Concrete Analysis | Successful organisations will be those that engage staff in a way that capitalises on their strengths

With commercial real estate prices in Hong Kong showing no signs of slowing down, extracting the

real value from every square foot means looking beyond spatial efficiency to create people-centric spaces.

JLL recently unveiled our Future of Work framework which takes a holistic view of where work is going through five dimensions: Operational Excellence, Financial Performance, Continuous Innovation, Digital Drive, and Human Experience. Unlocking this value means creating spaces that do not simply facilitate tasks but cultivating meaningful experiences and connections to their colleagues and the company.

Many organisations have a false sense of how proficient they are at the progressive dimensions of Continuous Innovation and Digital Drive while maintaining a preoccupation with the traditional dimensions of Financial Performance and Operational Excellence. These dimensions, while important, are far less effective when they ignore the often overlooked but critical dimension as we enter the 4th industrial revolution: Human Experience.

Human Experience should not be confused with consensus – it is not about pleasing everyone all the time. Engaging your staff in a way that capitalises on their strengths is the what will determine the successful organisation. “Human Capital” has become a nicer way of saying “human resources” when the real issue is not a semantic one, rather that many organisations view employees as owners of tedium or “human commodities” rather than sources of inspiration. For most large companies, employee salaries and benefits represent 80-90 per cent of operating expenditure, an organisation’s ability to capitalise on their people is a competitive differentiator.

Tomorrow’s leaders are building more meaningful connections between their employees and the work they do. While brand recognition was a big attractor in the past, culture has moved to the forefront of talent attraction. JLL’s latest global research on human experience indicates that workplace experiences play a huge role in three key areas: employee engagement, empowerment and fulfilment.

Understanding the motivations and effectiveness of the people that work in an organisation has been next to impossible until recently. Now the technology that is ever present in our lives is often able to recognise patterns in us that we do not recognise in ourselves. As machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence become increasingly sophisticated and can actualise when and how we are most productive, organisations will be forced to create a variety of settings that tap into the best in each of their employees.