A study on C-suite time usage found that leaders work on average 9.7 hours per weekday, 3.9 hours per day across 79% of weekends, and 2.4% hours across 70% of holidays - showing just how relentless the role can be. The same study also found that a significant amount of that time is wasted on tasks that don’t necessarily fall under their remit. C-suite staff need to  be aware of the resources available to them to help allocate their time to ensure other priorities such as scaling their business, improving their product and creating a solid company culture do not suffer. 

However, finding the right office space for their company is vital to business. It’s the one place that will encourage collaboration, productivity and business success so it’s paramount that CEOs do it right. Finding a service and platform that can find this, and be trusted to manage the process from fit-out to maintenance is the ultimate goal.

Office management 

The pandemic has forced every organisation to think about the value of the office as the various lockdowns sent employees home to work remotely. But whilst remote working is popular, top executives have agreed that the ‘moments that matter’ happen on-site. In addition, our future leaders, Gen Zs, are eager to get back into the office, with eight percent saying they’d had an actively negative experience working from home.

What is clear is that the pandemic has changed how, when and why we work, and has brought with it the realisation that businesses ‘need’ the office… just not in the way they used to. Most businesses are not returning to their desk space five days a week but are using their office space as it suits them. As a result, there has been a shift away from a one size fits all model towards more personalised, tailored spaces that facilitate collaboration. 

However, finding a new office space is expensive and time-consuming, with packing and moving costing up to £10,000 alone and business leaders can find themselves being too heavily involved in design, electrics and refurbishment processes when their time could be used elsewhere to improve and scale their business. 

Technology has been late to disrupt the commercial property sector, but end-to-end service providers have been growing in popularity as businesses look to invest in their own front door post-pandemic. They have adopted a marketplace mindset, similar to Etsy, to be able to automatically match supply with demand and take care of the process from start to finish to create a bespoke workplace needed for the workforce of today all whilst being time and cost-efficient. 

Company Culture

A study found that business leaders spent limited time with low-level managers (14%) and even less time with rank-file employees (6%). It is imperative that senior management staff do spend face-to-face time with their employees to promote the company’s mission and values but also to help understand the reality of their business. Maintaining this communication will help their legitimacy, create a shared mission and build trust amongst the workforce. If the office management responsibility is taken away, this will allow for more time to be spent developing company culture and will encourage stronger professional and personal relationships. 

This is particularly prevalent in today’s workforce as hybrid working can create a disconnect between those in the office and those at home, with a fifth of employees (19%) saying they struggle with some colleagues being in the office and others not. 

Post-COVID, we’re seeing a surge in demand for collaborative space that allows people to come together, be it a specific long-term project or a quick brainstorm. Finding, creating and maintaining a space where teams can collaborate, socialise and create emotional ties to the company will motivate employees and ensure they feel included, resulting in increased productivity and a stronger culture. Using a managed office platform to design and create these bespoke collaboration spaces personalised to your brand will increase engagement, with the goal of supporting team and cross-team collaboration. As a result, it will start to become a place people naturally gravitate towards for socialising. 

Rather than trying to replicate a pre-pandemic office layout, companies should be looking for a fresh start. With the significant changes that have altered the traditional way of working, employees want workspaces that inspire creativity, productivity and collaboration across the board - and whilst office management might be the biggest liability in terms of time and expense, it also has the potential to be the brands biggest asset. Business leaders need not be wasting their time on creating their perfect workplace, but should consider introducing an end-to-end provider to the team to bring their brand to life.