The university is slowly switching to shared workspaces: ‘More efficient, but a little impersonal’

Last year, the Econometrics department at the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) launched a pilot to help staff get used to flexible workspaces. In the basement of the E-building, where the department is located, all workstations were equipped with adjustable desks and chairs, a PC with two screens, a camera, and a docking station.

The Econometrics staff are divided into clusters of eight people with six workstations. Every day, they must book a desk via an online reservation system.

In practice, they follow a fixed schedule and occupancy. “Within the cluster, we agree on who sits where on which day”, says professor Albert Wagelmans, who usually spends his office days in the same room. “For example, I normally sit here on Thursdays, but if I’m not around, I inform my group so someone else can use the space.”

While the Econometrics staff have a year to adapt to the new working method, staff at the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB) were told just before the summer that they would have to switch to flexible workspaces. On the sixteenth floor of the Mandeville building, staff packed up their belongings within a few weeks and followed ‘the new norm’.

The fact that one faculty runs a pilot while another switches to shared workspaces within weeks is not unusual, according to Real Estate and Facilities (REF) director Marijke Weustink and office space account manager Arnoud de Jong. “The needs of each department and the phase it’s in differ, so the approach is not always the same”, says Weustink.

Staff were not really involved in the decision about the layout of their faculty, says researcher and associate professor Marjan Gorgievski from ESSB. She knew a working group had been working on the plan. “But they didn’t take the rest of the faculty along with them during the process”, she continues.

When ESSB staff learned they would have to give up their own desks, they were offered consultation days. “People could write their concerns on tiles and posters, but the decision had essentially been made”, says Gorgievski. “So the plans could only be adjusted marginally, such as converting a planned inspiration room into a workspace for PhD candidates.”

Professor of Economics Bauke Visser had a similar experience. He is part of a working group for the design of the faculty’s future space in the Tinbergen building. “I feel like all we can do in the working group is to decide the position of the partition walls. Everything else has already been decided. We don’t really get to design our own faculty”, he says.

Designing a work environment is like putting together a puzzle, responds De Jong. “The spaces need to be tailored to the number of people and their roles to work effectively. Each organisational unit or faculty can choose how many quiet zones they want and whether or not to use a reservation system”, he continues. “Tinbergen is even more complicated. The building isn’t flexible; it’s a listed monument with a fixed structure. We can’t and aren’t allowed to deviate from that.”

In all departments, REF divides the space into three zones: quiet, hum, and buzz. “For every task you need to do, you can find a spot that suits it. So if you want to work together with colleagues, you can sit in the ‘hum’ or ‘buzz’ zone. And if you want to focus, you go to the ‘quiet’ zone”, explains De Jong.

“That concept was designed for civil servants”, responds Visser. “The activities of the average academic are quite different. People might think lecturers spend most of their time in the lecture hall, but you also need to see us as researchers, writers, and readers. We need a quiet environment to work, and that’s much harder with a shared, flexible workspace.”

Shared workspaces aren’t always practical, staff members feel. It takes longer to get started because you have to set yourself up at a new desk every day. At the end of the day, you can’t leave your belongings behind.

With a flexible workspace, you also feel less connected to your environment, says Gorgievski, as you’re not allowed to personalise the workstations. “And I find that a shame”, she says. “I used to have a big poster that you could colour in, but now there’s no space for it, so I had to throw it away.”

Econometrician Wagelmans also had to remove his personal items. He now keeps his family photos in a shared locked cabinet. “The workspaces may have become more efficient, but they also feel a little impersonal. Our profession requires creativity. Research isn’t just about finding things out; it’s often about thinking up new concepts. To do that, it’s important to be in an inspiring environment.”

Despite the rules, you can still personalise the workspaces a bit, according to Weustink: “It’s true you can’t hammer nails into the wall or bring your own artwork, but at EUR we have a fantastic art collection you can choose from to hang up in the workspace or department.”

Wagelmans also notices that colleagues are choosing to work from home more often, out of fear they won’t find a suitable spot at the office. And that’s something the university should prevent, he says. “A university should be a place of meeting and exchanging ideas. Contact with colleagues is valuable because that’s where good ideas often come from.”

“I understand the worry”, says De Jong. “But given the occupancy rate and the number of workstations on campus, the chance of not finding a spot within your faculty is virtually zero. Maybe the spot you usually sit in is taken, but you can always sit somewhere else”, he explains.

PhD candidate Nathan Kaye from ESSB is actually happy with his new place. As an external PhD candidate, he didn’t have an assigned workstation, let alone a key to a room. “The idea was that I would always work in the flexible space. As a result, I felt like I didn’t really belong”, he says. “It just so happened that another PhD candidate wasn’t often in the office, so I could almost always sit at her desk.”

After staff consultations, the faculty set up a room for PhD candidates. “Even for external PhD candidates like me”, says Kaye. “On the days I’m here, I share the space with eight people. So far, we have more desks than people, so you will always have a spot”, he says. “What I really like is that there’s now a room where I belong. I’m also getting a key to it.”