The fast increase in staff members and the purchase of a new office building, that will become SLRB’s main office as of 2022, meant that the organization needed to transform their way of working. It is essential for staff members to feel involved in the project and to embrace the change to come.

The first step in this vast project was to create job openings for the profiles we needed to get this project on the road. Two jobs were published at the end of April 2018, and by September the necessary recruitments were made.

During September and October the new change team, consisting of the 2 employees that were already on the project and the 2 new recruits, started out with an intake trajectory. Their goal was to understand the position of employees’ regarding the entire project, but also to identify quick-wins for the organization that could be integrated in the project.

At the end of September, senior staff was invited for a one-on-one conversation with the project manager. A communication campaign was launched for ‘NWOW Walk-Ins’ during October. These walk-ins gave every single employee the chance to have a 30 minutes private talk with the team to express their concerns or ask questions. At the same time, the change team asked their own questions, like “what can we do to keep you updated” and “how do you think we can keep getting your honest feedback about the project”.

We identified a recurring concern: noise pollution on the work floor caused by phone calls, informal meetings and a general lack of places to work together in group.

After a quick analysis we concluded that we could speed up some investments in furniture in order to address the most pressing concern voiced by many co-workers. It would also give them a chance to already get a glimpse of what their new offices will look like in 2022 in the new building. This way, by the time the actual move happens, the change will be less drastic.

In total we invested around 120 000 euros in acoustic furniture and we planned another big investment in replacing the outdate desk by state of the art standing-sitting desks. In December 2018, 2 months after our walk-ins, the new furniture arrived. In January and February 2019, it was put on display near the cafeteria so all employees could take a look and decide which furniture they would like to have installed in their own office.

We also speeded up the timeline for the renovation of the new building and did a fast renovation of two floors. These new floors offer us the opportunity to increase the number of meeting rooms from 4 tot 19. Our meetings room now include a large room dedicated to workshops, several smaller rooms for teams up to 10 people and a room equipped for videoconferences with colleagues working from home. We also added 6 ‘meeting boxes’ for small, informal meetings. Finally we added a “silent” room where people could simply come to relax when they need a break, and a focus room where they can work without distractions.