Busting the Myths Regarding a Desk Booking Solution

Today, a desk booking solution has become an essential return-to-office tool for employees working in a hybrid workplace with a flexible seating arrangement.

This simple yet innovative software allows employees to reserve desks when they need to work from the office. They can access it on their phones and book a seat for themselves even before they come to the office.

At the same time, facilities managers can use a desk booking solution to understand desk usage. This allows them to make informed decisions about the office’s desk arrangements, enforce social distancing protocols, avoid overcrowding, and provide employees with the amenities they need at their workstations.

Have you invested in a desk booking solution for your hybrid office yet? If not, then the chances are that you might have fallen prey to prevalent misconceptions surrounding this useful tool.

Let us look at three common myths – and facts – about desk booking solutions.

1. Table Of Contents

   • 1 Myth: A Flexible Desk-Booking System Will Hamper Collaboration
   • 2 Myth: It Is Hard to Get The Desired Desk
   • 3 Myth: Installing and Using a Desk Booking Solution is Difficult
     • 3.1 Over To You

   Myth: A Flexible Desk-Booking System Will Hamper Collaboration

In a hybrid workplace system, having a flexible seating arrangement is more viable than having fixed desks for all employees. A desk booking solution helps you implement this system. Through this software, all employees can view all available desks. Then, they can book the ones they like, in any location, for their chosen days.

But, in your office, certain teams may want to sit together. They might prefer having desks close by so that they can collaborate, communicate, and share resources. They may fear that their preferred desks may get booked by other employees, leading to conflicts.

A desk booking solution has the facility to pre-book desks in groups. This feature is known as team booking or neighborhood grouping. Facilities managers can access a complete layout of their office’s desk arrangements and create neighborhoods based on the employees’ needs, such as:

• Flexible, open-seating office neighborhoods
• Activity-based office neighborhoods
• Team-specific office neighborhoods 

2. Myth: It Is Hard to Get The Desired Desk

Managers mistakenly believe that a desk booking solution merely shows a ‘map’ of the total desks in the office, and all employees need to do is choose from available vacant desks. They believe employees would not find desks according to their working preferences. But this is far from true.

A desking solution allows employees to view more detailed information about each desk so that they can get the desk that best suits their needs.

For example, before booking a desk, employees can:

• View the surrounding desks
• Check if the chosen desk has all the amenities that you require
• Check if the desk is located in a suitable space
• View which employees are working at the adjacent desks
• View the sanitization status of a particular desk

Then, employees can book a desk of their choice. But what if a desk is unavailable? Well, in that case, the software can recommend similar desks to pick from.

In this way, a desk booking solution enables your employees to make the most of the flexibility of your hybrid workplace. Thus, it ensures a better employee experience and greater job satisfaction.

3. Myth: Installing and Using a Desk Booking Solution is Difficult

Sometimes, installing and using new software can be an arduous task. You may think that a desk booking solution requires days to implement, and you may need to train your employees before they start using it. However, this is a common misconception. In fact, a desk booking solution is designed to be a lightweight, user-friendly software you can implement and leverage in no time.

Employees can access their desk booking solution through office computers, their personal laptops, and even their smartphones. Through a convenient mobile app interface, they can reserve the desks of their choice in advance, even before they come to the office. They can view the real-time availability of desks anytime, anywhere, whether they are in the office, at home, or traveling.

Similarly, facilities managers can use a single dashboard to:

• View available desks, booked desks, and canceled bookings in real time.
• Identify desk booking patterns to learn which desks are the most used and which ones are the least booked
• Track cancelation frequencies
• Understand which amenities their employees want
• Make informed decisions about reducing or increasing the number of desks
• Carve out office neighborhoods while ensuring that they use office space optimally

Over To You

A desk booking solution is a robust hybrid office management tool that not only improves employee experience and productivity but also helps optimize space usage. And as the modern workplace evolves, it can serve as an effective tool to future-proof your organization.

If you want to take the leap and invest in a desk booking solution, turn to WorkInSync. With WorkInSync desk management app, you can transform your office into a well-managed, functional hybrid workplace.

From managing booked spaces to viewing floor plans, WorkInSync makes flexible working easy. Improve workplace experience with our desk reservation system. For more information, you can schedule a demo.