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Barbara Armstrong, Workplace Experience Strategist of Kahler Slater, talks about the characteristics that “Great Places to Work” show in their spaces. This video complements the first part posted on August 20.

Gathering spaces are present in all the “Best Companies to Work For” and for a very good reason: it is the way that firms have to say they support building a community in the workplace. These spaces are designed so people can interact and build camaraderie, which in turn leads to better work results.

Story-telling, the fourth characteristic, means that a firm should use the office to engage its employees by recognizing them in the physical space. Instead of using the walls for an art collection, they must show successful stories within the firm and transmit the values of the firm.

Download the video transcript.

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Why does “good design” matter for a company? Good design matters because the physical workplace sends messages to the stakeholders, according to Kahler Slater’s Workplace Experience Strategist, Barbara Armstrong. Ms. Armstrong was featured last month on Forbes website, where she discussed four characteristics needed in a “Best Place to Work.” These are brand alignment, visible culture, gathering spaces and story-telling. We introduce the first two characteristics today and the last two in the following days.

Brand alignment means that the work-space has to reflect the anticipated characteristics that someone would expect from a particular company. The expectations can be identified in the firm’s website, advertising and general values. Kahler Slater analyzes whether the expectations match the physical places. Ms. Armstrong mentions that great examples of brand alignment are Google and Zappos.

The physical space can also communicate the organizational values and culture. Barbara Armstrong shares an example of trust-building by the CEO of Ultimate Software. He promised a basketball court in the office if the sales team reached a competitive goal and when that happened, he followed through.

In a few days the Center will share the second part of the video.

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Passionate workers are more productive and have the energy to engage, to innovate. But this harmonious passion can evolve into an unhealthy obsession. Suddenly, the urge to work or even to think about work is uncontrollable, and you become emotionally dependent on your job. This can lead to risky behavior and burnout.

Read more on this topic form Scott Barry Kaufman, a cognitive scientist and personality psychologist, in his article featured in the Harvard Business Review.