Bank Uses Desk Booking System to Support Environmental Initiative

Leading specialist lender adopts new hybrid working model and hot desking as part of its forward-thinking response to climate change.

Incorporated in 1955, United Trust Bank (UTB) is a specialist lender, with a loan book in excess of £1.8bn.

Its agile culture and continued investment in technology meant that when the pandemic hit, the bank was able to adapt rapidly, and work successfully with both colleagues and clients whilst based at home.

The bank takes its responsibility towards the environment seriously, and the technology and ways of working adopted during the pandemic continue to play an important role in this respect.

For example, smart FinTech solutions such as e-signature systems and ID verification help streamline transactions, eliminating an unnecessary paper-trail and travel.

The bank has now also moved to a hybrid working model which is reducing the need for staff to commute into the office every day.

To make booking a workspace as easy as possible, the bank implemented a desk booking system that enables its colleagues to quickly find and book a suitable desk for their planned visit.  This is achieved using interactive floor plans that show the available hot desks in their offices at any future date or time.

“Our booking system is ideal for those travelling into the office on a hybrid working model, and means we are able to accommodate our growing workforce without increasing our office footprint and all the costs to the environment that this entails.

Sarah Wood, Executive Manager, United Trust Bank

Explained Sarah Wood, Executive Manager at UTB, “Our booking system is ideal for those travelling into the office on a hybrid working model, and means we are able to accommodate our growing workforce without increasing our office footprint and all the costs to the environment that this entails.

We can also easily add and remove workspaces from our booking system as our staff numbers increase and working patterns evolve.”

You can read more about UTB’s work to reduce the impact of its operations on the climate in this recent report.

UTB purchased the Smartway2 desk booking system from Essential.  

Smartway2 provides a workspace booking service that your teams will find straightforward to use, no matter how they prefer to work.  It enables quick and easy location and booking of work spaces and other resources, such as catering and parking, with the same look and feel – whether they’re working from Microsoft Outlook, a browser or their mobile device.