As the COVID-19 pandemic turns the work environment into a permanently hybrid setting, offices disseminate telework agreements and put out collective calendars to show teammates’ in-office days.
The question then becomes, where do these workers sit when they come into the office? Companies are quickly finding dedicated workstations impractical, but the laissez-faire, first-come, first-served approach to shared working stations, known as hot desking, comes with uncertainty and lack of coordination. Office hoteling – allowing employees to book their workstation online in advance – is the more sophisticated and preferred approach to shared spaces.
An office hoteling system comes with many additional advantages built into the software to allow offices to run efficiently and maximize the space. An office hoteling system provides a central platform for booking all shared-use items in the office, including workstations, conference rooms, and equipment. Employees can book an open station from home with a few simple clicks on a desktop or mobile app.
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Maximize Productivity by Giving Employees Control Over Their Workspace
An office hoteling system gives employees the peace of mind of knowing they will find an available workstation when they arrive in the office, and that they booked a station in an area that best suits the work they need to accomplish that day. The software can produce a navigable virtual office map, so employees can visualize where their workstation is located and where to find the conference room.
Office Hoteling Systems Help Workers Find Their Teammates for Increased Collaboration
Office hoteling systems also help teams work better together. In a hot desking system, workers never know who is in the office and where to find their teammates, making it much harder to collaborate. Office hoteling allows workers to book their station, see who is sitting nearby, and reserve rooms or spaces for collaboration.
Analytic Functions Allow Employers to Maximize Usage and Right-Size the Space
Employers can use office hoteling systems to collect analytics on employee in-office attendance, the busiest times of the week, the most used workstations and office areas, and other functions that track space usage. These analytics can help companies right-size the space, so they are not paying for more resources than they need, maximize layouts for efficiency and worker satisfaction, and alter hybrid work protocols and schedules as needed.
Reports Keep Employees Safe During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Hot desking doesn’t have protocols that keep workers safe from COVID-19, because it’s impossible to record where employees worked and equipment they might have touched. An office hoteling system minimizes the risk of COVID-19 infection by recording employees’ locations and generating exposure reports of other workers that might have been exposed to the COVID-positive individual. The software can also recommend spaces for lockdown and decontamination.
An Office Hoteling System Will Bring a Hybrid Work Schedule to the Next Level
Hybrid work schedules aren’t going away in the transition from a pandemic necessity to a feature for workforce hiring and retention. Employees want to work at a company that has streamlined processes and the long-term thinking to invest in the best software for efficiency and worker satisfaction.
