Situation:

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, displaced employees leaned into the work from home (WFH) experiment in massive numbers.  Employers were forced to consider what a transformed post-pandemic workplace environment should look like. What will it take to bring their employees back to the office? Does safety override efficiency? How will human resources professionals and senior management achieve their goals for bringing reluctant employees back into congregate working areas? Simultaneously, design professionals faced a once in a lifetime opportunity to advance current thinking about the optimal work environment.

The Silverado Roundtable, composed of America’s top workplace greenery design and installation experts, asked Falcon Valley Group for a plan to communicate solutions offered by their expertise to educate target audiences and give clients the ability to productively and profitably use their commercial space and push back the pandemic threat to their livelihoods.

Action:

Falcon Valley Group proposed and created an industry white paper titled The Nature of the Post-Pandemic Workplace for seven Roundtable members across the U.S. Based on secondary survey research by academics and business and interviews with sources including architects and psychologists, the white paper presented the case for biophilic design based on bringing nature into the built environment. The white paper was professional designed by partner Mance Creative. A newly created Silverado Roundtable provides downloads and contact information. An earned media campaign among business and trade media announced the white paper’s publication and is still underway.

Result

To date, news coverage has appeared in more than 100 media outlets including local, national, and trade media. Industry trade organizations sought permission to provide the website link and distribute to members. The seven authors received new business leads driven by the white paper’s publication and one has secured a five-figure contract. As a side benefit of the initiative, the Silverado Roundtable created its first website in its 25 year history, and will be able to maintain and update it moving forward.