The flex office: the art of reinventing work spaces

Flex office: what are we talking about?

The flex office has several names: desk sharing, shared office... But be careful not to confuse it with the principle of flexible work, or flex working, which consists in letting employees freely manage their schedule.

With telecommuting, employees are not present in the office at the same time. The flex office therefore allows companies to rethink internal spaces by removing individual offices. The goal? To give more space to other types of spaces and to promoteactivity-based-working and hybrid work.

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The great advantages of the flex office for your company

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Reallocation of office space

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Workstation occupancy rates vary by industry, ranging from 50 to 70 percent. You can maximize it by reducing the work surface. Spaces that are no longer used by employees can be sold or sublet to reduce real estate costs.

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Another solution to regulate the flow of employees is relocation. Favoring nearby coworking spaces reduces the company's carbon footprint. Offices are no longer unnecessarily heated and employees spend less time in transportation to get to their workplace. In addition, access to these external shared spaces avoids peak traffic in the office, so the company offers a pleasant and optimal working space for employees. Everyone wins!

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Thelayout is also an important part of the flex office. It's an opportunity to transform work areas so that they perfectly match the uses, with :

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• collaborative spaces (creation of an agora for creative workshops or brainstorming sessions...);
• private spaces (creation of soundproof boxes for employees who need to concentrate...).

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Improving team performance

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With the flex office, ensure the well-being of your employees by making work spaces more lively, more human. To do this, you can :

• implement collaborative digital tools so that teams can communicate with each other more easily (Slack, Zoom, Teams...) and share their knowledge (Miro, Drive, Nuclino, Notion...) ;
• replace the fixed office by the flexible office, where each collaborator chooses his workspace according to his needs (concentration, collaboration, meeting, appointment...) and his desires.

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A flexible space improves the quality of life at work and breaks the routine: employees are more productive but also more satisfied!

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The method of application: how to set up the flex office?

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Carry out a diagnosis

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This diagnostic will allow you to determine the actual office occupancy rate and the number of days employees are teleworking or in an external space. To create a better adhesion to your flex office project, take into account the habits and needs of your employees.

Define rules

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Although the flex office concept offers more flexibility to everyone, it is important to define rules to maintain a pleasant work environment. Here are some examples of rules to put in place:

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• use the reservation platform (software, mobile application...) to reserve a workstation;
• tidy up and clean up workstations before they are vacated. Our advice: allow employees to decorate their temporary workspace with their personal items to break down standardization and lack of identity in the office, and set up lockers to store personal items.

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And some good practices: 

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• offer zone booking: the fact of reserving a place in a workspace to encourage exchange and collaboration;
• organize collaborative rituals to maintain social ties;
• ensure an efficient rotation between telework and office presence;
• listen to the needs to optimize the new way of working.

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Redesigning the office

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Create work areas to meet the needs of employees: creative space, quiet space, meeting room...

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Implementing change management in the management style

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Finding the balance between autonomous work and remote support is the key to creating flexibility in the workplace. And to maintain team cohesion, communication tools will be your best allies. Invest in quality tools to satisfy your employees and avoid loss of motivation.  

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The implementation of the shared office concept (or flex office) must be progressive. To ensure the success of your project, observe the working habits of your employees, take into account their expectations and test the concept. Some companies offer a support service to introduce flex office in different organizations. Think about it!