Office hoteling is the new fad. It’s what employees want and what employers need to get. The good news is, office hoteling benefits both the employees and the company. Read on to find out how.
What is office hoteling and how is it different from hot desking?
With a traditional hotel, you book a room with all the amenities in advance. When it comes to offices or desks it’s similar – you book your space or spot in advance and you know what kind of resources and tools you can expect. It can be your average office or a room equipped with everything needed to host a great looking webinar.
Compared to hot desking, office hoteling consists of an organized workspace and desk sharing.
Hot desking is a “the early bird gets the worm” setup. Desks are claimed by a first-come-first-serve system, or designated by an overseeing manager. For the most part, hot-desking comes with a level of uncertainty.
Imagine trying to book a hotel room on a first-come-first-serve basis. You wouldn’t know which rooms and amenities are available until you’re at the hotel.
That doesn’t sound great and that’s why office hoteling is a preferred option for everyone that likes to know what shared space they’re getting once they arrive at the office.
Why does office hoteling work?
In the up-and-coming post-COVID world, numerous companies are opting for flexible work setups. Typically, flexible work setups mean employees have opportunities to work wherever they want; even from home some days each week.
Office hoteling is the perfect compromise that gives employees flexibility, helping them feel listened to and cared for by the company. What’s more, office hoteling benefits the company in many ways, including
- Increase space optimization and cut costs
- Reduce overhead
- Employee flexibility
- Encourage greater collaboration and teamwork
Standardizing the hoteling process
In this era, we can hardly fathom booking a hotel without a website or app.
Before the internet really took flight, travellers would phone a hotel to make a booking. These days, rooms can be booked online through the Expedia app, Hotels.com etc. There are tons of apps out there.
The Expedia equivalent for office hoteling is the Joan Desk Booking app. Through the app, employees can view floor plans and pre-book workstations within seconds. By using a desk booking solution, you can transform your shared office from a first-come-first-serve approach into a more structured approach, giving employees peace of mind when entering the office each day.
Create a variety of spaces
Some employees work best in open spaces, some focus best in niches. Some are most innovative in daylight, others are creative in darkness. Some work entirely on their computers, others work with their hands — drawing, designing, laying out Post-its.
Also, some employees work best in traditional office spaces with cubicles or walls. The best workplace has a variety of spaces. For more information, check out our article on flexible workspaces.
Top reasons to adopt hoteling in your workplace
If you’re considering office hoteling, chances are you’re interested in implementing a flexible workspace — or already have.
Below are some benefits of incorporating office hoteling in your work environment.
Increase space optimization and cut costs
With flexible workspaces on the rise, does it really make sense to designate a desk per employee if the employees won’t be in the office 40 hours per week? That’s a lot of poorly utilized real estate.
Instead, offices are turning to shared desks or even offices. Employees no longer have designated desks just for them, but instead, claim an available desk each day they’re in the office.
Reduce overhead
Having fewer people in the office at any given time reduces energy consumption and utility costs. In fact, most employees would take a pay cut to work from home more often. That’s not to say you should reduce salaries, but most employees won’t mind using their own utilities — hydro, electricity, natural gas — in exchange for working from home some days.
Employee flexibility
Aside from freeing up real estate, office hoteling offers employees a sense of freedom and flexibility. According to Forbes, 92 percent of millennials see flexibility as a top priority when job hunting. In fact, some studies show that more than 50 percent of employees are considering leaving their jobs post-pandemic in favor of flexible workspaces. Now is the time to cater to flexibility.
Encourage greater collaboration and teamwork
With office hoteling, you either can’t guarantee who you’re working with each day or you can. There are benefits to both.
If you don’t go out of your way to book a cluster of desks with a team, you never know who will end up sitting beside you. Serendipitous meetings between coworkers can lead to the most innovative ideas. Not to mention, the deepest employee-to-employee connections.
However, office hoteling gives interdepartmental teams the flexibility to book desks together. These interactions can be key to speed up projects and making sure teams are on the same page.
Takeaway
You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again: 2021 is the year for change. Over the past year and a half, employees have tasted a new way of life. Not to mention, employers have discovered that remote workers are more productive than expected: they’re less wary of flexible working.
Opening your doors to office hoteling can help keep your company fresh to both employees and clients. Jump aboard and check out Joan’s hoteling solution!