We believe in the power of intelligent design to motivate a productive and inspired workforce. At Axiom, we use an integrated strategy, design and delivery approach that seamlessly incorporates business objectives to create ultimate value. This is founded on our commitment to client satisfaction and finding the perfect equilibrium between efficient timelines, meeting budgets and achieving the end goal.
Around 58% of Australians believe businesses have a responsibility to commit to environmental sustainability and social and ethical practices, while 55% are more likely to recommend socially charitable organisations. Workplace CSR provides reciprocal benefits by positively impacting communities, company reputation and employee experience.
“Hybrid work is happening. Your culture will need to catch up — fast.” (McKinsey)
A hybrid workplace includes a mix of on-site and remote work, whether on specific days of the week or by specific teams. Given that basic framework, building and maintaining a positive company culture is more complex than in traditional office set-up, as it needs to encompass the different dynamics of the hybrid work model.
Workplace culture and employer brand are intrinsically linked. Culture creates your brand’s purpose and values. These values are reflected in the way your employees treat each other and interact with customers. How your staff feel about the company and brand not only influences their day-to-day working decisions but also comes across in every customer touchpoint.
A strong, positive and inclusive culture keeps employees engaged and connected, whether they are working onsite or remotely. And this will help them make decisions and interact with customers in a way that ultimately delivers your brand values and promise.
Here are some things to consider when creating a strong company culture and employer brand within a hybrid workplace.
Creating a digitally inclusive workplace is critical in a hybrid model. You need to provide the same conditions and opportunities for all employees, whether they are working in the office, at home or at a different location. This means being able to level the playing field for everyone, and delivering consistent tools, services and experiences.
In a hybrid environment, it’s important to provide staff with technology that works anywhere and enables them to access files and applications as if they were working at their physical desk in the office. Make sure they also have equal access to the right tools and services to plan their work, collaborate with colleagues, and conduct or join virtual meetings.
Finally, there needs to be established and consistent work patterns or processes in place that guide employees to get things done efficiently and effectively. This helps create a unified work culture across individuals and teams, no matter where they are working from.
Communication is key in building company culture in a hybrid environment. It’s important to communicate better and more frequently with employees, whether they are working at the office or remotely. Based on Gallup research, employees are more engaged and are likely to stay with an organisation if communication is open, timely and accurate.
Having open communication with both onsite and remote employees helps to build strong connections and create a culture of trust. So make sure you enable staff to have a voice and share their thoughts and ideas.
Remember to stay connected with the team through regular communication and across different channels – email, text or instant messaging. This way, everyone can have equal access to all important company announcements. It’s also essential to check-in and communicate directly with every staff member, through actual phone calls or 1:1 video meetings.
A company’s values and purpose become critical in creating a unified, positive and meaningful culture. Especially with a diverse and dispersed workforce, employers need to not only build a supportive and inclusive culture, but one that inspires people with common values, mission and purpose.
According to Annelie Xenofontos, Senior Associate Strategy at Axiom Workplaces, “The role of the office is more important because of the shift of understanding – you’re going in with a purpose. And it all starts with leadership.” Yes, it starts from the top. So, make sure your leaders and managers set the example and live by your company values and purpose. They need to communicate these values as well as practice them at every opportunity.
Lastly, having a common purpose not only helps employees stay motivated and unified but also keeps everyone engaged and productive – wherever they are. Purpose can be the key to organisational performance. When employees understand their value and role in the company’s vision and mission, they become inspired to do their best work and contribute to the success of the business. Based on a recent McKinsey survey, employees expect their jobs to bring some sense of purpose to their lives – with 70% saying purpose is defined by their work.
Isolation is one of the biggest challenges when working from home or remotely. People want to stay connected and build social interactions with their friends and colleagues in the workplace. Although some employees do get a chance to see each other face-to-face when they are working at the office, it’s still important to have regular informal interactions across onsite and remote teams.
You can start by scheduling fortnightly or monthly events that’s open for all employees to attend, like trivia nights, games, and other social gatherings. Also encourage teams to have their own informal meetings and catch-ups. These social interactions not only improve employee wellbeing, but also keep everyone happy, connected, and engaged.
With employees working from different locations and often interacting through virtual platforms, any conflict that arises is often set aside or swept under the rug, without the chance of any resolution.
The key to managing conflict in a hybrid workplace is to build trust with employees and within teams, no matter where people are working from. Everyone should be able to speak out and talk about any conflict, disagreement or misunderstanding.
Opening the lines of communication is also essential in managing conflict. Leaders and managers need to be ready to listen and give sound and unbiased advice. A direct call, either through phone or video, is always better than sending an email or instant message. This way, team members feel that personal touch, even if they are working from a distant location.
People can sometimes feel confused and overwhelmed when working in a hybrid environment. So, it’s essential for leaders and managers to set clear expectations for teams and employees. Make sure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities, whether they are working remotely or at the office.
Annelie added that once expectations have been set, it’s important for leaders to step back, trust and let employees do the work. “It doesn’t matter if they’re remote or in the office. Give them the power to do their best. It’s a whole different relationship – you don’t need them to be in front of you to see they are doing work.”
Trust is definitely critical when building a positive culture – but so is openness and transparency. Keep everyone in the loop, share regularly, and ensure every staff member is informed about what’s happening in the company, industry, and even in the wider community.
If you’d like to learn more about how to prepare for the workplace of the future, read our Progressive Leader’s Guide to the Future of Work in Australia.
Growth in Australia’s freight sector is estimated to outpace population growth over the next decade. In 2016, the domestic freight task grew by 50%, whilst the population grew by 18% over the same period.
The increased demand has had a remarkable effect on freight operators nationally. Freight Australia says, “to meet the unprecedented parcels demand, Australia Post established 16 new or recommissioned parcel processing facilities, has chartered additional freighter flights, is operating some of its processing facilities 24/7 and has created more than 600 new casual roles.”
With such major growth in headcount, facilities, and work volume, and corresponding investments in automation, robotics, and AI, there has been a rapid shift in the kinds of workers the industry seeks as well as the kind of work many are performing. In addition, with transport roles experiencing long journeys, long hours and a sedentary lifestyle, and warehouse workers working in an implicitly dangerous environment, there has been pressure on the industry to invest more in the health and wellbeing of its staff.
The freight and logistics industry needs workplaces that are fit for today’s purpose but will also continue to adapt as the industry advances. In order to continue to attract the kind of skilled labour these organisations now need, we’ve seen the big end of town leverage workplace strategy for competitive advantage.
This is because workplace strategy enables so much more than a good-looking office. It is a framework that helps organisations identify the ways a workplace can improve efficiency, productivity, wellbeing and culture. The right strategy delivers a workplace that can attract and retain talent via a productive, enjoyable and comfortable workplace experience – it can even help people deliver on broader business goals, such as innovation, or sustainability.
Let’s take a closer look at the ways in which this industry can leverage workplace strategy and design for business benefit.
The freight and logistics industry, like other sectors, has an aging workforce which is affecting the age profile of its employees. As these older workers leave the industry in the coming years, a challenge arises: matching younger workers to jobs traditionally done by a different type of employee.
Unfortunately, the F&L industry has long been tarred with the brush of an ‘undesirable‘ career. But, with dramatic change has come a change in this image – with logistics organisations now needing every type of talent: from truckies to techies, from automation engineers to warehouse workers – they’re in demand. But perhaps the newer breed employee that’s required by this evolving sector is the highly skilled digital operator.
These employees have come from different industries, and their needs and expectations are different from those who have grown up in freight; they require a modern, invested approach to culture, diversity, career development, equipment and environment.
The environment component, therefore, requires careful research and planning. This includes a strategy for physical space – the actual layout, work environments, work furniture and equipment, and fixtures. But it also includes policies and technologies. Any workplace that is lacking or dated on any one of these will find it difficult to nab a world-class digital operator from Atlassian.
You already know, freight and logistics customers expect speed and agility in your service. Often new prospects and customers look for quality cues beyond the service you provide. A modern workplace kitted out with automation, robotics, activity-based work areas, with health and wellbeing centres, stocked kitchens, and HVAC ventilation will signal more about your commitment to your people’s care and efficiency than your company bio on LinkedIn or Facebook.
Whatever your business goal, workplace strategy can support it by defining the required facilities and layouts, specifying the appropriate equipment, and bringing it tangibly and visibly to life.
Effective workplace design and strategy has many benefits. It can help your freight and logistics business to identify the best ways of working, support employees through change, attract and retain talent, and help people deliver to your commercial goals.
You can ground your workplace strategy by collating data and insights that first build the business case for your chosen path. Following this, your strategy, design and delivery will all be focused on delivering to those goals, and creating your future workplace of today, and tomorrow.
If you want a workplace strategy partner to help you achieve these business objectives, before your competitors down the street, find a strong, strategic workplace design partner.
When the world was flung into a mass work-from-home experiment in 2020, American Express Global Business Travel’s employees didn’t lack the tech or training to make it work. In fact, 70 to 80 percent of the 500 strong Australian workforce already worked from home.
We spoke with Kate Witenden, Head of Human Resources at AMEX Global Business Travel during 2020, about how their virtual-first workforce handled the crisis almost seamlessly. We also explored what shifts still need to occur and what other companies can learn from their business model and company culture. Finally, we talked about what Kate sees as the future of the office.
Pre-COVID, AMEX Global Business Travel had offices in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, but around 70-80 per cent of staff were designated as ‘virtual employees’ (i.e. not attached in any permanent capacity to a physical office). These virtual employees were fully set up to work from home 100 per cent of the time. They were equipped with the technology and processes to service customers and collaborate with their colleagues remotely.
Kate said this working model was one of the things that attracted her to the business in the first place: “I was intrigued from an HR perspective. Does it actually work? And it did.”
“This is a highly collaborative global organisation that works over many time zones. So they innately built this model so that people could be set up to work from home at the hours required.”
Even those employees who did regularly work from an office were ultimately enabled to also work remotely.
“We all had the equipment to be able to work from home already because the chances were that nine out of 10 of those people who still chose to turn up to the office had to be on calls with the UK out of normal business hours at home. The work required us to be flexible.”
In March 2020, when Australian office workers were advised to work from home by the government, the AMEX Global Business Travel team didn’t miss a beat. Kate told us there were only five (out of 500!) employees that weren’t ready.
“They were brand new recruits going through training in the office with seasoned consultants or team leaders. While we had the technology to train people remotely, it took some quick thinking from the team to get these ‘newbies’ up and running at home,” Kate explained.
“But the reality is that’s how quick we were to be able to move with the crisis to 100 percent of employees working from home – and WFH continued throughout the entire year of 2020.”
Pre-COVID, AMEX Global Business Travel had town hall-style meetings to provide business updates from the leadership team. But during the pandemic, this level and amount of communication couldn’t keep up with the rapid changes and shifting business landscape – especially in a hard-hit industry like business travel. Instead, town halls started happening more regularly and evolved into a two-way communication channel, with employees able to ask questions of their leaders.
With many employees stood down and a lot of uncertainty, though, more needed to be done. “The leadership team created their own WhatsApp groups so they could pass on messages,” explained Kate.
“It was about adapting and using the right medium for the situation rather than a more traditional corporate channel. So, although the WhatsApp groups won’t be a permanent fixture, they disseminated information quickly and got the job done.”
Although the outlook for the business travel sector is uncertain, Kate said, “Out of horrible adversity came something quite miraculous – it permitted people to act with speed.”
“It’s going to be a long recovery, but having been through it will put the business in such an amazing standing for when lights switch back on in business travel.”
Kate noted that “the danger of going completely virtual is that nothing replaces that face-to-face collaboration, the feeling of energy being created.”
“I think it’s very, very difficult to sustain [100 percent virtual] unless you’ve got excellent tools and practices and discipline. That said, we had a lot of those foundations already in place in our business, which set us up for success.”
We were curious to know what Kate thought the office of the future might look like:
“The office of the future is about collaboration. The rest of the stuff, your emails and solo work, you can do that from home in peace and quiet much more productively.
“So if you’re going to be in the office, you need to be present. You need to be available, you need to be open, and you need to be there to give something back. Turning up to bring your laptop in for the sake of sitting in the office is not what the office of the future is about.”
If you’d like to explore more about what the future holds for the office, take a look at Leading the Future of Work in Australia: Insights and Strategies. It’s our one-stop resource for all things future of work-related.
Thank you to Kate Witenden for this interview. You can connect with Kate on LinkedIn.
When you look to renegotiate your current lease or secure a new lease, you may come across both tenant advisors and landlord agents offering lease negotiation services. Let’s start by clarifying what each of these are and the roles they play:
Landlord agent: A landlord agent is a real estate agent that represents a landlord. When you enquire directly on an advertised office space, it is typically the landlord agent with whom you speak. They can also introduce you to other spaces owned by other landlords that they represent, but they do not represent you as a tenant.
Tenant advisor or representative: A commercial tenant advisor or representative advises and negotiates on behalf of a tenant during negotiations with an existing landlord or potential new landlord (or their representing landlord agent).
Some tenants decide to work directly with landlord agents, without the use of a tenant representative, researching and finding their own space and then negotiating a commercial lease or commercial lease renewal with the landlord agent directly.
In some circumstances, like a straightforward and uncomplicated commercial lease renewal, this is pretty easy to do and has the added benefit of saving you from having to pay an additional fee to use a tenant representative.
In other cases, however, having a tenant advisor on your side comes with some worthwhile advantages, including saving you time, ensuring you get the best commercial terms possible – saving you considerable money in the long term, and providing access to spaces that may not yet be on the market (due to their market knowledge and network).
Your representative will start by matching your company’s business objectives to options on the market. They will consider things like your need for flexibility or your business’s expected growth rate.
Next, you will receive a shortlist of options that match your requirements. This list could also include off-market options thanks to your tenant representative’s industry contacts. Once you’re ready, the tenant advisor will be by your side throughout the process of inspection, offer and negotiation of a deal.
Even if you’re not moving office spaces, and you’re just renewing your current lease, a tenant representative can be brought on in a smaller capacity to help you negotiate a new, more favourable deal with your landlord, and save you from tricky or uncomfortable conversations with your landlord.
1. An expert in your corner
With most commercial leases lasting between three to five years, it’s unlikely in-house real estate expertise exists within your company. And with leases being such a significant transaction, running easily into the millions of dollars over the lifetime of the contract, it makes sense that you would want an expert on board. A tenant representative has years of specific experience in their field, making them a valuable asset when it comes to ensuring your lease is ‘right-size’ and the best deal available.
2. Professional lease advice on what is appropriate for your needs
A tenant representative will work with you on matching your business objectives to different options on the market. For example, if you are looking to attract and retain talent, you may need to find a location near public transport, with good amenities and in a character building. As an expert in this area, your advisor can objectively view your requirements and help you stay focused in the excitement of finding a new space, always bearing in mind your overarching company values and goals. They will also be able to advise you on what you really require, not what you think you require (i.e. you may think you need more space than you really need).
3. Access to more commercial properties and a network of contacts
Thanks to a great real estate network and years working in the business, tenant representatives have unique access to properties. Some of these options may not even be listed publicly. An advisor might be able to work out creative options for you as well. For example, they may know of a tenant that is outgrowing their space but still have three years left on their lease. In this case, they might be able to coordinate an office shuffle in which they help relocate the other tenant to free up this office space (and then have it subleased by you).
4. Save time and keep your focus on core business work
You have a job to do and it probably isn’t just office relocation or tenancy. With leases only coming up every few years, it’s unlikely there are dedicated resources for this within your company; rather, there are business-as-usual tasks to complete and core business work to be done. By working with a tenant advisor, you can save yourself both time and hassle, allowing you to get on with what boosts your business revenue.
5. Negotiating power
A landlord rarely comes forward with their best offer upfront. There is typically room to negotiate, and an experienced tenant representative has the knowledge and expertise to get you a first-rate deal. Whether it’s knocking off dollars or working out favourable incentives, rent review periods and ‘make good’ clauses, you can proceed with confidence that you signed a good deal.
6. Saving your tenant / landlord relationship
Sometimes negotiations require playing hard ball or having tricky, uncomfortable conversations in order to secure your best deal. This is a delicate dance when you are negotiating with your landlord or future landlord with whom you need a good working relationship. A tenant advisor can step in as the go-between so you can accomplish both objectives: negotiating a great deal and having a great relationship with your landlord.
Now, what is better than having a tenant advisor or representative in your corner? Having a tenant advisory team that includes a tenant representative as well as a workplace design partner. This team will give you the complete picture of both the lease contract terms and costs as well as the fitout options and costs for each office space. For example, option A may have lower rent, but when you factor in an extra $500K of fit out work, option B might actually be the more suitable and cost-effective choice.
So how do you get this power tenant advisory team in your corner? Select a workplace design partner early in your lease expiry process. Invite them along to view potential office space with you and your tenant advisor. They can give you valuable insight early on that will save you big bucks down the road.
To learn more about choosing the right workplace design partner for your strategy, download our free ebook today.
