As any visitor to this site will quickly realise, we have
long championed the notion that the design of a working environment, and the
inherent culture created within, will have a dramatic effect on the long-term prospects
of any business. The office is the home of your business and therefore showing
a little pride in the premises is crucial if you are to get the best out of
your team; the trouble with such claims however is that it can be difficult to
calculate a concrete ROI for office fit-out projects.
This was exactly the focus of Insider’s recent ‘North West Workplaces: Putting People First’ breakfast event, which brought
together a panel of industry experts to discuss the benefits of investing in
the physical and cultural aspects of a workplace, including how companies could
measure these potential gains.
Speakers at the event included: Rupert Cornford, head of
business relationships and communications, Carter Corson; Ryan Cheyne, people
director, Rentalcars.com; Monica Brij, partner, CMS; Paul Billington,
commercial director, The Landing; Phillip O'Neill, market principal - UK North,
ThoughtWorks; Paul Wheeler, director of communications, Kellogg's; Lars
Sindberg, director, APAM; and Andrew Burns, joint managing director, TSK.
Ryan Cheyne, people director for Rentalcars.com, took the
stage to share how recent investments made by his company, such as the recent
£2.5m revamp of the company’s International Customer Service Centre at Sunlight
House, have provided a variety of benefits. Their efforts have clearly made an
impact, as two of their city centre offices have since received recognition for
being among the ‘coolest’ around.
He told his audience at the event, “We don’t put a hard
measure against it in terms of what we have invested and got back. There is
something quite straightforward in our approach - if we get it right for our
colleagues and customers we will make more money.
“It filters through to the bottom line in so many ways it’s
hard to pin down. However, since we have invested in becoming a truly amazing
place to work, our colleague turnover has halved - which will in itself more
than save us the money we have invested in the building.”
Rupert Cornford, head of business relationships and
communications at business psychology consultancy Carter Corson, sought to
provide more clarity as to how you can go about measuring the impact of such
projects, telling the awaiting audience, “You can measure investments according
to what a company does with internal metrics like sickness, grievance and staff
turnover. There are also self-report measures like ‘it feels like a better
place to be’.”
Andrew Burns, joint managing director of workplace design
and delivery company TSK Group, also commented, “Organisations are focusing on
how they win new customers and the right customers, capturing data to shape
customer experience and journey. When it comes to office design, the consumers
are the office workers. There is a big pull now to understand what people want
and need.”
Sam Bonson
Sam
is an aspiring novelist with a passion for fantasy and crime thrillers. He is currently
working as a content writer, journalist & editor as he continues to expand
his horizons.
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