Healthcare industry is undergoing a rapid digital transformation enabled by emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, interoperable data and open, secures platforms. Availability of data and advanced cognitive technologies can analyze a large set of data and create personalized insights into consumer’s health. The future holds the possibility of early diagnosis and prevention of catastrophic diseases. At this cusp of inevitable change, the business leaders are making investments that could form the foundation for the future.

In India, Bengaluru and Hyderabad have always proved to be a conducive place to expand due to availability of some of the best biomedical talents, easy access to cutting-edge research infrastructures and support from the local administration to conduct business.

As consultative workplace design and build experts, we think to design office space for Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Organizations, one needs to be conscious about safety, flexibility and user experience. Let’s dig deeper.

Identify and validate the workspace

The current condition of pharma or healthcare industries provides some unique challenges when they set up facilities. The rapid evolution of their business makes scaling up a mandatory requirement whether the company needs infrastructure for manufacturing or research & development. In order to finalize the workspace, there is a need for a design team to validate the space and assess it versus the future growth and nature of business. The facilities like waste treatment services, water supply, gas and road are crucial for manufacturing and can be suitably located within the industrial areas. However, research facilities can be operated from SEZs or biomedical hubs that offer collaborative opportunities within scientific research communities.

Focus on employee safety

Adherence to strict safety guidelines is mandatory in order to avoid any accidents in the facilities. The manufacturing units and the laboratories need to have immaculate provisions for temperature, humidity, air quality and pressure to ensure smooth functioning of the machines and the desired outcome of the tests conducted in these facilities. However, the most important factor is employee safety when the work involves hazardous materials and critical experiments. The positioning of the machines and lab equipment, planning the storage units for the finished goods or raw materials are of utmost importance to provide the adequately safe work environment for the employees. Ensuring strict design guidelines and safety procedures can minimize risks of cross-contamination or massive operational failures.

Improve employee experience

India is ahead of the global average in terms of attrition rate and pharma sector is just behind information technology to deal with the high churn of employees. In this fast-growing knowledge-based sector the factors can be high stress at work and burnout and the attrition rate can be a whopping 40% in some years.

Most forward-thinking organizations in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector have incentivised their employees not only with higher compensation but have addressed the root cause of the stress by improving the work culture and facilities in the workplace.

Sometimes to achieve the safety standards some workplaces might end up looking linear and uninspiring for the employees. There can be too many restrictive zones that hinder employee movement causing isolation and discouraging a collaborative environment. A modern, tech-enabled design can improve productivity and also provide employees with the recreational perks of a new-age corporate environment.

Hidecor created an agile workspace for Mitra Biotech in Bengaluru that was designed in a horse-shoe shaped structure, enabling unobstructed laboratory work and yet providing nap area, cafeteria, tea house, recreation areas, workstations, meeting rooms and boardrooms, all within 13,000 square feet. The successful execution can be attributed to a highly experienced design team that has been working with some of the major brands in India, like BigBasket, Titan, Decathlon, etc. providing industry-specific design strategies.

Contact anantha@hidecor.in for more details and learn about Hidecor’s workspace solution for your expanding business.