Take a few minutes to think about the effectiveness of your workplace. Consider everything about it and the way people work, whether it can be seen or not. For example, you might ask yourself if there is more to culture than its ability to attract, retain and motivate talent. Is the workspace designed to function and inspire, or is it a collection of mismatched furniture and untouched i.e. cabinets in a space that might be too small, or too large? Are processes and procedures like flexible working approved based on popular demand or designed with purpose and productivity in mind? Is technology in the workplace a series of short-term adjustments, or the foundation of an organisation that has fundamentally changed the way people work? These are the critical workplace questions organisations should be asking themselves, because behind each one, and countless more, lies tremendous performance and productivity potential. We have always believed that the path to newfound performance and productivity lies in Workstyle Innovation, which is an approach through which organisations implement bespoke workspace, process and technology solutions that culminates in one cohesive and highly effective workstyle. Whilst this approach can put organisations on the path to an optimal office and unlocking the full potential of their people, the exact value of such potential on an industry and macro-economic level has long been unknown.
That is why Ricoh partnered with Oxford Economics to quantify the value of the optimal office and the potential value we as people, industries and a society could ultimately experience.
Today we estimate that the Economy of People, which is the overall economic value of organisations developing optimal offices, is worth an incredible £36.8 billion in untapped GDP in the UK and Ireland. In context, £36.8 billion would give the United Kingdom enough money to pay for Brexit twice and still have change to spare.***
To calculate the output from an optimal office and the overall value of the Economy of People, Ricoh UK developed a bespoke economic model with Oxford Economics that followed a five-step process.
Based on the conversations with respondents and the results of the surveys, we found that emotional factors, namely culture, drive employee performance and are a catalyst for creative thinking. On the other end of the spectrum, technology proved to be critical to ensuring high output per-hour, or productivity.
The physical, which translates to the workspace and office setting, is the bridge between performance and productivity, thereby influencing both. By understanding performance, productivity and the link between the two, we were able to forecast a potential 1.8% and 1.0% increase in UK and Ireland GDP, respectively.
Together, these numbers translate to the aforementioned £36.8 billion increase in GDP that the United Kingdom and Ireland could potentially realise through an optimal office. Throughout this report, we explore the current effectiveness of workplace strategies and the opportunities to create greater alignment between employee needs and executive decision-making, which will help outline the path towards building the optimal office.
