FOCUS INTERVIEW
that the telephone is the most important
communications channel across all sectors and
that missed calls and poorly handled calls cost
business and reputation. FMs have a critical role
to play in ensuring that telephone answering,
be that an in-house system and personnel or
an outsourced service, is fit for purpose and
supports organisational agility.”
The pandemic has also highlighted that when
people have the tools to work from anywhere,
they also have the tools to work anytime – which
can create new expectations from customers.
Burlison continued: “A growing number of
people contact companies outside traditional
hours and are using tools such as live chat. The
pandemic experience might be atypical but
it has shown that always being contactable is
essential – even if that’s message taking for a call
back the next day.”
HOW WILL THE WORKPLACE LOOK?
“Already some FMs are looking to turn their front
of house services and reception spaces into
virtual solutions ” continues Burlison. “In these
businesses o -site outsourced teams will handle
their calls and automated visitor management
and room booking systems are greeting and
directing their visitors and their people. This
is most certainly driven by the current need
to minimise face-to-face contact right now
but is part of a wider movement to greater
26 OCTOBER 2020
organisational agility and e iciency.”
Claremont recognises this shi too and says
that this di erent approach to the traditional
reception welcome is part of a bigger movement
of change.
Clarke said: “There’s been a marked shi
towards the inclusion of more intuitive and
automated tools within workplace design
as they help to build greater e iciency into
workplaces. These e iciencies aren’t driven by
cost per se but allow greater value to be realised.
Revisiting how reception spaces function
and look, is all tied up in reimagining what a
workplace needs to do and how more value
can be given to other important functions. The
future of the workplace looks set to have fewer
rows of desks in order to curate more dynamic,
company-specific and memorable employee
experiences.”
With so much focus on the employee
experience, FMs and other senior managers
must not forget the importance of the client
journey and experience too.
Moneypenny’s Burlison said: “The real test
of whether physical and virtual workplaces are
in-tune is whether they o er the same seamless
client experience. Clients shouldn’t be able to
tell where employees are working from as teams
should always be responsive, well equipped and
available. That’s perhaps the biggest challenge
for FMs and a very clear objective for most
organisations.”
Client needs have certainly changed
during 2020 and the lockdown experience
prompted some of the most empathetic
businesses to meet the primary needs of
their clients – namely safety, security and
companionship, rather than just selling.
Burlison explained: “Over the last few
months phone calls started to matter more,
call durations were longer and companies
were changing their telephone scripts to
not only reflect changes to services, but to
show they cared. It seems the world now
recognises the value of authentic human
communication and so appropriate tools,
systems and support make it possible for the
the physical and digital experience of work
to coalesce.”
At the heart of this new world of work
is agility; an organisation’s ability to adapt
and respond quickly to change and 2020
has been a master class in it. Ann Clarke
concludes: “As employees return to the
o ice, FMs have to revisit their roles and
use their expertise beyond the workplace
environment to include the experience of
work as a whole. It has always been the role
of the FM to equip organisations, people and
workplaces with the tools, technologies,
facilities and attitudes to thrive – but
ensuring that people can work anywhere and
at any time, without detriment to e iciency
or productivity, is the next big challenge.”