How it works
A neighborhood is a zone of a floor set aside for a team or activity. The workplace or real estate team decides how much space each neighborhood gets. The neighborhood manager decides how it is used: which desks are assigned and which are shared, which days the team is in, who gets priority, and when to ask for more or less space.
The role keeps the central team from becoming a bottleneck. In a building with dozens of neighborhoods, each one needs small changes every week, such as a joiner, a leaver or a team that has grown. A named owner handles them within agreed limits and passes bigger changes, such as moving the team, to the central team.
Good setups give the manager permissions limited to their neighborhood, a clear capacity to work within and reports on how their space is used.
How to measure it
- Track neighborhood occupancy on the team's office days against its capacity.
- Count how many seating changes each manager handles and how long they take.
- Review each neighborhood's size every quarter against measured peak demand.
Examples
- A finance team lead runs two neighborhoods on one floor, assigning fixed desks to the people who need them and keeping the rest shared.
- A site admin manages the neighborhoods of several small teams that share a floor on different days.
Common mistakes
- Giving managers rights across the whole building when they only need their own neighborhood.
- Naming a manager without giving them usage data, so decisions rest on opinion.
- Letting neighborhoods grow on local request without checking the building plan.
How Kadence helps
Kadence assigns teams to neighborhoods and people to permanent desks, and the Neighborhood Scheduler sets which team uses which neighborhood by date on rotating or shared floors. Building-scoped admins limit admins to specific buildings, and Custom Roles and Permissions (WorkOps Pro) let organizations build roles with exactly the permissions each admin needs. Spaces, neighborhoods and assignments can also be edited in bulk from a spreadsheet.
Space management · Desk booking software
Frequently asked questions
What does a neighborhood manager do?
They run a neighborhood day to day: assigning or sharing desks, setting which days the team is in, handling joiners and leavers, and asking for more or less space when the team changes. They work within the capacity and rules set by the central workplace team.
Who should be a neighborhood manager?
Usually a team lead, office manager or site admin who knows the team's working pattern. They need enough authority to make seating decisions and enough time to keep the neighborhood up to date.
How is a neighborhood manager different from a workplace manager?
A workplace manager runs a whole office or site, including services, policy and space across all teams. A neighborhood manager owns one neighborhood within that site and makes local seating decisions inside limits the workplace team sets.
Related terms
- Neighborhood A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together.
- Space allocation Deciding which people, teams and activities get which desks, zones and rooms, and whether each is assigned, shared or bookable.
- Assigned desk A desk reserved for one person, either permanently or on set days, instead of being shared through booking.
- Team adjacency Placing teams that work closely together near each other, and keeping those links intact through every move.
- Booking policy The rules for booking shared desks, rooms and other spaces: who can book, how far ahead, for how long and when bookings are released.
Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed