Workplace Renewal Project

Christine Walker: This workspace is a holistic concept, and it really has three pillars: it has a space pillar; it has a technology pillar; and it has a change-the-way-we-work pillar. And the purpose of it is really for employees to work better together.

You’ll see a lot of these open concept workstations and places where you can go and sit. And what it allows you to do is bring the people that you need to solve a problem or brainstorm an issue, and you get it done quickly. You get it done in an easy, kind of relaxed environment, and all of a sudden you’ve solved it and you’re on to the next thing.

Real estate is very expensive, so if we can continue to do this throughout the government, we will save a significant amount of money.

Melanie: We tend to send fewer emails since we are right beside each other. We work more in groups, more in collaboration. We tend more to just turn and gather around a table to discuss different issues rather than send emails.

Charles: I love the ability to work and stand at the same time instead of sitting down in a chair for a couple of minutes at time. If I’m only going to be stopping briefly to get something at the computer, I can just log on quickly and then run off to whatever our next meeting is.

Magid: I have less paper. I don’t have as much cabinet space in order to put paper files, so it’s forced me to become a little bit more paperless.

Christine Walker: The great thing about it is a number of organizations like Google, Accenture, some other private organizations and some government organizations like EDC have already done some of this, so we’re able to look at their work, leverage what they’ve done and then take the new ideas that are coming out there in the future.

Magid: It’s new, it’s innovative. It looks like government is going in the right direction.

Christine Walker: People want to come to work, they want to be here. And that is what I’m really, really enthused about because you really feel it from the people who are here in this space.

Andrea: I’m really enthusiastic about this place and I told my boss yesterday that he’ll have to drag me kicking and screaming to move back to the old office.