In a series of interviews with Spectrum Workplace, companies consider the changing requirements of both the business and the employee.
The interviews have been brought together as a report and published by DECISION magazine and then as a digital book.

Interview with GILES PALMER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE BRANDWATCH

IF THERE’S ONE WORD which encapsulates the most fundamental change in the working environment, then according to Giles Palmer, chief executive of Brandwatch, it’s informality.

“Since I started working in 1991 there has been a move towards more informality, with an overall flattening of hierarchy, more transparency of communication, and people working in a more comfortable environment,”

We’ve reversed how offices are laid out; instead of desks with collaborative space around them, we’ve got collaborative space with desks around it. People tied to their desks doesn’t induce collaborative working, it slows the flow of ideas.

Today, a company’s offices have to reflect who they are and where they are going,” adds Palmer. “People are more aspirational about their working environment, expectations have been reset by Google.

“Great offices feel more like high-end homes rather than there being sterile ranks of desks.”

What we have created here at our headquarters is 30,000sqft of collaboration space, where people congregate, rather than offices,” says Palmer.

“Our finance director sits next to our accounts payable person and the rest of the team. Flexible working means that at any one time, half the people are probably not at their desks. I used to get freaked out by that; where are they, what are they doing? But that is probably the initial reaction of any entrepreneur, until they get used to the fact that the emphasis is not on attendance but creativity and delivery.