How to leverage Facilities Services to foster a healthier more engaged workforce | Netherlands

The pandemic has accelerated an existing trend towards health and well-being. Employees want to take better care of themselves and are not willing to trade off health and well-being for salary and seniority.

Facilities Management, often an underrated aspect of the real estate has traditionally focused on the provision of services to increase productivity, operations and hygiene. Recently we have seen increasing focus on the way in which facilities services can improve nutrition, exercise and even mental health; Catering providers, cleaning regimes and exercise vendors promote healthful behaviors critical for the overall well-being and performance of employee groups.

As the war for talent increases, employees have more choice of who they work for. Health and well being promoting services offer a differentiated opportunity to retain and attract the best talent through supporting employees to fulfil their wider ambitions and live in accordance with their values. Salary is increasingly less of a driver for employment decisions, with well being-enabling lifestyle factors such as hybrid-working, exercise or onsite day-care provisions gaining greater consideration.

Promoter of value and appreciation

In addition to improving overall health, employees are increasingly looking for belonging and meaning from their work. In a 2021 McKinsey survey, nearly two-thirds of US-based employees surveyed said that COVID-19 has caused them to reflect on their purpose in life . Over 70 percent of employees in the same survey saying that their sense of purpose is defined by their work, highlighting the commercial significance of supporting purpose and meaning in the context of work. Targeted facilities services offer an opportunity to recognize what is important to your employees and fosters greater engagement and connectivity between organisations and employees. Examples of this are encouraging employees to have a healthy lifestyle by giving non-smoking bonus and paying for running shoes. Through such employee services, organisations can signal to employees how valued they are.

Facilities Services examples

Source: Cushman & Wakefield, Strategic Consulting

How to get it right?

To create a facilities services strategy that can foster health, well-being and generally all-round engaging and conducive working environments organisations can:

Talk to your employees at all levels

Develop a strong sense of what they need in this post-pandemic workplace. Look at demographic intersections; all needs are not created equal. Tools like our free Experience Per Square Foot Pulse Check survey helps organizations connect with their employees and identify what matters.

Consider your budget and long-term strategy.

Investment in better facilities services to support mental wellbeing and general health could see savings resulting from fewer sick-days, leave of absences and employee attrition. Considering leveraging budgets from HR, Marketing, Innovation to investment in CRE solutions that deliver broader business outcomes.

Build in flexibility

Ensure that implementation of facility services contracts include the optimum trade-off of cost and flexibility, to ensure that services can respond to a changing landscape and provide the capacity to “test and reset”.

Go local and build social capital

Aligning with broader social and environment objectives, such as community-based suppliers, diverse owned businesses and reduction of environmental footprint will ensure that the provision of services doesn’t only benefit employees, but wider business ecosystems.

Execute, communicate and manage change

Deliver a comprehensive implementation and change management plan to ensure any investment lands with the intended audience. It is imperative that your employees see their feedback come to life and feel free to fully engage with the strategic services programs.

Review and pivot

Nothing stays the same forever and in this changing landscape, constantly reviewing the needs of employees, social trends and the strategic direction of the business will ensure that any budget spent on these targeted services facilities and meets the needs of today.

From understanding what your employees want, to designing a fit-for-purpose supply chain to meet these needs, Cushman & Wakefield can support you to define, procure and implement your perfect facilities services strategy.

Contact

Sophie Schuller

Head of Applied Research, EMEA Consulting (EMEA Grade - Partner) • Rotterdam

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