CBRE Workplace Strategy Whitepaper TRANSFORMING …€¦ · On April 7, 2014, 550 CBRE employees moved from a fixed desk work environment to a 100% free-address “Activity Based

2015

TRANSFORMING CORPORATE CULTURE THROUGH

THE WORKPLACE

CBRE Workplace Strategy Whitepaper

Defining Corporate Culture

Setting the Project Vision and Goals

Embarking on a

Change Management Program

Introduction

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2

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Setting the Project Vision and Goals

Embarking on a

Change Management Program

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“If we imagine our business as a vehicle that moves forward through the world, then our physical workplace environment is the fuel that gives the vehicle its momentum”

CBRE Japan President & CEO, and North Asia President Ben Duncan.

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Introduction

On April 7, 2014, 550 CBRE employees moved from a fixed desk work environment to a 100% free-address “Activity Based Work” environment. Six months later, CBRE’s Tokyo HQ employees had this to say:

In the first year since opening, more than 16,000 visitors toured the space. The office was recognized by the US Green Building Council which certified the space as LEED Gold, by the Japan Facilities Management Association who gave CBRE its highest marks for innovation, and by Nikkei Inc. and the New Office Promotion Association who presented CBRE with a “New Office Promotion” award.

feel the current environment reflects the CBRE brand and promotes a positive image of the company.

prefer the new environment and way of working over the old.

believe the current office reflects a reinvestment in employees, process, and technology.

note they are more productive in the current environment.

90%

78% 88%

76%

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Often we see companies relocating or renovating for cost saving purposes. But changing the workplace can have so much more of an impact, from increasing productivity, showcasing the company brand, providing tools to enhance performance, attracting and recruiting the best talent, and shaping the way we work. By gathering the right data, analyzing it, establishing a new workplace strategy, and diligently guiding employees through the change, any company can successfully transform all while saving cost. This is the story about how CBRE turned an idea into its vision of the ‘Office of the Future’.

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“The workplace is not necessarily about saving money or saving space; it’s about better utilization of space and better productivity through creation of the right environment. There isn’t a right or wrong in the workplace; there are a number of scenarios and solutions for different situations and it’s not one size fits all.”

CBRE Japan President & CEO, and North Asia President

Ben Duncan

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Consolidated into 1 office

Fixed Seating

free-address seating for all employees (including CEO)

45cm

45cm

45cm Personal

Storage

300 traditional desks

300work positions

600seats in total

Work Style Options

The FactsWe started out with 4 offices

Shinjuku NihonbashiTokyo HQ (Hamamatsucho)

Saitama

635 employees (November 2015)

550 employees (before move)

1,145 tsubo

Optimized by 18% of footprint

from 2 types to 15 types

Tokyo HQ (Marunouchi)

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Have achieved 15%

headcount growth without changing layout

40%

3×more open

meeting seats (compared to previous office)

-25%lighting required

than energy standards

20% of work positions are focus desks

significant investment in technology (new laptops, better wireless access, improved booking system)

20+ phone booths

UP9% working with less paper is becoming easier from 58% (1-month after the move) to 67%

(6-month after the move)

-84% reduction in

cabinets

-92%

28million pages saved

Reduced 37 to 10 printers Follow me printing Saving annually

US$200,000

What we achieved

reduction of on-site paper storage

Employees say

office performance*

improved by

* Office Performance stands for the performance of individual spaces, meeting spaces and technology attributes.

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How would you describe the office you work in to your friends and family? Each of us forms our own perception of the company we work for. From work itself, teamwork with colleagues, a sense of achievement and a sense of belonging, the physical work environment, and everything else combine to create our perception of corporate culture.

Corporate culture is created, cultivated and sustained by employees. While we all have a hand in it, sometimes there are opportunities to re-evaluate and significantly re-create a business’ culture. One of these opportunities surfaces when considering office renovation or relocation.


Recent research shows that culture and engagement is the most important issue companies face around the world. 87 percent of organizations cite culture and engagement as one of their top challenges, and 50 percent call the problem “very important.” Japan particularly has one of the lowest engagement levels, where only 7% of company employees feel engaged in their work.

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Culture

Engagement

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In May 2013, CBRE’s business in Japan set out on an 11-month journey to redefine its culture through relocation and adoption of what it calls Workplace Strategy. CBRE wanted to create a workplace that promotes cross-selling and collaboration, that would bring the company closer to its clients, that showcases the brand and its leadership in the industry, that enhances ability to attract and retain talent, and that creates a working example of CBRE’s view of the ‘Office of the Future’.

“We were ambitious. We had the opportunity to lead, and be a leader in the real estate industry. We needed more than just an improvement of our existing environment – we needed a new canvas.”

— Ben Duncan, CBRE

INITIATE

STRATEGIZE

FIND FACTS +

OPPORTUNITIES

EVOLVE

IMPLEMENT

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The physical environment can have a lasting and tremendous impact on the company image, the way people work, and its corporate culture. A workplace change project is a great opportunity to re-shape the culture and way of working for any company, regardless of size or industry.

When considering a workplace change, senior leaders should consider the following:

> How can I use the workplace to enable and support our business strategy?

> What value do I want to get out of my workplace?

> How can the workplace reflect and support the core values of our company?

Once ample thought has been given to these considerations, the process of establishing the project vision and goals can begin to take shape, addressing every element of the following:

Company Brand Company Assets

What is our brand? And how do we express it? What are the impressions we want to make to our clients and to our employees? What are we known for: Professionalism, Services, History, Innovation and Creativity?

What is our biggest asset that makes our business successful? What do we, and must we, most invest in for future growth: People, Products, Process?

Setting the Project Vision and Goals2

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Infrastructure

Work Style

Economic Value

Behavior

What type of work style will best suit our employees? What type of environment will bring out the best performance from each individual and from the teams? Do we want to encourage more collaboration, sharing of knowledge, communication, focus, productivity, and effective processes?

What is the code of ethics our employees abide by? Are there core values to our corporate culture that need to be reflected in the daily business activities? How do we want our employees to treat our clients, business associates and colleagues?

What are the economic improvements we want to see: real estate savings, energy savings, performance (e.g. revenue produced) per employee, retention rate, more efficient back-office processes?

What are the tools beyond the physical environment we need to provide to our employees to do our best work? What is the IT/AV equipment we need to prepare? What is the supporting infrastructure we need to invest in? What type of performance improvement do we want to see: speed, security, connectivity?

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In formulating CBRE’s own considerations for each of these areas, the Workplace Strategy team hosted four focus groups, conducted more than 20 leadership interviews, administered an online workplace performance survey, and arrived at the following:

Being a Leading Real Estate Firm in Japan, and Recognized as a World Class Company

After moving, 90% said “My current work environment reflects a world class organization inside and outside the real estate industry.”

Our Talented People

After moving, 79% said “The current office is a great tool for recruiting talent.”

Diagnosis: CBRE

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Company Brand Company Assets

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Activity-Based-Work-style (ABW), to better support collaboration across business lines while also enhancing focused-work when necessary.

In the previous office only 22% felt they had convenient access to space for easy collaboration – compared to 72% after. Previously only 33% felt they had access to space for concentrated work without interruption – compared to 61% after.

CBRE’s corporate values - RISE (Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence)

After moving, 90% said “My current work environment reflects the culture and values of CBRE.”

Heavy investment in new technology.

After moving, 78% said, “the current office reflects a reinvestment in employees, processes, and technology”.

New laptops, Wi-Fi, and Follow-Me printing allows our employees to work from wherever, and whenever they want.

Infrastructure

Work Style

Economic Value

Behavior

18% reduction in overall real estate space, 92% reduction in on-site paper storage, and room to grow headcount by more than 10% without needing to change layout.

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Workplace Strategy is about defining the right workplace through collection and analysis of research data, and best practices. This is done at the onset of a project and structures how the future environment (design, technology, usage) will look. “Change Management” is all about the people, this is the “soft” part of a project guiding those that are going through a period of significant change.

Although small incremental changes can easily be achieved and are a natural process with most organizations in Japan, many of the larger changes require more preparation, support, and monitoring. If ignored or not properly made, changes often fail.

Embarking on a Change Management Program3

before As-Is

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With a proper change management program, the following results are typical:

• Changes are clear and employees are well prepared for their future work

• People participate in defining the future and naturally get ready for it (resistance is minimized)

• There is limited or no drop in productivity

• There is greater readiness and motivation to accept and support the changes

We believe the key factors for a successful change initiative are:

• An on-the-ground presence and often more time and energy than expected

• Over communication is necessary – need to repeat messages several times through different channels

• Senior leader commitment is critical to successful transformation

• Employees need to understand the benefits to them

• Employees need to have opportunities to ask questions and voice concerns

after To-BeChange Managed

Productivity Curve

Productivity Curve without Change Management

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3What’s in itfor me? ?

Why are we changing?

!!!

Will I have enough storage?

Examples of concerns often heard by Japanese employees and managers when moving to a free-address environment are:

“Some people were very nervous about our project thinking “is that really going to work in Japan?” We were also worried about Day One with 550 employees all arriving in the office at the same time.”

“How are we going to handle it?” But my advice to clients and other people thinking about doing this is to go all out. Although there was some anxiety attached to some of the things we were trying to do, we tried to cut through what was just the natural human fear of change. I think really going for it while shifting through the resistance of why we were doing it is how we made it a success. People in Japan are so terrific, when they’ve bought into a target or a goal, they just move towards achieving that goal.”


Ben Duncan

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?

How do we find each

other?

?

?

?? ??

How do I maintain confidentiality? ...

[?]How do I

manage my team?!

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Assessment Planning Implementation (and monitoring)

Change Management requires the following steps:

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Understand what’s changing, who is impacted and the level of impact (gap analysis). This helps define what activities to plan and implement - e.g. complex changes will require more face-to-face interaction.

Define and plan what change management and communications activities to conduct, when, to whom and how. An initial plan is created and adjusted as the project progresses.

Deliver the planned change management and communications activities. Activities will vary depending on assessment, and content and timing are adjusted as the project evolves.

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For CBRE, change management and communications consisted of an 8-month intensive program before the move. Key activities at a glance:

In our Tokyo office, we continue to monitor the use of spaces and behaviors, especially as we recruit new people (over 40 new employees joined in the past 6 months). Further communications and training sessions are planned to sustain the change.

“If you are going to have ambitious goals, you have to have an ambitious team who’s going to help you achieve those goals.”


Ben Duncan

15 “First Fridays”

(town hall sessions)

7 Change

champions sessions

6 Purge parties

(disposal parties to help reduce individual and

team storage)

45 ABW Training sessions

23 E-mail updates,

to prepare employees before the move

35 IT demonstrations

198 Frequently asked

questions on Intranet website (blogs) –

5,000 views per months

3 Memos from

our CEO

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Here is a checklist recommended for any CEO and senior leader looking at implementing alarge change:

• Set clear project objectives aligned with corporate goals from the start

• Identify an engaged sponsor team

• Collect facts in a structured way before deriving a solution

• Establish the business case

• Challenge the solution to include new ideas and be different

• Involve key support functions, including information systems, human capital

• Listen to and engage with all layers of the organization

• Develop and implement a clear change/communication plan

• Develop a consistent messaging using a multi-channel approach

• Establish training and protocols for employees and managers (how to manage flexible teams)

• Evaluate and identify key successes and improvements to promote the solution internally

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Key Contacts

CHINATSU KANEKOWorkplace Strategy Director

[email protected]

LAURENT RITEAUWorkplace Strategy Director

[email protected]

Documents

CBRE Workplace Strategy Whitepaper TRANSFORMING …€¦ · On April 7, 2014, 550 CBRE employees moved from a fixed desk work environment to a 100% free-address “Activity Based