It was back in Summer 2020 that we created the first version of our Workplace Strategy Tool. We sent out personalised reports to over 50 different businesses, detailing how their employees want to work in the future—then distilled those key insights into a tailored workplace recommendation for each company.
The response to the reports was so positive that we decided to create a fully-fledged tool for businesses to use on an ongoing basis—and hundreds of companies have been making the most of it already.
Looking to the year ahead
Businesses of all sizes and industries are now thinking ahead to 2021, and what last year’s chaotic events mean for their future policies. Because whilst COVID-19 was the catalyst for working from home back in March 2020, the general success of the experience means that many businesses are now considering decreasing their office footprint in the long-term.
Although moving away from the status quo can be a daunting prospect, the “standard” approach of taking a full-time, full-team office space is no longer the only option for businesses—neither will it always be the most appropriate or cost-effective. But how should you decide the right approach for your team?
Introducing: the Workplace Strategy Tool
At Hubble, we believe that the best way to establish the most appropriate workplace strategy is to ask your employees how they want to work—and a great way to do so is via a survey. Putting one together is simple enough; the tricky part is translating the results into a sustainable and fair long-term strategy.
Hubble endeavours to bridge the gap between businesses having the answers and knowing what to do with them. When you run your own survey, you have to spend time deciphering the results and matching them with a solution. But we’ve designed our tool so that you have clear, actionable insights as soon as responses start coming in.
How it works:
As soon as you sign in, you’ll have access to a custom survey link for your company—containing specially curated questions designed to get the insights you need about how your team want to work. All you have to do is share the link with your employees and get them to fill it in (it takes 5 minutes max).
Once you have at least one survey response, you’ll be able to instantly access your personalised results dashboard. Here, you’ll find all of your team’s responses aggregated and presented in an easily digestible way. We’ll even give you a recommended strategy based on the results—whether that’s permanent remote working, a full-time office or a hybrid of the two.
You can check out what a typical report looks like right here.
What real-life businesses are saying about the Workplace Strategy Tool
Of course, we’re really excited about how the WST can help teams, and truly believe it can give businesses the insights they need to thrive following this period of major change.
But we would say that, wouldn’t we?
So, let’s hand over the mic to a selection of the companies who’ve already used the tool, to hear in their own words how it’s helped them:
“This move has been a sanity-saver for some of the team, and a happy financial surprise for our accounts!”
Rachel Carrell, CEO at Koru Kids
Rachel Carrell, CEO at Koru Kids, distributed the Hubble survey amongst her 50+ team in 2020. She told us: “It not only gave us some really useful information about our team’s preferences, but it also catalysed us into thinking quite differently about our space needs. We went from having a huge and expensive office in Old Street to having a much more flexible working arrangement—with a small central office for those who really need it, and a flexi-pass to other workspaces around London for those who prefer that. This move has been a sanity-saver for some of the team, and a happy financial surprise for our accounts!”
“The results made me much more comfortable moving away from a full-time-in-the-office strategy, and I’m now investigating more flexible and cost-effective options as a direct result.”
Daniel van Binsbergen, CEO at Lexoo
Clearly, the “one desk per employee” approach is no longer the best option for all businesses. Getting to the bottom of what your team wants can help avoid any unnecessary business costs or expensive mistakes. It can also prevent any unfounded assumptions. Daniel van Binsbergen, CEO at Lexoo told us that in using our Hubble Survey, they “definitely surfaced insights about our team’s preferences that I hadn’t been able to predict—so it was useful to have real data at my fingertips, and not need to rely on my gut.”
Extreme media around the “death of the office” (or the opposite) can have a big influence on business leaders’ attitudes, so it’s really useful to have actual data to base important decisions on.
He continued: “It was also helpful to see whether we were an anomaly, or if what we were seeing was the same in the wider startup community. The results made me much more comfortable moving away from a full-time-in-the-office strategy, and I’m now investigating more flexible and cost-effective options as a direct result.”
“[Hubble’s survey] made it easier for me to make decisions regarding how to make people more comfortable working from home, their views about going back to the office or not, and get their views on the best formula for the future.”
Sylvia Carrasco, CEO at Goldex
One of the things that makes the survey so comprehensive is the fact that it evaluates employees’ feelings around all types of workspace—not only the office, but home and third spaces (e.g. cafes, coworking spaces) too.
For instance, one company who used the Tool was Goldex. Their CEO, Sylvia Carrasco, told us: “It was important for us to understand how we could go the extra mile to support everyone in the Goldex team once we had switched to remote working. Hubble’s survey was VERY helpful, and made it easier for me to make decisions regarding how to make people more comfortable working from home, their views about going back to the office or not, and get their views on the best formula for the future.”
“We made the decision to bring our team back on-site for one day each week. The team energy and spirit as a result of this has been hugely elevated and, thanks to HubbleHQ, we knew we made the right call.”
Carl Partridge, CEO at UrbanThings
Finally, we’re always delighted to hear when the Tool empowers businesses to take action, and show employees that their opinions really are valued. Having completed the survey with his team, Carl Partridge, CEO at UrbanThings said: “We discovered that, while our team was more positive about remote working than ever, they still valued having a regular place to collaborate and socialise. As a result, we made the decision to bring our team back on-site for one day each week. The team energy and spirit as a result of this has been hugely elevated and, thanks to HubbleHQ, we knew we made the right call.”
So, how do I get started?
The Workplace Strategy Tool is super easy to use—all you have to do is follow these 4 steps:
- Create your free company account: Sign up for free–using your name, email address and company name (it takes less than 30 seconds).
- Send your employees the link: Once you’ve logged in, you’ll find the custom survey link ready to go in your company dashboard. All you need to do is send it around your team.
- Get powerful insights: Once your employees have completed the survey, our data machine crunches the numbers to give you instant access to your own insights page.
- Tap into our free expert advice: Our expert advisors can help you understand what your results mean, and provide you with actionable next steps.
With the Tool, you can keep surveying your team members as often as you like, and all of the results will remain easily accessible and comparable via your company dashboard. This is super helpful, as the circumstances in which people are working change so frequently, that how employees felt a few months, weeks or even days ago may well be different to how they feel now.
Get started now:
