Imagine a workplace where the culture is great, but the uncertainty of the last few years has left people feeling burnt out and exhausted. Or perhaps a business where the leadership team is keen to encourage staff interaction but is locked away in a separate part of the building. How can these issues be addressed, holistically, to provide the optimum workplace experience?

Angela Ferguson and Stephen Minnett of Futurespace believe they have the answer.

Harnessing the collective knowledge of a range of experts across the pillars of workplace experience, Future X Collective (FXC) is the latest venture from Ferguson and Minnett.

“It’s the formalisation of a way that we’ve been working for many years now, in terms of strategising the future of work for businesses,” says Ferguson. “We’ve always been really holistic in our approach.”

The plans for FXC were being developed in late 2019 just before COVID-19 hit. And while the pandemic presented a variety of unexpected challenges, it also forced businesses to change their workplace models, bringing about changes that Futurespace had been advocating for since its inception in 2001.

“The genie’s out of the bottle now,” says Ferguson. “It is quite clear that working from home does work, it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, or what role you’re in – for 80 percent of people it actually works.”

With workplaces now looking to entice their staff back to the office – at least partially – businesses are starting to ask questions around how to create positive work experiences, which includes creating hybrid home and office working models, encouraging staff connection, and ensuring people’s mental health and wellbeing.

For FXC, these questions couldn’t have come at a better time.

“People want so much more from their workplace experience. And the way the Collective is designed is to really maximise all the opportunities for businesses to create an incredible experience for their people,” says Ferguson.

The Collective pulls together expert consultants from each field – or “pillar” – of workplace experience, including workplace strategy, performance and wellness, technology and agility, change readiness, leadership and culture, and physical environment. And while there are consultants addressing each of these facets independently, Ferguson believes Future X Collective is the first Australian consultancy with a holistic approach.

Future X Collective is built around the concept of the “Optimum Workplace Experience”, an idea that FXC suggests businesses “OWE” to their people.

“What it entails is looking at all of those different pillars to make sure that they’re being addressed,” says Ferguson.

The Collective is led by FutureVision (workplace strategy, discovery and ideation) bringing in other partners depending on a client’s unique needs.

Joining the Collective (amongst others) are Benny Button covering wellness apps and analytics along with other wellness experiences, Piece of Mind Technology (POMT) which develops experiential technology installations, Culture Garden which assists on culture shaping and leadership, Maven Change who provide end to end change management, Super Productive for digital transformation, agility and systems thinking and, of course, Futurespace.

Future X Collective
futurexcollective.com.au