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Flexility POV - Desk sharing benchmark research

Gail Kirby
Gail Kirby

One of a series of Points of View by Flexility Limited on different aspects of mobile and flexible or new ways of working.

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Points of View Sharing a desk could save 贈ms How can public sector organisations find multi 贈million savings to meet extraordinary budgetary challenges? Mobile and Flexible Working offers a leap ahead A mobile and flexible working to understanding the art of the possible is to measure actual occupancy. This information will also help planners address some of the emotive benchmark study among borough aspects of chance likely to be encountered, but more on this later. councils However you measure the desk space, whether in m 2 per user (OGC recommends 10 12m2) or average 贈 per sq m,(London prices range from Organisations in both public and private sectors face growing pressures to 贈1,500 贈6,000) maintaining 40-50% of unused office space is very become ever more efficient. In addition to the looming, multi million expensive. This metric is definitely worth capturing for any business case pound budgetary challenges, there are growing lobbies to retain talent and supporting this way of working. reduce environmental impacts all of which impacts the bottom line. Mobile and Flexible Working (MFW) offers a tested approach to tackling Understand staff work patterns to these issues, collectively, head on. It cuts across property, ICT, transport determine your requirements and finance. The positive implications are potentially far reaching if done properly! Only a few members of staff need fixed desks. Desk occupancy provides one insight into the needs-based approach that is key to effective Most organisations accept that working remotely, either with customers or resourcing. A representative workstyle survey of staff across the at home, does offer efficiencies. The key question is how do you do it? And organisation will develop a complete picture and this can be done quickly once you have decided to do it, how far do you go? using web based tools. Once staff needs and working patterns are clearly understood, then appropriate assets (for example office space and ICT) can To help answer this question, we conducted a benchmark with urban be allocated, allowing much more efficient budgeting. Work patterns borough councils <across London> to highlight what sort of savings could willvary slightly for each organisation and should be measured, but on be made in both capital and operational budgets. The timely publication of average one can expect to find the following groups: the Westminster Research Group Report Leaner Greener - Delivering Fixed desk workers with little or no need for mobility e.g. reception effective Estate Management 1, amplified our studys findings and is and some team administrators-(<20% of staff) recommended reading for its insights into the current administrations Flexible workers need arrangements to work in different offices or immediate intentions home and would benefit from mobile to corporate systems. e.g. middle management and finance (around 65% of staff) Working practices have overtaken Free workers need to work away from the office and would benefit office planning. from mobile to corporate systems e.g. social care, highways and trading standards (around 15% of staff) For councils yet to pilot remote working, desks are only used, on average, 56% of the working day. This rises to 65% in councils which have implemented MFW. Traditionally, desks have been planned on a 100% Desk Utilisation occupancy basis, but the reality is Current Planned Vs Actual that only half of the work spaces are 120% used. Teams who need to be out on 100% the ground, such as trading 80% Fig 2. Average Fixed Flex and Free Work Style Distribution 60% standards, parking and social care Working patterns should also help determine ICT support needs, with the 40% have even lighter usage. appropriate mobile technology (laptops and smart phones such as 20% Fig 1. Desk occupancy at borough councils Blackberry) going to the flex and free staff who would benefit most. Fixed 0% Traditionally office based staff such Planned workspace Actual Utilisation desk workers can be allocated more cost effective ICT solutions. We have as team administrators, finance, and found that clients also use MFW projects as an opportunity to their ICT, legal, have higher averages as they work and are enabled today. The key which can help dramatically impact ICT budgets and reveal operational shortcomings on the more mature estates. During one recent 1 Report available via http://www.policyconnect.org.uk assignment, client staff revealed their laptops took 30-40 mins to boot up 1
Points of View Property Ownership Levels and crashed 3-4 times per day! On another project we were able to available to service users. This has limited 100% reassign 15% of the mobile estate to needier more mobile workers. their options to move and this inertia has 90% % of Property Owned been exploited by leasing agents in the past. 80% 70% Planned Workspace Sharing Ratios Councils moving to a more mobile and 60% 50% flexible way of working, will gain a hitherto 40% New workspace planners are using a staff to desk ratio of 10:7. 30% unknown agility with a flexible team used to 20% In simple terms, organisations who have made the transition to mobile and working in more collaborative, modern 0-10% flexible working have increased their desk sharing ratios, on average, to 10 offices or offsite. This presents a significant % of Boroughs responding 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% staff to 7 desks This ratio does vary once one looks beyond organisational opportunity to move to short term leasing averages, as outlined above, e.g. more mobile teams such as social care could or other more flexible arrangements to Fig 4. Levels of office ownership have a much higher sharing ratio of 10:6 free up capital and exploit the leasers market where there is a current glut or 161% occupancy, providing overspill of low priced office accommodation. This new-found agility would allow is managed during peak demand councils to move more easily, removing the negotiating power of the periods. The study also revealed landlords they previously experienced to their disadvantage. A short term differences between those who had leasing strategy would free up much needed capital to little disadvantage made the change and those still and allow borough councils meet current multi million pound budgetary planning to do so. challenges that most are facing at the time of writing. The OGCs leaner greener report strongly supports the release of capital and flexible In Boroughs where mobile flexible accommodation strategies. working has been implemented, the average desk sharing ratio was 10:7.5 or 133% occupancy. Speed of roll out is too slow given the Fig 3. Councils with M&FW implemented M&FW MFWCurrent and Future significant cashable benefits available Boroughs still in planning mode were generally split into two: desk sharing ratios The majority of Councils (56%) interviewed were testing MFW but were Cautious target of 10:7.4 (132%) taking from 6 months to a year to begin to take action. The majority of Ambitious target of 10:6 (163%) the testing was being done on a very limited basis, in some cases restricted to just gathering the data on a part time basis for a business case. Many The Efficiencies Standards for Office Space (IPD) Report For OGC Nov 2007 respondents were doing this research as background activity in addition to recommends an area of 10m2 per desk and to use a desk sharing ratio of their normal work, which may account for the speed of decision making. 10:8 (125%). Those that had made the move, favoured a two step Given the cross-functional impact and benefits these sorts of initiatives approach to achieving these tighter ratios, which would otherwise present have, this is a project that needs a period of focused attention and change management issues if an organisation were to attempt to move to multiple stakeholder input to generate sufficient information for board these concentrations in one step. level decision making. The levels of benefits that we are consistently seeing include but are not limited to: A 2 step approach to manage change 30-50% of real estate Use of a light sharing ratio (10:8 or 10:9) is as an effective way of allaying 10-15% of ICT budget initial staff concerns about potential incompatibility and disruption to daily business. Once staff have the opportunity to experience the new style of 15-20% increase in staff productivity working they tend to realise the benefits of the flexibility and anxiety levels drop. Once underway, programmes observed that moving to an Up to 50% reduction in staff absence increased ratio was not an issue. Other key lessons learned involved early, collaborative communication with both staff and unions. This is certainly in keeping with our experience of managing change during these types of programmes. Fig 6. Speed of decision making Own or lease property? Fig 5. Two step transition to M&FW As Eric Pickles Report Leaner Greener-Delivering Effective Estate Levels of property ownership were high with the majority (>75%) of Management indicates, the time for action is now- 6 months to a year is Councils owning 70% or greater of their offices. too slow given the timescales for current economic planning and the lead Anecdotal evidence gathered during the survey indicated a positive move time needed for rolling out MFW across an organisation. Typically a robust away from leasing properties. This was driven in large part by negative business case, with sponsorship, can be developed in 6-8 weeks to provide experiences from long term leases on high rates and unfavourable terms the board with the information it needs. In roll out terms, Borough from aggressive landlords. Borough councils, typically located in large councils should expect implementation to take 1-2 years to implement Victorian town halls have a need to be centrally located and easily across multiple sites. 2
Points of View Conclusions LEANER GREENER DELIVERING EFFECTIVE The survey has revealed that most councils are generally aware of the benefits of this efficient way of work working and are investigating it now. ESTATE MANAGEMENT REPORT KEY RECOMMENDATIONS The key to realising these sorts of savings is to be pragmatic when developing the business case for change. It needs time, focus, and Reduce occupied space by 20-30%, by flexible working practices. stakeholder involvement, but the feasibility and planning needs to be Introduce flexible property solutions to meet changing users needs done swiftly (6-8 weeks) to generate the right focus and momentum. The Use one department to ensure effective property management time is right for action and that time is now. and control Incentivise efficient use of space at all levels e.g. cross charging and reinvestment of sales revenue Incorporate decreasing energy consumption savings into budgets Who is Flexility? to incentivise investment in sustainable estates. We are specialists in assessing and deploying successful mobile and Use both quantified environmental and economic savings to flexible working programmes. Our skills, tools and experience provide strengthen the business case for increased environmental insight into how to best enable teams to work when and where it makes efficiency. sense for them to do so, and in a way that is aligned to overall business Cooperate with public and voluntary sector partners (PSP) to objectives. We provide actionable recommendations and help set and identify matching property requirements incl blue light and track achievable targets for successful implementation. voluntary services Contact us now to find out how we can help you info@flexility.co.uk Develop a Service Asset Strategy, to align service delivery and Find out more about us at: www.flexility.co.uk property requirements, using commercial targeting and profiling tools Invest in asset management systems and be pragmatic about data capture needed for strategic decisions on the use of the estate. Use common metrics and GIS systems to analyse performance of its estates, include cluster analysis and spotting cross-boundary opportunities Set up a joint centralised property management structure, with PSPs to improve efficiency. Pool Asset Vehicles with PSP for joint use and to attract private sector investment Remove legal, tax and governance obstacles to encourage vehicle sharing Prioritise implementation of simple low cost measures to reduce energy consumption, Co2 emissions and op costs. Explore Spend to Save projects, prioritising the retrofit over new build, and seek support from specialised funds e.g. Salix or London Green Fund 息 March 2011 Flexility Limited Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. The information contained in this publication is correct at the time of going to print. Such information may be subject to change and services may be modified, supplemented or withdrawn by Flexility without prior notice. All services are subject to terms and conditions, copies of which may be obtained upon request www.flexility.co.uk Registered in England No. 6578126 3

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Flexility POV - Desk sharing benchmark research

  • 1. Points of View Sharing a desk could save 贈ms How can public sector organisations find multi 贈million savings to meet extraordinary budgetary challenges? Mobile and Flexible Working offers a leap ahead A mobile and flexible working to understanding the art of the possible is to measure actual occupancy. This information will also help planners address some of the emotive benchmark study among borough aspects of chance likely to be encountered, but more on this later. councils However you measure the desk space, whether in m 2 per user (OGC recommends 10 12m2) or average 贈 per sq m,(London prices range from Organisations in both public and private sectors face growing pressures to 贈1,500 贈6,000) maintaining 40-50% of unused office space is very become ever more efficient. In addition to the looming, multi million expensive. This metric is definitely worth capturing for any business case pound budgetary challenges, there are growing lobbies to retain talent and supporting this way of working. reduce environmental impacts all of which impacts the bottom line. Mobile and Flexible Working (MFW) offers a tested approach to tackling Understand staff work patterns to these issues, collectively, head on. It cuts across property, ICT, transport determine your requirements and finance. The positive implications are potentially far reaching if done properly! Only a few members of staff need fixed desks. Desk occupancy provides one insight into the needs-based approach that is key to effective Most organisations accept that working remotely, either with customers or resourcing. A representative workstyle survey of staff across the at home, does offer efficiencies. The key question is how do you do it? And organisation will develop a complete picture and this can be done quickly once you have decided to do it, how far do you go? using web based tools. Once staff needs and working patterns are clearly understood, then appropriate assets (for example office space and ICT) can To help answer this question, we conducted a benchmark with urban be allocated, allowing much more efficient budgeting. Work patterns borough councils <across London> to highlight what sort of savings could willvary slightly for each organisation and should be measured, but on be made in both capital and operational budgets. The timely publication of average one can expect to find the following groups: the Westminster Research Group Report Leaner Greener - Delivering Fixed desk workers with little or no need for mobility e.g. reception effective Estate Management 1, amplified our studys findings and is and some team administrators-(<20% of staff) recommended reading for its insights into the current administrations Flexible workers need arrangements to work in different offices or immediate intentions home and would benefit from mobile to corporate systems. e.g. middle management and finance (around 65% of staff) Working practices have overtaken Free workers need to work away from the office and would benefit office planning. from mobile to corporate systems e.g. social care, highways and trading standards (around 15% of staff) For councils yet to pilot remote working, desks are only used, on average, 56% of the working day. This rises to 65% in councils which have implemented MFW. Traditionally, desks have been planned on a 100% Desk Utilisation occupancy basis, but the reality is Current Planned Vs Actual that only half of the work spaces are 120% used. Teams who need to be out on 100% the ground, such as trading 80% Fig 2. Average Fixed Flex and Free Work Style Distribution 60% standards, parking and social care Working patterns should also help determine ICT support needs, with the 40% have even lighter usage. appropriate mobile technology (laptops and smart phones such as 20% Fig 1. Desk occupancy at borough councils Blackberry) going to the flex and free staff who would benefit most. Fixed 0% Traditionally office based staff such Planned workspace Actual Utilisation desk workers can be allocated more cost effective ICT solutions. We have as team administrators, finance, and found that clients also use MFW projects as an opportunity to their ICT, legal, have higher averages as they work and are enabled today. The key which can help dramatically impact ICT budgets and reveal operational shortcomings on the more mature estates. During one recent 1 Report available via http://www.policyconnect.org.uk assignment, client staff revealed their laptops took 30-40 mins to boot up 1
  • 2. Points of View Property Ownership Levels and crashed 3-4 times per day! On another project we were able to available to service users. This has limited 100% reassign 15% of the mobile estate to needier more mobile workers. their options to move and this inertia has 90% % of Property Owned been exploited by leasing agents in the past. 80% 70% Planned Workspace Sharing Ratios Councils moving to a more mobile and 60% 50% flexible way of working, will gain a hitherto 40% New workspace planners are using a staff to desk ratio of 10:7. 30% unknown agility with a flexible team used to 20% In simple terms, organisations who have made the transition to mobile and working in more collaborative, modern 0-10% flexible working have increased their desk sharing ratios, on average, to 10 offices or offsite. This presents a significant % of Boroughs responding 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% staff to 7 desks This ratio does vary once one looks beyond organisational opportunity to move to short term leasing averages, as outlined above, e.g. more mobile teams such as social care could or other more flexible arrangements to Fig 4. Levels of office ownership have a much higher sharing ratio of 10:6 free up capital and exploit the leasers market where there is a current glut or 161% occupancy, providing overspill of low priced office accommodation. This new-found agility would allow is managed during peak demand councils to move more easily, removing the negotiating power of the periods. The study also revealed landlords they previously experienced to their disadvantage. A short term differences between those who had leasing strategy would free up much needed capital to little disadvantage made the change and those still and allow borough councils meet current multi million pound budgetary planning to do so. challenges that most are facing at the time of writing. The OGCs leaner greener report strongly supports the release of capital and flexible In Boroughs where mobile flexible accommodation strategies. working has been implemented, the average desk sharing ratio was 10:7.5 or 133% occupancy. Speed of roll out is too slow given the Fig 3. Councils with M&FW implemented M&FW MFWCurrent and Future significant cashable benefits available Boroughs still in planning mode were generally split into two: desk sharing ratios The majority of Councils (56%) interviewed were testing MFW but were Cautious target of 10:7.4 (132%) taking from 6 months to a year to begin to take action. The majority of Ambitious target of 10:6 (163%) the testing was being done on a very limited basis, in some cases restricted to just gathering the data on a part time basis for a business case. Many The Efficiencies Standards for Office Space (IPD) Report For OGC Nov 2007 respondents were doing this research as background activity in addition to recommends an area of 10m2 per desk and to use a desk sharing ratio of their normal work, which may account for the speed of decision making. 10:8 (125%). Those that had made the move, favoured a two step Given the cross-functional impact and benefits these sorts of initiatives approach to achieving these tighter ratios, which would otherwise present have, this is a project that needs a period of focused attention and change management issues if an organisation were to attempt to move to multiple stakeholder input to generate sufficient information for board these concentrations in one step. level decision making. The levels of benefits that we are consistently seeing include but are not limited to: A 2 step approach to manage change 30-50% of real estate Use of a light sharing ratio (10:8 or 10:9) is as an effective way of allaying 10-15% of ICT budget initial staff concerns about potential incompatibility and disruption to daily business. Once staff have the opportunity to experience the new style of 15-20% increase in staff productivity working they tend to realise the benefits of the flexibility and anxiety levels drop. Once underway, programmes observed that moving to an Up to 50% reduction in staff absence increased ratio was not an issue. Other key lessons learned involved early, collaborative communication with both staff and unions. This is certainly in keeping with our experience of managing change during these types of programmes. Fig 6. Speed of decision making Own or lease property? Fig 5. Two step transition to M&FW As Eric Pickles Report Leaner Greener-Delivering Effective Estate Levels of property ownership were high with the majority (>75%) of Management indicates, the time for action is now- 6 months to a year is Councils owning 70% or greater of their offices. too slow given the timescales for current economic planning and the lead Anecdotal evidence gathered during the survey indicated a positive move time needed for rolling out MFW across an organisation. Typically a robust away from leasing properties. This was driven in large part by negative business case, with sponsorship, can be developed in 6-8 weeks to provide experiences from long term leases on high rates and unfavourable terms the board with the information it needs. In roll out terms, Borough from aggressive landlords. Borough councils, typically located in large councils should expect implementation to take 1-2 years to implement Victorian town halls have a need to be centrally located and easily across multiple sites. 2
  • 3. Points of View Conclusions LEANER GREENER DELIVERING EFFECTIVE The survey has revealed that most councils are generally aware of the benefits of this efficient way of work working and are investigating it now. ESTATE MANAGEMENT REPORT KEY RECOMMENDATIONS The key to realising these sorts of savings is to be pragmatic when developing the business case for change. It needs time, focus, and Reduce occupied space by 20-30%, by flexible working practices. stakeholder involvement, but the feasibility and planning needs to be Introduce flexible property solutions to meet changing users needs done swiftly (6-8 weeks) to generate the right focus and momentum. The Use one department to ensure effective property management time is right for action and that time is now. and control Incentivise efficient use of space at all levels e.g. cross charging and reinvestment of sales revenue Incorporate decreasing energy consumption savings into budgets Who is Flexility? to incentivise investment in sustainable estates. We are specialists in assessing and deploying successful mobile and Use both quantified environmental and economic savings to flexible working programmes. Our skills, tools and experience provide strengthen the business case for increased environmental insight into how to best enable teams to work when and where it makes efficiency. sense for them to do so, and in a way that is aligned to overall business Cooperate with public and voluntary sector partners (PSP) to objectives. We provide actionable recommendations and help set and identify matching property requirements incl blue light and track achievable targets for successful implementation. voluntary services Contact us now to find out how we can help you info@flexility.co.uk Develop a Service Asset Strategy, to align service delivery and Find out more about us at: www.flexility.co.uk property requirements, using commercial targeting and profiling tools Invest in asset management systems and be pragmatic about data capture needed for strategic decisions on the use of the estate. Use common metrics and GIS systems to analyse performance of its estates, include cluster analysis and spotting cross-boundary opportunities Set up a joint centralised property management structure, with PSPs to improve efficiency. Pool Asset Vehicles with PSP for joint use and to attract private sector investment Remove legal, tax and governance obstacles to encourage vehicle sharing Prioritise implementation of simple low cost measures to reduce energy consumption, Co2 emissions and op costs. Explore Spend to Save projects, prioritising the retrofit over new build, and seek support from specialised funds e.g. Salix or London Green Fund 息 March 2011 Flexility Limited Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. The information contained in this publication is correct at the time of going to print. Such information may be subject to change and services may be modified, supplemented or withdrawn by Flexility without prior notice. All services are subject to terms and conditions, copies of which may be obtained upon request www.flexility.co.uk Registered in England No. 6578126 3