Cultivating hybrid

It is easy to predict a hybrid workplace as the likeliest operational model for offi ces post-pandemic – but much more diffi cult to calculate what this new paradigm means for facilities and their service provision. Over the following pages, Bradford Keen and Martin Read look at the issues that will help organisations to grow a consensus on the subject as they weigh up a range of new options

ILLUSTRATIONS: ANDREW LYONS

A cultural fi t?

When the offices provided by organisations become only part of the regular workplace mix for workers, how can this profession play its part in creating and sustaining cultural cohesion? Moreover, is that even part of this profession’s service provision? Consultant Lucy Jeynes is not sure it is.

“T raditionally we’ve focused on the impact we make on customer experience through the physical environments we create,” she explains.

“We call it the workplace experience, but actually it’s things like the building operating properly, the furniture and the coffee. We’re kidding ourselves if we think we’re the leaders of an organisation’s cultural cohesion. ”We do play a part in it; the space we’re creating and curating is a major element of brand, culture and work experience. But I don’t think we are the people that lead it. A director of workplace experience could lead in that role, but there are currently only a small number of people in the profession eligible to do that job. And that person would need to be in charge of FM, property, IT and HR.”

For Jeynes, although FMs are typically focused on physical factors, the autonomy given to workers – as well as where and when they work – are the sole determination of HR.

Others disagree that this boundary is so fixed. Both the outgoing and incoming IWFM chairs see development of a more nuanced relationship between departments (see feature, p36-41). And the idea, at least, of a chief workplace officer (CWO) – the suggested role leading on both these disciplines as well as IT and CRE to best ensure worker productivity – is seen as part of the profession’s conversation in response to the pandemic’s blurring of workplace boundaries.

Consultant Nigel Oseland is a fan. “Workplace is IT, HR, FM, CRE all jumbled up. The role that’s missing is a chief workplace officer or head of workplace.”

But there’s a problem. “It’s a difficult one,” says Oseland. “Someone has to take the lead but the necessary expertise and skills are so varied. The challenge is how to integrate the relevant bits of HR, IT and FM. And whoever does that needs a seat on the board, because then it’s really important.”

The complexities of workplace cost calculations in a hybrid world seem to logically suggest the kind of leadership a CWO approach could bring. Yet although the wellbeing agenda has seen some organisations embrace an HR/FM mix, it’s a slowly evolving understanding.

Will hybrid trigger a wider appreciation? ITV’s Ian Jones believes that the time is ripe for workplace teams to assert their influence.

“The way you support an office with transient people is completely different to

“It’s not about the service but the experience. is completely different to We want to give We want them a reason them a for coming in, a for comi ‘destination for ‘destina collaboration’” collabor

ITV’s offices, including those at Television Centre in White City, will prioritise the employee experience

the way you support an office with fixed teams,” he says. “We need to generate something completely different. It’s not about the service but the experience. We want to give them a reason for coming in, a ‘destination for collaboration’.”

Plans so far at ITV include weekly popup bars for socialising with colleagues, exercise spaces on site, and outdoor garden spaces for daylight and relaxation. Jones says this is all a lot easier as he has finally found the dream building; part of Television Centre in White City is to become the new ITV building, replete with a 44,000-square-feet floor plate to accommodate the new ways of working.

Focusing on familiar

“People expect three primary things from a workplace,” says Monica Parker, “effectiveness, safety and familiarity.”

Effectiveness usually comes down to technology and furniture, she says. Safety is now about hygiene and air quality. But familiarity? Familiarity is the people.

“We’ve all been in an office with no one around and it feels spooky. If people come in and aren’t able to find their work friends, the office feels less familiar.”

Here’s where hybrid may mean more team-based delineation. Parker talks of organisations running “operating rhythm sessions” with individual teams “to better understand desired working patterns, communication styles, chronotypes (early bird versus night owl proclivities), etc.”

This requires the kind of work undertaken by Ericsson (see box, ‘The Persona Touch’) to establish the likely characteristics of particular teams, providing accordingly.

Unfortunately, believes Parker, “Most companies have simply converted in-person meetings to Zoom meetings and not used this time to explore and fundamentally challenge the way people work. Have teams created a shared social contract about how they will work in the future?

“Culture is not created magically. It is the wake you see behind a series of behaviours. Culture cohesiveness looks different to different people. It’s not all team pizza parties and forced fun. For example, people of colour have reported experiencing many fewer microaggressions whilst working from home, and thus have – to some, paradoxically – felt more valued and connected to the culture while working from home. Aligning work patterns, creating clear communication channels, and training managers to manage remotely is the best way to create a cohesive culture.”

AN ERICSSON CASE STUDY

THE ‘PERSONA’ TOUCH

Work carried out by international comms tech firm Ericsson, and reported by workplace performance analysts Leesman, shows how hybrid working may well be here to stay. Ericsson employed Leesman to survey 36,000 employees in 102 buildings across 52 countries during 2020. The results showed that the typical Ericsson’s workplace experience actually ranked higher than Leesman’s own global benchmark – but that, nevertheless, figures for the homeworking experience were ranking higher still.

Naturally, certain activities did not translate well outside of the office (51.2 per cent said their home supported informal working interactions compared to the office’s 85.5 per cent). But there was obvious enthusiasm to retain homeworking for at least part of the week, with employees reporting how homeworking

PHOTOGRAPHY: SHUTTERSTCOK I have to go to the office

<5%

THE TETHERED Entirely office-based because of job role or need to use tech only found in that the office.

30-35%

THE OPTIMISER The office is their ideal because their home set-up is sub-optimal. I choose to go to the office

35-40%

THE ADAPTER Office is the right space at the right time. Can work effectively at home, but not for everything.

15-20%

THE CULTURALIST Office is where we thrive culturally and feel connected to people and brand. bett er supported certain activities (confidential discussions, focused work, reading, creative thinking).

Pre-pandemic, 84 per cent of Ericsson employees spent less than 25 per cent of their time working from home. Now, 79 per cent said they wanted to work at least two days a week from home in future.

Understandably, employees’ individual homework sett ings affected the figures, with Ericsson realising that, for many, an ability to work well remotely depended as much on home capability as job role.

Ericsson’s response was to use this data to allocate employees into one of five ‘personas’ based on the characteristics revealed by individuals in the survey to give an indication of the requirements of the various workplace populations. Each persona is based on how well 21 different work activities were supported at the office or at home.

With this analysis, Ericsson could understand: ●Regional differences in its workforce; ●The balance of employee ‘personas’ at a single site; and ●The types of work activities that would more likely be undertaken at one particular office or at home.

This categorisation paints a picture (see the graphic below), which allows the firm to calculate the balance work space type it needs for each of the offices in which surveying took place.

Ericsson has been testing out this persona approach in five pilot offices. In one, the 60 per cent of office space previously dedicated to focused desk-based work dialled right down to 15 per cent, allowing an uptick in team and socialising space as identified via the persona approach. It is too early to know what this means for Ericsson’s CRE portf olio more broadly.

I rarely go

10-15%

THE SOLOIST Office visits are for special occasions; can work effectively from home.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

H&S RESPONSIBILITIES IN A HYBRIDISED WORKPLACE

It is very unlikely that life as we knew it before Covid will return any time soon and everyone will need to get used to the new, different environment at work and adapt accordingly. This is easy to say but certainly much harder to do.

The duty of care and H&S obligations have remained the same for employers and managers whether staff have been working from home or in the workplace. Any ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality towards homeworkers could prove problematic as staff start to return to the workplace, either partially or completely.

H&S responsibilities in a hybridised workplace may well need greater focus on parity, fairness, compassion and care – with a capital C – to avoid costly lawsuits and discrimination. It may also require financial investment in training – both upskilling and refresher – to help staff cope with the new circumstances and working practices.

Initiatives to support mental health will need to be considered and implemented. Managers will need to invest as much time as necessary to ensure that the ‘people’ part of their role is effective and meaningful. Employment contracts must be relevant to a hybrid work arrangement and changes will need to be discussed, agreed and need to be discussed, properly documented. Extra properly docu or amended clauses to cover or amended compassionate leave and, compassion indeed, provision for indeed, sickness and absence sick related to long rela Covid might also Cov be prudent.” be p MA fou safe Risk

MALCOLM TULLETT, founder of health and safety consultancy Risk and Safety Plus MONICA PARKER Founder of Hatch Analytics

ANDY KELLY Director of facilities management at Manchester Central

ANTONY WILTSHIRE Director of Workspace and Facilities UK&I, Edelman

DAVID SHARP CEO, International Workplace Ltd

LUCY JEYNES Managing director at Larch Consulting

RUSSELL WOOD Facilities manager at Dentsu

“It’s about empowering the individual to deliver against agreed and prescribed targets within the confines of their home and workplace environment”

Soft central

For David Sharp, the evermore important requirement is for good managers with strong soft skills.

“Emotional intelligence is an incredibly valuable skill to bring some people up and flatten others down, give in to some people’s demands and stand fast against others.”

Sharp’s solution is AI that understands individuals on a granular level and treats them uniquely rather than as part of many within a larger system. But for this to work, “we need sensitive managers and sensitive software”.

AI software that links employee outcomes to company objectives is essential, he says. Microsoft Viva employee experience software takes data from multiple sources about what an individual employee is doing and plugs it into the company platform to see how company and employee are performing; Sharp’s Workplace DNA does the same, albeit specifically for learning outcomes.

“FM can influence the organisation’s cultural cohesiveness by adopting software solutions that match productivity and track the relationship between people’s inputs and outcomes for the organisation,” suggests Sharp.

Culture club

“The office has to be attractive, and that’s not just about facilitating

Manchester Central Convention Complex is a non-office business that is introducing hybrid working models (see box, right) teamwork and collaboration and innovation,” says Nigel Oseland.

“A lot of people miss the social elements of work. For a lot of people starting out, the workplace is a social place. A lot of people meet their future partner at work. It’s where you’re mentored, meet people, establish your work ethic and philosophy of life. All five generations in the workplace still need social interaction.

“In London, most of us are spending 1.5 to two hours a day commuting, so the office has to be attractive enough to overcome that inertia. What can you do in the workplace to make people really want to come, what makes it attractive? It’s facilitation in the broadest sense, facilitating those events and meetings.”

“Workplace really has a role to play in the culture piece and engaging with staff,” says Kellie Lord-Thomas. “And we absolutely need stronger ties with our HR team. That is happening now as a result of our decision to permanently go hybrid.”

But Lord-Thomas admits that in her case it will be difficult for a hybrid form to work for all.

“Our biggest difficulty is how this works globally. We’ve got the most people in our London head office and everyone’s on board with going hybrid. But in regional offices and the global south, that’s not quite the case. In those areas, because connectivity is poor, it’s better for them to be in the office. It’s going to be difficult having different rules for different areas.”

HYBRID: BEYOND THE OFFICE

ADAPTING AN EVENTS BUSINESS

IWFM Awards judge Andy Kelly is director of facilities management at Manchester Central Convention Complex, a non-office business introducing hybrid working

How is your post-pandemic facilities service requirement likely to become different to what went before? “The pandemic has made the business look across all departments to see how they operate. We are now a lot leaner and the FM team has had to become more multidisciplined in their ability to support various other aspects of the business which, pre-Covid, would have been classed as other teams’ responsibility.”

Is there likely to be a move to hybrid working – and how will that affect what you deliver to end users? “Yes, we will be moving to a hybrid model. While the business is predominately about delivering events and the need to be within the venue to support this activity, the business has recognised that hybrid working can work in our industry. “We are in the process of drawing together our policies and procedures as to how this will work. In essence, we will move to a more output-based performance management matrix with the onus on the individual to manage and deliver to the required outputs. “It’s about empowering the individual to deliver against agreed and prescribed targets within the confines of their home and workplace environment. We are changing our performance development review process to ensure that it is fit for purpose. Training will be provided for all managers.”

Does this move mean changes to team structure/reporting, and if so in what ways? “Minor changes to team structures, but these are at a junior level and to ensure our business is equipped to deal with every changing event and conferencing environment.”

How will your procedures change as a result of this move? “Several H&S procedures will need to change such as our DSE (display screen equipment) policy to consider the risks of people working at home more, emergency procedures will also need to be adapted to reflect the roles of fire marshals in the venue and roles undertaken by staff under emergency situations.”

What will be the most significant change to how you provide service within this new outputbased model? “The major change is supporting and empowering the individuals to adapt to the changes that agile working brings, especially as our business primarily deals face to face with our customers and clients. Our working-from-home policy will stipulate that working from home will need to be approved on a case-by-case basis with line managers.”