Government Policy Principles and Objectives

This section outlines the Government's policy principles and objectives in relation to office accommodation reform under the following headings:

• Changing Nature of Work
• Balancing Work and Family
• Changing Need for Office Accommodation
• Balancing Efficiency and Effectiveness
• Incentive for Change

The NSW Government is both a significant owner and tenant of office accommodation and occupies more than a million square metres of office accommodation with a rental exceeding $300 million a year.

For agencies to manage this resource, meet Government performance targets and respond to emerging work practices, accommodation must be linked to and support service delivery objectives as well as have the capacity to respond quickly to changes in the way work is performed.

Changing Nature of Work

In the past, office design and allocation of space has been based more on status rather than work requirements. As work in the public sector becomes more information dependent and shifts from dealing with products to working with people to provide services, work environments need to be flexible to enhance communication amongst employees, improve efficiency and productivity and respond to organisational change.

Balancing Work and Family

Over the past few years there has been a blurring of the traditional home/work boundary. Employers and staff are increasingly looking for ways to balance the needs of the workplace with family responsibilities. This has seen the emergence of new work practices, such as voluntary telecommuting, job sharing, and increased access to part-time work opportunities. These trends can impact the way the office is planned and can result in overall space reductions when initiatives such as 'hot-desking' (desk sharing) are utilised.

Changing Need for Office Accommodation

Workplace planning and design is integral to supporting new styles of working. Changes to the way work is performed is creating an urgent need for agencies to explore alternative approaches to planning, designing and managing their work environments.

Associated with the flattening of organisation structures is an increasing flexibility of employment. With groups forming and disbanding around projects and consultants and outsourced workers coming into the workplace, there is likely to be much greater fluidity in the use of space. Many key workers may in fact be out of the office or away from their desks for much of the time with clients, working at home or on projects out of the office. These developments in the way work is done allow agencies to adopt more innovative approaches when designing office layouts.


Balancing Efficiency and Effectiveness

The years 1990 to 1995 saw a marked increase in the use of space by NSW Government agencies. In September 1996 the Government adopted a number of measures to encourage a whole-of-government approach to office accommodation and to improve space utilisation across the public sector. As a result, an average space utilisation target of 18m2/person (including full time, part time and temporary staff, contractors and consultants) across an agency's entire portfolio was adopted, subject to functionality and OH&S requirements. This target average space usage across an agency portfolio remains current but in 1998 a target of 15m2/person was introduced for all new tenancies in modern buildings, subject to an agency's functional requirements not being compromised. This is consistent with industry and public sector best practice.

All government organisations should now be looking for opportunities to rationalise space, reduce occupancy costs and maximise performance. These factors point to greater use of "open" layouts, more intensive use of space and the introduction of "alternative" initiatives such as desk sharing. Open environments can result in enhanced communication and interaction, more efficient use of space and increased flexibility. Poorly designed "open" offices, however, can also be counter productive unless aspects such as privacy, noise, breakout spaces and climate control are adequately organised.

There is also the need to meet the accommodation requirements for people with a disability. These particular needs have been recognised in legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 and the NSW Disability Services Act 1993.

As work practices and attitudes to work continue to change supported by new forms of IT, it will become increasingly necessary to balance the desire for individual privacy with the need for enhanced organisational communication and interaction. The right balance between efficiency and effectiveness can be achieved by a variety of different forms of workplace, which provide individual workspaces that have less to do with rank and status and more to do with the quality of space necessary for innovative work and shared learning.

Incentive for Change

Notwithstanding the Government's space utilisation target, the primary drivers for changing accommodation design should be the functional requirements of the agency. Other incentives for change, however, may include improved productivity, better service delivery, development of policies enabling employees to balance work and family responsibilities, improved facilities and processes to improve teamwork and collaboration, or the introduction of programs to attract and retain employees. This approach shifts the focus away from cost cutting towards a better understanding of the nature of the workplace, how it is designed, planned and managed and how those factors affect the ability of the agency to provide better services to the public and government.

It is important for agencies to note that compliance with statutory requirements concerning issues such as OH&S and the Building Code of Australia should not be compromised to achieve the space utilisation target.

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