_The Business of People

As part of the issue themed around Mental Health and R U OK? Day, Knight Frank’s Dermot Lowry, Partner, Head of Occupier Services, Australia, and Cleo Vaughan, Partner, Head of Project Management & Building Consultancy, NSW, told Chifley’s Ben & Co. why forward-thinking organisations are putting their people first.

The World Health Organisation defines mental health as a state in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.

From a workplace perspective, businesses are only beginning to understand that the daily pressures of working life are a growing burden on mental health, and while people continue to increase the time spent in the workplace, the pressures on individuals will only increase. Thankfully, corporate wellbeing is finally gaining traction as a key to successful business outcomes and this trend will naturally lead to a focus on what can be done now and in the future to support a positive mental health environment.

Any corporate occupier that has moved office in the last decade, will have gained an insight into the growing focus on amenity and wellness across major commercial buildings in Australia. Amenity is at the heart of the physical response to human needs and by definition, considers the presence and support of pleasantness and delight. Doesn’t sound like an office, does it?

So far, the story of demand and response has predominantly been one of physical amenity, with the appearance of end of trip facilities, gyms and exercise studios becoming an expected provision in any high quality building. As with any new trend, it is fundamentally driven by occupier demands and the physical response is what we see when the hoarding comes down after a period of construction, complete with Dyson hair dryers and the fluffiest of towels.

However, a recent Knight Frank survey of over 100 global corporate occupiers, reveals a seismic shift in future demand towards amenity that supports learning, health, sanctuary and human interaction. The reason is simple. An amenity provision that caters far more to the emotional and mental wellbeing of people, is becoming critical in a world where we now spend on average one third of our lives at work.

Looking through the lens of financial cost, PwC has previously estimated that mental health absenteeism costs Australian businesses $4.7 billion each year, whilst presenteeism (where people are less productive due to mental health reasons) is estimated to cost Australian business $6.1 billion each year.

Learning

In an increasingly disrupted labour market, the impact of industry change can be swift and severe on a person’s mental health, opening the door to anxiety and depression. Learning and upskilling however, allow for ongoing personal development and empowerment of people, helping them to be more resilient in the event of major change. Common auditorium spaces are the physical response to this demand and allow for life-long learning environments to exist and flourish.

Health

With up to five generations of workers occupying any one office and with a blurring of the lines between professional and personal life, it is unsurprising that demand is growing for on-demand health services to be incorporated into buildings and workplaces.

Large corporate occupiers are starting to include these provisions as part of their suite of in-house services on offer to employees, while a number of boutique operators are already active in the Australian market, creating the right mix of health services for the workforce of major corporate institutions.

Sanctuary

The progress in new technology within the workplace has led to people suffering from “info-toxication”, a situation where so much information is received on a daily basis that it simply cannot be processed or actioned. This has been a key driver behind the increase in work related stress, but will also create more demand for different amenities as people desperately seek focus space in the world of disruptive tech.

Quiet rooms or zones where no phones are permitted are becoming a more common feature of buildings and tenancies, and will continue to grow as a trend in a world where an average of 120 emails are received each day – that’s one every four minutes.

An original response was the growth of wellness, meditation and prayer rooms however as the importance of escaping the daily stresses of work life increase, there are already much more sizeable portions of corporate tenancies being set aside as sanctuary spaces, where relaxation and even sleep are the tools at hand to regain our mental balance.

Human Interaction

Despite the ability to work in ever more remote locations due to the advancement of technology, the importance of social interaction is increasingly acknowledged as key to an organisational success. Workplaces are therefore increasingly being designed to cater for those people who can operate remotely, but sporadically arrive for face-to-face interaction with colleagues.

This trend has most visibly played out in workplaces and buildings dedicating huge swathes of footprint not just to desk space, but to spaces where people can meet. Human interaction has a huge and central significance in every great historical culture, from the Aboriginal reverence for meeting places, to the ancient Greek Agora, to the Speakers Corner of 1850’s London. Today’s version cannot simply be a chat at the office water cooler – it needs to be more.

View the entire Mental Health issue of Chifley’s Ben & Co. publication here.

For further information, please contact:

Dermot Lowry
Partner, Head of Occupier Services, Australia
Dermot.Lowry@au.knightfrank.com

Cleo Vaughan
Partner, Head of Project Management & Building Consultancy, NSW
Cleo.Vaughan@au.knightfrank.com