Moving more than 400 collaborators to new headquarters triggered the rethinking of the workspace experience, routines, and work dynamics. In collaboration with the research team of With Company and CPU Retail Architects, we developed change management and a fit-out project capable of supporting a positive cultural transformation.
It was a whole month working and sharing the space with teams from different departments, learning, observing but mostly listening.
We reached out to more than 400 collaborators who shared their needs, dreams, and concerns regarding this major change in their lives. They all took part in this process, engaging with online and physical surveys, joining focus groups and workshops.
Our goal was to understand the organization by analyzing how teams and departments were arranged on a social and spatial level: the links between departments, the alignment between the organization's culture and values, current work processes, and how they projected the future.
We mapped all the intricate relationships between departments, understanding which dynamics bring them closer.
The differences between teams were keen. By creating analysis frameworks, we could clearly see the different needs regarding equipment, tools, and space, different work dynamics, different levels of energy and focus, and types of work (more individual or collaborative).
So one size couldn't fit all, and we made sure we created a solid base for different employees and activities.
Knowing and managing employees' expectations is one of the biggest challenges for organizations, especially when organizational decisions are conditioned by the external context. Still, the employees' involvement in the process of transformation is vital. In this project, we had the unique opportunity to explore solutions that better serve the needs, motivations, and perceptions of employees and the activities and behaviours that the organization wanted to promote.
We created a socialization center with get-together spots and more areas for collaborative work, spaces that can easily adapt to respond quickly to the user's needs.
Our main objective was to increase employees' comfort, health, and safety, creating a unique experience that reflects the organization's culture, motivating and inspiring its employees.
Spaces that can support different types of activities and employees giving the user freedom to choose where and how they want to work.
We synthesized our research on three different topics:
Emotional and personal: routines, concerns, and expectations regarding the transition to the new headquarters.
Spatial and functional: overall experience of the headquarters, space distribution of team and departments, more flexible spaces and services.
Work dynamics: new ways of working, working remotely, and flexible hours.
We created a report that included the major findings and insights of the research and solutions translated into space, services, and communication issues. Each report was a tool that guided discussions between all teams involved in the project. They were the common ground of understanding between the organization and its employees, and they were essential to streamline the decision-making process.
High-performance office
Flexible work environment
Well-being promoter space
A programmable workspace that suits users' needs, streamlining processes, and making employees more happy, healthy, and efficient.
The new headquarters are sustainable, profitable, multifunctional, and flexible promoting new work processes and dynamics.
Moving to new headquarters impacts the organization's culture and the lives of all employees: new routines, new work dynamics, and new interactions. So space should be comfortable and intuitive in order to promote an easy and positive adaptation. Responding to everyday needs in an accessible and relevant way helps minimize the transition concerns and allows employees to live their daily routines.
Auchan's new headquarters intends to recreate the employees' daily routines with different paths, spaces, and services. It's a walk through a village where we drink coffee at "Café Central," go to work, have a bite at the local restaurant, have a seat at the central park, or take a yoga class at the gym!
