Over the recent 18 months, many things in our lives have changed. There were many changes at Billennium itself as well. After the outbreak of the pandemic and the lockdown restrictions, on the basis of a May 2020 survey for employees, we decided that it would be up to the Billennials to decide where they would work from (obviously with appropriate precautions) – regardless of whether it is a Billennium office, home or other location anywhere in the world.
At the same time, in the survey as many as 47% of Billennials stated that they preferred a hybrid work model, mainly because of their social needs. In the case of 31% of respondents, the reason was the availability of a more comfortable workplace.
That made us think – and the result was the concept of Billennium’s “office of the future”. The first office was set in the Mindspace office area in Warsaw, and in February we are opening our new office in Olsztyn, followed by an equally big one in Lublin.
We have been present in Olsztyn since 2015, and today we employ nearly 150 people there. With the outbreak of the pandemic and transition to a remote work model, we decided to adapt our facilities to the latest workspace design trends, while keeping them in their current locations.
This is how we created Billennium’s “office of the future”: the concept of a place that ensures high comfort and autonomy for individual and group work models, and at the same time offers some space for team-building as this kind of space is in short supply due to the pandemic. It will result in starting a new office in Olsztyn (at Dąbrowszczaków Street), in Lublin and in Białystok as well as in Canada.
Autonomy at work and better interaction of employees
The office in Olsztyn covers an area of 725 sqm. It will provide space for 30% of our staff employed there. The workspace can be used as needed. Autonomy and high comfort of individual and group work will be provided, for instance, by soundproof phone booths.
The office workstations will not be strictly assigned to a specific individual. Everyone will be able to customize their workplace to their personal preferences. Vertical green walls (surface area of 24 sqm) will be beneficial for Billennials’ health, as they will act as a generator of clean and humidified oxygen.
Shared areas are another crucial element of the “office of the future”. It is where casual, not work-related team-building and meetings happen, which are noticeably absent while working remotely. This is why we created a soundproof multimedia chill room (35 sqm) as well as a canteen with flexible arrangement of furniture and a professional coffee machine.
When designing the office, we wanted both to stimulate the WOW factor and, above all, to build the space to which even the biggest fan of working from home would come, and then would work in a group, hold a teleconference with a team all over Poland and the world, have a cup of very good coffee, or play table football with friends. The office in Olsztyn has been created for hybrid work and to facilitate interpersonal contacts.
Ewa GoskaAdministrator Manager at Billennium
The idea of the office of the future
Office of the future is, above all, a place that provides high comfort and autonomy at work. It is a multi-task space that allows for great flexibility in adapting to your needs.
Companies often use hot-desks, i.e. workstations that are not formally assigned to any employee. Moreover, it is also necessary to support various types of activities with such amenities as multimedia solutions, excellent IT infrastructure, soundproof rooms or smart office applications.
In order to encourage employees to return or come to the office, companies must provide an environment that surpasses remote working in every way. While many people made their best effort to adjust home space to work needs, there can always be some inconveniences, such as an unergonomic workstation, noise, or overload of IT infrastructure, explains the architect responsible for the design and construction of the Billennium office in Olsztyn. Consequently, the office must be an ANTI-HOME, a carefully thought-out space, offering many quick variants of room arrangement depending on current needs. It should be ready for every challenge.
Architect responsible for the design and realisation of the Billennium office in Olsztyn
The new reality has changed our habits and the way we work, but offices will continue to be an important part of our culture and Billenium’s showpiece.
In our business, through the solutions we offer, we can connect the world of business with the world of technology, meeting the needs of our clients – and the Billennium’s “office of the future” concept is all about our employees. We closely follow the trends and the expectations of our staff in order to create the unique working environment. We hope you will enjoy our new workspaces.
