Page 113 - AIT1222_E-Paper

T he aftermath of the Corona pandemic, the energy crisis and the inflation – the pressure on
banks and administrations is growing. For some, important sources of income are breaking
off, for others the budget has to be exceeded due to the increasing costs. Many are affected by both
factors. A way out of the situation is only possible if the existing resources are used more effi-
ciently. In this context, it could be one consequence of the Corona pandemic in particular – which,
after all is the cause of this critical situation – which can offer a suitable solution. Due to mobile
working, the attendance rate of the employees is decreasing. The vacant spaces could be used dif-
ferently. For a long time, mobile working was an exception in German offices. This changed with
the consequences of the pandemic and the home office, at first just a temporary solution, is now
the “next normal”. This also shows in a statistic established by the German Economic Institute (IW) Foto: Annika Feuss, Köln / Projekt: Teekanne HQ, Düsseldorf
in Cologne: By now, employees work in their home offices an average of two days per week. Only
eleven percent of them do not want to work in home offices if given the option. The study also fo-
recasts that the attendance rate of the employees will continue to decrease. This rapid develop-
ment, which has taken place during just a few months, now faces room concepts which are still
designed for the traditional company culture of in-office work. The consequence: empty offices and
unused spaces. This is exactly where banks and administrations but, in principle, any other busi- Separiert: Bereiche für konzentriertes Arbeiten. • Separated: areas for concentrated working
ness as well, are able to draw on valuable potential.

Making a virtue of necessity

Workplaces not only cost businesses salaries but also expenses for hardware and furniture, for hea-
ting and electricity all the way to rent. Every company can establish the specific remaining space
requirement in offices with an automated analysis tool. For this, all the individual parameters are
entered to determine the future room programme and the exact savings potential. The remaining
areas can be efficiently used by desk sharing. Unlike to date, for instance, activities with a high
concentration level can take place in focus rooms and those with a higher need for communication
at team workstations. Foto: Annika Feuss, Köln / Projekt: Teekanne HQ, Düsseldorf

Sensibly using vacant spaces

Unused spaces certainly mean savings but also have potential for numerous sensible uses. Free
spaces should also be used to produce room for collaboration, interaction as well as random ex-
change. Although mobile work presently demonstrates impressively that productivity is not con- Territoriale Plätze gehören der Vergangenheit an. • Territorial places belong to the past.
nected with a specific room but that the development of ideas and working as a team, however,
can only be promoted through joint interaction – and this interaction is better and more focussed Gezielter Austausch funktioniert besser vor Ort. • Focused exchange works better on site.
on site. Teams of different sizes can work in suitable premises on joint projects and thus benefit
from direct exchange. Depending on the future culture of collaboration, an office has to offer furt-
her individual added values beyond just the room design and counteract a central danger of space
optimization: the dissociation of employees and companies since those who are not working every
day in the office at their fixed station and meet colleagues, over time identify less with their com-
panies. This is where banks and administrations have to take suitable countermeasures. At the
same time, distinctive and memorable brand architecture makes the clear differentiation from
other companies and competitors possible and also contributes to stronger identification with the
respective company. Altogether, the company culture is not in danger if banks and administrations
react appropriately to the new circumstances. Pleasure and satisfaction have always been a basic
prerequisite for motivated and high-performance employees – and this will not be changing in fu-
ture either. It is all the more decisive for businesses to give the current answers to the new challen-
ges. Today, most employees dislike nine-to-five jobs any longer and have different ideas as to their
work-life balance. This is why – and this also coincides with the forecasts by the Cologne IW – it is
an obvious assumption that in-office work will continuously become less important compared with
mobile work. But which are the consequences this will have on the office of the future? What will
“New Work” actually look like? They say that 80 percent of all the ideas originate through com-
munication – and communication still works best at a personal level despite the rapid progress of
digitization. That is why it seems to be unlikely that offices could at some point in time be relics
of the past. But, analogous to the development during the past two to three years, their significance
will clearly be shifting. Offices will no longer primarily be places of working but places of ex-
change, of team formation, creativity and productivity. Banks and administrations but also all the
other businesses now have the chance to become proactive. Whereas, without prior warning, the Foto: Ralph Richter, Düsseldorf / Projekt: Renault AG, Brühl
Corona pandemic has turned the reality of work upside down, businesses can now take the oppor-
tunity and develop sustainable, future-oriented room concepts for the working world of tomorrow.
What is decisive in this is that, at the very first start of a project, businesses are aware of their stra-
tegic goals and that a clear target vision including a timetable exists for all those participating in-
ternally and externally!

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