As the world transitions to hybrid work, many organizations are adopting a hot desking / desk hoteling setup at their offices. But many companies are still unsure as to whether they need a dedicated desk booking system to support this arrangement. This article will list 5 benefits of desk booking software so that you can decide if it’s the right option for your organization.
- You have a centralized hub for desk booking
- You can automate tiresome administration away
- Manage employee access and booking privileges
- Gather insights and utilization data
- Boost collaboration
1. You have a centralized hub for desk booking
By implementing a desk booking system in your workplace, you’ll benefit from having a centralized hub for all booking activity in your office. Because of this, all your employees will know which desks are available to book, and will be able to plan their weeks and book desks accordingly.
One of the biggest struggles hot desking software solves is eliminating double bookings from organizations’ workflows. When desk booking is managed by an admin team using manual workflows and inadequate tools like spreadsheets, the entire process is error prone and can become riddled with double bookings, missed cancellations and related confusion which all adds to the stress and strain experienced by busy employees.
As mentioned previously, the implementation of a dedicated desk booking system will eliminate these issues, and will allow all your employees to be on the same page when it comes to desk availability and where they need to make their bookings.
2. You can automate tiresome administration away
One hallmark of most desk booking software applications is that they allow you to automate the previously time-consuming processes required to effectively manage the booking and scheduling of your hot desks. Without a dedicated platform to manage your desk bookings, you’re forced to rely on an office manager, or a team of office managers, to manage this aspect of your office.
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know that this isn’t the best use of your employees’ time. There are far more important things for your office management to be focused on as they build an engaging, supportive workplace for your teams. By providing them with a dedicated desk booking system, you’re empowering them to stay on top of desk bookings, all the while focusing on higher-value tasks related to creating a workplace experience that engages and retains your employees.
3. Manage employee access and booking privileges
If you run a desk hoteling system for a slightly larger organization, chances are you have various departments that will require varying levels of access to certain desks or ‘neighborhoods’ (specific areas of your office dedicated to particular departments, job functions, or equipment requirements). Manually managing and allocating desks to employees in an open-plan office is nigh impossible, let alone in these more complex contexts!
With desk booking software, you’re able to set up custom booking access and privileges for each of your teams. This way, you can make sure that the right desks are booked by the right people, at the right times, for the right duration. You can assign booking quotas to individuals and groups, in-advance booking windows to prevent people from booking desks too far in advance, and much more.
These kinds of measures will go a long way in making your employees feel valued and supported in their work, because they can confidently book the spaces they need without encountering misallocation issues caused by poor systems, and everybody will know what their unique booking accesses and privileges are, thus reducing office conflict and confusion.
4. Gather insights and utilization data
Another great advantage on offer from a dedicated desk booking system is that you have access to utilization metrics and analytics based on bookings made within the platform. These insights can be leveraged to drive your desk management strategy, so that your workplace uses available space more effectively, and saves costs where possible.
If you detect a trend that certain desks are most in demand on a certain day, you can then set up booking policies that regulate booking access more strictly, so that all your relevant teams have equitable access to these desks. Similarly, if you find that overall utilization for your desks is far lower than you’ve made provision for, this presents an excellent opportunity to consider downsizing on office space and saving costs! There are myriad possibilities in this regard, and they’re all made possible by having access to the data you need, whenever you need it.
5. Boost collaboration
Finally, implementing dedicated desk booking software in your office will empower your teams to collaborate more easily. Good desk booking platforms will provide your organizations with floor-plan maps of your office space, so that your employees can easily find the desks they’d like to book, and where their teammates are situated so that they can book a desk near to them.
In the age of hybrid work, collaboration is not necessarily as easy as it used to be. By giving your teams the systems they need to stay up to date on office occupancy, teams can more effectively plan their visits to the office to meet and work on larger projects together. Further to this, if you use your desk booking software to manage your meeting rooms (most platforms support this cross functionality), teams can even book meeting rooms and send meeting invites to each other for this purpose!
Desk booking software benefits your people
To drive this point even further, it’s important to remember that work is, ultimately, about people. When you give your people the systems they need to do their work without hassle and stress, they’re free to deliver better outcomes for your business. In this regard, everybody can win when you’re using platforms and processes that benefit your people.
Be sure to consider a dedicated desk booking application if your people are important to you!
