Responding to new ways of working
Orange has rolled out several major real estate projects in recent years to respond to new employee demands and ways of working. Bridge, the Group’s headquarters brings together 3,000 employees from different teams and business lines and is a prime example of this approach.
“We wanted to design a headquarters that will enable transversal working to streamline the decision-making process, empower greater teamwork, and boost cross-departmental initiatives. We needed to implement digital services at Bridge which can support mobility in the workspace, as well as hybrid and remote interactions,” says Séverine Legrix de la Salle, Director of the Bridge project.
In particular, this meant designing adapted workspaces and high-performance digital tools intended for the building’s regular occupants as well as the Group’s nomadic employees.
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We needed to implement digital services at Bridge which can support mobility in the workspace, as well as hybrid and remote interactions.
Séverine Legrix de la Salle, Director of the Bridge project
Innovative digital services designed upstream
Above all, the spaces needed to be flexible. For this reason, the 56,000m2 of floorspace at Bridge was designed to adapt to several different workplace scenarios: open spaces, flexible offices, personal cubicles, plant walls – the keyword is variety.
In order to be able to offer streamlined digital journeys for employees, the Group turned to Orange Business, who worked in partnership with the Managed Services and User Services Department (DISU) to implement innovative services to ensure an optimal experience. Orange Business put together an array of digital services (collaborative tools, geolocated room booking, building management services, etc.) based on the joint needs of the Group Real Estate Department (DIG), Human Resources and the Orange IT Department.
“Bridge offers a wide range of rooms equipped with digital services. We rolled out an array of efficient tools that are easy to use. Simplicity was the watchword for us,” explains Thomas Vergouwen, Head of Employee Digital Journeys at Orange.
One example of this is the Facilities Now app, available to download for all occupants of the Bridge building. They can use the app to plan their travel to work, find available parking spaces, and it provides a full map of the building, among many additional services. Employees can use the app throughout their working day.
Making work easier, every day
By offering a variety of workspaces, 5G connectivity and digital services adapted to different work scenarios, Bridge helps boost social ties and employee focus, delivering gains in both well-being and productivity. “Employees are delighted: they never expected to find so many options that are so easy to use,” confirms Thomas Vergouwen.
One of the keys to its success was to build the digital offer at Bridge based on real business needs to encourage adoption by employees.
“A transformational project of this scale should involve all our teams,” Séverine Legrix de la Salle points out. The Bridge project is also an important step in building a catalog of digital services intended for all current and future Group sites.