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A recent Financial Times article revealed that professional services firms, such as Deloitte and PwC, are providing extra coaching to their youngest UK staff after noticing that recruits who were still in education during the pandemic had weaker teamwork, collaboration, and communication skills than previous cohorts. Recent hires who spent part of their formal or higher education isolated from the face-to-face interaction that previous cohorts received have found it harder to adapt to the work environment.
Partners at both companies have observed that new graduate recruits have less confidence undertaking tasks such as making presentations and speaking up in meetings. Other skills, such as independent working and taking initiative to problem solve, were strong among new graduates—a reflection of their time spent studying at home during lockdown. Deloitte’s UK managing partner for people and purpose, Jackie Henry, stated that Deloitte are also seeing a rise in “more candidates wanting to defer their professional exams and people who are struggling with stress in a way we haven’t seen before.”
The remnants of the pandemic are still around, affecting how we work and how we best utilize the skill sets a job may require. Hybrid working has also added another dimension for graduates to contend with. They need to be able to switch between skill sets with ease, presenting in-person on one day, perhaps, and on a video call the next. To better illustrate the importance of this behavior, we look at how a particular print vendor has adjusted their EMEA office space to better suit the needs of hybrid work, and if these changes set a rubric for other companies to follow to better equip and upskill their new graduate starters.
Case Study: Canon EMEA
Just over a year ago, Canon EMEA, UK, and Ireland opened its new dual European and UK headquarters in Stockley Park, Uxbridge. Although the main reason for the move from its old headquarters was due to a lease renewal, Canon felt that the old building no longer represented the values the brand wished to emphasize. From the outset, Canon was keen to find premises that would be considered an appealing place to work, as well as promote collaboration between employees in the new hybrid work model. Employees were encouraged to submit their views and opinions on what they would like to see in the new office space, with many ideas being reviewed and incorporated into the final design.
Although the move was planned during the pandemic lockdowns with headcounts for the return to the office uncertain, the new building is bigger than Canon’s previous office space. Canon EMEA’s Chief of Corporate Development, Darren Rayner, highlighted that the meeting room space in the previous office was often wasted due to the size of each room. He said that for the new office breakout areas, a variety of different-sized collaboration rooms and several coffee shop-style working spaces were integrated into the design to ensure that individuals and small teams could work in a relaxed but engaging environment. Every workspace is the same size, he said, with each desk able to suit sitting and standing and all surrounded by 6m2 of open space for hygiene reasons (in light of the pandemic). Hot desking is also the name of the game in the new office, with teams that require greater attendance throughout the week allocated more desks. Despite initial worries, employees have responded very positively to the hot desking policy, with many choosing to work and hold meetings in the communal coffee shop-styled working areas.
The main focus of the changes implemented in the new office is on promoting collaboration. During lockdown, employees lost the ability to collaborate fully in-person. Darren Rayner and his Corporate Development team found that existing teams within the organization could still work well together remotely because they had an existing rapport with one another and understood the ethos of the organization. The difficulty came with new or diverse groups. If employees had started working for the organization during lockdown, or if groups consisted of different members from vastly different teams, collaboration did not work so well. These relationships improved significantly when the teams were able to meet in-person once or twice a week.
How Has This Influenced the Need to Upskill Graduates?
More versatile meeting spaces, freedom to work in a variety of locations within the office space, and continuous monitoring of employee feedback on the changes enable new starters and graduates to enhance their public speaking and collaboration skills. Darren Rayner commented that, as an organization, Canon has noticed the difference among new starters and graduates that their appreciation of the organization and its culture is greater following working in the new office. Addressing large meetings is also easier as presenters can read the room with greater ease and make more personal connections, which is harder when large meetings are conducted via video conferencing software.
Keypoint Intelligence Opinion
Canon EMEA’s new UK office, designed for better in-person collaboration and hybrid working, is an excellent case study for how organizations can help upskill their new starters and graduates who need to improve their presenting and in-person collaboration skills. With hybrid working the norm for most major organizations, it is vitally important that employees can switch between skill sets depending on where they are working on a particular day. Canon’s new office sets an important standard for how other organizations can redesign its workspaces to better suit hybrid working and enable organic skill growth among this group of workers, increasing their connection to the working environment and their team, as well as possibly increasing retention in the long term. Firms such as Deloitte and PwC can afford to offer training to upskill their graduate starters, but is this the best solution in the long term? Organizations need to rethink how their office space is structured for better long-term skill development and retention.
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