It's not that we were tired of our previous office; we really liked being there. But due to the impressive growth we've experienced over the past few years, it became clear that we would face a lack of space.
Therefore, and with the arrival of 15 new colleagues in the future, we started looking for a more suitable office building at the beginning of 2022. With several specific criteria in mind, we chose a location at Damplein, in The Chocolate Factory. This building, which was being extensively renovated, offered us the opportunity to have a significant input in its design and finish.
In our previous office, we identified a number of clear areas for improvement:
And then there are two options: either we move towards flexible workspaces and more remote work, or we look for more space. We could have decided to develop a policy where everyone had to work a number of days at home and a number of days in the office, and where the existing desks were transformed into flex spaces that anyone could reserve.
It was a conscious decision not to do this. We place great value on informal interaction, which stems from physical presence. You meet each other at the coffee machine, have lunch together, and create new stories that can be laughed at later. This would be lost if we were to communicate with each other only digitally. Full remote work is not an option.
On the other hand, we don't aspire to dictate anyone's schedule. That's why we consciously chose not to make formal arrangements about remote work. At Teal Partners, there is a lot of room for flexibility, but we do expect people to connect personally. Building a bond with the organization, colleagues, and the client or project they are working on is important. Therefore, we place great value on being physically together regularly.
We find it important that everyone feels at home. The importance of having your own place, a personal desk with your own stuff is greatly underestimated. No flexible workspaces, but your own desk that you can decorate to your own taste. A desk with plenty of natural light and preferably also a view to the outside. Desks that are large enough, so that you can easily sit with two people behind a screen to work something out together. And one or more islands per team that are far enough apart so that you don't disturb each other too much during a brief consultation.
To have a meeting with an entire team, more space is required. We switched from four meeting rooms, one of which also served as a lunch room, to a central stage with six enclosed and two open meeting rooms. In addition, we have created two smaller spaces for three people spread out over the office landscape, which are now often used to make external calls undisturbed.
At the request of some employees, we have also set up two quiet spaces, equipped with a screen and a comfortable office chair, for when you need to sit separately. When developing software, we sometimes encounter complex problems and it is handy to use a board to draw out the solution. Thanks to the central location of the meeting rooms, it is now easy to quickly step into a space from your desk for an analysis or brainstorming session.
Our largest project team currently consists of about 25 colleagues. When you want to organize a meeting or demonstration with this entire group, you need more space than a regular meeting room offers. This is where our second level comes in handy. With future growth in mind, we have set up part of the upper floor as a stand. This is not only practical for the largest team, but also offers a place where we can all sit together by simply adding a few chairs and benches for, for example, a quarterly meeting.
It is reassuring to know that there is enough space available for internal events. We no longer have to search for an external location, which makes it easier to bring everyone together. In addition to regular meetings, such as quarterly meetings, there is now also the space to share knowledge. This has given rise to TealFridays, where a colleague or a team of colleagues can present what they are working on, or where something new in the field of technology is explained.
You could already read above that we used to have lunch together at the largest conference table in the old office. That was very cozy, but sometimes it really became impractical. At Teal Partners, we place a lot of value on lunch, whether we eat inside or somewhere on 't Eilandje. You then sit together with colleagues from other teams, get to know each other faster, and talk more easily about things that are not directly related to work.
Therefore, we have set up the central part of the 2nd floor as a flexible lunch space. We chose modular lunch furniture that you can easily move and add where needed. This way, we can also transform the entire floor into a larger event space at once. Even for external events, we now have plenty of space.
What we definitely wanted to take from the old office was our bar. And not necessarily the bar itself, but the concept of that bar. As previously mentioned, there is a lot of room for flexibility at Teal Partners, but we do want to invest in personal connections. We don't force anyone to hang out at the bar, but of course we like it when everyone is there.
The bar serves as a place to end the week together on Fridays and offers a moment of connection. A place where you can laugh with your colleagues and recall memories or make new ones. Therefore, we have set up the last part of the top floor as a kitchen, surrounded by a new bar with bar stools.
From the very beginning, we also took into account our cyclists. In good weather, a large number of them come to work on their racing bikes. These athletes are all very proud of their bikes and always brought them inside. There were days when the entire office was full of racing bikes - an impressive collection indeed. With that in mind, we created an internal bike storage, strategically located near 2 spacious showers, with lockers for clothing and storage for helmets and shoes.
This solution has clearly sparked the sporting enthusiasm; there are now several colleagues who have also purchased a racing bike. In the meantime, there are also colleagues who go jogging in the park at lunchtime, follow Pilates in the nearby sports club, or go climbing in one of the local bouldering gyms after work. The internal Strava competition is getting more exciting every day!
Just like 'Rome was not built in a day', the same applies to our office. We are never really finished; there are always still opportunities to improve and personalize our workplace. From hanging photos and gadgets to adding plants and decorations, the decor of our office will evolve over time, so that it really becomes a place where we feel at home.
