Work in progress

“It’s high time they incorporated services that make employees’ lives easier”

“Offices today have changed beyond recognition. They’ve almost become like pleasurable, comfortable, gratifying hotels”, asserts Olivier Saguez, the CEO and founder of Saguez & Partners, whose subsidiary Saguez WorkStyle has imagined more than 120 company headquarters since its creation in 2010. “It’s high time they incorporated services that make employees’ lives easier”. Saguez & Partners’ own offices, located in a former train factory in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Ouen, are a perfect example. There, you not only find 1,000m2 of terraces and gardens and two gyms, but also a ‘click & collect’ service and two restaurants with their own in-house chef.

“The office of the 21st-century should be a place of well-being”, he states. “The most important concern for a firm is to hire the best talent”. And according to a 2018 study by the Parisian business school, ESSEC, 40% of French students consider the quality of the workplace to be vital in their choice of employer.

“Companies have a social role to play”

Olivier Saguez advocates the integration of a number of elements, the first of which is nature. “We use a lot of plants in our projects”, he explains. “They give you the notion of the passage of time, which is extremely important. You see living things and are not solely in a mechanical world”. An environmental approach is also increasingly important. “Sustainability is essential to the younger generation”, he notes, “and companies have a social role to play”. It can be expressed in several ways, whether it be through recycling and the choice of construction materials, or by favoring green modes of transport. “The countries that inspire us are those in the north of Europe and there is not a large company headquarters in the Netherlands without a bike shed”, recounts Olivier. “It’s not just a garage. You can also get your bike cleaned and repaired there”.

For the founder of Saguez & Partners, whose clients include multinational firms like Generali, Microsoft and Sephora, mobility and flexibility have also become a key component of modern offices. “One of the most important things to avoid is boredom”, he claims. “You have to force people to move. That’s something quite new. I have seven or eight different spaces available to me. There’s a place where I can shut myself away to make a phone call and another that is a silent zone. There’s also an area for making quick decisions standing up and even a brainstorming room that’s doubles as a gym, where you laze on mats”. And despite a new survey by the French firm Actineo, which reveals that the ideal work space for the majority of French employees (59%) remains the individual office, the CEO is a fervent proponent of open spaces. For him, the keys to making them successful are attention to both natural light and acoustics, and their division into units of roughly a dozen work stations. “Everything should not be visible”, opines Saguez. “You need to install semi-partitions. Otherwise, it becomes like a factory”.

 

“There should be a focus on the quality of natural light. In our own offices, we also placed the main staircase next to the elevators, in such a way that nobody actually takes the latter. It’s good for your health to be in motion”

And what is the role of design and architecture in this new environment? According to M. Saguez, their aesthetic qualities are not necessarily paramount. Instead, they should first and foremost be functional. “Their main task is to instill well-being”, he stresses. “There should be a focus on the quality of natural light. In our own offices, we also placed the main staircase next to the elevators, in such a way that nobody actually takes the latter. It’s good for your health to be in motion”. Furniture, meanwhile, should be adapted to the new work modes. “Everything needs to be rethought according to how it’s going to be used. We’ve created certain tables with outlets integrated into the legs and others adapted to stand-up meetings, as well as chairs that can be moved about to serve multiple functions”.

And even though he believes that companies will always need headquarters (“They embody a firm’s identity”), Olivier Saguez is keen to note the development of other more nomadic work environments, whether they be FabLabs, co-working spaces or hotels. “A hotel brings together many of the necessary qualities”, he remarks. “They’re comfortable, service-oriented and quiet. In the years ahead, they’ll no doubt become even more efficient and more important as alternative locations for work”.

By Marie Montuir

 

 

MAISON&OBJET has always been considered an authority on decor and design trends, and this September the trade fair is set to place this extremely hot topic centre stage, momentarily becoming a laboratory for expressing today’s new workplace lifestyles.