Revolution in the labour market – conclusions from research conducted in the largest mixed-use centre in Poland.

Olivia Centre conducted a survey aimed at verifying residents’ opinions on the facilities and services available here, assessing the events taking place in Olivia and identifying the most important needs of employees of Olivia companies. The study covered people who work in Olivia’s offices on a daily basis, working in the “home office” and hybrid mode. The results provide an interesting body of knowledge on how building a community and creating initiatives dedicated to tenants translates into job satisfaction and evaluation of the office and its location in a specific facility.

The research was based on the ever-evolving labour market, which has undergone an unprecedented transformation after the lockdowns, remote and hybrid work. The results of the study confirm a complete change in the situation on the labour market. 64% of respondents make the date of coming to the office dependent on the schedule of additional activities that await them at Olivia Centre. Participation in the life of the community and the feeling of being part of it remains at a similar level regardless of the form of work chosen – hybrid or stationary.

32% of the respondents confirmed that they choose to work in the office on days when they have the opportunity to participate in additional activities at the centre. Such rules would have been unthinkable three years ago. This proves the huge revolution that the office market is undergoing in Poland and in the world. The conclusions are obvious: business centre owners must initiate interesting projects in order to provide their tenants with incentives to work in the office. It is not without reason that there are as many as 8 clubs in Olivia to develop passions, including singing, photography, plant care, volleyball and sailing.

As factors influencing the choice of the event and club membership, the respondents mentioned a good host, the atmosphere in the group and the cyclical nature of meetings. It is also worth emphasizing that the example of team leaders and their commitment are important. In Olivia, more than 70% of them declare their participation in events, and the respondents emphasized that for them the role of a leader is one of the foundations for choosing the club they want to belong to.

An additional context for the revolution in the labour market is the entry into the labour market of representatives of Generation Z, whose values are fundamentally different from the expectations of previous generations, and at the same time affect the expectations of employees representing earlier generations. All this changes the attitude of employees to work, and thus the need to monitor changes in expectations and satisfaction with the workplace. It can be assumed that the answers obtained in the survey by the respondents of the largest mix-use center in Poland, offering over 175,000 euros. m.kw. of usable space provide unique knowledge about the direction of changes preferred by employees.

The survey, conducted at the end of 2022, involved 517 people. The most important conclusion from the results of the research confirms the legitimacy of developing the accompanying infrastructure and implementing initiatives within the business centre. Events and clubs are a significant added value to the leased office space. It is worth emphasizing that the implementation of these additional amenities makes sense if the basic conditions are met: the employee has an easy commute to work, and the workplace meets the highest office standards.

Since its inception, Olivia Centre has been developing into a multifunctional centre, where life does not stop after 5 p.m., as is the case in standard business centres. After years of implementing community animation projects, it has become one of the most important Tri-City event centers, where the range of possibilities far exceeds the expectations that could be set for a business center. There are 12 restaurants available in Olivia, a publicly accessible exotic Olivia Garden, where 3.5 thousand plants reaching up to 11 meters in height, representing over 400 species and coming from 5 continents, as well as event and conference centers that can accommodate up to 1000 people in total. Over 140 events take place here every month, and Olivia closed last year with 1680 events, including trainings, sports events, as well as theatrical performances and concerts by such stars as Leszek Możdżer, Krzysztof Zalewski and Krystyna Janda.

“Like many business centres, we are keeping a close eye on new ways and how often offices are used. – emphasizes Bogusław Wieczorek, Plenipotentiary of the Management Board of Olivia Centre. For us, it is extremely satisfying that the percentage of people coming to the office in Olivia is much higher than other office buildings in Poland. We have been working on this long before the pandemic, animating Olivia’s community and constantly enriching the sports, cultural and social offer. We have achieved success in this area and we are happy to share our experience with others. This does not mean that we still do not have areas for improvement. Unfortunately, which coincides with general social research, young people, up to 25 years of age, participate in activities relatively less often. Meanwhile, taking advantage of the offer – getting to know other people, making friends, self-fulfilment – causes its rating to increase by up to 40%. The conclusions of our research correspond to the challenges that HR teams have faced in recent years. The offer of the business centre in which we have an office can therefore be a significant addition to the list of benefits offered by the employer itself. And our results show that it just works.