A pilot program for workspace reorganization brought a breath of fresh air to the Mayor’s office of Espoo, the second largest city in Finland and a major hub of Finnish technology industry. Some 30 forward-thinking civil servants voluntarily said goodbye to their allocated workrooms and moved into an activity-based office, which better supports mobile work and interaction across different departments of the local government.

 

Besides vast improvements in the office’s space efficiency, the biggest success of the pilot program was how it brought the local government together organically and effortlessly: the new office became a meeting place for civil servants, bridging traditional organizational and departmental divisions.