Space is quite often the ‘final frontier ’for staff in Hong Kong offices both physically—with limited space to work, and psychologically—with limited space to think and self-develop. This month’s cover story analyses two separate case studies in Hong Kong: The Lane Crawford Joyce Group and Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) to see what HR is doing to help give staff more space and why integrity and speed-dating are so important too.
With commercial rents still high in Hong Kong, giving staff more office space is not usually top of the HR priority list. Likewise, with budgets already stretched and the pervading ‘cautious market optimism’, earmarking additional HR expenditure on overseas staff trips may also seem something of an extravagance. Such ideas might be easy to make a reality for super cash-rich organisations, but how can the majority of HR directors realistically ‘sell’ such concepts to the CFO. What can HR do in practical terms to help boost employee engagement, enhance performance, increase retention and how would such investments impact the bottom line?
Breathing space beyond the office
One solution to dramatically enhancing staff wellness and boosting profits, according to CY Chan, Senior Manager, Talent Management, Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN), is to invest in giving them more breathing space by allowing them to take a step outside the office and, even the country, to venture across the globe. This initiative has run since the organisation was established in 1999 and, to date, has encompassed destinations including Thailand, Japan, Germany and Cambodia.
The latest trip fell under the theme of ‘happiness’ and entailed jetting employees over the United States for eight days. Given the name ‘HappinUS’ In Search of Happiness 2012, the expedition incorporated teambuilding activities in a private area of the Grand Canyon, a sightseeing tour of Hollywood, a visit to the unconventional offices of Zappos in Las Vegas and a Happiness Workshop, hosted by Professor Dr Srikumar Rao, author of Happiness at Work. This doesn’t come cheap and each year, HKBN invests around HKD 2.5 million to fly over 70 of its senior executives overseas for what they term, ‘an outside our Hong Kong box experience’. The point being, that widening staff exposure, inspiring creativity, nurturing happiness in the workplace and reinforcing teamwork all bring massive financial rewards. Rewards in terms of enhanced productivity, new sales and reduced costs together with increased loyalty and staff retention.
Chan coordinates the company’s annual overseas management trips and commenting on the most recent trip said, “Happiness is not something you can set a policy on, it’s something personal and it means something different to each individual who tries to define it. Allowing our Talents to gain different exposure and experiences away from their Hong Kong workstations is our way of encouraging them to open their minds to new cultures and reflect on what makes them happy in the hope that they can advocate this in the workplace.” He added that the annual trip also allows the company to put one of its core values—engagement— into practice.
Chan explained, “Obviously our employees are all paid to work but if they are happier at work, they become more energetic and more engaged so they have the ability to communicate with each other in a more positive way. Managers care about how they connect effectively with their teams and teams care about how they connect with their community of customers, therefore engagement is intrinsic to our organisation. It filters through every level and one of the core purposes of these experiential trips is to allow employees to strengthen their interaction with each other and reinforce their sense of teamwork.”
Engaging tomorrow’s talent
Engagement should not stop with current employees. This year, for the first time, HKBN also sponsored two high school students to accompany their own executives on the expedition to experience different cultures. Phyllis Lau Po Kei, aged 16 and Tracy Lee Ying Shuen, aged 17, were selected from a group of secondary school students who currently participate in one the company’s CSR programmes. The two girls were chosen on the basis of their personal aspirations, what they wanted to get out of the trip, and their eagerness to take part in group activities.
Chan explained, “We believe people are the true differentiation defining a great company and a great community. We encourage our Talents as well as our younger generation—tomorrow’s talent— to pursue their dreams. We were pleased to open a door for these two young girls to see a bigger world and to inspire them to embrace the infinite possibilities ahead.”
Translating ‘touchy-feely’ into revenue
Upon returning, HKBN encouraged their Talents and mentees alike to share their experiences with colleagues and peers. Such sharing sessions have proven extremely popular with participants keen to highlight the many positives they had gained from the experience. All this certainly increases staff engagement and happiness, but how do these ‘touchy-feely’ elements relate back to the workplace and how can HR harness them to drive revenue?
While Chan admits that no measurable ROI can be charted against the annual expeditions, he maintains that the benefits of such trips are extremely significant, “There is no way to record the outcome of our annual trips, but one of the most important things we can take from them is that, spiritually, our Talents can get inspired and teamwork is boosted. Our teams return to their desks more relaxed, more positive and more engaged and that is something that has been noted by team leaders.” He added, “These trips give them a chance to turn off their autopilot, step out of their daily routine to see the bigger picture and reassess what it is that makes them happy at work—and ultimately happy in life—and that is irreplaceable.”
Space for staff integrity
NiQ Lai, Head of Talent Engagement & CFO at HKBN also stressed the significance of using such ‘space creating’ events to ensure the development of the management team. He explained, “HKBN will get stronger from generation to generation of leaders—this is wh y we invest so much in leadership development.” In terms of talent development, Lai noted that his organisation also approached integrity differently to other organisations. He said, “Many companies approach integrit y in terms of what they can get away with. We hope that we will have a much higher standard. F or example, when faced with a difficult integrit y issue, let’s ask ourselv es in the context of, ‘If my son asked me for advice on an integrity issue—what advice would I give him?’ Integrity is not about meeting the standards of others for them to judge us by— integrity is about meeting our own personal standard for us to live by.”
Collaborative work space
Creating space for staff to develop and interact does not necessarily involve jetting across the globe and is just as achievable in the workplace. The Lane Crawford Joyce Group recently brought its four companies together in a new headquarters in the stunningly beautiful and soon-to-be commercially vibrant setting of Wong Chuk Hang, Aberdeen. The Group’s new workspace has been specifically designed to foster collaborative growth within and across the companies and to help facilitate innovative work practices. Creative teams have adapted their respective communal areas to represent each company’s ethos visually and generate cross-company alliances in a nonconventional manner. Jennifer Woo, Chairman and CEO, Lane Crawford Group and her HR teams explain the importance of the new space to them.
Space for vision
Woo’s ambition was to build a community of individuals who could achieve a singular vision. The Group’s new headquarters is the hub for that community—a home where innovation, creativity and fashion can coexist. Woo explained, “The design brief was simply to identify what they did not want. We wanted to take the word ‘office’ out of our lexicon…nothing expensive or foreboding…nothing monotonous or samey…we still needed the space to be functional, useable. We didn’t want to limit personal space…and we didn’t want anything to be a limitation or a hindrance to delivering excellence.”
The HR managers from the Group all agreed that the new workspace had brought new opportunities to spark conversations and helped facilitate creative thinking—by helping to break down former physical and perceived boundaries. Eva Chow-Slaughter, Director, Human Resources, Pedder Group commented on the impact of the project in its current embryonic phase, “Whilst the true benefits of this plan and design have yet to be measured in business terms, it is clear from the outset that the staff enjoy, and are inspired by, their new environment.”
Redefining staff workspaces
The stimulus for the Group’s project came from the decision to reduce overheads in the recession of 2008 and at the same time re-define the environment in which work was done. With this change, came the huge opportunity to shift the organisation’s culture through physical space.
Specifically the aim was to break down physical barriers and allow easier interaction—the antithesis of the conventional cubicles found in their former offices. The new environment meets this challenge, being fluid and democratic with a partition-free, wireless workspace that offers staff the freedom to choose communal or solitary areas based on their specific immediate needs. When asked how she envisaged staff working together, Woo replied that changes were already apparent, “Everyone has found their own groove in the new space…there is no formula.”
Breakout space vs manager space
The building is a mixture of industrial minimalism and specially sourced vintage and contemporary chic to reflect the various brand identities. While the basic materials are common to all floors, each company’s creative teams have customised their respective breakout spaces through the use of colour, store merchandise and furniture, thereby characterising their unique identities within the Group family. Tellingly, the zones allocated as breakout areas are those corners that afford the best views—areas monopolised by higher management offices in more bureaucratic business models.
These spaces are open to all staff to meet socially, work or just relax and reflect the entire ethos of what the Group wanted the new headquarters to represent. All team members are encouraged to use these spaces: Joyce’s art-influenced, stylised library, ImagineX’s communal indoor garden, Pedder Group’s creative hot desk area displaying the latest fashion, art and design periodicals or Lane Crawford’s lounge, bar and games room with vintage gymnasium equipment juxtaposed with a Nintendo Wii system.
Creativity and innovation are not only limited to breakout areas and are encouraged throughout the building. The twenty-ninth floor, furnished with vintage pieces from schools and theatres, houses a communal dining area and table tennis and snooker tables to encourage social interaction. Business-wise the building boasts a digital network connecting the headquarters to its stores, its China operations and international offices, a suite of multi-media and photography studios, multi-lingual call centre and retail academy for the training of talent to drive the next generation of business support.
Interviews in the garden
ImagineX have been conducting job interviews in their indoor garden for candidates applying for roles in merchandising, buying, interior design and even human resources. Kathy Li, Vice President, Human Resources, ImagineX explained that creating an environment that is open, relaxed and non-traditional during the course of the recruitment process definitely helps to showcase the company’s ways of working and culture. She added that a candidate’s reaction to the unconventional setting also gave HR a feel of how that person might enjoy the working environment.
Speed-dating
Lane Crawford has a dedicated, purpose-built Human Resources Suite which allows both group and one-onone interviews. The design, colours, furnishings and even music playing on the iPod are all representative of the brand. Innovative recruitment strategies have included first-round interviews in speed-dating format, allowing a large volume of candidates to be quickly assessed using a standardised set of questions as a benchmark. In this way objective decisions can be made quickly before embarking on the next round.
Pedder Group conduct their recruitment process in a range of settings, some formal and some on sofas with no tables, displaying to potential candidates their particular appreciation of design and style.
Emotional space
A multi-purpose wellness room provides a quiet zone for massages, kinesiology, group yoga, Pilates and tai chi classes, as well as meditation and deep relaxation. Woo commented that the creation of the room reflects the importance the Group places on employee wellness and explained that there is a schedule of activities on health of mind, body and spirit that is also encouraged. Woo summarised, “Happier, healthier and more balanced individuals can only bring positive benefits to any company and this programme and space reflects this.”
The future looks set to favour employers who provide staff with space—both out of the office and within. By providing staff with ‘mental space’ to think beyond the workplace, and ‘open space’ fostering collaboration within the office, HR can have a dramatic impact not just on staff morale, but on driving creativity and innovation throughout their organsiation. Talent within the organisation are happier, more productive, more creative, more collaborative and less likely to leave—which all positively impacts the bottom line and the employer brand to boot. Give them space and soon they’ll fill it with greatness.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
