Are you considering a transition to activity-based working? If yes, that’s great! At Meetio, we believe that ABW is a great way to improve productivity and employee satisfaction. But before you run off, let’s plan a bit. You need to prepare your transition – and we are here to help you!

To be successful with ABW you need to plan your workplace after the people in it. Otherwise the benefits you looked forward to will be lost.

Make a poll

Before you start planning the design of your new office, let’s hear what your employees have to say. Create a poll where you ask all the important questions as “When are you the most productive?”, “In what environment do you feel most comfortable?” and “What type of environment do you miss at the office today?”. By doing that you will get a clear answer of what types of workplace areas you need to add to your coming office.

Visualize your new workplace

The next step is to begin to visualize the new workplace. Depending on what type of business you’re in you might need more or less meeting areas – both formal and informal – or quiet space. The whole point with ABW is to have spaces that suits all type of work. Not the easiest thing to fulfill but with detailed planning you will succeed.

Flexibility

In an era where literally everyone owns a smartphone, you may be thinking that people will easily warm up to a digital meeting room booker. The truth of the matter, however, is that there will always be workers who may find such solutions intimidating. Fortunately, the best technology options can easily integrate with legacy systems, making the transition and implementation less painful. For example, if a person prefers using Outlook to send meeting invitations, they can use that platform to book the meeting room venue as well. This level of flexibility greatly enhances user adoption and system usage.

Wayfinding

Bigger companies often have sprawling workplaces, sometimes even spanning multiple floors in the same building. Since there are meeting rooms scattered throughout the premises, finding the right one can be a little challenging. This is especially true for new hires or visitors to your company. The solution? Pick a meeting room management system that shows where the meeting venue is actually physically located through a visual map of the office.

Users can access this map through their smartphone app, or they can refer to a large TV display in the lobby that shows their booked room. Having a robust wayfinding feature ensures that meetings always start on time, in the right place, and with the right people.

Automated communication

There’s nothing worse than inviting a colleague to a meeting only to have them not show up. In many cases, this is because they weren’t looped in properly about the meeting or venue. The good news is that a meeting room manager will automatically notify a person if they’ve been added as an attendee. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as through email or through an in-app notification (if they have the room booking app on their phone). By making sure that people are aware that their attendance is needed, they are less likely to not miss crucial meetings.