-23%

WORKPLACE

TRANSFORMATION AND

HOW IT BUILDS CULTURE

A submission for the ACI Asia-Pacific Human Resources Excellence Recognition Program (HRER) 2019

November 2018

Our Change Management Journey

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I. ABOUT THE COMPANY

Changi Airport Group (Singapore) Pte Ltd (CAG) (www.changiairport.com) was formed

on 16 June 2009 and the corporatisation of Singapore Changi Airport followed on 1 July

2009. As the company managing Changi Airport, CAG undertakes key functions focusing

on airport operations and management, air hub development, commercial activities

and airport emergency services. CAG also manages Seletar Airport and through its

subsidiary Changi Airports International, invests in and manages foreign airports.

The opening of Terminal 4 in October 2017 marked a historic milestone for Changi

Airport with new breakthroughs to redefine travel experience and grow Changi’s appeal

as a leading air hub. The year also saw Changi’s one billionth passenger passing through

since its opening on 1 July 1981. This is a remarkable achievement for the 50,000 strong

ONE Changi airport community made possible by years of hard work and dedication to

grow the Changi air hub to what it is today.

With the growing volume and increasingly sophisticated needs of passengers, Changi

Airport will need to respond to challenges and opportunities as they present themselves.

This in turn necessitates a nimble and flexible workforce working collaboratively as a

team to manage and embrace change. Against this backdrop, the People Team of CAG’s

priority is to ensure we gear up for the future of work and to deliver new level of

experiences for our employees by transforming the workplace and the way we work,

learn and connect.

II. CAG’S PEOPLE TEAM

The People Team in CAG is responsible for serving the people of CAG in the range of

human resource activities. The Managing Director of People Team, Justina Tan is

supported by 2 teams – People Services & Rewards and People Development &

Experience. Both teams support the business through a range of functions including

rewards and systems, employee engagement, capability development, talent

acquisition, workplace organisation and business partnerships.

CAG’s vision is “Exceptional People, Connecting Lives”. To ensure CAG delivers on this

vision through our People, PT has in place a three-pronged “Right” strategy that looks

into:

1. Setting the RIGHT structure, processes and systems;

2. Having the RIGHT people with the RIGHT capabilities; and

3. Building the RIGHT culture

(Left to right) Goh Hwai Kar, SVP, People Services & Rewards; Justina Tan, MD, People; Shirley Cheong, VP, People Development & Experience.

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For the purpose of submitting an application for the ACI Asia-Pacific HR Excellence

Recognition Program, this paper shall focus on a recent change management project –

our workplace transformation and how it helps to build culture and shape behaviours.

III. INTRODUCTION

Since corporatisation, CAG’s workforce had been growing rapidly and it was apparent

that the current space we had inherited was insufficient to accommodate the growth

in headcounts given the existing office configuration. At the same time, the cost of office

space was also rising with Singapore’s office rents amongst the highest in the world.

Rental space for one cubicle (4sqm) alone costs US$2,924 a year on average in

Singapore. A private office would cost much more than that and have a larger carbon

footprint. Faced with the pressure to expand our workspace quickly and reduce

occupancy costs, a “sense of urgency” was apparent, which John P. Kotter (author of

Leading Change) identifies as the first imperative to affecting real change. Against this

backdrop, our senior leaders had a compelling narrative to convince both our

stakeholders and employees why change – in the form of a workplace transformation –

was necessary. And this change was timely not just for the practical reason of expanding

our office to accommodate more people, but also because it presented us the

opportunity to design a workspace that could build culture and prepare our people for

the Future of Work. It wasn’t just any office renovation, but a complete transformation.

This initiative called “CAG HOME Project”, had the objective to not only expand our

office but also transform our workspace into one that is akin to a ‘Home Away from

Home’.

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In the transformation process, design principles that were adopted for Changi’s

passenger terminals, such as abundant greenery and the introduction of natural

daylight, were also integrated into CAG’s workplace design.

These efforts aim to recreate the CAG signature, build a sense of home, and realise the

same ambience Changi delivers to its passengers in the new office environment.

In creating a new workplace that is aligned to the strategic goals of our business, the

team set out to create spaces where people can do their best at work. A workplace with

a variety of spaces, both enclosed and open, shared and individual, give employees and

departments the ability to choose the space that suits them best. From individual focus

tasks in a quiet room to collaborations in huddle rooms – it is our belief that choice

enables and supports productivity.

As one might expect, the move to an open office plan was inevitably met with initial

resistance from employees. There were rumblings of concern along the corridors, as

many perceived they were losing something by being pulled out of a private office or

walled cubicle, such as privacy or storage space which they have been accustomed to.

Others were concerned about the potential noise and sensory overload of an open

office which may be detrimental to productivity. This openness truly represented a huge

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cultural transition because like many other

organisations today, there were

employees who preferred to avoid social

interaction while others had a strong

“ownership” of space and therein lies the

rub – “You are taking away my office (and

view)”. And the longer employees have

been in the

existing traditional space, the harder it was to make the

jump to a newer and different office concept – it was not

an easy change to make. The entire organisation needed

to relearn and adapt. It was therefore critical to have a

Change Management plan early to facilitate gradual

acceptance and enable a smooth transition given that

each department and employee handles change

differently.

We knew managing a change management of this scale would not be a ‘walk in the

park’. It had to be an all-encompassing endeavour, requiring the right people at the

table, and all these stakeholders to have a strong understanding of how the

organisation functions, its strategic goals, current and future ways of working, and

unique departmental needs. This could only be further accomplished through

conducting visioning sessions, focus groups, interviews, workplace observations, staff

surveys and other means of data collection. As the lead department for this undertaking,

People Team was responsible for facilitating the organisation of data, asking the ‘right’

questions, and at times even challenging leadership and organisational assumptions

about what our future workplace can achieve, presenting solutions (in collaboration

with our design consultants) from a holistic perspective.

IV. SO HOW DID WE DO IT?

Although each change management project is unique, we humbly offer here from our

experience, what we felt were three other imperatives that helped facilitate wide-

spread acceptance of our workplace transformation:

1. Strong support from management

As Kotter pointed out, one of the key imperatives for successful change management is

strong leadership and visible support from key people within the organisation. Effective

change leadership often starts from the top.

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Our CEO, Mr Lee Seow Hiang has always been a key ambassador for our workplace

transformation project. It is his steadfast belief that a well-designed workplace can be

transformative and would play a key role in shaping our workplace culture.

With Seow Hiang at the helm, our leadership bench rallied behind in leading this change

by not only ensuring they ‘walk the talk’ but also making ‘sacrifices’ of personal space

and exclusive office views that they had hitherto been accustomed to.

Through observing best practices, the workplace transformation team recognised that

reconfiguring spaces and taking down walls would encourage daylight throughout the

space, which not only helps to reduce lighting loads but also promote employee well-

being and productivity, and enable employees to access fellow colleagues and leaders.

Leading by example, the top leaders therefore gave up their window offices to allow all

employees greater access to daylight and views of the outside. That ‘sacrifice’ sent a

strong signal to the rest of the organisation on the importance of the workplace

transformation, the benefits it brings and that we were all in this together as an

organisation.

2. ‘Over-communication’ – from start to finish

Apart from having a committed and well-aligned management team strongly supported

by the CEO, it is also important to engage employees at every level. Good

communication is critical to making a big change take hold in any organization, what

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more an organisation as complex as ours. People tend to fear the unknown. When they

don’t hear anything, many tend to imagine the worst possible scenarios. This is why it

is important for the change management team to ensure all employees

understand the benefits and are involved throughout the transition. Tell

them what’s going to happen, why it’s going to happen, when it’s going

to happen and how it will affect them. In short, the change management

team had to “over-communicate” from start to finish. The risk of ‘under-

communicating’, or worse still, sending inconsistent messages about the

change, would have hampered transformation efforts. It is therefore

worth reiterating here again the importance of having our leaders first

“walk the talk” and become living examples of the new corporate culture

that the vision aspires to.

As Kotter rightly puts, nothing undermines a communication programme

more quickly than inconsistent actions by leadership, and nothing speaks

as powerfully as someone who is backing up their words with behaviour.

When an entire team of senior management starts behaving differently

and embodies the change they want to see, it sends a powerful message

to the entire organisation. These actions increase motivation, inspire

confidence, and reduce cynicism.

Tactically, a vision for change must be communicated anywhere and everywhere - the

vision must be referred to in emails, meetings, presentations, company newsletters,

and internal training programmes.

From conceptualisation to closure of our workplace transformation project, we spoke

to almost everyone affected by the workplace transformation project. Every stage of

the journey involved constant communications with our people. We started with having

conversations with all department leaders as we believed that would provide a strong

foundation to the change management journey we were to embark on.

During the pre-construction phase, we announced and shared about the workplace

transformation project at our annual townhall where we also addressed common

concerns such as noise, hot-desking, storage issues that our employees have

experienced or heard from other companies.

We also held tours for all employees to a new pilot workspace of about 1,000 sqm,

where they can become acquainted with the new workspace and understand the new

way of work.

(Above) CAG’s company newsletter, @Work.Play.CAG regularly communicated workplace transformation updates.

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As with any disruptive event, it is expected that it will take some time for all impacted

stakeholders to adjust and become comfortable to the change. Change management

expert, Michael Fullan calls this phenomenon the “implementation dip”. Experiencing

this dip is an inevitable part of any change

effort. However, one should not fear or be

discouraged by it. Rather, we should embrace

it and identify ways to reduce the length and

depth of this dip. One way would be by

communicating changes early. Take for

instance the construction phase of our

workplace transformation project. Because the

workplace was being gutted and renovated in

situ alongside existing operations (instead of a

complete move into a temporary swing space),

employees were inevitably inconvenienced in

one way or another. Greater measures had to

be put into place therefore to reduce the level

of impact to business operations and the

duration of disruption. The team made sure

that all construction updates such as route

changes, new hoardings and contractors’ work

schedule were communicated ahead of time.

(Above, Right) Tours were conducted to a new pilot workspace

to familiarise our employees with the new workplace design.

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Walking the ground and timely responses to

feedback were also critical to help reduce the

inconvenience felt by our employees daily.

During post-construction, communication on

each move was just as important. Multiple

moves in different phases added to the

complexity and challenge. Moving from the old

to new workplace also required a change in

mindset towards personal space and storage.

After everyone has settled into their space for at

least 3 months, we started a series of

engagement dialogue sessions with all our

employees to remind them the key goals of

workplace transformation, and to work on their

feedback via a survey. We finally closed off the

transformation project successfully by sharing

the survey results and feedback at our townhall.

3. Having Change Champions and getting our employees to Co-create the outcome

To deliver a workplace that our employees can embrace from day one, we saw the need

to set up a committee of change agents whom we call Change Champions. These were

representatives from all departments who met with People Team and our design

consultants regularly to advocate for their departments’ needs and for the

improvements that the transformation will provide. These Change Champions were

important liaisons, keeping their ears to the ground for any concerns, and then bringing

their observations and insights for the committee and People Team to listen and make

recommendations.

We believe that people are more invested when they are empowered to have a direct

hand in developing a plan. Hence, our employees were invited to participate in design

decisions and selections through a series of co-creation workshops. The objective of

these workshops was to understand the departments’ work needs so that we may co-

develop the final workplace design as a team.

Through our Change Champions, everyone was invited to participate in the selection of

the new workplace furniture. All were welcome to test out the various mock-up

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furniture and to provide their feedback, which were considered in the selection of the

final supplier.

The appointment of Change Champions, active engagement of our colleagues in the co-

creation process and the selection of furniture helped to increase the level of buy-ins

and minimise any surprises thereafter, which in turn facilitated acceptance of their

future work environment.

VI. WORKPLACE TRANSFORMATION AND HOW IT BUILDS CULTURE

At the end of the workplace transformation project, we have transformed a total floor

area of over 12,000 sqm (equivalent to about 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools!) over

2 storeys of office space, impacting over 1,000 employees. By breaking down silos and

removing physical divisional boundaries in the office, the transformation of our

workplace helped fostered a more collaborative and open culture as we saw a change

in the way we work, learn and connect.

CHANGING THE WAY WE WORK

As part of the workplace transformation initiative, CAG redefined office mobility in the

workplace with the belief that the future of work is anytime and anywhere. New

technology features were

introduced to enable our

employees to work anywhere and

on-the-go. The People Team

worked with the Corporate IT

department to introduce various

systems, such as Quick Drop - a

convenient way to transfer files and information (a la Dropbox™) without having to use

thumb drives; and Follow-Me Printing, which allows employees to print their documents

from any printer in the office with just a tap of their staff pass.

>1, 000 Number of employees who

benefitted from the workplace

transformation

12,000 sqm (or 10 Olympic-sized

swimming pools) of

floor area transformed

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In this everchanging digital age, mobile mail has also been enabled

for employees to access their email and work materials more

conveniently on their smart phones.

With the introduction of Human Resource Management System

(HRMS) app versions, employees can now access a whole suite

of HR services (e.g. leave application, claims submission, etc.) on

their mobile phones anytime, anywhere. Our people managers also

have easy access to HR reports on their mobile apps to monitor their team’s work

progress and development plans.

Besides enhanced productivity, the new

workplace is also designed with new pantry hubs

which provide more casual collaborative spaces

where employees get to move around and work

at different areas based on the task of the day,

and the people whom they are required to work

with. This facilitates a collaborative culture with

increased interaction among the staff community.

Besides work, these pantry hubs are for play too! Our pantry hubs often serve as a

venue for celebrations, lunch-time talks and team-building activities which fosters a

sense of community.

“The new workplace

transformation has really

helped our team build a new

sense of community. Every

Wednesday, we will work out

at the main pantry and also

invite other sections to join

us.”

Natascha Phua

Manager, Departure Experience

Airport Operations Management

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To reduce cleaning costs and improve

productivity in waste management, we made

the move from individual trash collection to

having Centralised Trash Bins, which created at

the same time, serendipitous opportunities for

employees to bump into one another when

they clear their individual trash at a common

bin. Furthermore, having replaced disposable

cups with ceramic mugs not only helped to save

the environment but also gave rise to more cup-washing conversations at the pantry

hubs. These efforts reflected the possibility to rethink the way we work, with merits in

creating a sustainable office environment and fostering interactions at the same time.

CHANGING THE WAY WE LEARN

Our new workplace also endeavours to turn traditional office space into one that

facilitates and promote learning. CAG’s annual Learning Festival is designed to create a

conducive environment that supports such active community sharing and learning. Each

year, the theme for the festival focuses on different topics and learning areas.

Learning Festival 2017 is about translating

thoughts to action; and encouraging our CAG

Community to #StartSomethingToday. We

hope to build an environment of trust and

openness to new ideas, with a certain

threshold for failure. It is a week-long festival,

packed with practical innovation workshops

and inspiring talks by high profile speakers

from the industry who shared interesting insights and behind-the-scene stories on

innovation and how to get started. It provides the

platform to showcase internal innovations, and

spark internal dialogues on the future of airports,

how CAG can continue to be an innovator of

experience, and how each and every one of us can

contribute in our areas of work.

The timely transformation of our workplace in the same year meant that the Learning

Festival 2017 team was able to try something different from the previous years. What’s

new about Learning Festival 2017 was the incorporation of Office Invasion where we

expanded publicity efforts into our new workspace. Besides heightening event

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awareness and encouraging sign-ups (99% of the slots were filled one week ahead of

the event), the publicity efforts also helped drive new learning and knowledge on

innovation; even among those who did not participate in the week-long event. Many of

the talks and activities were also held at our colourful pantries and new co-working

spaces, which were well-received with positive feedback from employees who loved

the injection of vibrancy into our workspace.

CHANGING THE WAY WE CONNECT

The new workplace also gave us a great platform for organising events that stimulate

divergent sharing of ideas as well as encourage community spirit and team bonding. On

top of the “office-warming” parties organised to welcome the employees into their

newly transformed workplace, we also introduced regular Fun Fridays at the common

pantries where different departments come together to bond over small bites, themed

activities, and light-hearted sharing.

99% sign-up rates achieved for

Learning Festival 2017 due to

greater publicity efforts at our

new workplace

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Departments are also encouraged to organise and host their own Home Parties where

they get to design the party themes and customise the food and activities to bond with

their invited guests from other departments whom they regularly work with.

Apart from office mobility apps, we have also implemented a new digital social platform

known as CAG In.Touch, a mobile application that works as an internal communication

platform (somewhat like Facebook) connecting people on-the-go. Having such a

platform is truly a game changer for us as it is a new way of connecting ourselves with

one other. Not only did its People Finder function help employees put a face to a

colleague’s name, instant connection can also be made with just a simple tap on the call

or message buttons. Employees also regularly post about the latest happenings at work,

91% of our employees are users of

CAG In.Touch

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celebrations and team gatherings. CAG’s senior management team has also been very

participative in such postings, helping them further connect with staff and vice versa.

Social content posted on In.Touch have also proven to be

effective in garnering the attention and interest, during our

communications campaign to help employees with

behavioural change as they move into a new workplace. For

instance, we engaged popular content creators to film a

humorous video series that aimed to promote positive

office etiquette; did an in-house short thriller film “Stranger

Danger”, which reminded employees to look out for

tailgaters and stay vigilant in preventing unauthorised access into the open workplace;

and a music video “I’m Coming Home”, featuring an employee’s workplace story which

tugs at the heartstrings with a song written exclusively for CAG.

In 2017, we conducted a survey to find out employees’ sentiments about In.Touch. 85%

of In.Touch users appreciate its ability to connect them with other colleagues in CAG,

while 83% says that it keeps them up-to-date on what is happening within the

organisation. This initiative proved that effective employee engagement and

communication have to be achieved both offline (at physical spaces we create) and

online (virtual communities).

Watch the full video here!

[Password: CAGHome]

>80% of our surveyed employees

agreed that CAG In.Touch

helped to connect them with

other colleagues and keep

them updated on the latest

happenings within the

organization.

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VII. CONCLUSION

Through the workplace transformation, we managed to increase workplace capacity by

48%, and the number of meeting rooms and collaborative spaces was tripled. The new

spaces and the closer proximity of work desks helped to promote a culture change by

facilitating conducive opportunities for quick discussions and group work. The shift from

working in functional enclaves where each department worked and interacted primarily

within their respective areas (each equipped with their own meeting rooms, pantries,

printers and water points etc), to one where all spaces are shared across departments,

also helped to improve interaction and communication among staff. Co-locating

departments that work closely with one another within the same neighbourhood also

helped with ease of collaboration, information exchange and addressed previous

problems of isolation and silos.

We were conscious that for any organization-wide change to be introduced effectively,

it needs to be implemented by humans with strong emotional connections to our

corporate culture. People respond better to change when their hearts and minds are

engaged; and when they feel that they are part of something meaningful and

consequential. Hence, while we remain cognisant of the best practices in organisational

change management, People Team’s strategy was to tap on the emotional energy of

our culture which resides in the way our employees think, behave, work, and feel.

Far more critical to the success of our Workplace Transformation change initiative is

ensuring that the way we work reflects the imperative of change. The reality is that

behavioural change does not come naturally with the new workplace, or formal

directives, and people who work together across different departments will not start

collaborating just because the lines on the chart denote the need for them to do so.

Effective and sustained change requires constant communication not to be taken for

granted. People Team’s multifaceted communications effort was designed to give every

employee a keen understanding on the change, and a stake in the shared outcome. We

then take deliberate efforts to measure this outcome, find out what works and what

doesn’t, and plan our next steps to support the process of constant change throughout

its revolving life cycle.

A survey conducted after employees were comfortably settled in their newly-

transformed Home Away from Home returned with highly encouraging and positive

feedback from employees. We were deeply encouraged by the outpour of positive

affirmation from our employees who shared that they were proud of the new workplace

and felt that the workplace enhancements have indeed fostered a stronger sense of

3years Time taken for entire workplace

transformation

48% Increase in workplace

capacity

3x Increase in number of meeting

rooms and collaborative

spaces

“As facility managers, we

prepare space for people. As

change managers, we prepare

people for space. Our

approach should focus on

creating a curated experience,

where everyone has the

opportunity to be happy,

healthy, empowered, and

engaged.”

Frank Duffy

British architect renowned for office

design and workplace strategy

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community, culture and provided more opportunities for them to work and

communicate effectively. This is also a testament to the success of our change

management strategy that has allowed us to achieve our vision.

And these achievements with our workplace transformation and its impact on our

culture had not gone unnoticed outside of home too. We were humbled by the many

requests through LinkedIn from various companies in Singapore to visit our new

workplace and also received several

accolades such as the ”Best Workplace

Culture & Engagement” (Singapore

HRM Awards 2018) and more recently,

“Excellence in Workplace Culture Gold

Winner” (Singapore HR Excellence

Awards 2018). We were also featured in

social media as one of the 5 dream

companies with the ‘coolest’ offices in

Singapore (thesmartlocal.com).

With a finite amount of square footage to occupy, the best return on investment is to

build spaces that support and are well-utilised by employees. To us, the success of our

workplace transformation is not measured predominantly by the design nor the awards

we win, but really the culture it bolsters. It is not about introducing a change to achieve

strategic business objectives, nor is it just about building a new workplace.

It is about making it home.

End of paper Word Count: 4,536.

98% of our surveyed employees feel

proud of their new workplace.

88% of our surveyed employees felt

that the new workplace has

enhanced communications

across divisions.

88% of our surveyed employees felt

that the new workplace

allowed them to work more

effectively.

80% of our surveyed employees felt

that the new workplace has

helped build a sense of

community across all divisions.

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References Bob Fox (2018) “Open Offices: One Size Does Not Fit All”, Work Design Magazine, 23 August 2018. Cheryl Duvall (2012) “Change Management: Optimizing People and Space Part 1 and 2”, Work Design Magazine, 1 December 2012 and 1 January 2013. John Kotter (2011) “Think You’re Communicating Enough? Think Again”, Forbes.com, 14 June 2011. John Kotter (1995) “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail”, Harvard Business Review, May-June 1995 issue. Kate Wieczorek (2018) “A Workplace Strategist’s Response to the Harvard Research on Open Plans”, Work Design Magazine, 30 August 2018. Martha G. Rayle (2007) “Opening Minds to Open Offices”, facilitiesnet.com. Singapore Business Review (2018), “Singapore’s office rents amongst world’s most expensive”, 9 Feb 2018. Scott Adams, Dilbert comics, https://dilbert.com/