There comes a time, once in every century, where the world witnesses a paradigm shift from the past to the future. This time of transition is both growth inducing and dynamic as everything around changes and shuffles up. 2020-2021 can be said to be those years, due credit to the pandemic.
How has the pandemic seeped into the workplace? The corporate arena could not alienate itself from this period of change. What we are witnessing is the ‘Great Reshuffle’. To all those new here, Great Reshuffle refers to a complete change in the mentality of the workforce and the workplace structure as they seek to challenge the present for a better, more fulfilling future. This includes demanding more flexibility and fruitation be it by the mediums of learning new skills to make them more employable or even leaving the current jobs for a more enriching one.
In April 2021, LinkedIn’s data showed that two-thirds of the workforce have either left their job or are considering it. In the United States, hiring was nearly 70% higher in June 2021 compared to June 2020, indicating that professionals may have better and faster success in finding a new stint. That being said, how should the management retain employees who are going through such a dilemma and headspace?
The challenge here was for the facility managers and workplace administrators as a major part of employee experience has to do with their regular day at the office, the setup and with what ease and convenience does their day flow.
In order to combat the wave of change that the Great Reshuffle was bringing in, administrations have adopted a more resilient, futuristic hybrid workplace model. When we say futuristic here, we refer to technology driven workplaces with minimal human intervention when it comes to management.
One such way to introduce such a hybrid model is the adoption of the workplace reservation system. So what is a workplace reservation system and how does it work? Also known as hot desking or desk booking system, it refers to the option available to the employees to choose a new desk as per their creative suitability and convenience. The perks of the same have been multifold as discussed below:
- Flexibility: Impermanent seating arrangement allows the employees to choose their own seating as per their liking and where they are optimally productive.
- Cost Saving: Hot-desking further enables the administration to optimally utilise the unused working space due to the reduction in working capacity at any given time in the office. This results in substantial cost savings specifically for workplaces with consultants, interns or the sales team that do not require a set desk daily.
- Safety & Sanitation Protocol: Having exact detailed information about the office’s floor plan at every given point through hot-desking permits the management to ensure that the socially distanced seating is as per safety guidelines. It also assists the janitor team to efficiently sanitize the space on the basis of such information provided.
- Collaboration & Productivity: They say great ideas brew around the coffee room! With the pandemic limiting our social interactions already, hot-desking allows colleagues to interact with each-other in a safe environment and collaborate on ideas.
- Uncluttered Workspace: One of the major apprehensions of returning back to the office has to be the non-adherence of social distancing. Hot-desking serves to be a great resort as it permits spaced out working arena in accordance with all safety guidelines.
With the Great Reshuffle putting the employees on the better end of the negotiation, it is all the more pivotal to consider a hybrid model that is inclusive of their needs and comforts. Newer methods like Visitor Management System, Office Space Booking and using softwares like the Space Reservation software are a few of the solutions that can be easily implemented.
Veris, the leading service provider in the SaaS domain, strongly believes that the Great Reshuffle can be catalytic in promoting a workplace that is technology driven and more free flowing. These changes not only improve the quality of work in the present but also work for the betterment of the coming forces of any organization.
