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11
the-art sound labs and testing facilities,
plus warehousing for buffer stock.
Plantronics’ European MD Philip
Vanhoutte has long been an advocate
of flexible working practices, so it was
only natural that, given the chance to
completely re-design its workplace,
Plantronics set about creating a twenty-
first century wireless environment that
meets the needs of office-based, flexible
and mobile workers.
All Plantronics employees can apply
Office design
More people go to Plantronics
offices than ever – even though they
don’t have to. And because all 130
employees have notebooks, when they
can’t get into the office they can log
onto the VPN and work from home,
leading to a 60% fall in absenteeism.
This is just one of the benefits
of a recent initiative by the headset
manufacturer to introduce flexible
working practices, state-of-the-art IT
and the sort of working environment
that most people only read about in
magazines.
The Simply Smarter Office, or 4-3-2-
1, project was driven by the decision to
consolidate four sites into a single two-
storey building on an industrial estate on
the outskirts of Royal Wootton Bassett,
Wiltshire.
Plantronics European HQ now houses
not just the sales and marketing, finance,
HR, IT, facilities and European marketing
departments, but also the engineering
department where Plantronics Bluetooth
products are developed using state-of-
Plantronics has created the ideal working environment
to support its flexible, wireless working practices
Here, there
and everywhere
for flexible working, including flexi-time
and home working, but certain conditions
must be met in order to qualify. Currently
60% of employees are on smarter
working contracts. This, combined with
the mobility that is intrinsic to some
job roles, means the average office
occupancy rate is 54% (higher during the
school holidays).
Anyone who spends more than three
days a week in the office has their own
permanent desk (and anyone else can
apply for one). The rest can choose
from a variety of temporary work/
meeting spaces zoned to suit the four
primary work styles: communication,
collaboration, concentration and
contemplation.
Desks and services
For its desking areas, Plantronics has
chosen a conventional open plan
arrangement, with 120 degree desks
clustered in groups of three or six, with
low fabric screens between each one. This
is 30% more space efficient than bench
desks and has the advantage that you are
not directly opposite someone else and
therefore less likely to be distracted.
Each permanent desk has dual-
computer screens for increased
productivity and no desktop telephone.
As part of the overhaul of its IT
infrastructure, Plantronics replaced the
seven different phone systems used
previously with a single Microsoft Lync
installation operated via softphones
running on employees’ desktop PCs and
mobile devices. Instead of handsets staff
use wired or wireless headsets.
Telephones are not the only ‘tin’ to
be removed. Plantronics has also cut the
number of coffee machines from 11 to
4 and the number of print devices from
43 to 4. The use of a PIN print release
system, automatic two-sided printing
and dual-screen working, which reduces
the need to print, has seen a fall in the
number of pages printed.
Plantronics’ offices aren’t paperless,
but employees are encouraged to
consume and hoard less – for example,
the number of storage units in the
marketing department has been cut
from 58 units to just 3 (and the number
of desks from 24 to 6). Pre-printed
collateral has been replaced with
electronic files that can be emailed
Continued...
High backs and
wings give these
Orangebox sofas
extra privacy
Meeting pods have integrated light,
air-conditioning and power plus a USB
conference phone. The low-level seating
and table have been replaced with
higher versions that make it easier to
view a notebook screen