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Tag: hybrid workplace

Not prioritizing flex? 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 organisation more than any other. It’s led by a chief executive who doesn’t believe in the benefits of flexibility. The emails and messages I receive are from frustrated employees and leaders who wish they had access to the kind of flex that other similar organisations now take for granted.

Everyone else in my hometown knows how inflexible that organisation 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 really happening inside his organisation 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 favouring the top performers, and creating resentment across teams and across different parts of the business. 

It’s a lose-lose situation

The organisation 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 prioritising 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 organisation and open the flood gates. 

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 organisation 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, prioritise 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

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.

Introducing Kadence AI for Team Scheduling and Space Booking

Posted on by Dan Bladen

In the dynamic landscape of hybrid work, where flexibility and agility are paramount, and not forgetting the rise of workplace AI, Kadence is proud to introduce a game-changing addition to our platform: Kadence AI.

Our latest hybrid work tool is poised to revolutionize the way you manage your workspace, interact with your teammates, and navigate the complexities of daily work.

Ultimately, Kadence AI will make your workday smoother, more efficient, and ultimately more productive.

Streamlining the Hybrid Work Experience

We understand that in today’s hybrid work environment, coordination and collaboration can be a challenge. Coordinating with teammates, finding and booking the right workspace, and aligning schedules should be seamless, but often, they are far from it. These essential tasks can be time-consuming, leaving you with less headspace to focus on your actual work.

Kadence AI steps in to tackle these challenges head-on. Imagine a digital assistant that not only simplifies your workspace booking but also provides real-time insights into your teammates’ office plans.

Here’s how Kadence AI transforms your hybrid work experience:

Discover when your teammates are going to the office

1. Effortless Team Coordination

No more endless back-and-forths to figure out when your teammates are heading to the office. Kadence AI keeps you in the loop, notifying you when your colleagues plan to be in the office. It’s like having a personal assistant dedicated to keeping your team connected.

Kadence hybrid workplace AI team coordination software

Book Multiple Desks With A Single Prompt

2. Swift Workspace Booking

Booking a desk, meeting room, or collaborative workspace has never been easier. With Kadence AI, you can reserve a space just by asking Kadence, saving you valuable time. It understands your preferences and suggests the most suitable spaces based on your needs.

Kadence hybrid workplace AI desk booking software

Easily Stay On Top Of Your Schedule

3. Efficient Schedule Management

Managing your bookings is a breeze. Whether you need to cancel, modify, or create new reservations, Kadence AI handles it all. No more navigating through complex booking systems—your assistant simplifies the process for you.

Kadence hybrid workplace AI desk management software

Let Kadence Manage Your Bookings So You Don’t Have To

Amplified Team Productivity

For teams that thrive on collaboration, Kadence AI offers advanced features like booking multiple desks for your team at once or reserving spaces in a specific neighborhood. It streamlines the process, ensuring your team can work together seamlessly, whether in-person or remotely.

Elevate Your Workday

With Kadence AI, you’re not just streamlining your hybrid work experience; you’re elevating it. Here’s how:

  • Efficiency: Save time and reduce friction in everyday tasks.
  • Connectedness: Stay in sync with your teammates, no matter where they work.
  • Productivity: Focus on your work, not on navigating complex scheduling issues.
  • Flexibility: Adapt effortlessly to changing hybrid work dynamics.

Kadence AI is not just a tool; it’s a transformational partner in your hybrid work journey.

Say goodbye to the hassles of scheduling, space booking, and teammate coordination — and say hello to a more streamlined, efficient, and connected workday.

At Kadence, we’re committed to helping organizations find the right path forward in the complex world of hybrid work. Let us show you how Kadence AI could totally transform your experience of work.

Book a Demo now to see it in action

How Workplace AI Will Transform The Way We Work

Posted on by Dan Bladen

In a world rapidly being transformed by artificial intelligence, how we work is evolving at an astonishing rate; especially with the rise of hybrid workplace AI.

The implications are profound, and they touch every aspect of our professional lives. From copywriting to coding, and schedule management to creative brainstorming — AI has become an invaluable work partner overnight.

Many are apprehensive about AI and its role in the job market. 37% of Americans are said to be worried about AI displacing them from their jobs, while projections estimate that automation could eliminate 73 million US jobs by 2030.

As we navigate the next phase in our relationship with AI, Kadence is committed to being at the forefront of change. We strongly believe in focusing on how AI can bring out the best in people, and help us get our best work done.

Below are not just our projections for how workplace AI will shape (and is shaping!) the future — they are our pledge to continue delivering game-changing products that help people flourish at work — alongside AI.

Optimization, in real-time

There’s a reason that experts predict AI will boost global growth by 4-6% per annum.

Workplace optimization and automation are coming in thick and fast — and so are the growth benefits associated with them.

For most companies that work under today’s hybrid model, optimization is an asynchronous, ongoing task. This means that business leaders spend a lot of their time trying to figure out how to get the best results from their resources – and a lot of their time waiting for these results to show.

This is the first major way we’ll see workplace AI have an impact. Once fully AI-assisted, workplaces will begin to optimize synchronously – with the right measures applied as and when they appear as possibilities to managers.

This impact will be seen across every area of a company’s operations: from the way a physical office space is managed and organized to the daily intricacies of scheduling and bringing people together.

A shapeshifting workspace

There’s no getting around it – physical offices have taken a big hit in recent years. As a result, average office utilization rates are down at just 60%, and real estate value is estimated to drop up to $1.3 trillion in value by 2030.

In short, the role and purpose of physical office space are in crisis — and in dire need of transformation.

AI is poised to play a crucial role in that transformation.

With the right implementation of workplace AI, the physical workspace will become a flexible hub, catering to the specific Kadence and preferences of each employee. Trained on the data it’s given, your hybrid work AI will suggest regular updates to office neighborhoods and work areas, and it will allocate rooms and desks according to their optimal usage.

The days of searching for a meeting room or a quiet spot to focus will be long in the past — your workplace AI will have optimized your time in the office and made sure you’re always in the best place to get work done.

It’s time to give the office a facelift!

The end of human schedule management

57% of workers surveyed by Timewatch revealed they don’t feel in control of their working schedules for at least two days a week. That’s a lot of uncertainty for a lot of people.

Luckily for them, us, and you, we’re about to see the end of human schedule management – at least on a professional level.

That’s because AI in the workplace will soon be on hand to organize and refine your work schedule in real time. For example:

  • You were supposed to have a team meeting in the office, but two of your colleagues cannot attend physically. Your hybrid work AI clocks that the majority of people are attending remotely, and sends you a smart suggestion ahead of your trip into the office — saving you a commute.
  • You always meet remotely with your line manager because you’re based in different cities. But — as it happens — they are in town to meet with the CEO this week and forgot to tell you. Not to worry — your workplace AI has taken note, and suggested a physical meeting room for your catch-up. You get to meet face-to-face for the first time.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. In time, hybrid work AI will purr away in the background, pulling the strings behind you and your colleagues’ work schedules — ensuring everyone’s time is in perfect harmony with their surroundings.

AI-powered ESG

Perhaps the broadest application of workplace AI will be how it caters to a company’s overarching business strategy. Desk booking, room booking, and team coordination may all seem like formalities — but, stacked up, they make up a substantial part of a company’s bottom line.

Workplace AI will not only act as a tool that helps us navigate the complexities of everyday work; it’ll become a partner in achieving wider organizational goals.

Whether the objective is to boost productivity, reduce environmental impact, or enhance employee satisfaction and happiness, workplace AI will act as our strategic ally in ensuring our work always goes towards the right common goals.

For companies that openly disclose and seek to reduce their environmental impact (estimated to be over 70% by KPMG) – the implications will be dramatic. Hybrid work AI will be on hand to optimize corporate carbon footprint — whether that be through switching off underused office neighborhoods, suggesting optimal schedules for office attendance based on its energy usage data, or even arranging smart commuting or car-sharing initiatives.

For those organizations that are equally concerned with fair hiring practices and transparent governance, workplace AI will be able to point to blind spots and help companies introduce timely policies to keep to their targets.

The future of ESG is around the corner — and AI assists it.

Shared intuition

The ultimate vision we have for future hybrid organizations is the development of shared intuition between workers and their hybrid work AI.

This means an AI assistant that deeply understands your preferences, anticipates your needs, and guides you toward the best choices on a daily — even hourly — basis.

We spend so much time sweating the small stuff at work: schedule clashes, miscommunication about office attendance, and the pressure of having to manage the minutiae of your work life. So much so, in fact, that we forget about the big stuff: feeling part of a flourishing company, collaborating with our teammates, producing amazing results together.

Workplace AI will deal with the small stuff precisely in a way that also maximizes the big stuff. Understanding what makes you and your team tick, it’ll ensure that each and every tiny decision contributes to your own personal bottom line: feeling happy and fulfilled at work.

Kadence and the future of work

At Kadence, we won’t just be bystanders as the world of work undergoes some of its most dramatic changes.

We vow to be right there at the forefront — guiding and leading the introduction of workplace AI into our workflows, and making sure it always acts in the interest of people, profits, and the planet.

That’s why we’ve been hard at work building something that will be the first step towards our vision of the future. A hybrid work AI tool that will help us all transition into the next phase of AI-assisted work.

Get in touch with us today and let us show you how your AI-enhanced workplace could look.

Unlocking Team Coordination: The 5 Benefits of Hybrid Work Software

Posted on by Dan Bladen

The working world in 2023 is complex.

Most companies are operating some kind of hybrid model — where employees have the choice to work from home or from the office.

As positive as hybrid work is for employee wellbeing and work-life balance, it also leaves one fundamental question: how do you keep your team coordinated?

In this post, we’ll explore how vital it is to have dedicated software in place for managing hybrid work — and how it could transform your team coordination goals this year.

1. See the bigger picture

The office is no longer the rigid, consistently populated space it used to be.

People come and go as they please, and it can be very hard to get an overview of their movement — let alone ensure team coordination doesn’t suffer as a result.

Hybrid work software gives you the bigger picture, by providing a clear overview of the week’s office attendance – including which teams and individuals are planning to go in, and which desks, areas and meeting rooms are in high demand.

Team coordination depends on employees having the same access to important information – and there’s no information more important than where your colleagues are choosing to spend their time to collaborate.

With the right hybrid work tool, your team will stay in touch with the bigger picture and regain the ability to make proper plans for their future office attendance.

2. Choose the schedule that works for you

Team coordination in a hybrid world is so much more than just making sure everyone is in the office three days a week.

It’s about realizing that everyone has a unique life situation, and allowing them to choose a schedule that fits around their lives.

Hybrid work software is designed to recognize that fact. By giving you a granular breakdown of what’s happening in the week ahead, and allowing you to book a desk on any given day, for any given duration, your hybrid tool acts as your companion for building a schedule that works for you.

Team Coordination

Coming into a physical workspace is no longer an obligation — it’s a benefit and a perk. That’s why it’s so important to give your employees the right reasons and the right platform to make use of this perk — at their own Kadence.

A coordinated team is not one that is forced together — it’s one that purposely moves in the same direction.

3. Nudge people together

More and more, we’re seeing how radical, one-size-fits-all solutions work against a company’s productivity or team coordination goals.

The idea that uniformity leads to coordination and growth is outdated. Our new world relies on nuance and flexibility.

Rather than forcing people to go into the office, how about sending them intelligent nudges based on concrete projects and goals?

That’s precisely what the right hybrid work software will do for you. Seeing key moments or colleague movements in your week ahead, your hybrid companion will send you smart recommendations for booking desk time to coordinate and collaborate with them.

Team Coordination

It’s never a forcing suggestion — ultimately it’s up to you — but it’s a polite nudge in the right direction. The sum of these nudges is a team that is both coordinated and happy to be coordinated.

4. Book time in specific office neighborhoods

When it comes to the specifics of your time in the office, hybrid work software is set up to offer you the physical space that is optimal for your collaboration and social goals.

Office neighborhoods are areas that can be marked out for a variety of uses – whilst always having team coordination at their heart.

Some might be department specific: Marketing Metropolis / Numbers Nook / Creative Corner. Others might be task specific: focus areas, zones with access to relevant equipment and facilities, high activity areas.

Your hybrid work tool will display these neighborhoods to you and their use on any given week — giving you the opportunity to join them when they’re busiest (and most appealing!) or when relevant colleagues are also planning to make use of them.

The office should be the social hub of your organization, where your community is built and supported.

Coordinating your team around its physical spaces goes a long way towards ensuring it becomes that thriving social centre.

5. Make meetings count

In a hybrid world, meetings can be finicky things. “Can you guys hear me?” “You’re on mute, Dave” “We’re just waiting for Julia to join, she’s in the office”.

When managed poorly, a hybrid meeting schedule can result in a bunch of people attending a bunch of meetings from a bunch of different remote or physical locations — all at the expense of a good collaborative experience.

We sometimes forget that meetings aren’t just boxes to tick. They’re opportunities to bring people together, put great minds on big questions, and achieve brilliant things.

That’s why it’s so important to coordinate your team properly around meetings.

A tool for hybrid work lets you book the right space for each meeting and notify relevant people about the whereabouts. Team members who wish to participate are equipped with all the necessary information for them to make a decision about whether or not to attend the office on that day. The potential chaos and confusion of a hybrid meeting is replaced by clarity and intention.

Synchronizing your team around meetings will ensure that these key collaborative moments are used to their maximum benefit.

 

Managing the ins and outs of a hybrid team is hard.

Trying to do it without the right software is like being left alone with a 16×16 rubix cube. You can stare at it all you want, but it won’t solve itself!

Adopting another tool can also feel intimidating. Not another piece of software to add to our ever-growing catalogue…

We hope we’ve convinced you that this particular tool really is worthwhile. It tackles a question that runs at the core of every business: how can I coordinate my team and empower them to do amazing work together?

If you are still struggling to find the right solution for your own hybrid team, we’d love to hear from you — and help in any way we can.

Who Should Own 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 hybrid in your company?

Results started pouring in: CEO, Facility Manager, Head of People, 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 prime position to take on the challenge of helping their company transition to 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 skillset 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 skillset and knowledge to manage all facets of implementation

Cons:

  • Risks 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 — chief of which are 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 skillset 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 catalogue — 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 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 fulfilment 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 financial implications of 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 hybrid.

As you’ve hopefully now seen — the person tasked with implementing hybrid work needs to have an exceptional skillset, 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 impl

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 own 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.

Desk Sharing: Top Tips for Optimizing Your Workplace

Posted on by Dan Bladen

The desk sharing hype is real.

As businesses continue to evolve and adapt to new working conditions, desk sharing has emerged as a policy that offers profound benefits for a company’s optimization goals.

Google is the latest example of a leading tech company turning to desk sharing to streamline office attendance, reduce real estate costs and boost productivity.

But what is desk sharing? And how can you leverage it for the good of your business?

Source: Fortune

What is Desk Sharing?

Desk sharing, also known as hot desking, is a work system that allows employees to use available workstations on an ad hoc basis, rather than having a dedicated workspace.

This not only serves to optimize office space and reduce real estate expenses, it also promotes collaboration and teamwork, fosters a more creative and diverse workplace, and ultimately provides employees with a more comfortable work environment that promotes their well-being.

As we’ll see later, desk sharing works best when it’s implemented alongside a tool for hybrid work. Having the right software to help manage your desk sharing policy is vital to ensuring you never have to compromise on team coordination and an intuitive user experience.

The Power of Desk Sharing

As companies continue to adjust to the new normal of post-pandemic life, many are struggling to get oversight on the actual day-to-day use of their office space.

It’s understandable. Without a proper system in place for hybrid work management, the intention to balance remote and in-person work can result in logistical chaos: employees scattered all over the place, unsure as to each other’s schedules, coming and going seemingly at random.

Introducing a policy for desk sharing can give much-needed structure to this chaos. When business leaders and employees gain transparency into the use of their workplace — the availability of work stations; their team members’ Kadences; overall office utilization — the results can be profoundly impactful on a number of fronts:

1. Space optimization and cost saving

Perhaps the most attractive proposal for organizations facing a tricky year ahead. By utilizing office space more efficiently, desk sharing will help you significantly cut down your real estate costs. No permanent, dedicated workstations means smarter space management and a concrete opportunity to downsize your workspace.

2. Collaboration and community building

Contrary to common misconceptions, desk sharing has a powerful galvanizing effect on the social landscape of companies. Employees in effective hybrid work systems come in to the office with higher intention – whether that be to collaborate with relevant team members or just to feel like part of the community.

3. Flexibility

The beauty of desk sharing is that it can easily cater to a workforce made up of remote employees, part-time workers, and contractors. It’s a flexible system that allows workers to have a designated workspace when they need it, without requiring a permanent desk that goes unused.

4. Employee well-being

Desk sharing ultimately empowers employees to choose their workspace depending on their (ever-changing!) needs. Remote work remains a safe haven for deep focus work, whereas the office becomes a stimulating creative environment for collaboration and socializing. The flexibility this provides is conducive to a flourishing workforce with an in-built focus on personal well-being.

5. Attracting and retaining diverse talent

Many workers, particularly younger employees, are drawn to flexible and collaborative workplaces. Desk sharing will make your company more attractive to a diverse range of potential candidates, improve employee satisfaction, and help retain top talent.

6. ESG goals

With increasing attention towards the ESG efforts of organizations, desk sharing comes with the promise of a real reduction in your company’s carbon footprint — whether through smarter office energy usage or the simple act of downsizing your space.

Kadence’s Desk Sharing Tips

Implementing shared desks can be a daunting task, especially if it’s the first time for your organization. Here are some tips for managing the process to ensure you adopt desk sharing as seamlessly as possible:

Find a desk booking system

Choosing the right tool for desk booking is absolutely key to successful desk sharing. Make sure the tool you choose comes with a full feature set that allows you to reserve shared desks, check availability and coordinate with other team members.

Kadence desk booking

Communicate with your employees

Make sure that your employees understand how the system works, and create clear guidelines for booking desks and keeping workspaces clean. Encourage open communication and feedback, so that employees can work together to optimize the desk sharing experience.

Encourage personalization

Encourage your employees to personalize their workspace to make it their own, even if it’s just a temporary space. This can help employees feel more comfortable and productive, and can foster a sense of ownership and pride in the workspace.

Provide storage solutions

Provide storage solutions for employees to keep their belongings, such as lockers or storage cabinets, to keep the workspace clean and clutter-free. This will ensure your employees stay organized and focused, while reducing the risk of lost or stolen items.

Prioritize cleanliness

Provide cleaning supplies and make sure that employees understand the importance of keeping their workspace clean and organized. Desk sharing should be supported by easy-to-clean desks and furniture, so that employees can focus on their work rather than worrying about cleanliness.

 

 

At Kadence, we believe that desk sharing is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to optimizing your workplace for success. That’s why we offer a comprehensive tool for hybrid work management that can help you coordinate your desk sharing policy with other remote and in-person work policies.

If you’re interested in learning more about how hybrid work can help your organization thrive, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

5 reasons why hybrid work builds healthier communities

Posted on by Dan Bladen

Business leaders contemplating the balance between remote and in-person work face an important question:

With so many moving parts, how can I ensure our company culture and community don’t suffer?

Unfortunately, the answer to this question won’t come overnight. The truth is — each company must come to its own understanding of how the implementation of hybrid work affects their workforce and culture.

One thing is for certain, though. When companies get hybrid right, it does more than just solve this one conundrum.

Let’s explore why Hybrid work is fundamental to building community in the modern workplace.

Hybrid work promotes meaningful connections and collaboration

As humans, we are deeply wired to rely on social interaction for our sense of fulfilment and happiness.

In the context of a recent societal shift towards more time spent alone, it’s more important than ever that the workplace acts a source of regular human contact in our daily lives.

Implementing a hybrid work system is fundamental to ensuring this regular contact. By encouraging the right balance of in-person and remote work, companies will reignite relationships that faded to the background during the pandemic, and bring a sense of community back to the workplace.

Choosing the right tool for hybrid work can go even further to ensuring that interactions between coworkers are both meaningful and productive. Kadence’s new Homepage feature helps you connect with the right people at the right times, showing you your team’s weekly schedule all in one place, and a breakdown of the specific teams and coworkers going in on each day.

Whether you’re missing those round-the-monitor chats, or sticky notes creative workshops, being in lockstep with your colleagues’ work Kadence will set you up for both meaningful social interactions and productive collaboration.

Hybrid communities are built on trust

The Hybrid Manifesto outlines trust as one of the four main pillars underlying Hybrid work. To word it even more strongly: trust runs deep in the DNA of hybrid organizations.

With unique insight into work schedules, habits and commitments, workers in hybrid teams are immediately rooted in an environment of transparency and openness.

This transparency and openness filters down to every aspect of a company’s internal communication. It strips away misunderstandings, builds cooperation and ensures that team coordination is an automatic feature of a company’s operations — not a separate, complex task of its own.

Community building — and strengthening social bonds — takes time. It requires incremental improvements to a large number of relationships within an organization.

Without a basic foundation of trust in the company, it will be even harder for these relationships to evolve. Implementing hybrid work effectively will set your team up for success from the get go.

Independence no longer needs to come at a cost

As mentioned before, the mass migration to remote work has had some significant side effects when it comes to mental health. A recent study by the Harvard Graduate Program found that 36% of Americans report “serious loneliness”.

One of the main benefits associated with remote work — independence and autonomy — seems to have come at the cost of basic, low-level satisfaction.

Hybrid work systems seek to address that toxic dynamic, by protecting one’s right to independence at the same time as enabling the right amount of social exposure.

The key to this? Knowing when it’s the right time to commute. Luckily, there are plenty of tools out there that can help you plan. Kadence’s User Homepage comes with smart recommendations that suggest optimal days to go into the office based on you and your starred colleagues’ schedules.

If a colleague cancels their booking at the last minute, Kadence will immediately send you notification letting you know — thus saving you a commute to the office that day.

Keeping markers in your week for when you are guaranteed a dose of social interaction is transformative to the feeling that you are master of your own autonomy — and not the other way around.

The perpetual cycle of flourishing

The success of a company is as much of an important factor in the health of its community as anything else.

A study conducted by PwC recently revealed that 57% of companies reported increased productivity after transitioning to a hybrid model. The message is laid out clearly: hybrid teams feel empowered to deliver results.

That’s because when employees thrive personally, companies experience the direct benefits — down to the bottom line. By offering great work-life balance, protecting mental health and reestablishing company culture, hybrid organizations maximize the chance that their employees remain happy.

In doing so, workers exist in a relationship with their company whereby one’s flourishing only enhances the other’s. A perpetual cycle.

Everyone is on the same page, all the time

One of the most powerful benefits of a Hybrid work model is the sheer force of alignment that it fosters between employees and the company.

When everyone knows the game plan — week in, week out — it means there is no doubt over the movement and direction of the company.

Imagine you load up your web browser at the beginning of your workday. Your first tab is the Kadence web app, a hybrid work tool that your company introduced at the beginning of the year. Its homepage displays an office activity graph, with bars for the activity of all teams relevant to you.

You feel like you are in an excellent position to execute on your tasks and goals for the week ahead. Wednesday would be the optimal day for you to collaborate with the design team on those upcoming user interviews, while it seems like Friday would be great to catch up with the engineers on some questions regarding your user stories.

The power of alignment cannot be understated when it comes to building a healthy, successful community. Hybrid teams know this because they’ve learned it from experience.

 

This piece began as a challenging question that business owners face when it comes to organizing their teams and establishing community. We hope we’ve persuaded you that Hybrid work — with its inherent focus on trust, alignment and the wellbeing of employees — is the first step towards answering that question. We also hope that you’ve seen how adopting the right hybrid tools will ensure that the community you set about building in your company is strong, effective and healthy.

If you’d like to read more about how Kadence’s new Homepage feature can help you coordinate your team, please check out the post here.

Effective Team Building for a Hybrid Workforce

Posted on by Dan Bladen

Hybrid workforces present unique conundrums – the contrast between those in the office and those not can increase the difficulties of engaging remote employees. For team building, this often results in the haves and have-nots. Beyond having great audio-visual equipment, that can make group meetings sound and look close to their in-person counterparts, there are a few things leaders can consider to create team-building activities that engage and unite both constituencies.

Here are three concepts spectrums to consider when planning out events for your team that may or may not be 100% in person. Making sure you’re getting the balance right across these spectrums will ensure a rich and inclusive environment for your hybrid team-building activities.

Coordinated vs. asynchronous

With people in disparate locations, it’s hard, and sometimes impossible, to do something simultaneously and have it be fun for everyone. Speaking as someone who has worked 11 time zones away from their colleagues, Zoom pizza-making classes just aren’t that fun at 5 am.

Another factor with asynchronous events is that getting people to act silly or be vulnerable can be more challenging because you have to save the proof and share it across time zones. This is why Snapchat was so successful; people are much more willing to share things if their video disappears in 24 hours. Thus asynchronous isn’t great for emotional team-building events, but it can be good for light-hearted competition or driving repeatable 1:1 engagements. That being said, live events are the gold standard for shared experiences. Setting up opportunities for group experiences is a core foundation of many team-building plans.

Asynchronous Ideas

  • Visual bake sale. The entire team bakes something off of one recipe, competing to make the most visually appealing version. Those in the office can taste test, but the winner is for the presentation. Points are also awarded for the biggest failures!
  • Scavenger hunts designed for teams that are mixed between home and office ensure people are mingling despite the location. This is also a great virtual-only option
  • Coffee Donut in Slack, an often noted application over the pandemic, but it’s much better when there’s a chance for a real, barista-made coffee for those coming into the office at least sporadically

Concurrent ideas

  • Magicians and other entertainers who have pivoted their shows to virtual are now offering combo performances, where they perform live in the office but professionally recorded so those at home can also experience it.
  • Some classes can work in a hybrid situation, such as cocktail making or a virtual painting class. It’s not quite the same for people at home, but it does allow everyone to enjoy their output.
  • Meyers-Briggs and other personality or work style assessments. While the inputting of the survey is alone time, understanding how different styles work together via a facilitator works just as well in person and virtual.

Collaborative vs. Competitive 

Lots of team building, particularly the “fun” stuff, is either competitive or collaborative. To decide which option is suitable for your team, it’s good to ascertain what problem you are solving. If your team is suffering from disenchantment and a loss of purpose – competitive! Harness the bonding power of “us versus them!” But a collaborative event is more beneficial if your team is suffering from too much-siloed work and losing the chance to problem-solve together.

Competitive

  • Screenshot Bingo: Challenge your team to screenshot or photograph humorous office moments off of their custom Bingo cards, like twin outfits in the office, someone’s cat appearing on screen, or the ubiquitous “you’re on mute” moment in the team call.
  • Murder mystery (and other traditional games): Anything that can be played over a more extended time period, allowing people to dip in and out, is great for hybrid teams. Fun prizes for winners are a must!

Collaborative

  • Escape rooms: make sure they are built on the idea of collaboration; if everyone is solving the same puzzle alone, it doesn’t give much bonding opportunity.

The Delight Factor

And one bonus! The delight factor! Delight is a way of saying how much of this activity is a special treat. Inviting a famous cocktail mixologist to share their craft using unique ingredients versus everyone grabbing a glass of their favorite beverage and doing a basic happy hour over Zoom are opposites on the delight scale. In normal times, both have their benefits, and not everything can be over the top. But this is an unprecedented moment in workplace rapport and aiming for the delight factor is an excellent way to welcome colleagues back to “normal” office life.

Bonding with colleagues is an important part of having a trusting, happy, productive team. Leaders who find ways to connect their remote and in-person teams, giving everyone ample opportunity to form deeper bonds with their colleagues, will find they have a more engaged, more effective workforce.

Your Business Needs a Hybrid Working Policy – Here’s what your need to consider

Posted on by Dan Bladen

Hybrid working is one of the most important conversations in business currently. Whether your team has been hybrid from day one or you have transitioned to a more hybrid setup, your business needs a proper policy.  The word “policy” may sound scary, but it doesn’t have to be. Getting it right and a clear policy can create higher employee satisfaction and lower your costs, too. 

Here, we’re sharing everything you need to know and consider to nail hybrid working. 

Update your hybrid working policy on the regular

First things first, remote working is an ever-changing thing. Every business should make a habit of auditing how all employees are wanting to work (specifically new employees) and update their policy on the regular. It is important that everyone feels like they have a say in hybrid working. You can do this via employee surveys or by gathering team-by-team feedback. It’s also key to be clear and concise in your hybrid working policy to prevent any confusion. Clear is kind.

Ultimately, creating a policy is about giving your team opportunities to work from an office, home and in flexible workspaces near them – and how exactly they can do so. As a high proportion of teams get a full time office ones again, it is important to be clear with your employees how often they are expected to come in and when. No one wants to come into the office, only to be on zoom call all day. 

Be sure to cover all aspects of hybrid work

That includes working locations (including international), working hours, booking systems, expensing workspace and travel.  If it sounds challenging, don’t fret. We’ve got you.

Here’s a list of questions every business should ask themselves when creating a hybrid working policy:

  • Who does your hybrid working policy apply to – is it all staff, full-time staff only or otherwise? 
  • How often are staff expected to come into the office and how will you determine what days employees to come in?
  • How will employees book desks or meeting rooms at the office?
  • Are staff able to work overseas?
  • Do we want to support our employees with local, on-demand workspace passes as part of our hybrid working policy? And if so, how will they book the space?
  • What data security measures do we need to mention to keep sensitive information safe when working remotely?
  • Do we want to offer core working hours or fixed working hours?
  • What is our remote working approval policy? 

Bring together your People and Ops teams to answer these questions and you’ll be ready to create your hybrid working policy.

Get your hybrid working policy checklist here to ensure everything is covered as you transition your business model to a hybrid work model.

Give your team a workspace they want to go to

Over the past six months there has been a large uptick in demand for offices. Companies as part of their hybrid policy are expecting and/or offering employees to work from their company office. 

It is important to recognise that in order to be persuaded to come to the office, employee are demanding higher quality office, with a range of amenities. At Tally Market, we are seeing companies downsize their office but upgrading the quality of their office in order to galvanise their employees to come in and collaborate. 

Things to consider when choosing an office:

  • Location (it is important to consider commenting times and local bars/events for socials)
  • Size (most companies are getting an office approx 60% of their total workforce)
  • Access meeting rooms 
  • Amenities – bike racks, showers and coffee machine are a must. Nice to haves include roof terraces, gyms, on-site cafes, barista made drinks, events.  

Read more: Transforming the Destination Workplace

Access to on-demand coworking and meeting rooms

During the pandemic, remote working for many businesses was straightforward: everyone worked from home until further notice. Simple. However, as the world has opened back up, you have the opportunity to be more creative with how your team works remotely. Enter flexible workspaces, meeting rooms and venues.

When thinking about hybrid working, working from home and working from the office aren’t your only options. For some people, working from home doesn’t work well. Whatever the case, giving your people access to on-demand coworking and meeting rooms help teams stay local, switch up their environment and spark new ideas. Giving your teams access to flexible workspaces closer to where they live is a new way of supporting them.

If you’re looking for help in approaching hybrid working, look no further. Tally Market’s team can help your team find a new full time office to call home and/or give them access to thousands of on-demand spaces across the globe. 

How to build a recession-proof workplace

Posted on by Dan Bladen

With inflation stubbornly clinging to a 40-year high, and fuel prices setting an all-time record, the economic recovery post-pandemic is looking bleaker than ever. The truth is, we all know that conditions are tough right now, but we also know this is an opportunity for businesses to build and grow – and here are 5 things you should be considering.

1. Reduce real estate, not your headcount

During times of turmoil, it comes as no surprise for businesses to focus on reducing costs, and traditionally, the quickest, most effective way to do this is to reduce headcount. But now the hybrid workforce has opened up another option for business leaders, which is to reduce real estate costs.

In fact, a recent Leesman study revealed that the demand for office space is about to decline substantially and they suggest one model of the future office is ‘twice the experience, half the space’. According to CBRE’s 2022 Survey, 52% of business leaders said they will reduce office space over the next three years because of hybrid work.

There is a real opportunity for businesses to adopt hybrid working and save on real estate costs, and understanding how their spaces are being used would be an obvious place to start. Here are a few ways to get started:

  1. Space usage data shows that Mondays and Fridays are traditionally slow days; consider closing spaces, floors, or whole buildings on these days to save costs on energy, cleaning, security, etc.
  2. Use a space management tool to gain insights into buildings, office neighborhoods, and occupancy in real-time, daily or weekly. The data can inform how best to even-out office traffic with reduced office spaces, by designating specific areas for certain teams on selected days.
  3. Enforce a proper desk hoteling process to get visibility on who has booked to come into the office (or who hasn’t shown up) to optimize availability and release unused desks.

Read more: How MOPAC Implementing desk booking with 83% adoption

2. Find opportunities to optimize your workspace

An economic crisis usually inspires change. Those that adapt tend to outperform those that don’t, and sadly one of the biggest mistakes business leaders are still making is to expect everything to return to the old ways of working.

Employees aren’t using spaces as they were before, they have become intentional about how they work, valuing time spent together with their teammates when it is purposeful, whether that means team building or project-specific. When office spaces are not fit for purpose, the impact of under-utilized spaces can become exponential, potentially costing businesses up to £12 billion for all of their wasted office spaces.

Reducing overall real estate is perhaps a short-term option, but the key approach business owners should take is finding the opportunities to optimize their workspaces in the long run – and that starts with understanding employee behaviour and preferences (ie. when they come into the office, what the purpose of their time in the office is, and with whom). Workplace optimization relies on accurate data, here are a few examples to get started:

  • Bookings data inform your office space demand, enabling managers to control which areas are available for use, and then make adjustments accordingly.
  • Analyze usage data to find areas with low occupancy for repurposing and redesigning.
  • Monitor historical occupancy trends and preferences to inform future space planning decisions for office renovations or relocations

The bottom line here is that your people are your greatest asset. Providing a fit-for-purpose space for them to thrive and flourish should be your main focus, and will put you on a path to success in the long run.

3. Make retaining your best talent a priority

Now, not having a major headcount reduction doesn’t mean your people will decide to stay. We are in the midst of a ‘workers economy,’ and people are more ready than ever to look for work elsewhere if they aren’t getting what they want. With over 40% of the global workforce considering leaving their company, a thoughtful approach to creating a great hybrid workplace experience will be critical for retaining talent.

Many companies are currently experimenting with their own hybrid work model that would offer the best of both worlds, remote and in-person. Employees talk in survey after survey about the benefits of work-life balance, and better overall mental health working from home. With record-high oil prices these days, people would be able to save on fuel by not having to travel to work every day, not to mention wasted commutes only knowing their teammates aren’t in the office (read more here on how to avoid that!).

So how can we create a better hybrid workplace experience for your people?

  • Create a purpose for your office space: Your people are going to be more intentional about where they work and with whom. To draw a dispersed workforce in, you need to reimagine the office to become a destination that people want to spend time in.
  • Trust should be at the heart of your hybrid workplace: A successful hybrid working culture relies on employers trusting that people will get on with their job away from the office, without being watched. Instead of telling people how to work (ie. the 3-2 hybrid schedule), we should empower them to make their own choices to do their best work.
  • Empower people with the tools they need to coordinate their work week efficiently: Being able to synchronize time with teammates, get visibility to available spaces easily, and access to amenities they need to ensure their in-person time is a smooth and stress-free experience.
  • Understanding your employee persona: We bet you’ve got some people who like to get their heads down and work away in silence, and others who are always networking and love being in the office. Then there are the work moms, eager interns, the list goes on. Understanding the different workplace personas in your organization will put you in a great position to create a hybrid working environment that works across the board. It will help you judge the most effective office setup for a great in-person experience, while understanding what support your people might need while working remotely.

Get our RTO survey toolkit to better understand how they prefer to work.

4. In-person for collaboration, remote for deep work

The past two years of the ‘WFH experiment’ have reshaped the way we think about work entirely. The truth is, you don’t need your people in the office every single day. According to Adam Grant, great collaborations and productivity don’t involve constant contact, they alternate between deep work and bursts of in-person interaction (aka hybrid working!)

Effective in-person collaboration is vital to any business, not only does it help teams work together towards their goals, but it can also make employees feel happier, more motivated, and strengthen organizational culture. When hybrid working is done right, it will help employees achieve the right balance between the two to maintain the flexibility benefits, while blending the creativity boost gained from in-person interactions.

From an operating costing standpoint, an effective hybrid working strategy combined with a productive remote workforce could generate savings without slowing your business down (potentially saving as high as $11,000 per employee, according to this study) – and here’s why:

  1. Reduce the need for a 1:1 desk/people ratio (only pay for the spaces you need!)
  2. More efficient use of meeting spaces, with meetings happening on team days and eliminating ‘room squatters’
  3. Reduction in travel, energy, and utility costs
  4. Save costs on office amenities such as coffee, food, paper, stationery, etc.
  5. People are more productive with work-life balance (results in higher retention!)

 

Source: Global Workplace Analytics

5. Outperform your competitors

“You cannot overtake 15 cars in sunny weather…. but you can when it’s raining.” Ayrton Senna

 

There is no doubt that hybrid is here to stay. But still, there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to “the best hybrid working strategy”. Every company will have its own approach that works best for its people and culture. The key takeaway is that companies that embrace hybrid will outperform those that don’t, and that can be explained on three levels:

  • People: A successful hybrid working model will open up a wider pool of talent while maintaining the quality of life for your existing workforce (better productivity, better retention!)
  • Profit: A productive hybrid workforce combined with an effective hybrid working strategy could generate savings without slowing your business down.
  • Planet: A reduced real estate portfolio means lower energy emissions and overheads.

Hybrid working

Conclusion

Employee preferences will continue to evolve and present challenges for business leaders. Even at times of disruption, with the right mindset and strategy, companies can create right-sized, effective hybrid working environment that work for their people, and improve their bottom line. Organizations that get hybrid right will become the winner and outperform their competitors. Now it’s up to businesses to design work around their people, maintaining the flexibility they’ve become accustomed to, and enabling them to get their best work done, wherever they choose.