Workplace Consultancy Explained: 'The Colleague Journey and Change Support'

Dealing with change can be uncomfortable, scary even and it can make people feel disorientated and unsure.  From simply breaking old habits to learning how to use new facilities and the workplace etiquette required – employee engagement is an important stage in the consultancy journey. It has the power to shape positive employee experiences and ensure a seamless workplace transition all with one goal in mind – to get the most value from an organisation’s people and its workplace investment.

In this blog, the final one in our Workplace Consultancy Explained series, we look at how our team delivers change management support to make office relocation, office interior design or portfolio re-evaluation projects a success.

6 ways to ensure employee-owned change

 We use a proven range of tactics to help employees feel integral to change and give them ownership of the process, as well as the finished workplace. Our tactics comprise:

1. Engagement workshops

We feel better about change when we can see it coming and have chance to shape it.  Facilitated engagement workshops provide an opportunity for change teams to on-board employees – not only understanding their wants and needs at the outset but involving them in the journey. This might involve identifying employee pain points to shape the brief, through to trialling new technologies and even asking staff to name meeting rooms.

2. Drop-in clinics

Regular drop-in sessions are an extension of workshops and help employees to feel they can ask questions at any stage. Making it clear where they can access more information allows potential issues and concerns to be identified and addressed more easily, instead of leaving them unresolved, which can damage employee morale and productivity.

3. Project tours

There are key moments during most office interior design projects where employees can be shown the progress.  Project tours offer employees a ‘first glimpse’ of spaces as they take shape and make them feel invested in the process. They also provide an opportunity for employees to ask questions and for management to identify any specific issues which might require additional communication or attention.

4. Drone fly-throughs

A highly effective addition to project tours is a drone fly-through. This provides a highly visual and fun way to showcase a new workspace, excite employees ahead of its launch and instil pride. It’s also a great asset to use within wider internal communications and external marketing activities. An investment in a new workplace should be celebrated!

5. Workplace guide

New features, facilities, spaces and ways of working typically require a new set of workplace rules.  We help clients to create their own workplace guides to ensure a seamless transition for employees. These guides excite employees about their new ‘destination office’ and offer practical ‘how to’ information about how different activity-based work settings should be used and what technology is available, as well as wider company-wide policies on flexible working.  These guides support the big reveal of a new workplace, but also have ongoing value as part of new employee onboarding activities.

6. Post occupancy programme

Once a team has been in their new office for a period of time, usually six months or more, we can evaluate how well the space is working and how employees feel about their new environment.  This makes it easy to identify where further fixes or improvements can be made to improve the employee experience, and the success metrics that show the ROI on the project.

Workplace consultancy benefits

In summary, this stage of the workplace consultancy process helps to:

• Ensure a seamless and intuitive transition for employees from the old to the new
• Enable employee-owned change and buy-in
• Establish and communicate clear working protocols
• Protect and maximise any workplace investment.

Workplace consultancy is a business-critical discipline designed to help organisations extract the best value from their people by delivering the most effective workplaces possible.