With the trade fair taking place parallel to LEARNTEC, there was concentrated expertise on the working and learning worlds of tomorrow to discover from 23 - 25 May. What exactly does New Work encompass in detail? Is it just a fruit basket and table football or a completely different approach to retaining employees in the long term? And how can I integrate New Work individually into my company?

The exhibitors gave an insight into their innovative strength in the field of modern work culture and made it clear that companies can make numerous adjustments in order to implement New Work in their company. A perfect match for the trade visitors, who stated in the visitor survey that they were at New Work Evolution to find inspiration (44 percent), to learn about innovations (41 percent) and to get an overview of the topic and further education (both 33 percent). What does Gen Z really want? What should an office look like according to their new ideas? And what role does leadership play in the transformation to the working world of tomorrow? All these questions were discussed in numerous presentations.

The fact that it was a good decision to hold New Work Evolution and LEARNTEC in parallel due to their thematic proximity was also shown by the great interest of LEARNTEC visitors in the new working worlds: Almost 40 percent of them said they would use the new trade fair and the varied programme of lectures at New Work Evolution. Next year, the New Work Evolution will again be held together with LEARNTEC from 4 to 6 June.

In the interview, she reveals why we still need offices today, what influence the work environment has on productivity and what the ideal workspace of the future will look like.

What influence can the working environment have on the productivity and satisfaction of employees?

The working environment is an important component. It can increase productivity and satisfaction, but it can also have a negative influence. The goal must be that the office is equipped in such a way that it supports the work processes and offers added value compared to working from home or third locations.

Salary, location, scope of duties - there are many factors that influence satisfaction. The topic of "cultural fit" is also becoming increasingly important: Do employees and corporate culture fit together? The corporate culture is also expressed through the working environment. A long corridor with closed doors, for example, does not speak for an open and transparent structure. But that is precisely what many people want nowadays.

Has the importance of the office changed in recent years?

Many companies are reinventing themselves in terms of their offices. The pandemic has created a strong pressure to change and with it the desire for hybrid workplace models. It is clear that the topic has moved up the priority list of companies: now it is not only facility managers who are interested in the premises. It is increasingly the CEOs or even the HR departments who are approaching us. Many companies ask themselves: How do I create a working environment so that my employees enjoy coming back to the office? An attractive working environment has gone from a "nice to have" to a "must have".

What will the ideal office of the future look like?

More beautiful and more productive. The office of the future will be adapted to the more sophisticated demands of employers and employees: a very efficient, multimodal place where ergonomics is always taken into account and the change between different work modes can be carried out efficiently. Employees participate in meetings both in presence and from home. For this, the spatial environment and the media technology must work well together to ensure equal participation.

In addition, workforces are becoming more and more diverse. For example, we have people from almost 30 nations working in Munich. They all have different backgrounds, different needs. The office of the future must therefore be thought of inclusively and give different needs the necessary space.

Many people complain about Generation Z, claiming that young people born between 1995 and 2010 are not ready to get down to business and at the same time have far too high expectations. Generation Z expert Felix Behm explains in the following interview what moves the young generation, what needs to be changed to meet their expectations, and what employers have to do to retain young talents in the long term.

What options do employers have to make attractive offers to Generation Z and retain young employees in the company for the long term?

Felix Behm: I'll sum it up in three words: Meaning with prospects. Of course, it's possible to believe that every job makes sense in some way - but that's no longer enough. Today, meaningfulness also means: Is this company addressing sustainability or climate change, for example? These are the issues that are shaping Generation Z today. Almost one in four wouldn't work for a company that wasn't concerned with sustainability. In addition, it is also important that employees really feel part of the company and not just a number - then they also recognize their perspective. This is helped by structures that allow employees to actively involve themselves and help shape the work process.

What aspects of the feedback culture need to change to make digital natives feel more comfortable on the job?

Felix Behm: The scary thing is that in many companies there is no feedback culture at all. That makes it all the more important to take a look at what the reality of Generation Z's life looks like: Many are on their smartphones and social networks for six to eight hours a day. You constantly get feedback in the form of likes. And one Like is not enough. No, ten likes, 50 likes, that's the feedback many are looking for. And in the working world, if I only get a good word from my employer once every two years, that's simply not good enough for many Z-ers. My advice is therefore: Regular development meetings must be included. It doesn't cost much to have a five-minute feedback meeting every week. And the second task is to approach this discussion in the right way: Criticism must be packaged in such a way that it is accepted, and praise must not be lacking either.

How will the working world change in the future when Generation Z takes over the management posts of the previous generation?

Felix Behm: We get a good perspective by looking at many startups. Young companies are already trying out many things. Some ideas work better, some less so. Some companies, for example, do without a fixed management position: Here, everyone is allowed to be the boss. It sounds like a crazy idea, but it has already worked. Ultimately, however, one trend will prevail above all others: the elimination of unnecessary hierarchical levels. I recently spoke with an entrepreneur whose company manufactures trucks. When a wrench needs to be ordered in the workshop, five employees from five hierarchical levels fill out a form one after the other. As a result, it takes three months for the wrench to arrive. Companies like this will hardly exist in the future, because the younger generation wants to work independently and demands this vehemently.

The high level of employee dissatisfaction that has persisted for decades, combined with the increasing willingness to quit in the post-Corona era, is costing companies a lot of time and money. "New Work could change that," says communications and organizational consultant and author Saskia Eversloh. She is giving the keynote in the "New Work Stories" thematic block and revealed to us in an interview what she understands by "New Work" and what is particularly important.

NWE: Why is it essential for companies today to open up to New Work?

Saskia Eversloh: The most urgent reason at the moment, apart from demographic change and the international war for talent, is the increasing number of voluntary redundancies, the key words being "big quit" and "great resignation," to use the New Work wording. So it's not just a question of attracting new employees, but above all of retaining existing employees in the company. One third of specialists and managers change jobs after just two years and take their knowledge with them; this applies in particular to younger academics.

Incidentally, the costs of fluctuation, sick leave and internal resignation have been enormously high for 20 years, but are currently reaching a new high (see info box) - and this despite the fact that a lot has been invested in New Work in the meantime. Of course, this makes you wonder: What's wrong?

NWE: What do you see as the most important starting points?

Saskia Eversloh: It is crucial to enter into a real dialog! Meaningful New Work projects can only be developed by reconciling management goals and employee concerns. It is important to unleash the potential of all generations so that they can stay with the company longer and make the best possible use of their manpower - which pays off in terms of corporate success and innovation.

In the past, change processes often originated in management and were pushed through - many things did not necessarily fit the employee, but also did not fit the company. Before Corona, many people jumped on the loft office hype and agency feeling with ball pools, fruit baskets and e-bikes: What is New Work beyond office design and home office? What does it mean in terms of work, especially in terms of good work? That has to be worked out together, because it's different everywhere.

NWE: Do you remember any particular "aha" moments from your practice?

Saskia Eversloh: I don't want to get too biblical, but it's not for nothing that they say, "In the beginning was the Word"! Surprisingly, I experience again and again that the meaning of communication is not really grasped. Accordingly, it is then exactly the decisive point where things are usually not right between management and employees.

It's actually quite simple to simply ask: What do employees need in order to do their work well and with pleasure - and thus ultimately advance the company? That's why we've started our NewWorkPlaybook right there, using the 7x7 methodology to guide employees in seven steps through seven areas of action, from corporate and leadership culture to agile collaboration and autonomous working, right through to flexibility in terms of time and place and work-life balance. New Work is much more than a designer's office and a home office, if only because it is not possible for all industries and professions.

The crucial thing is not only to present New Work externally - the keywords here are employer branding - but above all to live it within the organization. Otherwise, it's the same as with sustainability and green washing - here as there, people quickly notice whether the efforts are meant seriously or are just for marketing purposes.

NWE: What challenges does New Work bring with it in practice?

Saskia Eversloh: One important point that must always be considered is the organization of work. In times of remote work and home offices, new questions arise: To what extent do teams organize themselves, what does leadership look like today? The remote share for office jobs is now consistently around 50 percent, and at more and more companies even up to 100 percent. The only pain point is that while the technological prerequisites have been created, there are usually no new rules and structures for collaboration - or, for that matter, for social cohesion, a factor that is often underestimated.

NWE: Which common myths regarding New Work do you encounter again and again?

Saskia Eversloh: It's often said that Generation Z just wants to have fun. But why does this generation want more free time and a sense of purpose? I'd like to say this: Young people do their internships while still in school, then take a shortened Abitur if necessary, and have their Bachelor's degree in their early 20s. So they start working much earlier today - and the workload, personal responsibility and information overload have never been as high as they are today, in an agile working world. That, too, is New Work.

An office job 20 years ago was very different than it is today. This is true for all generations, of course, but the labor market is changing from an employer's market to an employee's market, and younger generations have learned not only to "perform" earlier, but also to articulate and advocate for their concerns.

The shortage of skilled workers is also a myth in many areas - in quite a few industries, we have more of a trend toward the low-wage sector and relocation abroad. There is a real shortage of skilled workers only in selected areas such as healthcare and transportation - and that is a big problem, because these are areas that are relevant to society as a whole, even against the backdrop of the energy transition and demographic change. Another reason why New Work is so important.

Tip for media professionals: On Wednesday, May 24 at 9 a.m., Saskia Eversloh will be a guest at the press talk on "New Work - a brave new world of work for everyone?" together with Kay Mantzel, New Work Ambassador workingwell GmbH, Marcus Fränkle, Managing Director of Der Blaue Reiter, and Brigitte Emmerich, Head of HR Messe Karlsruhe. Information and registration with press officer Katrin Wagner

NWE: What does this mean in practical terms for the introduction of New Work?

Lysander Weiß: The initial question my co-authors and I ask in the NewWorkPlaybook is: How can I create an optimal working environment? What we know is this: An optimal work environment ensures that the most satisfied employees possible can develop their potential as well as possible, which gives the company the best possible productivity - in other words, a real win-win situation. The best way to achieve this is to first look at where the company currently stands in terms of employee needs. Based on research results, we have defined seven dimensions that serve as a guide - for example, leadership culture, cooperation with others, one's own working patterns. In each dimension, we have developed questions that help to carry out and define a target-performance comparison: How much New Work do we really need? This is a great way to identify possible gaps in action and to know specifically which adjustments need to be made in order to increase employee satisfaction and thus productivity.

NWE: Are there often concerns from the management before such a step?

Lysander Weiß: The good thing is that both the goal and the current status are determined individually. We do not prescribe what the optimal environment should look like. It hardly ever happens that the conditions in a company and the needs of the employees differ completely in all dimensions. Nevertheless, management must of course be fundamentally open to such a process - or it is forced to open up to it, for example, due to a shortage of skilled workers.

NWE: Which common myths regarding New Work do you repeatedly face in everyday practice?

Lysander Weiß: One myth is that you can transform to New Work once and the process is finished. But if you define New Work the way we do, it is not done with one change. Things have to be reviewed and adapted again and again. Of course, for many people this implies the fear: "Once I start, there's no end to it." But we can easily refute that, because there are always very specific points that can be worked on concretely in order to get into a continuous optimisation process, which does not always trigger a huge change process. A huge change is usually necessary precisely when there has been no change at all for a long time. Continuous renewal of the working environment is therefore also advantageous in this respect.

Once again this year, the online format LEARNTEC xChange inspired more than 2,300 registered participants with lectures and panel discussions on new forms of learning in schools, universities and companies. Wednesday morning was dedicated to the new exhibition New Work Evolution, which will take place alongside LEARNTEC from 23 to 25 May in the halls of Messe Karlsruhe.

Frank Roth, CEO of AppSphere AG, gave the introductory lecture on the topic of "Workation" - and comprehensively covered the challenges and opportunities of working from abroad. Especially in industries where skilled workers are highly competitive on the labour market, home office and workation offers of a company are important arguments in the job interview. "The pictures on social media, laptop on your knees, feet up with a view of the sea - these are often images of freelancers," says Roth. "With employees, it's not quite so simple. There we talk about tax, social security and health aspects, workplace equipment, occupational health and safety and data security that need to be taken into account."

LEARNTEC xChange - three days of concentrated learning, education and networking in in-depth online lectures and discussion rounds on all aspects of education in companies, universities and schools. The second day of the event, 1 February, is all about New Work.

The event will start with the lecture "Workation - The new way of life and work? (10 am)". Speaker Frank Roth, AppSphere AG, will shed light on what the younger generation in particular expects from their workplace: Workation, i.e. alternating work from the office, from home or even from the city park. Following the lecture, a panel of experts will discuss the aspects that need to be taken into account here (10.45 a.m.) and how companies can respond to the expectations of their employees.

You can find the entire programme and the registration form HERE - participation in the live streams is free of charge.

Vom 23. bis 25. Mai 2023 findet die New Work Evolution nun als eigenes Event parallel zur LEARNTEC, Europas größter Veranstaltung für digitales Lernen in Schule, Hochschule und Beruf, in der Messe Karlsruhe statt.

Mit dabei:

• rund 30 Ausstellende aus dem Themenbereich New Work mit Produkten und Dienstleistungen für innovative Arbeitswelten und moderne Unternehmenskultur,
• ein internationales Fachpublikum,
• ein spannendes Vortragsprogramm mit Expertinnen und Experten zum Thema New Work und zahlreichen Best-Practice-Beispielen sowie Networking-Möglichkeiten, und
• vier Themenwelten: „New Work Stories“, „New Work Generations“, „New Work Culture“ und “New Work Innovations“

Stell auch Du Dein Unternehmen in diesem innovativen Umfeld vor oder sei als Fachbesucher oder Fachbesucherin mit dabei!

Weitere Infos für Ausstellende...

Weitere Infos für Fachbesuchende...

From 2023 you can experience New Work Evolution from 23 to 25 May 2023 for the first time as an independent event running alongside LEARNTEC. Around 30 exhibitors from the New Work sector will present their products and services for innovative working environments and modern corporate culture to trade visitors. The exhibition will be accompanied by an exciting presentation programme with New Work experts and many opportunities to exchange ideas and network in a productive environment.