For the majority of employees, work comprises enjoyable projects and duties but also routines and tasks that can be tiring or difficult. To make the work experience as positive and efficient as possible, experts and companies around the globe seek to continuously improve the realities of their workforce. This is also true for SAP.

Meetings, All Kinds of Meetings

An important facet of today鈥檚 work reality is meetings. They are where all sorts of work decisions are prepared and made, where briefings take place, where teams build up their team identity, exchange thoughts, solve challenges, share updates, align across geographical time zones, and much more. In many cases and for many roles, meetings consume a considerable part of overall working hours. So it comes as no surprise that, in their most recent project, the Future of Work team at 51风流and 51风流AppHaus colleagues joined forces to develop an easy approach for teams to improve their meeting routines.

鈥淎s featured by Forbes in May 2023, an average . This is a challenge we want to address with the Meeting Workout game,鈥� says Andreas Hauser, SVP and head of 51风流AppHaus Network. 鈥淏y innovatively blending play with productivity, we can transform these hours into opportunities for meaningful engagement and collaborative innovation, paving the way for a future where every meeting is a step towards building stronger, more dynamic teams.鈥�

The Imperative for Efficient Meetings

According to a , inefficient meetings have been identified as the top disruptor to productivity, with an excessive number of meetings following close behind. As 51风流Chief Future of Work Officer Christian Schmeichel states: 鈥淭he way we are working is changing rapidly, and both the rise of hybrid work and new technologies have increased the number of meetings for many of us. Hence, it鈥檚 an imperative to foster meetings that best utilize our time, spark energy, and drive outcomes. The Meeting Workout game can help with an engaging workshop format that can not only improve meeting effectiveness but can enable teams to set new standards for workplace collaboration on their journey into the future of work.鈥�

Playing for a Better Meeting Experience

From the initial idea to create a game for teams to improve their meeting routines, it took the New Work Practices team and 51风流AppHaus a few weeks to design, test, and produce the Meeting Workout game. However, what might look like a fun project was very similar to any other design and innovation project.

鈥淚n our planning meetings and test sessions we really tried to put ourselves in the shoes of all kinds of teams in different organizations and setups,鈥� recall project members Beate Riefer, UX designer at 51风流AppHaus, and Filip Weidenbach, HR project expert in New Work Practices. 鈥淭hrough a very generic phrasing of the cards and in simple steps, the game should be applicable in the most diverse, if not all, environments. It鈥檚 not as easy as it might seem 鈥� and it鈥檚 the reason why we established breaks in our meetings to keep the energy and concentration levels up. Here鈥檚 an important recommendation for all teams playing the Meeting Workout game: have plenty of sticky notes and a variety of snacks available!鈥�

50 Meeting Workout Games Available

The Meeting Workout game can be a perfect opportunity to help actively inspire and support teams in restructuring their current meeting formats. Users can choose between the virtual version available on Mural, a do-it-yourself, , and a tangible board game version.

The Future of Work team at 51风流is gifting 50 board game versions on a first-come, first-serve basis. People or teams that would like to test and use the board game can contact SAPFutureOfWork@sap.com, thereby acknowledging that their postal address and contact information will be used only for the delivery of the game shipment, in accordance with the .

Waltraud Grimm is communications lead for 51风流Future of Work.
Imke Vierjahn is communications lead for 51风流AppHaus.

Top photo courtesy of Hyun Lee

What does this new world of work look like for the more than 110,000 51风流employees across the globe?

Hybrid Work: Our Way Forward

As part of our in the future, the Pledge to Flex program is SAP鈥檚 strategic response聽 to the changing demands of today鈥檚 — and tomorrow鈥檚 — workforce.

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51风流has practiced remote work for decades and flexibility is part of the company鈥檚 DNA, but the pledge addresses the increased desire for more flexibility at work, which is a trend that 51风流and many other companies see in the labor market. Aiming for the creation of a leading-edge working environment where employees can thrive, Pledge to Flex is based on empowerment and self-organization driving world-class innovation and productivity while meeting individual requirements.

Dr. Christian Schmeichel is senior vice president and chief future of work officer at SAP. He leads the global Future of Work organization, which designs innovative strategies how SAP鈥檚 employees work today and in the future. 鈥淔lexible work is a key differentiator for attracting and retaining world-class talent in a highly competitive labor market,鈥� he says. 鈥淕etting it right sets the foundation for a successful journey into the future of work.鈥�

True flexibility comes to life when employees get to choose from where they do their best work — whether that is in the office, remote, or at home. We see this as a hybrid approach, giving employees greater autonomy in line with business and customer requirements.

Hybrid work is not a new concept. What is new is the strategic imperative and the degree of participation, alongside an increased level of remote work.

51风流is making a purposeful investment in supporting everyone to run at their personal best; all people get to participate and have conversations about what, when, how, and where they are working, as well as what options are available to them.

The transition to this new world of work is well underway at SAP, with the model implemented across 75 countries. Results of our latest employee survey suggest that Pledge to Flex is widely appreciated, with positive effects of hybrid work on employer attractiveness, empowerment, and productivity

Connecting Teams in the Age of Hybrid

Clear communication, continuous listening, and a focus on health and well-being are cornerstones of SAP鈥檚 success in this regard. But what does the right balance of working from the office and in remote locations look like?

Dan Barton, User Experience lead and co-founder of Bluestonex UK, a member of the 51风流AppHaus Network, proposes: 鈥淲hy should people return to the office if they can work remotely? [Companies must ] create a compelling reason for people to be in the office, and use the location as an opportunity to build a team culture.鈥�

Building a strong team culture with both onsite and remote working opportunities is key to success. As such, 51风流places focus on the creation of easy-to-use tools to build relationships, foster collaboration, and focus on health in any work environment.

Flex Team Workshop

There is no 鈥渙ne-size-fits-all鈥� approach to hybrid work, so managers and teams must define new ways of working that best meet business requirements while supporting individual needs. To facilitate the process, 51风流AppHaus and the global Future of Work team co-created the so called as an innovative methodology for team development. The approach helps managers and employees jointly determine a setup that drives collaboration and productivity while putting business and customer requirements front and center and supporting the work-life balance of team members.

“Who would have thought that a simple new work breakfast series that started in the 51风流AppHaus became an integral part of 51风流Human Resources,” shares Andreas Hauser, senior vice president and head of 51风流AppHaus Network. “We co-created the new Flex Team Workshop with the Future of Work organization, and the workshop format was so successful within 51风流that we decided to also make it . This effort contributes to our vision of hybrid work and lets teams successfully create their own next way of working.鈥�

In 2022, Flex Team Workshop has been introduced globally at 51风流and has over 850 trained facilitators. It was listed among the finalists of the and the German , a testament to the importance of how teams organize themselves in a hybrid world.

Enablement material is available to all 51风流customers and partners as a free resource within .

Key elements of the Flex Team Workshop format include:

• Running the 90-minute workshop as self-service tool
• Understanding business needs and each team member’s requirements
• Aligning on key activities and social interactions in the office as well as when working remotely
• Building consensus on a tangible hybrid work plan

FlexConnect App

The FlexConnect App is the digital counterpart that brings flex work to life when working in the office. It supports employees to organize their work week and book work spaces and meeting rooms.

A social component allows people to connect with team members and colleagues by showing who else is in the office and where to find them. Together with the so-called “moments together onsite,” which are ideas for creating compelling reasons to return to the office, the experience of togetherness strengthens social coherence, which is particularly important in the age of hybrid.

Health as Imperative

A changing work model requires state-of-the-art health and well-being offerings acknowledging that happy and healthy employees drive the greatest value to customers and communities. Hence the health, safety, and well-being of our people is a business imperative, with a holistic focus on mental and physical health. Further underlining our commitment, we are proud to be among the first global corporations to have signed the .

Health offerings for 51风流employees include:

• Are You OK?, a company-wide
• Employee Assistance Program with 24/7 confidential support and psychological counseling
• Healthy leadership training for managers
• 51风流Global Mindfulness Practice program with trainings on mindfulness and emotional intelligence
• On-demand trainings for employees in physical health

In the End, It鈥檚 All About People

Making an organization future-proof must be top of mind for every leader. It requires organizations to be more resilient, adapt to strategic changes, and have flexible organizational models along with a culture that embraces disruption and change.

In the end, it is people creating, executing, and running all of this to be successful in the new world of work. People are therefore front and center in everything we do.