If you take care of your workers, they’ll take care of your business. – Richard Branson 

Change is the only constant thing. Type and nature of work have undergone changes and it is still changing. Work, workers and workplaces have evolved drastically over the last couple of decades.  It has always changed but the speed is faster in the last decade than ever before. This book by Parthajeet Sarma mainly focuses on the factors taken into consideration while designing the workplace. 

The worker spends a major part of his day at the workplace. Healthier workplace leads to the high productivity of workers and healthy bottom-line for the organisation. A worker was required to be present in the workplace for eight hours and work from his designated desk. Now because of technology, there is no restriction on the number of working hours and location of the workplace. The worker is available when needed because now everything is available on his smartphone.

The author quotes few Fortune’s list organisations who invest heavily on workplace happiness. Workplaces have become like a second home for workers. These places need to be as comfortable as a home or a little more than it.  The author has dedicated an entire section in the book on ‘Why is it important?’ and how to do it. Organisations allow their workers to take a short break in between their work to play, exercise, be creative and even to sleep. These ways help workers to be productive, focus more and be more relaxed at the work.

The author mentioned three main steps in designing the workplace. At the macro level, organisations need to identify the new meaning of work, worker and workplace in the context of the organisation’s vision and goals. At the second level, organisations need to figure out the general concept of the workplace. The second step brings the design aspect of the workplace. Architects, interior designers and consultants come in the third and the last level.

Futuristic organisations have introduced various elements in their workplaces which allow a worker to be playful. However, the author insists on the importance of the mindset of the management. Introduction of the playful element is only not enough, the management needs to support it with a playful mindset. This is an important point the author quotes here. A playful environment is the culture of an organisation which needs to be introduced in the organisation by ‘top-down’ approach.

Parthajeet Sarma has supported every statement of his with relevant case studies which make this book an interesting read. He has written this book in a simple and clear language. There is no scope for any assumption. This book is different from many management and corporate books.

I totally agree with the author about how the workplaces should be. But will all industries can function on these norms? In my opinion, there is a long way to go for Indian companies in small cities to go for this.

I highly recommend this book for management students and professionals, interior designers and architect. It will give a new insight to architects and interior designers while designing a workplace for their corporate clients. They can give valuable inputs to their clients while designing futuristic organisations.

This book review is a part of “The Readers Cosmos Book Review Program and Blog Tours, for details log on to thereaderscosmos.blogspot.in .

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