What are the key steps to creating an inclusive and accessible workplace design?

The Inclusive Design Overlay to the RIBA Plan of Work recommends consulting with a dedicated User Group regularly throughout design and construction phases and then when a building is in use. As inclusive design consultants, at Motionspot, we ask people to feedback on designs and their experiences because we know that the understanding this generates is key to creating inclusive workplaces. As a wheelchair user myself, I have participated in such sessions and found the experience both liberating and empowering. In conjunction with user engagement activities, conducting inclusive design reviews and audits will identify access barriers, highlight opportunities to address identified challenges, and improve the environment for all.

The first thing to do when trying to assess where you're at in terms of accessibility is to get both quantitative and qualitative data that shows your weaknesses. You want to audit your workplace for accessibility preferably using an accessibility consultant with lived experience. This should include digital presence and ways of working not just the physical space.

Engaging in user engagement workshops and building audits can result in a seemingly overwhelming quantity of sometimes contradictory data and opinions. Refining and prioritising all of these insights into a cohesive strategy is therefore a vital step to ensure that your inclusive workplace project progresses as intended and that all key stakeholders are bought into the vision. The Inclusive Design Overlay to the RIBA Plan of Work states that appointing an inclusive design consultant will enable you to set an inclusive design strategy with defined objectives. Inclusive design specialists also facilitate the effective implementation and monitoring of inclusive design in partnership with the wider project team.

Adapting to remote work is essential to develop a diverse workforce. Evidence shows it's cost-effective, reducing expenses on physical office space, utilities, and commuting subsidies. Companies can reinvest these savings into better technology and employee wellness programs. Remote work offers flexibility, which significantly boosts employee engagement and productivity. Surveys show remote employees often report higher job satisfaction and lower stress levels, leading to reduced turnover rates. Implementing remote work policies also widens the talent pool, allowing companies to hire the best talent regardless of geographic location, personal commitments and mobility.

Buildings and workplaces are only as accessible and inclusive as the people that operate them. Therefore, dedicated training goes a long way to ensuring that operations, facilities, and front of house teams know how to communicate the inclusive design components, facilities, and products of buildings and spaces to staff, new starters, and visitors. Training also builds empathy and understanding for why e.g. emergency pull-cords should not be tied up high and out of reach of wheelchair users and people shorter in stature. Such training can be delivered in engaging formats such as gamification to help it really resonate with staff and enable them to consistently present the building long term.