As the Head of Corporate Real Estate, Safety & Security, Crisis Management, & Resilience at Grab, Craig Foster is at the forefront of shaping the future of work. A member of Grab's senior management team, Craig leads initiatives that ensure the safety, security, and productivity of all Grab employees, or "Grabbers."

With over thirty years of leadership experience spanning law enforcement, security risk consulting, and corporate roles in manufacturing, finance, and technology, Craig has been a key player in evolving workplace strategies.

Since 1986, Craig has lived and worked in Asia, bringing a deep understanding of the region's unique business and cultural landscapes. His extensive experience and innovative approach have helped to support a groundbreaking workplace strategy project at Grab – a first-ever shift to Activity Based Working (ABW).

In this interview, Craig shares insights from this project, discusses the evolving nature of work, and explores the exciting possibilities for the future of corporate environments.

Craig Foster: Grab is a leading regional tech player with years of exploration and dynamic growth. It came to a point where Singapore wanted to consolidate five original work sites. The pivot was in response to the trend of silos within the separation of those sites.

The project attempted to respond to the lack of connectivity and different subcultures that had begun to emerge.

Our primary aspiration was to create one team under one roof. It was the first time that Grab designed a purpose-built campus.

During the design and build COVID occurred.

Before the pandemic, we had committed to moving towards ways of working that were more agile including a neighbourhood concept. All those things made up the broad canvas of the problem that the Veldhoen + Company team helped us solve.

CF: Engaging with Veldhoen + Company opened our eyes to broader possibilities. It was part of the ideation spark that helped us to rethink the workplace.

Through inputs from V+C, we began to see a common people team objective come together in three elements, which we now call PHD: Physical (real estate team), Human (HR team), and Digital (IT team). V+C calls these bricks, bytes, and behaviour.

At Grab these teams report to our Chief People Officer, so we were already one team but had yet to see the workplace strategy as a common objective. Veldhoen + Company's support helped us see this project as strategic to creating a more productive and engaging workplace.

CF: PHD came out of our partnership with Veldhoen + Company.

Before this project, we had a rudimentary workplace design with less emphasis on collaboration spaces or different work settings.This was the start of Grab's workplace experimentation and helped create a more strategic vision. 

CF: We are very actively exploring measuring experience/wellbeing.

We've started to think about whether that is distilled down to factors like the amount of time online, frequency of breaks, number of days in the office, or number of sick days taken as examples, but we're just exploring the impact now.

CF: The picture I painted regarding the problem we had to solve in parallel with the pandemic was a very steep climb.

The strategy was developed before COVID; the build occurred during the lockdown, and our move-in happened post-COVID.

By the time we were persuading Grabbers to come back and enjoy the new space, global ways of working had expanded.

CF: We sat down and thought about how to reduce friction. To incentivise, we tried coffee carts, fun events, TED talks, extra campus buses, and social nights etc.

We're a company that's huge on feedback, and we take every piece of feedback very seriously.

We have clear, specific reasons why Grab thinks this flexible model is best for our business.

We've gone so far as to adopt the phrase, "earn the commute." We ask ourselves when our teams wake up each day, why do they want to return to the office?

CF: Given the history and deep lineage of Veldhoen + Company, ABW was perhaps ahead of its time. That contribution was quite industry-leading and thought provoking.

CF: It's good to ask tech companies this question because we're in the business of constant change and evolution.

It's an open canvas question because the optimum working environment question is something we're still investigating. The question is, "what is the sweet spot of work, and how to help companies find their unique version?" The next iteration would likely include additional focus on wellbeing and mental health.

There's a need for bespoke solutions for specific corporations. I seek updates and benchmark this all the time with other companies.

Rather than just the yoga mat (to quote Hardeep), how can V+C help design-in features rather than what many companies provide as add-ons?

There are considerable opportunities to answer the broader questions and pivot towards experience and wellbeing.

Many employees are likely to be looking for guidance. The guidance might not be exactly what they wanted to hear ("you decide"), but people often find comfort in guidance, rules, or clear expectations.

At Grab we are seeking to help employees reconnect.

CF: Veldhoen + Company is small, personable, and engaged, with dedicated and deep expertise in this niche space of behavioural-led workplace strategy.

We found the team very flexible in terms of project management (especially when we needed it most during COVID).

CF: Keep ideating, keep innovating, look to technology first, and be BOLD!

CF: Possibilities.