How flexible workplace strategies can be made successful at the operational level

Abstract

We are living in a continuously changing world; technology is changing rapidly, information has become more accessible and an office worker can work anywhere, at anytime. These developments require organisations to be highly flexible in the way they respond to economic, social and technological change, but also in the capacity and flexibility of their workplace. This paper strives to give insight into ‘how to make flexible workplace strategies work at an operational level’ by discussing the relationship between levels of ambition and implementation strategies. Activity-based working (ABW) is a flexible workplace concept, which recognises that, through the course of any day, people engage in many different activities and need different types of work settings and technology to accommodate those activities. Implementation success is driven by an integrated approach where ambitions and solutions for the physical, virtual and behavioural environment are considered in a coherent way. There are three different types of approach towards implementing ABW, which fit different levels of ambition. Knowing the ambition level makes it possible to choose the right implementation approach and helps to determine the role that the corporate real estate organisation can play. Two case studies are reflected upon to exemplify these different levels of ambition and implementation approaches.