How hybrid working benefits from desk booking systems

The general trend for hybrid working has left many offices underutilised, particularly for organisations with long-term leases or those anticipating a mass return to the office and thus maintaining their current real estate portfolio.

Even where an organised has already reduced it’s office space to reflect the shift to hybrid working, Mondays and Fridays are typically quieter days.

This may leave you wondering about the role of a workspace booking system:

If there’s JUST SO MUCH empty office space, why would you need to worry about booking workspaces in advance?

Here’s 4 ways in which a workspace booking system can help underpin your hybrid working strategy:

1. Save on office energy bills with a desk booking system

A workspace booking system can help facilities managers understand how their office is being used, identify popular areas, and effectively close off under-utilised floors or areas that are expensive to heat or keep air-conditioned.

It will then allow workers to share a much smaller office footprint without contention, on the basis that individuals must pre-book a workspace and not just ‘turn up’.

We’ve had a number of requests from existing customers that want to block out entire floors from their desk and room booking systems in a bid to reduce costs. This can be done based on day of the week or even a seasonal decision.

For example, a local government customer with a 60’s concrete office has taken the decision to close off an entire wing that is draughty and expensive to heat.

This approach shrinks the overall available office footprint and means that more people need to share a small area.

2. Avoid wasted Teams/conferencing rooms & other workspaces

Have you ever organised a hybrid meeting, only to discover you’re the only one that attends in person?

This can be a big waste of time and resources – especially if you’ve booked a dedicated Teams room with Teams video-conferencing equipment. The same applies to any pre-booked individual spaces that might offer special facilities such as an adjustable desk.

If no one arrived at pre-booked space within a specified timeframe, a workspace booking system can automatically free up that resource for others to use.

Your workspace booking system can also send reminders to meeting organisers, prompting them to cancel the booking if it’s no longer required.

On this last point, given that many meetings are now hybrid meetings, a booking system can automatically make suggestions about the size of meeting room that will match the invite number of delegates that plan to attend ‘in person’.  This could make the difference between using a 4-person pod versus a 20-seater meeting room.

There’s many other ways to avoid the very wasteful ‘no show’ habit.

Ingraining these types of behaviours will benefit your enterprise and add to your overall sustainability.

3. Re-shape your ‘future office’ for hybrid working

A workspace booking system will give you the accurate workspace utilisation information you need to report on office utilisation trends and make decisions on how best to (re)design your hybrid office for the future.

• Do you need more meeting pods or more quiet working spaces?
• Can you close down office floors on Mondays and Fridays?
• Should you seek to sub-let unused office spaces?

You may even use office utilisation information to justify closing an office location altogether.

With the help of desk booking systems and occupancy utilisation analytics, you can make informed decisions as to how to optimise your available office spaces and resources effectively.

4. Optimise in-person collaboration opportunities

A visit to the office often revolves around opportunities for in-person collaboration.

Workspace booking systems allow individuals to see when their co-workers will be in the office and where they’ll be sitting. This helps them choose a nearby desk on the same date

You can also set policies that give priorities for teams or departments to use certain areas to ensure your hybrid working space is shared equitably.

When in the office, digital signage for your hybrid work areas can be used to show at-a-glance availability and make ad-hoc collaboration space bookings.

These are just a few of the ways in which a workspace booking system can help you manage your hybrid office.