Nowadays a lot of companies are opting to divide their offices into front and back office areas. Front offices are like corporate stages designed to impress clients, set the right tone and provide the perfect environment for closing deals and making sales. Back offices, on the other hand, are hidden from view and are the ‘beehives’ where the internal business processes are operated. Back offices provide the support required for the front office to function smoothly.
The evolution of this type of set up stems from the need to develop a corporate brand while still optimizing business costs. The presence of a well-equipped office in the center of Moscow is of course a powerful marketing tool but rental rates for class A office areas, inside the Ring Road have reached $1,000 per square meter per year.
For companies with several hundred employees renting an office with a view of the Kremlin would mean bankruptcy. For companies focused on promoting their market image but aware of costs, back offices can be a good option. The front office remains the company’s showcase and venue for meetings, negotiations, seminars, and presentations while the back office is where the business processes are organized.
“The design and layout of a front office must create the right impression to visitors and convey the corporate culture and philosophy. It should create an atmosphere of trust and enhance a company’s market position. The main employee work areas are hidden from view. A back office should create a positive impression on employees and create a comfortable and effective working environment” comment Boris Shakht, general director of Orgspace Consulting.
Front and back office areas can be combined in the same office area. “For a small company or a representative office of a foreign firm, dividing up an office in this way makes no real sense. All that is needed it to divide the area into client and working areas. However for a large company in which the internal and external business processes are clearly divided, having a front and back office is a natural option. For many Russian companies this is also a development and expansion issue. With the pace of market development many companies are finding themselves cramped into offices which are too small, while 2-3 years ago they seemed spacious. This is forcing companies to opt for front and back offices” says Anna Kuznetsova, marketing director at NAYADA.
Nowadays banking and insurance companies often lease entire buildings and use the lower floors for client areas and the higher floors for administration and finance. “If the size of an office does not permit a proper division into client and working areas, then you can divide them symbolically. In this type of arrangement the front office is designated for the reception area and meeting rooms, which should be located nearby,” says Natalia Trofimchuk, key client manager at Kinnarps.
Front and back office arrangements are common in law firms, advertising agencies, and realtors. In these industries client interaction centers around the meeting areas and the internal business processes are organized in back office areas. Large realtors with lots of branches within one city typically have a head office where the bulk of the back office work is carried out.
The space ratio between front and back offices depends on the type of business and of course the company itself. For example, manufacturing companies typically have small front office areas comprised of one to two offices located in a prestigious business center. The back office includes the manufacturing areas which are generally located outside the city or even in a different region. “Large companies which work closely with their clients often have large front office areas. For example, part of NAYADA is about to move into a new front office which is every bit as big as the back office area,” says Ms Kuznetsova.
Center of Attraction
The fitting out of front offices is dictated by the need to create the right impression on clients and promote the company’s corporate image. It is commonly thought that the corporate image begins and ends with a logo and corporate colors. In actual fact these elements are just the tip of the iceberg. The size of an office, its furniture, the way in which employees interact with clients and with each other and even the telephone system’s background music all create a corporate image and establish a company’s unique identity.
For example, a 400-sqm office with 20 employees located in an expensive business center indicates that a company is successfully developing and values its employees. At the same time you would expect to pay a considerable amount for their services. If a company is cramming as much as possible into every square meter then this could either indicate high level of flexibility and organization or a lack of resources. Experts comment that when organizing front offices it is very important to think about how the area will ‘communicate’ to clients. It must provide a realistic impression of the company while at the same concealing the internal day-to-day business processes. As you would expect, corporate logos should be larger and more pronounced in front office areas and in reception and meeting room areas.
Typically the amount of space allotted to each employee in a front office area is larger than for a back office. Front offices also have fewer work areas. A front office should contain a reception and waiting area, executive offices, small employee work areas and of course meeting rooms. “Clients usually visit for the purpose of discussions and negotiations and the meeting rooms should reflect this. The size, lighting system, color scheme and furniture in the meeting room are all significant. A smaller meeting room encourages informal, private discussions while a larger one sets a more formal and official tone,” says Ms Kuznetsova.
Another very important aspect of front offices which is often overlooked is the relaxation area. Front office employees typically spend a lot of time dealing face to face with clients, which can be stressful. They may need a separate location where they can relax, unwind, and gather their thoughts and emotions.
Presentations are frequently held in front office areas and they must be equipped with high quality video and audio equipment. When it comes to the interior decor and finishings, these should be elegant and costly. A class A office area must be fitted out with high quality materials, equipment, and furniture. In the same way that office areas are divided into Class A, B, and C, furniture can also be divided into: premium (high end) and economy (low end.) With only a very few exceptions, front office furniture is supplied by prestigious, well-known Western brands. The cost of a single employee work station in a front end office can cost upwards of $2,000.
Work Horses
“A separate front and back office can be a good way to cut costs. However sometimes company management believe that a front office should only be equipped with expensive and high quality furniture to create an image of success while the back office area should only contain cheap, lower quality furniture. You have to remember that presenting a good image is not more important than employee productivity. It makes practical sense to create a comfortable and efficient working environment because only then will employees work effectively and produce the best possible results,” says Mr Shakht.
Nowadays the back offices of many large companies can be found outside the Ring Road in decentralized office centers. Rental rates are much lower than for class A office areas in Moscow but so is construction quality. However transport access can be much better. These types of back offices are usually ‘open plan,’ with different areas separated by wall partitions. Back offices can also be found in former science and research institutes and converted factories and industrial plants. These kinds of locations usually present few opportunities for redesign and reorganization and many of them have office and corridor type layouts.
“Fitting out a back office, including interior finishing and furniture, usually costs half as much as for a front office. The same holds true for work areas located in client areas. The look of employee furniture is not as critical as for client areas but all the same it must be very functional and ergonomic. In an ideal situation a front and back office would have an integrated style and similar finishings and furniture. Client areas should of course have a more expensive feel but back office areas should also reflect a firm’s corporate style and spirit. It should be pointed out that the longer firms are in the market place the harder it is to maintain a standard style. Suppliers are replaced and administrators and managers come and go. Properly maintaining a standard corporate style is difficult but of course it should be the goal,” says Trofimchuk.
“A front office is essentially a selling and promotion zone. The design and layout should depend on what is being sold – a specific product, specialist services or an image. The choice of materials and finishings can be just as important as the design layout. If a company needs to emphasize its creativity then the office interior should unique and engaging. If on the other hand, it wants to stress an open corporate culture, then the office interior itself needs to reflect this with open space planning, unobstructed views, and even the use of transparent materials,” says Kuznetsova.
While in front office areas the priority is conveying a firm’s corporate image to visitors, in back office areas it is the employees themselves that are the priority and firms often carry out internal PR programs to increase motivation and loyalty. These include providing information about the company’s history and new projects and concepts. Staff cafeteria areas often include photographs of team-building events, and employee’s certificates and awards are displayed prominently in meeting areas. Information about the firm’s plans and goals is placed in common areas as well as information about industry awards, messages of thanks, and lists of employee birthdays.
Experts comment that though in the past the emphasis was on cutting costs for employees’ furniture, gradually we are seeing a shift towards providing more ergonomic creature comforts. There are still employers who do not see a connection between employee productivity and, for example, ergonomic office chairs but they are becoming fewer as the market develops and competition sharpens. It is simply a matter of time before all our bosses and directors come round to this point of view.