HKS is an interdisciplinary global design firm of architects, interior designers, researchers, urban designers, nurses, anthropologists, graphic designers and more. The company is committed to sustainability and well-being, which is one of the reasons why, while designing the HKS Chicago office in September 2017, the company chose to pursue WELL Certification to improve employee health and satisfaction.
The company treated its Chicago office as a “living laboratory,” and tracked how the health and employee satisfaction features it implemented into the building impacted its inhabitants.
Bisnow spoke with Kate Davis, HKS global practice director and commercial interiors principal, to learn more about the results and the company’s WELL journey.
Bisnow: What led you to pursue WELL?
Davis: We've always taken sustainability seriously. HKS is one of the only architectural firms in North America to sign the UN Global Compact, and we’ve long embedded wellness and sustainability practices into our projects.
Pursuing WELL Certification represents this commitment, as well as our partnership with the International WELL Building Institute, and we believe it is something of real importance to our clients.
Bisnow: How have your employees and investors responded to WELL?
Davis: At HKS, we’re having ongoing conversations about the health of the environment that we’ve asked our employees to come into, especially since the pandemic. We’ve posted signage throughout the office to keep employees informed about various WELL features like bottle fillers, water filtration and the updated HVAC system. Providing a safe, healthy space where employees can perform at their best is part of our core values, and it benefits both our workers and our shareholders.
Bisnow: Have you seen any economic benefits from pursuing WELL?
Davis: After we implemented the WELL features, we led a multiyear longitudinal study of the Chicago offices to see the impacts. We monitored ambient conditions through sensor technology, surveyed employees pre- and post-move into the office using the IWBI's Building Wellness Survey and collected real-world behavior-mapping data. We discovered that employee satisfaction had gone way up.
Not only were employees more satisfied with the air quality, lighting and water quality in the new office, 66% of respondents agreed that “the workplace supports my thinking and analytical work,” compared to 26% at the old office, while 91% agreed that “it is easy to work collaboratively with others,” compared to 47% at the last office. Our research shows that by balancing design strategies with health, productivity and operational energy use, the new office managed to calculate projected savings in financial, social and environmental impacts of $4.6M.
These are clear metrics that we can communicate to our employees, partners, stakeholders and clients.
Bisnow: What were some other key findings?
Davis: Employees reported a 51% increase in lighting satisfaction, a 44% increase in acoustic satisfaction and a 25% increase in thermal comfort. If you have ever worked in an office, you would know that finding a positive balance of thermal comfort, lighting and acoustics is the holy grail for internal design, so that was huge.
If you can have people feeling good about their office, feeling comfortable, feeling like it's a healthy and safe place, you will have a much easier time getting them to come in.
Bisnow: What does having a WELL Certified office signal to your organization and your clients?
Davis: All of this shows our clients the impact of interiors — it’s not just about materials and finishes and cost per square foot, but about communicating with employees and ensuring they are working in an environment where they can do their best. This has been a great case study to get people thinking more holistically about the totality of what's possible in terms of health, safety, sustainability and wellness in interior environments.
Bisnow: What are you most proud of in your pursuit of WELL?
Davis: Achieving WELL Certification is no joke. It takes focused attention and intentionality to get it and it’s incredibly worthwhile when you do. I am very proud of the support we received internally from our team while working toward this goal and our partnership with IWBI.
Along with that, I am proud that we can clearly demonstrate the benefits of WELL Certification to our employees and clients, from operating costs to community engagement to employee satisfaction.
Bisnow: What's next in your WELL journey?
Davis: This whole journey has led us to take a harder look at how we engage in real estate deals for ourselves, and to notice something that is missing in the market that our clients want. It’s not just about pursuing WELL but making WELL a bigger part of your initial decisions.
Often, companies will make a decision about a lease and then say “we’ll pursue WELL or LEED once we’ve closed.” The problem with that is the type of building you have chosen may not allow for such changes to be made easily, so WELL needs to be taken into account from the very beginning, not as an afterthought. We’re looking forward to seeing the impact this strategy will have on our portfolio and pursuing a more holistic approach overall.