Healthcare Design - September 2016 - 60

60

SEPTEMBER 2016

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THE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

Employee-centered space represents any environment the employee moves through during
the work day, from an exterior plaza to a fitness
center to a parking lot or walking path. "I would
characterize these spaces into two groups. The
first is dedicated programmatically for employees, designed specifically for employees,"
Strohm says. "The second group is where the
space would have a public function: The employee gets equal benefit from this space but is not
the sole beneficiary."
Dedicated spaces include amenities such as
courtyards, rooftop terraces, dining facilities,
yoga studios, respite rooms, lounges, locker
rooms, conference rooms, and smaller spaces
for heads-down time. Other employee-focused
spaces encompass clinical and administrative
areas, team rooms on nursing units, conference
spaces, and impromptu work areas. "It's an appropriate selection of spaces for the kind of work
people have to do in the moment-a mix of private and collaborative spaces," says Sarah Markovitz, principal with NBBJ (Boston).
Consider the academic teaching rooms primarily used by physicians and residents making
rounds at Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital in
Indianapolis, which opened in December 2013,
with HOK serving as executive architect and the
architect of record. The rooms are observable
through interior glass doors and also from the
street via exterior corner windows. There are
two academic rooms on four of the building's 10
floors, each featuring a central conference table,

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employee-centered design
don't begin and end with the employee. Efforts ranging from providing staff with opportunities for exercise to quiet places to work
all contribute to a sense of self-worth and
self-control, which can influence how patient
care is delivered. ¶ Both patients and staff
need to be happy and feel well-cared-for in
today's healthcare climate; A new focus on employee work and
respite areas addresses both patient satisfaction concerns and
employee recruitment needs. "[Providers] are wanting to be creative with how they do it. It's not money-giving space, but it's part
of attracting personnel," says Paul Strohm, senior vice president
and global healthcare practice director for HOK (St. Louis). ¶
Now, evaluating what's optimal and healthy for the employee
and integrating and tailoring insights from those discoveries into
the work environment are becoming part of the design process:
for example, creating public gardens or employee-only outdoor
spaces; integrating private, reflective spaces; establishing informal but productive colleague-to-colleague meeting rooms;
and strategically locating dining options that respond to staff
preferences for convenience and choice. Some design considerations are as simple as adding outlets for electronic devices
in employee lounges or using whimsical colors in stairwells.
"All of these things recharge and are restorative in some way
for the staff, who then transition back to the care environment,"
Strohm says. ¶ The solutions being brought to For this Memorial Sloan
(MSK) laboratory
fruition today are going well beyond the em- Kettering
medicine building, schedto open in 2017,
ployee lounges and locker rooms of old, too. uled
stairwells will feature winaccess and natural
"One thing that's changed is that we're looking dowed
light from adjoining staff
lounges on each floor.
at [employee spaces] as a priority and not an The stairwell windows will
overlook the staff lounges,
afterthought. We're not using leftover space," which will have windows
with natural light on the
Strohm says. "We're now thinking this off-stage opposite wall. Staff will circulate through the building
or rejuvenating space is just as important of a via these stairs, designed
to encourage impromptu
priority for how you design healthcare space." colleague interactions.
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