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Failing to Attract and Keep Talent is Big Threat Says Survey

14 January 2016 | Updated 01 January 1970
 

The annual (this is the sixth) CBRE European Occupier Survey, released on the morning of Thurs 14, says  42% of the world’s leading companies see labour and skills shortages enmeshed with employee preferences as a key challenge to future operations.

The survey polls real estate decision makers at 120 global corporations to understand their objectives and associated challenges across a broad range of issues. The respondents represent companies headquartered primarily in Western Europe or North America spanning multiple sectors, of which the largest are: manufacturing, banking & finance, professional services and healthcare & life sciences.

Richard Holberton, EMEA Head of Occupier Research, at CBRE commented: “A significant overhead, in many cases the largest, for a company is the cost of its people. Increasingly companies want to maximise the return on human capital by providing workspaces that promote choice, collaboration and high levels of employee satisfaction, to attract the best staff and to support their brand.  Likewise, employees want a voice – whether that’s the location of work, flexible working or a say in the office layout.  This means there is ongoing recognition that the workplace must provide a high quality experience to entice and retain staff.

“It’s therefore not surprising that 74% of companies report having a wellness programme, two thirds see labour and skills as important factors in global location strategies and a further 67% believe deploying a workplace strategy enables better collaboration with customers and colleagues.”

 

Performance

According to the survey summary, there is increasing focus on performance – both people and property – to drive better business outcomes. Central to this is the importance of data: 75% of companies now regard better and more accurate, data as the single most important factor in supporting corporate real estate strategy and identifying new opportunities.

 

Other stats

Despite concerns surrounding the macroeconomic environment - 58% cite economic uncertainty as a key challenge – anxieties about cost management have diminished in the last year. 41% of companies, down from half (50%) in 2014, see this as one of their main business challenges.

Richard Holberton added: “In recent years we’ve seen some substantial shifts regarding corporate real estate (CRE)  strategy drivers. Companies have lived through the recession and at varying speeds, recovery. For a while cost management dominated and then as conditions eased workforce issues and growth came to the fore.

“Today, we are seeing that both factors are still important but the next challenge is more complex. Companies need to fine tune policies to optimise the performance of both people and space.  In an environment where economic uncertainty is still a concern and the CRE function is looking to become more aligned with strategic business objectives, the need for accurate and smart performance data analytics will grow.”

For the full European Occupier Survey Report please click here

For the European Occupier Survey Video please click here

 

Article written by Brian Shillibeer | Published 14 January 2016

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