workplace: winning the war for talent · workplace strategy just now starting to create...

Workplace:

Winning the War for Talent

CBRE RESEARCH CBRE WORKPLACE STRATEGY

LEVERAGING ON DIVERSITY, CHOICE AND COMMUNITY TO ENSURE EMPLOYEES ARE HAPPY, ENGAGED AND PRODUCTIVE

01

Table of Contents1. People-centred workplace strategy 02

2. How sharing and mobility is changing 03

the way we work

3. What mode of work and workplace is right 05

for your organisation?

4. Impact on the landlord-tenant relationship 15

5. Conclusion 16

Workplace: Winning the war for talentLEVERAGING ON DIVERSITY, CHOICE AND COMMUNITY TO ENSURE EMPLOYEES ARE HAPPY,

ENGAGED AND PRODUCTIVE

Pick up any magazine, or scan through your LinkedIn newsfeed, and you will see weird and wonderful

examples of the latest “cool” workplaces. Articles will extol the virtues of these new workplaces,

particularly their ability to attract, retain and motivate the millennial generation.

Underlying these workplaces are much more fundamental shifts in the nature of work. These shifts are

providing opportunities for all organisations to rethink the places where their people work without resorting

to playful or flippant design concepts.

This special report by CBRE Research outlines a variety of approaches to creating a physical workplace

environment that satisfies the high expectations of the millennial generation, whilst controlling or even

reducing real estate costs. The report explains how people-centric workplace strategies that embrace

diversity, choice and community keep talent happier, more engaged and more productive, and also

explores how these changes might impact the landlord-tenant relationship.

You don’t have to be a cutting edge tech company to build great people-centric workplaces. Even in Asia

Pacific, these workplaces are becoming mainstream solutions, so don’t be left behind.

CBRE WORKPLACE STRATEGY© CBRE Ltd. 2016

CBRE WORKPLACE STRATEGY © CBRE Ltd. 2016

02

The drivers of workplace designare shifting from real estate and cost criteria to attracting and retaining talent

Key elements required to align human factors and real estate parameters

BALANCING “ME” AND “WE” SPACE

INCLUSIVE FOR DIFFERENT PEOPLE

CONNECTING THE INDOORS AND OUTDOORS

Accessibility Visual and physical connection with other public

spaces, public transportation and buildings

Walkability Easily walkable to and from the surrounding

business precinct, promote active streets and pedestrianisation

Community Provide a wide range of amenities and leisure

areas for social activities and events

Ergonomic designEncourage movement

Adjustable furniture

Focused touchdown

area

Enclosed office

Address-free workstation

Sharedtable

Meetingroom

WorkCafe

Provide a wide range of amenitiesUnderstand expectations

Social elements

Focus on wellnessIndoor environment

Promote health

WE (COLLABORATION)ME (FOCUSED)


03

The relationship between landlords and tenants is changing from a contract based on a lease agreement to a partnership with the common goal of creating a rewarding workplace experience for employees

Open lines of communication to understand and cater to tenants’ requirements beyond basic property management

Create a sense of community by providing communal space within and outside buildings


04 5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy

2.How sharing and mobility is changing the way we work

3.What mode of work and

workplace is right for your organisation?

4.Impact on the landlord-tenant

relationship

The increasingly fierce war for talent is prompting more organisations to take into account human factors in the workplace to complement their talent attraction strategy and shape workplace cultures that will help them survive and succeed in the changing world of business. In the hunt for talent, workplace is generally seen as a “hygiene factor”. A great workplace is unlikely to be in the top three reasons why a talent will work for an organisation, but a poorly considered workplace is symbolic of an organisation that is not people-centric – and that’s a huge detractor.

Finding the right talent is becoming more challenging, according to Manpower Group’s 2015 Talent Shortage Survey. The difficulty is higher in Asia Pacific compared to globally (48% vs 38% respectively). Employers are more aware of the potential for workplace design to attract talent and they are putting more emphasis on flexible working, environmental quality and the provision of employee amenities, according to CBRE’s Global Occupier Survey 2015/16 (Figure 1).

Figure 1 demonstrates that the talent challenge is even higher in Asia Pacific than the rest of the world. From an employee perspective, it indicates that employees in this region place stronger importance on resolving the basics, such as

amenities and transport, and lower emphasis on flexible working. However, there is a growing awareness of alternative, flexible workplaces and work practices amongst the younger generation, so we expect demand for this to increase.

Whilst there are some notable world class exceptions, generally speaking companies in Asia Pacific are only

1. People-centred workplace strategy

just now starting to create people-centric workplace strategies.

However, in mature markets and gateway cities such as Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo, the rapid transformation of office design is already evident. Companies are creating environments where people love to work and workplace settings that align with business needs for better collaboration, efficiency and job loyalty.

Source: CBRE Tokyo

Figure 1. In the war for talent, workplace has to be a talent attraction strategy

Source: 2015 Talent Shortage Survey. Manpower Group

Source: CBRE Asia Pacific Occupier Survey (2016)

Employers have difficulty finding talent

Most important features for employees in workplace

Global APAC Global APAC

% o

f havi

ng d

ifficu

lty

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Flex

ible

wor

king

Indo

oren

viro

nmen

tal

qual

ity

Prov

ision

of

amen

ities

Publ

ictra

nspo

rtac

cess

ibili

ty

Con

nect

ivity

topa

rtner

s,su

pplie

rs

Flex

ible

wor

kspa

ceop

tions

Sust

aina

bilit

y

0

20

40

60

80

100%


05

Traditional working arrangements, whereby all employees come to work at one site at the same time and sit at rows of homogenous individual assigned desks, are being challenged.

Not only boring and culture-destroying, these mostly open plan environments no longer respond to the diversity and complexity of work activities, work processes and team relationships. Arguably they never did. New technology provides alternatives.

2. How sharing and mobility is changing the way we work

1. HUBrepresents what could be called the “traditional” workplace. People have an assigned desk or office, but at times may work from other places on the premises or campus, or leave their desk to use a quiet room or collaborative area. People working in a HUB are in a secure environment in terms of both space and technology.

2. HOMErefers to working in places where you have a defined personal workplace but you are outside corporate premises. This could be at home or could be temporarily at a hotel, but the individual has full control over a private work environment.

3. CLUBrefers to working in an environment that has a diversity of different settings where people in an organisation can choose where they sit and who they sit with in order to get their job done in the best possible way. Some CLUB environments have at least one work setting available for every person in the organisation. Other organisations choose to take advantage of the fact that on most days only a proportion of their employees come into the office2. In this case, there may be less settings than employees – but always carefully calculated to ensure that employees can find a place to work – even at peak turn up days.

4. ROAMrefers to those people working off premises in shared work environments. These might be free public spaces or places that make work settings available by the hour, day or week. Starbuck’s built this into its business model for a period of time and we are now seeing the dramatic emergence of co-working spaces that support these types of workers. The next stage of evolution will see government and building owners create places to work in and amongst buildings.

The model in Figure 2 explores how mobility has created four modes of work and places to work.

1 This global market research report surveyed 1,900 senior IT decision makers in August 2012. They largely represent organisations with more than 1,000 employees across 19 countries across the globe.

(https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/workplace-of-the-future-a-global-market-research-report.pdf)2 Global studies have shown that on average in most offices only 60% or people are in the office at any point in time. Source: Space Utilisation:

The Next Frontier, CBRE Research, 2015.

According to Citrix’s Workplace of the Future report, about 89% of global organisations will offer mobile workstyles by 2020 enabled by mobile working technology1. As the world shifts from workplaces to places to work, the information & technology, human resources and corporate real estate functions must work together with leaders and staff alike to craft new workplace policies and solutions that respond to this change.

5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy

2.How sharing and

mobility is changing the way we work




relationship


06 5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy



Source: DEGW (CoreNet Summit Hong Kong 2004)

Figure 2: The four different approaches to work

Geog

rap

hy

of

Work

Work from home

Wor

k at

trad

ition

alas

sign

ed d

esk

Occ

asio

nal u

se -

touc

hdow

n sp

ace

/ qu

iet r

oom

One

des

k pe

r pe

rson

, no

n-te

rrito

rial

Div

ersi

ty o

f se

tting

Hig

her

staf

f-to

-des

kra

tio

Work in remote private space

(e.g hotel)

Work elsewhere on premises

Work at traditional

assigned desk

Ownership of Space

Individual

Work from remote premises

/satellite office

HOMESECONDARYWORKPOINT

ROAMWORKINGIN TRANSIT

HUBASSIGNED

SPACE

CLUBUNASSIGNED

SPACE

Shared

Oth

er

pla

ces

On

Pre

mis

es


relationship



07

When contemplating the four modes of work there are two key workplace decisions for an organisation to consider: options outside premises and options within premises.

OPTIONS OUTSIDE PREMISES

To what degree and how should work be supported outside corporate premises (HOME or ROAM)? Every organisation needs to make their own decision based upon a number of factors. To some degree the “genie has already left the bottle” as laptops and smartphones allow employees to do some or all their work from outside corporate premises. For most people, however, this off premises work is in addition to working “core” hours within the hub.

3. What mode of work and workplace is right for your organisation?

3 DEGW client research presented at CoreNet Mumbai Summit, 2008. The drivers for working from home varied by country: India and Japan were interested in reduced commute times. In other countries, flexibility to work around family/life commitments was important. In many cases it was seen as a way to get focused work done – something that can be addressed by better workplace design.

In Asia Pacific, there is still strong resistance among employers to letting people work from home during core hours, despite the fact that more than 50% of employees in Asia Pacific would like to work from home one or two days per week3. In most cases, this comes down to issues of trust and the ability to manage people remotely. In other cases, it comes down to team dynamic and work processes, either the need for people to be able to easily interact face to face, or paper driven processes.

Most organisations prefer to let working from home happen informally and without a corporate mandate to avoid the complexity of ensuring that home workplaces are safe and ergonomic, and avoid staff asking questions such as who will pay for the Wi-Fi, heating/cooling costs and home insurance. Those companies that do officially support working from home will typically have formal assessment processes to determine who is eligible to do so. Alternatively, others allow people to work from home until such time

5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy



WORKING FROM HOME

CO-WORKING CENTRE


relationship

2.How sharing and



08 5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy



as they prove themselves unable/untrustworthy to do so. Once a decision is made to formally support work from home, then policies and support processes must be in place.

Allowing employees to ROAM has also been happening informally for some time. However, some corporations are now formally considering hybrid real estate strategies that reduce the base HUB (or CLUB) footprint and supplement that work space with subscriptions to shared workspaces outside the office – in particular co-working spaces. This creates the ability to drive down the base real estate costs whilst providing significant flexibility to cope with volatile headcount. Alternatively, some organisations see it as a way to get their staff out of the more formal corporate office and into creative innovative spaces – often mixing with people from outside their own organisations to stimulate ideas.

Building owners and developers around the region are grappling with new lease structures, service offerings and partnering with new types of flexible space providers to capitalise on opportunities associated with these changes.

At the far extreme, there are new types of organisations emerging around the world that have no formal

office at all – and just occasionally host pop-up offices in order for employees to build relationships with one another face to face.

OPTIONS WITHIN PREMISES

One of the biggest questions facing organisations today is to what degree should some, or all, employees move from a HUB work environment to a CLUB work environment within corporate premises? Put more simply, this is a question of whether or not people should be assigned a desk, or whether they should be free to choose where they sit, such as within their teams local neighbourhood, or more broadly.

Before answering that question, it is worth examining what is high performance work in a modern workplace. Productivity is no longer simply about how many widgets/hours a person creates or processes. In the world of knowledge, work productivity is much more about innovation, rapid sharing of information, leveraging ideas, speed and quality of decision making, and even “fail often fail fast”. Work is also no longer simple and repetitive. It is complex, often involves interaction with others and can move between highly collaborative and highly focused activities, the physical and the virtual, the individual and the group.

The predominant yet traditional open plan workplace was based on the old premise of work, which is increasingly irrelevant. The alternative is to create workplaces that have the same level of diversity as the nature of work that is happening, and then give people the choice as to where they want to work and how they want to work; self-organising their work and delivering to clear targets rather than turning up to be seen at work.

Every company seems to have a different name for its workplace programme: Smart Working, New Workplace, Agile Working, Connected Workplace, and so on. It can be very hard to distinguish one from another – and in most organisations this often leads to unnecessary concerns about proposed new workplaces being out of alignment with how people work in the organisation.

Cutting through all these names, there are fundamentally four kinds of workplaces to choose from – and there is no right or wrong answer. Every organisation’s leadership needs to make a decision in terms of what works for their business – based on ambitions for workplace culture, the nature of work and the objectives of the business.


relationship



09

FOUR WORKPLACE MODELS

To help explain these four options, CBRE created the Workplace Compass.

The four workplace models are:1. Traditional Solution (basic)2. Hot Desking (basic)3. Collaborative Workplace (high performance)4. Activity-Based Workplace (high performance)

To determine which option is right for your organisation there are two principle elements to consider:

Should people be assigned to desks or be free to choose where they sit?

Do you need a basic or a high performance workplace?

If assigned desks is the right strategy for your business, then you have two options: Traditional Solution or a Collaborative Workplace. The difference is the diversity of work settings (and therefore variety of work supported) and the degree of mobility that employees have to enable work from more than one place.

If unassigned desks is the right strategy for your business then you have two further options: Hot Desking or Activity Based Working (ABW). Both solutions offer the potential to save space and real estate costs through having more people assigned to the space than there are desks. The primary driver of Hot Desking is the ability to share desks and save money. The primary driver of ABW is to provide a diversity of settings and the mobility that enables choices.

Although the capacity to drive space efficiency through sharing is high, sharing ratios need tto be very carefully calculated to ensure that there is always a workspace to work. In the case of ABW workplaces, it’s also important that the full diversity of different types of settings are available to choose from at most times (quiet spaces, team spaces, collaborative spaces, private rooms.)

In either case there can be hybrid solutions. The level of diversity is a sliding scale between low and high. Companies can have environments where some people have assigned desks and others are mobile. Workplace strategists are the people who can help companies make these decisions and develop the detail of a strategy, regardless of what choices organisations make.

In terms of cost per sq. m., all four options fall within 2-3% of each other. So in that sense, cost should not be a determining factor. However, it makes more sense to answer this question from a cost per person perspective. Using the traditional workplace as a base, the collaborative workplace can be up to 10% more expensive (because desk space is reallocated to shared collaborative and focus workspace); the hot desking option can be 10-20% cheaper (because you have less desks than people) and the Activity Based Workplace can be 20-30% cheaper (because the diversity of individual work settings offsets the need to create additional shared facilities.)

Figure 3: The CBRE Workplace Compass

Source: CBRE Asia Pacific Occupiers’ Fit-Out Cost Guide (2015)

5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy



HUB(assigned space)

Group / collaborative spaceDesk space Mobility enabled options

Traditional Solution

Hig

h p

erf

orm

an

ceB

asi

c

Collaborative workplace

CLUB(unassigned space)

Hot Desking

Activity-Based Workplace


relationship

2.How sharing and



010 5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy



Traditional Workplaces and Basic Hot Desking Workplaces are generally well understood workplace options. However, it is worth diving deeper into these two high performance options to understand the differences and the benefits.

1. High Performance HUB:

Figure 4: High Performance CLUB - Activity Based Workplace

This illustration below is a representative image of an ABW. Space types and names are included, but not limited to the below.

The High Performance HUB workplace is characterised by each person having an assigned workspace. However, compared to traditional HUB spaces, the high performance space allocates a higher proportion of space to shared activity spaces to support collaboration and focused work. The high performance HUB recognises the human need for personalised space and a sense of belonging. One challenge, however, is that people get too comfortable at their individual settings and whilst excited by all of the “cool” alternative spaces to work actually often don’t use them as often as might have been attended (one reason why some tech companies provide free food is to lure their engineers to spaces where they have to interact with others.) High performance hub spaces also do not have the “agility” of a CLUB space and people are generally told where to sit and teams are well defined. This limits the ability of teams to self-organise themselves, or for people to easily work across multiple teams.

2. High Performance CLUB: The High Performance CLUB is an ABWwhich enables people to share a diversity of different ergonomic work settings that support a variety of focused and collaborative work activities. Private “owned” enclosed offices are less common; typically there are sufficient small work rooms for all staff and not just leaders to find enclosed spaces to work for as long as they need. High performance CLUB spaces are very responsive to business change and project needs and allow staff to self-organise themselves, trading off flexibility and choice for the ownership of their own desk. Aside from work preferences, these environments also cater to introvert and extravert personality types – each able to choose the type of setting that best suits their needs4. When properly executed, the desire for ownership of a single desk tends to diminish, although it’s invariably a big sticking point when introducing the concept to employees.

4 https://www.csuchico.edu/eap/docs/empathia-advisor2014-04-IntrovertsExtroverts_and_the_Workplace.pdf

Source: Haworth

Enclosed meeting roomAn acoustically insulated room to support multiple work modes ranging from focused to collaborative activities.

Work CafeMulti-functional space for social interaction, team gatherings and individual work.

Enclosed officeAn acoustically insulated room to support focused

work or light collaboration.

Open shared tableSpace for team collaboration.

Ergonomic work settingUnassigned desks to support both work and light collaboration.

High-walled podDesigned to support focused work.

Open meeting spaceSpace for ad hoc activities

and informal meetings.

Focused touchdown areaAn acoustically insulated

room to support focused or confidential work.


relationship


Activity Based Workplace Case Study – CBRE Tokyo office

In 2014, CBRE consolidated its four Tokyo offices into a single location in Marunouchi under ‘Workplace 360’ – a workplace solution to move into an ABW which enables employees to work anywhere based on their needs. The rationale is that nowadays people undertake various work activities which require different work settings to fit the required levels of focus or collaboration.

CBRE’s Tokyo office provides a variety of choices for various work activities including unassigned desks in open areas, unassigned workstations in focus space, enclosed phone booths, enclosed meeting rooms, open meeting space, collaboration space, high counter area and a substantial multi-functional cafe area.

CHALLENGES

Employees’ concerns about moving to an ABW model

Creating a workplace that supports CBRE’s business operations in a more effective and optimal way

Implementing a new technology strategy and platform including laptops, softphones and VPN for staff

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS

Strong support and endorsement from senior management

A clear change management programme

Listened to and engaged with staff

Established training and etiquette for the new office

Implemented the right IT to support the new workspace

RESULT

The new environment provides an open, collaborative experience which has increased connectivity and instigated the following changes: 100% unassigned seats 100% employees have laptops

and softphones 18% space saved in new office 84% reduction on file storage 25% reduction in electricity costs More meeting rooms, enclosed

phone booths and focus desks.

In the post occupancy evaluation, 76% employees feel

more productive 88% employees did not want

to go back to old way of working 92% employees think the office

reflects company brand and corporate values

Photo credit: CBRE Workplace 360

5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy



011



relationship

2.How sharing and



12 5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy



CBRE has identified three key areas for consideration when companies design their high performance workplaces: Balancing “Me” and “We” spaces; designing an inclusive workplace; and connecting the workplace with its surroundings. All three are discussed in more detail below.

i) Balancing “Me” & “We” spaces

A major focus of the high performance workplace is providing a range of different workspaces to balance the “Me” (focused, solo and quiet work) and “We” (collaborative and often noisy work) within the same office, and for people to choose the workspace depending on the tasks they need to do. The “Me-We” balance also ensures workspaces are provided for both introverts and extroverts.

The next generation workplace should provide a range of space options for employees to choose from, depending on whether they want to work alone or in collaboration (Figure 5). For example, when work requires intense focus or is confidential in nature, then employees can select an enclosed space. When work requires focus but a certain level of distraction is acceptable, a high-walled pod booth is suitable.

Figure 5: Examples of different workspaces in a high performance workplace

Source: CBRE Research, 2016.

“We” spaces normally would include collaborative settings such as ergonomic work stations or shared tables in a collaborative zone, and meeting rooms ranging in capacity from 4-6 persons and containing presentation, teleconferencing and videoconferencing facilities. Larger meeting room facilities and conference rooms can also be provided, along with more informal “We” spaces such as cafes which can host meetings and social activities.

Focused touchdown

area

Focus space Ergonomic work setting Collaborative space Social space

Enclosedoffice

Ergonomicwork setting

Sharedtable

Meetingroom

Work Cafe

WE (COLLABORATION)ME (FOCUSED)

Focused touchdown area

High-walled pod

Ergonomic work setting in quiet zone

Ergonomic work setting in collaborative zone Small-size collaborative space

Large-size collaborative space Multi-functional work cafe

Multi-functional work cafe


relationship



13

The high performance workplace must feature a variety of ergonomic work settings as one size does not fit all. Ergonomic work settings can support a diversity of work activities ranging from quiet, noisy, collaborative and inspirational working zones.

As workplaces have become more diverse and complex, forecasting space requirements has become much more about probability analysis (“what’s the likelihood of someone needing this type of space?”) rather than traditional linear or hierarchical calculation processes. Deliberate ambiguity in the physical design of spaces will also help users experiment and find their own best ways to use spaces – rather than just following the diktats of designers.

ii) Designing an inclusive workplace

Companies’ workforces are increasingly diverse in terms of age, life stage5 , gender, ethnicity and personality types. A well-designed high performance work environment can easily take into consideration all aspects of employee diversity including their needs and aspirations and therefore be more inclusive than traditional office solutions. In addition to providing a diversity of settings, there are three other key areas of consideration (Figure 6):

Figure 6: Elements of inclusive office design

3.

Wellness:

Best-in-class companies value their employees’ physical, mental and social health. At the same time, employees want to improve their work-life balance. The next generation workplace must therefore factor in wellness. Companies should ensure their workplaces provide features to promote physical health, such as natural light, temperature and indoor air and water quality, but also mental wellbeing, such as space choices to reduce stress.

1.

Ergonomicdesign:

Ergonomics is crucial for workplace health and safety. When designing and planning an office, ergonomics should be customised to suit employees’ profiles. Features include height-adjustable workstations (ideally with a sit to stand range); ergonomic chairs; position-adjustable display screens; and individual adjustable lighting. Medical research in the United States indicates that every US$1 spent on ergonomics has an US$18 return on investment.6

2.

Provision of amenities:

Research indicates that the millennial generation is attracted to workplaces offering a wide range of amenities. Popular facilities include daycare facilities; showers and changing rooms for staff who cycle to the office; gaming rooms, rest areas and green space. Providing these types of facilities to employees will make them feel valued by the company and drive engagement and staff retention. However, care needs to be taken when assessing requirements as employees often ask for facilities that are then never used once built. The use of social and recreational facilities is often influenced by the culture of the organisation – often requiring senior leaders to “give permission” to use facilities – particularly if the intention is that they are used during working hours.

5 In workplace culture ‘life stage’ is a stronger indicator of employee needs and aspirations than their ‘generation’.6 Dr. Alan Hedge, Cornell University, at CBRE Business Intelligence Lunch, Singapore March 2016.

5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy




relationship

2.How sharing and



14 5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy



4.Impact on the Landlord-Tenant

Relationship

Ergonomic design

Wellness

Food & Beverage

Sit-to-stand workstations

Sleeping pod

Exercise space Access to natural light Clean drinking water

Bring green elementsin workplace

Photo credit: CBRE Workplace 360

Provision ofAmenities

Ergonomic designEncourage movement

Adjustable furniture

Provide a wide range of amenities

Understand expectations

Social elements

Focus on wellnessIndoor environment

Promote health

• Stand to sit workstation• Ergonomic chairs• Encouraging movement

in the office

• Rest Area• Wellness facilities• Green space in buildings• Games rooms

• Access to natural light• Thermal comfort• Noise control• Indoor air and water quality• Bring green elements



15

iii) Connecting the workplace with its surroundings

which are often a major factor in attracting and retaining staff. Combining internal and external placemaking can create a complete experience for employees.

Relatively straightforward measures include making better use of common areas at the building entrance. These areas should function as a source of inspiration, rather than just a lobby or hallway. By adding F&B or art installations, permeable small scale public spaces can be created. These areas can be linked to outdoor areas featuring street furniture, vegetation, paths, cafes, exhibitions and so on, which could also provide opportunities for community engagement.

The next generation workplace should not only fulfill the functional needs of office users, but should also improve their psychological and social wellbeing. While discussion in this report so far has been largely focused on internal workplace design, it is equally important to look beyond the physical confines of the office to its external surroundings and look at ways to strengthen employees’ sense of belonging to the community.

The adoption of mobile working means the quality of the space outside a building is becoming more important than ever. Areas surrounding a building or spaces between buildings can be utilised as part of a network of workspaces, providing employees an even greater choice of locations and settings to work and socialise.

When a building does not have sufficient internal common area to accommodate amenities, external locations can be used to house facilities catering to staff and help build a sense of community. Examples include outdoor furniture and dedicated areas for events, games and performances. Where possible, these areas should be linked to other amenities such as F&B, gyms and entertainment areas,

The next step is to integrate the building into its immediate surroundings. Since most office buildings are standalone entities and are separate from one another, there are opportunities to create an “arrival experience” long before an employee arrives in their workplace.

Poor or non-existent connections between a building and its immediate locality can weaken the arrival experience. Good urban design can add value to real estate by facilitating the coordination of public transport, public space, pedestrian routes and amenities. General design guidelines to integrate a building into its vicinity are illustrated in (Figure 7.

Figure 7: Connecting the indoors to the outdoors

Accessibility Visual and physical connection with other public

spaces, public transportation and buildings

Walkability Easily walkable to and from the surrounding business

precinct, promote active streets and pedestrianisation

Community Provide a wide range of amenities and leisure areas for

social activities and events

5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy



4.Impact on the Landlord-Tenant

Relationship

2.How sharing and


Case Study – International Towers Sydney in Barangaroo South, Sydney

7 https://www.barangaroosouth.com.au/news-and-updates/lend-lease-celebrates-a-high-point-at-tower-2-international-towers-sydney8 http://www.rsh-p.com/assets/lib/2016/07/12/6120_BarangarooTowers_JS_en.pdf

The International Towers Sydney comprises three buildings in Barangaroo South in the Walsh Bay precinct of the Sydney CBD. Barangaroo South is part of the 22-hectare Barangaroo renewal project and is being positioned as a business precinct with residential and leisure components. Lendlease was selected as the developer for Barangaroo South in 2009 by the Barangaroo Delivery Authority on behalf of the New South Wales Government.

The three towers were designed by Lord Rogers and Ivan Harbour of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and provide approximately 270,000 sq. m. of large floor plate, premium-grade office space7. The three towers have attracted international investors including the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Qatar Investment Authority, Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board and Dutch pension fund APG, which have all co-invested with Lendlease.

To minimise the impact of cars, the three towers share a common basement accessed from a single point of entrance, leaving the surrounding streets largely pedestrianised8. This creates a vibrant and safe public space to foster a community with direct links to residential apartments, hotels, shops, cafes, restaurants and metro stations.

50% of the site area of Barangaroo is allocated to public space and including urban parks, a waterfront plaza, a harbour cove, public piers, waterfront promenades, boardwalks, public squares, streets and laneways. The entire 2.2 km Barangaroo waterfront is fully accessible to the public.

All tenants on the site intend to implement ABW. As a logical extension there are a diversity of workplaces spread throughout public spaces to allow people to work outside their corporate premises but remaining within the precinct.

The International Towers Sydney and Barangaroo South will not only be a

new business district for Sydney, but will provide a high quality of life for those who live, work and play there.

The three towers have already attracted global anchor tenants including Westpac, KPMG, Lendlease, PwC, HSBC, Swiss Re, Gilbert + Tobin and Marsh & McLennan Servcorp9. Major tenants include:

Tower One (open end 2016)- PwC, HSBC, Marsh & McLennan Servcorp

Tower Two (opened 1 July 2015)- Westac, Swiss Re, Gilbert + Tobin

Tower Three (open mid to late 2016)- KPMG, Lendlease

5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy



16



relationship



17

The next generation workplace

will impact the landlord-tenant

relationship. Just as a company

must provide an appealing

workplace to attract and retain

employees, a landlord must

provide an attractive building to

sign and retain tenants.

This is particularly true for landlords

of older office buildings which may

struggle to compete with newer

properties. Apart from offering lower

rents or providing longer free rent

periods, landlords should consult

tenants to ascertain their most

desirable amenities or facilities. Best

practice examples include Chiswick

Park in West London, where the

landlord is working closely with

tenants to build and maintain a

community through a comprehensive

programme of activities, art and

culture events. Amenities include a

wide range of restaurants, cafés,

bars and a large multi-purpose

outdoor event space featuring a

lake, waterfall and boardwalk. A

fitness club, swimming pool, cycling

and pedestrian routes are also

provided. Tenants at Chiswick Park

report a high employee retention rate

and better productivity.

CBRE Research believes the coming

years will see the landlord-tenant

relationship move beyond a

straightforward contract based on a

lease to more of a partnership type

agreement with the common goal

of providing a satisfying workplace

experience for employees.

Key to this will be landlords

maintaining regular and open

communication with tenants to

understand their needs beyond

basic property management. They

will have to deliver more complete

solutions for their tenants and help

4. Impact on the landlord-tenant relationship

Open lines of communication

to understand and cater to tenants’

requirements beyond basic property management

Create a sense of community by providing

communal space within and outside

buildings

their tenants create an attractive

working environment for

their employees.

Building a community will also be

crucial. Occupiers will demand

that landlords provide them with a

work environment that helps them

create a sense of community and

fosters a sense of belonging, which

in turn will aid them in attracting and

retaining talent. Landlords can do

this by equipping their buildings with

a full range of amenities or holding

community events.

Figure 8. Future landlord-tenant partnership

5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy




relationship

2.How sharing and



18

To survive in a rapidly changing world, corporations not only need great talent; they need inspired people who are given the tools, encourage-ment and freedom to perform in the best way possible. The physical workplace environment can play a critical role in not just attracting and retaining talent, but helping employees to be successful and productive. Talent scarcity is a challenge, and companies who understand this are already transforming their physical workplace to drive talent attraction, strengthen employee engagement and boost employee wellness.

Don’t be fooled by fads - there is no single right workplace solution. Equally, there are only a few basic choices that a corporation needs to make to align its workplace strategy with its business needs. Key considerations include the degree of mobility needed to support work inside and outside premises; the value of providing a choice of diverse settings; and weighing up the need for personalisation and ownership of settings versus the need to maximise diversity and organisational agility. The key is putting people at the centre of the process of making these decisions.

Building owners need to work in closer alignment with tenants to create new leasing options that provide greater ability for tenants to manage volatile head-counts. These can include mixing core leased spaces with short term alternative working places and other facilities that enhance the experience of people using the building and the surrounding precinct. More than just providing spaces, those owners can provide events and experiences that enhance the everyday experience of building users.

The easiest things to measure are often the least important, and the most important things to measure are often the most difficult to measure. Whilst it is important to control, or sometimes reduce, the cost of creating and operating workplaces, it is also critical to understand the value that workplaces create in terms of attracting, retaining, motivating and enabling a workforce. That value proposition is unique to every organisation and deserves thorough considera-tion and alignment with overall business objectives and aspirations.

Workplace matters.

5. Conclusion

5.Conclusion

1.People-centered

workplace strategy




relationship



19

Bibliography

AMP Capital, The Workplace Fingerprint of the Future (AMP, 2016)

CBRE, Asia Pacific Occupiers’ Fit-Out Cost Guide. (CBRE, 2015)

CBRE, Global Occupier Survey 2015/2016 (CBRE, 2016)

CBRE, Space Utilisation: The Next Frontier (CBRE, 2015)

Citrix, Workplace of the Future report (2012)

Manpower Group, 2015 Talent Shortage Survey (Manpower Group, 2015)

• https://www.csuchico.edu/eap/docs/empathia-advisor2014-04-IntrovertsExtroverts_

and_the_Workplace.pdf

• https://www.barangaroosouth.com.au/news-and-updates/lend-lease-celebrates-a-

high-point-at-tower-2-international-towers-sydney

• http://www.rsh-p.com/assets/lib/2016/07/12/6120_BarangarooTowers_JS_en.pdf

• http://www.lendlease.com/projects/barangaroo-south/?id=b7d8e348-d6fa-45f3-

be0e-e502b5aba8a7

DISCLAIMER

Utilisation data contained herein has been obtained from CBRE MOBY, our proprietary mobility profiling software. The data

includes studies of 14 countries; 36 cities; 77 clients; 63,235 workpoints; and 3,315,170 observations. While we do not doubt its

accuracy, the sample size varies for each country, city and industry resulting in varying degrees of level of confidence in the results

in drawing out conclusions. These results should be treated as indicative of the broad industry trends.

CONTACTS

RESEARCH

Henry Chin, Ph.D. Head of Research, Asia Pacific +852 2820 [email protected]

Ada Choi, CFASenior Director, Asia Pacific +852 2820 [email protected]

Jonathan HillsDirector, Asia Pacific +852 2820 [email protected]

Jason ChiangManager, Asia Pacific +852 2820 [email protected]

Cynthia ChanManager, Asia Pacific +852 2820 [email protected]

GLOBAL WORKPLACE SOLUTIONS

Phil RowlandChief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific +852 2820 [email protected]

Peter SmythManaging Director, Asia Pacific+852 2820 [email protected]

ADVISORY & TRANSACTION SERVICES

Manish KashyapRegional Managing Director, Asia Pacific +65 6326 [email protected]

Rohini SalujaExecutive Director, Asia Pacific +65 6326 [email protected]

Paul Hubbard-BrownExecutive Director, Asia Pacific +852 2820 [email protected]

Peter AndrewSenior Director, Asia Pacific+65 6326 1677 [email protected]

Josh BankDirector, Asia Pacific+65 6326 [email protected]

Mukesh HemrajaniDirector, Asia Pacific+65 6229 1107 [email protected]

CBRE RESEARCH

This report was prepared by the CBRE Asia Pacific Research Team, which forms part of CBRE Research—a network of preeminent researchers who collaborate to provide real estate market research and econometric forecasting to real estate.

© CBRE Ltd. 2016 Information contained herein, including projections, has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. While we do not doubt its accuracy, we have not verified it and make no guarantee, warranty or representation about it. It is your responsibility to confirm independently its accuracy and completeness. This information is presented exclusively for use by CBRE clients and professionals and all rights to the material are reserved and cannot be reproduced without prior written permission of CBRE.

Printed on recycled paper

Follow CBRE

© CBRE Ltd. 2016

workplace: winning the war for talent · workplace strategy just now starting to create...

Documents