Pati team
attended Rework’15 conference which was arranged by HUB13 at YLE in Pasila on
the 13th and 14th of October. The first day consisted of key
notes and insightful panel discussions on the future of work and workplace, and
an evening pitch night where startups in the field aimed to gain funding and
inspire people with their groundbreaking gadgets and services.
The
speakers ranged from future researchers through workplace managers to CEOs and
from workplace researchers through business developers to HR professionals. All
the lectures suggested a larger inclusion and engagement of the employees to
workplace changes that are, in essence, not about the spaces per se but rather
about work practice changes and removal of cultural barriers created in
organizations along the organizational path.
To
illuminate the main points, I hereby list a bunch of phrases that the
presenters used to describe the future of work and workplace:
Ola Sundell
gave insights on Hub13 concept and described the background for the whole
event.
“We build
for startups and larger companies and give support in growth – we feel that the
large companies can learn from the small and vice versa.”
Gunilla
Ohls wanted to lead by example not having her own desk in the organization
anymore.
“My work is
in my backpack today: I sit where ever I find available, different, small
spaces.”
Ilkka
Halava painted with a future brush the relations between old and new
organisations and their perceptions with surrounding environments.
“A building
is a forecast. Some claim that they have such good forecasts, that it is worthwhile
constructing a building for a specific purpose for 30 years. Forecasts fail.”
“Constructing
cellular environments is the thing – environments that open up possibilities.
The role of cities is to produce stimulus – it should be manifested in the
built environment as well.”
“Spiritual
places have always attracted people to the world of games. How come we don’t
see those kinds of spiritual places in our work environments? Or will we?”
“Sharing
economy challenges organizations”.
Satu Huber
from ELO gave insights from a CEO perspective and highlighted the role of
leading from the front and identifying the organizational potential in the
individuals.
“If you have
500 brains in the organization, it is important to find ways of utilizing that
brain power.”
“A human
being is an entity: If you think about it, what is the reason that gets you out
of bed in the morning?”
“More open
spaces support the well-being of human beings – nobody is left alone.”
“The three
c’s of change consist of communication, communication, communication.”
“The young
digital natives and the old veterans can support one another.”
Tytti Bergman
from Alko emphasized the role of communication between HR and Real estate units
inside the organization challenging the consultants that come and go.
”Your role
is tricky in changing the working practices. You focus too much on the spatial
dimension and you don’t have a clear enough idea of the internal organization.”
“We need
certain prospects for building a communal spirit – the HR has taken ownership
of an IT project.”
“The
relation of space and time must change at the office – we need courage in testing
quick and dirty solutions.”
PATIs own
Suvi Nenonen discussed workplace changes from point of view of individual and
wellbeing. She referred to identity, fear of loss and presence at a workplace.
“Tila
edellä puuhun”
“Am I even
allowed to eat consolation candy at my work desk?”
“Whatever
ties you to your table prevents the work practice changes from happening.”
“50% of the
workplace changes is purely emotional”
“A
collaboratively planned is half done”
“The
spatial team in Ruusupuisto came together every two weeks throughout the
2,5
year project – its main task was to build trust."
The first
panel discussion gave insights on regulation and how it creates barriers for
flexibility in organisations and consequently, work practices in Finland. The
panelists consisted of Petteri Uoti, Elina Lepomäki, Rasmus Roiha and Riitta
Lumme-Tuomala.
”According
to Tilastokeskus, over 60% of Finns work in knowledge intensive tasks. The work
time law has been tailored for the purposes of industrial society and it refers
to workspace. In reality work is the thing you do, not a space you go to.”
“We are
moving from analogical towards digital and networked where everyone plays with
everyone else with different kinds of tools – we need a huge cultural change.”
“The work
time law bases on an assumption of timely divide: there is work time and other
time. If I get a work-related idea naked in the shower, is it work time or the
other time?”
“The work
time law does not support differentiation even though an organization would
like to make changes for employee’s sake.”
“Companies
such as Reaktor and Futurice succeeded extremely well in the Best place to work
competition. The authorities got interested, checked their hiring practices and
started a hazzle: Goddamn, you can’t do it like this!”
“We would
require individual regulation that should not be connected to time nor place
but to the task under conduct. What we need is courage to release some
regulation locally and provide responsibility.”
The lunch
time provided time for networking and the afternoon continued with good talks
from representatives of OP corporation, Martela, SOK and IBM.
“Our
working culture needs to live with time. We enter the customer’s world where
Vallila’s office is a pilot.”
“The next
revolution after the industrial and digital ones will be that of wellbeing.”
“Hubs are
activity-based offices for entrepreneurs and their difficulty lies in
scalability – in the beginning you don’t actually know who is going to use the
hub.”
“About 45%
of global workforce today is unemployed or work in odd jobs. At the same time,
there are jobs on the market. There is seemingly a gap between an employee and
an employer which is why there is an increasing war of talent. The employees
have an increasing amount of power.”
”The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
“IBM Watson
can process 2 million pages of information in 3 seconds, has a sense of humor
and understands irony. What are we good for when Watsons take over?”
The
official program was wrapped together by a panel discussion lead by Kontoret
Konsult’s Tommi Ruohonen. The
panelists were: Kalle Sogblom, Henri Helvarinta, Kati Barklund, Sanna Lindner
and Mika Okkola. The
whole panel discussion handled the issues between organisational culture, HR, physical
spaces and IT. A common understanding was that a more holistic understanding
and a more integrated approach is needed whether it is lead by HR sector or any
person who is inside the organization and understands the humane aspects,
individual and communal work practice challenges, opportunities and potential
implications of their changes.
“Technology
can not be implemented without cultural and managerial implications”
“The
productivity of work can be improved by quitting from doing stupid, unnecessary
things.”
“We tend to
focus on technological dimension, not the work practices.”
“Is there a
need for a separate HR or should HR be the ground for everything that is done?”
“The
slowest knot of the whole change chain is human.”
“How could
the human-believing human beings be taken on board the technological changes?”
The evening provided interesting pitches from startups such as Briim, 720 degrees, Lukoton, Fingertip, Agile Work and Apped. The next day's workshops touched similar issues but engaged the participants to reflect on their own working habits. More information on analyses of the PATI workshop coming up later on in the upcoming blog posts. Altogether the ReWork'15 was an insightful blast of work of the past, today, tomorrow and further. PATI team wants to thank HUB'13 and the organizers and hopes that the ReWork'16 will gain even more momentum than the first prototype.
And again, the discourse over the two days made PATI team feel ever more confident of being on the right track in its research focus.
