How it works
The roster links people to space: each assigned desk or office, each team's neighborhood and the shared areas a group can use. It is dated, because assignments change every week as people join, move and leave.
It is fed from two directions. HR data supplies people, teams and start and leave dates. Move and seating decisions supply where each person or team goes. When the two are connected, a joiner can be seated before their first day and a leaver's desk is freed automatically.
Because it is authoritative, other systems read from it: the booking system, wayfinding, mail delivery, emergency headcounts and space reports. A roster that drifts out of date spreads errors into all of them.
How to measure it
- Check the roster against the HR system regularly: every active employee placed, and no leavers still seated.
- Track the share of assigned seats whose occupant still works there and still uses the seat.
- Keep dated snapshots, so you can see who sat where before and after a move.
Examples
- A leaver's last day passes and their desk returns to the shared pool the next morning.
- Before a restack, planners export the space roster to see which teams and people sit on each floor.
Common mistakes
- Keeping the roster in a spreadsheet that nobody updates after moves.
- Leaving desks assigned to leavers, departed contractors or people who never come in.
- Treating bookings as the roster. A booking is a reservation, not an assignment.
How Kadence helps
Kadence assigns people to permanent desks and teams to neighborhoods. The HRIS integration (WorkOps Pro) syncs new starters, leavers and leave dates from Workday, BambooHR or HiBob, and automatic leaver removal frees the seats of people who leave. Move Manager plans new starters, leavers and team relocations, and assignments can be uploaded in bulk from a spreadsheet.
Space management · WorkOps · Office move checklist
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a space roster and a booking list?
A booking list shows who reserved which shared space on a given day. A space roster shows who is assigned to which seat or zone over time. Many hybrid offices have both: assigned seats for some people and bookable desks for everyone else.
How do you keep a space roster accurate?
Connect it to the HR system so joiners and leavers update it automatically, record every move as it happens, and check it against actual use regularly. A seat assigned to someone who never comes in is a candidate for the shared pool.
Who maintains the space roster?
Usually the workplace or facilities team owns it. HR supplies people data, such as joiners and leavers, and neighborhood managers make local changes within their area. Changes should flow through one process so the roster stays the single source of truth.
Related terms
- Assigned desk A desk reserved for one person, either permanently or on set days, instead of being shared through booking.
- Joiners, movers and leavers (JML) The process that keeps access, equipment, seating and records in step when people join, change role or leave.
- HRIS integration A connection that syncs joiners, leavers, teams and leave dates from the HR system into workplace software automatically.
- Space allocation Deciding which people, teams and activities get which desks, zones and rooms, and whether each is assigned, shared or bookable.
- Plan of record The approved, current version of a stack, block or move plan that every team works from.
- Neighborhood manager The person who owns a neighborhood's seating rules, capacity and changes, usually a team lead or site admin.
Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed