As I mentioned at the beginning, modern office constitutes an element of HR (human resources). It improves employer's attractiveness and thus allows to attract and maintain employee. Companies often aspire to make their office a business card which expresses their mission and values. Is it really worth investing in individualized office space?
At present, office is an important link connecting employees with their company. It creates human bonds and builds a unique identity of every company. Office is becoming an employer branding tool and it can be a source of competitive advantage. Companies aim at being more innovative and more efficient whereas employees are usually both the biggest expense and the biggest asset for the company. In order to achieve this goal, companies have to take care of employees' well-being and engagement, which results in better productivity of the whole team. It is worth remembering that office space can ease and also hamper the performance of these tasks. Therefore, it is recommended to benefit from the support of trusted and experienced partner and plan a new office compatible with its unique DNA.
Colliers International launched Workplace Innovation Department in Poland last year, which has been advising clients during the process of creating the strategy of working environment and change management. How should this process of change look like?
A perfect process is the one which helps to identify the company's and different teams' unique DNA and adjust the working environment to their specific expectations. The understanding of true needs, that is: corporate culture, work modes, employees' demography, organizational structure, or impact of industry is what drives the proper solutions. In Colliers, we integrate knowledge and experience of advisors on real estates, architects, business psychologists, sociologists and people who specialize in HR, which allows us to conduct a complex analysis and devise a multi-dimensional strategy for further actions.
We start the process of change in the working environment with meeting the management board in order to satisfy the needs and the vision of sustainable development. Then, our experts observe the specifics of every-day work, interactions between employees or level of using certain spaces. After a thorough analysis, we present potential advantages and risks which are related to changes as well as recommendations for concrete solutions to our clients. It is important to create a metamorphosis which is coherent with a development strategy. We never impose solutions on our clients but we actively engage employees and HR department in the whole process. Such approach helps to conduct some changes and create a completely new working environment which perfectly responds to the needs of company and its employees.
We started with the look in the past and summing up the changes which have occurred in office space over the past 20 years. We have analyzed the modern working environment. Now, it is time for looking into the future, so here comes the question: how are we going to work in the future?
In the upcoming years, more and more companies are going to invest in technological solutions which automatize repeatable processes in order to improve their competitiveness. What is important, work based on human relations will be still of great importance. The future employees will be required to have a holistic view, to analyze and to reach some conclusions, which will then translate into creative solutions. Design team working system will become more common; teams will be comprised of experts in different fields and from different countries.
At the same time, office of the future will favor building human relations which are crucial in creating new innovative solutions. Thus, office space will stimulate creative work and sharing of knowledge even more effectively. Office of the future will be also characterized by a great mobility of employees and opportunity of quick arrangement of space for the purpose of current tasks.
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