Living Offices | S05 Webinar_2| Strengthen relationships between people at work
Portugal [Go to PT Version]
Two years ago all of us were challenged to re-imagine work models and office spaces. After many months of living in a pandemic period and being forced to work remotely, many companies reorganized their work models. The ability of companies to transform and adapt has led them to rethink and adopt different working models.
From the face-to-face working model, where people would meet every day in the office space, to a fully remote model, some companies have chosen to adopt this working model on a permanent basis. Other organizations have found answers in the different hybrid models, where there may be some fixed or flexible days when employees come to the office.
Because we are human, we have the capacity to adapt.
The adaptations that these transformations bring affect the way people relate to each other at work, as well as the organization of office spaces. As anticipated in the first webinar of Living Offices in 2020, if there is a return to office spaces, some things will necessarily change, and the focus will always be on people and on enhancing the relationship between them.
In this second Living Offices webinar, already in 2022, we collectively reflect again on the theme: strengthening the relationship between people at work. Some questions that helped us to think:
- How are we engaging people in the different work models?
- How are we facilitating relationships between people?
- What are we valuing in spaces for a partial return to the office?
We invited 5 people from different companies in Portugal for the webinar, to share ideas and practices about how the companies where they work are thinking about strengthening the relationship between people at work. A sharing of experiences and perspectives on how these relationships are being lived, when hybrid or fully remote models are the current practice:
- Teresa Martins, from Nespresso Professional Portugal — as co-host
- Luis Antunes, from PHC Software
- Rodrigo Dias, from Premium Minds
- Carla Mendonça, from New Work
- Liliana Macedo, from Critical Manufacturing
The different perspectives shared, brought ideas that were crossed by proximity, others that were different and very related to the work culture, and still others that generated curiosity. Always with the good mood and generosity of those who bring the will to change and improve.
Do people still go to the office?
Returning to the office is a different experience at every company.
The hybrid model that embraces the flexibility between working in the office and at home was adopted in all the companies we invited to the conversation. From models that are structured with going to the office 2 face-to-face days per week, and the remaining 3 days at home. Others that don’t foresee a number of days to be in the office and thus maintain total flexibility, to others that foresee people choosing to be mostly working from the office or from home.
With any of these models, all companies are dedicated to creating meeting moments in the office space, to allow people and teams to have moments to get to know each other better, socialize and work in a collaborative and more creative way. The idea of the flexible adoption of the hybrid working model was present throughout this one hour of good conversation.
Spaces for collaboration and focus
What can you offer in the office that people don’t have at home?
During the lock-in period, in the process of listening to people where some companies along with pilot teams, they realized that spaces for collaborative work had gained, for everyone, a new importance.
Most offices already had these spaces, while others sought to transform existing spaces or even create new spaces for working together. Large auditorium spaces, which can be in the center of the office, can be used for larger gatherings such as internal events, or for meetings between individuals and teams for a moment of working together.
What can also be missing at home are the ideal spaces for moments of focus. These office spaces are designed to be in a secluded space and at the same time in contact with the people in the office.
Between spaces that already existed or newly created work spaces, the main adaptation was to ensure that they are fully equipped to guarantee the comfortable work of a team working in a hybrid model.
Spaces to socialize
The everyday moments in the office that bring the possibility of socializing, bring a sense of comfort and belonging. The simplicity of some habits, like having a cup of coffee and taking a break to chat in a comfortable space, promote moments of sharing and meeting.
Maintaining and expanding these spaces so that these moments continue to happen are seen as benefits for those who return to the office.
Usually these moments happen in the pantry spaces, now also extended to be meeting spaces where one can be chatting or have an informal meeting. The feedback is very positive.
Spaces for socializing and gathering continue to be celebrated and used. Outdoor spaces in particular are gaining renewed prominence for everyday life. These spaces are even more privileged for events, whether for company events, parties or to relax at the end of the day: with a food truck in the garden as is the case at NEW Work, or the MegaBeat, Lisbon’s famous streetcar specially designed for PHC.
Moments to strengthen relationships
It is when we are together doing things other than work that we get to know the many other sides of each person. To facilitate this each company has made different events happen in the office and in remote mode.
Together at the office:
- Celebrate all special occasions, such as company birthday parties, special moments in each office culture.
- Food Truck in the garden on Fridays (NEW Work).
- Tend the community garden or the internal gardens (Premium Minds and Critical Manufacturing)
- Time to learn how to make coffee cocktails, to the sound of a DJ (Nespresso Professional)
Because we are human, we have the capacity to adapt, and there are many initiatives thinking about strengthening relationships even when you are remote:
- Together at home, with online games (PHC)
- Lunch Roulete, where you randomly draw people who will have lunch together (Premium Minds)
- Podcast sem filtros (without filters), where the people invited are collaborators, and where you get to know their B-side, the side beyond work (Critical Manufacturing)
- Get togethers such as virtual coffee moments (Nespresso Professional)
In the office or at home, because we are human, we have the need to be together.
