{"id":172762,"date":"2024-10-24T13:47:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T11:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=172762"},"modified":"2026-01-19T14:33:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T13:33:50","slug":"the-university-is-slowly-switching-to-shared-workspaces-more-efficient-but-a-little-impersonal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/10\/24\/the-university-is-slowly-switching-to-shared-workspaces-more-efficient-but-a-little-impersonal\/","title":{"rendered":"The university is slowly switching to shared workspaces: ‘More efficient, but a little impersonal’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gradually, all departments of the university are switching to flexible workspaces. Not all staff members are happy. “I notice that colleagues are increasingly choosing to work from home out of fear that they won\u2019t be able to find a suitable spot at the office.”<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNoa Zonderland<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

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.<\/p>\n\t

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Flexible working isn\u2019t new on Woudestein campus. Since 2017, staff in the Sanders building, for example, have already been using shared workspaces. Eventually, the EUR wants all departments to adopt this concept: essentially, three employees will share two desks.<\/p>\n

What is the main reason for this transition? \u201cWe are currently not using our buildings efficiently\u201d, answers Real Estate and Facilities director Marijke Weustink. A November 2022 occupancy rate survey showed that the average occupancy of offices was under 25 per cent. \u201cWe still have to maintain those empty square metres, and that\u2019s not sustainable\u201d, she continues. \u201cThe current financial situation adds an extra push, but it\u2019s not the main reason.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In practice, they follow a fixed schedule and occupancy. \u201cWithin the cluster, we agree on who sits where on which day\u201d, says professor Albert Wagelmans, who usually spends his office days in the same room. \u201cFor example, I normally sit here on Thursdays, but if I\u2019m not around, I inform my group so someone else can use the space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pilot skipped at ESSB<\/h2>

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 \u2018the new norm\u2019.<\/p>\n

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. \u201cThe needs of each department and the phase it\u2019s in differ, so the approach is not always the same\u201d, says Weustink.<\/p>\n\n\t

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