What is Space Management: Everything You Need to Know
The practice of space management is not new. Workplaces have been doing it for a long time. However, in a hybrid workplace, this age-old concept has been getting a lot more attention.
Wondering why?
Our workplaces are changing. And why not? The expectations of employees from their workplaces have changed as well. Flexible working has become the norm.
Many organizations started adopting the hybrid work model since the beginning of the pandemic. The idea? Employees can come to the office fewer than five days a week. And they are the ones who decide the days.
Now, in theory, this concept is flawless. But to implement a hybrid workplace, you should first understand what is space management.
Experts have pointed out that the key to a hybrid workplace is space management. But space management isn’t just limited to using your office efficiently. There is much more to it.
This blog aims to explore the concept of space management.
Space Management: What is it?
Space management involves planning, managing, and tracking your office’s physical space.
Now, again, this may sound simple, but space management, in practice, is quite complicated.
For instance, your office space can be huge and include several floors, buildings, locations, etc. So, when managing the office space, you ensure that every corner in the organization is aligned with the other.
When it comes to the benefits, space management offers quite a few for organizations.
The Advantages of Space Management
Honestly, there is a myriad of benefits to space management. Managing your space well is key to encouraging employees to return to the workplace.
Here are ways space management can help your organization:
- You can spot different trends in space usage. You can manage the space, find out how your employees are using the space. This may be imperative for making adjustments to improve their environment.
- Space management can help your employees find office space, appropriate to their demands
- It can help you maintain your company culture
- Space management can help you build a hybrid workplace while meeting employees’ changing work demands
- It can help reduce manual work by automating the entire office space
- It can help fix your company’s real estate portfolio and investment
Space management has plenty of benefits to your organization. And when implementing a hybrid workplace, space management can become the ultimate arsenal in your box.
Here are a few tools that can get you started in your space management journey.
4 Tools To Ensure Better Workplace Management
If you want to build an office where business and employee needs are met, you need the right space management solution.
A space management tool can provide you with real-time data. They manage your space efficiently and provide ample support to your employees.
There are an array of tools that help you spot space utilization patterns. Space allocation becomes easier. They also help you justify any space expenditure you incur. And ultimately, these solutions help improve the employee experience.
Once you fully know how your office space is used, you can improve it to suit your needs.
Here is a list of four such space management tools that you can use to understand and manage your office space better.
- An Employee Scheduling System
The first step to planning for your office space requires knowing who is coming to the office and when. A hybrid workplace offers flexibility to the employees on their office visits. With an employee scheduling system, you can collect this information.
You can study this data to understand which teams or employees are most often in the office. You can also factor in information like space preferences with a scheduling solution.
You can plan ahead for your office space using all of this data.
2. Meeting Room Booking Software
Most employees want to come to the office for collaboration. And to ensure that, you have to give them access to booking conference rooms.
The entire process can become easier with meeting room booking software. Using this solution, your employees can easily find and reserve available conference rooms.
Managers will be able to view room usage, occupancy, and availability. You can also track no-shows and automate the sanitization process.
3. Desk Booking Software
A hybrid workplace hinges on how functional your desk booking system is.
Let us be honest. Assigning desks manually is a pain. It increases the chances of errors and double bookings. Your employees come to the office and find that no desks have been assigned to them.
This can be seriously off-putting.
Maintaining social distancing protocols can go for a toss. Also, it becomes unclear which desks are sanitized.
To make the most of your hybrid workspace, you need to use a desk booking solution.
These tools will help you understand which desks get booked more and which remain empty. You can track who is sitting where for easy collaboration.
This information can help you redesign your office desk setup to suit your employee preferences. You can also abide by the social distancing protocols.
4. A Space Management System
A space planning system is essential if you aim to improve your office space.
Most of these tools come with interactive floor plans. This means that you can view your office floor plan in 3D models. This birds-eye view can be imperative when you want to explore layout options.
These tools also offer occupancy monitors. You can log in a capacity, and the cloud-based system will let you know every time you reach maximum occupancy in the office.
A space planning tool can also help you understand the foot traffic pattern in your office. You can know which places witness more gathering and which areas remain empty. This occupancy data can help you maintain social distancing in the office premises.
Do You Have What it Needs for Proper Space Management?
We hope you are familiar with what space management is, the benefits it offers, and the tools you require. In the hybrid scenario, space management is the next big thing.
If you are looking for space management tools, look no further than WorkInSync. From desk booking to floor occupancy, meeting room management, to parking spaces, there are many features in our space management software that help you manage your workplace better. Get in touch with us today.