Most employers conduct employee surveys gauging metrics like engagement, work satisfaction, and overall culture. Insights gleaned from such feedback provide valuable insights on what companies excel at when it comes to their people, as well as what areas need improvement. The same can be applied when evaluating how employees engage and how they feel about their workplace environment. It provides equally valuable information on how your workspace can work better for you and your team. That’s where Kolar comes into play.

Kolar provides a unique service to employers, examining the intersection of people, process, and place in pursuit of uncovering solutions that make a difference. Through the Kolar Experience Institute™ (KEI), our team of experienced experts works closely with your team to harness feedback that helps establish a baseline of where employers stand and how they can improve their current work environment to boost team performance.

After thirty years of providing award-winning insights and research services to employers across the globe, Kolar has gathered useful feedback from employees to help develop a strong strategy for workplace branding and design. We’ve collected this data and discovered some striking statistics that showcase the importance company brand and workplace environment have on teams across various sectors and of all sizes–and from individuals from different departments, age groups, and backgrounds. The following insights were discovered prior to Kolar work, during initial assessments with company teams on work environment satisfaction. The responses were then averaged across Kolar clients to reveal telling results.

• Only 1 in 4 employees feel that the design of their workspace reflects who they are as a company.
• Only 2 in 5 employees think the design of their physical environment helps them feel inspired.
• Only 7 in 20 employees agree that their work environment conveys an image you would expect for the quality the company is known for.
• Only 1 in 5 employees are proud of their company’s physical environment. 

Beyond just the workplace environment, we found through our research many trends across change management as well – in today’s new workplace standard, people seek meaning and purpose in their work, mastery (feeling challenged and experiencing growth), autonomy, and feeling connected to their company and culture. 

Having not conducted work environment surveys and assessments, the feedback gathered was new and insightful information for our clients. From these results, it was clear to us–sometimes, you just don’t know what you don’t know. The majority of employees find their work spaces uninspiring, unreflective of their brand, and misrepresentative of the companies they are proud to work for. We find that the best way to understand how your environment is impacting your employees is to just ask. You need to sit down with your employees and have an in-depth discussion about how they think their work environment represents the company, and understand their wants and their needs. Kolar is able to effectively evaluate employees beginning with key performance indicator development and assessments, collaborative design-thinking workshops, and then the creation of actionable roadmaps integrating key employee ideas.

Kolar demonstrated the importance of brand and environment research and insights when participating in the project OurShop–a collaborative initiative aimed at connecting local entrepreneurs with affordable retail space while bridging community wants and needs with what’s possible in the marketplace. Partnering with The College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation, YARD & Company, and the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation, KEI brought expertise to the community-building initiative in Cincinnati’s College Hill Neighborhood. 

Kolar demonstrated the importance of brand and environment research and insights when participating in the project OurShop–a collaborative initiative aimed at connecting local entrepreneurs with affordable retail space while bridging community wants and needs with what’s possible in the marketplace. Partnering with The College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation, YARD & Company, and the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation, KEI brought expertise to the community-building initiative in Cincinnati’s College Hill Neighborhood. 

The initiative played a catalytic role in creating a new vision for the College Hill business district post-covid, leveraging funding from private foundations and the 2020 CARES Act. The team identified opportunities to access capital for small, minority, and women businesses, strategized quality placemaking to deploy innovative land use models, promoted advanced planning and zoning regulations to facilitate the establishment of a community-oriented neighborhood business district, and built local wealth by presenting small business owners with greater opportunities to own real estate over time. Kolar was instrumental in OurShop’s strategic management consulting and data collection and analysis to help the retailers establish and grow in their new environment, document best practices, and measure program successes. From November to March, Kolar studied retail patterns, gross sales, and the opportunities and challenges tenants faced. The retailers were able to bring in new customers, encourage customers to return to the brick-and-mortar location with strategic marketing plans, and experience a 50% profit margin on average from the initial launch. Overall, the program saw sales reach $21,000+ in November and December 2021, $5,100+ in January 2022, and $6,400+ in February 2022.

Through this project – and so many others – you can see just how important Kolar research and insights are and how it directly translates to a company’s bottom line. Kolar is uniquely attuned to how to best discern and deliver this data to its clients, enabling them to make the changes necessary to drive real results. 

Interested in learning more about KEI and how it can transform your business? Visit here.