A desk booking solution is a must-have return-to-work tool for flexible workspaces.
Since employees can choose where and when to work in a hybrid setting, they have more freedom to come and leave the office. However, their freedom can become a nightmare for the manager. From not knowing which employee is coming when to overburdening available resources – a hybrid workplace poses many such challenges. Fortunately, a desk booking solution solves most of them.
Employees can reserve their preferred desk in advance, so they can rest assured of having a place to work when they come to the office. Meanwhile, managers have complete visibility of when and how workers are occupying the available desks.
But the scope of this handy tool is not limited to assigning desks to employees. In fact, a desk booking solution can solve several hybrid workplace challenges. Here is how.
How Does a Desk Booking Solution Solve Hybrid Workplace Challenges?
- A Desk Booking Solution Makes Office Space Accessible
Unlike a traditional office, hybrid offices do not have a permanent seating arrangement. Rather, workers use hot desks. That is, the same desks are used by whoever comes to the office.
While this flexible desk allocation system does save money and space, it makes it harder for employees to access desks. For example, they may not know which desks are free. Or, they may have to wander a while before finding an available desk.
A desk booking solution provides a simple way to tackle this challenge:
- First, managers can update the number of desks in the database and mark them as booked or available.
- Employees can view booked and available desks through a user-friendly app.
- Employees can pre-book the desk of their choice through the same app.
- The system automatically updates the status of a given desk in real-time.
- Employees can cancel desks and book them for another day.
As a result, there is no confusion or conflict regarding desk allocation. Employees can remain stress-free and come to work without worrying about finding a desk.
- A Desk Booking Solution Optimizes Office Space Usage
Do your desks go empty, but your employees complain of desk unavailability? You may not be using your office space efficiently. A desk booking solution helps eliminate this problem.
Suppose an employee is viewing available desks. He sees a desk he likes and wants to pre-book it through the desk booking solution. But what if that desk is unavailable for that day and time? In that case, the desk booking software can recommend a similar desk that’s available. This feature of the desk booking solution helps reduce the number of idle desks. So, you can rest assured of optimal space usage.
- A Desk Booking Solution Helps Enforce Social Distancing
Social distancing requirements are still in place as a preventive measure against new COVID variants. So, managing workplace occupancy is a priority. However, surveying desks, offices, and floors daily can be time-consuming for managers. Manually creating floor plans can introduce human errors and cause confusion. But a desk booking solution can make this easier by giving you a digital floor map.
Essentially, it is a bird’s eye view of your office’s desk arrangement. Once you have a complete picture of your available space, you can instantly make some desks unavailable to:
- Limit workplace occupancy
- Avoid crowding
- Enforce social distancing guidelines
- A Desk Booking Solution Helps You Save Time
If your employees spend 10 minutes searching for a desk when they arrive at the office, it wastes their time and puts a damper on their day. But when you automate desk allocation and allow your employees to pre-book workspaces, this problem disappears.
When employees book their desks in advance, they know exactly where to sit and how long. This relieves managers of the burden of answering employees’ queries, making last-minute desk allocations, and clearing up the confusion. As a result, a desk booking solution saves a considerable amount of time.
- A Desk Booking Solution Provides Usage Insights
A desk booking solution records data regarding booking, rescheduling, cancellation, peak booking hours, and much more. Thus, it can provide real-time insights into space usage. Using these insights, managers can understand exactly how employees use the currently available desks.
They can analyze data to identify patterns such as:
- Which areas of the office have the fewest booked desks?
- On which days and during which slots are the most desks booked?
- Do you need to add more desks?
- Which desks are the most preferred?
- Which desks are rarely booked?
This information allows for more informed decisions in the future.
For example, suppose the number of desks outnumbers the number of in-office employees. Then, managers can consider removing some of them. Or, maybe the company is hiring, and more employees are joining soon. In this case, they can quickly figure out if the existing number of desks can accommodate their schedules.
To Sum Up
In a nutshell, a desk booking solution can:
- Allow employees to easily access workspaces
- Optimize office space usage
- Save time and resources
- Ensure employee safety
- Provide valuable insights
Having this simple yet effective tool at your disposal can make a significant difference in your hybrid workplace. So, go ahead and invest in a desk booking solution for your office.
WorkInSync desk booking solution is user-friendly and integrates seamlessly with existing third-party collaboration tools. It is cloud-based, easy to implement, and scalable across locations. You can opt for a demo today to learn more.
