JLL Helps Shape the Real Estate Industry with the Future of Work

We are standing on the cusp of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Converging industries and shortening product lifecycles in today’s modern world are forcing companies to aggressively innovate and constantly transform. Driven by rapid technological innovations, both physical and digital worlds are merging, resulting to shifts in the way corporate real estate is evolving. Organizations globally are challenged to adapt sustainable ways tailored-fit to the operations in achieving a balance between the people and technology.

In the recently held The Future Summit of the Urban Land Institute, JLL’s PropTech Director Jordan Kostelac opened the forum by highlighting the importance of balancing the co-existence of humans and technology in the workplace. During the innovation summit, Jordan explained the realities happening in most workplaces today particularly the digitization in processes and jobs. Furthermore, Jordan emphasized that digitization has advantages and several positive attributes to organizations without having to lose the human factor.

JLL, the country’s leading corporate real estate consultancy firm, continues to endeavor tech-driven projects to deliver global-quality of work utilized by JLL employees for the growing needs of clients. Jordan takes pride in JLL’s workplace strategy into making technology work for its employees to ensure that services are delivered conveniently.

As a response in the rapidly changing workplace, JLL advocates The Future of Work

where it envisions a sustainable outlook on the evolving work environment focused on the overall human experience thriving in a digitally-advanced job set-up. At the Future Summit, Jordan mentioned the need for developers in creating work spaces that put the humans or its users at the core. Human experience should be the priority in building a tech-driven work environment. JLL’s vision of the Future of Work provides a better understanding on how industries must transform to remain relevant and admired while creating impact to the next generation.

According to JLL’s research, the Philippine industries must be equipped with future-ready organizational approaches to maintain growth in its performance specifically among the employees. JLL cites the Philippine Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, which employs 1.2 million people, as one of the most prominent sectors that may face several disruption factors, particularly the Robotic Process Automation (RPA). The RPA is predicted to have a significant impact on jobs held by humans in the next five years wherein the automation of jobs will take over call centers and customer service resulting to major reduction in the number of employees needed for operation. As reported by the International Labor Organization, about 89% of BPO workers in the Philippines are at high risk with the imposition of job automation.  

JLL further adds that innovation in the traditional business models may be deemed as a challenge for organizations that continue to function in silos especially when collaboration is highly-fostered among employees across industries, making jobs effectively and efficiently accomplished. JLL expects that these challenges will bring positive changes to various industries that can embrace uncertainty, turn disruption into opportunity, and take clear and collective action.

JLL Philippines’ Country Head, Christophe Vicic is currently the Chairperson of the Property Guru Philippines Property Awards where he continues to impart the principles of the Future of Work by guiding organizations and industries in determining the success of their future work space.  In JLL’s Future of Work, it shares forward-looking approaches to companies that charts a five-dimensional path to a future-ready environment for the employees by that will lead through formidable disruptions and changes.

The five interrelated dimensions in JLL’s Future of Work model are:

1. Human Experience

Putting humans at the center of the workplace is key. It’s not just about the space – companies need to create workplaces where employees want to be. Users’ experience has to be enhanced through engagement, empowerment, and fulfilment.

2. Digital Drive

Utilizing digitization and rich date to enhance people and enterprise performance. Utilize robotics and automation – freeing employees to focus on highest value activities.

3. Continuous Innovation

Combining new thinking and coming up with solutions and processes to drive value creation and accelerate transformation. Innovation is about avoiding obsolescence – all organizations must constantly innovate or be disrupted (ex. Co working spaces, VR can support creativity; Leverage crowdsourcing & open innovation)

4. Operational Excellence

Optimizing enterprise resources and service delivery to increase productivity, mitigate risks, and ensure high performance.

5. Financial Performance

Managing spending to enable growth and enhancing return of investment. 

Christophe takes pride that the new JLL Philippine hub enlivens the vision of the Future of Work where human experience is the focused of the company’s initiatives in achieving digital drive, innovation, operational excellence, and financial performance. All throughout the design planning for the new Philippine office, the goal was to make the Future of Work happen for the employees, to ensure that technology will adjust to the needs of its user.

JLL avers that regardless of priority and response, these five dimensions are all vital to running a thriving organization. However, a thorough understanding on the needs of every industry and organization is crucial in determining a tailor-fit approach in ensuring a future-ready workplace. JLL says companies should explore and study each one of the Future of Work’s five dimensions to be able to build both a vision and strategy that will help them achieve their ambitions.

JLL continues to contribute in the changing world of work with the Future of Work by taking the lead in industry discussions, where companies globally are guided to be empowered and transform to its very best. JLL’s Future of Work is designed to equip companies amidst disruption with framework and tools necessary to adapt to changes, remain relevant, and create more opportunities in achieving the business goals.