They witness
- Alain d’Iribarne, president of the scientific committee of Actineo
- Antoine Belot, HRD Fleury Michon
- Stéphanie Fraise, HRD at BlaBlaCar
What is a regional hub?
A regional hub is an office space rented by companies in order to accommodate their employees living in the same territory but concerned not to only do home office.
These hubs can take several forms:
- either a mini tray of offices dedicated to a company in a coworking space
- or the occasional and less massive rental of offices for a few employees.
With the development of telecommuting and hybrid working, more and more companies are experimenting with these regional hubs.
New regional rally points
“The home office has its limits, in particular because not all employees have suitable accommodation with a separate office. However, for teleworking at home, companies must check that employees have the same safety and working environment conditions as in their office buildings. For their part, employees in telework are asking for more social ties. There is therefore a convergence of interest between employees and employers for the development of these third places”observes Alain d’Iribarne, president of the scientific committee of Actineo.
Fleury Michon, BlaBlaCar, IBM… have clearly understood their interest in developing this type of new regional rallying point.
Example 1: Fleury Michon has opened a regional hub in Nantes
Since January 2022, Fleury Michon has been offering a new employee experience between its head office in Pouzauges in Vendée – the company’s historic birthplace – the home, and shared offices in a coworking space in the heart of Nantes (HubFleury). Of the 2,500 employees, a good sixty employees live in or around Nantes.
Rather than requiring them to make a 2h30 daily return trip to Pouzauges, the group offers them to do 2 days of teleworking per week and 3 days of face-to-face work divided between the headquarters and the Nantes shared offices. the HubFleury (this is the name of the Fleury Michon Regional Hub) has two spaces with 9 workstations each, two individual offices and 2 meeting rooms, “branded” in the colors of the brand.
“On site, we installed the same shared screens as at headquarters, chargers and mice. Employees just have to plug in their computer to work »illustrates Antoine Belot, the HRD.
On average, fifteen employees visit this Nantes hub every day. And their feedback is 90% positive on this hybrid work experience. By saving themselves travel time, they boast a better work-life balance and also claim to be more productive because they are less tired.
“Fewer in number than at head office, they also say they are less distracted and appreciate the decompartmentalization between departments. They have created a self-managing hub community. They manage their consumables, have drawn up a welcome booklet for new recruits…” explains Antoine Belot.
And this advantage appeals to new recruits: 30% of those who have joined support functions have also chosen to live in Nantes and frequent the HubFleury.
With the opening of this Nantes hub, headhunters breathed a sigh of relief. Before, our recruitment pool was reduced around Pouzauges, now it has expanded to the whole of France. It’s always easier for a spouse to find a job around Nantes than in the Pouzauges region.
Antoine Belot, HR Director of Fleury Michon
Good to know: Fleury Michon still has 20 positions to fill (finance, sales, etc.) in Nantes and/or at the Vendée headquarters.
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Example 2: BlaBlaCar’s “free” regional hubs
At the carpooling specialist, the BlaBlaNomad telework policy gives everyone the opportunity to choose the way of working and the place of residence that suits them best. Coming to the office 1, 3, 5 times a week, or even only once a month, everything is possible, while respecting the dynamics of your team.
Our regional hubs were built in a totally empirical way between the 120 employees based in around a hundred municipalities in France. For example, 10 in Nantes, 10 others in Lyon, a little less in Bordeaux, Marseille or Lille. Together, they decided to come together in coworking spaces with which we have established partnerships. Everyone has 200 euros per month to manage their organization by teleworking. On presentation of an invoice, they are reimbursed for office rental in their co-working space.
Stéphanie Fraise, HRD at BlaBlaCar
Via a chanel system on Slack, they organize themselves to meet on site on the days that suit them best. ” These hubs are not supervised by the company. On site, they do not have the same employee experience as in our new Paris headquarters, but we make sure that it is the same value”, she says. A first assessment is planned for next October-November, in particular to measure the rate of engagement of these hybrid teleworkers.
Example 3: IBM’s “Smart remove centers”
The American firm has also installed regional hubs called “Smart Remote Center” in several French cities including Bordeaux, Lille and Nantes.
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A regional hub must reflect the employee experience lived at headquarters
For employees working from home at least 3 days a week, the original office building is no longer the benchmark for their work environment. Its home and regional hubs are taking over.
Within the hubs, employees seek to establish informal relationships and enjoy peaceful and efficient working conditions. The quality of these hubs must therefore be at least equivalent to that of the company’s historic premises. This is also why the low-cost third places originally frequented by independents are changing into more premium third places.
Alain d’Iribarne, honorary research director at the CNRS
For this researcher, these hubs sometimes become mini establishments in their own right.
“There is a sort of SME logic within a large group. There are people from the same company, who all live in the same area but do not work in the same departments. Regional hubs make it possible to fight against verticality. In short, the managerial dream. But for now, we do not yet have scientific validation of this win-win organization. “, he tempers.
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