Corporates aim to cut cost of working by half
Corporates emerging from the recession will aim to spend significantly less on corporate real estate, look for growth in headcount without taking on additional square footage and intend to deliver real advances in sustainability according to a report by Regus and Unwired Ventures. The report reveals the target goal for corporates is a reduction in cost per head from as much as $19,000 to $7,000 achieved through innovation, mobility and adoption of new workstyles. The report, titled Agility@Work, is based on the collective insight of property directors from global organisations including Nokia, Accenture, BP, Barclays and The BBC as well as case studies from Vodafone, Macquarie Bank and Interpolis among others. It presents six pack of factors that should be considered to achieve the cost per head reduction: real estate, culture, people, technology, transport and sustainability.
For the target to be achieved the report makes the following recommendations:
Real estate – Gather data on utilization rates and churn costs to identify real costs of occupancy;
Culture – Move from management by supervision to a results based approach;
People – Accurately profile and understand the needs of four generations of workers;
Technology – Fully unify corporate technology so that employees can effectively work anywhere;
Transport – Reduce employees needs to travel through polycentric working; and,
Sustainability – Reduce carbon output of a smaller property portfolio through adoption of intelligent building management systems. Mark Dixon, CEO of Regus plc comments: “Our current model of work is clearly unsustainable. It is an industrial age approach so out of place in our modern world that it is either at the heart of or a significant contributor to many of the problems we face; from our often chaotic work-life balance, to the perilous state of many a corporate balance sheet and the degradation of the environment. Adopting a better way of working, embedding agility at the heart of how, where and when we work will enabled us to improve our lives, improve business and improve the environment.”
Philip Ross, CEO of Unwired Ventures comments: “As organisations begin to implement Agility@Work a tipping point will be reached where more people have the freedom to choose where they work than not, especially as businesses retreat to a single corporate HQ. As this happens there will be an explosion of places available to work ‘on the pause’ giving rise to a new network of third places that in effect become the office. This hub and spoke approach will be crucial, as multiple locations give rise to consolidation, and continued transport congestion make movement around a city a continuing issue – immobility in the city and surrounding suburbs will lead to a growth in the demand for multi-centric activity based working.”
Example cases studies from the report
About The Regus Group
The Regus Group (LSE:RGU) is the world’s leading global provider of innovative workspace solutions, with products and services ranging from fully equipped offices to professional meeting rooms, business lounges and the world’s largest network of video communication studios.
Regus delivers a new way to work, whether it’s from home, on the road or from an office. Clients such as Google, GlaxoSmithKline, and Nokia join thousands of growing small and medium businesses that benefit from outsourcing their office and workplace needs to Regus, allowing them to focus on their core business. Over 500,000 clients a day benefit from Regus facilities spread across a global footprint of 1,000 locations in 450 cities and 80 countries, which allow individuals and companies to work wherever, however and whenever they want to.
About Unwired
Unwired is a specialist in the future of work. Through research, forecasting, publishing and events it predicts the way that our a patterns of work will change as a result of political, socioeconomic and technological trends. Unwired was founded in 1996, and has published over 50 research reports, including Creative Places for the BBC, the New Millennials for Nokia and Rio Tinto and Workplace Sustainability. Its events include the WorkTech conferences held in London, New York, Shanghai and Amsterdam. For further information visit: www.unwired.eu.com
About Philip Ross
Philip is CEO of Unwired Ventures. He has worked with organisations such as Ernst & Young, Allen & Overy, GlaxoSmithKline, Cisco, McKinsey & Co, Nottingham City Council, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Royal Bank of Scotland, Jones Lang LaSalle and Ericsson on future concepts based on emerging technologies. Philip has spoken at conferences around the world including the Wall Street Journal Europe CEO Forum on Converging Technologies, alt.office in the USA and Corenet’s Global Summits in Beijing, Auckland, Orlando, San Diego and Melbourne. In 1994 he wrote and published The Cordless Office Report. He has written three books on the future of cities, work and workplace: The Creative Office, The 21st Century Office and Space to Work (all co-authored with Jeremy Myerson). He has also contributed to a number of other books including the Corporate Fool and the Responsible Workplace.
For more information
Email: . nathalie.renson@regus.com
