The new workplace – office or venue? It’s time for a radical rethink

Waves of change have washed over our offices – IT, video conferencing, AI and mobility – and work’s now a thing we do, a place we go.

So it’s time to ask tough questions about what our workplaces are REALLY FOR. In other words:

The new workplace: is it an office – or is it a venue?

Think about it.

1. 1. 1. You go there to do a specific thing
      2. You visit it to meet with people
      3. It’s got all you need to meet your goals
      4. It’s a fun place to be (or should be)

   Sounds like a venue to me, folks.

   But there’s one more important element:

    

   1. 1. You book your space before you get there.

    

I mean, you’d never just turn up at a gig hoping to get in. Hanging around looking for a seat? That ain’t rock ‘n roll.

And it doesn’t rock the new workplace, either. Recently, we’ve swapped out our formal boardrooms and fixed desks for more flexible spaces that suit desk booking.

We can sit down and do our jobs in many places – malls, coffee shops, our own kitchen counter – but we still need the office to be the beating heart of our working life.

It’s where we meet up, face-to-face or virtually via travel-saving collaborative tools such as video conferencing and AV.

It’s where we sit down at a hot desk or drop into a breakout space to catch up with colleagues.

We get better when we get together

A recent survey said:

“People working in teams innovate faster, achieve better results and report higher job satisfaction.

”No surprise there.

So we still need the office when it comes to promoting spontaneous collaboration and positive mental health.

It’s a generation thing?

Gen Z, in particular, is keen on a friendly office get-together.

A crazy high percentage – 92% – of these 18-24-year-olds think they don’t work best at home – and a huge 81% say social and communal areas are important workspace facilities.

But it’s not just the Z-ers – all generations are impacted to some degree.

So it’s time rethink your workspace as a venue.

You may never have looked at it that way before.

• Is it easy to book a space there?
• Can they do that before they arrive?
• Is it a cool place to get together with colleagues?
• Does it have everything they need to achieve their goals?
• Does it make them feel good?

It fits, right? You want your workplace environment to cover off all these elements.

If you already use room scheduling software, you’re be feeling smug – you’ve put a check against all those questions.

If you don’t, you’ll be amazed how much difference room scheduling software makes to your operations.

Give them the hot ticket

It works right from get-go. Your technology-supported workspace-as-a-venue means workers book their ideal hot desk or meeting space easily using an app.

So they’ve got the hot ticket to your gig before they even arrive – remember point 5 above?

And because they’ve booked resources from VC to AV and even catering in the same single booking transaction, there are no delays.

The workspace venue that rocks

They arrive, settle down, get working or meeting. The room scheduling software even reduces no-shows by automatically informing everyone if a room or time changes.

No hanging around; that’s a cool workspace that makes everyone feel good, not just friendly Gen Z-ers. Hey, who’d ever want to leave? Talent retention never looked so easy, while productivity and wellbeing are a natural result.

I like the idea of a workspace as a venue; it’s an enjoyable and attractive perspective on our working lives that’s a great fit with a healthy work-life balance.

So it’s time for office owners like you to have a radical rethink.

Get the tech.

Get the right stuff, the room scheduling software that makes it all happen for you and your workforce.

Then get your workspace venue open for some real business. That’s my kind of gig.

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