Measuring the performance of innovative workplaces

Abstract

The workplace concept represents the convergence of three disciplines: Facilities management, information technology and human resources. Concepts such as knowledge work and human capital drive the shift in professional focus from ‘place’ to ‘workplace’. The responsibilities of facility managers extend beyond operating issues to the more fundamental goals of providing highperforming and sustainable workplaces. Accordingly, the performance measurement paradigm must also be shifted from measuring facilities to measuring workplaces, using models and measures that recognise the importance and interdependence of facilities, information technology and human resources. This paper discusses initial efforts to measure innovative workplaces, provides an example of an organisation committed to providing its customers with innovative workplaces, and concludes that the measurement of innovative workplaces itself requires innovative and ‘out of the box’ techniques. New measurement paradigms are critical, however, not for ‘proving’ the case for the implementation of these innovative workspace solutions, but for evaluating and comparing evolving workplace approaches already under way.