The Future of Federal Work: GSA’s Workplace 2030 Initiative and the Post-Pandemic Workplace Nationwide
CASE STUDY
The WIL's innovative "neighborhoods" serve as a model for other federal agencies in the creative use of space in historic buildings. (GSA)
The effective stewardship of historic buildings requires occupancy and adaptive use of the architectural legacy. According to GSA in its Section 3 Progress Report, “leveraging the long- term value of historic buildings as post- pandemic federal workplaces also requires envisioning the future of federal work.” As GSA wrote, “Locating the Workplace Innovation Lab in GSA’s sustainably modernized 1917 headquarters building, blocks from the White House and multiple transit options, affirms GSA confidence in the adaptability of historic buildings to meet current and future federal workspace needs. At the same time, the agency is keenly aware that its inventory of buildings constructed to serve traditional civilian workspace requirements exceeds the needs of a mobile workforce more reliant on technology than physical space.” Toward that end, GSA’s National Portfolio Planning process seeks to achieve a smaller, financially sustainable, operationally efficient portfolio that supports climate and environmental goals, with flexible workspace optimized to meet current and future federal needs. It is GSA’s intent to find solutions that keep the most representative, historic buildings in the federal inventory—those that best represent the public building legacy of high architectural merit and construction quality.
Lab (WIL), a pilot federal coworking space which opened in January 2022. Located in GSA’s historic 1917 headquarters building in Washington, D.C., the WIL offers shared collaboration spaces, conference rooms, and office space, divided into six unique suites featuring different workspace and furniture layouts called “neighborhoods” designed by different manufacturers. Each workspace “neighborhood” at the WIL is a model workspace layout showcasing innovative office design, furnishings, and technology, allowing agencies to try out new technology and furniture options from multiple vendors before purchasing. Federal employees are able to work in the 25,000-square- foot space and can use the lab for time ranging from a single hour to weeks. GSA operates the lab as a free federal coworking space, available to all federal agencies. A key aspect of the WIL is its capacity to garner data about workspace utilization. GSA tracks WIL space reservations, usage as indicated by workstation activation and key fob entries, and qualitative user feedback from those reservations. This data-driven approach will not only help GSA with maintenance and sanitation of workspaces but will offer insights as to workplace preferences for future solutions and offerings.
In March 2023, the Office of Personnel Management issued a memorandum entitled “The Future of Work,” which endeavored to lay out a vision for the future and a set of core policy points in anticipation of agencies embarking on long- term strategic workforce planning efforts following the major changes that have come to the federal workplace following the COVID-19 pandemic. By summer 2023, the federal government had, collectively, begun actively preparing for the post- pandemic workplace. Since 2020, federal agencies have shifted proactively in response to the public health emergency. Safety measures enacted during the pandemic accelerated a widespread shift toward increased telework, technology- based, mobile workplace models, and workspace consolidation supporting federal footprint reduction goals.
However, looking ahead toward 2030, the General Services Administration (GSA) anticipates that on-site work will continue to be essential to the mission of some agencies, while others will move toward a more distributed, or multiple workplaces, model, redirecting real estate costs toward technologies and services that empower the workforce. Federal agencies are still holding onto their headquarters and workspaces, but questions of how much and what kind of physical workspace will be needed persist. GSA has taken some steps to support federal office space planning in the post- pandemic environment. A centerpiece of GSA’s Workplace 2030 strategy for creating human-centered, sustainable, flexible, and tech-enabled workspaces is its Workplace Innovation
A group gathers for a presentation at the WIL at GSA's historic headquarters building in Washington, D.C. (GSA)
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IN A SPIRIT OF STEWARDSHIP: A Report on Federal Historic Properties • 2024 | 79
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