ABOUT THE CLIENT

The client is an international actor in the financial sector working with public and private stakeholders. The company was created and established in Luxembourg at the beginning of the 1990s and now occupies a modern office building in one of the most attractive business areas in Luxembourg. The client benefits from a stable economic situation with a good reputation in the market, as well as an employer.

THE CONTEXT

The client was used to working in silos and closed offices, but has now taken on the challenge of moving towards a more collaborative approach in a hybrid choice-based workplace setting with – to some extent – flexible seating in smaller open office spaces.
The client worked remotely during the pandemic and wants to continue offering employees a hybrid work model with 2 days at home and 3 days at the office depending on their function and residency.

For this reason, based on the experience gained from remote working throughout the pandemic, today the client is looking to modernise and adapt a concept of New Ways of Working:

To evaluate specific employee needs both at the office and at home,
To understand what makes a workplace and office space attractive,
To analyse market and industry trends.

In order to transform their working model, to optimise office space and to create an environment where employees love to go to work, the following challenges and previous ways of working had to be tackled:

Conservative way of working with general resistance towards change
Hierarchical workplace (the leader has the corner office)
Moving from single or two-person offices to small open-spaces
Very siloed way of working and interacting
Rapid organically grown organisation without strong cultural anchoring
Change fatigue within departments due to frequent past organisational changes and moves.

MINDFOREST'S MISSION

MindForest accompanied the client in the definition of the new hybrid workplace strategy accommodating the various aspects affected by changes to their interpretation of New Ways of Working (NWoW).

MindForest’s main objectives for this mission were to:

Analyse and understand

the needs of the employees working in the different departments

Facilitate and co-create

the new flexible hybrid workplace strategy concept without compromising efficacy and comfort

Handle

resistance towards the concept of New Ways of Working (mindset, tools, methods and workspace setup)

Ensure understanding

of a hybrid, flexible Workplace Strategy (to increase buy-in)

Encourage and introduce

a more collaborative approach within the organisation

TOOLS, METHODS & ACTIONS

Design thinking to introduce a more collaborative approach within the organisation and get employees out of their comfort zones

Digital moodboards to ensure all participants could express themselves creatively during and between sessions

Interviews and surveys to identify current constraints to move towards a flexible workplace strategy model

Workplace audit to understand the gap between the current status-quo and the desired new working model outcome

THE PROJECT OUTCOME

Adoption of News Ways of Working

– Space optimisation

– Ensuring a logical approach to workflows and digitalisation

– Highlighting opportunities and constraints within the workplace

– Understanding employee needs and worries

– Encouraging a broader understanding of News Ways of Working and not only workplace strategy

Friendly vision of a hybrid, flexible and collaborative workplace

– Cross-functional dialogue on News Ways of Working

– Co-construction between facility management and staff

Increased Collaboration and employee engagement

– Thanks to cross-functional and cross-hierarchical working groups, the project resulted in an increased use of creative thinking across the organisation

– Staff became indirectly more involved outside working group meetings thanks to a ripple effect

– Increased understanding and buy-in

– Reduced resistance

Buy-in from Top Management

– Understanding the impact of NWoW and hybrid working on cultural and organisational elements

THE MAIN SUCCESS FACTORS

Trustworthy and transparent collaboration

based on regular exchanges to ensure the correct scope definition, including any necessary reframing and the provision of systematic advice.

Efficient governance

which allowed for the immediate combining of decision-making, action implementation and monitoring.

Suitable, tailored methods

before, during and after each workshop. The use of Design Thinking constituted a real success; the stakeholders gained time as well as a better overview of the workplace concept including its advantages and corresponding challenges.

Regular communication

between the client and MindForest to ensure all challenges were identified and all aspects were considered throughout the course of the project.

Employee involvement

which encouraged staff to interact transversally, to express themselves and consider the current status of daily work, as well as the potential impact of a new workplace strategy.

Result-oriented and focused approach

to ensure the best possible results within a very short period thus meeting the very tight deadlines defined by top management.

The next success story is yours!

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Optimising the workplace strategy: Improving efficiency and employee satisfaction