What is flex-office?
Flex-office is characterized by the reorganization and reduction of office attendance, with employees being free to work from wherever they wish, including the office.
In most cases, the implementation of flex-office is done in a hybrid way, with a minimum number of visits to the office.
We could almost speak of a "resilient office", to describe a workspace ready to adapt quickly and well.
The concept of flex-office isn’t that new, but it has recently been propelled as a necessity by the evolutions of the labor market these last years and particularly the covid crisis: remote work, technological innovations, increase of the turnover, increase of the office real estate prices... These are all changes that have pushed companies to work on their flexibility in order to efficiently absorb all the changes that punctuate daily life.
On the one hand, it is a question of responding to the expectations of employees seeking flexibility at work, but also, on the other hand, to the needs of the constantly changing market. In short: the more you adapt... the longer your company will last! 🔥 90% of companies feel that their workspace is no longer adapted.
How do you set up the flex-office?
Equipping yourself with the right tools
Since it is digitally-based, flex-office first requires equipping yourself with the right digital tools, which are essential to operate in a flex-office and organize the life of the teams. Booking a workspace, sending a private message, organizing an event, tracking office attendance: all these everyday tasks (and more) need to be digitized.
Here are some examples of what tools need to address:
- Showing your current location ✍🏻
- Booking a workspace or meeting room 👩💻
- Scheduling a visit to the facility 🕹
- Knowing how busy the office is ⏰
- Organizing a team event 🥳
- Tracking team highlights 🔑
Adapting policy and management style
To bring positive changes, flex-office must imperatively rely on managers, since it implies a different way of managing teams. They must be supported in this evolution, informed and sensitized. If necessary, they may also have to undergo training, in particular to improve their digital communication skills and their soft-skills (listening, empathy, trust, etc.).
The social bonds and the corporate culture must be preserved and also require the involvement of managers. With flex-office, it is better to have frequent gatherings to maintain a strong team spirit: tea time, team lunches, workshops, individual interviews or even playful activities are moments that employees request and that contribute to their performance!
With flex-office, it is better to have frequent gatherings to maintain a strong team spirit: tea time, team lunches, workshops, etc.
To favor a close collaboration with the teams, follow a test & learn approach and test your system with one specific team first. Then collect feedback from employees to adjust your flex office organization.
What are the advantages of the flex office?
Saving money
By facilitating remote work, flex-office has a considerable advantage: significantly saving money on the rent of your office, thanks to a reduced number of workstations. Yes, for your company, each square meter has a cost, and the slightest unoccupied workstation due to vacations, work stoppage, time off or remote working becomes a financial loss.
It also means reducing expenses in energy consumption, furniture and supplies, transportation costs, parking spaces... Altogether, these savings represent an invaluable gain for the company
Improving comfort at work
Over the last few months, all employees have made the same observation: remote work is synonymous with minimum stress and maximum comfort! Actually, it is quite logical, because being able to work from home allows you to:
- Reduce the time spent in transportation
- Organize your working time and your schedule
- Increase your concentration
- Reduce the cost of food
- Reduce the number of contacts and the health risk
- Reduce solicitations and interruptions
So many possibilities that allow a better balance between personal and professional life; a criterion that has become essential in the eyes of employees.
Increasing productivity and creativity
While flex-office boosts the company’s adaptability on a large scale, it also facilitates the adaptability of employees. Having a flexible work style means they can choose the most appropriate space for each task and thus gain productivity, while being encouraged to gain autonomy. By changing their workspace according to the rhythm of their tasks, employees also boost their creativity and break with the endless subway-work-sleep routine.
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