Two-thirds of businesses invest in their office environment to prioritise employee engagement

Adapting to hybrid working patterns and personal preferences

To reach their people-focused goals, the majority of companies have chosen to invest in their workplace offerings by upgrading their facilities, office environment and employee experiences - primarily to enable better innovation and collaboration by employees, to attract people to the office and to enhance the sense of belonging.

Jacob Aarup-Andersen, Group CEO at ISS World Services A/S, says:

“Power in global labour markets has shifted to employees after many decades in which it favoured employers. In addition, the pandemic accelerated hybrid working models and employee expectations of flexibility. The new mandate of employers is to meet those expectations in ways that cater to the productivity needs of both employees and the company. It is not a question of ‘if’ people are in the office; it is a question of ‘how’ they can best thrive, innovate and collaborate at work.”

“Right now we are seeing a lot of companies redefining their offices to accommodate hybrid working patterns and personal preferences, focusing both on the physical place that people work in and the experience that people get when they come to the office.”

No ‘one size fits all’ model for the future workplace

The survey also shows that 69% of the companies are either expanding their office space, redesigning or keeping what they have or are undecided, while 31% have decided to reduce it. However, the latter group, is also the one that will invest the most in upgrading the workplace.

Jacob Aarup-Andersen says:

“Despite the varying approaches to the real estate footprint, the target of employee engagement is the same. There is no ‘one size fits all’ model when it comes to planning the workplace of tomorrow because the workplace must match each individual company and its employees. One thing is for sure, though: predictions of the death of the office have been greatly exaggerated. Instead, what we are witnessing now are workplaces being repurposed on a global scale.”