CRITERION Benchmarking Survey Report 1.0

BENCHMARKING SURVEYS | DATA | INSIGHTS SURVEY REPORT

1.0 Return to Work Strategy

May 2023

Proudly brought to you by 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions

Dear CRITERION Members,

We are delighted to share the first CRITERION Survey Report with our founding members.

As you are aware our first survey’s questions were based on the overall Return to Work Strategy - so much has happened these last three years, across the world, it was hard to imagine we would ever return to any normalcy at home, let alone at work. Most could not imagine going back to the office, traveling by mass transit, dining in an onsite restaurant, or gathering in a room for meetings. Most employees wanted to continue to work from home as new variants arrived, however employers were anxious to get the teams back into the office and return to business as usual. Did we ever think we would have a choice to continue working at home like we are seeing today? Even after all this time, what does the new normal look like?

Employers had to balance getting their most precious assets (their employees) back to the office while allowing them to work from home part of the week to retain them. It is difficult to truly understand what the best course of action is for each company. They are trying to decipher what their new normal is and must continually ensure they keep a pulse of what other companies are doing to remain competitive.

In the end, employers are working through and acclimating to a new normal and certainly learning they must do everything they can to retain their employees. Ensuring they keep an ongoing monitor on what others are doing will remain paramount to their decision processes. There are high level industry reports, real estate studies, and onsite employee surveys being conducted; however, CRITERION is the only benchmark tool that delivers a monthly comparison of real companies on various workplace experience topics with specific questions on workplace practices today.

This report includes:

ƒ Top five highlights of the findings

ƒ Narrative summary of the results

ƒ Visual view of the results per question

ƒ Comments on various questions

4xi considers it a privilege to have you as a CRITERION member. We will work diligently for you to continually conduct surveys on pressing workplace experience topics. Additionally, we will deliver timely results, so you have a tangible report at your fingertips to help in your decision-making process which in time will hopefully help you build your new normal.

Thank you for your support and ongoing membership as a founding member. We would love to hear what you think and are open to any suggestions for future surveys or reports.

Sincerely,

Ann McNally

Ann McNally

Practice Lead CRITERION Benchmarking

4xi

Global Consulting & Solutions

e: annmcnally@4xiconsulting.com

p: (732)677-9060

w: www.4xiconsulting.com

TOP HIGHLIGHTS

of the companies are not considering a 4-day work week.

are in the office on a partial hybrid/mandate

increased investment in amenities post COVID

have employees in the office 3 days per week.

have managers determining their RTW practice vs. overall company mandate.

Each of the companies1 in this survey covered the gamut with their Return-to-Work Strategy. These results drill down and will help you understand how your company compares today against others with specific workplace experience questions.

The goal of organizations today is to strike a balance for their business needs while keeping their employees engaged. It is evident many are still trying to maneuver through a new work world and although there are many similarities in approach, there are differences to note.

1First survey had 28 respondents.

Some companies are magnetizing their space to get employees excited about returning to work while others are mandating their return. Most progressive organizations understand the importance of workplace amenities, but some do not, we see a role for education through insights to increase awareness and wider adoption of magnetizing the workplace. On the plus side 41% of the respondents recognize amenities as a very important part of their overall strategy, while 33% are in the middle, and 26% felt amenities are not an important part of the overall workplace strategy.

In this survey, the respondents defined various amenities in their workplaces including cafes, pantries, micro markets, food delivery, vending, water/hydration, coffee bars, take-home meals, external meal vouchers, and even food solutions for remote workers. We also learned many of the respondents offer onsite fitness centers, bicycle storage, employee lockers, commuter solutions, company stores, dry cleaning, mother’s rooms, prayer and neurodiversity rooms, medical centers, and childcare.

Connectivity, collaboration, and community are the most important areas of the six C’s regarding this group’s workplace experience strategy.

44%of companies are considering an all- encompassing workplace experience app to improve communication and employee engagement

Technology is critically important for every company to manage their business properly. There have been significant increases in investment in tools used to collect and analyze data and improve the workplace experience.

The technology tools that this group identified they are using in their workplace include:

SENSORS Badge Swipes

Focus Groups

Bragworthy Perks

Some of the companies in the survey have gone above and beyond to offer their employees a high-end workplace experience. They view the strategy as creating a magical place for employees to return and include innovative offers such as:

ƒ Bars/Speakeasies

ƒ Music Rooms

ƒ

Game Zones

ƒ Slides

ƒ

Coffee Roasters

ƒ Shoeshine

ƒ Organized Sports

ƒ Recreation

ƒ

Sports Facilities

Onsite Pet Care

Cooking Classes

Golf Simulators

Rock Climbing Walls

Wine Clubs

ƒ Homemade Sodas

ƒ Convenience Stores

ƒ Company Stores (SWAG)

ƒ Massage Therapy

ƒ Teaching Kitchens

ƒ Fitness Classes

ƒ Employee Resource Groups

ƒ Virtual Wellness Hub

There exists a high focus on community and family culture and engagement. One organization reported how they engage with employees through art programs, designing and naming their meeting rooms, and how they use food to taste world flavors and take employees on a journey across their international locations.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE RESULTS

Days in the Office

15% of the companies have a full mandate to work in the office while 66% are on a partial hybrid/mandate in the office. Not surprisingly, the highest percentage of days in the office are Wednesday at 37%, Tuesday and Thursday are 20% and 21%. Interestingly 29% answered “Other” for the number of days in the office which leads us to believe they do not have any level of mandate or guidance as to employees working in the office – a “come as you wish” approach to RTW.

Flexing Space

More companies are turning dedicated desks into “hoteling” desks. Others are designating certain work floors each day and have employees report to those floors, so the office feels busy and bustling for those employees who do come into the office - the main goal being to promote proximity and collaboration, so employees don’t feel isolated or that it was a waste of time to come into the office if they don’t interact with their teammates and coworkers.

Mute the Commute

We learned a company is encouraging employees to return to the office on Mondays and Fridays – why? – their point of view was that these are far quieter commuter days, saving time, and magnetizing the RTW through organizing town hall meetings and keynote speakers on Monday’s, and social events on Fridays.

RTW Decisions

Regarding how organizations are organized with their return-to-work strategy, interestingly 34% leave the decision up to the line managers/direct reports. 24% of the firms are mandating by number of days employees are expected to be in the office overall.

Post Pandemic Numbers

Compared with pre-pandemic onsite working, with how you see the future of employees working onsite, 37% answered they feel 30-50% of pre-pandemic numbers will return and 33% answered 51-70% of pre-pandemic numbers will return. Note: this is not of population but of pre-pandemic numbers. That tells us the new normal will remain a hybrid workforce for the near future at least.

Regarding participation levels of the actual population working on site 37% stated they are seeing 40% - 59% using the services while 30% are seeing less than 40%.

A 4-Day Week?

In answer to “is your company is considering a 4-day work week?” a resounding 74% answered NO. There are interesting articles on this recently and more companies may consider in the future.

Pre- and Post-Pandemic

Amenities offered post-pandemic compared to pre-pandemic: 40% remained the same, 26% increased their offer and 22% reduced their offer.

Surprisingly 33% of the company’s investment in their amenities program remained the same as pre-pandemic and 44% increased their investment. Flip side of this 22% reduced their investment post-pandemic.

Flexing Space

Future investment plans in amenity programs: 26 % answered yes, they will invest: 30 % stated no they will not invest; 41 % are still unsure of their investment plans.

Reviewing subsidy per employee/per user of amenity services post pandemic 48 % increased, 37 % stayed the same and only 7 % decreased.

Regarding their food offer and cost strategy, 15 % offer a free program, 63 % subsidize their program and 22 % operate on a limited p/l.

SURVEY RESULTS

Please check off the various amenities included in your workplace.1

Please share additional amenities in your workplace.1

1Charts show the percentage of respondents.

What is your return-to-work strategy?

How is your return-to-work strategy organized/managed?

Days

How many days of the week are employees working onsite?

4-5 days

Days

What days of the week are employees onsite? 13% 20% 37% 21% 9%

Are you considering a 4-day work week?

74%

26%

How

Regarding participation levels of the actual population working on site; what percentage of population are using the services?

How important are the amenities overall to your workplace? 33% 26% 41%

Very Important

Important Not Important

Please rank the 6 C’s in order of importance.

Are you considering an all-encompassing app to improve communication and employee engagement?

Compared

Do you plan to have future investment in your amenities program?

Regarding subsidy per employee/ per user of services post pandemic has your subsidy changed?

Please define your offer?

If we missed any "brag worthy" perks you currently offer. Please share them below.

Owning Design: Designing and Naming Meeting Rooms

Onsite Coffee Roasters & Housemade Sodas

Menus to Reflect their Global Footprint

Convenience Stores

Company SWAG Stores

Community, Family, & Culture

Pharmacy, Optometrist, & Wellness Hubs

Hair & Beauty

Music Rooms & Game Rooms

Social Classes: Paint & Sip, Wine Tastings, Cooking Classes & Music Classes

Recreational Sports & Games

Yoga, Pilates, Massage, & Bootcamps

Events: Key Note Speakers, Live Music, & Farmer's Markets

ƒ Create Magnetizing vs. Mandated Workplace spaces

ƒ Gameify Attendance

ƒ Must remain flexible and nimble depending on site

ƒ Some teams are mostly remote

ƒ Magnetize physical space with catering and special events

Are there any other areas or ideas you would like to share on your RTW strategy?

ƒ Creating consistency of amenities across our portfolio

ƒ Encourage teams to come on common days to optimize social time in the office

ƒ Create a great campus experience no matter the global location

ƒ We are encouraging our people to return to work. We want them back. We believe that we are best at what we do through being together.

ƒ It is unlikely that the population will ever return to pre-pandemic levels have we have seen productivity level out vs. the need to be in the office.

ƒ Creating a great campus experience has always been high on our agenda as we carefully design and curate the workplace experience no matter the global location.

ƒ Office coffee possibly, one closed cafe has a guest restaurant three days a week.

"With our size and location, we do not face some of the same challenges around the commute and attracting and retaining talent as in locations such as San Francisco or other metro areas. We have a real people friendly, family focused culture and lean on the strength of that to build long-term loyalty and minimize attrition."

"Our catering sales are higher than prepandemic. Catering is the "reward" for staff coming in and a way to build team connections within divisions and departments. I was not sure if you consider that an amenity - it is one of the most important services offered in this new hybrid model."

ƒ Department activities, potluck, chili cook off, Mardi Gras celebration, raffles for people who come in and fill out a slip of paper.

ƒ "We are consolidating our campus to help with connectivity. Having multiple sites resulted in empty buildings and a poor experience for employees that made the effort to work onsite difficult. Having one main campus helps to bring employees together in the same place.

"Health and wellness/well-being are essential when providing a place where employees want to be. They don't want just free food/coffee/snacks anymore. Instead, they want that to be part of the experience. Employees also want to feel like they have been part of the decision-making process so capturing their feedback is a key factor."

"Thing is that cafe participation may appear low as organizations are more and more using catering as a lure to tempt workers back to the office for team events and get togethers, thus distorting the real underlying participation levels"

"Peak demand can equal pre-pandemic levels, but slow times or more frequent (Fridays very slow). This hurts operational efficiencies"

"The legacy office skyscraper is set to be reimagined to mixed use - imagine retail, food halls, community centers, vocational training, non-profits, co-working, hospitality suites (for work and community), residential, hotels, and office space all in one multi-use, multi-user building of the future."

"People talk about workplace experience when that is not completely relevant today - in many sectors, work from anywhere is the new normal - even some financial call centers have worked out how contact center folks can work from home, and in so doing reduced real estate footprints. The real challenge (and opportunity) is, how do you extend a comparable level of amenities (and care) to people wherever they may be?”

Author: Published by:

ANN MCNALLY Practice Lead CRITERION Benchmarking

Ann worked on the client side of the business for over a decade at both Morgan Stanley and Bristol-Myers Squibb. One of the biggest challenges she faced was senior executives regularly asking how their company compared to others. It ranged from various topics from what and how they offered their amenities to miscellaneous operational questions on just about anything. Ann created CRITERION to help companies answer those questions. Ann had the privilege to lead a survey team at Bristol Myers Squibb where the team created a survey process for 17 departments across facilities. As an experienced leader and subject matter expert Ann will help clients get the answers they are looking for with CRITERION.

annmcnally@4xiconsulting.com

PUBLISHER

Simon Elliot

EXECUTIVE TEAM

Simon Elliot

Managing Partner & Co-Founder

Barbara Boden

Managing Partner & Co-Founder

Tony Johnson Leadership Advisory Council Chief Experience Officer (CXO)

MARKETING

Dina O’Reilly Strategic Partnerships & Project Management Office

Hannah Spearman

Graphic Design & Creative Services