The world of work is undergoing massive change. And everything connected to it is changing too. Technology is transforming the way work gets done, new delivery models are changing the make-up of the workforce, but demographics are having an impact too. Millennials want very different relationships with their employers than the generation before them. These changes are disruptive, but they are part of a long term trend. Successful businesses will be those that turn this disruption into opportunity, harnessing the very best of technology to improve the way they work and deliver a workplace experience that meets the needs of their millennial workforce.

We have been working with a leading Swiss business that is an excellent example of an organisation doing just that. Committed to ensuring that its IT systems keep pace with advancing digitisation, our client also knew it was important to develop a supporting talent agenda – enabling its leaders to provide successful leadership in a digital environment. And with a number of their premises around the globe undergoing or due major refurbishment, the organisation wanted to use this as an opportunity to create an overarching vision that would shape a work environment fit for the future. Our role was to help them make this vision a reality, bringing to bear the breadth of our human capital, digital technology and real estate advisory expertise.

We began by taking time to understand the client’s business and talent strategies, and defined agile working principles to guide how work should get done in the future. In parallel, we analysed current and expected workforce demographics across business divisions, functions and locations around the world. We worked with employees to understand their current workstyles, the ‘pain points’ that kept them from working productively, and what would be required to resolve them. This process allowed us to define an agile working philosophy focusing on business output while enabling employees to perform at their best. In defining this philosophy, we brought together a number of different enablers – including real estate, digital technology and talent, areas that had only been loosely connected in the past.

It was imperative for us that our work should provide a lasting impact for the business, so we kept change management at the heart of our thinking, involving leaders and a global cross-section of employees in developing this philosophy.

This philosophy of agile working will enable our client to be at the forefront of a new era in the world of work, providing an environment that will vastly improve collaboration and productivity, and also transform the overall talent experience.