What is the role of a Workplace Strategist?
What is the role of a workplace strategist?
A guide for People & Culture leaders
The role of a Workplace Strategist has gained a lot of attention post-pandemic as businesses focus on attracting and retaining talent and enticing people back into the office.
But what exactly does a Workplace Strategist do, and how can we help People & Culture leaders drive employee engagement?
π« What we do
Workplace Strategists leverage design thinking principles with an analytical business mindset.
We create a strategic framework that captures the complex essence of your business — your unique operational structure, how it functions, how employees interact, and how your office space can support these dynamics.
Rather than jumping straight into the planning phase and putting desks and offices onto a floor plan, a Workplace Strategist knows how to transcend aesthetics and deliver a workspace that aligns with your company’s mission, values, and goals, while elevating the employee experience and promoting well-being and productivity.
It’s a merging of the previously disparate functions of People & Culture and Property & Facilities, to develop a unified view of how your physical workplace enables your strategic and operational objectives.
π« How we do it
Before we move into the design phase, Workplace Strategists conduct research.
This means a deep dive into your company’s business strategy — its vision, mission, values, growth projections, workplace utilisation data, and team relationships and workflows. This data is collected through historical operational reporting, workshops, interviews and employee surveys. By doing this we can observe patterns, and distill opportunities and challenges in order to recommend spaces and amenities that embody these elements and serve as a physical representation of your company’s core identity.
This planning phase is where most of the work happens, ensuring that the spacial design recommendations address the immediate business challenges as well as untapped opportunities for your people.
π« Who we work with
A Workplace Strategist works closely with the People & Culture, Facilities, and Leadership teams to gather insights and feedback. This helps uncover potential issues and highlights opportunities from fresh perspectives.
We often bridge a gap between the Facilities and People & Culture teams. Workplace Strategists understand these two teams have different goals and appreciate that both are custodians of a business's two biggest assets (and budget line items): the physical workplace and its employees.
Depending on the catalyst for a workplace redesign or relocation, we might be engaged directly by the Facilities team, the People & Culture team, or a special workplace project.
Whatever the case, our focus is to bring these teams together, and create alignment and a common vision, ensuring we’re co-creating a holistic workplace strategy that delivers a workplace environment that not only looks good but also drives meaningful outcomes for the business.
π« What we deliver
At COMUNiTI we deliver a recommendations report called the Workplace Dynamics Blueprint TM.
It plays back what we’ve heard and observed through our research, and it also makes a series of recommendations that inform your:
- final workplace design brief π₯οΈπΌπ, and
- change and communication strategy to support people and minimise disruption during workplace changeπΆπ©πΌπ£οΈ.
We ensure that your workplace will be a true reflection of the company’s goals and aspirations, your spaces will be optimised for productivity, collaboration, and employee engagement, and your change management efforts help create a meaningful, supportive environment where people thrive.
If you're looking to create a workplace that resonates with your employees and drives business performance, collaborating with a Workplace Strategist is key.
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