Working It: Workplace Strategy Expo, Zurich

The first Workplace Strategy Expo run in parallel with the HR management exhibition Personal Swiss. The Expo takes a pioneering approach to one of the most pressing issues of the modern world of work: up-to-date strategies for better, smarter workplace design. Apart from providing masses of information on this theme and presenting a range of furniture systems, the Expo offers visitors a platform for discussion and exchange of views between experts and other interested parties, with speeches, open forums and interviews. This range of offerings is unique on today’s European market.

The way we work has undergone fundamental changes in recent decades, due to the transition from a society based on industrial production to a service society and the digital age that has made the introduction of new tools and working methods possible. Many employees may now be classified as knowledge workers: they are the key capital of any business, and the basis for its success.

Nevertheless, many aspects of the workplace have remained unchanged, and very few companies have as yet made full use of all the facilities available for improving the well-being and hence the productivity of their employees by providing a suitable, flexible working environment.

These considerations led CEO Alexander R Petsch and Project Manager Kamila Slowacka of the trade-fair and exhibition experts Børding Messe to get together with Clark Elliott Consulting to set up the Workplace Strategy Expo. Geneva-based Clark Elliott has 30 years of experience as a workplace strategy consultant to international companies, and will be present at the Expo to pass on his wealth of experience: “The way we work has become much more multidisciplinary in recent years. Experts are increasingly pooling their talents in teams, sometimes on a virtual basis, in order to find innovative solutions to complex problems. Many traditional companies have not yet worked out the best way of providing support for such activities, even though plenty of good ideas and proven best practices are already available.”

Workplace design strategies received too little attention at previous trade fairs, which tended to specialise in business furnishing solutions. Market demand for an event focusing on workplace design strategy is shown not only by previous successful examples of the adoption of such strategies but also by the personal experience of the initiators of the Expo. “This topic has been on our minds for a while now,” says Kamila Slowacka. “The way people work has undergone a fundamental change in recent years, but too many firms have so far failed to pick up on this trend. The great interest in New Workspaces at last year’s Personal Swiss made it quite clear that innovation and creative thinking point the way to future practice. This is what the policy-makers of today need to know if they are to make the right decisions for the future.”

The Workplace Strategy Expo is the first independent event to present the entire range of optimum, smart holistic office solutions and at the same time to provide a platform for experts and laymen to exchange views and information. These comprehensive offerings, ranging from workplace architecture and office furniture, through communication solutions, to office services and combining exhibits, talks by experts and discussions, make the Workplace Strategy Expo a leader in the field of workplace design.

But what is the path to better, smarter working methods? According to Clark Elliott, the root of the problem is to be found in terminology. “There is a long tradition of regarding ‘work’ as a word with a negative connotation, associated with hard physical labour. We really need a new word, which reflects the reality of this concept in the 21st century.” Future-oriented companies are giving up top-down systems nowadays in favour of flatter hierarchies, and building project teams composed of people from different generations who work together in a multidisciplinary set-up to find the best possible, most effective solutions to the problems of today and tomorrow. This can only be done on the basis of appropriate organisational structures and a work environment that facilitates an adequate response to changing business requirements. One part of this new approach is the breaking down of boundaries and viewing employees once again as individuals who need to be given freedom of choice and flexibility, either by provision of a suitable work environment or by modification of individual pieces of furniture. Or as Clark Elliott puts it, “Holistic solutions offer knowledge workers motivation and effective support, thus enabling them to deliver optimum physical and psychosocial performance.”

There may be a certain threshold to be overcome before entrepreneurs can adopt such new strategies and dare to change. Besides, many are still unaware of the mistakes to be avoided and where as yet unused potential may be found. The aim of the Expo is therefore to point out the existence of such workplace design problems and to indicate possible solutions. “The Workplace Strategy Expo is there to help decision-makers to understand what changes need to be made to the work environment to bring it into the 21st century,” explains Kamila Slowacka. To facilitate the step into the new world of work, the Expo therefore offers visitors the unique opportunity of getting to know new and proven concepts and learning from the experience of others – for example in the events where the workplace strategy expert Clark Elliott puts managers responsible for workplace development and leading thinkers in this field in the “hot seat” and asks them searching questions about the secrets of their activities.

Børding Messe and Clark Elliott see the Workplace Strategy Expo as a promising initiative, which they plan to repeat annually in parallel with the other spring trade fairs held in Zurich: Personal Swiss, Swiss Online Marketing, DMM Dialog-Marketing Messe (the trade fair of the Swiss Dialogue Marketing industry), the CXO (Corporate Executive) Day and the Swiss eBusiness Expo. Zurich, the home of many international companies, is the ideal venue for this, as Kamila Slowacka underlines: “Our long-term goal is to make the Workplace Strategy Expo the global hotspot for workplace experts and strategists. In line with this, we are aiming at an English-speaking international audience. We want to attract visitors not just from Switzerland but from Europe as a whole, and indeed from the entire world.”

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Workplace Strategy Expo
12 to 13 April 2016
Messe Zürich, Hall 4