Top talent is hard to come by, yet it's critical to achieving ambitious business goals. That's why leaders everywhere are looking for new ways to attract and retain talent. One of these ways is to pay attention to what talent wants as part of their workplace experience.
In fact, workplace experience is becoming a business driver as leaders consider closely where to locate office buildings, how to configure them, what features to offer, and how to accommodate occupants' desires for remote working, flexible workspaces, and smart workstations. In a time where top talent is hard to come by and even harder to keep, these factors can provide businesses with a competitive advantage.With only 11% of respondents to the 2017 Gartner Digital Workplace Survey reporting that they were completely satisfied with their workspace, there is still an opportunity for first movers to create exceptional experiences that attract exceptional people.
Let's look at some ways that CRE and business leaders can create innovative spaces of the future.
1. Creating agile workplaces
More and more companies are experimenting with providing agile workplace experiences like desk sharing or co-working. This provides flexibility for occupants and cuts down on employers’ need for large, dedicated offices.
2. Providing seamless connectivity
As opportunities to work remotely or in a location-of-choice increase, so does the need to provide technology that seamlessly bridges the gap between space, place, people, and timezones. The right tools empower employees to be productive anywhere, anytime.
3. Recognizing that productivity is linked with happiness
Successful businesses are increasingly those that acknowledge that the one-size-fits-all approach is not the best method. There’s growing recognition that high-quality, people-centric workspaces improve employees' focus, productivity, output, and happiness. In fact, in a recent survey by Gartner, 97% of respondents indicated that the workspace was critical not only to employee productivity but also to employee happiness.
4. Offering a frictionless workplace experience
Struggling to find your fob at the bottom of your bag. Multi-step processes to book meeting rooms. Workspaces that are too cold in the morning and too hot in the afternoon. These are all points of friction that add up to become annoyances and productivity killers. Workplaces of the future smooth out these issues and provide optimized, smart, and self-tuning experiences that either delight or fade into the background.
5. Empowering occupiers to control their environment
Companies can create a world-class experience by giving power to people to control their own workspace. This includes providing employees with control over their own comfort settings like lighting or heating/cooling, giving employees access to better wayfinding assistance, enabling them to send cleaning staff alerts when areas need to be cleaned, and connecting occupiers with colleagues and building managers for increased efficiency.
In summary…
In an era where top talent is hard to acquire and keep, CRE buildings can increase their odds by investing in smart building solutions that create highly desirable workplaces of the future. By putting in place the right technology, processes, and mindsets, companies can stay competitive or even gain the upper hand. The success of tomorrow starts with the people of today.
To learn more about how to implement smart building solutions in your building, explore our products or book your free demo today.
