Slate Office REIT

Airport cities among workplace trends for 2015

Sodexo report finds transit-oriented development is on the rise
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
By Michelle Ervin

Airport cities, mindfulness programs and a phenomenon coined “rateocracy” are among the emerging forces shaping employees’ quality of life, according to Sodexo’s 2015 Workplace Trends Report, released Jan. 29. Produced annually, the report draws on principal research, clients, academia and leading facilities management and human resources trade organizations.

Airport cities

Dr. John Kasarda, president and CEO, Aerotropolis Business Concepts, likens airports to routers in a sort of “physical Internet” that moves people and products the way the digital Internet moves data and information. In Aerotropolis: Airports as the New City Center, an Airport World Magazine article republished in Sodexo’s report, Karsarda writes about the trend toward transit-oriented development, and in particular, cities being built around airports.

Not only do business travelers have access to office services and business support staff in concourse-connected hotels, but some corporations are even locating their headquarters in these airport cities. Karsarda points to KPMG, which has located its European headquarters in The Squaire, a two-million-square-foot office and hotel complex at Frankfurt Airport.

“Airport city and aerotropolis development is gaining substantial traction,” he writes. “I’ve identified over 80 airport cities and broader aerotropolises (airport-centred urban economic regions) around the world that are either already operational or in early stages of development.”

Mindfulness programs

Research has well-established the link between greater employee stress and greater health risks, productivity losses and medical costs, write eMindful’s CEO, Kelley McCabe Ruff, and chief scientific advisor, Dr. Ruth Wolever. In the Sodexo report, in the article Mindfulness at Work: Addressing Medical Costs, Absenteeism and Workplace Productivity, the co-authors share research supporting mindfulness as an effective and targeted solution for employers.

McCabe Ruff and Wolever tout as its benefits reduced stress; improved alertness, productivity and sleep; enhanced brain and immune function; and improved glycemic control in diabetes. In particular, the co-authors highlight the case of Aetna, a U.S. health company that assessed two mindfulness-based programs, one on-site and one online, in a randomized control trial. Based on self-reporting, participants’ stress levels dropped 36 per cent, their sleep disturbances dropped 29 per cent and their pain levels dropped 34 per cent.

“The findings for participants taking the course in eMindful’s online classroom were equivalent to the findings of those taking the program through conventional on-site classes,” they write. “Furthermore, those taking the online program had a superior retention rate in the study.”

Rateocracy

Robert Moran, partner, Brunswick Group, defines “rateocracy” as democratic and transparent real-time ratings. In Rateocracy: Working and Managing in an Era of Extreme Transparency, a THE FUTURIST Magazine article excerpted in Sodexo’s report, Moran writes that employees already rate their employers on websites such as Glassdoor.com.

“Soon,” he predicts, “we will also rate corporations on their behaviour and have real-time mobile access to the aggregated, stakeholder-generated reputation scores of nearly every corporation on the planet.”

One of rateocracy’s main implications is the need for 24/7 reputation management. But as much as this phenomenon is new, Moran says, it is also in ways a return to the kind of reputation management required of the small-town business.

Says Michael Norris, chief operating officer, Sodexo: “When workers and customers can instantly share their opinions of a company with thousands of people, concerns like morale, transparency and fairness become an integral part of how businesses manage their reputations.

“The goal of the Workplace Trends Report is to evaluate how ongoing changes, like the growing power of one person to influence a company’s reputation, are affecting the everyday experiences of employees and their managers.”

Sodexo’s 2015 report also highlights the increasing prevalence of family-friendly provisions, and the importance of ensuring they are effective in reducing work-family conflict. And the report includes a special section on the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Foundation’s efforts to make facility management a profession of choice for students as a skills shortage looms.

Michelle Ervin is the editor of Canadian Facility Management & Design.