Comfy & Enlighted Approach to Safe Return to Workplace Strategy

A key focus for Corporate RE Advisory Services right now is assisting companies on their safe return to the workplace environment. Siemens AG, a global technology powerhouse, recently partnered with Salesforce for a Safe Return to Workplace Strategy.

Dr. Roland Busch, CEO of Siemens AG, is re-evaluating how the workplace has shifted for his organization, and of course, for other companies. He believes that digitalization is changing the way we do everything.  So, Dr. Busch developed three (3) values: Collaboration, Openness, and Empowerment – and they are all interconnected. 

He began by reimagining the workplace, and this helped define his company’s “new normal” with flexible workspaces that give employees more freedom. With 380,000 employees in over 200 countries, it was difficult to centrally manage Siemens’ global operations. So, he created a corporate CRE crisis team.   Then Busch began envisioning the future of work, the opportunities, and challenges with the work-from-anywhere revolution.  He believes that the key to moving forward is flexibility.  

Siemens surveyed 8,000 people in the company to ask their preferences for the future office work because he believed that he needed to empower his employees: they would be more productive if they could choose where they can work. The survey results indicated that most people wanted to preserve working from home, but they required in-person work with others, too. And that is how Siemens decided on the balance of two to three days in the office, on a voluntary basis with local differences based on country regulations. 

Next, Salesforce and Siemens entered into a partnership in June 2020 with the goal of helping employees return to the workplace safely. “How is doing that” you might ask?  Well, Siemens acquired two workplace-focused startup companies:

Comfy and Enlightened.

• Comfy manages numerous aspects of building space. It provides the technology and workflow to help businesses easily implement a secure workplace re-entry so that companies can bring employees back to work with all the information they need to manage scheduling and meet social distancing needs.

• Enlighted provides sensors so that the CRE team will know exactly what’s happening in their buildings. 

This safer, more intelligent future-proofed Places to Work model was created. It is called Safe Return, and it: 

Facilitates workspace configurations, offers health checks, provides workspace bookings, assists with shift management (if needed), and provides employee communication.  Each of those key interactions will provide valuable data and insights for the CRE leaders to help optimize their companies’ portfolios.

Busch is envisioning the future of work, the opportunities, and challenges with the work-from-anywhere revolution. What are your plans? Do you need help with the safe return of your employees to the workplace?