Products & Solutions

Interview with Julie Boshoff, Quest Staffing Solutions

In 2010, Julie Boshoff began an ambitious workplace transformation project for South Africa’s largest white-collar recruitment company, Quest Staffing Solutions, which has 12 offices that house 420 permanent staff. The company manages more than 16,000 outsourced workers at blue chip companies in the financial, telecommunications, IT, retail and public sectors and is part of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Adcorp Holdings Limited.

The project, undertaken in conjunction with Johnson Controls GWS Workplace team, was born from a desire to truly understand how staff worked, be more cost effective with building resources, and create a modern, comfortable and productive working environment. The GWS Workplace team used qualitative research alongside the unique online survey tool, All in a Day’s Work, to provide an accurate picture of how and where Quest employees worked, as well as their barriers to productivity.

The results have been staggering. Along with an annual saving of six million rand ($759,500), the types of workspaces at Quest now suit how people work. Two of Quest’s premises have been consolidated into a brand new, designed-for-purpose office, while investment in IT has given its client-facing employees the freedom to stay in the field.

Julie recently spoke about the project at the CoreNet Summit in Paris.
What was the background behind the project?
Julie Boshoff, Quest Staffing Solutions
I knew that things could be improved but had no real data. You would go to some of our offices at certain times in the week and only a fraction of the space was being used. Our lease was coming up for renewal, so there was an opportunity to look at everything to make sure that our people had the right tools to be effective. It seemed like the right time to set up what became our Way of Working project, which became known as WOW. The biggest motivator for WOW was pressure on margins and what I believed to be the underutilization of our workspace. Johnson Controls GWS was recommended to us by a property management company, RealFMG, who put us onto Rob Wright. I was interested in the workplace consulting process, as it would bring a scientific credibility to what I believed was happening – that we were not using our space effectively. I wanted to be able to prove that what I was feeling and seeing was in fact the case.
Can you summarize the results you obtained?
The first qualitative survey revealed that on average employees were wasting 112 minutes per day due to technology, the workplace and general work processes. The All in a Day’s Work questionnaire then backed up exactly what we thought, a huge underutilization of space, but it also revealed some things that we had not realized. Our people didn’t have the right technology and there was a lack of private meeting areas. We had lots of space, but it was not the right kind for how the business was operating and our employees’ work-styles. The survey showed that lack of private meeting spaces was hampering productivity and that noise was an issue. It also showed that we had people in the field who were traveling to office just to check emails. We were expecting people to work off-site, but without the correct technology. It made sense to invest in technology to keep field staff with our clients and provide the right workspaces that allow people to be far more productive.
How do you think the staff received the survey? How did people engage?
The All in a Day’s Work survey had a response rate of more than 80%, which speaks volumes about their interest and support of the project. There is a psychological element to engaging people at the start of any project. It helps them to understand the issues, terminology and they feel empowered because they have been involved from the outset. When they are engaged they buy in to what you’re trying to achieve. I thought that our employees would be enthusiastic about improving the way we worked, but I was surprised just how enthusiastic they were. It also changes the way that people think about work when they have had a hand in shaping the future. They trust the data because it comes from them.
What did you learn from the project?
The biggest lesson is that you really have to understand what’s happening at every level of the business. I could see that we were not using the space we had effectively, but it’s reassuring to be able to prove it with hard data that can be discussed at board level. We had all these offices and ways of working, but no one had really looked at it to see if it was right for our business. It was one of those things that developed over time, no one thought about it in its entirety, in terms of productivity or profits lost. We had spoken about looking at it for some time, but only really decided to do something about it once our lease was coming up for renewal. We could have acted sooner.
How has this helped Quest?
We have saved six million rand ($759,500) per annum for the next five years budget, for a one-off outlay of around four million rand ($506,330). Most of the savings were from the merger of two offices. Now everyone focuses on productivity and how much the workplace actually costs, which appear on the P&L (profit and loss) line of each manager. But apart from the financial savings we have a far greater understanding of how our teams work and what they need to perform.
What are the next steps for the project?
We now need to run a follow up survey – probably in the next three months. It will be interesting to see how things have changed.
  • Julie is Managing Executive, Finance & Support Services at Quest Staffing Solutions. She has been with the group for 22 years and has contributed to the organization receiving numerous awards.
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