We are delighted to have launched and presented our White Paper: ‘The Future of Guest Services in the Workplace’, in our first Dublin based Portico & Friends! Taking place in AIB’s beautiful central offices, our insightful discussion overlooked the rooftops of Dublin.

Our blog series will delve into the thought-provoking conversation, exploring the evolution of guest services in the workplace, and the changes we must make to meet the growing demand and shift in employee demand and values. We’ve picked out the hottest topics for you to take away innovative information to apply within your own teams!

Q: How has guest services evolved over the past years?

Oliver Hiner: For our world, it’s very fast paced. We talk a lot about the extraordinary becoming the ordinary the next day. We’ve seen change at a pace which is increasing all the time. There’s a lot of competitors out there, and we find that what we invent becomes the norm. So, for us, it’s about always being innovative, always bringing new things to the market.

We are now seeing more of our clients wanting support with their community. We provide the guest service, but it’s also important to consider what happens to their teams and employees once they get into a building, the office, the breakout spaces or restaurant areas. We help our clients to provide that sense of belonging, working with their internal and HR teams, taking a holistic approach, rather than a transactional, over the desk approach, which has built deeper relationships with our clients. So, that’s certainly a change, and one that will continue to evolve as we move forwards.

Chris Moriarty: I think this is one of the most interesting times to be in the workplace game.

You’ve got some organisations who are saying everyone must be back in the office five days a week. At the other end, there are studies about four-day weeks and found they are more productive and healthier. What a wild time we’re living in the moment, where you can have those two extremes existing in the same landscape.

Pre-pandemic, the ONS released statistics that only 20% of people worked away from the office – it was so office centric. The pace of that change means you’ve got a lot of organisations and teams wondering what to do, which means there will be a lot of experimentation.

What will be interesting with all of this is ‘systems thinking’. There are organisations that might be flitting from one policy to another, but all these industries and services that are wrapped around it that might not have that flexibility. Suddenly, FM service providers are going to be told we’re shutting their offices on Friday because we don’t need it anymore… How do we build that to the contract?

So, there’s a lot of lot of systems where the cogs are going to start clashing. I think we’ve got a few years left to figure it out, but it’s hard to tell where the workplace is going now, because I don’t think anyone really knows.

Giles Gordon Smith: I like the term ‘belonging’, I think it’s an important part of what we’re doing. At Penshee, we tend not to talk so much about trends, because we like to think that a rich, high quality, intentional human interaction is timeless. That’s the thing that we’re working towards.

Interestingly, what we are now starting to see more of from our clients is that we don’t work exclusively with Front of House, it’s all functions. For example, we have security companies now coming to us asking what role their security staff have in terms of enabling a better experience? We’re seeing a lot more of that, and companies who are focused on more of a one-team approach, considering how we can all join up together to make this intentional, seamless, rich, human experience.

I’d say that’s the kind of trend we’re seeing. How do we link everything up with the ultimate intention of making a better-quality experience for all and developing a sense of belonging?

Denise Allen: Touching on what Oliver said, we’ve seen a shift in terms of what’s important for our people and the sense of belonging. Not just for Portico, but also the sites we work in.

There has been a big emphasis around equity. We’ve seen a real shift in the younger working generations, around expectations, generation equity and well-being. This is all linked to what we’re doing around the sense of belonging, and the collaboration piece in our White Paper is key for our team members – you’ll see a lot more around that.

We have been doing quite a lot within Portico to make sure that we are ahead of the game and meeting these new expectations. Introducing things like Mental Health First Aiders, making sure that each location has one and meeting the demand from employees around flexible working hours and days.

You can find our full blog series here, to read more on the insights shared at Portico & Friends Dublin: The Future of Guest Services.

Guest Speakers:

Chris Moriarty
Co-founder of Audiem, a new software platform to analyse workplace experience feedback, and co-host on the Workplace Geeks podcast, Chris has been in FM and workplace for 10 years.
Fun fact: Appeared on the One Show as a marketing expert – “I was interviewed by Carrie Grant about Olympics sponsorship rules while she was in an ice cream van.”

Annelie Selander
Chief Sustainability Officer at WSH, leading on the sustainability agenda for WSH, the parent company behind Portico.
Fun fact: Annelie’s daughter has a tattoo of a burning Planet Earth on her arm, which says “we didn’t start the fire”. Acts as a reminder to keep up the fight for a more sustainable future – “it’s for them we do it.”

Oliver Hiner
Director of Operations at Portico. Making sure Portico are delivering what was promised to the client. 
Fun fact: Spent quite a lot of time in Ireland recently, and also worked in France and Norway – “I’m a little bit of a European jet setter, I suppose.”

Denise Allen
People Director across Portico, Benugo and Searcys, which is part of the WSH brand, leading on ESG for WSH. Fun fact: Denise’s Dad was born in Dublin 82 years ago – “so I’m half Irish and I’m very proud to be back here.”

Giles Gordon Smith
Managing Director at Penshee, helping companies to understand the quality of the experience they are delivering to their clients, and helping to diagnose, design and deliver improved experiences. Coming from a Hospitality background, Giles always enjoyed looking after people.
Fun fact: “I’ve only been hit by a golf ball once in my life, and the person who hit that golf ball was Tiger Woods.”