Review of the Office Manager Summit (4th edition)

@ Deskare
October 28, 2021
Published by
Victor

Last week, the Deskare team was happy to meet more than 300 Office Managers at the 4th Office Manager Summit at Ground Control! 

This event was an opportunity to discuss with you your main concerns related to the implementation of hybrid work. Here is a look back at the event and the main issues we identified 👇 

Hybrid work and moving: a logical consequence? 

During our discussions, the question of moving or selling part of the offices came up repeatedly, regardless of the sector of activity or size of the company. 

hybrid work allows employees to work remotely on certain days of the week and therefore changes the general use of offices. Moreover, the implementation of flex-office and relocation often went hand in hand in your testimonies: it is easier to carry out a flex-office project in the context of a relocation, in a building designed for this mode of organisation.

These testimonies are in line with a JLL study published last October: 

  • 59% of companies surveyed would be willing to adopt or intensify flex office and 
  • 47% want to take advantage of this to rationalise their property portfolio. 

However, when is the right time to move or give up part of the office? Once the move has been made, how can we ensure that the transition goes as smoothly as possible? 

Encouraging employees to return to the office 

After a period of confinement, which has seen every employee at remote work get used to a new way of life, it's often complicated for you to get your staff back in the office. 

Indeed, the flexible working rhythm combined with better time management has offered employees the opportunity to improve their quality of life. Today, what is the point of a 45-minute commute to the office alone? 

Many of you told us that the lack of visibility on the status of colleagues can lead to employees dragging their feet when it comes to returning to the office. In order to prepare for the return to the office in the best possible way, it is necessary to take into account what motivates employees to favour remote work, in order to act accordingly.

According to JLL, the feeling of satisfaction associated with remote work is dominated by more balanced meals (76%), more time spent with family and friends (75%), the possibility of taking breaks (68%), getting a good night's sleep (71%) or even the possibility of doing sport (55%). It is now up to employers to observe this change of habit, which is positively experienced by the employee, in order to preserve its advantages within the company's hybrid model. 

Managing overcapacity in flex office space

Finally, a major problem encountered by manyOffice Managers is office overcapacity. The transition to a flex-office often results in an overcrowding rate of less than 1 (less available workstations than the number of employees), so you sometimes find that some employees come to the office and find themselves without an available space...

The desk-sharing rate is a sensitive issue. Among the companies surveyed by JLL, there seems to be a consensus around a break-even rate of 0.8 positions per employee, which is perceived as an acceptable rate of sharing. 

This rate could even be reduced to 0.7 shifts per employee, provided that the occupancy is measured in real time and managed in a homogeneous way over all days of the week, taking into account the smoothing of remote work days. 

Our mission: to support you in managing these key issues

All your problems have been feeding Deskare for almost a year! On a daily basis, we are committed to supporting your hybrid work and flex-office policy .

Are you considering moving or selling part of your office space? Benefit from quantified analyses on the current use of your offices: major trends, focus on certain days, overcapacity... Deskare gives you all the keys for the most rational decision possible. 

Moreover, after the move, it is necessary to be well equipped to accompany the transition. For this purpose, Deskare provides you with the certainty that each employee will find his or her account by allowing him or her to reserve his or her office and come to work with the comfort of knowing that his or her place is waiting!

When it comes to the return of your employees, Deskare supports the return to the office with an all-in-one platform that gives everyone maximum visibility on the status of all employees in the company.

Finally, your staff rotation can become a headache without an adapted tool. With Deskare, we give you the assurance that each employee can come to the office with his or her own workstation. According to the available offices for the day, each employee can indeed reserve his or her workstation to prepare his or her arrival! This functionality also allows you to consider new recruitments with serenity, by including the new arrivals in the rotation. 


We would love to bring you more feedback on these topics, please feel free to contact us by sending an email to hello@deskare.io 🙌