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Kadence Flex: The Benefits of Access to Flexible Work Spaces Worldwide

Posted on by Luke Christian-Farman

In today’s world of work, managing Flexible Work Spaces can lead to a headache or two.

Whether a small startup or a multinational enterprise, you’re probably wrestling with the same questions: How do I provide space for a growing workforce? How do I coordinate a distributed team? Can I justify this long office lease?

Some companies have tackled these questions by going fully remote. But for those of us who value face-to-face collaboration, that’s not an option.

That’s why we’re excited to introduce Kadence Flex: a one-stop solution for flexible workspaces, all from within your hybrid operating platform.

Coordinate your teams with flexible work spaces

The flexibility offered by hybrid work is liberating, but it can also feel disorienting.

When colleagues are scattered around different cities and countries, in-person time can be hard to come by. Teamwork and productivity can suffer as a result.

Kadence Flex partners with LiquidSpace to offer you thousands of co-working spaces all around the globe. Your teams now have the option to book co-working spaces near them and coordinate in-office days with colleagues ahead of time.

With flexible desk booking included within Kadence Flex, your teammates can simply choose which flexible workspaces work for them, and book a physical spot right away. You’ll even be notified when relevant colleagues have booked a flex workspace. No need to miss out on quality in-person work.

Kadence Flex even helps you schedule recurring team days in co-working office spaces that are accessible to everyone. Say goodbye to those awkward Thursday Marketing meetings on Zoom — it turns out your team has booked a room at a flexible office instead.

Bringing your employees into the office used to be a challenge. Now, with easy access to countless flexible workspaces — it’s a given.

Easily manage your distributed workforce with flex workspaces

A distributed workforce is a beautiful thing, but it comes with its challenges. Spontaneous co-working between colleagues can be handy, but it’s hardly a solution for the long term.

Kadence Flex helps your teams get together more often than ever, in thousands of co-working office spaces worldwide.

With an overview of company offices and flexible offices near you, you can see exactly when and where your team is choosing to work. This enables your employees to get their best work done with the right people, in the right places.

Are colleagues constantly on the move? There’s no need to sacrifice collaboration. No matter where your team works, they will still have easy access to thousands of flexible coworking spaces.

From new hires onboarding together in Lisbon to operational all-hands in London, let your team connect and collaborate with more frequency than ever.

Kadence Flex gives you all the information you need to make desk and room bookings in flexible offices that make sense for you and your team.

Cut down real estate costs with flexible offices

In tough financial conditions, controlling real estate costs is crucial for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

Kadence Flex gives you access to comprehensive booking data and attendance metrics across both company offices and on-demand flexible workspaces. It’s a centralized platform that offers full visibility into how you use your own office or on-demand coworking office, allowing for data-driven decisions.

Whether it’s identifying underused locations or scaling up in areas of high demand, Kadence Flex offers you the insights you need to tailor your office space to your actual business needs.

Kadence Flex also aligns seamlessly with your hybrid policy. By analyzing usage patterns of offices and flexible workspaces, you can adapt your strategy to ensure that your workforce is productive and engaged.

This level of adaptability not only cuts down on unnecessary real estate expenses but also contributes to a more dynamic and responsive work environment.

Instant access to flexible office spaces will help you stay lean in the long run.

A new era of workspace flexibility

The flexibility and adaptability required to manage a modern workforce can be overwhelming. We hope we’ve persuaded you that Kadence Flex is a worthy partner in your journey to fully flexible work.

It’s not just about offering flex workspaces or enabling hybrid work. It’s about redefining how we think about and make use of our work environments.

With Kadence Flex, you can choose flexible workspaces that suit your needs. Whether it’s coordinating team meetings in convenient locations, booking a desk in a city you’re visiting for a week, or simply finding a quiet flexible office space for focused work, Kadence Flex makes it all possible.

Then there’s that office lease. Kadence Flex helps you make smarter decisions about office space investments, ensuring that every square foot is used to its maximum potential. Why pay for space you’re not using? Simply integrate flexible workspaces into your workflow and see your real estate costs plummet.

Kadence Flex is more than a tool—it’s a new approach to how we work.

If you’re interested to see it in action or understand more about Kadence, we’d love to hear from you.

Go flexible!

Luke Christian-Farman

Author bio

Luke Christian-Farman

Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys.

Flexible Working: A Personal Journey to Empowerment

Posted on by Mandy Garner

As the founder of wmpeople, I’ve witnessed firsthand the evolution of flexible working and its impact on countless lives.

Over the years, my platforms have become a haven for parents and caregivers seeking work that accommodates their unique life circumstances.

In its early days, flexible working was often equated with part-time roles or job-sharing arrangements. There was a common belief that working fixed hours at a set location each week somehow lacked true flexibility.

But my experience has shown me that flexible working is a multifaceted concept, encompassing compressed hours, annualized hours, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and self-scheduling.

Flexible work is as diverse and adaptable as the individuals it seeks to support.

What about the ‘when’?

We often get so focused on the ‘where’ of work — office vs. remote, for example — that we forget that the ‘when’ is just as important.

One poignant story I encountered recently on workingwise was about a woman with severe arthritis who had to quit her job as a school technician. Her condition requires flexibility, not just in where she works, but when she works. Having the ability to work around her pain, at her own pace, could make a significant difference in her life.

Parents have also felt the brunt of rigid work schedules. During the pandemic, I saw countless families on workingmums and workingdads struggling to balance homeschooling with work. These parents needed the flexibility to shift their hours, often working in tandem to manage their children’s education and their professional responsibilities.

Although schools are back, the need for adaptable working hours remains, especially as we face ongoing disruptions like climate events, health crises, and childcare challenges.

Control and communication

Countless studies point to a simple truth: the more control you have over when and where you get work done, the happier you are.

The best part? This kind of flexibility serves the employer as well as the employee. In many successful teams I’ve observed, flexibility enhances productivity (benefiting the business) as well as work-life balance (benefiting the individual).

In our 24/7 society, having some flexibility over when we work is essential. This can be effectively managed with careful planning, robust communication, and a focus on output rather than strict hours.

Employers can set core hours to maintain coverage during busy times, but allowing some leeway in how any remaining hours are used can be a win-win for everyone.

In helping all sorts of people find the work that’s right for them, I’ve seen the profound impact that flexible work arrangements can have.

They empower individuals, especially those with caregiving responsibilities or health concerns, to continue contributing their skills and talents to the workforce — on their own terms.

As we look to the future, I remain committed to advocating for greater flexibility in the workplace. It’s not just a policy; it’s a pathway to a more inclusive, understanding, and productive work environment.

Mandy Garner

Guest Author Bio

Mandy Garner

Mandy is the founder of wmpeople, the umbrella company of workingmums, workingdads and workingwise. These networks improve the world of work for everyone by inspiring and promoting best practice in diversity and inclusion amongst employers, and connecting jobseekers to work that matches their situation.

Modernize Your Work Practices with Smart Working

Posted on by Andy Lake

For over three decades, I’ve been exploring and advocating for smarter, more flexible ways of working.

As the founding editor of Flexibility and author of the Smart Working Handbook, I help organizations embrace a more strategic approach to modernizing their working practices.

Smart Working isn’t just about choosing where to work. It’s a holistic method that encompasses how we work, the tools we use, and the cultures we cultivate. It’s about making work more adaptable, inclusive, and aligned with both our personal and organizational goals.

A shift towards flexible work environments

I’ve distilled the essence of flexible work into a list of core principles, which can help your organisation move to Smart Working. Let’s delve into five that are particularly important as we shift towards more flexible work environments:

  1. Flexibility, mobility, and virtuality as norms: In a world where work is no longer confined to the office, embracing these aspects as standard practice is crucial. This approach allows organizations to adapt swiftly to changing circumstances and empowers employees to work efficiently from anywhere.
  2. Employee choice, subject to business considerations: Granting employees the autonomy to choose their work environment builds a culture of trust and empowerment. This principle is key to attracting and retaining talent in an era where flexibility is highly valued.
  3. Effective and appropriate use of technology: Adopting the right technology is instrumental to Smart Working. It enables seamless communication, collaboration, and productivity, regardless of physical location. Tools should be both user-friendly and capable of supporting diverse work modes.
  4. Focus on results, not presence: Shifting the emphasis from where work is done to what is achieved encourages a more results-oriented culture. This principle champions productivity and efficiency over traditional measures of work, like time spent in the office.
  5. Positive impact on the ‘triple bottom line’: Smart Working is not just about business efficiency; it also considers the well-being of individuals and the planet. It encourages work practices that are sustainable and contribute positively to society and the environment.

My Smart Working handbook outlines 14 principles in total – discover more here.

The future of smart working

Smart Working is more than just a set of guidelines — it’s a movement towards a future where work is not just a place you go, but a dynamic and meaningful experience. It’s about crafting a world of work that’s not only more adaptive and inclusive, but one that thrives on innovation and sustainability.

Together, let’s step into this future, creating workspaces and practices that resonate with the needs of the modern world. Let’s build organizations where creativity flourishes, where work-life balance is a reality, and where we all contribute to a greener, more sustainable future.

The journey of Smart Working is just beginning, and the possibilities are limitless.

Andy Lake

Guest Author Bio

Andy Lake

Andy helps organisations navigate complexity to develop a strategic approach to Smart/Agile/Flexible/Hybrid Working, based on almost 30 years of advising, researching and writing on new ways of working and their impacts. He’s also the author of “Beyond Hybrid Working”.

Not prioritizing Flex Work? You won’t like what’s really going on

Posted on by Gillian Brookes

In my hometown, I get more unsolicited emails and messages from one particular organization than any other. It’s led by a chief executive who doesn’t believe in the benefits of flex work. The emails and messages I receive are from frustrated employees and leaders who wish they had access to the kind of flex work that other similar organizations now take for granted.

Everyone else in my hometown knows how inflexible that organization is in reality. I have reached out to this chief executive recently to let him know, candidly and sensitively of course, that all is not well within his organisation. I have offered my help and even offered it for free, given how far behind they are compared to the rest of our city. So far, I haven’t had a reply!

Flex goes underground

What’s happening inside his organization is that flexibility is being offered, but leaders are doing it under the radar. Clandestine arrangements are being put in place so that leaders can do what they can to retain their team members and avoid the pain and cost of losing them to another company down the road. These deals are being inconsistently applied, often favoring the top performers, and creating resentment across teams and different parts of the business. 

It’s a lose-lose situation

The organization is missing out on potential productivity gains and they’re also accepting a higher risk of burnout and stress levels across their workforce. They’ve given themselves one less lever in their carbon emissions reduction strategy. With flexibility, you can reduce your workforce’s commuting and property needs, which significantly reduces your carbon emissions. 

If you’re not prioritizing flex, this is the kind of scenario you can expect. Your leaders will be giving people flexibility anyway and they will be doing it inconsistently. They’ll be undermining what you thought was going on by putting flex deals in place. These bad habits eat away at your leadership trust and cohesion. You’re also missing out on the kind of benefits you can expect if you were to bring flex out into the light. 

You’re probably spending eight percent more on salary than you need to, which is on average how much flexible workers value their ways of working. You’ll be selling yourself short when it comes to attracting and retaining the right people, especially with underrepresented groups including women, people with disabilities, and people from minority backgrounds.  

You might expect that I’ll tell you to release the shackles, open up all types of flex across your entire organization, and open the floodgates. 

No, don’t do that either. You’ll just get chaos and it’ll make you wish you’d left it well alone! 

By doing that you’ll end up with flex arrangements in place that don’t work. I’ve met enough flex-hesitant leaders over the years who have good reasons for being cautious. Here’s how you can avoid going from bad to worse when you open up more flex.

Start with a strategy

First, develop a workforce strategy that lines up with what your organization is trying to achieve.

  • What ways of working are going to help you deliver on that strategy?
  • How will that differ across different parts of your workforce?
  • How can you make that clear and measurable?

You’ll want to track your progress as well as look out for unintended consequences. This way you’ll adjust, do more of the good stuff, and let go of what isn’t working.

Building new skills

Next, support your leaders and team members to build the skills that they need for success in today’s flexible world of work. Training your managers to make great flexible work decisions with their teams is critical. They are exhausted right now. The world of work changed so drastically in the last three years and they are tired of having to work it out on their own. Give them the cheat codes and they will deliver for you, just as they have in the past. Avoid the common mistake of relying on a policy and an email launch with a video from the chief executive. This flex shift needs to be a lot better supported than that.

Make flex your priority

If you want to lean into the new and fast-evolving world of work, prioritize flex, but do it in the right way. You’ll find that you’ll attract and retain the right people, make significant productivity gains, reduce your risk of workforce burnout, and significantly reduce your carbon emissions while taking the pressure off your salary bill.

So, why wouldn’t you?

Gillian Brookes

Guest Author bio

Gillian Brookes

Flex expert and workforce strategist based in Wellington, New Zealand. She is also the author of Flexperts – getting the best from flex in a world that’s ever changing. Gillian’s Flexperts course also helps managers get the best from flexible working.

Master Team Productivity with the Homepage Dashboard

Posted on by Luke Christian-Farman

Team Productivity is the single most important thing companies are trying to get right in 2023.

In a world of hybrid work, being agile, informed, and proactive is no longer a luxury—Team Productivity is a necessity. Kadence’s new Homepage Dashboard helps you stay ahead and make smart decisions about your work schedule.

Let’s explore how our newest features help you master your hybrid work routine.

Stay Connected with Starred Colleagues

Boost Team Productivity by seeing who's going to be in the office
Smart notifications let you know when to reschedule your bookings.

Collaboration thrives on connectivity. With My Starred Colleagues, you can easily view your team’s schedules. You can also get notified about their office arrival or any sudden cancellations.

This deep synchronization ensures you’re never out of the loop. No more second-guessing your office trips, or missing great opportunities for face-to-face time.

Predict the Office Pulse for the Week

Enhance Team Productivity by seeing who's in on any day of the week
Easily see who’s going in on a team day.

Ever walked into the office expecting a bustling environment only to be met with silence? No more. My Office Activity lets you gauge the week’s office pulse at a quick scan.

Whether you’re aiming for collaborative days or solitude for deep work, you’ll know exactly when the commute is worth it.

My Schedule: Seamlessly Navigate Your Week

Get prompted to make a booking if you've already planned to go in
Instant smart suggestions let you know that you haven’t booked your space for when you’ve planned to go into the office.

A comprehensive view of your booking schedule. Check in, manage bookings, and get a clear picture of where you need to be. With My Schedule, juggling between apps and emails is history. One glance, and you’re in control of your week.

Let Kadence Guide Your Decisions

Smart Suggestions let you know when a teammate has cancelled their booking so you can reschedule
Smart Suggestions let you know when a teammate has cancelled their booking so you can reschedule.

Kadence isn’t just a tool; it’s your intelligent work partner. With Smart Suggestions Kadence offers the prompts you need exactly when you need them:

  • Team Kadences: Know when your squad hits the office.
  • Starred colleagues: Stay updated on your closest colleagues’ plans.
  • Office capacity: Be alerted when the office is in high demand, allowing you to secure your spot.

Kadence thinks so you don’t have to. It knows your schedule, preferences, and needs, ensuring you’re always prepared.

Final Thought

In a world of hybrid work that can sometimes feel hard to navigate, let Kadence chart your course. Our new Homepage Dashboard is more than just a tool. It’s your work compass, helping you make decisions throughout the week.

P.S. Want to see it in action? Check it out here and take your hybrid game plan to the next level.

Luke Christian-Farman

Author bio

Luke Christian-Farman

Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys.

Make Your Time Count With Smart Booking Suggestions

Posted on by Luke Christian-Farman

In today’s fast-paced world, managing your Smart Hybrid Workplace efficiently is more important than ever. Smart Booking Suggestions keep you informed about when your favorite colleagues or teammates will be in the office, allowing you to plan your workday and connect with them in person. It also alerts you when the office is getting full, ensuring you can book your space in time.

In this blog, we’ll discuss how these Smart Booking Suggestions can help you easily plan your week, get the best times to connect with your teammates, and prioritize when you need to commute to the office.

Easily Plan Your Week Ahead

Team Coordination

Smart Booking Suggestions takes the guesswork out of planning your workweek. With real-time updates on your teammates’ schedules, you can make informed decisions about when to book your workspace, ensuring you’re present in the office when it matters most.

No more last-minute cancelations or double bookings – just a seamless, stress-free way to organize your week and maximize productivity.

Get The Best Times To Connect With Your Teammates

Smart Workplace

Collaboration is key to a successful work environment, and Kadence’s Smart Booking Suggestions make it easier than ever to connect with your colleagues.

By getting notified when your favorite teammates or colleagues are planning to be in the office, you can schedule face-to-face meetings, brainstorming sessions, or even a coffee break to catch up. Strengthen your working relationships and foster a collaborative atmosphere by making the most of your time in the office.

Prioritize When You Need To Commute To The Office

optimized space

Commuting can be time-consuming and expensive. Kadence’s Smart Booking Suggestions help you prioritize when you need to be in the office, ensuring you only commute when it’s necessary.

By staying up-to-date with office capacity and your teammates’ schedules, you can plan your workdays more effectively, saving time and resources. Say goodbye to unnecessary commutes and hello to a smarter, more streamlined work routine.

Conclusion

Smart Booking Suggestions is a game-changer for creating a  Smart Hybrid Workplace, enabling you to easily plan your week, connect with your colleagues, and prioritize your office visits. With real-time updates and intelligent suggestions, Kadence helps you maximize your time and create a more efficient, productive, and enjoyable work environment.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to take your smart workplace to the next level. Book a demo with our team today and experience the benefits for yourself!

Luke Christian-Farman

Author bio

Luke Christian-Farman

Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys.

LiquidSpace and Kadence Team Up to Revolutionize Hybrid Work

Posted on by Team Kadence

LiquidSpace, the largest global on-demand office marketplace and hybrid workplace management platform for flexible work, and Kadence, the leading hybrid workplace software platform, have teamed up to redefine the way we work. This game-changing partnership provides employees with access to a global network of flexible workspaces and their internal offices, seamlessly, in one platform. 

With the LiquidSpace x Kadence integration, companies and their employees will be able to:

  • Instantly book on-demand desks, meeting rooms, and offices at coworking spaces and flexible office providers around the world

  • Deepen engagement by enabling teams to coordinate and meet up in person, at the office, or in coworking spaces

  • Reduce cost per employee by optimizing the mix of traditional and on-demand real estate spend

A Kadence and LiquidSpace partnership banner showing an example of the new flexible work interface.

“The future of work is hybrid, but for individual employees, it takes many forms. Working near home on days when home just doesn’t work. Huddling with colleagues to ideate and get sh*t done. Traveling to HQ to bond, celebrate wins, and the company mission. We are thrilled to partner with Kadence to extend and enhance the hybrid experience for their customers, by giving their employees access to thousands of great spaces around the globe.”

Mark Gilbreath, CEO & Founder, LiquidSpace

LiquidSpace gives companies the power to unlock a global ecosystem of on-demand and flexible work spaces without losing control. Employees enjoy the freedom to work from where ‘it works’, whether that’s a quiet space to concentrate near home, or a convenient space to gather and collaborate with colleagues. With supply partners across the globe, including large brands and smaller independent spaces across central business districts and closer to home. Enterprise workplace and HR leaders can tap real-time data insights to inform workplace strategy, set budgets, and configure permissions. 

Kadence’s smart hybrid solution is designed to help companies slash real-estate costs with flexible desk and conference room booking software. The platform also keeps you in the loop with office traffic and notifies teammates of schedule changes. 

This partnership offers a comprehensive solution for ‘officeless’ companies seeking a high level of agility to coordinate employee schedules while accessing thousands of flexible work spaces, empowering teams with true flexibility to work together anytime, anywhere. In addition, companies that already have their own offices can now offer their employees access to thousands of office locations beyond their own four walls.

“The future of work is one where people have the agency to choose where and how they work so they can be the most productive in what they deliver. This means work can happen anywhere, and with the right people. The challenge then comes down to coordination – the coordination of schedules, spaces, and experiences. 

This partnership will be an absolute game changer to empower our teams with the autonomy and flexibility to choose how, when, and where they work to be their most successful; as well as provide our business with a unified experience across our leased and flex portfolio.“

Jeff Gwinnett, Senior Director, Workplace Experience & Sustainability, Softchoice

Employees can now effortlessly search, find, and book on-demand spaces wherever they are. Additionally, they can view their team’s activities, star their go-to colleagues for regular meetups to follow their weekly schedules, and receive notifications when they’ve booked a space – whether in the office or at a coworking space.

“In the past people were predictable, and spaces were static. Now, spaces are flexible, and people are unpredictable. That’s why we created the hybrid operating system that helps people be intentional with how they get their work done, and navigate all the complexities of hybrid.”

Dan Bladen, CEO & Co-Founder, Kadence 


The full integration will be launching soon in Q3. Get in touch with our team if you’d like to know more about how to use Kadence and LiquidSpace together!

77% of Companies are Shifting to Flexible Spaces: Here’s 5 Reasons Why

Posted on by Dan Bladen

Demand for flexible spaces is on the up – in a big way.

A recent survey found that 77% of companies seeking relocation were planning to factor flexible spaces into their future plans.

This rising interest makes sense, especially given the broader shift we are seeing towards hybrid work and flexible ways of operating. But should your company be considering a “flex space”? Let’s explore the 5 signs that you’re ready to go fully flexible.

1. You are looking for ways to reduce spending on flexible spaces

In the past people were predictable, and spaces were static. Now, spaces are flexible, and people are unpredictable. 2023 is proving to be an exceptionally tough year — for even the most robust businesses.

If you, like many, find yourselves in a position where cost-cutting and optimization are top of mind, you might well be looking towards your office space as an opportunity for cost-saving. (And you wouldn’t be wrong in doing so!)

Running a traditional office can be very expensive, and the overhead costs can add up quickly. With a flex space, however, you’ll only pay for the space you need — while also saving money on utilities, maintenance costs, and other expenses related to running an office.

Additionally, you’ll have the flexibility to choose from a range of pricing plans, depending on your business requirements. You can select hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly plans, depending on how much space you need and for how long.

The result? Flexible costs, a more predictable budget, and cutting out your largest monthly expense.

2. Your flexible office space is frequently underused

This is something we are all experiencing to varying degrees.

With remote work so universally available, many employees are choosing to forego their long commutes and spend that time in other ways: helping out with child care, relishing their improved work-life balance, or focusing on their physical and mental health.

The fact is: that employees are struggling to find good reasons to come into the office.

That’s where flexible spaces come in. With flex spaces, your employees will have the opportunity to choose a space that is local to them — and therefore much more accessible.

Furthermore, with the right hybrid work tool in place — giving your employees oversight over their coworkers’ schedules and helping with the day-to-day of flexible work — your team will know exactly when and where it makes sense for them to be.

Underuse of office space is not just damaging from a financial perspective — but also a cultural one. The office should feel like the company’s watering hole — a place to draw inspiration from others, get down to focused work, and build long-lasting social connections.

Flex spaces are bustling neighborhoods that will help bring your employees back to a physical space and — crucially — show them the unique value in doing so.

3. You find yourself stretched managing your flexible office space

Managing a physical office space can be an uphill struggle, especially if you have limited resources.

Even if your office is being adequately used, you might find the stress of its management and upkeep far outweighs the benefits it brings about.

With a flex space, you’ll drastically reduce the responsibility you have over your physical workspace.

No more worrying about maintenance, cleaning, or other finicky day-to-day tasks — these will all be managed by the flex space provider. A flex space will also generally offer a wide range of professional services, such as administrative support, reception services, and IT support.

If you add the right hybrid work software into that picture, you’ll also not have to worry about the nitty gritty of desk booking, meeting room management and employee work schedules.

A flex space equipped with a leading hybrid work tool might just be the thing that helps free up your time to focus on things that matter the most.

4. You don’t want to compromise on quality facilities

I hear your concern. “Flexible spaces sound nice, but I’m worried about compromising on quality. I want the best for my employees.”

An honorable goal! Luckily for you, the modern flexible space goes above and beyond ensuring your employees are met with quality.

A quick browse of the best options near you and you’ll see spaces kitted out with high-end amenities, modern furniture, state-of-the-art technology, and premium meeting spaces — not to mention high-speed internet, video conferencing tools, and industry-standard office equipment.

Flex spaces are designed to create a professional and comfortable workspace — but also a versatile one that caters to a wide range of industries and creative focuses.

This eclectic, polished environment, can act as the perfect platform for your team to continue enjoying in-person work without sacrificing any smallest convenience — and act as a new source of inspiration and fulfillment.

5. You are looking to reduce your environmental impact

Reducing environmental impact is a priority for many businesses and their ESG missions.

Research has shown that empty offices are still devouring almost as much energy as in pre-pandemic times.

By choosing a flex space, you’ll not only greatly reduce your company’s carbon footprint through vacating a whole physical space, you’ll be committing to a system that has space and energy efficiency at its core. No more empty or underused office floors – flex spaces are set up to maximize the usage of their work areas, while also providing eco-friendly technical infrastructure, such as energy-efficient lighting, heating, and powering.

Even if you keep a core office and choose to introduce flexible spaces for your international employees, the benefits are significant. Flex spaces have excellent access to public transportation, and some will even have bike storage and shower facilities — encouraging low-emission travel to and from the office.

Giving your employees a tool to book these flex spaces and see how their colleagues plan to use them will go one step further to ensuring a commute is never wasted, and in-person work is carried out as intentionally as possible.

A flexible space set up for hybrid work ultimately works in the interests of the environment.

So there they are. The five reasons it may be about time for you and your team to explore flexible spaces.

Remember though — there is never a one-size-fits-all. Before committing to a move, you might want to ask yourself a few questions:

Would it make financial sense? Would it help reduce our carbon footprint? Is it feasible from an organizational point of view?

Most important of all is to get a feeling for how your employees see the situation. Maybe they value having their own space, and it’s time to downsize or choose a different office. Maybe they are raring to commit to a fully hybrid system.

At Kadence, we’re all about treating each case with the attention and detail it deserves. We’re also all about partnering with outstanding solutions that help companies get even smarter about the way they operate.

Big news coming soon!

Dan Bladen

Author bio

Dan Bladen

Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures.

Who Should Own Working Hybrid at Your Company? The Pros and Cons of Each

Posted on by Dan Bladen

Earlier this week, we ran a LinkedIn poll. The question was simple: who is running Working Hybrid in your company?

Results started pouring in CEO, Facility Manager, Head of People, and IT department — they were all in the mix. Yet not one of them was poking their head out as a clear winner.

This alone is a compelling insight. As strong as the momentum currently is towards hybrid ways of working, it seems there’s still a collective uncertainty around who exactly is meant to own the process of implementing and overseeing the ins and outs of hybrid work.

Let’s look at who the candidates are — and why they are in a prime position to take on the challenge of helping their company transition to Working Hybrid.

The CEO

The CEO is our first candidate – and perhaps the most obvious.

Hybrid work presents a fundamental alteration of how a company sees itself, its people, and its space — and such a profound change needs to be met at the top executive level.

Furthermore, the transition to hybrid has implications for so much of a company’s operational framework — from its use and management of real estate to its work culture and operating software — that it requires someone with an extensive knowledge base and skill set to properly oversee it.

The CEO is the person ultimately responsible for the success or failure of a business, and you could argue that it is therefore their job to oversee the implementation of hybrid work.

Pros:

  • Great to have top-level ownership of a core business strategy
  • Wide skill set and knowledge to manage all facets of implementation

Cons:

  • Risks of getting bogged down in the day-to-day
  • Less “people-focused” and more “business-focused”

The COO

Next up is the COO. The person whose job it is to oversee the day-to-day operations of the organization — and someone who could be instrumental in the successful implementation of hybrid work.

The transition to hybrid work represents a complete shift in an organization’s management of its resources — the chief of which is its people and spaces.

The office has become a tool for work, rather than a platform, and the main platform has now become time.

Negotiating this conceptual shift is something that the COO would be more than capable of handling. With their strong communication skills, connection to all department heads, and intimate knowledge of large and smaller-scale work processes, the COO would be a top candidate for helping implement the right tool for hybrid work and overseeing its effective use.

Pros:

  • Deeply aligned with the day-to-day operations of the company
  • Can ensure that processes and systems are in place to support remote work and in-person collaboration

Cons:

  • May not have a comprehensive understanding of the needs of individuals, or technical challenges
  • May not have the skill set to manage all facets of implementation

The CTO/Tech Lead

I know what you’re thinking. What does technology have to do with such an operational question?

Hear us out. Hybrid work doesn’t just represent a change in a workplace’s physical routines and rituals. The proper implementation of hybrid work involves installing software that assists you on every step of your hybrid journey — from desk booking and room booking to smart scheduling and team coordination.

Such an installation could be daunting — especially if handled by the wrong person.

That’s where the CTO comes in. With their technical expertise, the tech lead of a company could ensure that their chosen hybrid software works seamlessly alongside the rest of a company’s technical catalog — whether it be integrating with Microsoft Teams, Slack, or any number of digital tools.

Pros:

  • Best placed to manage hybrid software and integrations

Cons:

  • Detached from the operational / people-focused reality of hybrid work
  • Distracts from product-related technical issues

The Facility Manager

Another figure who could be crucial to a company’s hybrid transition is the Facility / Office Manager.

The Facility Manager is the person responsible for ensuring an organization’s physical spaces are configured to support the workforce.

In the era of hybrid work, this responsibility is particularly important. With a workforce fluctuating between remote and in-person work, the office has developed a whole new identity: a flexible, malleable hub that caters to the complex schedules of its residents.

Such an office needs to be carefully designed, and even more carefully managed. It should feel like a destination workplace, with a biophilic design and carefully placed office neighborhoods. It should also be set up to prioritize energy conservation — with thoughtful consideration for low-use zones and a plan to raise the office’s overall energy efficiency.

The Facility Manager is perfectly placed to mark out the office as a place for productivity and fulfillment in a company’s new hybrid work model.

Pros:

  • Familiar with the physical workspace and can ensure it is configured to support fluctuating workforce

Cons:

  • Not so in tune with higher level functions of hybrid work — from a financial/operational perspective
  • Wouldn’t be best placed to manage hybrid work software and its introduction

The Head of People

Call this person what you will — Head of HR, Chief People Officer, Chief of Staff — they are another clear candidate for managing and owning the transition to hybrid.

Hybrid work is fundamentally about people (just read the manifesto!). It’s about ensuring that each individual in the company feels supported in their own unique way — so that they can flourish in whatever working environment suits them best.

Enter HR. With such a strong connection to people — and their satisfaction in work and beyond — it feels like a no-brainer that they should somehow be involved when it comes to overseeing a change that affects every single person in the company.

HR representatives could ensure employees are set up to be just as effective from their homes, oversee the complexities of their working requirements, and provide adequate onboarding and training to employees who are less familiar with the processes of hybrid work.

Pros:

  • Deeply aligned with the needs of employees
  • Can provide much-needed training and support

Cons:

  • Less focused on the management of the physical workspace
  • Not a stakeholder in the financial implications of working hybrid, or technical requirements for software

The Chief Hybrid Officer

The Chief Hybrid Officer is a new role that companies are turning to in their attempt to give justice to the complex challenge presented by the transition to working hybrid.

As you’ve hopefully now seen — the person tasked with implementing hybrid work needs to have an exceptional skill set, ranging from solid business acumen and operational nous to the ability to manage a physical workspace and digital software.

Such a wide-ranging assignment could well be handled by an existing employee — but it would seriously risk distracting them from their core work. Furthermore, it could mean under-delivering on the potential of a well-implemented hybrid system.

The Chief Hybrid Officer would own this process from start to finish. Their goal would be to maximize the impact of the hybrid work model, from championing employee well-being and satisfaction to cutting down real estate costs and helping a company’s ESG mission.

Pros:

  • Holistic approach to the hybrid transition
  • Full ownership of all relevant areas, including implications

Cons:

  • Difficult to hire for the position
  • Smaller companies may struggle to justify the role

The responsibility for implementing and managing hybrid work in an organization can fall to a variety of roles — from the CTO to the Chief of Staff.

Yet there’s no right answer. Every organization is different, and every team has its specific circumstances and requirements for transitioning to a new way of working.

When deciding upon whom the responsibility falls to implement hybrid work, we recommend assessing your company on several different fronts:

  • Your company’s size and capacity for a new executive role
  • The relative financial impact hybrid work could have on you
  • The importance of environmental impact and optimization to your company
  • The day-to-day capacity of C-level executives for a sizeable new project

Our mission at Kadence is to help companies navigate this complex world. Whether it’s giving advice on the proper way to educate your employees about hybrid work, or helping implement software that will act as your guiding light in the transition — we’d love to be part of your journey.

Dan Bladen

Author Bio

Dan Bladen

Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures.

Hybrid OS: Your Company’s Hybrid Workplace Operating System

Posted on by Dan Bladen

Have you installed your Hybrid Workplace Operating System yet?

Hybrid OS: the new hybrid workplace operating system that countless businesses worldwide depend on to help manage their people, projects, and spaces.

Now, of course, we don’t mean an actual operating system (like Mac or Windows). But it’s high time we began to view hybrid work — the policy, not the loose concept — as a platform that is just as fundamental to business as the way operating software is to computers.

Let’s take a look at 5 surprising parallels between hybrid work and a computer’s operating system.

1. They both provide the foundational framework

Just as an operating system provides the foundation for software and applications to run on a computer, a well-implemented hybrid policy establishes the fundamental structure for how a company operates.

Not only does it provide the rules and processes for a company’s core work practices, but hybrid work ensures that every single employee in the company is working from the same platform and basis — and that they are empowered to flourish from that platform.

The importance of this framework cannot be understated: with uncertainty at an all-time high in the working world, hybrid work ushers in much-needed structure and stability.

2. Their primary goal is optimization

An operating system acts as the brain of the computer — with optimization as its primary goal. It manages the computer’s resources as efficiently as possible — from memory and processing to storage and task coordination.

In the same way, hybrid work acts as the brain of a business. Tools for hybrid work manage the whole catalog of resources overseen by a company — from its employees and their work Kadences to its physical workplace and office neighborhoods. Hybrid ensures a company is optimized across all of its processes.

Modern computers run smoothly only because of the work put in by their operating systems in the background. The same applies to hybrid work.

Hybrid work is like the operating system of a computer: it’s the adaptable framework that ensures a business can run smoothly and efficiently

3. They both adapt to the needs of their environment

Operating systems are built to adapt to changing conditions, such as software updates, hardware upgrades, or the installation of new applications.

See the parallel? Hybrid work is implemented precisely to adapt to an ever-changing workforce and professional environment.

Its intrinsic flexibility allows companies to cater to the unique needs of each individual — whether that be in specific circumstances necessitated by a new hire, or the evolving needs of existing employees or teams. (Or indeed external conditions like, dare we say, a global pandemic!)

Every company is composed of unique individuals. The more your operating system understands them and molds to them, the higher your chances of individual and collective success.

4. Coordination and communication run in their DNA

An operating system is designed to facilitate communication between hardware and software components within a computer. It even lays down the language for these different components to speak to one another, learn from one another, and develop together.

A well-implemented hybrid policy does exactly this. With the right software in your employees’ hands, you’ll find team coordination and communication reach an entirely new level.

Meeting management; desk booking; office attendance; and equipment usage: hybrid work synchronizes the key communication lines of a company and ensures everyone is speaking the same language. This openness is crucial to building a healthy and efficient business.

5. They provide an actionable user interface

An operating system’s user interface affects how users interact with the computer. It enables each user to make a concrete decision regarding their next move — and allows them to plan several steps.

Hybrid work tools offer similar benefits. In giving employees an actual dashboard for their company and colleagues’s work processes and schedules — they can take concrete steps towards organizing their own time and work schedules more effectively.

Seeing starred colleagues and their planned attendance, or where relevant meetings are scheduled to happen, lets each team member know when it’s worth them coming into the office — so they never have to waste another commute. An operating system provides the whole interface and dialogue for important day-to-day decision-making to happen.

A Kadence screen shot of the homepage dashboard within the Kadence Web app

If you are interested in how exactly to upgrade your company’s operating system, and how best to implement hybrid work policies, we’d love to hear from you. Don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Dan Bladen

Author bio

Dan Bladen

Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures.

How did we get here? The Hybrid Working Evolution

Posted on by Dan Bladen

“Hybrid work represents the biggest shift to how we work in our generation…it will require a new operating model, spanning people, places, and processes.”

– Satya Nadella, CEO & Chairman, Microsoft

The pandemic has changed the way the world works forever and now 90% of companies are moving to hybrid working. Whether a company moves to hybrid or not is no longer the question – the question now is how to do hybrid.

The vast majority of companies are unknowingly sleepwalking into a hybrid model that has the potential to destroy not only their company’s culture but also its performance. This is due to a focus on managing hybrid real estate (their second largest cost) to the detriment of their most valuable asset and largest cost, their people.

As the world transitions to hybrid, more variables will be introduced to the everyday work experience – making it increasingly difficult to coordinate and work with colleagues. In fact, Adam Grant has stated that “the first and perhaps cardinal sin of hybrid work is a lack of coordination.” Many solutions are stuck trying to solve today’s hybrid challenges with yesterday’s facilities management tools – making it impossible for employees to know where the best place to work is or, more importantly, who they can actually work with.

In this three-part blog series, we will look at the common hybrid working models, discover how we got to where we are today, the challenges that are presented by hybrid working, and most importantly – how companies can solve the challenges by adopting a facilities people-first approach to hybrid work.

How We Got Here: Hybrid Phase 1

The pandemic didn’t just create the hybrid working model out of nowhere, it has simply accelerated the trend. In fact, the trend started in the early 2000s when the internet became good enough to be reliably used at home. In Hybrid 1, the work desk could be anywhere, as long as there was an electrical socket and an ethernet cable.

Shortly after this came Hybrid 1.5 – the birth of WiFi. WiFi meant that employees were no longer tethered to the desk by an ethernet cable. There were still some physical barriers though and it wasn’t until the Blackberry, and subsequently the iPhone, that work could truly happen anywhere and at any time. The iPad catalyzed the *bring your own device* (BYOD) movement and the global investment in WiFi infrastructure went into overdrive. The canvas was now set for people to work anywhere because the tools for work were now untethered from the office.

How We Got Here: Hybrid Phase 2

In 2020 the pandemic brought about Hybrid 2 (aka forced remote). It wasn’t hybrid per se, but an unexpected extension of hybrid that many of us were already familiar with.

Because the infrastructure for flexible working had already been laid over the last 20 years – Hybrid 2 worked – white-collar workers kept their jobs (though often at the expense of their mental health) and companies themselves largely continued to grow. By the Summer of 2020, the conversation had already turned to thinking about and planning for what work would look like after the pandemic. It became clear that what companies and employees wanted above all else was flexibility.

Hybrid working

Hybrid phase 2 proved that employees could be trusted to get work done anywhere. Naturally, employees wanted to keep the flexibility and autonomy they had gained during the pandemic. It also proved that companies could operate without all their expensive real estate and that employees worked just as hard at home as in the office. Furthermore, companies now had access to talent outside the confines of an acceptable commute to the office.

This brings us to today as the pandemic moves to endemic, the stage is now set for the future of work to finally begin! Over half a billion people are now moving to hybrid – there hasn’t been a change to the way the world works like this since the Industrial Revolution. This change has huge implications for society, the environment, companies, and workers on a global scale. If we, as a society, get this right, everyone benefits.

Hybrid 1 provided the toolkit for hybrid working

Hybrid 2 proved that it could work under the most extreme conditions

..and now post-pandemic everyone wanted a third way!

After two years of build-up, the dawn of the future of work is now upon us – so what’s going to happen next as we transition out of the pandemic? Read on for the second part of the blog series here >>

How flexibility makes for better productivity

Posted on by Luke Christian-Farman

At Kadence we believe that flexibility is key to helping teams be the most productive in their work, yet the word ‘productivity’ means something different to everyone, as everyone has different needs. What helps one person be productive might not be helpful to others. In a nutshell ‘managers are more likely to define productivity as outcomes, and individual contributors are more likely to define productivity as output’ (storey et al. 2021) highlighted in Microsoft’s ‘New Future of Work Report’. Understanding what makes individuals productive is one thing, but adding a curve ball to the mix brings flexibility and how this is increasingly becoming an all-round conduit for productivity. Read on to discover how flexibility is a big deal for getting things done.

 

Choosing how we best work together

Individual choice is fairly straightforward, however, once put into the context of a team, it creates a cocktail of scheduling and preference confusion. At Kadence, we believe people need tools that makes scheduling to connect with one another, either face-to-face or digitally the easiest thing in the world. Tools that empower them to become masters of flexible working, putting people in the driving seat to make the best decisions for themselves and each other.

Yes, trust and autonomy are important factors here, and ones not to ignore, but more vital to this concoction is understanding the needs of your employees, and what to provide for them. 

Choosing how we best work is always going to be uniquely different from one another, and being stubborn with what you as the individual feel is the best solution isn’t helpful. The trick here is to search for what works collectively, which also applies to the tools your teams use every day. 

For example, we discovered Kadence customers prefer to reserve meeting rooms through the calendar integrations with Google, and Outlook. For them, it makes sense to make bookings within the tools they already use. Surveys have shown that up to 56% of workers find switching between different apps keeps them from being productive,  and over 67% of people would like to have all of their tools within a single window. You see, it’s not just in the choosing of when, where, and with whom we prefer to work, but also in the choosing of how, and the best tools that serve those needs. With that in mind, it just made sense for us to provide the functionality to make that possible.

Room booking

Finding a rhythm that matches your intent

The pandemic reinforced the need for change, and with it came the swift dismantling of scheduling as the global workforce entertained a new, and better way of working. Although the vast majority welcomed the new change,  it became chaotic fairly fast. A tool was needed to help align fragmented schedules in order that important employee collaboration and in-person social interactions could happen. A tool that could both give your people the flexibility they needed yet meet the needs of the team all at once. Extreme individual scheduling will only cause peoples’ preferences and timetables to collide, whereas understanding your goals when you are together helping produce scheduling alignment that everyone buys into. It starts with a common goal.

Once a common goal has been decided, the next thing is to decide when as well as where you’ll meet as a team, and even how often. At Kadence, we call this ‘finding your rhythm for work’. We’ve discovered that regular touch points between team members digitally or in person are vital for productivity, belonging, and mental well-being. Discover more here about how Kadence’s personal and team schedule visibility tools help teams to remain in sync.

 

Harness spontaneity

Light bulb moments are crucial and are the moments we need to harness, gather the troops and get set to work on the practical out-workings that strum ideas into realities. With over 90% of bookings being created at the last moment, it’s clear that there is a need for accessible spaces in the moments when people need them. Unfortunately, this isn’t helpful for many facilities managers who’d prefer people to book ahead of time, but hey, why not embrace the spontaneity and those light bulb moments too? Enabling your people to connect in these moments using easy tools to know when everyone is available and help find the right spaces fast is a very practical solution. Microsoft writes in their New Future of Work Report that ‘Successful teams align work routines to communicate in bursts, interspersed with individual work’. 

Hybrid working

Making a plan in advance is just as advantageous to getting into the spaces you need and connecting with your colleagues, but the tool that shares team schedule and space availability in those all-important lightbulb moments are the tools that truly serve people.

“ 70% of employees stated that Kadene had helped them save time searching for a desk!” – PHSO

Conclusion

A one-size-fits-all tool to help companies be successful at hybrid simply does not work if you’re wanting to future-proof your company’s working culture. Hybrid looks different for everyone and a tool that molds around the needs of individuals just as well as the needs of the company, enabling them to make hybrid work in the way it works for them is the tool that will win. Planning ahead is powerful, and so is being flexible when plans change, and the right tool is the one that does both well. 

What makes your teams more productive?