#PiensanEnGrande, the initiative that helps improve the competitiveness of companies with between 20 and 50 employees through the transformation of their workspaces.
As main service providers to large companies and multinationals, SMEs must align with their clients’ strategy. The current trend in the business world is to evolve the business towards a hybrid work model, a decision that is usually accompanied by office refurbishment. The objective: to convert them into optimized and, above all, more human spaces. The challenge, therefore, concerns all companies, regardless of their size.
Hybrid offices began to emerge with the implementation of agile methodologies, which promote the development of projects through collaborative teamwork. However, it was not until the arrival of Covid-19 that these offices have been consolidated and have left behind the traditional ones, focused solely on making the surface profitable with endless rows of positions.
Combining teleworking with on-site work, in its different forms, offers many advantages for companies. If they want to continue positioning themselves better in the market against their competition, SMEs cannot be left behind in this trend. The possibility of working in a hybrid environment is an added value when it comes to attracting and retaining talent.
The best branding
The current historical situation can be seen as an opportunity for companies, regardless of their size, to reimagine themselves to be up to the change in which the foundations of hybrid work are being laid.
The best way to show employees, clients, partners and suppliers that a change of culture has taken place in the company is to reflect it through the transformation of the physical space. It is a very powerful branding tool, both internal and external, while at the same time it represents a considerable improvement in productivity.
The must-haves of hybrid offices
The emergence of remote work has made it pointless to have the same number of desks as employees, as they can rotate through unassigned positions. The best option is to size the office: Larger spaces, which can be shared and facilitate communication between the different actors, without the need to move to a larger and more expensive headquarters.
However, hybrid offices and their furniture go much further. They are also agile and flexible, as they allow adapting to the changing needs of different projects. Since not all phases will require the same collaborators or tasks, it is essential to have dynamic furniture, where walls will be another support, along with boards and slates.
The pandemic has also come to confirm digital transformation as a non-negotiable aspect of companies and their workspaces. The report “The Digitalization of the Economy 2021” of the Economic and Social Council of Spain (CES) determines that those SMEs that are digitized will have a better competitive position and will be able to grow more.
In this context is the Digital Kit program, framed within the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), the mechanism that articulates the aid of the European Fund Next Generation EU to digitize companies between 10 and 49 workers. A unique opportunity to have document management services, 3D printing, video analytics solutions, virtual receptions…
All these improvements must be addressed taking into account the human factor. Employees value remuneration and flexibility, but also that their workplace is a pleasant environment, in which their needs are taken into account: comfort, accessibility, quality of furniture, sustainability, air conditioning temperature… Their well-being is synonymous with productivity.
In this line, the professionals in charge of the operation of the offices in our country are manifested. The Workplace Summit 2021 held in November by IFMA Spain, the Spanish chapter of the International Association de Facility Management, highlighted people as the main asset of any organization and the need to reinforce the importance of employees even more after the experience of living and working threatened by Covid-19.