Workplace of the Future brings the trends on office design and immersion of technologies closer to stakeholders

The Diplomat-Bucharest organized the 3rd edition of Workplace of the Future in November, 20 2019 at Capital Plaza Hotel, close to the heart of Bucharest.

The event’s Gold Partners were Vastint, Wipro, Noerr, COS, CBRE, SEA ONE and benefited from the support of HRS, Wave and media partners Outsourcing Today and Financial Intelligence.

As the future of the workplace continues to be driven by flexibility and openness, companies have been thinking a lot more about their workplaces. Whether it be to drive greater efficiencies from expensive floorspace, to embrace and support emerging technologies, to improve working environments to attract and retain staff or to explore alternatives to expensive business relocation, the Romanian workplace is changing.

Workplace transformation can be a powerful vehicle to initiate culture change, inspire innovation and improve productivity. What companies want to know is – is it worth it, and does it have a lasting impact on the bottom line. The workplace of the future is happening now and it is about creativity, sustainability, natural environment and natural materials insertion, all in the benefit of employee well-being and of course, to the benefit of employers which get to retain them within the company.

People and the sense of community are the priority concepts in the companies’ value proposition and the most important asset for companies, developers, architects, office designers and all the business stakeholders.

It is not anymore about costs but how developers and office environment creators are able to induce the sense of natural environment, wellbeing and togetherness with the existing and sustainable resources.

Spaces and people need to work perfectly together.

Find below the main statements uttered within the conference:

Colin Lovering, Senior Vice President Avison Young Real Estate Romania: “As the future of the workplace continues to be driven by flexibility and openness, companies have been thinking a lot more about their workplaces. Whether it be to drive greater efficiencies from expensive floorspace, to embrace and support emerging technologies, to improve working environments to attract and retain staff or to explore alternatives to expensive business relocation, the Romanian workplace is changing. Workplace transformation can be a powerful vehicle to initiate culture change, inspire innovation and improve productivity. What companies want to know is – is it worth it, and does it have a lasting impact on the bottom line”

Oliver Heath, Director, Oliver Heath Design: “The WELL building standard is a system for measuring, certifying and monitoring the performance of building features that impact health and wellbeing. There are 7 key areas, namely air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, mind. 50% of Romanian employees believe stress level at work is high. 15.4% say that the stress level is unsustainably high. 60% of the lost workdays are due to stress. We spend 90% of our time indoors”

Diana Calfa, Managing Partner, Morphoza: “When talking about the workplace, it is important to focus on people, not on the interior space. The spaces become more people-centered and that is what we call wellbeing”

Mircea-Catalin Roman, Coordinator Employment Practice Noerr, Senior Associate: “We have to work in a balanced environment. We need to feel comfortable at our workplace. The employee must be in the center of the workplace discussion. That will certainly increase their productivity and happiness”

Catalin Stratulat, Delivery Head Europe Product Engineering Services, Wipro: “Younger generations take everything for granted, and they have higher expectations when it comes to smart buildings or their workplace”

Mihai Paduroiu, CEO Office Division at One United Properties: “We are currently developing three mixed-use projects, all of them are going to be LEED certified. Our current office projects will also be WELL certified. The Romanian market has embraced this new certification, and Romania is one of the leading countries in this respect. Every year, you need to make sure that your building reaches the highest level of certification”

Antoniu Panait, Managing Director, Vastint Romania: “We are constantly studying the present workplace, but we also need to create the perfect working environment for our tenants’ employees in the future. People need an environment where they can feel welcomed, so that their productivity and happiness can improve”

Tudor Ionescu, Head of Advisory & Transaction Services, Office CBRE: “We recently conducted a study to measure efficiency, productivity, and happiness in the office. After the study, we managed to increase the productivity by more than 70 percent. Having wellbeing measuring tools in the office has a positive impact on the productivity and the happiness of the employees”

Find all the details of the conference on the event official webpage: http://workplace-of-the-future.thediplomat.ro/

All the snapshots from yesterday’s conference session are now available at this link