The simple answer is that it will depend on who you ask. The HR team will have a very different idea of what is valuable in a workplace from the corporate real estate’s perception of a good value workspace. While the end users may have an entirely different perspective again, and those views may even differ across levels, like the intern’s idea on what provides value in the workspace may be different to those of the CEO.
While it may seem that the diverse array of opinions from those with differing agendas may present the greatest challenge in defining value in the context of the workplace, there is an even bigger challenge, Performance! In the simplest context we think of value in terms of quality or performance relative to cost. While quality of the workplace may be subjective as a workplace is made up of many components, performance is something that can be measured so on this premise we should be able to determine value in workplace provision.
Therein lies the greatest problem, nobody is measuring the performance of the workplace in terms of how it contributes to operational output. Companies in Singapore typically spend between SG12,000 — $20,000 per employee per year on their office space, this amounts to spending on average 20% of revenues on workspace provision, yet most organisations have absolutely no idea what they are getting in return for this investment or for that matter whether this investment is delivering any returns whatsoever. I find this quite staggering and can only conclude that on this basis the majority of workspaces offer very little value for the businesses that they are supporting,
To put this in the context if a hypothetical organization decided to forego having an office and instead offer all employees a $12-$20k performance related housing allowance paid in full on successfully achieving all their KPI’s how great would the return on this investment be? Or if they failed to meet their KPI’s how great would the operational savings be?
We pay staff salaries as businesses need their staff to generate and manage revenues and convert them to profits. Almost all staff in all organisations are subject to performance reviews adjusting remuneration accordingly, cost is tied to return on investment. However, so many organisations plough money into the creation of workspaces with no real knowledge of the return on that investment. This is exemplified by the 00’s trend of whacky office features like slides in offices that nobody used and less than 3% of the workforce even wanted them, or the 20’s trend of overprovision of “collaboration spaces” that for the most part are vastly under-utilized. Why do we continually waste money on things that are not beneficial or needed, blindly following trends without questioning their relevance or appropriateness to the specific organization.
The problem is that when it comes to workplace, most organisations are divided into silos with no team or individual taking an overview of the big picture. This results in real estate teams driving relentless space and cost efficiencies because they think spending less delivers value, but what if spending more, or giving people more space generates greater revenues? Where does this leave the corporate real estate equation? HR teams push for comfort, amenities or spaces that they feel will benefit the employees with uniformity of provision that ensures all are equally treated. Have they considered that by treating all equally you are treating nobody well and may be creating at best mediocrity, diminishing the individual’s sense of value in the organization? The Marcom team may be concerned with the brand and image and want features that convey a specific public image, but does this benefit the organization, in short are such features worth it? Finally, the technology team will advocate for the latest tech with the promise of increased productivity, enhanced communications etc. but what if they are the only ones who know how to use it?
To truly deliver value in workspace we need to engage with the people across all teams and levels within an organization. We need to determine what are the prevalent obstacles that impact optimum performance. We need to analyse interaction, work styles and patterns and determine what would constitute meaningful enhancements. We need to understand both internal and external brand perception and the impact this has on costs and revenues. We need to address employee satisfaction levels and determine what is important to employee wellbeing, comfort and happiness. We need to identify the technology aptitude of the employees, then we need to measure the workplace against this holistic analysis to determine what will really add value.
While many organisations may engage consultants to undertake workplace analysis & strategy, they seem to think that this is all that is needed, sadly these strategies can also be one sided and offer little more than desk sharing ratios and adjacencies. Few if any offer a strategy on how to use space for real business benefit. Furthermore, given the dynamic nature of work and business, few continually measure the spaces performance beyond factors such as IAQ, energy consumption or other easy to measure aspects of the workspace. I would like to suggest that all workplaces need at least annual performance reviews. While this may incur cost which many may decry as a waste of money, what is the underperformance of your workspace costing you?
