Quantitative Easing (QE), the injection of extra money into a nation’s economy by a central bank at the time of an economic downturn, is largely regarded as having helped save many western economies from collapse during the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.

But what if one of the lesser-known effects of QE is the rise in the wellness agenda in the workplace? Can the green wall in your office and your employer-subsidised yoga class trace its routes back to a central bank making the decision to pump £375 billion (the amount the UK was stimulated by between 2009 and 2012) into the economy? And, if so, how?

At first glance the two – QE and office wellness – have no apparent link, but, as many things in life, looks can be deceiving. In the post-2008 QE world, property saw a boom in investment.

This was largely due to two factors: buyers saw real estate as a safe haven for their money, offering a tangible physical asset in return for investment -– something that cannot be underestimated when facing a turbulent equity market -– and the fact that property offered comparatively better returns than many other asset classes. This includes government bonds, which, as a result of QE, saw their market price increase and their yields reduce, resulting in a dip in their popularity.

Real estate investment therefore rose from US$ 600 billion in 2008 to an estimated US$1.8 trillion in 2018 as investors sought out assets, resulting in a fall in prime office yields and rising prices in many of the world’s key markets.

But one of the other impacts of this is that it also became cheaper for landlords to increase the concession packages they offered occupiers to take space in their office buildings, such as longer rent-free periods.

Many occupiers took the spare cash they saved on rent and decided to re-invest it in their biggest asset: their people. Increasingly having to go above and beyond to retain the best talent, many companies embarked on extensive office modernisation programmes, installing extra amenities and implementing flexible working patterns designed to keep existing workers happy and attract new employees.

Combined with a rise in the global consciousness about the importance of health and wellbeing, this has resulted in us now seeing offices of the like that we couldn’t have dreamed of a decade ago, incorporating athletic tracks, juice bars and relaxation zones, to name but a few features.

Without QE, while employee wellbeing may have slowly have moved its way up the workplace agenda, it’s unlikely that it would have become so entrenched so quickly if the money hadn’t been available to occupiers to make the changes to their workplaces to meet workers’ expectations. 

So, if you’re feeling healthier and more relaxed in the workplace it may be time to drop a thank you note to Mark Carney’s predecessor, or his equivalent at your local central bank. Tell them I sent you.

Further information

This blog is inspired by a theme in Impacts, Savills global thought leadership publication and research programme. This year is the ‘disruption issue’, looking at how widespread economic, political, demographic and technological upheaval is changing the world of real estate.