The brief

The Royal Mail’s 300 staff in Sheffield are proud of its heritage and close historical ties with the city, but the offices are looking rather tired and grey.

Wizard Toby Rhodes was asked to work with a team of 10 Royal Mail Staff Volunteers to come up with creative ways of making the offices more inspiring without spending a fortune.

“I needed someone to make this project happen and to get people fired up about improving their workplace. Having found Toby creative and inspiring during the Royal mail HR conference, he was the ideal choice.”

Tricia Raymant
Head of People Reporting
P&OD (Royal Mail)

The process

Toby began by going round the premises taking photos of the building, work stations and anything that caught his eye. When he showed them to the Royal Mail Staff Volunteers, they were horrified!

The next step was to identify what actually inspired the staff. They discussed inspirational people, places, music and colours.

The Royal Mail Staff Volunteers then repeated the photography exercise, this time looking at areas that could be changed, with the reception area being earmarked as a priority area.

The result

The day concluded with an initial six month action plan to make their office a more inspiring place to work by tapping into the creative talent of the employees and reinforcing the loyalty people have for Sheffield.

Energy is high and work has already begun. The Staff Volunteers are scheduled to present the full list of ideas to the board in late August.

“The project has sparked a real sense of creativity and responsibility internally. I’m being emailed new ideas on a daily basis and the ideas generated are going to make a significant difference to the working environment.”

Tricia Raymant
Head of People Reporting
P&OD (Royal Mail)

Here are just some of the ideas which the team is hoping to implement over the next six months:

• Better signage in reception to make it less confusing for visitors, improved lighting, more comfortable furniture, a tropical fish tank and a changing display area featuring photos of both employees and Sheffield, ideally taken by employees
• A particularly featureless corridor to be transformed into an art gallery showcasing photography and paintings by employees
• An ‘adopt a plant scheme’ in conjunction with a garden centre giving employees the opportunity to adopt plants and bright coloured pots for their desks
• Having a chill out/creative thinking zone with more colour and funkier furniture (using the Google offices as inspiration)
• Displaying archive material such as historical Post Office logos and black and white photos of Sheffield and the Royal Mail, to celebrate the heritage of the Royal Mail and reflect the close ties with Sheffield.

The ‘before’ photos featured in this case study were taken on a cold, wet June day. Watch this space for the ‘after’ shots.

“Creating an inspiring workplace means working together to build the sort of environment where conversations flourish and where people are energised to create and perform more effectively.

Creating an inspiring workplace begins with the people ... it is important to understand what inspires people, and how to engage with them. However, we should not underestimate the impact that our work environment can have on us. Everything from the reception (our entry point to our workplace) to the way spaces are used (misused?) impact on us and the energy that we bring into the workplace. There are lots of simple and effective changes that can be made that do not cost a fortune, and will make everyone’s work better.”

Toby Rhodes
The Wizards Network

Want to make your workplace more inspiring? Call the Wizards to find out how we could help