Living Offices| S04E10 | Basecone
Porto, Portugal [Go to PT Version]
Office File
Company: Basecone
Location: Porto, Portugal
Total Area: 400m2
Year: 2020
Capacity: 60 people
Industry: Accounting Software
Office Design: LemonWorks
Basecone is a technology company specialized in Accounting Software. Owned by the Wolters Kluwer Group, the organization’s motto is “We give back time to the accountant”, and seeks to automate the bureaucratic processes that accountants face every day, making their work easier.
The Porto office was thought with a similar purpose “We give back time to our developers”.
Flexible Culture
Basecone has a flexible schedule and values the balance between professional and personal life. The time invested in work is as important as the time spent with family and friends!
The office location, in the city center, has good access to the public transport network, which is ideal for employees who can choose to come by metro, bicycle or car. At lunchtime or at the end of the day, the teams have the opportunity to go to a restaurant, bar or café to socialize and share more informal moments.
Flexibility extends to working hours and team dynamics. In the last year, Basecone started a process of remodeling its offices. Given the continuous growth of the teams and the new challenges that have emerged in the world of work — the remote work or the distribution of employees in different locations are just two examples — the aim of this transformation was to make the office more welcoming, fun and comfortable.
Remote work is common practice at Basecone, however, with the remodeling of the office, teams have increasingly sought to work in the office in direct contact with colleagues. Investing in comfortable workplaces and meeting spaces with good acoustic conditions was an excellent way of strengthening teamwork and communication between employees.
With the constant growth of teams, Basecone’s biggest challenge is to ensure that everyone has room to work in the office. In addition to the work areas, all spaces have been designed to optimize office capacity.
Throughout the day, people can choose to work in desks, meeting rooms, lounge spaces, the library or even in the kitchen.
Meeting Spaces
Basecone’s office is divided into three separate rooms. Each room has a work area, where teams are received, a complimentary space — pantry or meeting room — and a lounge space where quick meetings or phone calls can be made.
In all, there are four meeting rooms throughout the office and each room is named after a city where the Wolters Kluwer Group is present. The London and Amsterdam rooms, with capacity for 6 to 8 people, are used for day-to-day meetings between teams and clients.
To facilitate contact between different locations, all rooms are equipped with videoconferencing equipment. The floor has been carpeted to improve the acoustic performance of the rooms, and the walls have whitewall vinyl to make notes and quick layouts during meetings.
The Brussels room, also with capacity for 6 to 8 people, is used for standing meetings. More agile meetings, with a high table, where the objective will be to understand the next steps of a project and plan working strategies.
The decoration of the rooms was done through decorative murals that recall the architectural icons of each city.
When there is a need to gather larger groups, the Porto room is used. As this type of meetings are not frequent this room was thought with a double purpose. It can be used to bring together groups of 10 to 15 people or as a video game room.
Basecone welcomes several video game fans and for that reason it made sense to create two gaming spaces: this one and the cup lounge. This way, after lunch the teams can distribute themselves between the two spaces and play their favorite games.
Lounge
Next to the work areas, there are lounge spaces that can be used at any time of the day. There are spaces for all tastes: play areas with comfortable sofas, round tables for group activities, indoor gardens with individual armchairs and a library.
As described on one of the decorative murals, we all need moments to focus, relax and start over!
The library is one of the most special spaces for employees. It was an area created together with all the people, the books that are being added to the shelf are by the teams.
Kitchen
The kitchen space has undergone the most changes with the office refurbishment. Designed to work with multifunctional space, the kitchen is divided between the food preparation area, the dining area, and the lounge.
There’s always a variety of snacks available. Between fresh bread, fruit, water, coffee, milk, and cereals, there is nothing missing for a perfect breakfast!
Meetup’s are very important to Basecone, whether to share knowledge or present new ideas, the organization invests in this type of events and opens its doors to the outside community. To welcome the guests, there are several puff’s and sofas that can be taken to any part of the cup.
Office Plans
Office Sounds
“In this office, we have a good compromise between open space and a more intimate workspace. The work areas don’t have many people, we manage to create a relaxed environment where everyone feels comfortable talking to the people around without disturbing the other teams”
Mauro Martins
“My day-to-day is programming and for me, it’s very important to work in the office. Our space was thought for us, it’s nice to come here. Everything is taken care of and I feel as comfortable as if I were at home, with the advantage of being with my colleagues and being able to share my jokes!”
João Rangel
