At Europa Group, a leader in the organization of medical conferences, flex office has gently emerged as the logical next step after remote work for the 300 employees in Paris and Toulouse. In two years, the teams have adapted: from 100% remote work to a gradual return to the office, including the implementation of flex office.
So how did Europa Group manage to meet the challenge of flex office and serenely go beyond the traditional use of its offices?
Manon Weiler, Executive Assistant, is notably in charge of the implementation and daily management of the flex office. Through her testimony, discover how Deskare helps Europa Group to meet its hybrid challenges and involve all of its Employees in this new life in the office.
With regard to work organization, for Europa Group as for many companies, there was a before and after March 2020. With the health crisis, the teams switched to 100% remote work overnight.
The events sector has been strongly affected by the crisis. Europa Group's offices were then closed for a long time. At that time, Europa had two offices in Toulouse, in addition to the one in Paris. A Toulouse lease was fortunately coming to an end, an opportunity to limit the effects of the crisis by reducing costs related to real estate, the largest expense item for companies.
After a year, the management of Europa Group noted that the objectives had been met and that remote work was working. Questions were then asked: are employees being asked to return to the office? And at what rate?
Before March 2020, employees could claim two fixed days of remote work, Tuesday and Thursday, conditional on seniority. "What do we do next?"
An evolution of the old model was necessary. Europa Group then seized this new opportunity to bring the teams together, continue with hybrid work and embark on the flex office, as 59% of companies said they were ready to implement it, according to a JLL study (2021).
“After a year of remote work and objectives met, we didn't want to ask the teams to return to the office from Monday to Friday. In the end, we didn't rent new premises, we reconciled remote work and flex office instead.”
After consulting with employees and the CSE (Social and Economic Committee) and implementing a test phase, flex office was adopted. Quickly, Europa Group needed an easy-to-use tool to help it manage its new work organisation and meet its four main challenges:
The success factor in the deployment of the flex office was employee involvement: everyone was consulted to identify initial ideas!
"Our hybrid policy is very flexible and adapts to different teams, so it is important that managers are involved in the implementation of the flex office to support their employees and report any problems or requests to us."
Gathering everyone's feelings made it possible to: note the teams' attachment to the flexibility granted by remote work, respect the work/life balance (free choice of remote work days and time saved in transport) and maintain team offices without depersonalizing workstations
And what about the CSE in all this?
Its role is advisory: it must be informed in advance of the reasons for choosing the flex office, as specified by the Health, Safety and Working Conditions Commission.
"Deskare helps us to better understand our employees in order to meet their expectations!"
To support and facilitate the implementation and daily management of the flex office, our platform has adapted to the needs of Europa Group. Deskare is a tool that offers several possibilities:
"Deskare helps us to better understand our employees in order to meet their expectations: which days they prefer to come in and how they organise their work. The application allows me to see that the office occupancy rate on Tuesdays is 90% and that we will soon run out of space on that day. I rely on managers to encourage employees to come to the office on other days or to change spaces if the team office can no longer accommodate them all!"
Deskare analyses employee habits (days of presence, use of spaces) to help: rearrange offices, schedule actions when there are many people present and create a movement towards the office and encourage employees to return, by offering them events on slow days.
By analysing the data directly from Deskare, Manon observed that even the most reluctant departments with regard to flex office were beginning to mix and change their habits. This is the case of the IT team who were not in favour of sharing their offices. However, the reservation of workstations by the entire company was possible on Deskare.
Naturally, employees settled next to them, in their historical office. They realised that this department is in high demand (emails, calls, messages on Teams). Together, they came up with a ticket system to address requests to the IT department.
"Thanks to the flex office, teams mix and employees meet and exchange ideas. Discussing with people we didn't talk to before is very positive for creating social connections and productivity: good ideas come from informal discussions. Mentalities are changing slowly but surely!"
When employees gradually returned to the office, before the deployment of Deskare, a board at the entrance of the premises was available for those present to write their name. The only way to know if someone was in the office.
"With Deskare, we find the friendly side of the presence board at the entrance to the office and the rules are clear and known to all."
When the offices reopened more widely, the presence board gave way to an integrated tool, accessible anytime, from anywhere. Everyone has visibility on their teams' schedule and can organise themselves accordingly if needed!
To the question: "what encourages you to come to the office?", Europa Group employees answer: "convivial moments, sharing and informal discussions". It is therefore natural that part of the office has been redeveloped to create an additional convivial space.
1. Consult your employees: ESSENTIAL
Upstream, it is important to discuss with the teams for better adoption, without breaking habits overnight. Conducting an internal survey is an easy, quick and useful first step!
2. Go step by step so as not to rush things
Do not hesitate to organise a test phase and do an evaluation after three or four months to observe what works, what needs to be improved and (re)ask questions regularly.
3. Maintain this logic of employee involvement
Regularly consulting the teams is a reflex to keep in mind. Involved employees can only thrive in the new organisation in the office. Take the temperature and dispel doubts with a new internal survey, discussions with managers or a working group on a specific topic.
4. Unite through ambassadors
Everything depends on the context and organisation of each company: the teams in charge of QVT, HR or even management, are your best allies!
To go further: download the summary of the Europa Group case study
Thanks to the involvement of employees and the use of the Deskare platform, Europa Group can guarantee a workstation for each employee, optimise spaces, promote collaboration and increase productivity. The adoption of flex office has also made it possible to achieve financial savings while offering a better employee experience.
Deskare can help you optimise the organisation of hybrid work and the use of your spaces. Shall we discuss it?
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