Published: 17 October 2024
Text: Anne-Marie Korseberg Stokke
Photo: Sigurd Reistad Klæva og Anne-Marie Korseberg Stokke
)
"We’ve observed that it’s easier for our teammates to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture; collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective; teaching and learning from one another are more seamless; and, teams tend to be better connected to one another."
This was the message from Andy Jassy, Amazon's CEO, in a memo to all employees explaining why the company is mandating them to work more from the office.
When introducing the return-to-office strategy in 2023, Jassy asked all corporate employees to be present at the office three days a week. According to the memo, Amazon aims to operate as the world's largest startup. The CEO highlights quick decision-making, strong ownership, and cohesive teams as key to the culture.
)
All tenants of Oslo Science Park are invited to contribute to the PhD research project titled "Antecedents and Outcomes of Multi-local Working from the Planning Perspective—The Case of Oslo Urban Region" at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) in the department of Urban and Regional Planning.
"There is something about being face-to-face with somebody, looking them in the eye, and seeing they’re fully immersed in whatever you’re discussing that bonds people together. Teams tend to find ways to work through hard and complex trade-offs faster when they get together and map it out in a room", Jassy wrote in 2023.
"If anything, the last 15 months we’ve been back in the office at least three days a week has strengthened our conviction about the benefits," he says now.
)
Here at home, many leaders and HR managers have come to the same conclusion as Amazon's CEO: Collaboration, workplace environment, and well-being increase when people meet in the office.
"We believe in the value of meeting in person," says Bjørn Erik Reinseth, CEO of Oslo Science Park.
One of the main purposes of the Science Park is for companies, researchers, investors, and industry to meet and collaborate so that innovation and value creation can happen.
"The daily work in a company is one thing, but informal meetings are also important. I usually say that our coffee bar is the most important room in the park. Here, people meet every single day over a coffee, and you might run into someone you haven't seen in a while. Such encounters can prove to be crucial," says Reinseth.
)
Amazon is known for not coddling its employees, to put it mildly. Surveillance, workplace accidents, and harmful lifting practices for warehouse workers are well documented. Amazon's 350,000 office employees may have it easier, but they are now experiencing a curtailment of the freedom that many American (and European) employees have become accustomed to: working outside the office.
New York Times journalist Karen Weise points out that this could have significant consequences for individuals and families.
"Many have organized their lives around the opportunity to work from home 2-3 days a week. If you live far from your workplace, commuting in for work might be feasible a few days a week, but not Monday to Friday," she says in the New York Times podcast Hard Fork.
The mandatory office hours for Amazon employees do not come with other perks beyond free coffee. This was introduced in 2023, then attempted to be retracted, and finally reinstated after significant protests.
"Amazon has always had a frugal style. They are not like Google, with their snack buffets and free laundries," says Weise.
Service offerings that contribute to a pleasant office environment are one of the tasks of service manager Toril Røssaak at Oslo Science Park. All tenants are offered everything from morning yoga, gym access, and running groups to dry cleaning services and bicycle washing.
"I don't think people come to the office just to drop off their laundry, but anything that helps to make everyday life easier is positive for our tenants. Especially taking a workout before or after work is attractive to many. And if you've arranged to run with the running group, that's an extra reason to come to the office that day," concludes Røssaak.
)
Architect Niels Torp's plan for Oslo Science Park was to create a building for "spontaneous communication," where researchers would be encouraged to leave their offices. It was designed to be easily dismantled again—and it might even turn out to be ugly.
Over 3,000 people from academia, research and business have their daily workplace in Oslo Science Park, midway between Gaustad and Blindern in Oslo. Our tenants form a unique ecosystem for innovation, value creation and commercialization of research.
)
The initiative to replace the grass lawns surrounding Oslo Science Park with flower meadows started in the summer of 2023. This will benefit the area's biological diversity and provide an insect sanctuary. Now, the children at Forskningsparken Montessori kindergarten are working on their own accommodation for small critters.
)
)
)