A visible sign of the transformation of companies, workspaces have been evolving over the past few years – and even more so after the health crisis – to encourage exchanges, collaboration and innovation. Collaborative work, Agility, openness, effectiveness, and the well-being of employees. But why change the work spaces? How to adapt them to the new ways of working? How to facilitate the employees’ and managers’ appropriation of these new spaces?
To answer these questions, talenco and the design agency Moswo they co-organized a roundtable on the theme «New workspaces serving new work modes» moderated by Pascale Abadie, CEO of Moswo, and Jean Baptiste Gouin, CEO of talenco, with the testimonies of two specialists:
Director of Innovation & Workplace Development at Orange
Economist and labor sociologist
Research Director at CNRS
President of the scientific council at Actineo
“66% of those dissatisfied with their quality of life at work believe that their workplace is not adapted to their needs”
Analyzing the employees' habits to transform the work spaces
For Alain d’Iribarne, the corporate real estate project is first and foremost an anthropological subject, and the essential question to ask is: « Who are the users and for what purposes? ».
Any move or redevelopment project must start with an analysis of the jobs and practices, and involve the employees at an early stage. Frédéricke Sauvageot recalls that « For the project to succeed, it is essential that the collaborators share the vision, that they adhere to it, and that they can be actors and co-creators of the project. »It is therefore essential to « Starting from usage to design spaces ».
Specifically within the framework of the office, for Pascale Abadie of the agency Moswo, « spaces must adapt to the activities and the new temporality of work, alternating needs for concentration, sharing, and interaction. Collaborative work, Relaxation... ».
Managers at the heart of the appropriation of new work spaces
For Frédéricke Sauvageot, « Managers are ambassadors, connectors of the project to facilitate the adherence of their employees ». For her as for Alain d'Iribarne, « Real estate projects are first and foremost projects of change management. The spaces that we will co-build with the employees are tools at the service of a managerial project and a team project »It’s the way we want our employees to work and the way we prepare them that will be decisive.
Like any transformation project, this requires support upstream, during, and after the project. This involves acculturation, experimentation, and the appropriation of spaces and pedagogy to accompany this transformation.« This is a key issue for the company if it wants to offer employees innovative spaces that encourage collaboration and allow multiple choices of spaces based on activities. ».
But if the development of new spaces is part of a management project, as with any tool, it is necessary to make the employees who request this tool… especially in the age of digital transformation. working remotely. If they are not aware of what the new working methods are, then they will only see the disadvantage of more open offices and appropriation will be more complicated.
Jean Baptiste Gouin specifies that “The projects with the greatest effectiveness are those that begin with awareness-raising upstream regarding more agile and collaborative work methods. Managers are already in a position to facilitate and request these new tools. ».
Supporting teams for a good employee experience in the office
If the project takes off when the employees settle in the new workspaces, it is important for Frédéricke Sauvageot to have anticipated « An experience and imagined return that the project will continue in the future ». For Alain d’Iribarne, « What matters is consistency: the whole project and the participation must be carried out to the end. »That is why he is It is necessary to work on continuous improvement so that the spaces are always suitable for their intended uses.
For Frédéricke Sauvageot, « It is also necessary to work on the behavioral attitudes of managers and employees. »And this requires pedagogical support and tools tailored to the needs of users.« Creative spaces without people to facilitate collective intelligence sessions or to animate a Design sprint, That’s a shame, that’s a waste. Yet this is the observation of a number of places that are not living up to their potential. It’s like giving a superb car to someone who doesn’t know how to drive. »Jean Baptiste Gouin explains.".
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In a context of growth in flex office, With the rise of teleworking and nomadism, organizations are becoming aware of the transformation of the relationship to workspaces and the need to associate their real estate projects with a broader corporate dynamic in service of transformation: adopting operating principles adapted to tomorrow’s work, defining workspaces that promote collaboration, engagement, and well-being, and supporting teams towards more agile working modes that accelerate the adoption of these new office spaces.
