The "Büroptima" programme
Hannes saw it coming. His" company is also introducing open-plan offices along with a new office concept. The "two-man offices" or "individual offices" for managers are giving way to a modern, communicative and open office culture. The colours are coordinated according to Feng Shui, with a room design by a renowned office art design agency. The lighting was worked out by five specialists over a period of three weeks and results in a veritable work of lumina-tion art. The light should radiate warmth, promote concentration and be as inconspicuously present as possible, unconsciously guiding employees through the right corridors and at the same time complying with the latest energy-saving standards.
The company has paid for the new office culture. The furniture naturally meets the highest standards of energy efficiency and ergonomics. Thanks to the colourful tabletops, working should not only be fun, but should also keep people physically at their workstations.
The management is convinced that with this admittedly not inconsiderable investment, they are taking a step into the future. Of course, it would also be necessary to develop new products, and adapted distribution logistics have been on the agenda for a long time, but you can't do everything at once.
The difficult implementation
At the weekly management meeting, Hannes was given the task of implementing the office concept in detail and procuring the missing furnishings. In addition, he is to draw up the plans for the new seating arrangement and draw up the regulations for the modern use of contemporary office infrastructure in a comprehensible form. As usual, Hannes sets to work in a structured and meticulous manner. Nothing should be left to chance.
"The number of occupancy hours per week equals the square footage of space needed."
He designs a key that nips all discussions such as "colleague x has more space and daylight" in the bud. He will transparently explain that the annual gross salary in francs divided by the value 7000 results in the requirement in square meters per workplace. This should work out if the current single offices are converted into so-called meeting rooms. Meetings should still be held somewhere. The rule here is that the number of hours per week that a room is occupied equals the square meterage of the room that is needed. This means that the spatial distribution is based on a solid foundation.
Top technology in the meeting rooms
The meeting rooms will of course be equipped according to the latest findings of the meeting culture. The lighting and animation technology in these rooms, which are also used for internal courses, must be modern. It is true that the lights can no longer be switched on without a basic technical knowledge of electronics. "On-off" was yesterday - today it's "Program 1-14 with additional dimming function A-F", operated via the touch-screen at the front of the room, which is activated via the main switch at the back.
Logically, this control board is linked to the function of the sun blinds. Because it is completely impossible to lower the blinds without switching on the beamer at the same time. If this should happen, Hannes gives the tip to switch on the beamer, climb onto the table below and cover the lens with a pinboard card. This way the projector stays dark, the shutters are down and the central infrastructure nervous system does not suffer a technical crash. At most, the beamer lamp falls victim to heat death.
The "Clean-desk" sub-project
Now Hannes comes to the tricky chapter. At the same time as the new furnishings, a "clean desk" is introduced. Employees are not allowed to have any personal items at their workstations, nor are they allowed to have any office equipment on their desks that is not absolutely necessary. In concrete terms, only those who have to punch at least 30 A4 pages per day and have at least an 80 percent workload with at least a 60 percent office presence may have a hole punch on their desk.
Hannes ponders over the now missing photos. It's so nice to see what phase of life the individual employee is in. Between the ages of 20 and 30, the photos of the girlfriend or wife are on the table, between the ages of 30 and 40 the children and between the ages of 40 and 50 the photo of the new Harley-Davidson, before at the age of 50 the photo with the sunset makes its way in.
Yes, Hannes regrets having to do without the photos, especially as he received a really beautiful sunset from his wife for his birthday.
