Why the workplace matters
Discover how connected workplaces can help you unlock higher levels of employee engagement and productivity
The new
workforce
What will the incoming generation of employees expect from
their workplace?
1 min read
01
→
More engaged and
productive employees
Spaces designed to make employees happier, have far-reaching
benefits
2 min read
02
→
Defining the
workplace experience
The environment, interactions and workplace culture determine
the experience
5 min read
03
→
Influencing
employee experience
Companies are taking a more comprehensive view toward a
solution
2 min read
04
→
A typical workday
for Sarah
See how IoT-based facilities management with AI makes her day
possible
4 min read
05
→
How to design a
better workplace experience
The right mix of services and spaces can increase workplace
productivity
2 min read
06
→
Conclusion
A complete solution by IBM TRIRIGA and IBM TRIRIGA Building
Insights
1 min read
07
→
Next steps
Why the
workplace
matters
01
The new workforce
1 min read
Millennials are now the largest generation1 in the workforce. They're bringing in a whole new set of expectations around the definition of a "great place to work.” That’s why the workplace matters. Especially in a tight labor market, the actual facility has a huge impact on productivity and a company’s ability to woo and retain talent.

The 21-36 year-olds
now
account for
one out of every
three Americans
at work
What will the incoming generation of employees, who were born with ubiquitous smart phones and AI, expect from their workplace?

As companies look to hire more digital natives, they need to understand that these new workers expect convenience from their workplace, have no patience for mundane tasks that take time away from their goals, and demand modern user experiences like the ones they get as consumers. So it’s not unexpected that workplace experience has a huge impact on employee productivity and satisfaction.
%
of HR practitioners
think that senior leadership could be doing more to improve employees’ experiences at work.

In addition to a changing workforce, companies are facing a talent shortage. According to Gartner’s latest Emerging Risks Survey, “staff shortages” is the top concern organizations face globally. That’s why forward-looking companies are looking for ways to creatively attract and retain employees.
Why the
workplace
matters
02
More engaged and productive employees
2 min read
These new environments are designed to make employees happier, but workers aren’t the only ones who benefit. Employers gain, too, from a better workplace, with real productivity boosts.

Companies that rank high in employee engagement experience have

%
less turnover
%
more productivity
%
less absenteeism
%
of employees
report 15 minutes
lost per day and
said
"Finding place to meet is one of the biggest time waster for workers"
Or $7 million a year!

That's $25,000 per day

At an average of $20 an hour

Wastes 1,250 hours per day

A company with 5000 employees

Facility managers often struggle to fulfill workplace “responsiveness” through the right mix of services and spaces. With success, though, comes:
Increased productivity
Better service quality
Improved workplace experience

That’s why today’s facility managers are looking for new ways to increase productivity and optimize their services delivery — and intelligent IoT provides a solution. A connected building that also harnesses the power of AI has the ability to optimize operations and remove needless friction in employee experiences.
Why the
workplace
matters
03
Defining the workplace experience
5 min read
Recognizing the impact experience has on employee engagement and productivity, companies are taking
a more comprehensive view of how to influence it.
To improve the employee experience, adopting the employee perspective can provide an important
starting point — using data and analytics to identify needs and measure impact on business outcomes.
Understanding key milestones in the employee journey can further refine insights into areas where
experience may be lacking and what actions can be most effective.

Employee experience is created by interactions across three spheres: their physical environments, their social connections and the work to be done.
The social sphere
Interactions employees have with others in their work setting

The work sphere
Interactions employees have with their assigned tasks

The physical sphere
Interactions employees have with the tangible environment

During an employee’s work day, these spheres of interaction often overlap, creating six facets of
the employee experience. Understanding these facets is key to elevating employee experiences.
Click To learn more about each facet

Community
Activities
Environment
Physical
workplace
Tools
Strategy and culture
An organization must consider each of these six facets of employee experience in light of overall
business goals and culture.
The business goals and objectives of a software company may be quite different from those of a
retailer, while the culture of an entrepreneurial startup may differ from that of a large
multinational corporation. For a hospitality company, the need to provide high-quality guest
services may serve as a guiding principle in the design of employee experience; for an oil company,
the emphasis may be on occupational safety. Clearly defining these underlying tenets is necessary to
designing experiences that not only match the needs of the individual, but are aligned with
organizational priorities.
Likewise, once a company defines its strategy, it must help ensure that leadership behaviors, people
practices and management systems — formal drivers of organizational culture — consistently support
the employee experience. Informal practices matter too; if the culture is fear-based or
hierarchical, employees may struggle to collaborate on open, social platforms.
Why the
workplace
matters
04
Influencing employee experience
2 min read
Organizations are using five strategies to improve their overall employee experience: personalization, transparency, simplification, authenticity and organizational responsiveness.
Personalization

Work is rarely a one-size-fits-all proposition. Many companies recognize the importance of balancing
the needs of the organization with the unique characteristics of individuals and work groups.
Therefore, they are looking for ways to tailor employee experience.
From a social perspective, this could include enabling employees to develop profile pages on a
collaborative platform. At the physical level, this could include empowering individuals to
configure their work areas and their tools to match both their work requirements and their personal
tastes.
Transparency

Much as individuals are looking to gain a greater understanding of what goes into their food,
clothing, and other goods and services, they are also seeking to understand their own organizations’
workings. They want to know how their efforts contribute to larger goals.
Social platforms give individuals a forum to raise concerns, contribute innovative ideas and
maintain an ongoing dialogue with leadership. Social platforms can also reveal informal networks and
identify influence leaders. We are even seeing organizations increase transparency of physical
interactions, using the Internet of Things to observe collaboration patterns and interactions with
customers.
Simplicity

Many individuals in large organizations struggle with two forces that make the flow of work
increasingly challenging. On the one hand, years of mergers, acquisitions and technology changes
have turned work processes into convoluted sets of procedures and regulations that contribute to
frustration and poor customer responsiveness.
At the same time, organizations are bombarded by new sources of information that often conflict and
lack the necessary context to improve decision making. Simplification efforts, like removing
non-value-add process steps and providing easier access to effective knowledge bases, can create a
more positive work environment.
Authenticity

The importance of aligning employee experiences to an organization’s culture and value system is becoming increasingly evident. Organizations can express corporate values in numerous ways, from the physical design of corporate headquarters and local offices, to the establishment of corporate events.
Responsiveness

Feedback is quickly becoming ubiquitous in our consumer and professional lives. Not only do
individuals want to provide input into their working environments, they expect companies to respond
to their ideas and concerns.
Companies are beginning to incorporate responsiveness into their ongoing performance management
systems. They are also gathering input about individuals’ perceptions of environmental conditions.
For example, employees may report issues on demand from anywhere on campus. Information would be
visible to all employees, as would resultant actions taken by management, facilities staff and
others.
Why the
workplace
matters
05
A typical workday for Sarah
4 min read
Meet Sarah. She is a project manager at a large company with a global footprint. Let's see how IoT and AI come together at her employer's facilities to make her day go smoothly.

1
Everybody loves Sarah +

2
Typical morning at work +

3
Where is that meeting room? +

4
At the meeting room +

5
Quick lunch +

6
Time to go!
It's time to wrap up and leave. The virtual assistant relays a thank you from the facility team.
Another busy day!
Why the
workplace
matters
06
How to design a better workplace experience
2 min read
So how does an organization decide on the right mix of services and spaces to elevate the workplace
experience and improve productivity?
Tune in to the voice of the employee with analytics

Enhancement efforts should start with analytics. Your organization can apply similar techniques to
gauging employee experience as those you use to measure and evaluate customer experience.
Traditional employee HR information and unstructured comments from internal and external social
platforms can provide insights into potential solutions to challenges. IoT can generate useful data
about working conditions and personal wellness. Analytics can help you develop insights, identify
changes, amplify employee voice and address issues.
Invest in key touchpoints where employee experience has the greatest
impact

Think about the points in the employee lifecycle that truly make a difference — for employees and
the organization as a whole. For some, particularly those in traditionally labor-intensive
industries, recruiting and on-boarding processes have a significant impact on attracting and
retaining top talent. For others, experiences related to project assignments and career development
will more notably impact retention and productivity. Understanding the relevance of different
experiences, and taking into consideration your organizational strategy and culture, will help you
better target investment.
Build an employee experience coalition that crosses traditional
silos

Designing integrated experiences around the physical, social and task spheres requires a
multi-functional perspective. In addition to tool design and development, IT needs to provide the
hardware and help desk support. Facilities and real estate services need to deliver workspaces that
enable individual productivity and collective innovation. Marketing must help consolidate the
connection between employee and corporate branding. Most important, leadership at the
line-of-business level must oversee day-to-day activities and the overall work environment.
Design employee experiences using rapid, iterative design
principles

Apply agile design principles to enhancing employee experiences. First, develop an understanding of
your user population based on quantitative as well as observational data. Second, document the
stages of the employee journey, highlighting physical, social and task-related interactions, as well
as approaches for addressing limitations or bottlenecks. Third, rapidly develop solutions that solve
parts of the puzzle over short time periods rather than creating one larger solution that may take
much longer. Finally, capture feedback and refine the original solution on an ongoing basis.
Applying these principles to the design of employee experience can generate quick successes and
prevent larger, more costly challenges in the future.
30
by 2020
billion
Annual investment in smarter buildings is rising, as business leaders are investing to scale and taking full advantage of this potential
Ready or not? Ask yourself these questions:
How does your current employee experience affect the attraction and retention of critical job roles within your organization?
How could improving your employee experience increase productivity within your organization?
To what extent does your employee experience influence your customer experience?
Who has primary responsibility for designing employee experience within your organization?
What types of analytics are you using to evaluate the effectiveness of your employee experience?
Why the
workplace
matters
07
Conclusion
1 min read
With AI and IoT, leaders can drive greater operational efficiency and engaging workplace experiences across all aspects of their connected facilities.

Imagine the full potential of all your connected facilities fueled by IoT and AI.
%
increased facilities utilization
%
reduction in utilities cost
%
reduction in maintenance costs
%
reduction in space demand
IBM offers AI and IoT driven capabilities that drive real business outcomes for connected facilities across the lifecycle.
IBM TRIRIGA Real Estate and Facilities Management
Transform your core facilities maintenance, lease accounting, capital project, space, and
energy
management
Explore
the solution


IBM TRIRIGA Building Insights
Use a broad range of sensor data to optimize building operations, improve energy usage, and lower
costs
Explore
the solution

Here is how the solutions apply across the lifecycle of your facilities.
IBM TRIRIGA Real Estate and Facilities Management
IBM TRIRIGA Building Insights

Design
Contextualize building data for complete lifecycle

Construct
Manage activities and risks for on-time, on-budget delivery

Operate
Exploit data to reduce cost, maximize use and engage occupants

Optimize
Connect, analyze and visualize data for next generation services
With Watson IoT Platform providing foundational IoT connectivity and tailored insights, and IBM
Services bringing decades of industry and domain expertise, IBM gives the customer a distinct
advantage in today’s rapidly changing environment.
To learn more about facilities management in the age of IoT and how it can elevate workplace
experiences for your organization, visit ibm.com/internet-of-things/solutions/facilities-management
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