An Inclusivity Unlocked! webinar
about workspace design
Monday 30 January 2023
12.30 – 1.30 pm
This was another event in our Inclusivity Unlocked! series. We looked at how workspaces can be reshaped to optimise inclusion, cohesion and of course efficiency in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
With the help of our guests Emma Wharton Love and Sarah Pasquall, from award-winning office fit-out and design specialists Interaction, panellists from within the IP sector tackled questions such as:
- What’s new on the workspace design front and what can we learn from other sectors about both new and tried-and-trusted approaches?
- How can we use workspace design to entice team members into the office, and how should those incentives differ for different groups of people?
- How can workspace design help define, and reinforce, the overall corporate culture and values?
- What works well in terms of the layout of working spaces?
- What factors should we consider in order to improve accessibility, inclusivity and connectivity?
- How can workspaces be designed to facilitate, and ideally enhance, “hybrid” working arrangements?
- What best practices should we adopt to manage the process of workspace redesign (from the initial vision to keeping team members on board throughout)?
- How does workspace design impact on factors such as productivity, recruitment and retention, and of course on physical and mental wellbeing?
Our panellists
Alongside Emma Wharton-Love and Sarah Pasquall, our panel included:
- Andrew Little, Chief Operating Officer, Boult Wade Tennant
- Jenna Massey, Practice Director, Gill Jennings & Every
- Simon Pettinati, Chief Operating Officer, Venner Shipley
The webinar was chaired by Zoe Bailey, Head of Strategic Operations, Withers & Rogers.
Follow-up resources
You can access a recording of the webinar here, and our report of the discussion highlights here.
Interaction have also kindly provided us with the following links which you may find interesting:
- Their whitepaper entitled “The Law of Attraction: a legal sector special”, which explores law firms’ strategies for recruitment and retention, including the importance of ethics, diversity and wellbeing and of creating a “destination” workplace
- An article about their “Business Insider Survey” into post-pandemic relationships with the workplace among local businesses
- Their “Insights” webpage, containing short posts about a whole range of relevant topics, from prayer rooms to “Plug and Play”, from typical fit-out costs to wellbeing benefits
- A video they created about their office design project with Withers & Rogers
Click on the images below to download the “top tips” distilled from this event, as well as some associated opportunities and considerations.
A list of all Inclusivity Unlocked! events and resources is available here, and a compilation of “top tips” here. If you’d like to have your say on themes or formats for future events in the series, please let us know via our short survey.
Cost
This event was free. So are all our resources. We think it’s important to keep IP Inclusive on the right side of the paywall.
That said, we do need money to keep the show on the road, so if you enjoyed the event, please consider contributing to our 2022-23 fundraising campaign. For more information – including about corporate donations – visit our fundraising page.
More about Inclusivity Unlocked!
Inclusivity Unlocked! is a banner under which we are hosting a programme of events and resources on workplace inclusivity post-Covid. Our aim is to provide practical guidance around how workplaces and working arrangements can be made more inclusive for everyone as we build back after the pandemic. You can find out more about the project here. There’s also an up-to-date list of scheduled and past events, with links to associated follow-up resources, here.