How Leading Organisations Transform The Office to Keep Up with Modern Times

On Wednesday, 17th of April, Amy Taylor , International Partner, UK Head of Flex Office Advisory at 戴德梁行 , David M. , Global Head of Corporate RE & Facilities at Fortinet , Adil Sheikh , Managing Director at MuteBox , and Mark Bell , Head of Global Workplace Experience at Unit4 joined us on this session about how leading organisations are transforming the office to keep up with modern times.

It was a pleasure hosting our fantastic speakers and the highly engaged audience in this session! In case you missed it, here are some key quotes from this week's webinar.

The session recording can be accessed through the link here:

https://proptechconnect.com/how-leading-organizations-transform-the-office-to-keep-up-with-modern-times/

Webinar Highlights

• Adaptation to Modern Work Dynamics: How are companies reimagining their office spaces to align with the changing work preferences of the modern workforce?

Amy: "We've seen a mass increase in the need and demand for collaboration space. Gone are the fixed desk scenario when you walk into an office and there's a sea of desks. It's more a collaboration hub, rotational workforce solution to sit in line with hybrid working. The adaption of using flexible workspace is required to cater for businesses' requirements coming now and in the future, and the need for a draw that brings people back into the space is a need not only applicable to the London hub, but also across the UK and globally."

David: "Offices are often being designed more like an airport lounge or a club, where there's lots of heads up space and also some areas to touch down and do your heads down work. Now, this doesn't work for every single function. Functions in which you need a lot of focus space require permanent desks in the office as they need to focus and collaborate in these environments. Every time I am asked about what changes need to be made in an office, I ask about the utilisation rate. This data helps drive better decisions around planning, investment, and it helps you understand if you are getting the right kind of environment."

Mark: "I think that there is less need for space. Many businesses are either opting to downsize or to not renew leases and look for smaller locations. This means that the space you have is smaller and it needs to work harder for you, so you'll see multi-use space. So breakout areas that can be open collaboration or through modular booths and so on. With the emergence of hybrid working, the cost of that space sitting empty is a draw to most businesses, so businesses need to be smarter about the way they plan their offices."

Adil: "The modular workspace product category has really evolved over the last couple of years. The emergence of hybrid and new ways of working has impacted the category and how our products are being used within spaces. There is a big focus around asset quality, and the amenities provided by in offices are now more than just workspaces. (...)? I was rereading a publication called The Office Matters for MaurySmith, published in November 2023 and three numbers really jumped out to me: 50% of respondents stated that the amenities within a workplace would impact their decision of which company to work for, 55% stated that they wanted their workspace to provide a wider range of amenities than their home environment, and 69% of respondents believe that their office had a direct impact on their mental health. Coming to the office is so much more to me than just coming to the office. The responsibility really falls on workspace designers, facilities managers, and office managers to create an experience for employees to actually want to come to the office."

• Navigating Transformation Challenges: What are the main challenges in transforming office spaces to keep pace with modern work practices?

Adil: "I think there are two challenges here. One of them is intangible, and it is about the openness and willingness to accept change from a design standpoint. Companies need to accept that the workspace has been designed in a certain way but actually, the people using that workspace might have different preferences now. They might prefer meeting pods to be more productive instead of loose seating space. On the tangible side of things, the challenge is to integrate technology to understand how and why the workspace is being used. It will be interesting to see the role that AI will play in this."

Mark: "Sunk cost bias is often applied to property. The design and assets cost businesses great amounts of money, so admitting that they are no longer fit for purpose is a tough pill to swallow. This means that there is resistance to change, but the businesses that are being agile enough to learn and iterate fast, trying new experiences if it doesn't work through utilization and data and feedback, and then adjusting the offering to find their sweet spot, those are the spaces that will have better occupancy rates. Having said this, there needs to be capital available to make changes and there is no silver bullet, each company is unique. It requires sensible planning to evolve and adjust."

Amy: "The main shift that we've seen is that end users are now getting involved in the process. No everyone uses the space in the same way or for the same reason, so profiling is crucial. You also get more engagement from people when they feel like they have been involved. Five or ten years ago, this wasn’t part of the process. An office would be found and people would move into that office. If it didn’t work, companies would simply move offices."

David: "As Mark said, it is about getting the office to work harder for you. If you make the office a destination that people want to come to, the business would then view it as worth the investment because they're getting more out of each pound per square meter that is being invested. Getting higher utilization numbers also increases the attractiveness of the space. Many organizations are seeing their utilization be 20%-30%, which creates the empty office syndrome and leads to even less people wanting to be there."

• Employee Satisfaction and Culture: How are leading organisations leveraging office design and amenities to boost employee satisfaction in the era of hybrid work?

Amy: "Traditional offices will always be there, but there is a shift from the traditional way of using an office to using flexible workspace. David mentioned the importance of having an office that offers some buzz from the moment people walk in. This is what you pay for in a serviced building. If it isn’t busy enough, there are other areas and a portfolio attached that teams can use. Today, there are also platforms that allow occupiers to access traditional space and to also have flexible workspace included."

David: "The way offices are designed is strongly influenced by the culture of the organisation. When companies care about engaging with stakeholders in the business to create a collaborative type of environment, they take everyone’s input. Personally I think this is the best way to do it, but not all cultures work in this way. Some will be more authoritarian and will not take the views of others. These companies can be lucky to make the right choices and to have people on board with their decisions, or in other instances they can alienate some people."

Adil: "If you look at the Gensler建筑设计事务所 's 2023 Global Workplace Survey, the number one reason why people go into the office is actually because they want to focus and do private work. This means that people will be more apt to stay at some unless they can come into the office and balance both their individual work, which takes 35% of their time according to this study, with collaboration-based work."

Mark: "What companies like Unit4 do very well I believe is that they give employees the freedom of choice and trust them to work from home as much as they like. There is no return to the office mandate, but the company provides access to the office and aggregator apps to access office space anywhere. This is important because not everyone can work from home and we need to adapt. Having said this, monitoring, understanding satisfaction data, and listening to feedback is a critically import point to make sure? that you get it right."

• Strategies for Future-Ready Offices: What actionable strategies can organisations implement to transform their offices into future-ready environments that cater to the needs of an evolving workforce?

Mark: "Stop second-guessing what it is that people need and actually go and get data from the end user. You might find people are coming to the office mostly for collaboration for example, in which case you can adjust your ratios of desks to meeting spaces accordingly. And if you do need that focus space, make sure there's enough booths available in the office. Ultimately, it is all about understanding customer needs and designing for that."

Adil: "Workspaces need to be designed around data, as opposed to design being solely led by the architect or designer to create a space which is gonna win an award. This often means that less capital is required, and investment only goes into the features that will create a more engaged space. This is how you unlock the full potential of the workplace."

Amy: "We all need to remember it is okay to create pilots for the space. You don’t need the final version the minute you move into the space. You can experiment and put some measurable outcomes on what you wan to achieve. If you have opted for modular solutions, you can move things around at a later stage."

David: "Property is a long-term commitment, whether you're signing the lease for five or 10 years, or if you own the space. Business cycles are much more flexible so corporate occupiers need to balance these investments and commitments. This is the main appeal of flexible solutions. You have to be able to adapt to the rapidly changing business without compromising CapEx. Also, as less people are in the office and companies are downsizing, you can reinvest some CapEx into a more modular space to then learn and iterate to succeed in the long-run."

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