An international brewer adds more fizz to its workplace enticing employees back to the office

Challenge

As the pandemic mellows, return to office has become the top priority for businesses. But with a considerable size of the workforce still following a flexible working model, employee performance and space management pose challenges for employers. Our client – a multinational drink and brewing company, was keen to evolve the best strategy to attract people back to the office while ensuring their comfort, performance enhancement and space optimisation. 

The client reached out to JLL seeking our expertise to upgrade their Bengaluru office with specific requirements. Broadly, the task involved creating a workplace that enticed people to be willing to come to the office rather than being forced by their managers. In addition, the client asked us to manage the flow of their workforce to ensure wise space utilisation.

Approach

Enhancing collaboration and teamwork was essential for the firm for seamless operations. They asked JLL to use techniques to link employees outside Bengaluru city to stay connected with the onsite staff and get familiar with the brand culture. The client aspired to enhance the knowledge of their leadership about managing teams in a hybrid ecosystem.

JLL began with identifying and assessing areas where change was needed. The team analysed how the client’s office functioned, including remote working and physical workspace, how the firm’s managers engaged with their teams in a hybrid environment and how employees collaborated. As remote working poses the risk of employees going off-radar, impacting productivity, the client specifically asked JLL to focus on this area. 

Using JLL’s in-depth knowledge and expertise in the future of work, the teams began with a trial run. They are testing various ideas and ways to determine which would suit the client’s work culture the best. Before introducing new workplace concepts and technologies for the entire operations, JLL wanted to ensure what policies and physical interventions were needed to transform the client’s workspace to enable the transition of employees back to the office.

​Result 

The team conducted a top-down assessment through leadership (Tier I/II) engagement, people (or middle) manager engagement (Tier III), as well as bottom-up, through staff (Tier IV) engagement to determine the effectiveness of the pilot run and advised adjustments accordingly.

We helped the client establish an environment that allows people to work from anywhere while boosting collaboration and efficiency and altering office facilities to accommodate new ways of working.