Flex office makes it easier for employees to return to the office

For several months now, the world of work has been in a state of perpetual evolution. Companies are facing up to new challenges, more focused on employee well-being and safety.

Still relatively undeveloped in France before 2020, the home office has clearly become part of our daily lives since the beginning of the health crisis. Managers have also changed their management style, becoming more flexible and more attentive to their employees' needs. This is also reflected in increased flexibility within buildings themselves.

To optimize workspace surface area and enhance the employee experience, many large companies are turning to a more flexible organization, known as flex office. Although this need was already present before 2020, the crisis has greatly accelerated this change, which is now a priority for many companies.

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What is a flex office?

Flex office is the absence of a dedicated office in the workplace. So, every morning, employees start their working day in the space best suited to their daily tasks. This may be :

• on company premises,
• in a third-party environment such as a coworking space,
• or at home, in a home office.

The flex office is a flexible work organization par excellence, with numerous advantages for managers and employees alike. It is based on one fundamental element: the needs of employees.

Employees may have varying needs in terms of workplaces, depending on their missions, their schedules and their personal lives.

The personal aspect, in fact, is greatly taken into account in companies that implement flex office. Employees can enjoy a better balance between their professional and personal lives. This balance is very important in terms of well-being at work. As a result, employees are :

• feel more fulfilled,
• more involved
• and more effective in their work.

This is the goal of every manager: to make employees happy at work, while maximizing their efficiency. To achieve this, the flex office is the ideal organization.

A hybrid work environment to adapt to employees' needs

As we saw earlier, the flex office offers employees a hybrid work environment that adapts perfectly to their needs. They can work regularly on site, from home, in a home office, or in coworking spaces, to achieve the best possible work-life balance.

More accessible home office

With its flexible work organization, the home office is easy to set up and within easy reach of employees. Depending on the terms and conditions defined by management, they can easily choose to work one or more days a week from home.

A home office employee is generally more efficient in his or her work. According to statistics from the Institut Sapiens, widespread telecommuting has boosted employee productivity by 22% by 2020. Of course, this requires the creation of a suitable environment, free from potential distractions. With this atmosphere conducive to work, employees will see their productivity increase.

The coworking alternative

The concept of coworking spaces arose from the need for independent workers and entrepreneurs to work together in a stimulating, friendly space, without competition or hierarchy. Working alone is no longer synonymous with solitude and isolation.

In a flex office organization, coworking spaces are a formidable alternative to the home office. First and foremost, this way of working allows you to change environment, to discover a new one, different from the usual office and which, generally speaking, is conducive to productivity.

Coworking rhymes with a collaborative and social spirit: constant exchanges take place between people of different ages, experience and backgrounds. Working in a coworking space also increases your chances of developing your network, getting to know future partners and, who knows, potential customers?

Manage internal flows with flex office

Flex office is a highly effective way of limiting health risks in the office. Today, a number of techniques exist within flexible organizations. In the long term, implementing these measures to manage incoming flows could mean a quicker and easier return to the office.

Limiting access to the office for a gradual return

There will probably be no miracle: the return to the office will be a gradual process. The first thing to do to manage the flow of people into buildings is to set limits.

In large companies, it may be worthwhile to limit access to certain floors, imposing maximum proportions in order to respect social distancing as much as possible. For example, many companies impose a maximum occupancy rate of 40% per floor.

In the case of shared workspaces, it is possible to close off every other workstation, thus limiting contact between employees.

During the initial lockdown, many people felt isolated and unsupported when teleworking. This flexible organization makes it possible to deal with this exclusion by helping employees to gradually return to the office and thus maintain a social link.

A global vision of building occupancy

It's a fact that flex office optimizes workspace occupancy. As with any strategic change within a company, it is essential to measure its impact.

As part of precise flow management, it is also essential to determine occupancy limits, which must then be analyzed. The flex office must therefore be measured to avoid, for example, all employees coming into the office on the same day.

Although this situation seems unlikely, it remains possible and must be supervised. Global visibility of all home office bookings and declarations is therefore necessary to manage flows easily.

Facilitate team collaboration

Even if many employees are telecommuting, it's vital to maintain a social link between them all.

This can be achieved through :

• on-site presence one or two days a week,
• or by providing access to coworking spaces and other third places.

In this way, employees can work away from the company premises in ideal conditions that are both safe and productive.

Employees are the very essence of a company, and ensuring their well-being and fulfillment is of paramount importance, especially in these delicate times.

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How do you set up a flex office?

Setting up a flex office requires a number of prerequisites. To be effective, the organization must be prepared in advance. This applies to both the company's premises and its employees.

Steps to follow

The first step is to subtly adapt the premises so that they lend themselves perfectly to the transition to flex office. Remember to provide :

• sufficient meeting rooms,
• phone boxes for meetings,
• creative spaces,
• or open spaces.

The diversity of your spaces will be the strength of your building!

It's also important to educate your employees. Many have their own habits, and appreciate having their own personal space. That's why it's important to be kind to these people, by explaining the reasons for the switch to flex office in concrete terms, and above all to take their comments into account.

Finally, the switch to flex office will be more efficient and faster if you use a specific tool. Professional support is the best way to ensure a successful transformation. At MOFFI, we are currently helping over 40 companies to implement flex office within their buildings.

With which tools?

MOFFI is a complete flex office tool. We enable companies to easily manage and optimize their workspaces.

Via our web and mobile solution, employees can :

• quickly and easily reserve a space in a shared workspace, or a meeting room within their building(s),
• declare a home office day with ease.

Companies can easily manage internal workflows and improve the experience of employees on or off site.

Easy to use, our solution can be synchronized with numerous tools, for an ever more complete experience. Today, you can link MOFFI to Slack, Google Workspace, Teams, Office 360 and all your other favorite tools. These digital tools have become part of our daily lives, enabling us to communicate easily with all our colleagues. With a view to flexibility, integrating them with MOFFI is an extremely useful way of centralizing all your communications.

Work organizations are constantly evolving, and there's no end in sight! Companies are facing new challenges, and the very principle of the individual office is being called into question. Is the flex office the future of work? Only time will tell, but at MOFFI... we're convinced.

We created MOFFI in 2015 with my brother, who is also my partner. Our desire was to make workspaces accessible to all employees, everywhere and above all, all the time. So we created MOFFI, a contraction of Mobile Office, to facilitate access to 4 types of locations:

• The company building (office, shared space, meeting room)
• Company branches and subsidiaries
• Home office and absences
• Third-party spaces (coworking, hotels, business centers)