Welcome to the “Future of Work”. We at Colliers are excited to announce the launch of our brand-new workplace, designed on the evolving workplace strategies and aimed to provide an experience of how the future of workplaces would look like. Many organizations across the globe have been ideating on future workplace strategies and we are proud to be among few, to have designed and implemented one for ourselves in India’s financial hub, One BKC Mumbai.
The design is driven by three fundamentals, our people, our values, and the future. The employee-centric workplace offers a variety of work setups, catering to the needs of new-age workforce, which is driven by innovation and technology advancements. We have moved away from the concept of fixed seating to Activity Based Workplace (ABW), promoting cross-team collaboration and providing choice to the employees through interconnecting spaces.
Quick Tour
As you arrive at the elevator lobby of level 6 Tower A, the signage guides to the Colliers space. As one walks towards the reception, you are introduced to the world of Colliers which carries our global campaign and logo in white on a contoured wall. Our warm Welcome zone is a combination of lavish arrival desk, a fresh biophilic lounge and an open work café with a booth and high table seating options. The open collaborative zone is complemented with formal Meeting zone placed right opposite, which starts with a couple of 6-seater meeting rooms, re-configurable board room and a media room equipped for live interactions. The formal meeting zone has acoustically treated walls and perforated gyp ceilings to ensure optimum decibels are maintained inside. These are equipped with the latest VC and IA technologies, bookable via applications.
Our Work area is as open as it gets. White treatment directly on the RCC slab ensures we achieve the maximum volume, while keeping indoors light and bright. The focus desks are surrounded by Collaboration spaces on all sides. This includes a Brainstorm wall, high desk seating around the featured column, comfortable booth seats along with glazing and interactive stepped seating towards the wall for impromptu talks. The work zone opens into the Social space, which is our main cafeteria where people come to talk and socialize. A bar counter in the café is intended to make the space informal and lively.
The colour palette reflects our commitment to being authentic. The whites, the woods, the greys and natural green is intertwined with Colliers brand colours, which revolves around the blue hues.
Applying the concept – Into the details
Our People – The employees have a variety of work settings to choose from. Regular ergonomic desks to booth seating, high counters to comfortable collaborative seats, employees have ample “Choice” to opt for their seats based on the type of activity. In case someone needs to take a personal call, you can choose to be inside one of the acoustically designed Phone booths, instead of worrying about their private conversations going public. We believe the future is flexible, which reflects in the free-flowing spaces as one explores the various zones in the office.
One of the key design aspect, connected with our people is “Wellness”. We have blended wellness into the office design by ensuring that the air we breathe has an ample amount of fresh air along with Biophilia, which purifies the indoor air naturally. A walking track on micro concrete flooring, which happens to be the primary circulation passage, is a constant reminder to keep moving and fit all the time. Gym cycle in the middle of the workplace conveys that work and wellness can certainly go hand in hand. We strongly believe that natural light keeps the workforce energetic during the day. By planning open spaces next to glazing, we ensure all employees benefit evenly from the natural light.
Our Values – Colliers’s workplace design is an extension of our global workplace strategy, known as PACE. A space which is Productive, Active, Collaborative and encourages Enterprising culture. The design of our Mumbai office reflects our values, blended with the strong local elements which is seen through the graphics and branding on various surfaces across the workplace. Right at the entrance, visitor or an employee is introduced to our global campaign, “Experts Choose Experts”. While you wait to meet someone at the lounge near arrival, a history wall narrates interesting milestones of over 100 years of Collier’s legacy.
Collaboration and open work culture are the cornerstones of our journey. One BKC office has several Collaboration spaces, where people meet, and idea exchanges become a natural outcome. Our open “Bar styled” cafeteria brings the element of fun and allows one to be themselves, while being at work. The stepped seating in warm beechwood is strategically placed where small events, talks and townhalls can be conducted. It is also a perfect spot for informal impromptu interactions. Otherwise, one could sip their favourite coffee while lounging and reading a book in this zone. The focus is to promote interaction, collaboration, and enterprising culture through experiential spaces.
The Future – We introduced the new workplace in the beginning of this write-up as the “future of work”. This is being achieved by looking at things holistically. One of the most important way to look at future is by acting today. By aiming to be LEED Platinum office, we want to convey to our employees and clients that we take the idea of Sustainability in true sense by following it ourselves. We are adopting ways to make us energy-efficient, by using sensors, apt HVAC solutions and introducing best practices.
The future of work is incomplete without the introduction of technology. Our formal meeting rooms and the boardroom are acoustically treated and equipped with latest interactive screens to carry out hybrid meetings and virtual collaboration sessions. CO2 sensors and air quality monitoring systems ensures a healthy working hour for our employees. An open office also means fewer touch points. At Colliers, we believe that Future of workplace is creative, flexible, technology driven and human. Our new workplace is true demonstration of our research, ideation, and values, empowering our people to be the best version of themselves.