THE X FACTOR
Establishing the worker journey
Avison Young recommends considering a wide range of user journeys to ensure that the virtual and physical space decisions incorporate the wide range of individual requirements and preferences of your workforce.
Example worker journeys
Generation Z
PERSONALITY
Innovator
NEURODIVERGENCE
Color blindness
REQUIREMENTS
Range of in-office and remote working options
Millennials
PERSONALITY
Extrovert
NEURODIVERGENCE
Hyper or hypo-sensitive
REQUIREMENTS
Variety of in-office equipment options as needs change
Generation X
PERSONALITY
Introvert
NEURODIVERGENCE
Tactile
REQUIREMENTS
Ergonomic desk furniture for home office
Baby boomer
PERSONALITY
Lonely worker
NEURODIVERGENCE
Visual
REQUIREMENTS
Access to calming, concentration space in-office
Worker journey: Veronica
Veronica is a 34-year-old Millennial who has just purchased her first home with her partner and has two small children. For Veronica, the balance between in office and virtual work is essential for her overall quality of life in order to balance many competing demands. She fully embraces the activity-based work environment, and goes to the office 2-3 days/week to collaborate on specific projects with her colleagues. One of Veronica’s sample workdays may look like this:
6:30 AM
Wake the children and get ready for child-care, make breakfast, kiss partner goodbye and drop kids at childcare (her turn today)
7:30 AM
Race to the commuter train that travels 45 minutes to the downtown
8:30 AM
Arrive at the office, grab a latte coffee and sit in the café to catch up on emails and urgent matters
8:45 AM
Bump into a colleague at the café and touch base about a project
9:00 AM
Join the staff meeting along with 15 other colleagues where the week’s projects, deliverables, events and outcomes are discussed
10:00 AM
Jump into a quiet room to have a conference call with a client to discuss a specific project. Other team members also join from offices around the globe for a truly collaborative discussion.
11:00 AM
Find a workstation to advance project deliverables with quiet heads down time
12:30 PM
Join colleagues for a quick lunch downstairs at a healthy vegetarian fast-food restaurant
1:30 PM
Back upstairs to find a private office to work on a project with 2 colleagues, using white boards, technology and conference capabilities to dial-in other colleagues as required
3:00 PM
Jump into a workstation to advance project tasks, complete expense report and other administration requirements
4:00 PM
Join the onsite yoga class offered by her employer to bring Zen to the chaotic work week
5:00 PM
Race to the commuter train and back to the suburbs
6:00 PM
Partner has picked up the children today, time for Veronica to make family dinner
7:00 PM
Evening with family, walk, exercise, outdoor fun and reading books with children
9:00 PM
Back to client project to work for another hour or two for finishing touches for tomorrow’s deadline
10:00 PM
Sleep! zzz
A workplace as unique as the workforce
The value of demonstrating these varied worker journeys is to clearly illustrate that “one size does not fit all”: every employee has unique requirements for their employer and workplace. As a result, when designing the overall employee experience, its crucial to clearly understand key issues for every employee profile in order to accurately design and program your workplace. Overall spaces need to be flexible and future-proofed to ensure that they can readily adapt to always changing requirements.
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