In the wake of the corona pandemic, the UK’s largest recruitment platform Total Jobs – a member of the Stepstone Group – decided to reorganise its office plan and create new and modern working conditions for its employees. Soft furnishings from the Estonian company Intuit by Softrend were used to furnish several common areas in the office.

Total Jobs received a home-like, comfortable and modern working environment. Let’s take a closer look at how it was done.

Let’s start with strategy

Total Jobs admitted that its office in Havant, on England’s South Coast, no longer met its business needs. The corona pandemic brought with it major changes to both working practices and employee preferences, with the space having become obsolete and its potential not being fully realised.

Total Jobs hired the office design team at Peldon Rose, and together they mapped out the key problem areas and ways to implement change. To this end, employee interviews, workshops and observational studies were carried out. It turned out that the main problems were related to technology, room acoustics, general employee well-being and catering – challenges that Peldon Rose set out to address.

The company’s office was moved to a new location. It is now located in Portsmouth, in the northern port of Lakeside. The west side of the office is lined with glass walls over two-metres in height, which offer a stunning view of the beautiful nature – in the form of a large lake and forests – surrounding the building.

The StepStone Group owns several brands. An additional task was to find a way to create synergies between the different departments. The survey conducted by Peldon Rose found that employees considered a sense of organisational belonging to be very important, but equally important to them was maintaining their own brand identity. Therefore, the new interior had to create an environment where all of the sub-brands felt comfortable.

The colour palette of the new office has moved away from the brand’s classic colours and is instead inspired by its surroundings, incorporating earthy greens, soft blues and oranges. Large screens and media walls recall the company’s larger vision without displaying brand logos or contrasting their identities.

The kitchenette and work zone of the open-plan office are elegantly separated by a row of simple sofas placed opposite each other. Photo: Soren Kristensen

Connecting with nature

When you enter the room, you are greeted by a large tree with seating around it – a great place for everyone to gather, creating the feeling of being outdoors. Nature has also been brought into other parts of the office, such as recreational areas – not only enhancing the wellbeing of employees, but also achieving harmony with the outside environment.

Total Jobs office building facade. Photo: Soren Kristensen

The sales department and teams of web development specialists and software engineers are working together in the new Portsmouth office. One of the key findings of the concluded study was the need for a better spatial acoustic solution, one that would allow employees to work undisturbed in a shared environment.

The office floor plan was prepared based on the professional nature of people’s work, positioning teams with similar energy and noise levels into the same zone. The sales department was placed close to the design team – the activities of both departments are quite active and loud by nature, so neither disturbs the other.

It’s a different story for software engineers, who are seated away from the crowd in zones that are quiet and conducive to working in a focused manner. The zones described were created in an open-plan office with acoustic panelled phone booths and bookcases that both block noise and divide the space into different areas.

A suitable working environment was also created for those looking for something in between. Rather than equipping every workplace with a sitting or standing desk, employees are encouraged to move around more and work in different places. That’s why you’ll also find lots of household items, such as armchairs, that create a cosy and comfortable atmosphere in which to work.

Architect: Peldon Rose
Photos: Soren Kristensen