News release October 23, 2008

Contact Monica Schaer (212) 558-0555 monica_schaer@gensler.com

GENSLER SURVEY MEASURES CONNECTION BETWEEN WORKPLACE DESIGN AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
Understanding Work Mode Shift Helps Companies Cut Costs, Increase Revenue NEW YORK, NY Workplace design plays a pivotal role in overall business performance by supporting the new work modes of a knowledge economy, according to a nationwide study of oce workers released today by Gensler, a leading global design and consulting rm. The Gensler 2008 U.S. Workplace Survey reveals that top-performing companies are embracing a fundamental restructuring of work through workplace design that places as much emphasis on collaboration, learning and socialization as on individual heads-down work. Companies providing workplaces that are more eective for knowledge work are seeing higher levels of employee engagement, brand equity and prot, with prot growth up to 14 percentage points greater than those with less eective work environments. Leveraging Workplace Design to Meet Economic Challenge As cost control becomes an even greater business priority over the next several years, oce space reductions will be a common cost-cutting strategy, says Diane Hoskins, Executive Director at Gensler. However, companies risk creating ineciencies if they simply shrink space and continue with the same workplace paradigm. Our research indicates that if organizations provide work settings that support todays dynamic ways of working, they can reduce real estate and improve their companys performance at the same time they can do more with less. The Gensler survey makes evident that improving business performance via workplace improvements depends on the quality of space functionality and eectiveness, not quantity of space. Specically, designing a workplace to support the right proportion of four knowledge work modes focus, collaboration, learning and socializing is a key dierentiator between top-performing companies and average companies. Top-performing companies are those identied by survey respondents as the most protable, admired and leading in their industries. Genslers research reveals that 36 percent of the average oce is ineective or ill-suited for the activities of todays knowledge workforce. In fact, employees believe that they could increase the quality and quantity of their work by an average of 25 percent by improving workplace areas to better support all four modes of work. The Knowledge Workplace The Gensler survey indicates that top-performing companies consider all work modes more important than average companies, spend more time in those work modes, and provide workplaces that support those modes more eectively. For example, people at top-ranked companies consider collaboration twice as critical to job success as average companies (43% versus 21%) and spend 23% more time collaborating than average companies (36% versus 29%). Socializing was almost three times as critical to employees at top-performing companies who spend 16% more time in that work mode (20% versus 7%). The value of focus work is commonly understood, but theres clearly a competitive advantage for companies who see how collaborating, socializing and learning add value to employee and business performance. For example, socializing plays a critical role in fostering social networks, the infrastructure that moves knowledge through an organization to create innovation, said Hoskins.

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The ROI of Workplace Design Genslers survey not only measured what people spend their time doing, but where they do it in the oce and how eectively work spaces support them, creating a workplace eciency rating for all survey respondents. According to this measure, top companies design workplaces that are 80% eective, and average companies only achieve 64% eciency. Drilling down to workplace eectiveness for specic work modes, 86% of top-performing companies ranked their spaces eective for collaboration versus 72% at average companies and up to 14 percentage points higher for focus, learning and socializing. The survey also found that companies with higher performing workplaces have higher revenue and prot growth than companies with low to moderate workplace eectiveness. At the high end of workplace eectiveness (91-100%), three-year average prot growth is 28.2%. At the low end of workplace eectiveness (0-40%), three-year average prot growth is 14.4%, 14 percentage points lower. With research by the Gallup Organization pointing to higher performance, protability and tenure from more engaged employees, Genslers survey mapped two measures of employee engagement workplace and job satisfaction to understand how the workplace contributes to organizational success. Eighty-two percent of top company respondents reported that they were satised/highly satised with their workplace; only 43% of average companies land in the same range. Respondents who rated their workplaces more eective had higher levels of job satisfaction, with those in the highly eective range (91100%) reporting three times the job satisfaction as those in the 0-40% eective range. Higher workplace eectiveness is a strong factor in attraction and retention of talented people; ratings of a companys attraction/retention capability are almost three times higher when workplace eectiveness rises above 80%. Businesses are viewing potential and existing talent as internal customers, and the workplace is a key part of the employment package that brings them in and keeps them working at their best for a company, said Hoskins. Survey Methodology Gensler commissioned Added Value, a WPP company, to conduct an online survey with a random sample of 900 participants with equal distribution across the continental United States. Respondents were fulltime, in-oce workers, dened as workers who spend most of their time working at their primary, assigned location. All sta levels were represented, from Administration, Sta, Manager, Partner/Vice-President, and C-Suite. A spectrum of industries were represented, including banking, nance, insurance, technology, internet, telecom, consumer products, retail, legal, accounting, consulting, energy, media, creative, entertainment and not-for-prot associations. The methodology aligns with Genslers ongoing Workplace Performance Index (WPI) research, which measures workplace eectiveness for corporations. The Gensler Workplace Survey program began in 2005 and includes surveys in the U.K. For a survey report or tips on workplace design in an economic downturn, please visit: http://www.gensler.com/#aboutus/news/ pressreleases/61

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About Gensler Gensler is a global design, planning, and strategic consulting rm, with more than 3000 professionals networked across 31 oces on ve continents. Consistently ranked by U.S. and international industry surveys as the leading architecture and interior design rm, Gensler leverages its deep resources and diverse expertise to develop design solutions for industries across the globe. Since 1965, Gensler has collaborated with clients to create environments that enhance organizational performance, achieve measurable business goals, enrich people and communities, and enhance everyday experiences.

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