ProspeKtive

Prior to the health crisis, many companies were finding that their office space was not being used very much. The test of forced remote working proved that it was possible for many professions. Since then, employees have embraced telecommuting. The question of office utilization and the potential reduction of office space is therefore once again on the agenda. Our in-depth modeling studies, based on a solid database of projects and the observation of new space occupation practices, allow us to project three optimization scenarios related to the deployment of telecommuting.

Business Immo Tribune by Marc Bertier, Workplace Strategist Kardham.

With the health crisis, the French have massively discovered teleworking and seem to take a liking to it. But an unknown remains regarding the amount of teleworking for both the employee and the company to be winners. And let's say it forcefully: the right answers will be contextualized and scalable.

“A mobile world, always more mobile, a world of all types of mobility. A world where the more we move the more we telecommunicate; where you are mobile even at home and at home in transport; where mobility transforms and mixes time, distance, space; where the real and the virtual intermingle to merge; where work, commerce, value, the city, war, friendship, family - in short, society - are reinvented around mobility ". Kaplan and Lafont, 2004

March 17, 2020 will be remembered. On that date, an unprecedented episode of containment began in France to prevent the spread of an epidemic: the Covid-19. This for a then indefinite period precipitated millions of French people into teleworking without anticipation or preparation.

Collaborative seems to be the new injunction of the workplace. It infuses everywhere, from space to furniture to services. Ursula Raidt, director of strategic and international development at Kardham, gives us her vision of this announced change.

Kardham conducted a survey to capture the experience of working remotely during and after lockdown. The objective was to measure the feelings of employees to understand how this experience upset their work environment, in an organizational and spatial sense. More than 3000 employees belonging to 8 organizations from different sectors have therefore assessed 65 criteria which cover all the dimensions of the work environment: daily management, performance at work, relations with others and with the company, management and information sharing.

The questionnaire also included an exploratory part to understand projections on the future of employees. In addition to the overall results and the most influential variables, the procurement method by organization allows for a comparative approach. What are the differences between companies where employees have been assessed as performing better during this distance work experience and others? What can we learn from?

The way of working of the knowledge worker has reached a turning point, for which it is necessary to rethink the models of work- time and space management. Work takes place in complex places, which are generated by the collimation of multiple and different interests, often conflicting.