Ucb: “So we rethought the work after the pandemic”

Reorganization of time and space, increase in staff and entry of new professionals. Thus Ucb, a Belgian biopharmaceutical multinational based in Milan, has rethought its work after the pandemic. “We created the #Strongeroffice project as part of the broader project to rethink our office working model in light of the emergency – explains Federico Chinni, CEO of Ucb Italia – With the first lockdown we immediately activated smart working without more limits and then gradually developed and promoted a hybrid model, which limits the time spent in the office to about 40% of the total, mainly for working together “. Where traditional open space desks were previously, areas have been set up aimed at creative confrontation rather than solo work. The company has recognized and reaffirmed the value of flexibility and smart working, reserving the office for an ‘innovation and co-creation hub’ function, where employees will meet to work as a team, a symptom of the need to preserve and re-launch the relationship in presence with employees. The real estate investment company RealStep Sicaf Spa managed the redevelopment of ‘La Forgiatura’, the integrated campus of over 25 thousand square meters of highly energy efficient urban regeneration in the north-west of Milan, where Ucb Italy is based, was the real estate investment company RealStep Sicaf Spa, while the The architectural firm that oversaw the reorganization of the spaces is Workitect, a reality specialized in the design of smart working places, thanks to the combined use of architects, professionals from the HR world and psychologists. The reference model is that of Activity Based Working, a functional allocation of spaces to provide areas that make it possible to make room for 4Cs: collaboration, concentration, contemplation and communication. Work will also continue during the summer, with a view to achieving a complete transformation of the office by the end of the year. ‘Workers at the center. 18% increase in staff ‘People are therefore at the heart of UCB’s philosophy, highlights a note. “Today we have 135 employees – says Federica Dal Toso, Director of Human Resources – but at the beginning of 2020 we were only 102. Despite the pandemic we have implemented a great development plan, believing in our strategy, which will have to support 6 launches in the next 6 years, and in what Italy can give in terms of support to this growth “.” In 2020 we continued to hire – continues Dal Toso – increasing our staff by 18.2%; 62% of new hires are represented by women, confirming, among other things, a great gender balance and an exclusive focus on skills. And the trend has not stopped, but rather continues: in the first 3 months of 2021 the number of UCB collaborators increased by a further 10%, of which 43.75% is represented by female workers. Furthermore, the number of people who have grown up within the organization in the last year, along national and international development paths, is approximately equal to that de people hired from the outside, demonstrating the virtuous balance between investment in internal resources and the search for external skills “.” Today – underlines the CEO Chinni – in our company the female component represents about 50% “, and gender equality also concerns leadership positions: women are at the head of the personnel management, important business units and medical management.