What can serviced and flexible office providers do to increase productivity?

A Google search on ‘employees and productivity’ brings up over 191,000,000 results, most of which are titled ‘5 (or 6 or 7…) ways to increase employee productivity’, showing that the topic is increasingly on employers’ minds. In fact, the IFMA Spain noted at its recent Workplace Summit that companies with healthy environments and happy employees can expect to see productivity and their overall market competitiveness increase by 20 per cent, which highlights the potential economic benefit for employers.

Workthere’s recent What Coworkers Want report* revealed that 40 per cent of flexible office workers feel that the their office design positively impacts and increases their productivity, compared to 34 per cent in conventional offices. In fact, the internal design of an office was considered to be most important in terms of building design to those working in flexible offices at 71 per cent. However, it also had the largest satisfaction gap with only 54 per cent of respondents confirming they were happy with their current office design. Whilst designing an interior to suit everyone can be challenging, flexibility could be the key for serviced office providers looking to attract and retain occupiers. Having the ability to work in different locations across an office such as breakout areas and quiet spaces also ranked important for flexible office workers at 62 per cent. Yet, the research also shows that flexible working has the second largest satisfaction gap within the building design category with only 49 per cent of respondents being content with this feature in their current workspace.

It’s not just the physical aspects of an office that impact happiness and productivity. Elements such as services and amenities, despite being viewed by some as less important additions to an office, can actually have a much greater purpose. Being able to retrieve parcels from delivery and collection lockers within the workplace can save a significant amount of time and be more convenient compared to having to walk or drive to the nearest Post Office. Free natural food can promote health and reduce sugar crashes from muffins and chocolate bars. Personal storage for gym kits can encourage workers to run or cycle to work or take a break over lunch time to work out and refocus their mind. We have already seen a number of these services and amenities incorporated into the serviced and flexible office sector and it is a trend that we expect to expand moving forwards with providers seeking to create a service that will set them apart from the ever-growing competition.

Whilst measuring overall productivity levels of staff is difficult, it is clear from the What Coworkers Want research that there are some definitive areas that workers feel would boost their efficiency and output. For providers of serviced office space, the intrinsic nature of their flexible model in terms of memberships and leases, means that it is vital that they respond to the adapting needs and requirements of both occupiers and their staff in order to retain a competitive edge.

*The What Coworkers Want report is based on a survey conducted by Savills and undertaken by YouGov between March and April 2019, which surveyed over 11,000 office-based employees based in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK, with 1,000 workers surveyed in each country. 1,874 respondents of the overall total consider their main workplace to be either a serviced or coworking office, and we included both of these groups in the flexible office category.

Workers were questioned on various office-related topics, including asking their views, in terms of importance and satisfaction, on 48 office features.

NB: Figures may not always add to 100 per cent due to removal of ‘don’t knows/not applicable’ responses or rounding.