Derek DeWitt, Communications Specialist, Visix, Inc, and writing for Digital Signage Today, discusses activity-based working (ABW), and its relevance to digital signage.
Traditional office setups have been challenged by new ways of working that prioritise flexibility, collaboration and employee empowerment. New workplace environments established through agile work, flexible work and hybrid work models have paved the way for ABW, a dynamic addendum to the modern workplace that has gained significant traction.
ABW encourages employees to choose the most suitable spaces and tools for their tasks or tastes, rather than being confined to assigned desks or cubicles. Digital signage suppliers have responded by developing methods that apply visual presentation skillsets to the room signs we now see through the workplace.
ABW focuses on how people use physical space. With its emphasis on providing employees with a range of workspaces and tools based on what they are actually doing, ABW promotes collaboration, adaptability and innovation by allowing teams to easily co-locate and work together.
ABW Success Strategies
Workspace hoteling is an ABW practice where employees reserve workspaces on-demand, like booking hotel rooms for temporary use while travelling. It involves a centralised reservations system that allows employees to select and reserve workspaces based on their needs, whether it’s a desk, a meeting room or a collaborative area. Workspace hoteling lets organisations optimise space utilisation, accommodate varying work patterns and enhance flexibility for employees.
Reservation systems can also generate valuable data on space utilisation patterns, popular workspaces and booking trends. This can provide organisations with actionable insights for space planning and optimisation. By analysing usage trends, organisations can make informed decisions regarding workspace design, resource allocation and overall workplace strategy, ensuring that spaces align with employees’ needs and preferences.
Some digital signage vendors offer such reservation systems, while others promote partnerships through established brands that specialise in these technologies. Neither approach is right or wrong, so long as the technologies address these challenges together without disruption or complications. No matter how the technologies are deployed, workspace hoteling within an ABW environment empowers employees with flexibility and choice while enabling organisations to make the most efficient use of their spaces. It fosters a more agile and adaptable work environment, reduces real estate costs and provides data-driven insights for future planning.
Hotdesking and hoteling are similar, but hoteling requires workspaces to be reserved in advance whereas hotdesking does not. Hotdesking is when employees don’t have assigned or reserved desks at all, but instead choose an available workspace each day on a first-come, first-served basis. It involves a shared workspace setup where employees can select any unoccupied desk or workspace when they arrive at the office. In some cases, employees can reserve desks on-site, but they do not reserve them in advance like with workspace hoteling.
Hotdesking optimises space utilisation and promotes flexibility. This flexibility can lead to more collaboration and networking, as small groups or sub-teams assemble for a specific task, or part of a task. Employees can be more responsive to changing needs, whether that’s a particular project or other work demands, or client engagements.
Again, the organisation may find they no longer need as many desks or spaces as before, which saves on costs and allows for scaling the workforce without the need for additional physical space. Leveraging communication technologies, such as instant messaging and video conferencing platforms, can further augment communication and coordination among employees who may be working from different locations or changing workspaces frequently.
Digital signage suppliers are also coming through with new innovations to address this sort of solution, including wireless booking technologies that can live inside a worker’s mobile device. This represents an interesting convergence of bring your own device and real-time space booking technology.
This article appears in Digital Signage Today.
