Case study
Source: Netokracija
New ways of working have affected the way we use existing office space, and now is the time for us to influence the space to adapt it to our new habits and activities. Guided by this idea, IT company Amplexor took the opportunity to reorganize the office. We bring you a detailed insight into how they “tailored” it according to the activities of all teams.
Amplexor is known to have a positive impact on the company’s processes with its approach to employee work, and now this IT company specializing in complete software solutions for pharmaceutical companies around the world has gone one step further: their engineers, consultants, project managers and other employees will work less, when it suits them best, from the office, home, other locations, or from their new workplaces with the design in which some of them participated themselves.
Already in the early stages of the pandemic, Amplexor completely switched to a hybrid mode of work, and they wanted to design their new office – which they moved to in February this year – according to their most important activities and the principles of organizational strategy of job design.
This concept, also known as activity-based working, is increasingly used in the world as a cost-effective business strategy to optimize work tasks that offer employees multiple choices of spaces and workplaces, where they can do their job, depending on what they need to do at a given time.
The first step in redesigning the software company’s office into an activity-driven agency was a systematic analysis of the jobs and activities of individual teams.
The application of this concept has proven to be a good way to redesign business premises, but also as a catalyst for changing the corporate culture from classic to activity-based with open workplaces and other benefits – as we have seen in recent decades in technology companies worldwide and Croatia – in a new, more dynamic business culture, aimed at closer cooperation of more strongly engaged employees who achieve a higher level of productivity and organizational efficiency.
But what does that actually mean? Simply put, this means that software engineers, consultants, project managers and other Amplexor employees will continue to earn as much as the company pays them for the job they hired, but will work less and at the time of day when it suits them best, at home, from another location or in workplaces with the design in which some of them participated themselves.
Amplexor entered the new workplace a little over two months ago, and the goal is to make an analysis of the success of job design according to activities after half a year period.
Amplexor was assisted in achieving this ideal by the professional consulting firm DC&T, which specializes in designing innovative activitiy-based solutions in workspaces and commercial real estate. Prior to Amplexor, DC&T proved its expertise in designing Zagreb offices for companies such as Oracle and Hewlett-Packard, and Amplexor has addressed several new challenges.
Timi Kovačević, founder and CEO of DC&T, explains that today’s offices are very similar to each other, because many companies follow trends and do not think about how they can enrich their space and get the most out of it.
[Companies] often find themselves in a situation where they do not use the space available to them adequately, over time they find that they do not have enough, that their real estate is too expensive, in short, it becomes a burden, not a resource.
The reason for that is that they did not do an in-depth research of the possibilities of space. They have not established whether the space is optimal financially and in terms of productivity, and whether it corresponds to what the company is doing.
Zagrebačka tvrtka DC&T – Dubravke i Timija Kovačevića, nudi specijalizirana rješenja za kvalitetno upravljanje radnim i uredskim prostorima.
The first step in redesigning the software company’s office into an activity-driven agency was a systematic analysis of the jobs and activities of individual teams.
It was looked at how certain spaces are used, how people cooperate, when they come to the office, how long they are in it – how long they stay in the kitchen, and how much in other common areas, what they do when they are in the office, how empty some rooms are and why.
These data were obtained by surveying employees, both individuals and teams, through thematic discussions. These insights have been complemented by projections of work requirements in the near future, leading to insights that have transformed Amplexor’s office into a much more productive and comfortable place to work, Timi adds.
The first thing we concluded was that the occupancy rate should not exceed 55 percent. In other words, at no time should more than 55 percent of employees be in the office – except at certain stages of certain projects (on days when trainings and workshops are held).
Based on that information alone, we were able to help Amplexor determine how much office space they actually need. We found that out of 1,400 square meters they used in the old office space, they needed 600 to a maximum of 800 square meters in the new office.
In terms of ensuring privacy and sound insulation, certain carpentry elements, partitions, sound barriers and other interventions also proved to be a good factor.
So, the “stunt” is in finding the right balance. If it is a space in a category A office building, the organizational designer can be more creative and build quiet rooms, chat rooms, project team rooms, brainstorm zones, phone booths, etc. But Timi clarifies if it is a business space in an older building, the possibilities for interventions in space are much smaller.
It is crucial to achieve optimal design for each individual company, but it should be emphasized that the most important parameters are teams within the organization, rather than the company as a whole. In many technology companies there are teams that have never seen each other, but also teams that are the best when they are together in the same place.
For example, in Amplexor, the team of Project Managers and one team of technical consultants gave us the most “headaches”. They spent a lot of time in the office and wanted to keep their own space. Their desires are, after all, integrated into the space.
Today, almost no one in Amplexor has their own room or their own workplace, and this is a change to get used to, comments Lorna Luketić Mažić, head of human resources at Amplexor.
In that, we needed the support of the management, but also of the team leaders themselves. We had several discussions in which we discussed with people all the ideas about interior design and workplace design. For example, in the old space we did not have a kitchen, and now it is the center of our daily lives.
Dubravka Kovačević, Marketing Director of DC&T, points out that in this project they are most proud of the very structure of Amplexor’s new office space and the fact that all parts form a functional whole:
In terms of ensuring privacy and sound insulation, certain carpentry elements, partitions, sound barriers and other interventions proved to be a good factor, which, on the one hand, enabled the compactness of the office, and on the other hand, people are not as exposed to open work space as other companies are.
We have also achieved that some teams, if necessary, can be separated and thus gain more privacy for work that requires more attention. At the same time, greater accessibility of people has been achieved. If you need someone, you don’t have to go through a maze of long corridors – in most cases, they are within your visual range.
Amplexor entered the new workplace a little over two months ago, and the goal is to analyze the success of job design according to activities after half a year period and see if the desired goals have been achieved and if necessary changes should be made. This will be helped by a special application through which each employee can manage their needs – book their workplace or a quiet room or anything else he needs for work. The application will provide additional insights into how people use certain spaces and certain zones in the company.
In the end, the challenge they had, and to which they responded to some extent, is primarily a change in corporate culture – Lorna notes:
In the new space we have to adapt to the dynamics of space, be aware of the presence and needs of other colleagues, but at the same time, the fact that we are constantly “aware” of each other contributes to a sense of belonging, generating ideas, innovations and creating “culture” that was missing.
According to projections of work requirements over the next five years, made by DC&T as part of the project, Timi adds that it can already be said that Amplexor has increased productivity and saved hundreds of savings by better designing jobs for smaller business activities.
“They can now invest that money in employee and product development, which will increase their competitiveness in the global market,” Timi concludes.
