Case studies

Click on a case study below for more information:

Vodafone
Allied Domecq
Britsh Airways
Cable & Wireless
Hewlett Packard
Lapworth Consultancy
Royal Sunalliance

As Vodafone relocated to a new group campus, there was a requirement to introduce new working practices that encouraged greater innovation and business agility.

Issue
Due to rapid growth and business expansion, Vodafone commissioned a new campus to replace the fragmented former locations.
The fast moving nature of the business demanded increased agility, creativity & innovation
Old working practices that discouraged collaboration required identification while preserving existing good practice.

Deliverable
Dramatically different workplace environment including;
Reduced paper-centric practices including grassed-topped filing cabinets (not possible to stack paper files)
No partition over ‘chest height’ (120 cm) – encouraging collaboration.
Enhanced people appraisal including 360° that included two family members
Introduced subjective ‘personal business commitments’ for innovation and creativity

Approach
Workstyles and capabilities were modelled on a departmental basis prior to any intervention.
Maturity model was used to assess an array of interventions for interdependence, risk, desirability and ‘doability’.
Whilst cost was not the driver, alternate workplace practices were financially modelled for re-investment

Benefit
Significant increase in employee satisfaction (8% point and growing).
Measurable improvement in meeting effectiveness and creativity (a personal business commitment measure).
Tangible improvement in management decision focus (14% point and growing).
Considerable reduction in paper usage (5 tonnes in one department alone).

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During the build-up to a major merger, our workplace methods identified that modest business and cultural changes could deliver a significantly “better place to work” together with a £14 million Net Present Value gain.

Issue:
Allied Domecq wanted to explore opportunities for transforming their workplace to create “a better place to work”
In the build-up to a major merger, a low key, non-disruptive approach was required to articulate the financial implications for all workplace interventions
The workplace effectiveness potential – in Net Present Value terms – was required for 1,700 staff

Deliverable:
Compelling case for action that articulated the issues and opportunities for a better place to work.
Secured unwavering support from the senior team.
Identified modest changes realised through a cultural transition in conjunction with some limited technology interventions would realise a large, tangible business gain.
A 21% business space reduction provided opportunities significantly enhanced forbusiness interaction

Approach:
Provided management with a risk mitigation business case based on proven JBA methodology
Assessed workstyles and requisite capabilities for each style.
Modelled leading edge space and infrastructure interventions to free staff from office locations.
Defined project, finance, and risk accountability, communications strategy, programme structure and approaches to realise workplace gains

Benefit:
Improving workplace effectiveness offered quantifiable results and sustainable activities that can be continually scaled across the business.
Identified a 21% business space reduction that would benefit the business through greatly improved interaction.
Identified 125,000 person-hours of business decision time could be freed, presenting management decisions of; (i) improved business decision effectiveness, or (ii) improved staff motivation.

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During a time of highly visible corporate and strategic actions at British Airways, using our proven workplace methods we delivered a compelling case for action and 12-month roadmap that resulted in an £88.7 million cost avoidance.

Issue:
Having already made cuts of 8,000 and 13,500 employees, further high value and tangible cost savings were difficult to identify.
The second largest cost base for BA was their property portfolio.
BA demanded a risk-free business case to increase utilisation of just one building, their flagship Waterside site.

Deliverable:
Compelling case for action that understood the issues and focused on objectives.
Secured unwavering support from the top.
Secured BA committed implementation team to follow the ‘roadmap’ of actions.
Increased Waterside utilisation from 2,600 to 4,700 employees
Changed BA management mindset for future building requirements.

Approach:
Modelled people, technology & logistics issues to meet increased property usage.
Addressed legislation, communication, remote supervision, layout design, etc.
Facilitated cross-business functions using auditable maturity model methodology.
Defined project, finance, and risk accountability, steering group and cross-functional teams, communications strategy, clear programme structure and methods

Benefit:
Improving workplace effectiveness has produced quantifiable results and is a sustainable activity that can be continually scaled across the business.
The initial forecast £65 million saving target within 12-months was exceeded, achieving total of £88.7 million.
“Our workplace effectiveness programme delivered where other initiatives would have failed” Rod Eddington

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In a margin-restricted market, we modelled the consolidation of four call centres to two for Cable & Wireless, assessing the financial impact of parallel operator service running capacity and delivering a Net Present Value of £4.1 million for just 450 staff.

Issue:
After deregulation of directory enquiry’s, the market was 50% below expectations.
C&W were seeking to consolidate 4 locations into 2 with minimised risk.
C&W needed to realise cash benefits within a 2-4 year NPV ROI window.
For any consolidation to occur, parallel running was essential to maintain critical 999 capacity.

Deliverable:
Assessed people-performance impact for each location.
Provided facilities risk management and refurbishment metrics for each location.
Precise modelling of ‘what’, ‘how’, ‘when’ and ‘how much’ for each location.
Validated attraction, recruitment, retention, absenteeism, and stress scenario’s for each new location.

Approach:
Use proven methodologies to assess, validate and support management and financial decisions.
Create maturity models for each location to offer management summary of potential.
Model cost impact of recruiting and retaining in unproven out-of-town locations.
Model risk management of facility disposal.

Benefit:
Identified overall Net Present Value savings of £4.1 million for just over 450 employees.
Identified recruitment improvement plan to reduce training fallout by 20%
Reduced employment risk in ‘talent challenged areas’ and identified critical success factors.
Skill transfer of entire workplace modelling.

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Delivered 28% space saving across 1,500 staff for Hewlett Packard product development campus in Bristol, significantly reducing their temporary office rental liability.

Issue:
Prior to a strategic global acquisition, HP needed to rationalise the traditional and long-standing office cube environment.
This required transforming the US imposed standard of a 10ft by 10ft cube to an agile workspace layout that would accommodate all staff from three existing buildings.
Heightened levels of staff innovation and creativity were required.

Deliverable:
A structured relocation plan spanning 8-months of ‘build-move-build’ process.
No disruption to day-to-day business.
Eliminated need for purchasing new furniture items.
Storage and filing space was eliminated to encourage face-face teaming.
Meeting space was significantly increased.

Approach:
Key to new workspace design was identifying linkages between product orientated and supporting teams.
JBA maturity model employed to identify increased space utilisation and agility.
Facilitated workshops across departments/ project teams to minimise critical business impact, ensure department compatibility and introduce alternate workstyles.

Benefit:
Reduced overall space occupancy by 28%
Exited 42,000 sq ft temporary office use.
Decreased absorption cost/ head on three buildings.
Introduced alternate working approaches and methods.
Increased departmental communication capabilities/ reduced ‘silo’ mentality.
Eliminated overcrowding perception.

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Crafting a scalable ‘case for action’ to introduce alternate working capabilities allied to a zero-risk financial model for Lapworth, a fast growing technology services company.

Issue:
A rapidly expanding technology services company looking to double headcount year-on-year.
Headquartered in a 17th century barn that significantly contributed to brand and customer presence.
Need to improve business agility, talent attraction, communications and expertise location while continuing to reinforce the unique company culture.

Deliverable:
Introduced ‘Martini Working’ – any time, any place, any where.
Piloted new working styles and planned introduction of emerging technology.
Detailed investment plan to include Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return to support bank investment
Continuous support and mentoringprogramme for all employees/ managers

Approach:
Provided management with a risk mitigation business case based on proven JBA methodology
Assessed workstyles and requisite capabilities for each style.
Modelled leading edge technology solutions to free staff from office location.
Provided ongoing support to management during transition to remote supervision

Benefit:
Reduced overall travel requirement by 40% with consequent stress reduction
Improved employee productivity by 10-15% - implemented employee satisfaction programme to track ongoing improvement
Improved attraction, recruitment and retention by 8% in restricted labour market.
Reduced sickness levels from 15 to 4%

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Mobilising for workplace flexibility inside a large composite Insurance Organisation – Royal & SunAlliance – where a cost neutral solution was of paramount importance.

Issue:
Due to considerable financial pressure, any alternate working initiative had to be demonstrably cost neutral from the outset
A heavily silo’d business, it was paramount to win hearts and minds of all stakeholders prior to action
A case for action to mobilise enterprise-wide was required to show opportunity with strategy and articulate auditable benefits

Deliverable:
A strategy and maturity model that enabled widely different approaches to be adopted across each department and silo
Developed shared service approach for alternate working capabilities (i.e. wants & needs) and enablers (interventions)
Auditable business case for each department.
Instigated 5 pilots complete with short-term measures

Approach:
Used a maturity-model approach to merge opportunities created by existing investment plans and create a single model for the future
Planned approach to establish the capability awareness spread across all levels of the organisation.
Crafted a structure for all benefit opportunities to be piloted.

Benefit:
Economies of scale/ synergy across all silo’s, saving 3% off existing budgets
Significant reduction of management risk
Speed of deployment – pilot programmes were introduced in just a few days, lessons learnt were swiftly captured.
Common approach and consistency
NPV of £101million was secured.

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