Desk sharing, a key part of the new work world and an ideal concept for hybrid work models, has many advantages. Many companies are relying on the concept to increase employee satisfaction, while others are using it to promote a modern corporate culture.

Most companies, however, choose the concept to benefit from the financial advantages.

Desk sharing ensures employees do not claim a desk as their own. Workspaces are flexibly shared between employees. Companies can use a hot desking software to manage this new aspect of organization. Since office workspaces are shared, fewer workspaces are needed and areas that have been underused in the past can now be repurposed. Fewer workspaces also means less office equipment. Even the amount of office space needed is reduced. All in all, using desk sharing to optimize resources can help realize cost savings of up to 30%.

The savings calculator included with the YOUR SPACE hot desking solution calculates the potential savings that could be realized using our software.

When we introduced home office, many employees were fascinated by “working from home”. You can wear what you want without worrying about how your appearance reflects on the company and you can cook while you work or even go for a quick jog before starting your day.
Now, however, many employees are switching from full-time home office to a hybrid work model, some of them voluntarily and others at their employer’s request. That means spending a few days a week at the office. While this transition offers greater flexibility, it sounds easier than it is. After all, adjusting to a hybrid model can become quite a complex process. This article discusses a few ways employers can help employees acclimate to a hybrid work model.

Combine socializing and work

It is common for employees to engage in casual conversations with their colleagues at the office. Who doesn’t remember the time before home office – having a nice cup of coffee in the kitchen, maybe even having a piece of chocolate and chatting with your colleagues. Meeting others is one of the benefits of working at an office. However, going back to the office can be distracting, especially once you have gotten used to working from home.

That is why it is important to combine the fun aspects of the workspace with the actual work that needs to get done. Our tip: encourage your employees to develop a type of time management that lends structure to their workday, for example, using a timer.

Time for new contacts

It should be noted that returning to the office can also mean entering into actual, personal contact again. While working from home, employees got used to communicating without any personal contact with their colleagues. In the end, Teams and Zoom meetings could never replace actual contact with colleagues, especially when many employees turn their cameras off during meetings. It is important to remember that nothing can ever replace personal interaction.

When bringing employees back to the office, it is important to foster the rebuilding of relationships between employees, because it makes office life all the richer and promotes the corporate culture. To promote employee interaction, especially interaction between new and existing employees, employers can organize regular, in-person meetings in, say, the office kitchen, where employees can grab a coffee or a snack and get to know one another better. . That, in turn, helps bring back the relationships and interactions that were lost when employees worked from home.

The most important time: downtime

According to Forbes magazine, 69% of employees experience burnout when they work from home. On the other hand, working in an office and having your day full of social interactions can also be exhausting. In hybrid companies, employees should take advantage of the flexibility the work model offers and relax when they are not in the office, but enjoy the interaction when they are.

If not already the case, it is advisable to organize lounges or relaxation rooms for employees where they can go during breaks or if they just need a few minutes to themselves. If employers make sure their employees feel well-balanced, they will feel better at the office and be able to avoid burning out.

Good health is everything

The pandemic has made it incredibly difficult to return to the office. Conditions are constantly changing, so make working at the office comfortable, it important that employees feel appreciated, especially in times like these. That is why more and more employers are relying on workspace reservation software, which offers an overview of the available spaces at the office, ensures social distancing is observed at the office, while the 3G rule-of-three (vaccinated, recovered, tested) verification ensures safety measures are being met to the greatest extent possible.

One example is the YOUR SPACE workspace reservation system. It ensures an easy return to the office and helps employees feel comfortable and safe. The Covid integration and 3G rule verification means less work for employers and employees alike. Available workspaces can be reserved from a smartphone in just a few clicks or canceled if no longer needed.

More information on the YOUR SPACE workspace reservation software can be found at www.deinraum.io

It’s Friday and today we start our “Feature Friday” blog series. What is better than finding out about a cool feature of the @YourSpace app right before the weekend?

Everyone probably has their favorite workspaces where they feel most comfortable, whether a window space, a bright space or a quieter corner of the office. That is exactly what the developers thought when they developed it, so they created today’s feature called “favorite space”.

What does the “favorite space” feature offer?

The function offers a nice little benefit for users of our hot desking solution. Not only can they set their favorite space in the office using the reservation pop-up, but it makes reserving the space in the app even easier with an “express reservation” option.

How does the feature work in the app?

1. Find a space in the office floor plan and click the desk you want

2. In the pop-up you will see a heart in the upper right corner with the description “Set as my favorite space”. Just click the heart!

3. The left side contains a column with all your personal favorites in a section titled “Your favorite spaces”.

4. You can repeat this process for all your favorites.

5. YOUR SPACE now offers an express reservation function that allows you to quickly reserve a space right from the “Your favorite spaces” section.

If you already use YOUR SPACE, give this function a try right now! If not: get your free 30-day trial of the hot desking software at https://deinraum.io

That a hot desking software lets you reserve workspaces at the office is obvious, but YOUR SPACE is more than just workspace reservations. The latest software update offers expanded reservation options. Users can now reserve their space as home office, as an external meeting or as absent.

How does reserving a spot outside the office work?

The developers of the YOUR SPACE software have expanded the app to include three further fields in addition to the office floor plan. They are discreet and are only displayed when expanded.

1. Clicking the arrow

Clicking the arrow expands the view and three fields appear: “Home Office”, “External Meeting” and “Absent”.

2. selecting the location

The desired location can now be selected. For example, if a user is working from home, they can click the “Home Office” field.

3. booking

A pop-up appears when the field is selected and the user then has the option to reserve the selected location.

This function makes getting a clear overview easier throughout the company. As soon as the home office location is reserved, other colleagues know that the person is not in the office, but is still available. Managers know where their staff is and how to reach them.

If you already use the software, give this function a try right now! If not, get your free 30-day trial of the YOUR SPACE workspace reservation software now.

A software with a workspace reservation function is practical and great for the office, but a software with a lot of additional features is even better. YOUR SPACE provides a dashboard that shows which colleagues are at the office on any given day and which space they are working from. This is very practical for determining who you are working with that day or who you want to sit next to. The developers of YOUR SPACE knew, however, that not everyone would love that function. There might be any number of reasons a person would want to remain anonymous. Certain users prefer not having their colleagues be able to see where they are sitting.

That is why the “Hide Me” function was developed. It allows YOUR SPACE users to anonymously reserve a workspace in the office.

What does the “Hide Me” feature do?

This function is a nice benefit for users of our desk sharing solution. It permits an incognito reservation and prevents others from seeing which space a person is using. 

How does the feature work in the app?

1. Click the “Settings” button in the menu bar at the top.

2. This will open a pop-up where you can select the opt-in button for “Hide my name from others”.

3. The workspace you reserved will simply be shown on the floor plan as “occupied”, meaning your colleagues will not see who is sitting there, they will merely see an anonymous reservation.

4. Unchecking the option in the settings will make you visible to your colleagues again.

If you already use YOUR SPACE, then give this function a try right now! If not, get your free 30-day trial of the hot desking software at https://deinraum.io

The pandemic has made it incredibly difficult to return to the office. Not only are situations constantly changing, but well-devised plans for protecting employees at the office are needed. Within that context, it is not just about observing established hygiene measures. Aspects such as an employee’s individual route to work can also play a role. To ensure they have a clear overview of who is at the office and consequently be able to organize everyone involved, more and more employers are relying on so-called desk sharing solutions. These solutions offer many benefits. Providers like YOUR SPACE provide more than just a function for simplifying compliance with distancing rules at the office or documenting compliance with the 3G rule-of-three (vaccinated, recovered, tested). With their function for workspace reservations, they also provide a valuable organizational tool for complying with the hygiene concept and distancing rules. These tools truly help prevent chains of infection and help protect employees.

The mandatory home office requirement that was introduced as part of the infection protection law was officially lifted on March 19, 2022. For many companies, this raised the question once again of how to organize an office during a pandemic.

To ensure a pandemic-appropriate and employee-safe return to the office, we have put together the following guide that provides ideas, tips and rules for doing so. We hope this guide makes it easier for you to accomplish the task ahead.

Naturally, employees all had a different reaction to working from home. For some it made it easier for them to manage their day-to-day lives, while others missed the social interactions with their colleagues at work or struggled with separating their professional and personal lives when it all took place within the same four walls. To make re-entry into office life as easy for employees as possible, we recommend conducting a survey in advance and then having employees return in increments.

To do so, it is important to find out:

• Who wants to come back to the office?
• How many days a week?
• What do employees expect when returning to the office in order to feel safe there?

This data can then be analyzed and summarized to provide an overview of what employees have in mind and what measures they expect to be taken. This can be compared to what the company had in mind and the hygiene concept, and can even be expanded to include suggestions that may be good ideas.  Aside from employees who never could work from home for operational reasons, this data gives companies an overview of which employees might be more willing to return first, thereby simplifying the incremental approach, and prevents potential discrepancies within a team from developing in the first place. In addition, crisis teams can be formed to ensure critical positions are always staffed and reduce the amount of direct contact between employees within the company. To do so, it is important to find out:

• Which disciplines need to be represented on-site at all times and to what extent?
• Could some sort of rotation system be introduced for different teams?

In addition to rules for being at the office, a well-devised and well-implemented hygiene concept forms another key part of minimizing the risk of infection. Before allowing increased office occupancy again, zones that might pose a higher risk should be identified and adequate disinfectant obtained. We have drafted the following guidelines for that purpose:

Basics

• Ensure regular disinfection of office spaces
• Ensure minimum distancing of 1.5 meters between people
• FFP2 masks must be worn when not at a desk
• If minimum distancing cannot be observed, an FFP2 mask must be worn when in doubt
• Anyone with respiratory symptoms or cold symptoms must stay at home
• If possible: Set up separate entries and exits
• Determine the maximum capacity for buildings, conference rooms and office rooms and label accordingly
• Regular cleaning of door handles, railings and light switches
• Instruct employees in the hygiene and distancing rules
• Post the hygiene rules throughout the building
• Occupational medical precautions and protections for high-risk people
• Designation of a primary Covid contact party
• Compliance with the 3G rules (vaccinated, recovered, tested)
• Regular ventilation of all areas and rooms
• Procurement of air exchangers for rooms that cannot be aired out

YOUR ROOM makes returning to the office and organizing hybrid work models easy. An integrated function for ensuring distancing rules or for documenting 3G (vaccinated, recovered, tested) models makes implementing hygiene models considerably easier.

More information on the YOUR SPACE workspace reservation software can be found at www.deinraum.io

The YOUR SPACE desk sharing app is versatile and offers a wide variety of functions. However, one thing never changes: recreating or mapping our customers’ floor plans. Each location has its own floor plan, different desk arrangements and, naturally, different rooms. Our team works every day to turn the floor plans delivered as PDF files into a clear and clean version in the app.

First of all, it is important to point out that this process is never carried out without a customer’s consent. Customers of our software send us their office floor plans, sometimes with notes and comments, as a PDF or SVG file. When doing so, it is important that they indicate which workspaces are available for reservations and where those are located on the floor plan. Our developers take care of mapping them in the software. Available spaces are shown in green and users can reserve them in the app. It is also important for us to know whether there are different sections in an area that should be occupied by a specific department or departments. We can flag those and enable them for the respective, authorized departments.

Next, the information is sent to our UI/UX designers, who convert the floor plan into a clean and usable version. Finally, our developers enter the final version of the floor plan in the app and highlight the workspaces that are available for reserving.

As mentioned above, mapping is a process, so the time it takes to map drawings in the system tends to vary. Key factors in this process are the communication between our app owners and the customer or company, and the quality of the floor plan that is provided. Based on our experience, it generally takes about a week.

It is no secret that the work environment is changing. The search for new solutions to everyday problems has already turned into a new kind of trend. More and more companies are relying on software that can be used to reserve workspaces – so-called “hot desking” tools.

Hot desking, also referred to as “desk sharing”, “shared desk” or “flexible office” is an organizational concept that focuses on seating assignments at an office. The core feature is that employees no longer have a permanent space at the office. Workspaces are shared among employees and can be managed using a desk sharing tool.

In theory, there are multiple workspaces in an office that can be occupied by different employees. Thus, the personalized workspace no longer exists.

The developers of the “YOUR SPACE” hot desking software made it their goal to make reserving a workspace at the office as easy as possible. Our software lets you reserve a workspace in just three steps whether from your computer or from your smartphone.

Step 1:
Select a workspace and click on it

Step 2: Select a time frame

A pop-up appears when you click on a workspace. In it, you can reserve the space for the entire day or you can manually select a time frame. You can use the slider to adjust the time frame or you can enter your desired times in the corresponding fields.

Step 3: Reserve it

Finally, click the “Reserve” button. You have just reserved a workspace at the office in three easy steps.

Workspace reservations in just three steps with the YOUR SPACE desk sharing tool. Get your free 30-day trial of the hot desking software at https://deinraum.io