How Sanoma Used Workplace Adequacy™ Survey to Set Better Priorities and Measure the Outcome

When Sanoma was preparing for an office move, the organisation needed more than new premises. It needed a clear decision-making foundation to understand which needs mattered most, how the workplace could best support the business, and how the effects of the change could be followed up over time. Through Workplace Adequacy™ Survey, Sanoma gained a representative baseline view, a clearer basis for prioritisation, and a pre-measurement that later made it possible to demonstrate results.

From assumptions to a clearer decision-making foundation

When organisations develop their workplace, the same challenge often arises: how do you separate real needs from preferences that are less critical? Without a structured evidence base, there is a risk that decisions will be made based on individual opinions, assumptions, or ideas that sound good in theory but do not create the greatest impact in practice.

This is exactly where Workplace Adequacy™ Survey became valuable for Sanoma. By carrying out a short, relevant and validated survey, the organisation was able to gain a clear picture of how employees worked, which types of settings best supported their activities, and where there were clear development needs. The response rate exceeded 70 per cent, providing a strong and representative foundation for the work ahead.

The survey results did not just provide a snapshot of the current situation. They also made it possible to identify where responses were consistent and where needs differed across different parts of the organisation. In this way, Sanoma was able to separate need-to-haves from nice-to-haves and prioritise the measures that would have the greatest impact on the work environment and the organisation’s ways of working.

A tool for analysis, prioritisation and follow-up

Workplace Adequacy™ Survey therefore functioned as both an analysis tool and a decision-support tool. The survey captured, among other things, satisfaction with the workplace, support for focused work, support for collaboration, access to the right types of spaces, perceived functionality, collaboration patterns, activity profile and mobility profile. Together, these perspectives provided a holistic picture of how well the workplace supported organisational needs.

What makes this type of evidence especially valuable is its connection to the principles of the Workplace Adequacy™ framework. In brief, the framework is about sizing the workplace correctly, diversifying the workplace, enabling collaboration and increasing usability, with insight through participation as the foundation. In practice, this means the workplace needs to be aligned with actual use, offer the right variety of settings, support the organisation’s collaboration patterns and be easy to use in everyday work. To make those kinds of decisions well, you need relevant employee insight rather than guesswork.

For Sanoma, this became particularly important because the pre-measurement also created the conditions for a post-measurement. Once the changes had been implemented, it became possible to follow up whether the workplace had actually improved in line with the same principles. The results showed improvements across all parts of the framework. Office utilisation increased, wellbeing improved, communication and collaboration became stronger, and employees experienced better support from the spaces provided. The overall functionality was also perceived as clearly improved.

What the pre-measurement made possible

Without a pre-measurement, much of this would have been difficult to demonstrate. The organisation would have had to rely far more on assumptions about activity patterns, satisfaction and needs. There would also have been a risk that some groups or needs would not have been expressed clearly enough. Through the survey tool, Sanoma instead gained a decision-making foundation that captured both shared needs and differences across the organisation.

Ingrid Ahotupa, Commercial Director for Sanoma Sweden and Office Manager at Sanoma Utbildning, describes the value like this:

“When our lease was coming to an end, we needed more than just a new office — we needed a well-developed strategy. Thanks to the support we received throughout the process, we have created an environment that truly supports the way we work. We have been able to focus on our core mission — spreading knowledge — instead of troubleshooting premises or technology.”

For organisations that want to make more accurate workplace decisions, Workplace Adequacy™ Survey can therefore play several roles at once. It helps you understand the current situation, prioritise the right measures and follow up whether the change actually delivered the intended effect. This makes the tool especially relevant for workplace and facility teams, real estate decision-makers and advisers who need to combine employee insight with a more strategic decision-making foundation.

Book a demo

Would you like to see how Workplace Adequacy™ Survey can help you separate need-to-haves from nice-to-haves, create a clear pre-measurement and follow up the effects of your workplace development? Book a demo.