An increasing number of companies want employees to return to the office, creating a need for a welcoming work environment and effective collaboration spaces that enhance team spirit and face-to-face collaboration. Different types of spaces play a crucial role in the offices and help to make the space comfortable not only for the meetings but for productive work, motivation, brainstorming of creative ideas, and breaks during the work.
The collaboration between employees, the feeling of belonging, community, and well-being are the main reasons employees return to offices compared to remote work. During the period of remote working, most employees stated they lacked face-to-face communication and missed the connection that comes from sharing a physical collaboration space with their teams. Microsoft Work Trend Index research shows that 85% of employees would be motivated to go into the office to rebuild team bonds.
When deciding what collaborative workspaces are needed, the office environment must benefit employees and boost their productivity, sense of community, and cooperation. What kind of meeting rooms and workplaces do the employees value the most?
Let’s look through the various options for meeting rooms and other employee collaborative office space and reveal their benefits for the well-being of employees and the company’s culture. Also, we will discuss the growing demand for state-of-art meeting room booking systems and how they contribute to productivity and help to avoid pitfalls.
Meeting Pods and Meeting Booths
The employees lack privacy and break rooms or relaxing zones when most offices are open-spaced. Meeting pods or meeting booths help a lot in such situations. The meeting pod is a particular soundproof flexible private room that varies in size and is suitable for a single person or more. Such relaxing or collaborative spaces are excellent for small meetings and those requiring a quiet workspace.
Although the offices are designed to enhance collaboration spirit between employees, sometimes employees prefer solitude and privacy. Also, some tasks require a quiet and separate space for managing the one-on-one meetings, and meeting pods or booths satisfy this need.
Meeting pods or booths are also beneficial for social distancing, excellent places for employees to focus and concentrate, and valuable for private calls or video conferences. They are flexible, easily installed, and cheaper than office cubicles.
Brainstorming Spaces
Brainstorming zones are perfect for sparking creative ideas and encouraging collaboration with colleagues in an informal collaboration space. They offer a non-monotonous and creative work environment where brilliant shared ideas are generated, and employees can relax during meetings.
Brainstorming zones in the office strengthen the sense of community and team spirit, reduce stress, and boosts the bond between colleagues. These office areas can serve as break rooms or places for employees to focus and stay quiet.
Break Rooms
Employees value and enjoy social time with each other during work. Such collaborative workspaces as comfortable break rooms are essential because they help to prevent burnout, give a sense of freedom and flexibility, enhance collaboration, and promote relaxation and recreation.
State-of-art break rooms are perfect places for employees to relax or gather together for a friendly chat where they can generate creative ideas over a cup of coffee. A quiet place in the office is vital for employees’ productivity, motivation, and well-being.
Creating a space where employees can relax, you can consider adding such amenities as an office library, comfortable seating, a coffee station, a snack bar, or a foosball table.
Informal Collaboration Spaces
It is a good idea to have informal meeting rooms where employees can share their thoughts, discuss, and have client meetings or strategy sessions that are tech–enabled to facilitate collaboration. The difference with formal meeting rooms is that such collaboration spaces do not require a formal environment, and employees can be more relaxed and prone to creativity.
These spaces are often designed with comfortable seating, flexible furniture, and calming decor to help employees feel at ease. Adding amenities like whiteboards, screens, or digital tools can enhance collaboration, making capturing ideas on the spot easier. This setup not only promotes a more casual atmosphere but also supports spontaneous and creative thinking, which is essential for problem-solving and innovation.
Formal Meeting Rooms
Formal meeting rooms are traditional meeting rooms that are the heart of the company’s office, where strategic decisions are made and clients are invited. The meeting rooms are usually spacious to ensure flexibility and are designed for privacy and focus on professionalism and accessibility.
Having a meeting room in the office is significant because meeting rooms create a space for interviews and meetings and provide a professional and convenient set-up. Conference or meeting rooms help to make an excellent first impression, offer additional amenities such as internet connection, projectors, and other technical equipment, facilitate better collaborations between employees or clients and offer convenient meeting room booking systems.
The demand for meeting room booking systems is rising because of the ease of usage and the opportunity to book the meeting room with software, which ensures practical office space usage and optimizes business costs.
How Can a Meeting Room Booking System Help You to Manage Collaboration Space?
The meeting room booking system is an innovative solution for conference or meeting rooms that allows easy management booking online by checking the meeting room availability, securing it, or releasing it from the calendar. Using the booking system, you can find the available collaboration space on your mobile app, website dashboard, or Outlook or Google account.
By attaching a display near your meeting room or other space, you will not experience any interruptions during your gatherings because the meeting room display indicates if the area is occupied or vacant. Also, you could always book the needed space, change your meeting details or release the space by simply changing the information on the display.
With the help of meeting room occupancy sensors, you can use your meeting rooms fully – the sensors will auto-book the room if somebody decides to pop in for a quick ad-hoc meeting or will auto-release it when no one shows up for the booked meeting.
One of the main benefits of conference or meeting room booking software is the analysis of space usage and valuable insights. By evaluating the analytical data, you can gather information about what office space is used the most, their availability, the number of meeting attendees, and strategize the area of the office. With analytics, you can easily decide what office spaces your employees need and when and manage the workplace zones better.
Key Features of an Effective Meeting Room Booking Solution
What benefits and features should you look for in a meeting room booking solution when choosing one for your company? We suggest paying attention to four main elements – ease of use, integration with other software, the opportunity for data insights, and reduced office expenses.
Ease of Use
When integrating the meeting room booking system, ease of use and simplicity are vital factors which should be considered. If you choose a complicated meeting room booking solution, the employees will not quickly adopt it. Meeting room or any collaboration space booking solutions aim to simplify all employees’ processes and workplace experience.
Smooth Integration With Other Software
Cross-platform collaboration is a handy feature for your meeting or conference room booking system because adopting such a system will increase productivity. Ensuring the booking system works smoothly with calendar programs, Google, Outlook, and other software is essential.
The Analysis of Collaboration Space Data
One of the most valuable benefits and critical features a booking system should have is the opportunity to track, gather, and analyze data. By analyzing this data, you can make valuable insights and further decisions on how to use your collaboration spaces or even maybe change the layout of the office for better use. Also, the meeting room booking system should automatically find free meeting rooms in real-time, detect the room no–shows, and mark these rooms on the database for further analysis.
Real-Time Availability and Scheduling Flexibility
In addition to real-time room availability, look for features that allow employees to book, reschedule, or cancel meetings instantly, with notifications to other participants. This flexibility ensures that rooms are always in optimal use, accommodating any last-minute changes without disrupting workflows.
Mobile Accessibility
With hybrid work increasingly common, a mobile-friendly booking solution can be invaluable. It allows employees to check availability, book, or manage reservations on the go, whether they’re working remotely or in the office.
Automated Reminders and Notifications
A useful booking solution should also include automated reminders and notifications, which help reduce no-shows and remind participants of upcoming meetings in collaboration spaces. This feature can minimize scheduling conflicts and help employees better manage their time.
Occupancy and Environmental Monitoring
For a truly efficient space, consider a system that monitors room occupancy and environmental factors like lighting, temperature, and air quality. This feature can optimize room comfort for attendees and contribute to energy savings by adjusting room conditions when spaces are not in use.
Reduction of Office Costs
Effectively using a meeting room booking system and its provided data can significantly cut office expenses and real estate costs. These booking solutions are a perfect way to optimize and innovatively organize business expenses by analyzing bookings and space usage data and making decisions accordingly.
The Benefits of Collaboration Space
Most companies aim to build close-knit, result-driven teams where employees express their opinions, share insights, and bring creativity. The collaboration rooms such as meeting pods/booths, brainstorming areas, break rooms, and informal or formal meeting rooms are the key elements that enhance productivity, motivation, creativity, and a sense of belonging to the organization. These aspects are crucial for employees returning to offices after the pandemic.
The employees value the stress-free and productive workday, and the meeting room booking solution provides an opportunity because it allows them to book their needed spaces and stay organized.
Also, collaboration spaces ensure employees’ well-being which is tremendously critical in today’s fast-paced business environment. Comfortable collaboration areas are necessary for the offices to prevent burnout and boost productivity and motivation for everyday tasks. Not only do office areas contribute to the employee’s socialization, but they also help the business to stay flexible and adapt to changes.
Collaborative workplaces are purposely diverse – colleagues from different departments with various knowledge and job duties can collaborate and get valuable insights, leading to personal and professional development and close-knit workplace culture.
