New Flexibility Comes To Woodruff Sawyer: The Workforce Initiative

Woodruff Sawyer has recently renovated and reopened one of our Northern California offices as a kick-off to The Workforce Initiative—an ongoing commitment to examine the work arrangements that best serve Woodruff Sawyer employees, and, in turn, our clients.

Our firm is looking at the physical workspace as well as the details of the work week, focusing on solutions that are flexible and personalized to the individual, even down to the temperature of an office’s microclimate.

The Workforce Initiative focuses on three aspects of the employee experience: when they work, where they work, and the office environment itself.

1. Flex schedules give employees the opportunity to work outside the traditional 9-to-5 workday, combining working from home and the office to achieve better work/life balance.
2. Employees will be provided with new tools like Skype, Zoom, MS Teams, and laptops with embedded digital softphones to ensure they can communicate and collaborate seamlessly no matter where they are.
3. Within the office itself, Woodruff Sawyer is experimenting with interior office design to maximize collaboration and innovation. Brereton Architects was engaged to redesign the new Walnut Creek, California office, which incorporates design elements such as impromptu collaboration areas, multi-purpose workspaces, and more casual "touchdown rooms" that enable employee interactions outside the traditional cubicle kingdoms. The new office design also includes intra-office microclimates for a more temperate employee experience. Moving forward, the Walnut Creek office will become a model for future build-outs and remodels as office leases renew.

This initiative, led by Chief Operating Officer Zac Overbay, takes a conscientious approach to create a positive employee community while meeting the diverse needs of our teams across the country.