Workers are returning to offices but not the offices of the past.
The pandemic has driven a change in the way that workplaces are designed and configured.
The reasons staff come to the office and the way they work when they get there have led to changes in the facilities landlords provide for their tenants, and that employers offer to their staff.
The office is primarily a space for collaboration—hybrid working means that many staff only come into the office when they need to meet, discuss and interact with colleagues. Offices are increasingly being designed around a range of meeting and collaboration spaces.
No allocated desks—with staff not in the office full-time, companies are reducing (or even eliminating) the number of assigned individual desks in favour of ‘hot desks’. Staff still need to store their belongings though, and offices are installing lockers to keep items secure.
Different travel modes—more staff now get to the office on foot or by bike and building owners are providing ‘end of trip’ shared facilities that include bike racks, showers, lockers and even irons.
As recent research from CBRE confirmed, this gives employers the challenge of ‘how to redefine the role of the office while accurately gauging space utilisation and creating an agile office network for a far more dispersed workforce’.
Electronic Access Control (EAC) systems, such as those from SALTO, are being used to address these challenges, helping landlords to attract high-quality tenants, and employers to provide a positive ‘return to the office’ experience. EAC provides ease of management, lower overheads and information that allows them to respond to changing needs.
Access in your pocket: EAC puts access at employees’ fingertips. Using the SALTO JustIn app, the employee’s phone replaces their traditional plastic card for access into the base building, lift and office floor(s) and meeting rooms.
Online bookings: Employees have access to a dedicated booking app—they can see which areas are free, and reserve their collaboration space.
Flexible, secure storage: Lockers secured with locks from SALTO Group company Gantner can be ‘personal’ (allowing staff to leave items long term) or ‘free’ (assigned on the day for short-term use) and can be accessed via a card or mobile phone.
Ease of management: EACs allow landlords or employers to manage doors and lockers remotely, across multiple sites, reducing their overheads.
Visibility: Lockers and collaboration areas represent a significant investment. Landlords and employers need to be able to see that they are making effective use of their valuable office floor space. SALTO’s software allows them to see at a glance the utilisation of lockers and rooms, so that they can rapidly adjust if the configuration is not quite right.
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that things can change fast. Offices have changed, and EAC is helping landlords and employers meet current requirements and remain flexible for the future.
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