High Performance Office Space – Harvard Business Review / DEGW / Lilly

September’s Harvard Business Review includes a review of results from an office re-design carried out by consultancy DEGW for pharmaceutical company Lilly.  In a radical redesign of 470,000 square feet, Lilly moved from a traditional, Dilbert-style cube-farm to a modern, flexible layout encompasses different areas for different kinds of work: team rooms for collaborative work, enclaves for private conversations etc.  As found in other research, DEGW found that workers typically spend only 35% of their time at their desks.

Some of the stats gathered have been insightful, for example:

  • Hours lost per employee per year, waiting for feedback or approval from manager; reduced from 29.6 hours to 13.6;
  • Hours lost per employee per year to drop-by visitors; reduced from 34.4 hours to 22.8.

In addition, Lilly have enjoyed the same levels of significant savings experienced by other firms going down this route:

  • Furniture cost per employee; reduced from $9,100 to $4,900
  • Capital cost per employee; reduced from $34,000 to $18,000

And employees are happier:

  • Overall satisfaction with workspace up from 34% to 64%
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