The next stage of their growth involved setting up a new software system that they would be able to implement over a 12-month period. Then they could park the old software & run at much higher rate of efficiency. In the implementation period they needed another 50-60 staff, onboarded for the purpose of entering the data from the old software into the new software, as well as new data into the old system so they could run concurrently, and at the end of the 12 months they would simply archive the old system & run with the new.
The big problem
ICON INTERIORS were called in because of our specific space planning expertise to identify opportunity to house 50-60 people across one of the two sites.
What we found
What the team at ICON INTERIORS found was, at the site of the corner of Collins & Queen, we identified that oversized workstations had been installed initially. With some simple changes in the joinery we were able to reposition workstations, and while also creating compliant openings all the way down, we moved them all along to generate capacity for an additional 50 staff. This involved a total floor area calculation to determine maximum numbers of staff, taking into account legal requirements for air-conditioning & air handling and staff amenities.
How we solved it
What the ICON INTERIORS space planning team identified, was that there was room on the floor to modify the existing runs of workstations, to shuffle them all down, and maintain the compliant openings. As a result of this & removing two surplus meetings rooms that were evidently redundant as part of the overall space needs analysis, we then had space to install new banks of workstations, satisfying their requirements for additional accommodation in. There were some challenges to resolve with the fresh air flow & the air conditioning. The other complexity was accounting for male & female toilet ratios to staff. The interesting part of this was that, across that floor plate, there were predominantly lady staff. However, the toilets had equal amounts of male & female. In order to rectify this, we identified spaces within the core lift lobby common area, where there were disabled showers which we fitted toilets to. There were also cleaning cupboards that we converted into toilets. This enabled us to meet the BCA (Building Code of Australia) prerequisites for numbers of toilets required for both male & female, to allow the tenancy to comply.
This facilitated Chubb to move forward with their new software rollout, hiring an extra 50-60 for the next 12 months, which in turn lead to them being able to meet all their operational efficiency targets. Interestingly, after the implementation of the new software, they were able to completely exit the floor & save the cost of renting it, and save the wages not only of the 50-70 they had just employed, but also 80 other staff members that were now redundant with the more efficient software. As a result of the investment in time & money & involving the ICON INTERIORS team to identify areas of improvement, we were able to meet the need of the surge. At the end of the 12 months, Chubb was certainly in blue sky in terms of cost control, and were then able to make insurances cheaper & more affordable for their client base.