In today’s hybrid work landscape, organizations are striving to strike the perfect balance between boosting operational efficiency and fostering robust employee collaboration. Leaders are actively seeking ways to seamlessly integrate their diverse software tools and processes. While they embark on integration initiatives, they are working to optimize building and facility costs with advanced data strategies and maintain the uptime of critical assets.
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To examine the data behind these trends, Eptura published the H1 2024 Workplace Index, a report about the global state of the hybrid workplace and how organizations plan to enhance operations across the three main areas of the built environment: physical asset management, employee experience, and buildings and facilities.
Insight-Driven Leadership: Unifying Fragmented Real Estate Footprints
Global investment in worktech is surging as companies aim to streamline the sprawling, disjointed tech ecosystems that prevent them from getting a unified view over their operational data. According to the Eptura Workplace Index, there is a significant emphasis on integrating data and systems as many organizations need to quickly answer strategic questions around the employee experience within their organization, the state of their facilities, and the age/maintenance of their assets. Without integrated systems and data, these efforts are highly manual and can’t keep up with today’s fast-paced hybrid environment.
The top three technologies businesses plan to invest in over the next 12 months are data analytics, integrated workplace solutions, and collaboration software. Across all business areas, the same three capabilities remained the top tech priorities, underscoring the need to connect systems that meet the requirements of multiple teams and approach their investments strategically to realize operational efficiency.
Implementing Change Proves Challenging for 62% of Operational Leaders
Leaders indicated that the primary challenge in adopting new technologies is not choosing a vendor; instead, 37% reported that the biggest obstacle is effectively measuring the success and impact of the change. Setting objectives that align across different departments and establishing uniform benchmarks are essential for successfully implementing a new employee experience or facilities management application throughout an organization. 2023 had a tremendous amount of volatility in terms of employee in-office attendance; globally, Eptura data shows that 2024 is seeing workplace occupancy levels hit a steady rhythm, allowing for facilities teams to start setting accurate improvement baselines.
It’s essential to establish objectives from the start, particularly since 62% of operational leaders identify implementing a change management program and assessing the impact of these changes as their primary challenges.
The transformation doesn’t always involve upgrading from one technology to a more sophisticated one; frequently, it involves digitizing a manual process or transitioning from spreadsheets as a step toward digital transformation.
Leaders who achieve success are casting a future vision and evangelizing it throughout their organizations, such as how their physical spaces and employee experiences will function in 2027 or 2030. They are also establishing metrics to track progress along this path, reinforcing the idea that their strategy extends beyond just implementing a single change within the organization.
Operational Leaders Forecast 3-8% Revenue Boost from Effective In-Office Work
Companies are trying to keep up with the realities of new hybrid work models, seeking better ways to balance right-sizing real estate for current usage patterns while planning for future growth. Businesses with hybrid work models that successfully facilitate face-to-face connection realize the highest returns from their workplace investments.
Leaders project an average of 3-8% in expected incremental revenue from employees working effectively in the office. When employees are given the flexibility to lead the in-office collaboration days and policy, companies project a higher value to in-person collaboration.
Tuesday to Thursday continue to be the peak days for employees coming into the office, maintaining a consistent mid-week trend across various industries and regions. On average, employees are in the office three days a week. The Asia-Pacific region has seen a significant 52% increase in office attendance compared to last year. Similarly, other regions have also experienced growth, with Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) reporting a 31% year-over-year increase, and the Americas seeing a 27% rise in office attendance.
Respondents from legal and business services organizations lead the number of in-office days with an average of 3.28 days per week, closely followed by energy and utility organizations at 3.21 days per week. Software and technology organizations averaged 2.13 days in the office per week.
Proactive Maintenance Programs Drive Cost Savings by Cutting Maintenance Time in Half
Eptura’s research highlights an opportunity for organizations to reduce labor hours by scheduling more planned maintenance. The average full-time employee (FTE) time spent on proactive maintenance is half of the time spent on reactive maintenance, showing a great opportunity for cost savings by evaluating maintenance programs.
With many operations managers citing siloed functions and incomplete data as the major limitations to optimizing their physical asset operations, the potential positive implications of digital workplace connectivity are significant. Integrated platforms offering real-time visibility into asset health and performance can give leaders the ability to implement structured preventive maintenance plans, increasing asset uptime and avoiding higher costs and emissions.
Meg Swanson is the chief marketing officer at global worktech company Eptura. With more than 20 years of technology marketing experience, Swanson has led high-performance teams across fintech, corporate real estate, built environment, security, and developer ecosystems.