[Interview]
With the rise of teleworking, flex office is expected to develop within companies. The idea? Adapt to new ways of working with more collaborative spaces while reducing office space. To avoid resistance to change, this approach must be explained and understood. The involvement of managers upstream of the project and with their teams plays a central role in its success. Clémence Rouart, management expert, answers our questions and identifies the keys to flex office success.
More and more companies are considering reorganizing into flex offices. That is to say a space arrangement where employees no longer have a dedicated office. Currently, around 15 % companies have already adopted it (Aviva, BNP Paribas, Axa, L'Oréal, PwC, Nokia, Deloitte, PSA, Sanofi, Société Générale, LeBonCoin, Fujitsu, etc.). This could concern 40 to 50 % of office real estate in 2030.
If this phenomenon first developed in the 90s within consulting firms, it is today experiencing a meteoric acceleration. With the amplification of telework, offices are now unoccupied half of the week. However, empty square meters have a cost.
To succeed, the flex office must not be designed or perceived as a simple saving measure on the number of square meters and therefore… on rents. Change must be supported to avoid organizational resistance from employees, a decline in the feeling of belonging, or even a flight of talent. In other words, involve all employees and managers well in advance. Managers must also adapt their practices.
What is flex office?
The flex office is a mode of organization where employees no longer have a dedicated office on the company's premises. Clearly, they no longer have a personal space, such as a “closed” office or office within an open space. They are therefore free to settle into one of the company's workspaces, choosing the one that is best suited to the activity of the moment. In general, a color code makes it possible to delimit the space dedicated to this or that service. The idea is to avoid the nightmare of every manager: having teams scattered on different floors, not knowing where your colleagues are based, etc.
Employees often have a lockable locker to store their personal belongings. The flex office no longer allows the personalization of the workspace: no more photos of the children or the small plant on the desk. The spaces are now dedicated to new uses and needs, in particular that of exchanging more, including informally. With teleworking, managers no longer see their colleagues every day. This increases the need for meetings and therefore meeting spaces.
The flex office thus involves increasing the number of collaborative spaces: meeting rooms of various sizes, agoras, brainstorming spaces, creativity spaces, modular spaces with removable partitions, etc. Their design must be thought of according to their use. We can imagine rooms dedicated to creativity without chairs or desks, where you are allowed to remove your shoes or even equipped with touch screens or walls on which writing is permitted.
It also requires spaces to isolate yourself: alcoves, phone box, etc.
As for informal exchanges, the installation of “cozy” spaces should encourage them with, for example, sofas.
“No flex office without teleworking”
In principle, flex office concerns companies of all sizes and all sectors of activity. However, we must keep in mind that it goes hand in hand with the organization of work: no flex office without teleworking. And, just like the latter, the flex office is incompatible with certain professions. Some in fact require specific and not very transportable equipment (engineers, designers, etc.). Others are subject to confidentiality requirements. This is why we find flex office more frequently in consulting and service provision companies.
As with teleworking, managers have had to adapt to this large-scale change without always benefiting from appropriate support. For employees, it is a change that can be difficult to experience if they do not see the advantages they can get from it. For example: more autonomy, a relationship of renewed trust, more concentration and creativity, more interdepartmental exchanges and therefore better collaboration…
What are the points of vigilance for a successful flex office?
Often, company management communicates little on the subject. However, for flex office to work, it must be explained and understood upstream. Above all, it should not be seen solely as a source of savings.
To begin with, this involves conduct studies on the occupation of workspaces and the impact of flex office reorganization. It is also necessary to inform employees and managers about the common objective of the project. It is better to integrate them into the reflection so that they adhere, be a force for constructive proposals and do not suffer after the fact. In other words, ask them about their needs. For their part, managers need to understand the advantages and constraints of flex office even more as they will have to bring the change to their teams.
Furthermore, a successful flex office also means a clear work organization framework to know in advance who will be present or not on the site. Therefore, teleworking cannot function with “floating” days taken randomly or unexpectedly. Because if employees do not respect their teleworking days, the company will be faced with busy days where some will waste time finding a space to set up.
To simplify, the art of flex office consists of finding the right balance between flexibility and strict rules. Listening skills and assertiveness are two soft skills essential for teleworking and flex office to combine harmoniously.
What are the best practices and managerial skills to prioritize in flex office?
To make flex office an efficient mode of organization, managers can rely on five good managerial practices.
1 – Anticipate and plan
Even more than teleworking and hybrid work, flex office requires anticipation and planning skills on the part of the manager. In other words, a certain rigor in its mode of operation and organization. But not only. This also requires establishing a relationship of mutual trust with the team for sharing schedules and visibility of work.
In the open space, work is visible through the presence of the employee at their workstation. In flex office, as in teleworking, work is visible through digital technology.
2 – Listen to employees
Flex office requires you to listen even more to your teams. Listening which involves, above all, requests. The manager must therefore favor open, factual and non-judgmental questions. Instead of “do you not mind switching to flex office?” ", he will instead ask "what do you need to work in flex office?" ".
This is also an opportunity to ask questions about equipment. You need simple connections, efficient VPN connections, even an automatic connection to the network... And of course, computer equipment that is both lightweight to be easily transportable and ergonomic, duplicate screens available in the new work spaces...
This listening is also useful to check if the teams know use collaborative tools. If an increase in skills is necessary, it is up to the manager to ensure that his teams have access to training.
3 – Set the rules and ensure they are respected
The manager must lay down the operating rules to start on a healthy basis. As with teleworking, two opportunities lend themselves to this.
· First opportunity
A framework of questions provided by HR, generally when setting up teleworking. Employees are asked about their ability to ask for help, express disagreement, organize themselves or even adopt caring communication.
· Second opportunity
A workshop for co-construction of rules. During this workshop, the team will, for example, determine which communication channels to favor or the legitimate unavailability slots. This is particularly beneficial for managers because teleworking has led to their excessive demands and very high expectations from teams regarding response times.
4 – Reassess the situation regularly
Managing well in a flex office involves regularly assessing whether each employee has the material and technical means necessary to work effectively. Ideally, once a quarter and on a dedicated occasion. This issue must not be submerged in a more global agenda.
Reassessing the situation also means remaining attentive to psychosocial risks. Here, they are similar to those for teleworking. Some signs can alert the manager: an employee who comes to site less often or who communicates less when present, productivity which decreases, etc.
5 – Develop the culture of feedback
The success of the flex office requires development of the culture of feedback. The employee must dare to tell the manager what works and what does not work. On the one hand, he must therefore feel confident in telling her his needs. On the other hand, it is up to the manager to adopt a posture that inspires confidence.
In your opinion, is flex office an opportunity or a constraint?
Overall, managers were not sufficiently supported when setting up a flex office. They too undoubtedly felt like they had undergone this change.
By nature, the flex office must be flexible and scalable. In mode test and learn, readjusting the organization to take into account the difficulties encountered is possible. This is why it is so important to listen to the feedback from all employees and use it to provide concrete solutions.
Team spirit and the feeling of belonging to the company are a central issue. Well designed and well used, the flex office allows you to strengthen the links between the different departments of the company. Provided that employees play the game and do not arrange to always sit in the same place and next to the same people. The manager also has a role to play here to encourage exchanges between collaborators who do not know each other, to encourage each to reach out to the other and thus foster collaboration.
Finally, the flex office is perhaps an opportunity.
First, to overcome the shortcomings of open space. No more concentration problems and managerial hypercontrol, room for creativity and autonomy in a relationship of exchange and trust.
Then, to resolve certain difficulties linked to teleworking: put an end to the feeling of isolation by encouraging informal exchanges.
Some people believe that flex office dehumanizes the company. In reality, the flex office will be what employees and managers make of it.
