According to a global study conducted by ISS, workspace priorities have changed significantly for companies in the last two years. Before the health pandemic, operational efficiency and cost savings they were two of the highest priority results for companies when planning and making decisions about their own offices.
However, today, employee engagement ranks first, while talent attraction it has also become one of the new top priorities.
To achieve these goals, most companies have chosen to invest in their workspace offerings by upgrading facilities, the office environment and employee experiences. All this with the aim of enable better innovation and collaboration between employees, increase presence in the office and enhance the sense of belonging.
In this sense, Jacob Aarup-Andersen, General Director of the ISS World Services A/S Group, has pointed out that “power in global labor markets has shifted to employees after many decades in favor of employers. Additionally, the pandemic has accelerated hybrid work models and employee expectations of flexibility. The new challenge for companies is to meet these expectations in a way that meets the productivity needs of both employees and the companies themselves.”
“It’s not a question of ‘if’ people are in the office; it is a question of “how” they can thrive, innovate and collaborate better at work.” Aarup-Andersen himself has added that “right now we are seeing that many companies are redefining their offices to accommodate hybrid work patterns and personal preferences, focusing both on the physical place in which people work and the experience that people get when he arrives at the office has indicated.
There is no single blueprint for the future workplace
The survey also shows that 69% of companies are expanding their office space, redesigning it, maintaining it or are undecided, while 31% have decided to downsize. However, this last group is also the one that will invest the most in improving the workplace.
In the words of Javier Urbiola, executive president of ISS in Spain, «Despite the uncertainty, the goal remains to enhance employee engagement. There is no single model when planning the workspaces of the future, since these must be adapted to the reality of each company and its employees. However, one thing is for sure: the predictions about the disappearance of the face-to-face have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, the general trend today is the reuse of workplaces.
