An investment bank customer is working to increase the flexibility, functionality and efficiency of space across its portfolio with a global workplace innovation program. Our Workplace Strategy team is working in partnership with the bank’s Real Estate, Technology and Human Resources teams to develop and deliver the program. This case study tells the story of one project within the program: how the
introduction of working from home and desk sharing enabled the bank to optimize real estate, make cost and energy savings and create fully flexible, supportive work environments for more than 1,000 people in one key department.
The working from home and desk sharing project has delivered:
Savings
Real estate savings: approximately one million Euros per annum
73% reduction in energy use
80% reduction in churn costs
Extremely positive staff survey results
95% of employees surveyed support the workplace transformation
70% say it has improved their work-life balance
50% say it makes the bank a more attractive employer
Case study
However there was a recognition that, given the population of predominantly office/ desk-based staff, desk
sharing alone would not provide the capacity required. Active support for working from home was identified as something that would provide added flexibility and benefits for staff while also allowing for a more comfortable uptake of desk sharing.
The bottom line: the bank needed to implement a successful desk sharing and working from home program in order to meet its ongoing accommodation challenges.
Solution
We designed a working from home program, including desk sharing, that would enable the bank to accommodate more people in less space while allowing capacity for future headcount growth. Program inputs included:
Working group. We engaged IT, HR and legal representatives from the bank to help develop the concepts, policy and guidance of the program and ensure all stakeholder
requirements were met.
Comprehensive feasibility studies. Space utilization studies and consultation with managers helped determine an achievable desk sharing ratio and estimate the likely adoption of working from home by employees.
Modelling. We modelled the potential desk sharing ratio that could be achieved through a successful working from home program to establish a crucial success factor: staff participation levels of at least 25%.
Challenge
A critical support department of 1,000 needed to provide capacity for an additional 140 employees, as well as future headcount growth, within two existing office floors of 7,000m2. The move was planned so the bank could vacate six floors in other buildings, part of a wider office rationalization program.
The bank’s workplace innovation program offered a clear opportunity to help meet these accommodation objectives: Introducing a flexible work environment with desk sharing would enable more people to work within the same amount of floor-space.
70% of employees surveyed said the transformation
has improved their work-life balance. Commuting
time can now be spent elsewhere.
Accommodate more
people in less space
Two things had to change to accommodate the additional
headcount and desk sharing concept:
1. The office environment
2. IT and telephony infrastructure We wrote a brief for a fully flexible environment that would support desk sharing and transform the existing 7,000m2 space into a brighter, more attractive place to work. It introduced a rich mix of new furniture,
technology and work settings including break out rooms, meeting places, collaboration and quiet areas. We worked with appointed architects to ensure our brief and vision for the workspace were realised, and with the bank’s IT team to agree a strategy that would enable desk sharing and increase working mobility at home and in the office. This included:
New thin client technology to replace PC’s and allow employees to access office applications from any desk or meeting room on site, or using their own technology at home.
Unified communications system to allow employees to make and receive calls from home using the bank’s telephony infrastructure.
Results and
benefits
The project is being used as a blueprint for a key part of the bank’s workplace strategy. The introduction of working from home and desk sharing has been a great success. It has enabled the bank to meet its immediate accommodation challenge as well as optimize real estate, make cost and energy savings, and create fully flexible, supportive work environments for more than 1,000 people in one key department.
Employees:
More flexible ways of working for employees: more than 90% of department employees now participate in desk sharing and 25% in the working from home program. These results are right on target!
Extremely positive results from the staff survey
95% of employees surveyed support the workplace transformation
70% say it has improved their work-life balance
50% say it makes the bank a more attractive employer
Business:
Real estate savings:
approximately one million Euros per annum
73% reduction in energy use
80% reduction in churn costs Our comprehensive change
management program helped motivate employees to set up and embrace their new working environments: home and office. Engagement activities included an all staff Town Hall to announce the program, over 50 manager and team briefing sessions, and workplace orientations. We kept staff informed throughout the program with regular newsletters, poster campaigns and via a Champions Network, which met weekly.
Communication continued long after ‘go live’ to embed new behaviours and measure attitudes and opinions. Tools included a six week ‘health check’ and staff survey (see the positive feedback in ‘Results and benefits’).
Communicate and
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