“Getting everyone into a new environment and the company off to a new start"
Interview with Yann Albrand, Board member, Marsh France
Mobilitis Newsletter no.11 March 2007
Marsh S.A, consultant in risk management and insurance broker, Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Marsh's human resources advisor, and Guy Carpenter, specialist in risk management and reinsurance, are all wholly owned subsidiaries of the MMC group whose revenues were more than $12 billion. The group employs more than 55,000 in 100 countries. The three subsidiaries moved to Tour Ariane in la Défense last year.
How did the plan to relocate first come about?
YA: Bringing the subsidiaries together was a strategic decision taken at the corporate level. The purpose was to set up synergies, with a focus on our customers. We often had the same customers, but were in contact with different people chairman, directors, human resource managers or risk managers etc. The same company can be working with Mercer HR as a service provider for providence insurance schemes, with Mercer Management Consulting on strategic issues, with Mercer Delta for senior management coaching, and with Marsh as an insurance broker. Our subsidiary, Guy Carpenter, which organizes reinsurance, counts among its customers insurance companies. The same insurance companies can also be our suppliers as they provide us with insurance products which we sell on to those that need them.
In France, there was also the problem of geographical dispersion. In the past we acquired a number of smaller insurance outfits, each with their own offices. Consequently the MMC group was working from 8 different sites, most of them in Levallois. Tactical reasons then came into play. The area of Levallois where we were located was being redeveloped, with major property restructuring in view, forcing us to leave some of our buildings. This accelerated the start of the project.
The project itself involved a full-scale operational reorganization of Marsh as a whole, bringing together all the separate entities and making savings by pooling common services. The cost aspect —although not to be under-rated— was not the main reason for the move. Over and above working under the same roof as our sister companies, we wanted to inspire Marsh into a renaissance after some difficult times that started in 2002, culminating in redundancies in mid-2005. Everyone needed a change of environment and a new start in their business lives. We wanted a new, more modern and more efficient working environment. The move project coincided with another important internal event, the appointment of a new chairman. All of these conditions came together, prompting us to take the plunge.
How did you decide where to go in la Défense?
YA: The decision to move was made in 2005. We terminated the lease on the main building at Levallois, before signing a new one in August 2005. First, we looked at locations in the inner suburbs, particularly in Rueil Malmaison, where office rents were more attractive. Then we had a one-off opportunity. The real estate market in la Défense was extremely expensive for new buildings, but at its lowest in mid-2005 for buildings undergoing renovation. In January 2006, we signed a lease for space in Tour Ariane, which had been completely redeveloped.
Why did you decide to work with Mobilitis for the relocation?
YA: We wanted a company that was able to handle a project the size of ours, and few companies had this experience. Mobilitis is one of the few with this experience. For example Mobilitis took care of the move of national daily paper Le Figaro. We were also reassured by the financial health of Mobilitis, and were convinced that Mobilitis would be able to form a good working relationship with our people and our real estate consultant, Jones Lang Lasalle. That was important, so that we could be sure to get the project completed within tight deadlines. We knew we would be short of time between the termination of the lease in Levallois and the setting up of the new premises. We absolutely had to secure the whole move, if we wanted to avoid paying fairly heavy penalties to our landlord to extend our occupation in our old premises.
What were your targets regarding the move?
YA: Each of the three entities involved has its own management, and was concerned to keep its independence. Even so, the synergies sought by senior corporate management had to be reflected in the fit-out. Everyone was to be in the same environment, with enough flexibility in the organization to be able to alter the layout to any changes that may take place in the company.
We also needed a very high profile change project to involve all employees. Furniture was renewed for everyone, including those who had recently changed it. Everyone now has flat screens.
Of course we also had to take into consideration major technical constraints such as high-rise buildings and the fact that there was no raised flooring.
Generally speaking, we wanted the fit-out to be up to the standards of a modern, open, forward-looking and highly adaptable company. There were already open spaces in our support function such as HR, finance and claims processing. These were extended right across the company, and particularly to the sales force. Open plan offices promote team spirit and knowledge sharing. In Marsh we went from 300 closed offices to only 30, with around 1000 people on payroll. The decision to allocate a private office was linked to criteria beyond dispute, namely a particular function or level of responsibility.
How did the staff perceive the project?
YA: The support services started extremely early on, with very significant involvement from Human Resources and the Communications department. We attached particular importance to internal communication, to avoid the fear of the unknown. A specially designed Intranet site provided maximum information. We studied individual employee home situations to demonstrate that commuting to the new offices would be easier than before. We emphasized the quality lifestyle and better environment. From January 2006 to September 2006, there was a great deal of dialogue with employees about layout and furniture. People were consulted via a dedicated show office. Around 50 people visited the site to give their opinion.
At the outset, we met strong resistance from the staff who were very attached to their private offices, and most of whom were due to go over to open plan. In our profession, visible signs of status are greatly valued. Everyone was worried about the noise and the lack of space. Everyone is now satisfied. Concerns over noise levels were quickly a thing of the past, and the actual space available was a tremendous surprise. The drawings looked as though spaces would be far smaller. There are several areas where people can isolate themselves if necessary, with a large number of meeting rooms and communication bubbles. Mobilitis helped us enormously to find the right balance between the Anglo-Saxon model and the work environment that our people were used to.
The move itself went extremely well. Everything was tested in the new premises with about fifty employees the day before the move, to identify residual glitches and put them right before the general move. To give the big day the appropriate celebratory touch, we brought in a caterer to a floor that had not yet been fitted out. Our employees used that floor as a place to meet all day long and exchange their impressions.
The pre-move anxiety has completely disappeared. Today people feel they've been there a long time. The only remaining negative point—a very subjective issue given the statistics from the local police station— is the perception of insecurity on the concourse at la Défense and in the public car parks.
In terms of general organization, the three companies are still separate, and not all of their services are pooled. On the other hand, we've set up closer ties between Strategic Accounts, the Sales Department, and General Management (with the exception of one CAC 40 customer). The whole team, sales, specialist advisors, back office and claims management are now organized around a single customer contact person. If this model works, it could be more broadly adopted. This is the real benefit of working in a more modern and flexible environment, allowing for much easier changes in the organization.
How was project management organized?
YA: The project was under direct control of Senior Management. In practice, it was I myself as Project Manager with assistance from a project committee including General Services, Information Systems and Communication, with considerable involvement from HR. All high impact decisions were taken on a collegiate basis in the Executive Committee, our management body which represents all business in the company. This promoted adhesion to the project.
The Mobilitis team, made up of experienced professionals, supported us extremely well, with a highly organized project management approach. They regularly shared alternative points of view with us, and had no hesitation in challenging us. Just as important, given the extremely short deadlines we had to work to, there was good teamwork between the Mobilitis project committee, Jones Lang Lasalle, and those involved in the move.
Maximizing flexibility – the approach as seen by Frédéric Stoppa, Mobilitis Project Manager
The project as it unfolded
MMC wanted to ensure that flexibility, open plan offices, and synergies between the subsidiaries were the watchwords. The fit-out of the workspaces should be an expression of the organization intended by the company itself. The starting point was a global vision, working down to levels of successive detail, and finally to the personal workstation level. The overall view was a master plan, with sought-after objectives. Then there was the description of the organization, of workflows and connections between the different entities, of the types of workstation (individual manager or bench-style) and other special features. Once the master plan was approved, it was adjusted to the needs of each team, while keeping within the general guidelines as far as possible. This made it possible to work on a standard floor, taking into consideration both the special features of the building and the management's view of the most desirable corporate life and workspace.
The building
Tour Ariane dates back to the 1970s, and was completely refurbished to high quality standards by Unibail. This involved optimization of the usable space, upgrading to current safety standards, and in particular, care for end user comfort (air conditioning, lighting, sanitary facilities, fire protection, and common areas).
The safety considerations of high rise office buildings means they must limit their calorific potential, i.e. the heat released in the event of fire by the burning of all the elements in the fixtures and fittings. This was an important criterion that had to be taken into consideration for paper management and the choice of furniture.
The morphology of the building, with the slightly off-centre core, and deeper floors on the south side, influenced the layout of spaces. There were also limits created by the initial construction techniques, among these the absence of raised flooring, and relatively little space in the void of the suspended ceilings.
Shared workspaces
This was a major challenge in the project. How could we develop the staff’s commitment to shared workspace in a company accustomed to individual offices? A shared workspace is a highly organized and structured one. The design of the standard floor was based on the typology of the workstations, and an approach whereby technical constraints could be turned into strong points. One such example was the distribution of networks to workstations from the façade. The fit-out plan could be set up around workstations of identical shape in groups of four, separated by storage units, which were fitted with channels to conceal the printer cabling.
The printers themselves are located on the passageway side, to keep noise and movement to a minimum. Keeping noise down was a priority. In addition to fitting suspended ceilings and carpeting with a high capacity for sound absorption, certain bays were left vacant to further dampen noise levels.
Flexibility in the use of this space has been achieved. This is the result both of continuity of layout and of the ease with which the telephone and IT configurations within can be changed, at the workstations themselves.
Specific spaces
Cafeterias, meeting rooms and support spaces are in the same position on each floor, creating, as it were, a central artery, and logic to the building layout vertically. This means that each floor has the same fundamental layout, making it easier to identify locations within the building. These dedicated spaces act as natural signposts, by the way they are positioned and their décor. The variations in the partitioning (glass bubbles, frosted glass), with specific lighting for each activity area and colour coding in the treatment of the flooring, all add their effect. Thus little islands are created that are accessed along the main passageways, so as not to disturb the workspaces.
The meeting rooms on the upper floors all have the same audiovisual equipment, and touch screen centralized management.
VIP space
This space takes up a half floor, and includes meeting rooms and reception areas, as well as a pantry. Here consensus was needed among all the entities in the group. The VIP space had to be differentiated from the standard office space while also remaining coherent with the headquarters in London. This was a project within the project, where the priority was the company's image profile—sharpened through the integration of audiovisual technologies, the deployment of quality materials and a selection of specific furniture.
The move
This was the key moment for the success of the project. A successful move was deeply important for staff perceptions and their sense of belonging in the new work environment. MMC's move was a successful combination of a great many skills and required minute preparation. The move took place in three waves, the largest of which involved 650 people transferred over a single weekend.