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In November 2018, China-born logistics company S.F. Express announced the opening of its new Singapore business hub, a warehouse and office space located in Changi Business Park.
According to the company's LinkedIn page, the warehouse features a fully-automated belt and distribution system while the office space is designed to be energy saving and driven by technology.
Further, the entire office comprises wide open spaces, interactive corners, silent rooms, recreation areas as well as a fully-equipped pantry, designed with employees' care and well-being in mind.
In line with this, Human Resources reached out to Calvin Tay, Overseas Region Chief Human Resources Officer, S.F. Express Company, to find out more about this new space. Here's what he had to say:
Q What spurred your company’s decision to create this new office concept?
We designed this concept to signify a new era – business transformation, innovation, end-to-end logistics management while also catering to our employees’ well-being.
Q How does creating an innovative and interactive workplace help with the company culture?
Speaking of culture, S.F. Express has strong values as well as a very engaging and respectful culture in China. As we grow internationally, we hope to mirror our success stories into every location we have a presence in by blending local norms and customs into our corporate culture. This is one area that wasn’t a key priority in the past, but it is all set for change with our business transformation. A conducive workplace is very important for innovation and to incubate new ideas while open spaces encourage interaction and communications in both formal and informal settings.
Q Does having an engaging office space help improve productivity, and why?
As a company who centers her growth around innovation and productivity, we do have well-planned offices in China. This is one area that gives our employees the feeling of being at home while being away from home. An engaging office space promotes community spirits within the workforce. With these thoughts in mind, we wanted the Singapore office to follow the practices we have in headquarters but with an international flavour.
Q What advice would you give other companies that are planning on redecorating their offices?
Every company's culture, business direction and employee value proposition (EVP) are very different. When designing an office layout, it is crucial to consult with the relevant stakeholders to determine real needs. A fully open space concept may not go down well with some business, thus it is not a one-size-fits-all strategy.
Our Singapore hub office has a very forward-thinking country general manager, who plans and consults to develop renovation ideas as well as works with our human resource department on employees’ well-being. While we have an open layout, we also built partitions and concealed some departments which have sensitive responsibilities or are operating with a specific need, e.g. our customer solutions and call centre.
Scroll through the gallery below for a peek into SF Express' new Singapore business hub.
[gallery link="file" ids="115393,115385,115395,115392,115394"]
Lead image and photos / provided
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