According to Eeva Terävä, Workplace Consultant at Martela ”the workplace should be seen as a service platform offering us a freedom of choice for the new kind of hybrid work we do today”. The planning of today’s working environments must therefore be based on user-centricity and the way of working.
Terävä explains the idea behind the Workplace As A Service like this. “For the workplace to be a service, the workplace planning must start from understanding the nature of work and the different roles within the organization. This means that before the actual planning work, one must survey the employee types and the kind of work they do as well as study which kind of work activity areas are really needed.”
After all, it is quite often the case that everyone in the office has their designated workstation or a private office but only works there for 20 % of the time. A properly sized and planned workplace supports the working optimally.
Hybrid work activates employees
It pays off to have a closer look at the ways of working since the job roles we have today are increasingly some type of combination, in other words hybrids. “It can mean a combination of remote work and office work, concentration and collaboration or different kinds of knowledge areas. Hybrid work doesn’t mean that you sit at your desk or work just with your own team day after day.
Different needs and tasks may take the knowledge workers to different workspaces best suited to the task at hand. People value a diversified work environment and having the freedom to choose how they want to work. This is why the organization’s requirements for agility, activity and continuous change are also taken into account when planning environments that support hybrid work.”
Workplace that breaks down silos
Another interesting point of Terävä’s is that the work environment can also be used for managing. “When the employees are given the freedom to choose the way they work, the work environment becomes a source of creativity and a tool for self-management. On the other hand, it promotes natural ad-hoc encounters and makes the managers easier to approach.”
When a colleague from another function sits next to you, interesting opportunities for communication and collaboration arise. In the beginning, this certainly calls for courage, but it is worth it. At best, an activity based office supports the company’s business by driving its employees to be creative and excel.
Text: Mia Heiskanen
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