“With a smartly built office space, we can simultaneously strengthen community, work fluency and good employee experience, reduce carbon footprint and bring cost-effectiveness - creating a so-called win-win-win situation. Digia’s new office decision is also based on this optimization,” describes Kristiina Simola, the director responsible for finance and premises at Digia.
“The choice of premises is a big decision that was preceded by careful groundwork. We did research on how the ways of working are expected to develop in the IT industry. We explored Digia employees’ thoughts on hybrid work, the role of the office and the desired location. This consideration was with us throughout the project,” Simola continues.
The starting point for considering space solutions was three trends:
The accessibility and ecology of the premises were also investigated using an artificial intelligence model. Read more about the AI model in the blog (in Finnish).
In Helsinki, Digia is heading to Kamppi
Digia has already adapted its premises to suit today’s hybrid work in several locations: Oulu, Jyväskylä, Tampere and Turku. Now it’s Helsinki’s turn.
Of Digia’s over 1500 employees, about half, just over 700 people, are in the Helsinki area.
Digia will operate in Helsinki in the future with a two-office model. Presence in the city center will be strengthened when the new premises in the Kampin Huippu building will be introduced in the spring of 2025. At the same time, the Pitäjänmäki premises will be renovated to serve our hybrid work model.
In new premises, the key aspects of Digia’s space strategy are fully implemented: easy accessibility by public transport, modifiability of spaces, aspects reflecting Digia’s environmental responsibility and a sensible size supporting office work.
An exceptionally extensive study of hybrid work
Office renovations are one piece of a large whole, where Digia’s hybrid work life and our successful employee experience are being developed. The basis for hybrid work practices has been sought from scientific research. Read more about the implementation and results of the research here (in Finnish).
In the light of the research, remote work or local work is not better than the other. The important thing is to be able to build a functional combo from them.
“Premises have a super important role in building a work community and culture. The starting point for the design was the idea of brain-friendly work environments. The time of large open offices seems to be over. Different work stages require different spaces and we aim to respond to this goal with employee-oriented space planning,” says Pia Huhdanmäki, the director responsible for personnel and culture.
According to her, flexible remote work and the associated freedom of choice have already gone deep into the values of the IT industry.
“At Digia, we want to support this freedom of choice. However, Digia’s employee surveys reveal that while the freedom to work location-independently has brought a lot of good, encounters with colleagues are missed. There are also things, like joint innovation, where live encounters are still the superior ‘interface’,” Huhdanmäki says.
“With space solutions that support hybrid work, we want to ensure that teams have functional spaces where to meet, and that the spaces attract people from home offices to shared work days as well.”
Read more about Digia’s culture here.
For more information:
Kristiina Simola
CFO, Digia
tel. 0407563132
kristiina.simola(a)digia.com
Pia Huhdanmäki
SVP, HR and Culture, Digia
tel. 0400970413
pia.huhdanmaki(a)digia.com