5 Signs You Need a Desk Booking System
Employees have spoken – and in droves, they have acknowledged the benefits of the hybrid working model. In fact, 62% of employees have cheered for a hybrid setup stating their preference to work some of their time remotely and the rest of it from the office. This trend resoundingly indicates that traditional office setups will evolve. Even when employees function remotely, they will rely on dedicated communal workspaces for socialization, resources, and synchronous collaboration.
However, enabling a hybrid work setup is tricky. Fortunately, a desk booking system can help you out. The idea behind desk booking management is to ensure that employees can reserve their workspace ahead of time. This way, the facilities team can keep the number of desks in an office to a minimum and their rental costs low.
As the pandemic struck, desk booking systems catered to an emerging need. Organizations worldwide wanted to comply with social distancing measures while ensuring the on-site employees felt confident that they had a workspace to utilize.
Many offices turned to the concept of hot desking. This allows one desk or workstation to be utilized for multiple shifts throughout the day. These situations are where a desk booking system comes into play.
Since hybrid working setups are now commonplace, a desk booking system is crucial in a company’s technology suite. The tool allows employees to choose a desk or a workstation before entering the office. This way, employees and team leaders alike can better plan and manage their remote and on-site days.
With new challenges ahead, how will you manage your workspaces efficiently if your organization doesn’t have an effective desk scheduling and desk booking system? Here are 5 signs you need a desk booking system to effectively manage employee work areas.
#1 You Have No System In Place To Ensure Social Distancing
The office employees are returning to looks drastically different from their pre-Covid-19 setups. This is because organizations are reconfiguring office space and technology to implement safety guidelines around social distancing, capacity limits, and cleaning and disinfection.
The traditional concept that an employee has a permanent desk or workstation is no longer functional. This is especially applicable when employees will function from the office two to three times a week. Or, if the number of on-site workers supersedes the number of available workspaces. To manage this, companies can use a desk booking system. It will allow employees to reserve socially distanced workspaces for the day.
Besides, facility leads can monitor office space status in real-time. This way, if needed, companies can reconfigure their premises as per the capacity limits and the social distancing policy.
#2 You Handle Desk Booking Manually
In the absence of a desk booking system, do you manage your desk scheduling manually? In which case, if an employee wants to rent a desk for a day, they have to:
- find the facility manager’s contacts
- text or call the HR administrator
- enquire about seat availability
- visit the help desk
- pay for the booking
In a nutshell, employees will jump through hoops before getting to work.
Now, let’s see what happens on the administrative side. If the organization doesn’t have a self-service platform where employees can book a desk:
- the personnel in charge will receive several calls and messages via all available channels
- Employees will request them to book a desk for them
Now, the administrator will:
- check desks availability regularly, which is tricky without a desk booking system overview
- confirm the bookings
- accept payments
- run the records
In contrast, if you have a desk booking system, you pivot from the one-size-fits-all approach. A desk booking system makes it easier for facilities teams to implement a workable yet efficient seating arrangement. Companies will have real-time data showcasing the status of occupied and unoccupied desks. This way, facility managers will have a correct estimate of the in-office and remote employees.
Similarly, with a desk booking system, organizations can comfortably accommodate new employees. That’s because department leads will have an eye on vacant spaces. Besides, organizations can simply ask their new employees to use the desk booking system app to search and reserve office space.
#3 You Want To Optimize Workspace Usage
When companies set up desk arrangements by teams or even individual employees, they get a clear idea of how the office space is being utilized. This, in turn, helps facility managers identify ways to optimize the in-use and underutilized space. Besides, with a desk booking system, organizations can tap into the actionable intelligence on space allocating and manipulation across the office premises.
It will also help facilities teams understand what kind of desk arrangements are in demand today. Overall, companies can use these insights to lower real estate costs with a productive hybrid workplace.
#4 You Want to Encourage Collaboration and Interdepartmental Interaction
Regrettably, social distancing norms can feel too rigorous in workspaces, especially when employees return to office premises after a long time. Providing a healthy workplace means identifying practices to promote collaboration and enforce them. This will ensure cohesive productivity and synchronous collaboration without damaging employee morale.
Desk booking system technology can help team leads devise team calendars and scheduling rollouts that capture employees’ day-to-day preferences and plans. This way, companies can focus on boosting interdepartmental interaction with easy visibility into team plans. Also, owing to desk booking technology, most applications can be integrated with others. For instance, the hybrid workplace solution WorkInSync can be integrated with Microsoft Teams and Google Calendars, providing a clear-cut picture of an employee’s routine.
These desk booking system integrations make it easier for employees to know the following:
- where they and their colleagues are sitting
- when they are planning on entering the office
- when they decide to work on-site
#5 You Want To Relocate
Even under normal circumstances, relocation is a hassle. However, the problem is exacerbated further in the absence of desk booking system data. Why? Without real-time data, you won’t have insights into how moving a group of employees would impact the entire structure. Further, you won’t know how many desks are required to set up the arrangement again. You can visualize these scenarios before relocating and effortlessly arrange your desks with a desk booking system.
The Bottom Line
A desk booking system can be the answer to all your seating woes of hybrid workplace management. With WorkInSync hybrid desk booking solutions, your employees can reserve a seat with just one click. Enjoy features like real-time room availability and booking, interactive floor plans, integrations, and more. Get your free demo today.
