At that time, the company had a strict culture, so remote work was not allowed. However, like other companies that did not want remote work, the Covid-19 pandemic forced them to offer hybrid and remote work options to employees. At our university, only IT-related positions could work remotely, while others had to work in a hybrid model.
We needed an application as soon as possible to help employees plan their monthly schedules in advance. Hybrid working was not just an option for university employees but also a way for our company to promote itself during the pandemic.
Offering both on-site and remote work through an application seemed easy, but it was difficult for more than 70 departments and around 1,500 employees because each department had different needs. The Human Resources Directorate, Occupational Safety and Health Department, Presidency, and IT were the main stakeholders.
HR's role was to decide which employees could work remotely. OSH's role was to set occupational safety rules based on government regulations. The Presidency's role was to lead and define campus needs. Finally, IT's role was to collect requirements and develop the application on time. We had a strict release date. We had the option to use a spreadsheet temporarily, but after that, it became too difficult.
For the release date, we paused other development work and prioritized this application, which was later named Workspace. Under time pressure, we decided to use the Mendix low-code platform since we already had it.
Let me share some rules that defined the requirements. For the work schedule, we needed to provide flexibility by offering different time frames and workdays. Each request had to be approved or denied by the employee's department manager. The number of people per square meter in the office had to be limited, so each office had a different number of employees who could work there at the same time.
It was completed on time, so there was no need to use a spreadsheet. With the feedback we collected during UAT and after it went live, we made some improvements, such as allowing users to delegate authorization to another person and copy their work schedule from the previous week.