THE NEW WORKPLACE – OFFICE OR VENUE? IT’S TIME FOR A RADICAL RETHINK

Waves of change have washed over our offices — IT, video conferencing, AI and mobility — and work’s now a thing we do, a place we go.

So it’s time to ask tough questions about what our workplaces are REALLY FOR. In other words:
The new workplace: is it an office — or is it a venue?

Think about it.
You go there to do a specific thing
You visit it to meet with people
It’s got all you need to meet your goals
It’s a fun place to be (or should be)
You book your space before you get there.

I mean, you’d never just turn up at a gig hoping to get in. Hanging around looking for a seat? That ain’t rock ‘n roll.

And it doesn’t rock the new workplace, either. Recently, we’ve swapped out our formal boardrooms and fixed desks for more flexible spaces that suit agile working.

We can sit down and do our jobs in many places — malls, coffee shops, our own kitchen counter — but we still need the office to be the beating heart of our working life.

It’s where we meet up, face-to-face or virtually via travel-saving collaborative tools such as video conferencing and AV.

It’s where we sit down at a hot desk or drop in to a breakout space to catch up with colleagues.
We get better when we get together

A recent survey said:
“People working in teams innovate faster, achieve better results and report higher job satisfaction.”
No surprise there.

So we still need the office when it comes to promoting spontaneous collaboration and positive mental health.

It’s a generation thing?
Gen Z, in particular, is keen on a friendly office get-together.
A crazy high percentage — 92% — of these 18–24-year-olds think they don’t work best at home — and a huge 81% say social and communal areas are important workspace facilities.
But it’s not just the Z-ers — all generations are impacted to some degree.

So it’s time rethink your workspace as a venue.
You may never have looked at it that way before.
Is it easy to book a space there?
Can they do that before they arrive?
Is it a cool place to get together with colleagues?
Does it have everything they need to achieve their goals?
Does it make them feel good?
It fits, right? You want your workplace environment to cover off all these elements.

If you already use room scheduling software, you’re be feeling smug — you’ve put a check against all those questions.

If you don’t, you’ll be amazed how much difference room scheduling software makes to your operations.

Give them the hot ticket
It works right from the get-go. Your technology-supported workspace-as-a-venue means workers book their ideal hot desk or meeting space easily using an app.
So they’ve got the hot ticket to your gig before they even arrive — remember point 5 above?
And because they’ve booked resources from VC to AV and even catering in the same single booking transaction, there are no delays.

The workspace venue that rocks

They arrive, settle down, get working or meeting. The room scheduling software even reduces no-shows by automatically informing everyone if a room or time changes.

No hanging around; that’s a cool workspace that makes everyone feel good, not just friendly Gen Z-ers. Hey, who’d ever want to leave? Talent retention never looked so easy, while productivity and wellbeing are a natural result.

I like the idea of the workspace as a venue; it’s an enjoyable and attractive perspective on our working lives that’s a great fit with a healthy work-life balance.

So it’s time for office owners like you to have a radical rethink.
Get the tech.

Get the right stuff, the room scheduling software that makes it all happen for you and your workforce.
Then get your workspace venue open for some real business. That’s my kind of gig.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO OUR WORKING ENVIRONMENT — AND HOW DO WE DEAL WITH THAT?

Magic Johnson once said: “All students should have the opportunity to receive their high school diplomas and be fully prepared for college or the workplace.”

But what exactly do we mean when we talk about the workplace in 2019 — and what sort of working environment should we REALLY be getting people ready for?

The work environment is not what it was just ten or 15 years ago. In those days, we rocked up to our place of work, sat at our own desk from 9 to 5 (if we were lucky…) then went home and switched off.

We moaned a lot about it, too, as I recall…

Today, we see our workplace all around us — in the office, the coffee shop, the mall, at home. As the Business Dictionary describes it, the 2019 work environment is:

“A location where a task is completed.”

That’s simple and correct.

It sounds free, right? It sounds productive and empowering.

It sounds like success.

But as a business, how in the world do you hang onto your workforce in the face of all this freedom, control the free-range working environment and make sure your workers fulfill your requirements?

Read more on workplace transformation.

Your organization can’t control the places your employees work outside your office, although you do need to lay down ground rules about what’s safe and acceptable, such as no accessing secure or sensitive information in public spaces.

So in this article, I want to concentrate on the working environment you provide for your staff, the physical place even the most agile of them visit to sit down with colleagues, take part in meetings and collaborate.

The place that’s costing you a fortune ever month.

Money-zine.com defines the working environment as:

“The surrounding conditions in which an employee operates.”

That’s a good definition too. And as the workplace owner or manager controlling those surrounding conditions you can make it go right or wrong for your business and your employees.

Surrounding conditions can mean two different things:

• Physical conditions — e.g. how hot or cold your workplace is, what type of space is available, how noisy it is
• Equipment — e.g. are collaboration tools such as video conferencing or AV available? What other equipment do your workers need or have available?

When does it go wrong?

• When your workspace is not set up to support modern ways of working.
• When workers end up wandering around the building looking for somewhere to sit down and work, or hold a meeting
• When your workers are uncomfortable because it’s too hot, too cold or noisy
• When meetings fail because no-one shows
• When no-one wants to arrange a video conference because it’s too much admin and the equipment isn’t always available when they need it.

So how do you make it go right?

Easy. A good workspace management system lays all these issues to rest, making your operations more efficient and delivering an effortless agile working environment where people can just get on with their jobs.

Here’s how it works:

Agile workers use an app to locate and book the desk or meeting space they need easily, even when organizing a meeting across multiple locations or time zones.

If they need a quiet desk in a cool place, they can specify that.

Up-to-date inventory control means they can identify the equipment they need at each location and book that, too — and they can even add catering in the same transaction.

It’s all dragged and dropped into the familiar Outlook calendar thanks to good integration, and any changes are notified automatically to everyone who is taking part — even the caterers.

Boom — done.

On average, arranging the perfect meeting with meeting room booking software takes less than 30 seconds.

This process cannot take away the stress that’s inherent in doing a tough job well, but it can remove a whole world of pain:

• frustration with badly-organized meetings
• boredom with menial tasks
• confusion with colleagues
• embarrassment in front of clients.

So workers feel a little better about their jobs, which impacts positively on their wellbeing and job satisfaction and makes it more likely you will retain their talent.

Making operations more efficient in this way also means everyone gets more done, which works for the whole organization.

Utilization reports linked with occupancy sensors give you a full view of how your space is being used in real time, which informs good planning decisions that drive efficiency and economy.

This level of insight provides a better picture of what — as Magic Johnson advises — people can be prepared to expect when they come to work.

Our ways of working have changed dramatically, and will continue to change, maybe in ways we haven’t yet imagined. We’ll have to go on re-defining exactly what we mean by the workplace environment, again and again.

But one thing is sure.

Workplace technology will keep on adapting to respond to those changes — and will always provide a valuable resource when it comes to keeping your workforce happy, healthy and productive.

IS YOUR WORKPLACE READY FOR GEN Z? WHY IT’S TIME FOR BETTER ROOM SCHEDULING SOFTWARE

In recent years, we have come to know Millennial colleagues very well – they’re the folks born in the Eighties who live the digital life to the full.  

While they want everything in their lives, including their workplace, to be connected, that ‘always-on’ attitude is known to bring its own pressures. 

So how much worse might it be for Generation Z, the newest kids on the block?

Born between the mid-90s and early 2000s, these vibrant young people make up nearly 30 per cent of the planet’s population – there are around 61m in the US alone.  

Like Millennials they expect and demand a good work/life balance, but unlike restless Millennials, these talented young workers are more than happy to be persuaded to stay – if you can make your place a place they want to be.

“Having grown up in a tumultuous time for economics and politics (they were only four when 9/11 occurred, and grew up during the Great Recessions) Gen Z-ers are incredibly focused on finding stable jobs.” – Forbes

Our workplaces are already changing to meet new needs from organizations and workers – see how the transformation is taking place.

And if you are an employer keen to avoid a constant talent drain, you need to find the right balance now, ready for Z-ers to revolutionize the place where you all work. 

But guess what? It’s going to take more than offering a good salary…

So round about now, it’s time for your workplace to get a new room scheduler. No arguments.

Here are 5 great reasons why good room scheduling software makes a real difference to this tech-hungry generation

• It supports agile working, which underpins the work/life balance they need
•  They can easily find and book workspace they need to do their job well, via an app
•  They enjoy perfect meetings every time
•  They collaborate better for innovation and team spirit
•  Tiresome manual admin tasks become a thing of the past.

1. Agile working

Flexible working is great for employee wellbeing, giving people a feeling of control over their workload. 

But when workers come into the office, if they struggle to quickly find the right space to do their work they get frustrated.

The result? Their productivity and job satisfaction both crash. Goodbye Gen Z talent…

Room scheduling software allows employees to find book their desk or meeting space before they even head into the office 

2. Finding and booking workspace 

For generations of workers who are hooked to their smartphones, room scheduling software offers an unrivalled ability to locate workspace and conference rooms on the go, and book them via an app linked to their Outlook calendar.

Room scheduling software also integrates with occupancy sensors, so space availability is shown in real time.

Workers can book in a single click, and also add resources and services such as video conferencing, AV and catering in the same transaction, even across time zones. 

Here’s how you do it with Rendezvous room scheduling software:

• Open the calendar
• Click and select ‘new appointment’ at a time relevant to the main host 
• Choose ‘room booking solution’
• Choose ‘multi-room booking’
• Add unlimited locations as you need 
• Choose locations from the drop-down menu
• Click ‘Find’
• Click ‘free/busy’
• See whether attendee and room availability in each location match
• Select the rooms you want and click the book button
•  Done – in just a couple of minutes.

3. Perfect meetings

When a meeting goes wrong, it’s frustrating and expensive – in the US, we hold 220 million meetings every month, costing over $300 in salaries alone.

Common issues include no-shows caused when details of a meeting change and no-one informs the attendees.

Room scheduling software wipes this risk out by making all the changes and automatically informing everyone – even the caterers.

4. Collaboration

You can’t get past meetings as a huge and valuable contributor to collaboration.

By making it easy for anyone to organize a meeting even in multiple locations across different time zones, room scheduling technology removes obstacles to using valuable collaborative tools such as video conferencing.

The result? Teams that come together no matter how physically far apart they are.

5. Manual admin

The room scheduling technology does all the boring stuff. It’s as simple at that. 

Workers can forget about tedious, repetitive tasks and get on with their real job. And it doesn’t matter what generation they belong to, they’re going to love that.

So what about the pressure of being ‘always-on’?

You can deal with that. The best way is by using the room scheduling software to streamline your business, but with rules in place – limit how often they check their work app, say. 

And let’s not forget all those other hardworking generations doing their best for your organization. 

Encourage uptake of the technology that benefits your business and themselves by choosing workplace management software that’s intuitive, easy to use, and which integrates fully to connect your workplace.  

It’s there to make their jobs easier, not more complicated – right?

Get your room scheduling software right and you’ll see happy workers of all generations pulling together effortlessly. 

They’ll enjoy better work-life balance in an environment that makes it easy for them to work, and they’ll feel less likely to go looking for another job. 

In return, you get ROI on your workspace management technology with better productivity, worker engagement and reduced employee churn and training costs. 

It’s a win-win-win that’s already laying solid foundations for the talented and revolutionary contribution of Generation Z to the world of work – and every business can benefit.

* It’s time for a better room scheduler – start today

RENDEZVOUS SUCCESS AT THE FACILITIES SHOW 2015

The recent Facilities Show 2015, NFS Technology Group displayed latest state of the art room and resource scheduling software.

NFS, which featured in the popular Building Futures Group Village, presented the very latest Rendezvous Workplace portal, designed to assist organisations with the efficient management of meeting rooms, hot desks, car parking and vended spaces.

Rendezvous Space is the newest Rendezvous Module, which incorporates the latest space utilisation and planning technology. Accurate information on space useage helps deliver lower operating costs and better workplace productivity.

NFS’ CEO Luis de Souza successfully held a debate with Katharine Photiou of Barclays Bank and Andrew Hulbert of Pareto FM on adapting to changes in the multi-generational workplace and how this influences the roles and responsibility of the future FM.

Says Luis: “The Facilities Show has proven once again to be a hugely important show for NFS, not only to showcase our latest product innovations, but also to provide us with an excellent platform to display our unique ability to operate as a global solutions partner.

“The panel discussion on the multigenerational workplace also proved popular, and really brought to life the challenges faced in the workplace today. The debate provided a platform to raise awareness of the different generations (up to five different generations) that are now sharing an increasingly flexible mobile workspace, with all the issues relating to workspace collaboration.

“Overall, the show was a reflection of the many different factors influencing facilities management, such as technology innovation, presenting both challenges and opportunities for the FM community. As a technology company, we see our role as being to provide the solutions, the service and the innovation that present the FM community in the best light.”

THE GROWING CONNECTION BETWEEN HOSPITALITY AND FACILITIES

In the hospitality industry, the frequent adoption of new approaches in customer service has been driven by changes in consumer behaviour as well as the availability of new technologies.  

A great visitor experience has many similarities to making a positive customer impact in the hospitality industry. Successful facilities management seeks to deliver a comparable experience in the corporate world.

Today, consumers have become exposed to a wide range of service experiences through travel, online booking, together with hotel and restaurant visits, which have created high levels of expectation as well as influencing their sense of what good levels of service actually mean.

A key factor in the delivery of a great service experience is the use of technology, which ranges from smartphones, tablets and other web based technologies, supporting services such as customer loyalty programmes. These technologies enable the digital experience to be realised across the spectrum of service delivery.

Both hotels and restaurants have raised their game quite significantly, especially when it comes to the front of house and the guest experience. These expectations are now being carried through to the corporate environment where the visitor reception facilities team needs to adopt the same standards and have access to the same technology. 

So what are the best practice front of house ideas that the corporate world can embrace from the hospitality market?

The Experience

In the consumer world, the best customer experience is one that satisfies to the point where the brand becomes a preference and a long-term commitment is obtained from the customer, who then recommends the brand to friends and family.

Across the spectrum of hospitality and the corporate world, being able to provide staff and visitors with a friendly but professional welcome is now ‘the norm.’ This is delivered through appropriate front of house recruitment and training, and increasingly the use of technology.

In a corporate environment, FM teams with access to specialist meeting room booking software can equally greet guests with knowledge of who they are, to whom they are expected to meet, meeting room allocation including digital signage to guide them to their location, security clearance access and technology requirements, including Wi-Fi and AV or access to video conferencing facilities.

So what should a good visitor experience feel like from the Facilities Management perspective? A warm welcome, recognition, personal service, awareness of needs and the relevant information provided immediately to the individual visitor.

Speed and Efficiency

Typically, businesses have good information available on both staff and visitors arriving at a facility. As in a hotel environment, the front of house team should be using this information to provide a seamless and efficient process at the check-in point.

In a restaurant too, the dining experience is changing with the control now held by the consumer who is able to select from the menu, choose a dining seating experience and even pay up front, all through mobile technology such as Apple Pay.

For Facilities Managers to deal with staff and visitors access to the right information about the individual is critical. Secondly, the use of digital technology such as signage to communicate meeting details and direction to the relevant facilities. Thirdly, the use of room scheduling software software to engage service providers in a fast and efficient manner, potentially through mobile devices to handle the vast number of changes that can be a common facet of meeting arrangements.

Security

Collectively the challenge is to balance maintaining the highest level of security whilst delivering a hospitable and friendly welcome.

In the hospitality market, card based technologies are increasingly used to provide secure access. The next generation of secure access will be made possible by the wider use of mobile phones for key functions including access to bedrooms, in room entertainment and of course the mini-bar!

In the corporate world, card technology is also widely used today and works well when there is good integration between the visitor management system and access to rooms and meeting spaces.

Best practice in the corporate world combines the innovative use of technology with the human touch at key points in the process, to deliver both the welcome and the security required for members of staff and visitors. 

Exceeding Expectations

In the hospitality industry, the guest experience that exceeds expectations is always a great way to guarantee a return visitor.  Even if our expectation is not delivered, how the business deals with a complaint is equally likely to influence our decision to pay a return visit.

Leading hospitality businesses now have staff dedicated to obtaining feedback and responding positively to any negative experiences. This proactive approach is seen across the consumer spectrum, including the manner in which hotels or restaurants respond to negative reviews on Trip Advisor.

So why does the corporate world have to take feedback and response seriously?

Today’s customers are having their service expectations reshaped by advances in consumer technology, and will become increasingly frustrated when having to engage with brands that don’t perform to the same levels as the competition.

The checklist for great service delivery:

1. Understand the client and their service requirements and expectations.
2. Have access to the right information about the client, ideally on a mobile device with the latest meeting room management software.
3. Tailor the personal experience– how the client might be welcomed when engaging with a quality hospitality business.
4. Use technology to support service delivery, capture the right information, including feedback when service targets have not been met.
5. Where possible, embrace the latest technology to deliver a seamless experience in sensitive and complex areas such as security and facility access.
6. Get the basics right, with simple issues like the provision of Wi-Fi access to staff and visitors, without the need to be asked.
7. Adopt a proactive approach to client engagement to identify how well expectations have been met in all aspects of the experience.

NFS is a leading provider of technology for the hospitality market as well as providing technology to help Facilities Managers deal with room and desk booking together with visitor management and the delivery of a range of services used in the corporate world such as catering and video conferencing.

TAMING BIG BROTHER IN THE WORKSPACE

I’ve been talking with a number of larger companies recently about the technologies and HR issues surrounding their desire to want to track where their employees are. Their reasons range from security to productivity to space planning.

The ability to know where people are at all times feels like one of those “wouldn’t it be cool if” things that the world is heading towards… so close you can almost touch it.

Invariably, though, these discussions go around and around and end up in the same place: do we really want to go there?

But what if it turns out that what the facility managers, CFOs and workspace designers want to know about employee movement and activity is actually the exact same thing employees want to know for themselves?

Where’s Joe?

It’s easy to get caught up discussions about things like colleague finding and contingency planning for emergency evacuations.

Yes, there are ways to know exactly where Joe and Cathy are at any given time. It’s do-able and quite useful to know.

When Joe checks-in to a huddle space, desk or room, we now know where Joe is… and Joe is presumably ok with that because he was the one who “signed in” to the room.

Beyond that, however, Joe probably doesn’t want his whereabouts tracked throughout the day where he’s not specifically putting his name on a space or resource for his own benefit.

What’s in it for me?

Creating more flexible, proactive and collaborative spaces for employees is one of the hot topics at the moment.  What if a sensors primary visible function was to serve those purposes, giving employees information they can process for their own benefit?

Creating a smoother day where employees can find a quality space to work with the right equipment, reserving it online with desk booking software can then pave the way for corporate decision-makers to get some cool stuff too…like how many people are where and when – and maybe even why.

We know great space utilization pays off (see this case study).

Ultimately, being able to give management enough information about utilization to make seriously better informed decisions about the amount and quality of square footage the company needs is a huge leap forward… certainly a good “crawl” on the way to walking and running.

Employee Focus Provides Benefits

So maybe the best way to deal with Big Brother may be…not to.

Stop trying to track “who”, and start empowering everyone with useful, real-time data on how many, where, when and why, backed up by useful desk booking software.  Even companies on small budgets can do this now.

What are you waiting for?  Embrace your workspace.

5 REASONS WHY TOGETHERNESS WILL RULE THE WORKPLACE IN 2017

In 2017, it’s unlikely, or against the odds, for the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series a second year in a row especially after a 100 year hiatus. And I’m also not betting on Elvis impersonators disappearing from the Las Vegas strip anytime soon. But the most unlikely things have been happening since 2016, so I’d better add ‘probably’ to both of those statements…

In the world of workspace predictions, though, I’m thankfully on more certain ground. I’ve identified 5 important trends that will make a real impact on workplaces over the next 12 months – and could see us celebrating togetherness like never before.

1) The growth of the blended workforce – Forbes estimates that 40% of workers will be freelancers in a few years time, working hand-in- hand with full time and part time staff.

“With many freelancers working at remote offices, the ability to manage without borders is going to become a critical skills globally,” the magazine says. This trend will create growing demand for workplace booking and scheduling software that allows workers to see and book available workspace.

2) Peer collaboration as a job perk – Peer involvement always rate high in surveys as a reason people enjoy their job, but in 2016 employees reported not feeling very connected to their coworkers.

Workplace technology that encourages peer-to- peer collaboration – for example, making it easy to use videoconferencing – will play a big part in creating happy working environments that encourage talent to stay in 2017.

3) Automation – It was predicted that it will cost jobs, but a new report says less than 5% of jobs can be fully automated by adapting currently demonstrated technology.

Instead, automation will take the grind out of mundane tasks and free up more time for staff to work together. For instance, co-ordinating meetings across multi-locations is far easier now, with software notifying delegates automatically if time or venue changes.

4) Here comes Generation Z – This is the first year young people born after the mid-Nineties will enter the workplace. Digital-savvy millennials have already had a real impact on workplaces with their taste for flexible working.

Generation Z will be even more demanding – they’re the first generation to care more about flexible working than healthcare coverage. For them, mobile access to workplace facilities such as booking desks and collaborative space is beyond important.

5) Co-working. London now plays host to more co-working spaces than anywhere else in Europe, and shared space will continue to grow there and in the US as well. Managing such a fluid environment will see office organizers and schedulers reaching for the latest technologies to make sure their expensive real estate is well-used and easily accessible.

So what does 2017 look like in the workplace? Less packed with mundane tasks, for sure, with lots more opportunity for collaboration, peer integration and easy flexible working.

That’s not a bad picture when it comes to staff satisfaction, retention and productivity. And who knows? The Chicago Cubs might even roar again – but not counting on Elvis impersonators deserting Las Vegas anytime soon.

CLICK HERE for More Information on How Room & Desk Scheduling Technology can Connect Your Workplace.