Opinion


Creating and managing a hybrid work environment


The challenges of recent times are unprecedented, and advice is changing daily. Over the last few months most office-based organisations have seen a huge culture shift but many have discovered that they can work effectively, even during a global crisis. Jon Knight Managing, Director and Co-founder of Ascentae, explains tools and techniques that can be used to greatest effect.


As we move towards a partial return to work, initial concerns have passed, and companies are taking a proactive approach to identifying and solving challenges. They are looking at strat- egies to support a hybrid business model that protects staff whilst allow- ing them to operate as near normal as possible. Our role at Ascentae is to look at the key elements of the gov- ernment ‘return to work’ guidance and address those that can be supported by technology.


Key considerations


Home working is here to stay. Surveys suggest that most of the UK workforce would like the opportunity to work, at least in part, from home. And Govern- ment advice concerning return to work is categorical – working from home should be supported if possible and steps taken to engage such employees. However, for those employees that need to, or prefer to, work in the office the need to socially distance at work will be with us for the foreseeable fu- ture. And employees need reassuranc- es about the measures their employ- er is taking to mitigate risk and meet Government criteria.


As business leaders develop plans for a safe return to office life, a key consideration will be their ability to comply with Government guidance on managing the flow of people in and out of the building. This applies to em- ployees but each organisation also has a duty to protect visitors to their build- ings. So, thought must also be given to controlling the number of visitors and ensuring they can be safely welcomed and hosted during their stay there.


Agile work environment


Changing the mix of office and remote workers presents a number of oppor-


14


tunities for organisations. Many have realised that they can optimise their use of real estate and operate more ef- ficiently and create a more agile work environment. Key to providing an ag- ile work environment is being able to provide an environment that facilitates activity-based working and effectively managing hotdesking spaces. Howev- er, to comply with Government guid- ance they need to be able to ensure that meeting spaces and hot desks can be thoroughly cleaned after every use. Whilst activity-based working may create opportunities to embrace a range of new technologies, some de- velopments may have been impeded by the pandemic. For example, touch technology has been a massive growth area in recent years, bringing an ease of use that delivers a great user experi- ence. Suddenly using a touchscreen is the last thing we want to use, and the Government advice stresses that they should be avoided if possible.


Summarising the challenges •Whole building occupancy: This is


controlling total occupancy and mon- itoring the number of employees and visitors that can enter whilst maintain- ing social distancing. You can control the number of em- ployees in the workplace at any given time by asking employees to pre-book a space via an app or desktop portal before leaving home. GoBright is a user-friendly desk and room management platform. Its an- alytics capability enables facilities managers to see the number of staff in the building at any one time and check that the maximum level has not been reached. When reaching the limit, desks can be instantly closed off and occupancy can be monitored over time so that, if necessary, additional measures can be taken such as adapt- ing staff rotas.


•Social distancing: Office and meeting space capacity is likely to be halved to ensure that social distancing can be


Flabba is a tool designed to make remote face-to-face discussions efficient. It is an intelligent video-enabled SaaS platform that provides video conferencing and essential business workflow facilities.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24