Much of the week, you’ll find me in Te Wharau o Tāmaki, that’s Auckland House on Albert Street in the city centre. Ours is a building that around 3,600 people from across the Auckland Council group call their primary office, but lately we’ve been welcoming upwards of 4,200 people through the doors each day and we’re experiencing our highest occupancy figures in many years, perhaps ever (if you’re comfortable comparing a few apples with oranges).
In 2024 we’ve seen a steady increase in the number of our people spending more time in the office or changing their working patterns for a range of different reasons.
And this hasn’t come about by chance, there has been a concerted effort by the council, its kaimahi, your elected representatives, our council controlled organisations and some of our partner agencies, to get to this point. And I’m very proud of our journey.
Inheriting an ‘interesting’ property challenge
Amalgamation of eight councils in 2010 presented us with more office floorspace than we needed; an array of ageing buildings in various states of repair; lease commitments and sites that were simply of no use. Since 2018 we have wound down leases, sold buildings and implemented changes that have reduced our corporate property footprint by nearly 50 per cent and saved ratepayers $35 million.
Our WorkSmart programme has changed the way our people work. Hot-desking maximises the use of our office spaces and advances in technology allow people to work from other offices, collaborate between offices online and, of course, work from home.
As a regional organisation, the role we play in all town centres, not just the city centre, is important to us. We now have four main corporate buildings which enables us to be both visible and connected locally. The newest is Hawiti at Albany, a purpose-built leased site popular with staff based in Rodney, the North Shore and across the north-west. It is close to Albany’s commercial and retail centre, a major public transport interchange and the area’s main arterial routes. And it’s 97 per cent full.
Te Ipu Kura a Maki Henderson is currently running at around 73 per cent in the popularity (occupation) stakes. It offers a large number of flexible workstations for any staff to work at, whether as their normal office location or not. Teams from Auckland Transport and Tātaki Auckland Unlimited are also in the building. In the south, Te Puutahitanga, the Manukau Civic Building, clocked in at 107 per cent occupied recently. This reflects one of the teams based there, and not the average 9am-5pm worker profile. Our contact centre, which works from early in the morning to late in the evening is based at Manukau.
Our people are loving the city centre
Auckland House doesn’t blend into the typical city centre worker profile. As well as planners, our ICT, finance and HR teams, we have field staff, building inspectors, compliance and enforcement officers, botanists, conservation officers, engineers, geotech specialists and event staff. The point we’re making here is that not everyone who works at the council sits at a desk all day, every day.
Field staff will start their day in the office, then head out to visits, inspections or to do their work on the ground. Some staff work shifts, start early or finish late, or work weekends.
Occupancy at Auckland House, and at all our sites, is higher than it was before the pandemic.
Sure, we’ve made some other changes since lockdown which include welcoming two council controlled organisations into the building, leasing out half a floor to the Department of Conservation who are now co-located with our Environmental Services team (smart move) and consolidating staff from our last two legacy buildings Bledisloe House and Graham Street (now sold) – this is the apples with oranges bit I mentioned earlier.
Since April this year, we’ve hit at least 71 per cent occupancy each month and our occupancy across all sites is currently peaking at 86 per cent. This is on par with post-pandemic trends in Australia and well ahead of what is being reported across the US and Europe. Those are lofty comparisons, but what we’re saying is that we’re on a positive course, somewhere near the front, in changing times.
More than a directive
Much is opined about Work from Home Policies and Flexible Working Arrangements, all capital letters and laden with jargon. I agree that flexible working is a privilege – for both employee and employer.
But simply put, we work in an age with collective recognition of the importance of work/life balance, where technology helps us to work vastly differently to the days of being tethered to a desk, where qualities like neurodiversity are recognised and supported, and where our opportunities to be agile, innovative and efficient can lead to better outcomes all round.
Many of our staff work in more than one office over a week, this means our people can connect with communities across the region, it allows flexibility for family reasons and makes us a more attractive employer to people with parenting responsibilities. This sort of flexibility also helps reduce commuting time and traffic congestion. As custodians of Te Tāruke-ā-Tāwhiri: Auckland's Climate Plan, any organisational initiatives that contribute to climate action are a must, not a ‘nice to have’.
Our approach is to set our people and their leaders some solid guidelines, which can be turned into fit-for-purpose arrangements with their teams. We suggest at least three days in the office each week as a baseline to cultivate connection and collaboration. Some roles are less flexible due to the nature of the work, others more so. Some people prefer to be in the office all week, others will balance their work or other obligations by working from home on set days. This also enables us to be a family-friendly organisation and meet our obligations under employment legislation.
As an organisation, we’ve created the environment for that approach to thrive. It’s not fancy, there are no bean bags or slides, the coffee is instant and the décor modest. But it is well thought out, responsive to the needs of our staff and our customers, and it is working.
We wholeheartedly agree with the current conversation about reinvigorating our city centre and getting the right balance around flexible and hybrid working. We are proud of the work we’ve done to create a dynamic working environment that meets the needs of our organisation, makes best use of our corporate buildings, and works for our people and those we serve – and we encourage our neighbours in the city centre postcode to do the same.
