The perceived value of workplace concepts for organisations

Purpose - This paper aims to focus on the value of workplace concepts. The aim is twofold. First, the development of expected value into actual perceived value of workplace concept is studied together with the methods adopted to realise such value. After this, the perceived value of concepts is analysed in more detail to supplement the literature. Design/methodology/approach - The identified relationship is analysed qualitatively through six Finnish case organisations. The data were collected both through interviews and observations and analysed through coding. Findings - The actual perceived value of the workplace concepts was richer than the expected value before the workplace implementation. The direction from cost-to business-workplace strategies was noticed. Active employee involvement and orientation towards their needs, as well as also the activity-based offices with unassigned workspaces and more meeting areas, were the main tools and methods used to perceive the value. Practical implications - More organisations develop their own workplace concepts. For practitioners, this paper offers the insight on what was expected, provides the workplace concept development results and practical insights into realizing such value from the organisational perspective. Originality/value - The value of this paper lies in the relationship between the expected value from the workplace concept and the actual perceived value of the concept, along with tools and methods to perceive it.