Workplace innovation can help foster a culture of continuous improvement by encouraging the adoption of new ideas and practices. As companies seek new ways to adapt to remain relevant in an ever-changing market, finding practical solutions to boost efficiency and employee satisfaction in the workplace is key.
As Innovation and Transformation Manager at ISS, Kajsa Stävmo leads innovation initiatives for the long-standing partnership between ISS and EY. “My role is all about improving the workplace and creating smarter, more sustainable environments for EY,” Kajsa explains. “I work very closely with another innovation manager at EY, using a ‘two in a box’ leadership model —where both the manager and owner of the contract take equal responsibility for the partnership—to focus on continuous improvements and innovation of our facility management partnership.”
From small changes to game-changing solutions
For all customer partnerships, innovation can take different forms—ranging from small, everyday changes to the implementation of new game-changing technologies. Regardless of the scale, Kajsa says that “innovation always starts with continuous improvements in the workplace”. However, these improvements can be executed faster and more effectively in alliance with an expert partner, allowing customers to focus their energy on their core business.
Collaborating with a facilities management provider means constantly monitoring the innovation pipeline and seeking out the next opportunity for workplace improvements. It could be something pretty basic such as cutting down on non-reusable plastic bag use in the office to meet sustainability goals. For example, we have replaced plastic goodie bags with eco-friendly grass paper bags, which require minimal water and less tree cutting. Our canteens now offer paper boxes for takeaway instead of plastic, and we’re actively exploring fully renewable options for any remaining plastic bags, made from agricultural waste and non-edible plants, to further reduce our environmental impact. Or the innovation could be a broader change, such as encouraging employees back to the office post-pandemic or implementing sensor technology that allows organisations to optimise space usage, monitor occupancy and adjust cleaning and energy consumption in real-time.
Aside from enhancing the everyday experience for employees, an innovative facilities management partnership can also offer significant business benefits to an organisation, particularly when it comes to improving employee experience and efficiency at work. By focusing on transformative strategies for customers, ISS can help to increase workplace efficiency and productivity levels, resulting in a competitive advantage for partners.
Financial success is impossible without innovation. An innovative approach to facilities management helps companies adapt faster to changes in the market and gain a competitive edge. Without innovation, it’s very difficult to harness economic growth and attain successful outcomes.
How workplace service providers boost innovation
Collaborating with an innovative facilities management services provider, Kajsa says, ultimately gives customers more time to concentrate on what is most important to them: “Our goal is to make sure our customers can focus on their business as much as possible, and we take care of customers by solving problems and innovating faster—using our facilities management expertise to introduce new ways of working that align with their strategic goals.”
A significant focus for many customers is improving the sustainability agenda. “Most of our innovation-related discussions with customers are connected to a particular business challenge that they have,” Kajsa explains. “Improving a company’s sustainability agenda is the most common challenge that we are seeing, particularly in relation to the circular economy and decarbonisation efforts.” To support the circular economy in facilities management, companies can adopt sustainable practices in waste, water and energy management. At EY, food waste is converted into garden soil with SmartBins for employees to take home, and leftover food is sold at a discount to minimise waste. Several EY offices are LEED-certified, including Stockholm, where a closed-loop water system captures rooftop rainwater for toilet flushing, greatly reducing freshwater use. Smart building systems also optimise heating, cooling, and lighting via IoT, lowering energy consumption and the building’s carbon footprint—practices that align with circular economy principles.
Improving value in the workplace is another key area of innovation, as employers are looking to find ways to encourage workers back to the office after a switch to post-pandemic hybrid working. The workplace needs to offer more to employees who are not commuting in as often, says Kajsa: “Incentives such as a great coffee station or gym facilities on site can help to boost value and motivate employees back to the office.”
Since the pandemic, employers are still having to pay high rents despite reduced office use by employees, optimising energy use and streamlining operations to save money is consequently of great importance to customers. Effective energy management and data analysis is one way of tracking energy consumption and spotting issues, as ISS has demonstrated when helping a global banking customers to save more than £1 million in energy costs after the first 10 months of a building energy optimisation project.
Without support from facilities management providers, the innovation journey can be challenging, particularly if companies are too ambitious with their transformation goals. Partnering with a provider can help organisations to move in the right direction. “Some businesses might not know where to start innovating, and that’s where ISS comes in—we have a lot of customers in different industries, and those cross-sector insights help us to spot and solve problems,” Kajsa adds.
