return to work Archives

Master Team Productivity with the Homepage Dashboard

Posted on September 1, 2023November 13, 2023 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.

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 does the thinking 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.

Make Your Time Count With Smart Suggestions

Posted on May 18, 2023 by Luke Christian-Farman

In today’s fast-paced world, managing your Smart Workplace efficiently is more important than ever. Smart 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 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

Smart 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

Collaboration is key to a successful work environment, and Kadence’s smart 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

Commuting can be time-consuming and expensive. Kadence’s smart suggestions help you prioritize when you need to be in the office, ensuring you only commute when it’s absolutely 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 Suggestions is a game-changer for hybrid working, 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!

Equipping workplace managers to handle any storm

Posted on December 20, 2021October 2, 2023 by Luke Christian-Farman

New Covid health concerns around the new omicron variant have quickly thrust workplace leaders into another new wave of learning, innovating, and adapting. They’ve become pretty good at it so far and those using Kadence are ready for any storm that may approach. Yet for those still on the search for a solution, managing teams and spaces within their organizations, as well as implementing new processes that are future proof can very quickly become too much.

Alongside this, the inevitable added uncertainty of omicron is another new strain on the mental health and well-being of both employers and employees which is sadly often overlooked. Leaders need help with simple tools that make an instant difference which is exactly why companies are turning to Kadence.

Here are some features workplace leaders can use now to help break the endless cycle of employee loneliness and bring their people back safely to re-connect with their office community, collaborate with their teammates, and thrive in their work.

Easy access team schedules – To help your people connect

To help break the habit of employee loneliness, Kadence gives you the context you need to help you bring your teams together easily. In one overview see when and where employees are working and see who they’re working with. Find out more about our people coordination solution

Self-certify to keep employees safe – So everyone has peace of mind

Allow employees to self-certify before checking in to their reserved spaces from 1hr, 2hrs, or 24hrs of their arrival and prevent employees from checking in if they have not self-certified. Set the parameters your people need to keep them safe. Check out this post to learn how to bring your team back together safely in the new year.

Manage office traffic efficiently – So your teams can collaborate in a safe space

Block out particular spaces or neighborhoods to implement social distance space booking for added safety. Book different teams in for certain days or times of the week to avoid too much cross-over and repeat any bookings you like to keep up with regular team connection.

Find out more about our desk scheduling & room scheduling solutions

Safely manage your team’s return in the New Year

Posted on November 30, 2021 by Luke Christian-Farman

If you’re planning a safe return to the office for your team in the New Year, it’s important to put the right steps in place to ensure your team can be productive and safe while they work and collaborate.

With new variants and added uncertainty, there will continue to be ebbs and flows, ups and downs, as companies open up their offices again for Hybrid…which is exactly why companies are turning to Kadence.

The solution needs to be simple to use and fast to rollout, and now with Kadence it is. With all the essential tools you need in one place, you can quickly and effectively make sure your entire office is secure, and safe for your employees to return – here’s how.

Simple health sign-in – Ensure a safe and secure re-entry to the office

Admins can set health screening guidelines to align with their company’s health and safety policies. Determine employee health instructions and include anything you want from vaccine mandates to wearing a mask. Release desk bookings for no-shows and allow employees to book spaces up to 3 months in advance. Allow employees and visitors to self-certify before checking in to their reserved spaces from 1hr, 2hrs, or 24hrs of their arrival and prevent employees from checking in if they have not self-certified. With Kadence simple health sign-in, you set the parameters to keep your people safe. Find out more about our visitor management solution.

Team contact tracing – Manage people’s safety in the office

Access your team’s schedule in the Teams Activity overview to see when and where employees are working and see who they’re working with on the interactive floorplan. Know which spaces they’ve booked now and in the future and block out particular spaces or neighborhoods to implement social distance space booking for added safety.

Find out more about our people coordination solution.

Touchless experience – An all-in-one booking tool, all-in-one place

Employees can also book any space that’s available either near colleagues or anywhere on the floorplan with the right amenities they need for the day eg. Sit-stand desk, monitors, keyboard, etc. Reserve a private room for a group meeting, book a parking space for their ride, and admins can book on behalf of others all within the mobile app booking flow.

Find out more about our desk scheduling & room scheduling solutions.

Oversee capacity limits – Rich space usage insights for easy decision making

Easily understand space usage insights so you can set building and floor capacity limits and re-assign employees to under-used space. Control booking permission levels to anyone you choose and book on behalf of others helping you bring your team together on particular days.

Check out this post to learn how to set up self-certification to help meet the U.S. vaccination mandate requirements.

Interested to see how Kadence can help bring your team back to the office safely? Book a demo with one of our team today to find out more.

The One Step You Shouldn’t Skip To Encourage Hybrid Collaboration

Posted on October 12, 2021November 1, 2023 by Team Kadence

Here’s the simple truth. The success of your return to the office plan and the way you approach the next phase of work will determine the level of employee job satisfaction in your company. It will play a pivotal role in attracting and retaining talent in the future.

You could rally your troops back to the office in the hope of reviving collaboration and productivity but you know that’s not likely to work. Too much has changed.

Most US and UK employees anticipate easier collaboration (60%) and better productivity (52%) after returning to the office – provided it caters to their needs and creates opportunities for those watercooler chats that leave them happier and energized for an hour and more afterward. A lack of chance encounters and in-person meetings will leave your people struggling to build trust and strengthen the emotional bonds that are essential to effective collaboration and wellbeing, particularly in a hybrid workplace.

However, orchestrating these isn’t that easy when more than a third of office workers expect to choose their working hours and location. Nearly half (44%) of them struggle with poor work-life balance and feel they need to be “always on”.

Employees may quit if you can’t offer flexible working

If you don’t allow your people the flexibility of personal work routines, you might lose them – or face a rise in anxiety and depression among employees alongside the resulting fall in company productivity. Yet, with flexibility comes the challenge of creating and maintaining an inclusive culture that doesn’t risk remote employees feeling like second class citizens.

The solution? You already know it.

Establish a people-first hybrid workplace that promotes natural collaboration

What many don’t realize is – it starts with the return to the office plan. Using it merely to take care of the logistics and safety precautions of opening the office doors would be a missed opportunity. Instead, allow it to build the foundation for a hybrid workplace that:

Gives people ownership of their workday – think flexibility of choosing when they come in, how often, and where they sit; and a workplace app that ensures a seamless desk and room booking experience).
Enables personal and team cadences with a balance of synchronous and asynchronous collaboration. They will be the difference between presenteeism – being in the office as a performative measure but working less efficiently due to exhaustion, illness, etc. – and joyful productivity at work.
Establishes inclusive hybrid meetings as the new norm, including desk booking software that focuses on facilitating collaboration by showing your colleagues’ cadences or allowing short- and long-term group bookings.
Creates a test-and-optimize process for continuously improving the workplace experience without relying on countless employee surveys.

The key is in the right mix of all the essential ingredients.

To discover the exact steps to creating a hybrid workplace that attracts and keeps the best talent – download our Complete Guide to Building a Return to the Office Plan.

5 new product features to boost your return-to-workplace plan

Posted on June 4, 2021October 2, 2023 by Luke Christian-Farman

While workplace leaders may be eager for their people to return to the office, some employees are still feeling unsure, and enjoyed the comforts of working from home. The workplace should be a place people want to return to, and you can start with offering solutions that address their concerns, and tools that make the experience seamless and better.

Here are some of our new product features to help you and your teams navigate through your return-to-work plans:

Quicker sign-on for faster adoption
Faster on-boarding with directory sync
Delegate booking for easier collaboration
Auto desk release to improve availability
Building insights to optimize spaces

Quicker sign-on for faster adoption

To create the best workplace experience for your people, we make it simple for workplace managers to integrate with their existing workplace systems or workflows. Users can now login with single sign-on, meaning there’s no need for registration as the authentication is managed by your SSO integration. Keeping the onboarding flow easy and seamless also lowers friction for employees and helps increase adoption.

Faster on-boarding with directory sync

Workplace managers can sync with their preferred directory to automatically provision users without having to invite them individually, so that organizations can sync all of their employees’ records in just a few clicks.

We take our data privacy and security responsibilities very seriously, and only store data that is absolutely necessary. With our single sign-on and directory sync integrations, workplace managers no longer need to keep track of different sets of corporate credentials, eliminating the risk of identity or password theft, giving peace of mind to both the organization and users.

Delegate booking for easier collaboration

Effective desk booking software should always do the heavy lifting for you – making it easy for employees to find and book the right spaces they need. With our latest release, team managers, personal assistants, and admins can now book spaces on behalf of others within their team to make on-site collaboration and management frictionless and simple.

Auto desk release to improve availability

With a lower office capacity in the new normal workplace, there is a greater need to use data to understand how desks are being used, and make better data-driven office space planning decisions moving forward. With our latest release, admins can now set desks to release after a specified elapsed time if an employee hasn’t checked in to their booking – to eliminate recurring ghost bookings and improve overall desk availability.

Building insights to optimize spaces

To create the best workplace experience for your people, you first need to understand the way your spaces are currently used, and the needs of your employees. Our ‘Building’ insights dashboard gives you an overview of occupancy across any building, floor, or office neighborhood, and lets you compare how spaces are being used by selecting the data you need:

Future bookings
Actual check-ins
Wasted bookings (no-shows or early check-outs)
Daily capacity insights to keep a close eye on busy areas and allocate resources accordingly

Find out more about Kadence analytics here

Book a demo with one of our team today to see how Kadence’s desk booking software could help you create an effective hybrid workplace.

The Complete Guide to Office Lingo Post-2020

Posted on June 4, 2021November 1, 2023 by Dan Bladen

Social distancing, shutdown order, household bubbles. The pandemic has introduced a host of words and phrases you probably hadn’t heard of pre-2020. It’s changed the way we speak about the workplace too. From hybrid working to desk hoteling, there’s a whole new vocabulary you need to get to grips with as the world returns to the office and adjusts to a new normal.

Desk hoteling

Internet searches for ‘desk hoteling’ rose by 657% in 12 months. But what does it mean?

Just as for a real hotel, desk hoteling means booking ahead. But rather than a bed, employees book a desk in the office for a defined period of time, and check in when they arrive. Alas, unlike a real hotel you don’t get a buffet breakfast, mini bar or Egyptian cotton sheets.

Desk hoteling brings many benefits. From an employee perspective, you can choose when you work and who you sit with so you can make the most of your time in the workplace. From an organization’s point of view, check-in and booking data allows you to plan your workspaces based on actual and forecast usage. You can create an office that has just the right balance between collaborative and quiet space, and you can ensure desks are clean and ready for use when they’re needed.

It goes a long way to allaying common concerns around hot desking – from health and safety to not being able to find a spot to sit at. Desk hoteling is made possible through desk booking software such as Kadence. The software lets employees book a desk and check in through an intuitive app, and gives organizations a dashboard of usage data to help inform planning.

Asynchronous communication

Before the pandemic, most white-collar workers sat in the same place 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, and the . the back and forth of communication was relatively synchronized.

But with people working remotely, that’s all changed. Expectations around communication have shifted, and increasingly it happens through online tools, such as Slack, MS Teams, Google Docs or good old-fashioned email. People’s working hours are also more flexible; if you like to start early or you need to pop out for the school run mid-afternoon, that’s often okay.

All this points to asynchronous communication, where it’s not necessary for both people in a conversation to be “present” at the same time. You send a message but accept it might not be read and replied to until later.

You’ll no doubt be used to it on some level already, but post-pandemic the balance between synchronous and asynchronous communication has tipped heavily towards the latter.

Hybrid working

The pandemic has shown just how productive we can be working away from the office. No longer is the boss suspicious of anyone choosing to WFH. The productivity, wellbeing and financial benefits are clear for all to see.

With hybrid working, employees divide their working week between their home (or other remote location) and the office. For some, that might mean set days at home and set days in the office. For others, it might be more flexible, only coming in when there’s a team meeting happening, or if they want some peace and quiet away from a busy house-share or kids at home.

It’s a rare gem where the best of both worlds really is achievable. You get the benefits of home working without losing out on the benefits of office working.

Hybrid meetings

Collaboration, idea generation and decision-making. Meetings are an essential component of a high-functioning organization, and they’re going hybrid too. With a workforce spread across different locations, hybrid meetings include both remote and in-person attendees. They’re a great way to ensure business continuity doesn’t suffer and hybrid collaboration is possible when you’ve got some of your team coming into the office and some working remotely.

Remote-first

In a remote first organization, working away from the corporate office is the preferred option. The organization still provides a central workplace for occasions when employees need or want to work from the office. It’s a type of hybrid working, with the emphasis on working remotely.

Remote working

Remote working has become the new normal. It simply means working away from your organization’s usual workplace. Cloud-based software, always-on Wi Fi and video conferencing have made it all possible. Can you imagine if the pandemic had hit before the internet?

Contact Tracing

As we go back to the office amid potential new waves of the virus, contact tracing is a feature many organizations are factoring in. Desk booking and check-in software make it easy. You have data that shows you exactly who has sat at each desk, and at what times.

Occupancy data

Data is a key component of an effective hybrid workplace. Because individual employees don’t have their own desk, greater responsibility falls to the office manager or workspace planner to create an environment that people enjoy being in and is conducive to good work.

Occupancy data tells you how a space is used by your employees. You can observe trends over time and – if you have desk booking software – look at usage forecasts. With data at your fingertips you can create a workplace that’s perfectly in tune with your people’s needs.

Occupancy sensors

Occupancy sensors can tell you how many people are using a room, neighborhood or floor. They detect movement and count the number of people in a space. Unlike desk booking software, they can’t give you hyperlocal data on how each desk is used or provide usage forecasts.

Office Neighborhoods

A hybrid workplace using desk hoteling gives office managers and space planners the flexibility to create spaces attuned to employees’ needs – office neighborhoods are a way of organizing your office to ensure those needs are fulfilled. A neighborhood is a dedicated area where communities of employees sit – typically between 30 to 60 people – who require similar amenities or need to work closely together. Neighborhoods can be based around a variety of needs, including job function, project or activity (for example, some tasks might require quiet, calm space, others might demand more collaborative space).

Unmute

If you ever dreamt of muting a co-worker, the pandemic made it a real-life possibility. “You’re on mute” became the workplace meme of 2020 – as we all watched colleagues mouthing silently and then scrabbling for their mouse to unmute – and it’s not going away anytime soon.

Water cooler chat

One of the casualties of the pandemic, the water cooler chat describes those unplanned, serendipitous encounters you’d enjoy with colleagues throughout the working day. The weather, the weekend or the family. Whatever the topic, they can brighten up a grey day, establish friendships and break down barriers.

For many workers, they’re one of the main reasons they favor a mix of home and office working.In a recent survey of 1500 business professionals we carried out, 55% described them as one of the best things about office work.

The pandemic has turned our view of the traditional office on its head. The future centres around a hybrid model with employees booking desks and rooms as and when they need them, rather than sitting in the same cubicle for five days a week. Get comfortable with the vocabulary that describes this new culture so you can start planning the way forward for your organization.

The New Office Experience Is A Social Hub: Workers Weigh In

Posted on May 6, 2021October 2, 2023 by Team Kadence

New Kadence study reveals employee expectations around hybrid working.

San Francisco and London May 6 2021: More than a third (37%) of US and UK office workers describe the prospect of going back to the office as the equivalent of going out to meet with friends, according to a new study by Kadence, surveyed over 1,500 office workers in the UK and US.

Over a quarter (28%) of respondents also said they are now prepared to spend more money and commute for longer to reunite with colleagues. Many also anticipate easier collaboration (60%), and better productivity (52%) once they get there.

Hybrid work to become the norm

The study also confirms recent Microsoft research findings which suggest that hybrid home and office working schedules are expected to become a widespread norm. Kadence’s survey found that over half (54%) expect to visit the office between two and three days a week. Approaching four in 10 (38%) also expect to choose when they come to the office and when they leave.

Concerns about returning to the office

However, it also revealed that many workers are nervous about workspace logistics, post-lockdown. A third expect the chance to book a particular desk before going to the office, and feel there will be more competition for the best seats and locations. Meanwhile, a quarter (25%) worry about being able to find the right kind of working or collaborative spaces. Over a third (34%) expect their employers to make more collaborative zones available (34%), while almost four in 10 want extra quiet working areas (37%).

Dan Bladen Co-Founder and CEO at Kadence comments on the findings: “Many people are understandably excited about the return to the office, with over half (55%) stating that chance encounters and conversations with colleagues are amongst the best things about the office experience.

“However, our study also exposes concerns around what they might find when they actually arrive. People are anxious about whether the work environment will be optimized for their needs. Also, many employees now expect the ability to control where they sit when they return to the office more regularly.“

New desk and space software to facilitate collaboration

Kadence has launched Kadence Wx to enable teams and individuals to collaborate, connect and increase productivity in the hybrid environment without distraction. It enables employees to reserve particular desks or office neighborhoods before visiting. Designed as a new operating system for hybrid work, Kadence Wx empowers managers and teams to efficiently optimize and curate face-to-face collaboration in a hybrid environment.
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Bladen continues: “We’ve all become more intentional about when and where we choose to work. Organizations who can provide certainty and control for staff as they transition to hybrid working patterns will reap productivity and wellbeing rewards.

“Despite this, over half (52%) of survey respondents said their employer is yet to provide guidance or support on managing these adjustments. Regardless of whether teams are synchronous or asynchronous in nature, when it’s time to collaborate Kadence Wx removes the friction around work coordination – allowing employees to focus their talents more productively.“

To find out more about our research findings, watch our webinar here

Why Kadence’s desk management should be a part of your return-to-work plan

Posted on November 6, 2020October 2, 2023 by Luke Christian-Farman

The Covid-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we view working. During the pandemic, many companies have been forced to implement strategies for flexible working. Companies that previously hadn’t thought this to be possible, are starting to see the benefits of flexible working. It is now of increased importance to make the most of real estate and support social distancing with smarter and more efficient desk management. In this article we’ll be building upon those themes, and explain how we can support your organization to make flexible working seamless.

What makes Kadence’s desk management solution unique?

Many desk and booking management solutions claim to enable the safe return to the workplace for employees. So what makes Kadence unique?

Kadence allows you to gather metrics and data on your employees, their behaviors and their actions to help better understand usage, movements and trends over time in a non-intrusive way. These sorts of metrics are normally gathered by investing in expensive sensors to track data that often has to be paired with a desk management solution. These data can help you optimize your spaces to reduce traffic, identify peak activity, ensure social distancing, and allow for easier management of your employees.

How it works

At Kadence we understand that safety is vital and are fully focused on delivering a seamless return to safe in-person collaboration. There are a number of considerations workplace leaders must make to ensure the safe return of their employees. Here are just a few of the key areas we can help you with:

Touchless check-in and reservation
Desk hoteling management
Office and people capacity
Social distancing measures
Space usage analytics

Touchless desk check-in & reservation

To enable a safe, effective flexible working environment, employees should be able to find and reserve a space to work ahead of time, or when they arrive for the day. With a desk booking mobile app, they can automatically and seamlessly book and check in to that space, with data and insights being gathered on employee behavior and movement.

Social distancing measures for the workplace

With the need for social distancing in mind, many businesses will have to rethink their real estate strategies. Kadence’s real-time floor plan view shows how spaces are being used with regard to social distancing and office capacity. Knowing where people have been sitting in your spaces indicates which areas need more cleaning and have the highest density of traffic.

Employees can have peace of mind knowing they are able to book socially distanced desks, along with a clear, concise way to identify their reserved desk, and how to find their desk in a large building or office. They can also be assured that they will have a safe working environment with no concerns about hygiene.

Space management & analytics

Real-time space usage and management will add another level of accuracy to your desk occupancy data to optimize your workspaces to reduce traffic, identify peak activity and allow for easier management of your employees.

At Kadence we’re working hard to deliver a safe, seamless return for your employees, with our easy desk management solution to ensure your workspace is as efficient as it can be. Stay tuned for upcoming announcements on what we’ve been working on behind the scenes.

How to enable desk hoteling in a Covid-safe workplace

Posted on September 17, 2020October 2, 2023 by Dan Bladen

At the end of 2019, over 75% of workplaces globally were rolling out flexible hot desk management strategies to enable more efficient use of real estate. Now, with Covid-19 accelerating the trend of remote working, good desk hoteling is fast becoming a necessity to safely return to the workplace. In fact, as the result of Covid-19’s impact on real estate, 30% of all office space will be consumed flexibly by 2030, according to a JLL survey.

What is desk hoteling?

Desk hoteling, which allows employees to reserve in advance the desk they want to use for the day but still gives your employees the freedom to choose the space they want to work in. One of the main advantages of desk hoteling is the valuable usage and occupancy data the facilities team can capture for planning purposes.

In theory, desk hoteling sounds like a better alternative to hot desking. But in the new normal, this approach can still pose a safety and hygiene issue to organizations with hundreds, or even thousands of desks in multiple office locations that now need to be managed, thoroughly cleaned and sanitized.

According to a recent Gensler survey, 68% of employees would like to see a reduced number of shared workspaces because of safety concerns when there is no process or technology in place to track whether facilities are being used and then cleaned effectively before being made available for use again.

Why should you consider desk hoteling?

A flexible desk policy integrated with the right desk hoteling reservation system can increase the ratio of employees to desks. This can potentially reduce the real estate footprint significantly, while still encouraging a more collaborative working environment. According to a PwC survey, 30% of employers anticipate reducing their real estate footprint in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which means a higher demand for a smaller amount of spaces. So it seems flex desking is on the rise and essential to ensure employees have the spaces they need when they need them.

Maximum flexibility will be the guiding principle for the workspace in the new normal and employees will decide which space suits their needs. To reinvigorate collaboration you need a flexible workspace where your teams feel safe and comfortable and effective desk hoteling is a good step in this direction.

Making desk hoteling work

When it comes to making desk hoteling work for your organization, success is all about the implementation and investing in the right technology makes all the difference. Companies need to have proper technology in place to support the transition to flexible working.

Questions to answer include:

How can we make flex desking work in the new normal?
How can we make sure desks are thoroughly cleaned after use?
How can we support employees to work safely and productively?

How to create a Covid-safe flexible desk experience

Employees need to feel safe when they return to the workplace and seeing clear measures in place to promote social distancing and additional hygiene procedures. Reducing touchpoints and clear visual communication are key components in any back to work strategy. There should be no doubt as to which desks are clean and available for them to use.

Touchless desk booking and check-in

Many organizations are already investigating how to reduce touch points in their offices, but some are looking at different touchless technology that does not require physical touch.

Employees can check in and claim a desk via their mobile app, without having to speak with anyone or touching any shared screens. Going contactless will also help manage clean desk policy more effectively by keeping desks free of cables and easier to clean.

Using data to optimize desk availability

With a lower office capacity in the new normal workplace, there is a greater need to use data to understand how desks are being used, and make better data-driven office space planning decisions moving forward with space management software. As employees make booking requests, facilities teams can access data on how different spaces and assets are being used.

For example, Wifi APs or sensors can give you data on how many people are in an area and Kadence can offer hyperlocal desk occupancy data. Analyzing this data helps pinpoint which desks and spaces employees use most – extremely valuable knowledge to ensure the reconfigured offices meet employees’ needs.

Supporting social distancing at work

With social distancing policy in mind, many organizations will need to rethink their office layout and desk planning. By integrating your IWMS systems with Kadence, facilities teams can set social distancing and density rules to manage which desks are made available for employees to use.

Kadence’s hyperlocal occupancy data and floor plan view offers real-time desk hoteling reservation and occupancy data to help monitor and enforce social distancing. Touchless check-in with the workplace app also supports contact tracing through user authentication, which records who was using a given desk and who was sitting next to them.

By integrating Kadence’s desk scheduling software with your workplace management system, desks can be freed up for maximum availability. Workflows can also be customized to notify relevant teams and service providers such as cleaners, HR or facilities so that organizations can efficiently manage their workspaces with peace of mind.

Providing clean and safe desks is now a critical requirement for every organization that wants to welcome its employees back to the workplace. The right technology for desk hoteling that reduces touchpoints and is visually intuitive can make a big difference.

Whatever strategy you adopt, if you’d like a chat with one of our team about how desk hoteling software helps you get your workplace ready for the new era of work, why not pick a time in our calendar to suit you?