Flexibility in the workplace: there’s always something to say on this matter. A flexible office gives your employees room to be productive. But how far do you need to go to reap the rewards? And what can you get out of the principles of agile working and activity-based working?
Activity-based working
The office worker of today has a varied range of tasks that requires a mixture of teamwork and independent focus work, in which ‘productivity’ takes on different forms. The principles of activity-based working (ABW) provide an answer to this with spaces which are specialised in specific types of work. So your colleagues get to decide which working environment suits them best.
Agile working or flexible working
In a traditional office every employee still has his/her own workplace consisting, at the very least of a desk and chair. Did you know that on a typical working day, up to 60 percent of these workplaces are not used? That’s why many larger organisations are taking the next step: flexible working or agile working. Employees no longer have a specific workstation and are no longer expected to be physically present in the office every day.
The right mix
In terms of square metres, office space is expensive, in particular when it then remains unused. Introducing flexible working is an excellent way of optimising and reorganising space, for activity-based work, for example. This is how large organisations such as the Flemish Government do things today. For smaller organisations (with less than say 100 employees) the switch to flexible working is less logical. But doing away with specific workplaces is no guarantee that you will reap the rewards of activity-based working.
How does flexibility manifest itself in your company? That all depends on you! We’re happy to help you on your way to a flexible, productive office.