[Interview]
With the rise of teleworking, the flex office is set to expand within companies. The idea? To adapt to new ways of working, with more collaborative spaces and smaller offices. To avoid resistance to change, this approach needs to be explained and understood. The involvement of managers upstream of the project and with their teams plays a central role in its success. Management expert Clémence Rouart answers our questions and identifies the keys to the success of the flex office.
More and more companies are planning to reorganise into flex offices. In other words, a space layout 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 involve 40 to 50 % of office property in 2030.
Although this phenomenon first developed in the 90s within consultancy firms, it is now accelerating at a lightning pace. With the growth of the teleworkingFor example, some offices are now unoccupied for half the week. But empty square metres cost money.
To be successful, the flex office must not be conceived or perceived simply as a way of saving on the number of square metres and therefore... on rent. The change must be accompanied to avoid organisational resistance from employees, a decline in the sense of belonging, or even a flight of talent. In other words, all employees and managers need to be on board well in advance. Managers also need to adapt their practices.
What is a flex office?
The flex office is a form of organisation in which employees no longer have a dedicated office on the company's premises. In other words, they no longer have a personal space, such as a "closed" office or an open-plan office. Instead, they are free to move into one of the company's workspaces, choosing the one best suited to their current activity. In general, a colour code delimits the space dedicated to a particular department. The idea is to avoid every manager's nightmare: having teams scattered across different floors, not knowing where their colleagues have settled...
Employees often have a locker to store their personal belongings. The flex office no longer allows for personalisation of the workspace: no more children's photos or little plants on the desk. Spaces are now dedicated to new uses and needs, in particular the need to exchange more, including informally. With teleworking, managers no longer see their staff every day. This increases the need for meetings, and therefore for meeting spaces.
The flex office implies a proliferation of collaborative spaces: meeting rooms of various sizes, agoras, brainstorming spaces, creative spaces, modular spaces with removable partitions, etc. Their design must be thought out according to their use. We can imagine rooms dedicated to creativity without chairs or desks, where people are allowed to take off their shoes, or equipped with touch screens or walls on which writing is permitted.
It also requires space to isolate itself: alcoves, phone boxes, etc.
As for informal exchanges, the installation of "cosy" areas should encourage them, with sofas, for example.
"No flex office without teleworking
In principle, the flex office applies to companies of all sizes and in all sectors of activity. However, it should be borne in mind that it goes hand in hand with work organisation: there can be no flex office without teleworking. And, just like teleworking, the flex office is incompatible with certain professions. Some require specific equipment that is difficult to transport (engineers, designers, etc.). Others are subject to confidentiality requirements. This is why the flex office is more commonly found in consultancy and service provision companies.
As with teleworking, managers have had to adapt to this far-reaching change without always having the benefit of appropriate support. For employees, it's a change that can be resented if they don't see the benefits it can bring. For example: more autonomy, a renewed relationship of trust, greater concentration and creativity, more inter-departmental exchanges and therefore better collaboration...
What are the key points for a successful flex office?
Often, company management doesn't communicate much on the subject. And yet, for the flex office to work, it needs to be explained and understood in advance. Above all, it must not be perceived solely as a source of savings.
To begin with, this involves carrying out studies on the occupation of workspaces and the impact of the flex office reorganisation. Employees and managers also need to be informed about the common objective of the project. It's best to involve them in the thinking process so that they buy in, make constructive proposals and don't just take things for granted. In other words, ask them about their needs. For their part, managers have an even greater need to understand the advantages and constraints of the flex office, as they will have to convey the change to their teams.
A successful flex office also means a clear framework for organising work to know in advance who will or will not be present on site. As a result, teleworking cannot work with "floating" days taken at random or unexpectedly. Because if employees don't respect their teleworking days, the company will be faced with busy days on which some will waste time trying to find a place to set up.
In simple terms, the art of the flex office consists of striking the right balance between flexibility and strict rules. Listening skills and assertiveness are two of the keys to success. soft skills to ensure that teleworking and the flex office work together harmoniously.
What are the best practices and managerial skills to adopt in a flex office?
To make the flex office an efficient way of organising, managers can rely on five good management practices.
1 - Anticipating and planning
Even more than teleworking and hybrid working, the flex office requires anticipation and planning skills on the part of the manager. In other words, a certain rigour in the way it operates and is organised. But that's not all. It also means establishing a relationship of mutual trust with the team, so that schedules are shared and work is visible.
In the open space, work is visible through the employee's presence at his or her workstation. In the flex office, as in teleworking, work is visible through digital technology.
2 - Listening to employees
The flex office requires you to listen even more carefully to your teams. Listening means above all asking questions. Managers should therefore give priority to open, factual and non-judgemental questions. Instead of asking "Do you mind working in a flex office?", they should ask "What do you need to work in a flex office?
It's also an opportunity to think about the equipment. You need simple connections, efficient VPN connections, even automatic connection to the network... And, of course, computer equipment that is both lightweight so that it can be easily transported and ergonomic, with double screens available in the new workspaces...
Listening is also useful for checking whether the teams know how to use collaborative tools. If skills upgrading is necessary, it is up to the manager to ensure that his or her teams have access to training.
3 - Setting the rules and ensuring they are followed
The manager needs to set the ground rules for a healthy start. As with teleworking, there are two opportunities for this.
- First opportunity
A framework of questions provided by HR, generally when teleworking is introduced. Employees are questioned about their ability to ask for help, express disagreement, organise themselves and adopt a caring communication style.
- Second opportunity
A workshop to co-construct the rules. During this workshop, the team will, for example, determine which communication channels are to be favoured and the legitimate times when they will be unavailable. This is particularly beneficial for managers, as teleworking has led to excessive demands on them and very high expectations from teams in terms of response times.
4 - Regularly reassess the situation
Managing well in a flex office means regularly assessing whether each member of staff has the material and technical resources they need to work effectively. Ideally, this should be done quarterly and on a dedicated occasion. This question should not be buried in a more general agenda.
Reassessing the situation also means keeping an eye on psychosocial risks. Here, the risks are similar to those associated with teleworking. There are certain signs that can alert the manager: an employee who comes to the site less often or who talks less when he or she is there, a drop in productivity, etc.
5 - Developing a feedback culture
The success of the flex office depends on the development of a culture of feedback. The employee must dare to tell the manager what is working and what is not. On the one hand, they need to feel confident enough to tell the manager what they need. On the other hand, it's up to the manager to adopt a stance that inspires confidence.
In your opinion, is the flex office an opportunity or a constraint?
On the whole, managers were not given enough support when the flex office was introduced. They too undoubtedly felt that they had been subjected to this change.
By its very nature, the flex office must be flexible and scalable. In mode test and learnIt is possible to readjust the organisation to take account of the difficulties encountered. That's why it's so important to listen to feedback from all employees and use it to come up with practical solutions.
Team spirit and a sense of belonging to the company are key issues. If well designed and used, the flex office can help to strengthen links between the company's various departments. Provided that employees play the game and don't organise themselves so that they always sit in the same place and next to the same people. Here too, the manager has a role to play in encouraging exchanges between employees who don't know each other, to encourage them to reach out to each other and thus foster collaboration.
In the end, the flex office is perhaps an opportunity.
Firstly, to make up for the shortcomings of the open space. Gone are the problems of concentration and managerial hyper-control, replaced by creativity and autonomy in a relationship of exchange and trust.
Secondly, to resolve certain difficulties associated with teleworking: to put an end to the feeling of isolation by encouraging informal exchanges.
Some people believe that the flex office dehumanises the company. In reality, the flex office will be what employees and managers make of it.
