The flex office has become an essential model for workspace design. With the development of remote work, project-based organization and the need to reduce the environmental footprint of buildings, our working environments are changing. It is therefore crucial to rethink offices to integrate these new practices, while optimizing flexibility, modularity and employee well-being.
Here's a step-by-step guide to a successful transition to a flex office.
Adopting a flexible workspace enables companies to adapt to the changing needs of their employees. The remote work and agile organizations make it necessary to rethink the configuration of traditional offices to offer greater flexibility. Moving to a flex office means reducing unused floor space, by adapting to actual office occupancy rates. Not all employees are present all the time, which opens the way to space optimization.
The flex rate is a key indicator in this transformation. It determines the number of workstations in relation to the total number of employees. For example, a flex ratio of 0.7 means that there are 7 workstations for every 10 employees. This ratio depends on remote work habits and average attendance rates. Adjusting this ratio ensures optimum use of space, while providing a comfortable working environment for teams.
To make a successful transition to the flex office, it's essential to follow a plan structured in several phases, each of which plays a crucial role in the adoption of this new model.
The first step is to define the objectives of the flex office layout, aligning management and involving managers. It is necessary to determine a flex rate adapted to remote work practices and actual office occupancy. For example, if 40% of employees are on remote work at any given time, a flex rate of between 0.6 and 0.7 is relevant.
This phase also includes the creation of detailed specifications, integrating team needs and anticipating the challenges of flexibility, modularity and workspace ergonomics. Ensuring that the flex office meets employee expectations is crucial to its acceptance and success.
The programming and macro-zoning phase aims at structuring spaces globally, taking into account the specific needs of a flex office environment. The aim is to design an optimized functional layout to divide zones according to use: workspaces, collaborative zones, meeting rooms and relaxation areas.
A capacity study is carried out to validate the defined flex rate and to ensure that offices can absorb occupancy flows while guaranteeing a comfortable working environment. This analysis is used to model different occupancy scenarios and check that the spaces are sized to handle peaks in activity.
Once the macro-zoning has been validated, the design and micro-zoning phase refines the details of the layout. In the context of the flex office, it is essential to create environments that maximize employee comfort and flexibility. This includes modular workstations, zones for concentration, and collaborative spaces that can be adjusted according to needs.
Furniture plays a central role in this phase, as it needs to be easily reconfigurable to adapt to changing usage patterns. At the same time, the integration of technological tools (workstation reservation applications, presence sensors) is crucial to managing occupancy rates and optimizing resources.
The work phase consists of adapting the offices so that they become flexible, multi-purpose spaces. This phase includes the installation of movable partitions, shared storage and acoustic solutions to guarantee the comfort of employees in an open-plan environment.
Depending on the established flex rate, it's important to provide sufficient alternative spaces, such as privacy bubbles or relaxation areas, to meet fluctuating team needs. This phase ensures that each space is optimally configured to accommodate the expected number of employees.
Once the work has been completed, the move to a flex-office workspace requires change management support. The success of this stage depends on targeted communication campaigns and the organization of workshops to train teams in the new tools, such as workstation management applications.
By explaining the advantages of the flex office, such as freedom of choice of workplace and improved working conditions, employees are more inclined to embrace these new spaces. An effective communication plan must therefore highlight these benefits, while addressing employees' questions and concerns.
Once the teams have settled into their new flexible offices, it's crucial to keep a close eye on their experience and satisfaction. Surveys are carried out to measure adherence to the flex office model and adjust the flex rate if necessary, based on observations. For example, if a flex rate of 0.7 proves insufficient during busy periods, additional workspaces can be added, or working hours adjusted.
This monitoring phase ensures a flexible, scalable working environment, perfectly adapted to the needs of the teams, while optimizing the use of space.
Adopting a flex office is a strategic move that optimizes floor space and reduces costs, while offering employees a flexible working environment adapted to new practices. By following these key steps and adjusting the flex rate according to remote work habits and actual occupancy, a company can transform its offices to meet today's challenges. Deskare is ready to support you in this transition, providing space management tools and personalized advice to implement a high-performance flex office tailored to your needs.
Would you like to discuss these workplace strategy issues? Deskare offers a simple, intuitive solution that can be deployed rapidly, enabling you to organize both on-site presence and flex office, while giving employees visibility of their team's presence.
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