Context

The long-term vision for a subsidiary of an international bank was to transition to a new working environment with the following objectives:

• To maximise available office space for a growing business;
• To eliminate paper-based processes;
• To introduce alternative and collaborative workspaces.

CBO was asked to conduct a detailed audit of the use of all on-site storage (from desk drawers to roller-cabinets/stock rooms) and interview all staff to meet the following objectives:

1. To ascertain what exactly is held within personal storage in the office, for what reason and by whom;
2. To identify trends in behaviour per team or function;
3. To give a high-level conclusion that can be used to formulate a plan;
4. To gauge the distribution of change supporters and resistors.

CBO’s Approach

CBO took the opportunity to talk to every relevant stakeholder to build a picture containing both quantitative and qualitative information. The approach towards the audit was as follows:

1. Interviews were undertaken with over 100 members of staff to understand what was stored in personal storage space, why, and how frequently it was accessed;
2. Storage spaces via a floor walk were audited and reconciled via a top-down approach and storage volumes/capacities were recorded;
3. Results from the audit were profiled and data-analysed to draw relevant conclusions;
4. A report was presented including detailed findings, rich and informative data, and recommended actions.

CBO’s Impact

The final report contained detailed and relevant information, and shone a light on information that was previously unknown. It allowed management to make a decision to make radical changes to storage policies and introduce new working areas and practices, helping them to work towards their long-term vision.

The exercise also helped to gain buy-in from employees into the changes and provide valuable insight into staff attitudes towards the changes, and therefore how to best approach the changes.

“We were reviewing the use of space within our office and realised that in order to make changes and introduce additional furniture which would suit our working practices, it would require staff having less personal storage. In order to do this we needed to understand what each member of staff was storing and if this was all required or just filled up like your home spare room or garage. We engaged with CBO to undertake a storage audit for us. Once the objective for the review was explained CBO created a survey and spent time with each member of staff to ascertain their current usage and their ongoing requirements for storage. They gathered and assessed the information required, presenting and explaining a detailed report of the results which then enabled us to make decisions on the next steps. CBO made the whole process effortless for us and were a pleasure to work with.“ Head of Facilities.