All beginnings are difficult…
Recruiting an employee, making them feel at home, feel like they are part of something bigger – this is an enormous challenge, especially in recent years. Many high-tech companies have recreational areas, creation and play spaces, ranging from ping pong tables to ice cream stands with 22 flavors. All in order to give the employee an experience, good conditions, a sense of belonging and to some extent blur the line between home and work. But if we stop to think for a moment, we’ll discover that there isn’t always a connection between the cool perks and the quality of connection to the organization and brand.
Marketing managers know how to implement the brand language on social media and various promotions, but in most cases, office design remains a platform that is not utilized. The reasons for this are diverse, some of them relating to the fact that most businesses invest in tools that will directly lead to business growth, and less in intra-organizational marketing tools. Beyond that, the integrated design of office spaces requires the involvement of several parties in the organization, who are not always available to work together and create a work environment that serves and promotes brand values.
Companies that have a unique way and story, brand book, internal and external organizational communication style, must go through this process differently
Today it is clear that office and workspace design can and should even be a derivative of the brand’s language and voice. Comprehensive interior design works just like an internal cross-organizational campaign.In addition to work efficiency, shouldn’t we also aspire to a sense of belonging, pride and connection? Companies that want to convey prestige and resilience like law firms will never look like Google’s offices that breathe and live innovation. And those will never look like Amazon, whose logistical and operational perfection is astonishing. Therefore, the starting point before office design needs to be the ability to understand the DNA, vision and values of the brand. From there, translate all of these into a user experience across the different spaces.
Okay. We decided to redesign the company’s offices, who do we turn to?
In most cases, companies that want to upgrade and renovate offices in order to create a more pleasant and functional space for employees, turn to an architect or interior designer and together they plan on top of what exists, hire a contractor and perform the upgrade. However, companies that have a unique way and story, brand book, internal and external organizational communication style, must go through this process differently.
Where does the office design and branding process start from an integral perspective?
From over 10 years of experience, we have found that the initiative can come from several sources and motivations:
- The Human Resources department, as part of an “employer branding” initiative
- The Marketing department – as part of a strategic “rebranding” initiative
- The Management and operations headquarters – due to a move to new offices or the need to renovate existing office
One second before we get started, what are the benefits of comprehensive office and workspace design and branding?
Redesigning, branding and designing offices brings several benefits or in other words, what is the ROI of all this goodness?
1. The most important ambassadors for an organization are its employees. Recruitment costs today are very high and there is no doubt that offices designed in the brand spirit create a sense of home and mission and even identification with the core messages.
2. Customers who come to your office feel the reputation on additional layers – which strengthens sales and familiarity. For example, a wall that tells the history of the company and vision can create a positive connection and strengthen confidence in the choice of working together with the company.
3. Functionality – if you are already bringing new life into the offices, it is worthwhile to understand which existing and outdated needs should be expressed. This is a rare opportunity to think about the functions of the organization, the proper flow between them in the building and to create a sense of quality orientation.
4. Caring for the organization – An employee who is in an poorly maintained work environment cares less. After the organization invests in the work environment, we can see significant improvements in maintaining the work environment by employees, higher respect for new facilities, and an increase in the sense of appreciation for the organization. It’s not just an upgrade and branding of the offices but also of the relationship with your employees.
The office design and branding process at Unicas
In the first stage, we research, collect and analyze the company, from its history, brand book, data on the products and services it provides, key marketing messages and everything related to how the brand is expressed.
The second stage – examining the company’s needs through observations, questionnaires, cross-organizational meetings in order to understand the different needs of the various departments and creating a plan that consolidates interests. The work is usually carried out with the marketing department together with human resources, logistics and purchasing, without which it is not possible to distill needs, budgets and execution schedules.
The third stage – the planning stage. Creating a needs map, understanding the division of areas and different functions. Integrating brand messages both at the intra-organizational level and for visitors and different audiences in an experiential and functional way.
The fourth stage – execution! The transition from an excel specification and creative presentation to budget, renderings, drawings, sketches for material selection, carpentry detail specification, branding and styling is exciting! This is the moment, if led professionally, where all elements fall into place and connect in an experiential manner, and most importantly form a clear content world.
If you too have reached the stage where you want to promote the redesign of your organization’s offices or work spaces. If you are looking for an entity that knows how to manage all stages from the creative stage to execution, knows how to translate brand values into a comprehensive user experience combining architecture to branding – convey messages and create pride and connection with your customers, contact us.
Until then, we invite you to see what we have done in branding the offices of the Tambour Group.
