How Can You Increase Productivity In Your Workspace?

Productivity is no longer in-office only. Since 2020, many companies have discovered the value of remote work in driving productivity and reducing waste. In 2022, as more workplaces shift to a mix of in-office and at-home workstyles, the unique challenge is how to maintain high-levels of productivity.

Fortunately for employers, the way to maximize employee productivity and business growth while reducing overhead costs and waste is to match your workspace management setup to your workforce and business projects.

Here are six workspace factors you should consider when trying to drive productivity.

1. Workspace Technology

We live in a highly digitized world, and the pandemic only pushed us further down that path. Many businesses had to adapt or fall in the last few years, and technology played a crucial role. Now, it plays an ever larger one as businesses seek to adapt to a flexible workstyle and increasing consumer demand.

When thinking about workspace technology, consider:

1. Meeting scheduling and management
2. Resource management – for employees and events (meetings, conferences, etc.)
3. Desk booking
4. Visitor management and automation

Meeting room and resource management

Manage your meeting planning, booking and related resources you need (order food, technologies and more) all in one solution. Built specifically for Microsoft Outlook®, Microsoft 365, Teams and the Exchange Server, our meeting room booking system enables you to quickly and easily locate and schedule the most appropriate meeting rooms for your needs.

• Can be installed either on-site, in your own cloud, or in our cloud as an SaaS solution
• Book and manage meeting spaces and meetings
• Streamline visitor management for meetings
• Book resources like laptops, projectors, parking spaces, catering and more

Simplify management of individual workspaces

Make managing flexible workspaces and individual dedicated spaces easier by implementing a desk booking solution that integrates with employees’ mobile devices, Outlook® and Microsoft 365 (including Teams!).

• See how the Workspace app can help employees quickly book workspaces on-demand
• See how you can make hot-desking easy and fast

Automate visitor management

Managing the visitor process used to be simple and consistent. Hybrid and flexible workspaces have changed things. Today, visitor management must able be adaptable to the changes in in-office headcount and visitor volume.

Automating your visitor management process with Resource Central’s receptionist software, including the visitor management feature can help to provide a welcoming, safe, and secure visitor experience.

Assistant Organizer can help teams coordinate and assistants streamline work

Another unique technology to consider is one that helps assistants expedite their duties as well as aid teammates in supporting each other. The Assistant Organizer from Add-On Product’s Resource Central software is a resource booking software that makes it possible for a user to book a meeting and place orders on behalf of a colleague or manager. This enables assistants to receive emails related to a booking and order additional services for the meeting. Other benefits exist for Assistant Organizer, and you can learn more about it here.

2. Create Workspace Flexibility

Today, employees want and prioritize workplace flexibility. The pandemic created an increase in the desire for working from home, and while that’s not possible for every organization, creating workspace flexibility wherever possible can help drive productivity.

One way to do this is providing employees with flexible workspaces that can support a hybrid remote-and-at-home workforce. This allows employees to work from home when they need/want, and to leverage the resources at the office when appropriate. For example, if teams need to come together to collaborate, they may want to book desks near each other for a few days. Or it may be necessary for groups to host a larger meeting or event and use one of the meeting rooms on-site.

3. Leverage the Right Environment

Where you work. What meeting room you use. What people you sit near to. All of these things contribute to the workspace environment. And having the right or wrong environment can impact productivity.

Environmental elements to consider to improve workspace productivity include:

• Space: Do employees have enough space for themselves and/or others to feel comfortable, safe and to collaborate?
• Location: Are you sitting near people who are loud? Are you sitting near someone who is productive or distracting? Where your workspace is located can influence how much an employee can focus and consequently how productive they are.
• Sound: Are there distractions present or is the workspace conductive to a relaxing, focused state of mind? Is the ambience of a space adaptable for each employee? (For example, can you shut the door to an hub room or office, or can employees manage phone calls simultaneously without sound echoing to disturb each other?).

Here are some other readings to consider when seeking to best leverage the right workspace environment for productivity.

• Maximizing space with meeting room booking solutions (healthcare lens)
• Etiquette for meetings and conference rooms
• Where you sit matters and why

4. Foster Communication

Communication between employees is integral to collaboration and streamlined processes. What’s funny though is that while employee direct communication about projects is often thought about, the communication around planning isn’t. Communication and collaboration tools can foster better employee relations, team synergy, and create an overall happier workforce.

Benefits to having strong collaboration tools:

1. It’s easier to communicate with your colleagues both in the office and remotely
2. More easily share resources and files
3. Set up meetings faster
4. Help employees stay connected
5. Help employees to manage workloads and still remain highly productive.
6. Increase transparency in everyone’s work for greater business goal alignment

These are just a few ways to increase business productivity, and technological solutions are at the helm of each. If you’re ready to see how Add-On Products’ can help you drive greater productivity, click here to book a free demo and trial.