Addressing Mental Health Needs in Workplace Design

Nicholas Boever:

Hannah, I would like to thank you for joining us today.

Hannah Hackathorn:

Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Nicholas Boever:

Now, before we get started, why don’t you introduce yourself a little bit?

Hannah Hackathorn:

Sure. My name is Hannah Hackathornrn. I am a senior principal head of design at Unispace. I head up our design team across North America.

Nicholas Boever:

Now, the reason why we’re meeting today is to talk about mental health in the office. So that’s something that even before COVID kind of kicked in, that was becoming a much greater focus in the office. But from your experience, would you say that COVID has really helped kind of accelerate that focus or has it mostly stayed the same?

Hannah Hackathorn:

I think it absolutely accelerated. Mental wellness and mental health has been a taboo subject that people don’t really want to freely discuss, especially around the workplace as well. But I think with pandemic where it kind of leveled everybody’s playing field, we’re all going through a similar situation, the anxiety that everybody’s feeling, the fear of missing out, the balancing, the work-life balance, while we have an autonomy to work where we want to work and how we want to work.

But I think a lot of things that most people are experiencing is one, being completely segregated from their team member. We’re all very collaborative and social in nature, and that’s who we are as a human being, but being detached from it all. Some people are not as fortunate to have a family member during the lockdown, and they’re kind of somewhat left alone and removed from their friends and removed from their colleagues. Also being a parent giver. We’re all going through learning at home, working at home together and everybody’s situation is different and that really escalated even further in roles and responsibility you have.

For myself, I have nine years old, and during lockdown, both my husband and I, we have a full time job and we had to step in and be a parent and a teacher at the same time as well. It creates a bit of a challenge when you’re trying to get your work, and back to back meetings with your colleagues, and attempting to teach a third grader, and balancing that. I think everybody’s situation is so different and I think we are all starting to feel more openly communicating because everybody’s in the same situation. So I do think that it did escalate the conversation further, which it is definitely healthy.

Nicholas Boever:

Now in tandem with that, because I’ve been noticing the same thing with I mean, you could say that with a lot of different elements of the built environment right now, where for air quality, for instance, that’s a conversation that is definitely accelerated. But one of the things I’ve noticed for that is that even though the conversation is a lot more prominent, the adoption rates are kind of lagging behind. So the follow up question I have to that is, how is the adoption looking for design for mental health in these spaces?

Hannah Hackathorn:

From my perspective, I think it’s definitely a challenge that’s brought to the table much more recently. I think the office place design, workplace design in the past has been somewhat formulaic, right? We focused a lot around the performance of this space, the efficiency of this space, and that’s what we used to drive the success of the project, whereas now it’s about the people. It’s a human-centric design and going back to the fundamental element, we’re ultimately designing a space for us, humankind, the people. So it is an incredibly exciting time to be able to have an open dialogue and I see And there’s a lot of trends of our client coming to us, “Help us understand what is the right method?” And we do see of course, a lot of trends that’s in the marketplace as well.

I think adoption is somewhat different per organization. There is not one approach for all. There is no one size fits all and putting an importance around how does your organization, how does your team work? How does your people work? What are the makeup those folks? We’re in a unique time where there’s a four generation in the workplace and they all have a different working style. They all have their own challenges and pain points. So how do we really address to make sure that we’re providing the equitable experience? It’s not a Just because you’re providing a same type of space for all, well, that may not work. That’s not necessarily providing that equitable experience, right?

The folks who are introvert, we put a lot of emphasis right now in bringing teams back and I think the main topic has been around the collaboration, but what about the folks who do not have a proper workplace at home? For various reason, whether it’s Everybody’s working and learning from home, therefore they really want to get away and they want to try to find the work-life balance, able to detach from home life, to go to work and focus on work and be able to get back to their own personal life. If they’re introvert, it’s not necessarily around collaborative space is what’s going to help them thrive, right? They need their concentrative space, they need their quiet space.

So I think it’s understanding the makeup of our people, makeup of your team, and able to come up with the right strategy. So that bit of an assessment period in the beginning is so crucial and make sure that we are trying to get as close to it as possible. But I think importantly, I think everybody’s really looking for that crystal ball, right? Somebody to tell us, “Well, what is a right solution?”

Well, the bottom line is that there is no perfect solution. We no longer have a data. Everything that we’ve been designing again since 2019, it’s completely irrelevant. So we’re in a place where we’re trying to learn from what we’re doing and I think we should be okay to, you’re not going to get it perfectly first time. It’s okay to fail, but we are going to create an experiential space, but most importantly, have an experimental area where we’re constantly learning and evolving from there. I think that’s a key.

Nicholas Boever:

I know that one of the things that I have read up on a little bit is the idea of kind of designing with hybridity in mind in these spaces so that you can have the home as kind of this heads down, work on your own type scenario. Then coming into the office is that opportunity to collaborate with others and do more group oriented work. Which, I identify myself as one of the paradoxical kind of social introverts where it’s like, I’m capable of talking to people, but at the same time, there are moments where I need to recharge my batteries and that’s kind of the current work style of my own right now.

But yeah, there being no concrete answer in the grand scheme of things is definitely a good way to look at it. Especially considering you have a variety of different job functions where, depending upon how you work, there are ways in which you can work completely alone and by yourself and you don’t really need to interact with that many people, or people do need to come in and work.

Hannah Hackathorn:

Absolutely.

Nicholas Boever:

So with that being said, with it kind of coming down, I guess, more to sort of a method of thinking when it comes to designing this space, as opposed to having these actual tried and true best practices that you can apply in any scenario, would you say that education on what you should be looking for is kind of a part of the conversation?

Hannah Hackathorn:

I think education is a big thing. I think we need to really look at it as a multiple thing. To finding the right balance of focusing on mental wellbeing of the workplace, isn’t just a physical, it’s also behavior component as well. What I mean by that is, we can create all this great space type and variety of space type to provide the autonomy as well as the options and choices for various needs. It could be changing daily basis. It could be changing based on the individual and task that they need to focus on.

But I do think the things that we do need to emphasize is also around the company’s culture. You could create this perfect office, but is a company supporting our team to make sure that one, is there proper resources so that you’re not burdening individual and having them feel burned out? No matter what type of spaces you have, then it doesn’t matter. Are we allowing our employee to also be able to disconnect? I think one of the key things that I hear from, including my staff, including myself and our client is that, while there’s a convenience in hybrid work, but at the same time, it’s impossible for us to detach. The convenience allow us to, “You know what?, I’ll take this exam call. Why not?” I just roll out of the bed and get on a Zoom call or team call and I’m able to answer that. “Oh, that email, I could still send it out 6:00, 7:00.”

So our workdays are actually getting longer, whereas in the, I guess, olden days, if you will, where people used to physically commute to the office, you use that time in commuting to either read a book or unwind. Then when you’re in the office, you bring your best self and to collaborate and to focus and you go back home to your own individual, your personal life. Whereas right now with the convenience of hybrid, we don’t have that.

So I do think that it’s important for a company to recognize how do we create a policy so that it doesn’t become that there are wees of hours, emails are being sent out, and people are expected to answer at the time. Also when people are collaborating hybrid workforce, how do we make sure that their experience are equitable? I am currently in Scottsdale. I’m completely remote, so when I do log into meetings and if there are collaborative sessions happening, how do I make sure that my experience is consistent with the people who are physically in the office so I don’t feel like I’m not able to contribute or my time is not as valued?

So that’s kind of what I mean by the behavior component. Of course, having a physical space as we talk about those various space type to support various work style. Neurodiversity is something that we talk quite a bit to make sure that we’re providing the cognitive performance and supporting that. That could be in many different forms, in simple things like having more oxygen in the space that can help to perform the individual to be able to focus and also for them to have that clarity. Biophilia is something that we talk about quite a bit as well. There’s various different things, but it is just kind of understanding when we’re saying education, it’s also reflected inwards as well as external as well.

Nicholas Boever:

Now, it’s great that you brought up air quality because I was actually thinking about lighting as well. I’ve actually done a lot of research into, mostly as a result of working with DesignWell, a lot of research into talking about lighting in spaces and that in and of itself just kind of ties back into biophilia, where the whole point is trying to replicate the natural patterns of sunlight throughout a space and kind of getting people to connect with nature a little bit more even if they’re not able to actually be out there in nature.

Hannah Hackathorn:

Absolutely.

Nicholas Boever:

So for one of the things that I’ve noticed when it comes to mental health design and just kind of conversations around mental health in general when it comes to the office, is that a lot of it is focused on alleviating stress. Kind of like there’s this build up of stress, it hits a point, and the point is to kind of lower it down. But for a lot of the stuff that I have seen you talk about, it seems particularly aimed at mitigating that, making sure that stress doesn’t happen in the first place. So kind of being very proactive about it. What are your thoughts on designing spaces with this in mind?

Hannah Hackathorn:

Excuse me. I do think that it’s crucial. Like I said, I think we used to measure the space by efficiency, the success of the space by how much do we utilize every square inch of the space? We used to have a destination where people can go and collaborate or unwind, but it was still very, it was a formulaic approach, right? Whereas I think if we really purely go back to the sum of the fundamental I talk about in my article. Even things like fun, bringing sense of humor and the fun back into the work environment and for team to be able to bond and socialize. That’s a huge importance in workplace, building the sense of culture and sense of camaraderie, right?

I think a workplace also sense of belonging is huge. What I mean by that is through various, either social, corporate or social responsibility, feeling like their cost means something for their organization and feel that they understand. I think all of that is adding to part of the healthy work culture. I read an article the other day that millennials, they want to work for a company where they feel that they’re heard, they feel they can imagine themselves to be part of, belong to that organization. I do think that’s crucial. We’re talking about, it’s not just a place of work. We spend most of our time being part of working for a company.

So understanding the cause of the company and what’s important to them is aligned to your value. Even having a club where you can belong to and like mind and able to converse the different ideas and pain points and able to come together and also having a company’s understanding that they’re valued, right? The space that somebody might be a spectrum and they have issue with a certain textures and able to control the lighting and able to pick their workplace so that they’re able to bring their best self forward and perform their best ability. I think all of those are helping.

If our people perform and if they’re happy, I think company thrives. That’s all part of, I think, how our industry in design can help to ease and increase, not only the productivity, but also the cultural element of the organization. So I think it’s an exciting time that people are finally talking about it more now and incorporating into the design. For once I feel really, we have a huge responsibility to think about what we design down to the color, the lighting, the air quality, the texture, all the fundamental of tactile that has an impact on the organization. It’s not just a pretty color, while that color may be meaningful to somebody. It’s not just a certain texture. That can have a meaningful for folks who are visually, they have an issue with the texture and unable to separate where the walls begins and floor starts. So I think we need to deep dive into those elements for us to be able to come up with a better design moving forward.

Nicholas Boever:

It almost kind of sounds like that modern office design is kind of starting to take cues from residential design in a way, just in terms of the customization, I guess. Being able to have these more colorful and more intent based spaces, I should say. I think intent seems to be like a very big focus on a lot of it, but less intent for the organization and more intent for the people working for that organization. I think that’s where the key shift in the conversation is happening.

Hannah Hackathorn:

Absolutely, and it comes back to the experiential place, right? People go to coffee shop for a reason. They enjoy, it’s the whole sensory experience, the mood of the lighting, the texture of the wall, hearing people talking, the sense of energy and smelling the coffee. People choose to be in that environment to work there. While I’m not trying to emulate let’s create a coffee shop in our workplace, but if we kind of think about that sensory experience and bring that into the workplace, you’re absolutely right. It’s the hospitality environment. It’s the experience that we’re trying to emulate into the workplace so that when our teams are coming to office, there is a purpose, right? Everybody’s been proven that people are productive working from home, but there are elements that’s lacking, whether it’s building the sense of camaraderie or culture, also being mentor.

That’s something that as much as we try to emulate utilizing technology, I think that there have something to be said about that serendipitous interaction and able to get new answers and learn by watching as well. So if we’re bringing teams back, I think everybody’s really looking for, well, what is that experience? I had autonomy that I could work from anywhere, my bedroom in my bed, coffee shop, wherever your preference, in my backyard sitting outdoor. So how do we make sure that when people are coming in, there’s that element of experience that we’re emulating in the office so that they feel welcome, they feel belong, they feel productive. They feel they can socialize with their team and learn the company’s values. It’s that fundamental.

Nicholas Boever:

Now, in sticking with these ideas that we’ve been talking about so far, are there any trends that you’ve kind of noticed where maybe just in terms of, we can talk about in terms of office design or just wellbeing design in general for these office spaces, have you noticed people kind of sticking to this sort of one central idea in a lot of different projects?

Hannah Hackathorn:

I think the central idea thus far is around collaboration and collaboration in various different ways, some incorporating technology, some going back to sort of the analog way, putting things up on the wall and getting peoples getting up and able to scrum in the idea of quick 10 to 15 meetings and able to walk away with the ideas. Providing that as we talk about the hospitality experience, the welcome center, the experience. Or the concierge experience where I’m coming into office, maybe there I can get my dry cleaning picked up in the office environment so I’m killing two birds with one stone.

I think we’re really marrying that idea of how do we provide that fruitful experience for our employees so that they’re coming in, that there is a reason, not only they’re able to support their career growth, but also it impacts their personal life as well. I think biophilic and all of that has been common trend thus far. I think it’s become more heightened, absolutely for various reason. Especially in the cities where not everybody has a backyard that they can access the beautiful greeneries and whatnot, but it seems to be the main focus around the human interaction, right? How do we interact with people for social reason, for celebratory reason, for learning reasons?

Nicholas Boever:

Now, one of the things that I’ve seen also kind of come up, not so much in practice, but a lot in conversation is people talking about the introduction of these multifunctional spaces within a workplace environment. More specifically, this emphasis on it being an adaptable space where in one moment it can be this kind of, as we were talking about kind of coffee shop lounge area, where people can go to relax and then in the next, people can kind of file in and gather around and talk about a project they’re working on. How do you think that plays into the design for mental health? Do you think that’s beneficial or more detrimental?

Hannah Hackathorn:

I think it’s hugely beneficial. I think having certain areas that’s designated, and I’ve been calling that as a more of an experimental spaces, if you will. Depending on who’s utilizing it or all the technology that’s available. If my usage is around dialing with our global team and able to get away with the quick answers and meetings and problem solve together. Or there might be an analog ways of meeting where we just may want writeable surfaces, whether it’s physically on paper and just able to be loose with the ideas. When we’re working with having a no data to back any of the fundamentals up, I think having those experimental space could be a really great telling as to, well, how are people utilizing those spaces? And what’s been really more popular setup of the space that people are utilizing for what reason?

They can really help us to also create a data to evolve down the road as well. Again, I go back to the idea of autonomy, right? We’ve had autonomy for past two years. So for us to go back to very structure and set environment where people can move things and have the control, I think that will be detrimental. So be able to have that flexibility space for organization wise, learn, gathering data from that, but for employee, for them to have that sense of control so that they are able to work how they are like and make sure that they’re able to have a productivity at the end of the day will be key.

Nicholas Boever:

Now, just listening to you talk, and I’m sure that pretty much any designer or architect would probably agree on this one, designers and architects, so much of the time they like to explore different topics. They like to kind of have that play out in a lot of their designs too, where it’s kind of a learning experience as we’ve been talking about. I’m curious as, if in your practice, this exploration has kind of led to any pushback on design proposals you may have submitted for specific projects and why that blockage may have occurred.

Hannah Hackathorn:

That’s a great question. I think it’s a fear of unknown, right? Again, I go back to a lot of our design was backed by a fact. We’ve already done this, we’ve tested this ideas and was successful. Going through a similar situation, client, this type of environment is successful environment for you. I think providing something that hasn’t been tested in the past, there’s a sense of uncertainty and feeling a little bit uneasy and a lot has to do with even change management as well. Not everybody were fortunate enough to have a flexible working or a hybrid working before we all went to pandemic. Pandemic just help us to kind of create this leveling field. So we have to be cognizant that a lot of organization, they’re coming from slightly different places, and they’re trying to adapt to this new ways.

So some of the pushback and understandably might be lack of unknown or fear of unknown. Everybody’s kind of trying to figure out, “Well, has others tried this? Somebody else must have tried it and waiting for a proven case.” For past year and a half to two years, our organization’s been incredibly busy and having this phenomenal conversation with our client and getting to know them and helping them to come up with what is a right strategy for now. Then we take that information and learn from it and learn from it and learn from it. So I think if there has been any pushback, like I said, it’s the fear of unknown.

Nicholas Boever:

Now, before we close out, I did have one question that I wanted to ask you kind of going back to that idea of trends sort of cropping up in design. Is there anything that you’ve noticed that kind of a lot of people seem to gravitate to in design projects that you think should kind of be toned back a little bit, maybe not the most beneficial for mental health in these projects?

Hannah Hackathorn:

I think that one of the most dangerous element is thinking that, “Okay, well it’s about collaboration, bring people back, and then it’s all about social space.” I think it’s the balance. The office cannot be just around collaboration and just on the around socialization. It also has to be cognizant with the people who are coming in for various different reason and that they may require different type of space. So I think rather than just taking the trends from, well, this is a common trend and this is what we’re hearing. I think it’s imperative that each organization really need to understand about how their team work and to find the right balance, because having too many Without understanding and reflected in our own team, no matter what we’re creating, you’re kind of setting yourself up for failure, right?

Because what if your team is actually wanting to come back more for that concentrated reason, and it might be much more smaller scale individual to duo, but if we’ve completely removed that and went through all socialization space and collaborative space, that open set up, well, then that’s not the right makeup of the space. So I think it’s good to take time to understand who we are, how our team works. What is the best measure that we can start to set those practice space types up, and then learn from it. Don’t be afraid to try something new and, like I said, nobody’s going to get everything perfectly. We’re all in the same place now. Taking one step at a time and be okay to evolve.

Nicholas Boever:

Yeah, it’s that Very beautifully said for evolving in a space. It’s definitely something that, I guess, from having worked in marketing for so long, that arm of business is very much a trial or a test and retest sort of thing. So I guess for me, it’s something that’s very natural. I think for businesses it’s very natural, the testing and retesting. It kind of falls into just any sort of strategy that a business may have. So it makes sense that designing a space for it would fall under that same category.

Hannah Hackathorn:

Absolutely.

Nicholas Boever:

Well, I want to thank you again for coming on today and talking about this. I feel like, yeah, mental health design is definitely something that is getting a lot more attention now thanks to COVID and I would love to see it continue to gain traction, even now as the weariness surrounding COVID is kind of starting to fade away from the world a little bit.

Hannah Hackathorn:

Me too. If there’s any silver lining, I think it’s a fascinating and exciting time for us to finally reflect on us, on humankind and on how people work. I certainly hope that more conversation and more design and more research is being around mental wellness around workplace, especially.