The science of transforming estates, workplaces and customer experiences

• 350+ employees surveyed on workplace experience
• Workspace transformed based on employee feedback
• Client is empowered to attract and retain the best talent

By 2025, millennials* are expected to account for 70% of the workforce. More than any other generation, they seek equality, transparency, flexibility and purpose from the workplace, which will therefore need to evolve.

As hybrid working models increasingly becoming the norm, organisations are creating a more flexible range of workplaces. However, in many cases, workplace changes have been made without reference to solid data on how colleagues envisage using spaces to be their most productive.

While the much-vaunted ‘Great Resignation’ of millennials quitting jobs en masse has yet to occur, there is little doubt appropriate workplaces will be critical to the attraction and retention of young talent. With over a third of millennials currently looking for a new job, there has never been a more important time to focus on their needs.

*People born between 1981 and 1996.

In the face of these challenges, a Government department asked Mitie for support to ensure their workspaces performed for its multi-generational workforce across multiple sites. Ultimately they wished to make data-driven decisions to improve the work environment.

Mitie looks after 7.5m people across the UK daily; our knowledge of workplaces is unrivalled in FM. Mitie experts developed Sphere, our new Workplace Effectiveness Tool, to help clients profile and better understand building users and how they interact with their environment. Sphere collects and analyses data to generate insights on employee experience, including how well suited workplaces are to the tasks and activities performed within them.

Sphere also helps clients to understand the importance of workplace features and how well they support employees’ differing requirements, as well as identifying which improvements will positively impact productivity and wellbeing while influencing workplace strategic goals.

Over 350 employees surveyed on workplace experience

Using inputs tailored to our client’s specific requirements, over 350 of their employees scored three aspects of workplace experience on the easy-to-use Sphere app: Physical, Sensory and Emotional.

The resulting data showed Mitie’s workplace design experts how the existing office affected productivity, wellbeing and attitudes towards the work environment. Mitie subsequently identified and implemented solutions to comprehensively improve employee experience.

Priority areas of focus included quiet spaces, better air quality and break-out areas. The outputs identified the following priority areas of focus:

Physical:

• Create quiet spaces
• Develop spaces for formal and informal collaboration
• Improve meeting room/desk availability and booking functionality

Sensory:

• More flexibility of temperature
• Improve both natural and artificial lighting
• Provide better air quality and ventilation

Emotional:

• Formalise hybrid working practices and ways of working
• Implement informal spaces to connect, as well as break-out areas
• Improve access to gardens and outdoor spaces

Workplace transformed using employee survey data and insights

Mitie has identified and implemented solutions to improve the workplace experience. For example, data showing that a number of employees were having trouble concentrating due to high noise levels led to the repurposing of underused parts of the office. These became focus areas where colleagues can work in a quieter environment.

As Sphere data can be analysed in a number of ways, the survey also highlighted differences in sentiment between millennial and Gen X** employees including:

• 100% of millennials have adopted hybrid working with a preference for three days at home each week.
• Millennials scored all facilities lower than Gen X, were less inspired by the workplace and found it less enjoyable.
• Millennials scored tools and equipment lower than Gen X; typically they expected work equipment to outperform what they have at home.
• Millennials scored air and light quality lower than Gen X and saw outdoor spaces as more important for personal wellbeing.

Using this data, the client is developing a workplace strategy with priority given to changes that will have most impact on attraction and retention of millennial employees. Mitie will continue working with the client to track employee experiences after the initial solutions have been implemented, ensuring they remain fit for purpose.

**People born between 1965 and 1980

Creating colleague-centric spaces, which support different ways of working, encourages more individuals to visit the office more often, as well as helping to attract and retain the best talent.

Sphere is therefore giving our client…

• Confidence to make data-driven decisions
• Insight to inform investment
• Flexibility to test hypotheses and understand the impact of workplace changes
• The ability to predict attrition based on how different groups respond to the workplace environment