Everyone is talking about how the world of work is changing under Corona: old work models are gradually being replaced in favor of home office or hybrid working.

But what does that mean specifically for workplace design? Clearly a big change, because the use of space in the office or even the classic workplace will change noticeably in the near future. Therefore, anyone who gets used to the idea of New Work now and starts preparing their occupancy planning and resource management for the change today would be well advised to do so.

Based on three simple steps, we will show you what you need to pay attention to in order to successfully enter the New Work Era!

1. Understanding the needs of employees

The first and most important aspect is the needs of your employees. Their needs should be the foundation on which you build your new workspace management. We have already taken a brief look at what employees want in this article. In brief, the following points are of particular relevance:

• Modern work models such as home office and mobile working,
• Ensuring co-working both in the office and virtually,
• A modern workplace design.

For reasons of work-life balance, more and more employees prefer the home office or, to some extent, the mixed form of hybrid working. Companies that are aware of such preferences can assess the way employees work and respond accordingly. Finally, the conditions for such work models must first be in place – be it through binding home office and office regulations, the possibility of workplace booking or through modern workplace design.

2. Designing a flexible working environment

A central tenet of New Work is to design a flexible workspace. Consisting of divided workstations, quiet zones and modularly placeable office equipment in open-plan offices, the working environment can thus be dynamically adapted. This has the advantage that the office can be adapted to the needs of the employees at any time, e.g. if larger teams have to come together for a project.

Meeting, conference and team rooms in various sizes, as well as lockers, parking spaces, etc. are available in sufficient numbers. It is important that the contingents of the various resources can be viewed transparently and booked in advance. A booking assistant is a smart help in this respect, as it relieves you of resource management by providing an overview of current space utilization and occupancy planning at all times. Employees can use it to easily book rooms and meet up with teammates in the office.

3. Secure access to dynamic usage preferences

To understand the changing world of work, you should evaluate current usage preferences and information on how employees work. A Booking Assistant helps you with this as well, because it performs continuous workspace monitoring. Based on this, you can foresee trends and prepare your office for the future.

On the workload management side, for example, it allows you to see whether you have planned too many or even too few workstations. Depending on this, you can save resources to make your space utilization even more efficient.

The world of work is undergoing structural change – anyone who hasn’t noticed must have missed the last two years. Never before have working models changed as rapidly and radically as they will due to the outbreak of the corona pandemic in early 2020: Keywords like new work, home office and co. hit the current zeitgeist and are on everyone’s lips.

But what has actually happened in the working world in the meantime? What do employees want? Where will the journey take us?

We have identified four fundamental trends that you should definitely be aware of!

1. Flexible work location

Recently, the workplace is no longer exclusively located in the office. Many companies have turned to home office concepts during the Corona era. This seems to appeal to most employees, as it allows them to manage their work-life balance more efficiently.

Whether completely remote, in a home office or hybrid concepts in which employees switch back and forth between the office and home, it is clear that flexible workplace models are becoming increasingly popular. This is because it gives employees more freedom to choose their workplace according to their personal situation.

2. Co-working

Some employees are able to work independently and completely on their own if their job requires it. As a rule, however, most of them work in a team of several colleagues. In some cases, projects even have to be implemented across departments.

For the purposes of co-working, it is therefore crucial that team members are given the opportunity to exchange ideas with each other at all times – whether in the office or in the home office.

In the office, employees should therefore always be provided with a workstation as well as meeting and conference rooms where they can get together with team colleagues. On the other hand, in the home office, suitable video conferencing tools must ensure that they can also network virtually.

To maintain an overview and organize co-working smartly, a booking system specifically for workspace can be used. This helps coordinate work locations within teams in a transparent way to boost productivity.

3. Modern workplace design

Nevertheless, the office remains popular. If only from the perspective of collaboration with teammates, most workers don’t want to completely avoid visits to the office.

But here, too, more and more demands are being made: be it height-adjustable desks, ergonomic office chairs to rest areas, team rooms and the like. Corporate real estate management should therefore look at modern workspace concepts and redesign the available space where necessary.

4. Smart Data

Data-driven insights are indispensable in such workplace designs! After all, they map the wishes and preferences of employees and help to understand how workspace, meeting rooms, etc. are actually used.

The advantage of monitoring space utilization: Valuable conclusions can be drawn for utilization management, which in turn allows space planning and design to be adjusted.

RLE INTERNATIONAL Group strengthens its digitalization and software division with the integration of ReCoTech GmbH. Strategic space planning and workspace management support the development and design of individual space and work concepts.

New ways of thinking about work models, including those characterized by hybrid working in the future, are driving digitalisation solutions and transformation. The automotive industry is facing particularly great challenges. The complete transformation of drive and technology concepts is having a massive impact on the associated engineering, production and work processes. As a globally positioned development partner, the RLE Group already offers its customers a worldwide digitized network, for example to optimize the organization of global projects and processes.

The booking and workspace software “Seedit” supports dynamic and innovative planning on multiple organizational levels. In addition to optimizing the use of space, office areas can be adapted to the needs of employees and home office arrangements can be implemented quickly and transparently. Due to its high compatibility, “Seedit” can be easily integrated into almost any system landscape.

With the integration of the Berlin-based software company “ReCoTech GmbH” in September 2021, the RLE Group expands its offering to include solutions such as the master planning of complex office space portfolios through digital simulation. The goal is efficient space optimization for heterogeneous structures in companies, organizations, municipalities and other public authorities.

The digitalized solution of such complex tasks is unique as an overall solution and its functionalities go far beyond the possibilities of many other software products offered on the market. At the same time, openness, e.g. towards ERP and CAFM products, is desired and given with corresponding interfaces.

The offer is aimed at the automotive and overall industry, the public sector and all companies and authorities that are challenged with such tasks to make their processes and infrastructures fit for the future.