Technology central to fostering in-person collaboration for hybrid workforces

CHICAGO, May 13, 2024 – After a transformative four years, employers are more focused than ever on creating dynamic, human-centric workplaces that inspire and support workers while allowing for flexibility. JLL research found that 87% of international organizations encourage employees to work from the office at least some of the time, with employees working an average of 3.1 days in the office globally. As hybrid patterns stabilize, new challenges and complexities emerge requiring more strategic, optimized workplace management. To best advise clients and shape the future of work, JLL is collaborating with Microsoft on the public preview launch of its new AI-powered connected workplace app, Microsoft Places, in an effort to create holistic and impactful solutions to address the evolving workplace needs of occupiers. 

As part of the private preview of Places, JLL has been piloting Places at its global headquarters at the Aon Center in Chicago since March 2024. Places helps companies reimagine hybrid work while surfacing insights on the changing needs of their workforce. The app delivers solutions to help employees and teams coordinate in-person office time for better collaboration and connection.

“Successful hybrid programs necessitate a more agile approach that includes smarter technologies to enhance the employee experience,” said Kelly Spinola, Executive Director, Strategy & Partnerships with JLL Work Dynamics. “After implementing and experiencing Places ourselves, we see the immense value the app provides for supporting employees and facilitating shared office experiences, and we are eager to support our clients that adopt Places. It will provide vital intelligence that organizations can use to optimize their real estate and operate more dynamically over time to better manage their spaces.”

According to JLL’s recently released 2024 Global Occupancy Planning Benchmarking Report, only 15% of organizations specifically define days for individuals to attend the office. While un-defined days provide greater flexibility for workers and teams to adapt their workweek, it creates long-term challenges for planning and management of office space. Additionally, 69% of employers surveyed globally currently use seat sharing, with 90% planning to implement it, which requires modern, more connected and intelligent technology. The Places app streamlines the booking process for meeting rooms and shared seating, with a view to see where team members booked desks. Additionally, Places integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Teams to incorporate team members from other locations, ensuring maximum involvement across geographies.

Places also provides employers valuable insights on occupancy and space utilization trends that facilities management (FM) teams can use to improve workplace experiences and help create adaptable, safe, healthy and resilient facilities. For example, FM teams can adjust lighting and temperature and plan more efficient cleaning schedules based on occupancy trends.

“A data-driven approach to facilities management combined with human insight delivers the best outcomes for occupiers and workers,” said Jim Whittaker, Senior Group Product Manager with JLL Work Dynamics. “Technology is the beating heart of a dynamic workplace, and JLL turns the insights gained through technology into actions to keep employees engaged, comfortable and inspired and helps clients reach their goals.”

“We’re excited to collaborate with JLL to bring their expertise to the work we're doing with Microsoft Places in order to improve the digital and physical spaces of our customers,” said Lars Johnson, Microsoft General Manager, Collaboration. “We believe true flexibility is obtained by creating a connected workplace – bringing together software, hardware and people to improve productivity, enhance connection with colleagues and enable better decision making.”

Maximizing the impact of efforts also requires integrating JLL services with the technologies that organizations use to manage their workforces and enable productivity.

JLL provides Dynamic FM services that create resilient and efficient facilities. JLL’s global FM teams use a combination of technology applications and platforms to manage spaces through synthesized data; continuous monitoring and proactive intervention; automate workflow; reduce operational costs; save energy; and meet sustainability targets.

JLL Work Dynamics enables the world’s greatest organizations to do their best work. We manage facilities, projects, and portfolios to shape a better world of work. With more than 60,000 local and global specialists, the team enables clients to enhance the performance of their portfolios and people to see what’s possible in a more sustainable and inclusive built environment. Through technology enabled solutions, Work Dynamics creates safe and inspiring spaces around the world for people to collaborate, innovate and drive meaningful change anywhere that work is performed. Work Dynamics manages over 2 billion square feet of real estate and has averted more than 112,700 metric tons of CO2e by advising clients on renewable energy projects. For more information, visit JLL’s Occupier Services page.

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