Leading Media Agency Builds Workplace of the Future

What does the office of the future look like?

The world’s leading media agency, GroupM, wants to continue to reinvent itself and the industry. This reflects not only the media industry they operate in but also all aspects of what they do and how they do it. The pioneering company sees its people as the key to achieving this goal.

GroupM plans and buys media for their clients, who are world’s leading advertisers both locally and globally. The acting head and COO of GroupM Finland, Antti Mäki, believes that investing in the wellbeing of the people in the company is one of the most important factors in terms of a company’s competitive edge.

“This is a people business and although we have technology and all sorts of things within GroupM, it’s really the people that count,” he says.

Accordingly, the company’s local office underwent a major change recently with an objective to achieve a better working environment with the help of a professional designer.

“We want to disrupt ourselves. We want to do things in a new and better way. We do that for our clients in the media but we also want to do it in our workspace and in terms of how we work,” explained Antti.

Beating the afternoon blues

When reinventing the working environment, GroupM took several concrete factors into consideration when improving the working conditions and making the office more comfortable for the employees. This was achieved, for example, with the help of adjustable desks, which can be electronically adjusted to sitting or standing work preference.

In addition to all the other changes made in the workspace, the indoor air was also a major part of the renovation. Previously, the workspace presented GroupM with some challenges to overcome.

For instance, the windows cannot be opened. These factors contributed to a noticeable drop in the quality of air. Especially as the company has grown in an increasing rate, the number of employees has taken a toll on the office and its air quality as well.   

“We have grown quite fast in terms of the number of people that work here, and we have experienced a lack of oxygen as a result of that. The quality of air is often something that people don’t consider. They think of it as given but it’s not. You can improve it and adjust it.”

Antti stresses the fact that companies should invest in their employees in more ways than just training. The work environment has a significant impact on wellbeing and productivity. “We spend 8 hours plus a day at the office, so you might as well make it a nice environment to be in,” he concluded.

The power of thousands of plants in one

In order to achieve their goal of an optimal workspace, GroupM needed something new and exciting for the space. Something that also had functional value in improving the employees’ efficiency. As the indoor air was a vital part of the project, the company started looking into different air purifying solutions.

“We needed something that’s easy to maintain, ideally something that takes care of itself. We needed something that looks good and also something that has an impact. If tens of thousands of plants equal one living wall, there would have been a lot of plants everywhere.”

Consequently, GroupM partnered with Naava, to spread the message of an office of the future to the world together.

“You always have to know the product that you’re helping to promote so this is our way of tangibly getting to know the product. I’m also sure it will help us by improving the quality of work and the wellbeing of our people, which is the single most important criteria in this business,” Antti explained.

Naavas were brought into the space to improve the quality of air during the long working days, and to provide extra fuel for the brain even in the later hours of the afternoon, when the employees’ have usually gone through slumps in productivity. The smart green walls were placed in areas where people work the most.

“The idea behind this is to see how the better air quality will impact the productivity in meetings, workshops and where we work. It’ll be interesting to see how living walls will impact our productivity and overall satisfaction levels.” 

Naava brings nature indoors

 

 

Decorate your workspace

Naava offers smart green walls with a wide set of features, including lush living plants, effortless maintenance, optimized air humidity, and air biofiltration.

If you would like to know more, the above benefits, our models, and other relevant information have been summarized into an easily digestible package - the Naava product brochure.