Oil and Gas Giant BP as a Case Study on the Future of the Workplace

Oil giant BP has a message for hotels and flexible workplace providers: Inspire us. Why is that? The multinational says it needs help to "rewire" its business. The company posted a loss of $20.3 billion in 2020, and is now selling its offices, and other assets, to invest in its low carbon energy transformation. It sold its London headquarters for $345 million in November last year, but will lease it back from new owners Lifestyle International Holdings for two years. It’s also told its 25,000 office-based employees they’ll be working remotely at least two days a week. Now hotels and workplaces will have a role to play as BP “rewires” its business — a process countless other companies will be going through as they map out their post-pandemic recovery. “[The hotel] brand has a place, it’s got consistency, there’s a feel, and hotels are often in the right places. Big branded hotels have been running hospitality hotels for hundreds of years,” said Andrew Carne, BP’s global workplace procurement manager. [caption id="attachment_423865" align="alignright" width="300"] WorkBold podcast.[/caption] “But on the flip side, uniqueness brings something different. We have many people creating many new things. After our long history as a company, this is probably the most sizeable change you could wish for, in terms of rewiring and restructuring our company,” he added. Carne, who was speaking during a WorkBold video podcast seen by Skift, ahead of going live on April 5, added that the company now has “lot of minds coming together” who want to work in a space that is different. “When and if we go to an external space, we want that to be inspiring, and to drive people’s minds in the right way,” he said. Avoiding the Mid-Week Mountain Unique and inspiring spaces are one thing, but providers of these spaces now need to adapt their technology, to fit with a lot of the process that travel managers are typically used to. For example