The success story of ReCoTech and RLE International is an inspiring example of successful collaboration in the development and expansion of hybrid work organizations. ReCoTech is a company that combines innovative solutions for space management with years of know-how in change management. RLE International was looking for partners who could further professionalize the organization of mobile work and at the same time optimize the use of office space.

Who is RLE International

RLE INTERNATIONAL was founded in 1985 and is now managed by the second generation of the founding family. The company operates worldwide and is one of the leading top 20 engineering service providers. Originally specializing in the automotive industry, RLE INTERNATIONAL has expanded its customer portfolio over the years and now serves the entire mobility sector. Due to its flexible project-driven business model and global project teams, RLE INTERNATIONAL has always faced the challenge of proactively addressing change & dynamics and decided to embark on the transformation to a hybrid work organization with us from ReCoTech.

The pandemic – the starting signal for hybrid working

As of January 27, 2021, employers were obliged to offer employees the option of working from home due to the pandemic, and RLE was already aware that this development required acute but not short-term solutions.

RLE had two questions at the time:

1. How do we ensure sufficient health protection at our locations?
2. How do we organize the presence time in our offices with increasing employee flexibility through mobile working?

ReCoTech’s versatile booking app provided suitable answers to both questions.

Booking everything from workstations and conference rooms to e-charging stations for the e-vehicle fleet offered employees full flexibility, planning security and, above all, health protection.

The set-up in the app gave RLE the opportunity to prevent a wave infection preventively via social distancing & reactively counteract a potential spread several times via smart contact tracing.

This enabled work to continue at the site with a stabilizing presence for two days.

The rise in fuel prices – relief for employees

In spring 2022, oil prices rose and led to price increases at filling stations to well over €2 per liter of petrol. RLE has always had a high proportion of employees who commute by car and saw a good opportunity to counteract the immense price increase by reducing compulsory attendance.

As home office policies can be stored and updated in the app at any time, it was possible to react even more quickly to the rapid rise in prices. The reduced commute not only resulted in cost and time savings for employees, but also strengthened RLE’s development towards becoming a CO₂-neutral company.

The rise in gas & electricity prices – relief for management

Electricity and gas price trends were also an issue for management, which RLE wanted to prevent with ReCoTech. If usage remained the same, energy prices at the locations were expected to rise by up to 400 %.

By temporarily blocking workspaces and entire floors from the booking app, it was possible to significantly counteract the price increase. Thanks to the intelligent space utilization analysis in the app, it was possible to plan lockdown measures with the confidence that the defined measures would not lead to bottlenecks in the use of workspaces at the locations.

The turning point – from crisis management to cultural design

At the beginning of 2023, after successfully managing the crisis, RLE and our consultants asked themselves how they could counter the “cultivated home office rut” that had developed. Both management and employees complained that the continuity of permanent home office was harming their team culture in its current intensity rather than strengthening it through healthy flexibility.

Nevertheless, managers and the works council agreed that home office and mobile working should continue and that the right mix of presence and mobile working should be culturally anchored in the company.

Together, we developed a concept for how hybrid working could be expanded from a crisis association to a design tool for individual employees, groups and teams and the entire organization within RLE. The focus was on employee satisfaction and productivity.

Those responsible at RLE (representatives from project business, HR, recruiting and works council), accompanied by our consultants, decided to evaluate the organization of hybrid work, including anonymized surveys by professional and competence groups, taking data protection into account.

This was an appropriate approach, as it meant that no direct productivity or satisfaction conclusions could be drawn about individual people, but provided enough information to improve satisfaction and productivity in a competence and personality-oriented manner.

The HR department was able to promote the further development of employee skills in a more targeted manner. The recruiting department has individualized the approach to competence groups and was thus able to address and retain talent much more successfully in the shortage of skilled workers.

Combining work organization with satisfaction and productivity through ReCoTech’s digital & service portfolio has led to significant satisfaction and productivity growth in the projects. With the app, but above all by actively working with the transparency gained, RLE has succeeded in cultivating a more performant and flexible organization that now combines and expands work behavior much more consciously with competencies. Furthermore, thanks to ReCoTech’s years of space management expertise, the offices have developed in a more demand-oriented way in line with the cultural thrust. RLE needs less space, but the space it has reflects a clear picture of the direction in which RLE INTERNATIONAL is moving in terms of expertise and culture.

Quote from Florian Schumacher, Manager Strategy and Business Development at RLE International Group

“The collaboration with ReCoTech was a great success for RLE INTERNATIONAL. The application, as well as the appropriate consulting services, guided us confidently through the crises. What particularly impressed me was how ReCoTech used the full potential of a hybrid work organization within RLE and achieved measurable positive development impulses. The introduction of hybrid working went beyond simply increasing efficiency and offered our employees the opportunity to develop and gain new experiences. It was one of the most rewarding experiences for me personally. I wouldn’t want to be without this flexible, employee-centric organizational management in my area.”

 The bottom line – RLE is more crisis-resistant, productive & culturally aware

The RLE organization & culture has made enormous progress during our collaboration. Initially still somewhat overwhelmed by the pandemic-related changes, we can now look back on an independent and self-confident work organization within RLE INTERNATIONAL that…

• …can control health protection in the event of another pandemic,
• …scales site utilization up or down according to necessity,
• …sustainably saves costs and CO₂,
• …better understands the work needs of professional and skills groups and develops them further with measurable increases in satisfaction and productivity
• …combines a focus on individual employee needs with a shared understanding of culture.

Together with RLE INTERNATIONAL, we are delighted to look back on our many successes and look forward to constantly working together to achieve our further goals.

The world of work has changed fundamentally in recent years and is facing new challenges. Flexible working, remote working and virtual collaboration have long ceased to be exceptions and are increasingly shaping everyday working life. The COVID 19 pandemic has undoubtedly had a strong influence on these developments, but the changes began even before the crisis broke out. The current situation requires innovative approaches to meet the demands of hybrid working. In this article, we will take a look at the initial situation and consider the changes that have taken place in recent years. Furthermore, the current problems and challenges of the working world will be highlighted. Finally, possible solutions will be highlighted, including ReCoTech’s product “Seedit”, which helps companies to deal effectively with the new working reality. Together we will gain an insight into the future of work and explore the opportunities of hybrid working.

CURRENT SITUATION

The world of work has evolved at a rapid pace in recent years, with the COVID 19 pandemic undoubtedly being a notable accelerating factor. However, the pandemic should not be seen as the sole trigger for these changes, as new trends and technologies were already paving the way for a transformed work culture before its outbreak. Rather, the pandemic acted as a catalyst, forcing companies and workers to adapt to hybrid working models faster than ever before.

Flexible working hours: Traditional working time models based on fixed office hours are increasingly outdated. Employees prefer more flexible working hours to achieve a better work-life balance.

Remote working: The possibility to work from home or from any other location has greatly increased. This gives employees more flexibility and saves them time and money on their daily commute.

Virtual cooperation: Advances in communication technology have made it much easier to collaborate across large distances. Virtual meetings, online collaboration tools and project management platforms allow teams to work together effectively, regardless of their location.

Growing demand for digital skills: As digitalisation progresses, the need for digital competences becomes more and more important. Employees must have the necessary skills to use technology effectively and to deal with digital tools.
Changing workplace requirements: Workplaces are increasingly being transformed from rigid office structures to more flexible environments. New work concepts such as coworking spaces and hybrid offices are emerging, offering employees more choice and a stimulating work environment.

CURRENT INITIAL SITUATION

The current work situation presents itself with a number of challenges that go hand in hand with the changes in the world of work. Especially in the hybrid work environment, there are various problems to be overcome:

Work-Life-Balance: The boundaries between work and private life become blurred when employees work from home. It can be difficult to set clear boundaries and get enough rest.

Communication and cooperation: Virtual communication can cause misunderstandings and make face-to-face exchanges difficult. Collaboration in distributed teams requires extra effort to be effective.

Technical challenges: Not all employees have the necessary technical skills or the appropriate technical equipment to optimally manage remote work. This can lead to a loss of productivity and affect the flow of work.
Lack of social interaction: Limiting face-to-face meetings can lead to a lack of social interaction and a sense of isolation. Informal exchange and the team feeling can suffer.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

In order to meet the challenges of hybrid working and to shape the working world of the future, various approaches can be pursued. Here are some concrete measures and technologies that can support companies and employees:

Flexible working time management: Companies should introduce flexible working time models that allow employees to adapt their work to their individual needs. This can include, for example, the introduction of flexitime, trust-based working time or part-time models. It is important to set clear guidelines to avoid abuse and ensure that workers are still available and productive.
Technical support for remote work: Companies should ensure that their employees have the necessary technical equipment and training to work effectively from home. This includes powerful laptops, reliable internet connections, video conferencing and collaboration tools. It is also important to provide IT support to quickly resolve technical issues and ensure staff productivity.
Strengthening communication and cooperation: To overcome the challenges of virtual communication, companies should invest in tools and platforms that facilitate collaboration. Video conferencing and chat tools such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Slack enable real-time communication and information sharing. Project management platforms such as Trello or Asana facilitate the organisation and tracking of tasks and enable collaboration in distributed teams.
Promoting social interaction: To compensate for the lack of face-to-face meetings and informal exchanges, companies can organise virtual team-building activities and regular virtual meetings or informal virtual coffee breaks. This promotes social cohesion and team spirit. It can also be helpful to offer online platforms for sharing interests or hobbies to give employees the opportunity to network outside of work.
Further education and training: Given the growing need for digital skills, companies should continuously educate their employees and provide training on relevant technologies and tools. This can take the form of internal training, external training programmes or the engagement of experts. Individual learning plans and flexible training formats allow employees to develop their skills in a targeted way.
Hybrid workstation design: When designing the workplace, companies should aim for flexible solutions. This can include the creation of hybrid offices that offer both on-site workplaces and resources for remote working. Coworking spaces can provide an alternative work environment where employees can come together as needed. It is important to allow employees to customise their workspace to their individual preferences and needs.

In conclusion, the future of work involves hybrid working models that combine flexibility and effectiveness. By implementing innovative approaches, companies can overcome the challenges and take full advantage of hybrid working. Products such as “Seedit” from ReCoTech can help improve digital collaboration and actively shape the working world of the future. It is now up to companies to seize these opportunities and create a work culture that meets both the needs of employees and the goals of the company.

HOW RECOTECH GMBH CAN HELP YOU

ReCoTech offers a comprehensive range of workplace booking and time recording services that help companies meet the challenges of hybrid working and actively shape the working world of the future. With ReCoTech, companies always have an overview of their workplaces and can see who is in the office and when. This enables an efficient distribution of workplaces and avoids bottlenecks, overcapacity or hygiene risks.
A central element of ReCoTech is the intelligent Booking Assistant. This intuitive tool enables employees to independently organise and optimise their daily work routine. They can conveniently enter their presence and home office times and book workplaces via the system. The Booking Assistant takes into account the availability and capacity of the workstations to ensure harmonised utilisation.
In addition, ReCoTech offers a variety of functions and features to make workstation booking and time recording effective. These include monitoring all operations to maintain an overview, optimising resource utilisation and reducing environmental impact. By offering ReCoTech, companies can increase the satisfaction and productivity of their employees while creating a flexible and efficient working environment.
ReCoTech helps companies to take full advantage of the benefits of hybrid working and to establish a working culture that meets the needs of employees and the goals of the company. With innovative solutions such as “Seedit”, ReCoTech contributes to improving digital collaboration and enables companies to actively shape the working world of the future.

Sources:

• „The Future of Work: How the Pandemic Has Accelerated Remote Work Trends“ – Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2021/05/28/the-future-of-work-how-the-pandemic-has-accelerated-remote-work-trends/?sh=58eaa92775d9)
• „The rise of remote work: Why the future is hybrid“ – Deloitte (https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/impact-of-covid-19-on-future-of-work-hybrid-remote.html)
• „The Future of Work: Remote Work“ – World Economic Forum (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/05/remote-work-future-of-work-podcast/)
• „The Challenges and Benefits of Hybrid Work Models“ – Harvard Business Review (https://hbr.org/2021/10/the-challenges-and-benefits-of-hybrid-work-models

ReCoTech GmbH, a leading provider of workplace management solutions and office space optimization solutions, is pleased to announce the appointment of Manuel Panzirsch as its new CEO. He brings a wealth of experience and strategic capabilities to further strengthen ReCoTech’s positioning and sustainability.

This decision underscores the commitment of RLE International, the parent company of ReCoTech, to its ambitious acquisition and growth strategy and the establishment of an innovation hub in Berlin. Panzirsch‘s extensive expertise in product marketing, sales, and recent experience as CEO at belboon GmbH, a leading provider of performance marketing solutions, make him the ideal candidate to lead ReCoTech to the next level of growth and innovation.

Manuel Panzirsch emphasized, “ReCoTech has been successfully operating in a highly dynamic market, actively shaping the workplace of the future. Our goal is to continue growing nationally and internationally with our innovative software, providing our customers with flexible and efficient solutions for the workplace of tomorrow. We benefit from the strong support of our parent company, RLE, with its extensive experience and clear acquisition and growth strategy.”

CEO of RLE International, Ralf Laufenberg, added, “We are delighted to have Mr. Manuel Panzirsch on board as the new CEO of ReCoTech. With his experience and strategic vision, we are confident that ReCoTech will continue to grow and innovate under his leadership.”

ReCoTech offers IT-based management for operational and strategic space and occupancy planning. In the ever-evolving traditional workspace, ReCoTech provides flexible and efficient solutions for designing modern workplaces.

RLE International, the parent company of ReCoTech, is a global leader in development, technology, and consulting services for the international engineering industry. With over 2,300 employees, RLE International actively contributes to shaping the future of the industry.

For further information, please contact:

Press Contact:

ReCoTech GmbH
presse@recotech.de

www.recotech.de

When the desire among employees for a homeoffice becomes strong, the first question that is addressed is the following: How can we make it possible for everyone to work from home just as they do in the office? And what foundations must be laid by the company, or what equipment should be made available to employees?

It is only in the second step that the full extent of the impact that flexible working has on office space becomes apparent. Often, this realization only occurs when the employees have long since stopped working in the office every day and the office remains largely empty. The conventional model, according to which everyone is assigned a specific workstation, is thus rendered useless – even inefficient, to the point of being largely superfluous.

So the workspace needs to be redesigned! But how do the workplaces in the office have to be redesigned at best in order to meet the new requirements resulting from the hybrid work model? To ensure that you succeed in the long term, it is best to ask yourself the following questions:

What do your employees want?

Giving employees a greater say in the matter is of immense benefit on numerous levels. This is also true when it comes to deciding how work should be done. As we’ve outlined in another article, it’s helpful for space optimization and workspace management to take into account the wishes and preferences of employees.

How busy is it in the office? Does it perhaps hold potential?

If the office is not fully occupied, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Rather, you should see the potential in it to be able to manage your space more efficiently. After all, thanks to the people in the home office, the required office space is reduced. If you now restructure the office in a clever way by having only shared desks from now on, some space will be freed up.

Ultimately, the change presents a lucrative opportunity to save money. After all, more space means that you can either downsize your premises or, alternatively, rent out the space.

Plus, you now have more leeway to experiment with the space. Food for thought: for example, what do you think about more meeting rooms or private work cubicles and breakout zones?

How can you make sure everyone:r finds a workspace?

The downside of the principle of a shared workspace is that there will most likely be fewer workstations than there are employee:ers. This makes it all the more important to introduce a Booking Assistant that provides a transparent overview of the available workspace. At the same time, employees can independently book rooms, desks and so on.

The advantage: The allocation of space is simple, fair and stress-free! Employees search for the desired workspace, meeting room or quiet zone, check availability and book the space in a desired period – done.

How can you make your workspace dynamically adaptable?

Just because you’ve established a perfectly functioning model today doesn’t mean it will work just as well tomorrow. The way people work will continue to change in the future. This means that in a few years, a flexible, bookable workplace may not even meet the needs of the workforce. That’s why it’s important that when you’re optimizing and redesigning your space now, you make sure that the workspace can be easily adapted.

This is where a Workspace Management Software comes into play. This continuously analyzes usage data and shows you the utilization as well as the demand. This is a huge relief for your workspace management, because based on this information, you can make informed decisions regarding the redesign of workspaces at any time to meet new requirements. In addition, changes to the planning design can be made and simulated.

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.