Homeless at Work
My client (an entrepreneur at the early stages of scaling his software business) said: “I've got an employee who, every time I check in with her, tells me she has a headache. I don't know what to do about it - is it wrong for me to ask if there's a medical matter?”
“Well”, I said, “Before you do that, let’s think about the context first.”
Getting past the surface symptom of “headache”, I discovered my client had moved his employee to a new desk next to some fairly noisy colleagues in an open environment. She was used to a back office to herself with a row of bright, natural light.
Especially women may be hesitant to complain directly, and even more so when job security is low. The “headache” was a subtle flag - for something else - that nearly got missed.
My client had made a classic rookie mistake: the dreaded floorplan shuffle, otherwise known as “office re-org” - when products, markets, budgets, and directions change and staff are up/down-sized.
Who cares! you say? - No time for mimosas! you say? That’s fine, you do you. But sooner or later you will learn the cost of toxic culture. On the one hand you want creative innovators, and people who can plough through data and identify magical patterns - and on the other, you don’t know what “soil these plants need” to establish themselves, thrive, grow - and bear fruit.
So do you bring in a consultant to conduct a personality assessment? In my experience, after you’ve spent the money, most employers still don’t know what to do with the results. But there’s a lot of help to be found by understanding some basic concepts and applying them to your own decisions.
Personality assessments evaluate behavioral preferences. In the classic MBTI, it looks at Introversion/Extraversion, Perception, Decision- Making, and Risk Tolerance - broadly speaking. Another commonly-used tool is the standard DISC assessment. It measures purely visible workplace behaviors such as: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. It’s frequently paired with a values-based index - commonly called DISC+Motivators or DISC Plus. Many non-profits use a simplified version of an assessment called “True Colours”.
But unless you're a certified practitioner who has undergone rigorous training, I’d advise you to stay away from online “tests”. I have seen more people and organizations go seriously wrong as a result of misguided “expertise” than I can count. The danger is in getting judgey about other people’s potential and a whole lot of confounding variables that you’re not trained to identify.
So what was the takeaway for my client and his “headachey” employee?
People who score highly on the Aesthetic dimension prioritize form, harmony, balance, and creative expression over many other types of motivators! To them, their office space, location, lighting, etc. is critical to success at work.
And if you're a leader who doesn't value aesthetics, you'll have to try hard to appreciate this - and leverage it.
Aesthetically-motivated people are profoundly impacted by their immediate physical surroundings. A disorganized or visually sterile workspace can directly drain their energy, while things like plants, their own art selection, personal effects, and natural lighting boost their productivity. They value the experience of the journey rather than just the final product. They strive to find beauty, balance, and fine design in everyday business functions - and this is what helps them focus.
You remember Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory? His specific spot on the couch is a critical anchor for self-regulation. Viewed through the lens of neurodivergence, his fixation matters for several distinct reasons.
Predictability: Routine reduces cognitive overload from a chaotic world.Sensory integration: Sheldon’s spot (or your employee’s “spot”) offers optimal light, sound, and ventilation.
Proprioception: Knowing exactly how his body fits prevents physical anxiety.
Sameness: Unexpected changes to his space trigger intense emotional distress.
Control: Dictating his seating provides a sense of safety and order.
And considering that many people with either or both of autism and ADHD remain undiagnosed, this is a bigger deal than you might think.
About 40% of the population is neurodivergent, and many of them are not only undiagnosed, but unaware of how their differences equate neurodivergence. For Sheldon, the brain works differently than the social norm. It is a natural variation in human thinking, not a disease. Moreover, many people have more than one type of neurodivergence at the same time.
(Having said that, you don’t need to be neurodivergent to score highly on Aesthetics!)
The Invisible Tax of the Forced Move: Why Workspace Autonomy Matters
Under the guise of “organizational optimization”, a leadership team looks at a floor plan, reviews headcount density, and decides to reshuffle the seating chart. Departments are grouped, desks are reassigned, and employees are packed up.
Often, this occurs over a single weekend without a whisper of collaboration. To the executive looking at a spreadsheet, a desk is merely a coordinate on a grid. To the employee, that desk is an ecosystem. When organizations move employees without giving them a voice, they are not just changing physical locations. They are disrupting psychological safety, fracturing organizational culture, and directly undermining intrinsic motivation.
People spend 2,000 hours per year at the workplace - that is exactly 250 days of 8-hour work shifts. Yet a person spends only 4.5 to 5.5 hours at home awake. That’s why, without a “safe spot”, it can feel like you’re “homeless” at work.
This oversight directly damages psychological safety, a concept pioneered by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson. Psychological safety thrives when people feel safe to express themselves, make mistakes, and exist authentically without fear of negative consequences. A sudden, top-down relocation breaks the unwritten psychological contract of trust. It breeds anxiety.
Employees begin to wonder what other unilateral decisions are looming, shifting their cognitive energy away from innovation and toward self-protection.
By ignoring the individual need for aesthetic control, leaders systematically degrade the very output they are trying to optimize. An office that feels like a factory will inevitably produce uninspired work.
Cultivating Trust Through Intentional Leadership
True leadership gravitas involves holding a steady, thoughtful presence while weighing the human impact of structural decisions. It requires recognizing that organizational culture is built through micro-interactions and shared respect. If you must adjust your team's physical environment, the rollout requires deliberate care.
My advice?
Involve Teams Early: Do not present a new seating arrangement as a done deal. Present the operational challenge to your team and invite them to co-design the solution.
Provide Choices Within Frameworks: If a group relocation is mandatory due to real estate changes, allow individual team members to select their specific desk orientation, proximity to windows, or preferred collaborative zones.
Budget for Personalization: Provide a small allowance for plants, ergonomic accessories, or desktop aesthetics. This signals that you respect their identity and well-being. Act swiftly on requests and don’t let them stagnate.
Acknowledge the Friction: Transparently communicate the business rationale for the move. Validate that change is disruptive and give people time to adapt. When leadership embraces these strategies, the narrative shifts from a forced relocation to a shared transition.
Quite simply, leaders who understand the deep psychological relationship between a professional and their physical surroundings have a happier, more productive workforce, a higher retention rate, and see better collaboration in the teams they lead.
Sometimes a headache is not just a headache.
About the Author
Anna is an organizational psychologist and executive coach, with a special interest in all things technology. We’re part of the team at Garleff Coaching and Consulting Group. If this article has struck a chord, please let us know.
Anna Garleff Cell: +1 587 224 3793 / anna@garleffcoaching.com
www.garleffcoaching.com
