Sodexo is a world-leading provider of facilities & property management and catering services. They operate in over 60 countries, with a vision to ‘create a better every day for everyone to build a better life for all’.

Sodexo recognises the concept of the elastic office – a more flexible workplace design that stretches, contracts and reconfigures to meet the needs of the people using the space.

Sodexo’s Group Marketing Insights (Feb 2022) found more than 1 employee in 10 is not comfortably settled at home and most are missing the basics.

Just over half (52%) of women say they enjoy working remotely and would like to do so in the long term, compared with (41% of) men.

The data from Sodexo’s latest Pulse survey demonstrates that knowledge workers (people who handle or use information) – and in particular people of colour, working mothers and women – are thriving with the rise of newfound location and schedule flexibility.

With executives, white knowledge workers, men and non-parents opting into in-office work at higher rates, leaders hoping to retain top talent and maintain diversity must act swiftly and deliberately to counter the forces of proximity bias.

Always adapting. Ready to change.

Sodexo’s London headquarters has a unique dual purpose and offers them greater flexibility in the workplace. It showcases how a modern operational workplace can look and behave for potential clients, while supporting a global cohort of their own core staff and activity. Ultimately, it now offers twice the employee and client experience in less than half the space the company previously used.

This is a flexible and easily editable place that can accommodate diverse activities and events. Reconfigurable partitions that can be altered to suit any number of occupants and tailored to specific tasks reflect the distinct modern work modes of focus and collaboration.

The rise of hybrid working means people won’t be in the office eight hours a day, five days a week. Sodexo’s new office neatly responds to ideas of connection and communication for face-to-face meetings within the built environment, with additional integrated technology solutions for remote collaboration.

“Each employee will have very different experiences and expectations when they return to the workplace, so that flexibility will be key.”  Philippe Casgrain – SVP, Global FM and HSE, Sodexo

Making a home for work

The aesthetic airs subtle domesticity that manages to retain the authority and function of a working space. A bright, fresh open aspect is married to biophilic design, optimising the natural light from the building’s location and a soft colour palette. It also represents the Sodexo brand identity in a muted and evolved way.

Now with this greater flexibility in the workplace, it is a place that has become an asset in attracting and nurturing talent for their workforce.

“Workplaces have become social currency and can be key in attracting and retaining talent. We felt we could truly enhance the reimagining of these spaces with the addition of a specialist design approach, which is why we partnered with TSK.

Workplace design needs to look and feel amazing, and it must also work seamlessly, be durable and add value. Our clients are already seeing the difference through spaces designed with deep workplace knowledge and employee insights.”

Julie Ennis
CEO of Corporate Services, Sodexo UK&I

73% of business leaders say that existing and potential employees are scrutinising their sustainability policies and demanding more climate-positive action. And 67% of SMEs expect the pandemic to change organisational and working practices, leading to more environmentally sustainable economic development.