Flexible Working
With most organizations assigning a desk to each employee, it is clear to realize that enterprises are tying up huge amounts of money in redundant space. Industry reports suggest that 25% - 50% of workspace is wasted.
This rapid rise in flexible working - where employees can work from home, telecenters or while traveling - has resulted in a staggering decrease in office utilization. Senior executives may believe that desk occupancy is 100% for their administrative staff and 60% - 70% for their managers and professionals. In reality, occupancy is more like 40%.
Shared Workspace
The way we work is constantly changing with an increasing number of employees choosing to work more flexibly. This means that the provision of a permanent desk for each member of the workforce is now unnecessary and the under-utilization is costing businesses millions of dollars. Companies have tried to deal with the problem of half-empty offices by simply reducing the number of desks available and asking employees to use whichever desk was free. This concept often proved unpopular with the workforce and is difficult to manage. In order for desk sharing or hoteling to be effective, it is important that staff do not feel alienated from their work environment. Even if they are in the office only one or two days per week, each staff member has unique working requirements. Providing a scheduling solution that enables staff profiling and matching desk attributes to their needs (desk size, privacy and certain software packages) will assist the transition to a flexible, user friendly workplace.