Adding value to the corporate office: A case study assessing value contributions of an office space transformation to activity-based working

As the contemporary world of work evolves, companies increasingly leverage office space transformations to enhance corporate value. These transformations are often more emotionally argued than evidence based. This results from a lack of practice-oriented methodologies that enable corporate real estate managers to consistently align the transformation contributions with corporate targets. This case study examines the impact of transitioning from traditional office layouts to activity-based working (ABW) environments, using a case study of a German IT company with approximately 6,000 employees across seven locations. The paper develops and applies a holistic added value framework to assess both the cost and benefit dimensions of workplace transformations. The framework proved its practical applicability in the context of the study, providing a consistent top-down alignment of value contributions. The findings indicate that ABW contributes positively to corporate performance, creating value on the cost and the benefit dimensions, when implemented from a value-oriented perspective. The application of a sharing ratio and a more efficient space utilisation are essential for greater cost efficiency. While corporate performance benefits arise predominantly at higher organisational levels regarding corporate identity, culture and employer attractiveness, positive contributions are also realised at the individual employee and workgroup levels. Conversely, drawbacks are evident regarding the organisation and execution of teamwork. This underscores the necessity for a comprehensive organisational transformation to accompany the redesign of the space, with the aim of adapting working and management styles to the new temporal and spatial flexibility. The findings provide insight into the potential value contributions that can be achieved through the adoption of ABW. In addition, practitioners are provided with a tool that is highly applicable in different corporate contexts for measuring their value contributions. Consequently, value contributions for the company become quantifiable, and proactive strategies can be formulated and communicated within the corporate context. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.