PZU’s move

"We had not ruled out staying in the same place and extending the lease, but financially the new buildings were much more attractive for us. The lease negotiations took several months, and we only had three months to physically move offices. We had to analyse which departments were to move in what order and over which weekends. We had to agree everything with all our business units. We had to consult everything with them as they have their own work agendas. Our business lines have their own, different peak periods, in which we couldn’t have moved them," said Katarzyna Cieplak, property maintanance director at PZU. "Luckily the new office was furnished so we did not have to move office furniture. We only needed to move our employees with their belongings. We have prepared a flier called ‘Nuts and bolts of the office move’ that was distributed among our employees. They were informed that in the new location each person will have only three shelves for their use, instead of one or two file cabinets. Initially it was a shock for them, but they were given some time to archive all the stored documents. Also, potted plants couldn’t have been taken to the new place. It came as yet another shock to our employees, it was even bigger. This may seem trivial but people feel very attached to their belongings and plants. The decision was forced by the fact that we wanted to standarise greeneries in the new office, where we also put focus on the waste segregation. The announcement about the new approach was not received warmly. People are very strongly attached to the fact that they have a litterbin under their table. We have also prepared a flier informing them about the city district we were moving into. This included some basic information on where the nearest ATMs, medical centres, pharmacies and restaurants are, as well as on how to get there," sie added.