Glossary · Moves & change

What are changes in workplace management?

Short answer

In workplace management, changes are updates to a workspace, team area or workplace setting that do not relocate the people assigned to it. They are the changes in moves, adds and changes, such as converting assigned desks to bookable ones, resizing a neighborhood, closing a room or adding equipment, and each needs floor plans and booking rules updated.

Also called workplace changes, reconfiguration.

How it works

Changes come from facilities work, policy decisions and data. A room is refurbished, a desk gets a second monitor, a neighborhood grows by one row, a floor switches to shared desks, or a zone closes on Fridays.

Each change touches records other people rely on. The floor plan shows the new layout, booking rules reflect the new capacity and permissions, and reports know the new baseline so use before and after can be compared fairly.

Changes are frequent and small, so they are easy to skip. When they go unrecorded, the booking system offers desks that no longer exist, and occupancy reports divide by the wrong capacity.

Changes are the part of MAC (moves, adds and changes) that leaves people where they are. A move relocates people and an addition seats someone new; a change alters the space, its capacity or its rules. Many projects combine all three: converting a floor to shared desks is a change, the team that moves onto it makes moves, and new hires seated there are additions.

How to measure it

  1. Log every change with a date so reports can compare like with like.
  2. Audit the floor plan against the real floor at least once a year and after each fit-out.
  3. Track how long a change takes from decision to live in the booking system.
  4. Count changes per month by type, such as layout, equipment, booking rules and closures, to see where facilities and admin effort goes.

Examples

  • A team converts a block of assigned desks to bookable desks after attendance data shows most sit empty.
  • A meeting room is closed for refurbishment and removed from availability for those dates.
  • A neighborhood grows by one row of desks for a growing team, and the floor plan, booking permissions and capacity baseline are updated the same day.

Common mistakes

  • Changing the floor and not the floor plan.
  • Changing capacity partway through a period and comparing utilization without adjusting the baseline.
  • Making changes without telling the people who use the space.
  • Closing a floor for a day without closing it in the booking system, so people book desks they cannot use.

How Kadence helps

Kadence admins make changes in one place: edit floor plans in the browser (included with SpaceOps, or a paid add-on for WorkOps Pro), bulk-edit spaces and neighborhoods from a spreadsheet, schedule neighborhoods by date, and close buildings, or on WorkOps Pro floors and spaces, with Closure Management. Workplace Insights then shows how use shifted after the change.

WorkOps · Space management · Workplace analytics

Frequently asked questions

What counts as a change in MAC?

Any update to a workspace or assignment that does not relocate anyone: new furniture or equipment, a room converted to another use, desks switched between assigned and bookable, a neighborhood resized, or new booking rules for an area. If people stay put but the space or its rules change, it is a change.

What is the difference between a change, a move and an addition?

A move relocates people, and an addition seats someone new. A change alters the space or its settings while the people stay where they are. All three are part of MAC (moves, adds and changes) and need records updated, but changes are the easiest to forget because nobody carries a box.

How do you keep floor plans up to date?

Make updating the floor plan part of closing every move and change, not a separate task. Give one team ownership, use tools that let admins edit plans directly, and walk each floor against the plan after fit-outs and at least once a year.

Do changes affect occupancy reporting?

Yes. Occupancy and utilization divide use by available capacity, so adding, removing or closing desks and rooms changes the denominator. Record the date of each change and compare periods with the same capacity, or the numbers will look better or worse than reality.

Who approves workplace changes?

Usually the workplace or facilities team that owns the space, with input from the teams that use it. Changes to capacity or rules, such as converting assigned desks to bookable ones, often need sign-off from the team's manager, and changes to rooms or equipment may involve IT. Tell the people affected before the change goes live.

  • MAC (moves, adds and changes) The routine work of relocating people, seating new occupants and updating workspaces as an organization changes.
  • Moves Planned relocations of a person, team or department to a different seat, neighborhood, floor or building.
  • Additions Preparing a seat, equipment, access and records for a new occupant such as a new hire, contractor or team.
  • Workplace change management A structured approach to helping people adopt a new layout, policy, system or location so the change lasts.
  • Interactive floor plan A live, clickable map of an office that shows desks, rooms and people, and lets employees book space and find colleagues.
  • Space management The ongoing tracking, allocation and improvement of how an organization's buildings, floors, desks and rooms are used.

Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed

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