Inside General Mills
Mobile environment gains more workplace converts
July 22, 2010
Spurred by the success of others who have switched to the FUSE working environment, more General Mills departments are making the change to FUSE, which stands for “Flexible User Shared Environment.”
The transition to the FUSE environment is recognition that traditional work schedules do not fit how most people work and live today, say the architects of the FUSE project. FUSE provides people with flexibility in how, when and where they work.
Compared with traditional space, a FUSE environment provides choices for employees to work where they are most productive. Employees are given the choice to be mobile or to retain a traditional, assigned office location.
| Compared with traditional space, a FUSE environment provides choices for employees to work where they are most productive. |
Sections of Corporate Human Resources, IS Demand Chain, and Security are moving to FUSE work spaces, which are designed to meet the needs of today’s flexible, more mobile work force.
Recently, a large section of the central Consumer Insights team and the Baking Products division moved into new FUSE space.
A work force on the go
Mobile employees choose where to sit each day, and they store their limited belongings in lockers. Employees are also equipped with technology – such as Internet Protocol phones and laptop computers – that allow them to easily move from location to location.
In 2007, FUSE was piloted at the General Mills Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition and rolled out to a larger group of Global Business Services (GBS) employees in December 2008. Feedback has been positive, and 75 percent said they would not move back to a traditional space.
“As we do work that stretches literally around the world, the FUSE environment and mindset allows us to think about the work day differently," says Maggie George, Consumer Insights director. "Now, rather than being in the office in place from 8 to 5, we are freed up to work when and where we can do the best work for whatever our task at hand might be.”
Inside General Mills
