent responded “yes” or “maybe.”
Have you been able to consolidate administrative office space in your real estate portfolio over the past few years?
“The rise of hybrid and remote work is driving all of our clients to rethink their office space needs. Healthcare is no exception! That said, space is so often a premium in and around healthcare campuses. Our clients are seeing the benefits of exploring how office space can better serve their workforce and the mission of their organization.”
LEIGH STRINGER, FIRMWIDE DIRECTOR OF ADVISORY SERVICES
2. Hybrid and remote work requires a comprehensive look at real estate and space provisioning.
Workplace accommodation today is more than just providing every FTE an office or workstation. It requires a more rigorous look at what individuals and groups need, where and when; a shift in how space is measured (occupancy versus assignment); and strategies that plan for a certain degree of change over time. In a recent HCD panel, we asked more than 200 participants to share how they accommodated flexible working. Responding for the healthcare organization they worked for (or a representative client), 48% of administrative office workers (on average) were reported to be either hybrid or remote.
First adopters for hybrid or remote work in healthcare have included Finance, Information Systems (IS), Payroll, Foundations, Marketing, Call Center, Human Resources, Utilization Management, Strategy, and Educational Resources. Exploring hybrid work for administrative functions has led some healthcare organizations to explore hybrid work solutions for providers, particularly if those providers are splitting time between the office and other areas in the hospital.
Hybrid Work Models
The following models are being piloted and implemented to address fluctuating office demand in healthcare office spaces.
Team Charters
Days in the office are determined on a department/team level
Percentage Based
Employees are encouraged to be in the office a certain number or percent of days or weeks
Employee Autonomy
Each employees decides how frequently and which days they are in the office
“Hybrid work in the healthcare workplace is not just about flexibility; it’s about creating a balanced environment where staff can thrive and feel supported in their mission to provide outstanding patient care.”
LISA POOL, ADVISORY SERVICES DISCIPLINE LEADER, FIRMWIDE DIRECTOR OF WORKPLACE STRATEGY
Persona Based
Days in the office are based on persons assigned to each employee based on work styles and job functions
Fixed Schedules
Employees are in on the same days every week
3. Technology transformation is driving workplace transformation.
“Data-driven insights contribute to more efficient and purposeful use of space and improved user experiences by facilitating decision-making and, in turn, the ability to adapt to the evolving landscape of work.”
― AMBER WERNICK, WORKPLACE PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT LEADER
Patient experience improvement, operational efficiency, need for data analytics and insights, and cost reduction are driving healthcare delivery and in turn, impacting the experience of administrative offices. How so? Healthcare organizations are piloting and rolling out activity-based work environments, leveraging room reservation systems, technology-integrated meeting spaces and real-time space utilization tracking through sensors. These sensors can collect occupancy data, including peak usage times, movement, and user flow, as well as environmental conditions like light and temperature.
One of our clients invested in RFID sensors for space and equipment across two of their administrative buildings – including offices, workstations, sinks, exam rooms – everything. When we asked her how long the sensor data needed to be in place to make decisions based on results, she said, “Immediately. Within just a couple of months, we were able to identify spaces that were not used and begin planning to reallocate them.”
↑ University of California, San Francisco, Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building
4. “Equitable” accommodation presents challenges.
In this new world of hybrid and remote work, space assignment is moving toward a model where staff are assigned space based on presence on site, not title. Culturally, this is a major shift for healthcare leaders and professionals who are used to thinking about space as an entitlement. Our HCD straw poll asked panel attendees “how they assign offices today.” Most claimed to assign space by function at the organizational level, others allow departments to allocate space for their teams, and yet others assign space organizationally by title. It's not a one-size-fits-all solution.
Ultimately, the idea of equity is less about “who gets an office” and more about supporting unique job functions and individual preferences through a mix of space, technology, and policy.
“The academic medical center workplace has largely shifted from disparate, individual office suites to dynamic, light-filled, ergonomic spaces that provide a variety of welcoming and comfortable spaces to support a range of workstyle needs from quiet focused work to multidisciplinary collaboration. Nuanced attention to design supports community and wellbeing, while also helping to attract talent.”
― CAROLYN BAROSS, DESIGN PRINCIPAL
5. Workers benefit from having more control and more choice.
Studies, like those from Karasek and Theorell, show that workers with the greatest risk of illness are those with high psychological demands and low decision latitude. In other words, for jobs that do not provide much choice in how, when or where they can be done, workers are much more likely to suffer mentally and physically.
Given the stress of healthcare jobs, this need for control is particularly acute, and has been part of the design conversation for over twenty years. Break rooms and respite areas are standard. The difference today is that the choices in the workplace are wider and more bespoke to the populations being served. In addition, flexible and hybrid work policies are driving the need for more integration of space, technology and space policy.
Modern healthcare administrative offices provide in-person and remote meeting spaces, spaces to pre-record messages, spaces to socialize and learn, access to outdoor areas, private places to make a phone call, quiet areas, a mix of places to do individual and collaborative work – all it reshaping the work experience and contributing to a more inclusive work environment.
“We have been inspired by learning from our Higher Education clients and students. They will teach us future work scenarios for the next generation and beyond.”
― AMY CORNELIUSSEN SICKELER, WORKPLACE DESIGN PRINCIPAL
↑ Willis Global Relationship
6. Change management is critical, and ongoing.
Leadership, management, and staff alignment is one of the biggest hurdles to fully achieving workplace goals. Best practices include developing and communicating a strong justification for change, good processes, governance, involving multiple stakeholders (top down and bottom up), and involving business, innovation, human resources, technology, communications, facilities and real estate leadership. When we asked some of our clients “What strategies have you seen that are most successful in changing the mindset of leaders, managers and staff, to consider new ways of working?” their response was uniquely tailored to the culture and expectations of their organization. Regardless of change management strategy, they suggest that having one is essential!
What strategies have you seen that are most successful in changing the “mindset” of leaders, managers and staff, to consider new ways of working?
“Data on employee productivity.”
“This is the path we are moving towards – it’s set – let’s learn how to best navigate that path because it’s not going to change.”
“Repeated engagement across multiple hierarchy levels and variety of platforms; relation of the change to the overall institutional mission and strategy; extra facilities and technology support on-site to employees.”
“Within our team we are ensuring managers have set clear expectations with employees on tasks and results and ensuring that leaders and managers focus on service levels and results delivered rather than where, when and how the work happens.”
University of California, San Francisco, Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building
7. Leaders are connecting the environment to a mission of health.
According to the Lancet, “Climate change is the greatest health threat of the twenty-first century, and also the greatest opportunity to address social determinates of health.” Many early-adopter health systems have signed on to the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity Pledge to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030, and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
The Joint Commission’s new Sustainable Healthcare Certification Program, though voluntary, is setting a new standard for energy use, purchased electricity, anesthetic gas use, pressurized metered-dose inhaler use, fleet vehicle carbon-based fuel use and waste disposal.
So how can the administrative workplace play a role? Consider strategies being adopted by many healthcare systems – consolidating space, removing toxins from building materials and furniture, and measuring the carbon impact of changes in workplace design.
“Sustainable regenerative design transforms the workplace into a thriving ecosystem, enhancing employee well-being, creativity, and productivity by fostering healthier environments,
8. Design should accommodate the full experience of healthcare workers.
By carefully crafting physical environments and workflow processes that prioritize choice, accessibility, and flow, healthcare office spaces can significantly reduce friction, minimize anxiety, and create more welcoming, intuitive environments. Design elements such as clear wayfinding, ambient art and brand graphics, ergonomic workstations, intuitive digital interfaces, and a variety of places to work can transform the workplace from potentially frustrating to a productive, and supportive experience.
“Experience design is a manifestation of an organization’s values and commitment to people. By anticipating the needs and mindsets of, we can proactively solve for issues that will make their time in the office more inspired and efficient.”
― KATIE JANSON, BRANDED ENVIRONMENTS PRINCIPAL
Confidential Research-focused workplace
What’s next for the healthcare workplace?
The healthcare workplace has historically been slow to change, but with technology transformation, changing work models, and the drive for organizational efficiency, the need to rethink office environments is here. It’s time to re-imagine healthcare office spaces that are leaner, improve staff mental well-being, support flexible work arrangements, and align physical spaces with healthcare's compassionate and health-focused mission.
