Financial services companies help shape the modern office

NEW YORK, March 1, 2023 – The modern office was the topic at hand at WORKTECH’s Future Financial Workplace event in New York City. Co-hosted by Bobby Magnano, President, Financial Services, JLL, and Alicia Duncan, Global Head of Technology Workplace Services and Transformation, BNY Mellon, the key takeaways from the event surround the importance of making human-centric decisions, providing employees value to drive loyalty, creating a frictionless experience and providing brand consistency globally while developing a localized experience.

“Financial services companies, like other office users, can incentivize the workplace and make being at work a seamless experience for their employees,” Magnano said. “There is not a one-size-fits-all strategy for the modern office, and it’s vital to gather as much unbiased information as possible and lean into data to make strategic decisions. Ultimately, all office occupiers and owners must work to create an inclusive environment that is suitable for and attractive to everyone.”

The sold-out event featured an impressive roster of senior professionals from real estate, facilities, technology and executive management who discussed the issues shaping the financial sector’s workplace. Panels covered a range of topics, including emerging technology, hybrid work and the reinvention of the modern office, from which four main themes emerged.

A human-centric approach

When it comes to financial services organizations making human-centric decisions regarding their workplace models, experts suggest removing cognitive bias by letting the data tell the story and pairing that with feedback from both employees and visitors. Having leadership see the experience in-person is also key to understanding employee perspectives locally.

“Taking a human-centric approach to the way we think about work and how we think about the workplace is paramount – leading organizations are beginning to embrace the ‘Regenerative Workplace,’” added Peter Miscovich, Executive Managing Director, Global Future of Work Leader, JLL, who moderated a panel on hybrid work for financial services companies at the event. “The concept of the Regenerative Workplace embodies the idea that when people feel supported mentally, physically and socially, they bring their best selves to work—creating better outcomes for both the individual and for the organization.”

Ultimately, Miscovich said we are still in an age of experimentation when thinking about shaping workspaces of the future. Leading organizations are taking a “learning mindset” when discovering what their workspaces should be and taking a localized approach, tailoring workplace programs to best suit the needs of the people using them and local cultures – rather than one global solution.

Value drives loyalty

Financial services organizations that earn an employee’s loyalty do so by providing a commute-worthy experience they can’t get anywhere else and ensuring it’s inclusive of everyone. Companies employing creative approaches that provide consistency are finding success with weekly events like “Fun Fridays” and can plan team collaboration via workplace apps for people to arrange in-office schedules together.

“What doesn’t work are one-off experiences and teams creating their own experiences, which causes stress and confusion,” Magnano said. “Financial services companies that focus on providing space for easy collaboration and creating moments of delight, team bonding and continuous experiences earn the loyalty of employees.”

Think globally, act locally

Providing consistency across an organization’s portfolio doesn’t negate the advantages of having some individualized and localized experiences that provide employees with autonomy and choice. Financial services companies can create a location strategy that decentralizes senior leadership and offers a career path beyond established cities. Having these local leaders model behavior that they want to see from employees as a form of change management is crucial for dispersing these changes across a portfolio.

“One school of thought is that decentralization allows for more career advancement for employees, as requiring leadership to be located in a single city creates proximity bias,” Giles Wrench, Vice-Chairman, Financial Services, JLL. “Building a footprint that distributes decision-making power and incentivizes career mobility in those other areas can foster better talent retention and attraction.”

Providing a frictionless experience from home to office

With a version of hybrid work here to stay, organizations that simplify data aggregation and utilize tech platforms that think through employee and visitor journeys provide an ease of access that begins at homes and goes beyond their time in the office. Additionally, having everyone on the same data platform reduces frustrations.

Technology, including user-friendly apps that help plan days in the office based on building activities and who else will be in office, helps maximize collaboration and productivity by facilitating seamless transitions from home office to in-person work. Technology can also help plan space for the occupier and provide vital data to support decision-making in the future while reducing operational costs.

“Using technology in the workplace can guide office transformations, from how we restack a building to where to place employees to location strategy,” Magnano said. “Taking a data-driven approach reduces cost and can help measure employee engagement.”

In an industry that is rapidly transforming, JLL Financial Services offers the right alchemy of integrated technology, sustainability strategies and a forward-thinking approach to design tailored solutions to each of our banking, investment management and fintech clients. Whether clients are looking for us to optimize their real estate portfolios or manage their retail banking facilities, we embrace the diverse perspectives of our world class team of financial services experts to design innovative, data centric real estate solutions, helping to accelerate growth by maximizing profit and balancing mitigating risk.

Armed with unmatched industry focused intelligence, our experts are dedicated to navigating and simplifying the complexities of this highly regulated business, to deliver a consultative approach with a spectrum of services and products throughout all stages of our clients’ real estate lifecycle.

Our ethos towards hiring and training top talent and providing a seamless value driven client experience has positioned JLL as a domestic and global market leader within the financial services commercial real estate business. Visit us.jll.com/financialservices to learn more.

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