A holistic approach to workplace environments, management systems and new technologies in meeting corporate end-user requirements

Realities of the modern economy require organisations to compete with creativity and innovation. Central to this is the workplace environment and the need to optimise human capital in knowledge-based business operations. Principles of corporate real estate and facilities management recognise that increasing user satisfaction and supporting user requirements can enhance workplace productivity. However, the traditional workplace investment provisions heavily concentrate on cost savings while failing to optimise the savings with potential side- effects on workplace-user satisfaction and requirements. This conflict is an area lacking research and forms the basis upon which this research is structured namely to develop a workplace-utilisation model optimising workplace occupancy-costs, user satisfaction and requirements. The study adopted a mixed methods research approach interviewing office/facilities managers and collecting workplace-user opinions from UK offices. Data analysis comprises multiple research tools including the use of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), statistical analyses, logistic regression models and occupancy-cost analysis. The combination of these tools was used to create a holistic approach to workplace utilisation, user satisfaction and requirements. The study highlighted the benefits of using AHP and cluster analysis in workplace-satisfaction assessment as the techniques can reveal the needs of workplace users to enhance office productivity on a group preference basis. The logistic regression models emphasised that drivers and barriers to fulfil user satisfaction and requirements should be carefully managed as complex relationships exist. The study also conducted scenario-based office-level analysis and found that using a user-centric workplace practice can help offices achieve better occupancy-cost saving compared to the use of existing and property-centric practices. The holistic approach led the study to propose an optimal workplace-utilisation practice where office occupancy costs and user-satisfaction level are traded-off. The study highlighted key contributions from a holistic approach to workplace practice, user satisfaction and requirements. These are firstly, using a user-centric approach is beneficial in assisting organisations achieve more efficient costs of office occupancy. Secondly, the study found that maintaining a high level of satisfaction leads to higher productivity which is important for organisations seeking to improve long-term growth through satisfaction-based performance of knowledge workers. Finally, the study emphasised the balanced approach to workplace practice by trading off user satisfaction and workplace efficiency to achieve optimal performance.