A new workplace concept in two months for Polycon

The project began with a quantitative and qualitative assessment, inviting employees and management to define a new workplace. This included a workplace survey conducted for the entire staff, an observation of the current workplace, interviews with representatives and supervisors of different work roles, and a management workshop.

In the survey phase, we took into account not only the physical workplace, but also the employees’ experiences and ideas about the organization’s culture, operations, digital workplace, remote work and the development of a new workplace. With the exception of the observation visit, the cooperation project was carried out remotely in its entirety, using the digital work platform at our disposal.

The collected materials were analyzed and presented in a management workshop, where a new workplace concept was jointly developed and the goals and criteria for the changes in the new workplace were defined. Based on this analysis, our interior architect and workplace experts created a space concept and program with recommendations, which served as a starting point in Polycon’s search for new premises and for the actual space planning. To support the decision, we created a preliminary cost estimate for the change.

” the cooperation with Agile Work increased employee confidence that different viewpoints and the diverse needs and wishes of our employees were taken into consideration.” says Niina Uolamo-Paakkonen the CEO of Polycon.

Polycon’s current workplace did not incentivise employees to work together, did not support encounters during the work day and offered no suitable spaces for collaboration between teams. Employees did not find the workplace modern, comfortable or cohesive.

The main aspects to improve were increasing cooperation both between teams and within them, adding community to the work life, diversifying the physical workplace and the continuation of flexible working arrangements even after the corona pandemic. Based on this, the goals for the change in workplace were defined as good employee experience, optimization of the way spaces are used and strengthening of the organizational culture.

Personal offices were given up in favor of a multi-space office taking different working needs into account and supporting future growth with its flexibility. Employees also expressed a desire for flexible work arrangements, which will be taken into account by changing Polycon’s remote work policies.

Because the current premises did not support the desired change, Polycon began the search for a suitable facility based on the workplace criteria and with the help of the space program created for them. Designing a new workplace is easier with a ready-made workplace concept and preliminary budget.