Page 103 - WHERE WE WORK - Schlegelmilch

Reconfiguring workplaces
As the planning moved along, the upcoming changes were officially communicated with the employees. There was a significant event to announce the closure (fall 2017), during which TechSub invited all employees and become involved in the project. There were four project groups, each of which focused on a different area of the transformation (customer journey, employee's new way of working, mobility, & technology). Another way to be involved was by participating in one of the pilot studies around the same areas.
As the closure in the first quarter of 2018 approached, there were more events taking place intended to prepare employees, as well as to mobilize them for the physical changes. For example, alternative work locations were announced: TechSub provided the employees with access to locations of a nationwide co-working space provider and access to a public workplace opposite to the corporate office’s location. Employees were also encouraged to work from home and from their client’s offices, the latter with the intention to foster external relationships. The technology to support working during the distributed work phase was an upgrade to what the employees had used for some time already. Most importantly, they used a collaborative work tool (CWT) for file storage and sharing as well as communication (project-related and private channels). There was also an enterprise social media (ESM) for information exchange. Table 3.4 provides illustrative data about the transformation.
At the beginning of March 2018, the employees started to return to the office. As the construction work continued, the employees were able to use more and more of the office building. Specifically, in the first four months, they could only work on the two floors that were later assigned to the partnering co-working spaces. By the end of the year, external visitors and customers were also allowed to visit the office.
3.5 Findings
At TechSub, work had already expanded beyond the spatial
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