How To Improve Office Space Utilization with Room Scheduling

Whether you have a small office, a large corporate building or a hybrid workspace, it can be tricky to improve your office space utilization. One great way to improve utilization and use your space effectively is with room scheduling. 

Room scheduling can help keep things organized, allow employees to get the space they need and give them more opportunities to collaborate. In this blog post, we’ll give you some tips about room scheduling and how to make the most of your office space.

What Is Room Scheduling?

Room scheduling allows businesses to manage their conference and meeting space efficiently without causing time conflicts and double-booking. With room scheduling software like Eden, employees can easily book meeting space based on time, the size of the space, the amenities they need and more. Employers can also use this software to monitor room usage metrics and find out how space is being used and what meeting rooms employees prefer.

Room scheduling makes sure that businesses can optimize the use of space in their offices. It streamlines the process of setting up meetings while also helping your employees make the most of their meeting times.

How Does It Work?

Room scheduling is a fairly straightforward technology that improves office space utilization with intuitive, easy-to-use software. Employees can log into the room scheduling software and book rooms for meetings, brainstorming or any other activity that requires a dedicated conference space.

Once you have your room scheduling software integrated into your business, the way it works is simple. Just follow these steps:

• Design your floor plan — Measure out and add rooms to your software that are available for employees to use. You should include the maximum occupancy of these rooms, outline the features and amenities available in each room and set the hours the room is available to book.
• Employees book their space — Employees who need to book a room can book from anywhere. With Eden, employees can log in to book rooms from the web, Slack, Teams, the Eden app and more. Employees will be able to see details such as the size of the room, the times available, the number of chairs available, the amenities and more. The software will then generate confirmation for the meeting and show that room as reserved for other users.
• Usage metrics — Employers can get in-depth data about usage metrics to find out which rooms are popular and which are being underutilized. You can also find out which amenities teams prefer, so you can further improve your meeting spaces.

Room scheduling software can be a powerful tool for offices, and using the tools couldn’t be easier. It helps keep businesses much more organized, productive and efficient.

What Are the Benefits?

Room scheduling offers many benefits to businesses of all sizes. Some of the primary benefits include:

• Optimizing office space utilization — You’re paying for office space, so it makes sense you would want to get the most use out of that space. With room scheduling, employees are encouraged to utilize meeting and conference space for collaboration, team building, important meetings and more.
• Promote collaboration and productivity — When employees know they can book a room for their team that has the amenities they need, they’ll be more likely to schedule these meetings, which means more brainstorming, more collaboration and improved productivity.
• Avoid scheduling conflicts — Room scheduling takes the guesswork out of booking meeting space. Employees won’t have to wonder or ask around if a space is being used. They can simply pull up the room scheduling tool and see when they’re able to utilize the space they need without interfering with other meeting times of other teams.
• Greater control and visibility — Employers will have access control and reporting tools to give them more insight into their meeting spaces. This helps them design better meeting spaces for employees.
• Employee autonomy — Employees will feel more empowered with room scheduling since they have the autonomy to book meeting space without having to go through administrative channels. This also saves admin work for the teams that previously had to deal with meeting schedules.
• Remote booking — Since employees can book a room from anywhere, they don’t have to worry about not being in the office to reserve the time they need.
• Safety — Since employers can set capacity limits for rooms, they can ensure that safety guidelines are being followed.

As you can see, there are plenty of benefits that make room scheduling software well worth the investment. Now, we’ve talked a lot about office space utilization up to this point. But what do we mean by that?

What Is Office Space Utilization?

Put simply, office space utilization measures how efficiently your workspace is being used. It looks at the size of the office, the number of people working and the amount of space being utilized regularly. To improve office space utilization, you want to maximize the square footage of your office that is being used. 

By tracking your office space utilization, you can identify areas of your workspace that are being underused or underutilized. When you know these spaces aren’t being used, it’s easier to come up with solutions that would draw employees to use them.

In the older view of office space utilization, you would want to make sure that if there’s space for an employee to work, then that space is filled and being used. However, the office has evolved and changed for the better, taking employee needs and satisfaction into account. This means that employees have the space and comfort they need to work effectively while also providing alternate spaces that can be used in different ways.

Since many offices have moved to a hybrid model, it has been difficult to figure out ways to improve office space utilization. Since there are fewer employees in the office at any given time, less space is being utilized. Businesses can adjust to this change by making underused spaces into free workspaces, conference rooms, hot desks, relaxation areas and more.

To improve office space utilization while also improving employee satisfaction, businesses need to understand what their employees need out of office space. For example, if you see a large meeting room is often fully booked at half capacity, you could divide that space in two to provide more meeting rooms. 

In short, tracking and evaluating office space utilization allows you to make the most of your office while also giving employees the amenities and space they need to be successful.

Why Does It Matter?

Having an office space utilization strategy is important for any in-person or hybrid office. If you can properly implement your strategy, you can maximize the usage of space, optimize staff productivity and reduce costs. You can make sure employees' needs are being met while also making the most out of your office investment. 

Tracking and regularly evaluating your office space utilization metrics can also help you plan for the future. If you’re noticing that the needs of your employees are starting to exceed the size of your office, you know that you may need to move into a larger workspace or adjust your current layout. Conversely, if office space is severely underused, you might be able to downsize and save money on office space.

Good office space utilization can also foster collaboration between teams and make your employees happier. By having a usable office space with diverse spaces, teams can be more creative and enjoy their work environment. 

Office space utilization has always mattered, and it still does. The game has changed thanks to the rise of remote and hybrid work, but the core idea remains the same. If you’re not utilizing your office space efficiently, you’re losing opportunities and money.

How To Measure Your Office Space

To accurately estimate your office space utilization, you need to measure your office space. This can help you determine how much space you have and make it easier to enter your meeting spaces into your room scheduling software.

There are a few ways you can measure your office space:

• Look at the blueprints — You may already have your office space measurements on hand. This is the easiest, but not everyone will have access to this information. If you’ve made renovations, you may also need to recalculate
• Use a tape measure — This is the tried and true method. You can use a tape measure to figure out the square footage of a room. To make things even easier, you can use a laser tape measure.
• Speak to your landlord — If you’re renting your office space, your landlord may already have your office space measurements readily available.

By accurately measuring your office space, you’ll be able to make better decisions about how to utilize it and maximize efficiency.

Best Practices To Follow

If you’ve decided to implement room scheduling tools, make sure to follow best practices to get the most out of them. Here are some best practices to follow:

• Use comprehensive room scheduling tools — Make sure to choose a room scheduling software that makes the scheduling process as easy as possible. Your tool should be able to integrate with your current communication tools, allow remote booking, give employees details about the meeting rooms and give you usage metrics to help you optimize utilization.
• Onboard employees and create guidelines — Room scheduling software like Eden is intuitive and easy to use, but you should still make sure everyone understands the new process. Run everyone through the basics of scheduling and set clear guidelines about booking so employees know they need to always use the software to use meeting rooms and other reservable spaces.
• Make the most of your metrics — As mentioned, your tool should give you the ability to track room usage metrics. Make sure to take advantage of this feature. Using these metrics, you can create better meeting spaces, give your employees the amenities they need and optimize office space utilization.

Following these guidelines will help your team seamlessly switch to the room scheduling process.

Expert Tips To Make Your Workspace More Efficient

Now we know more about the importance of room scheduling and how it can optimize your office. Before wrapping things up, here are some expert tips to help make your workspace more efficient and productive:

• Create a flexible workspace — If you have the space, implement various types of workspaces in your office. Things like standing desks, couches, connected workstations and individual workstations can make it easier for employees to collaborate and give them the spaces they need to work productively. 
• Implement hot desk booking — Instead of assigning employees to specific desks, you can implement hot desk booking software to allow them to find the best spot for them in the office. This is ideal for hybrid workplaces that allow employees to come and go. With hot desk booking, employees can see what desks are available, check in and find their spot without hassle. It also prevents the office from getting overcrowded by showing workers how much space is available on any given day.
• Utilize visitor management software — Ensure your workplace is secure while also making visitors feel more comfortable with visitor management software. Visitor management tools allow visitors to check in ahead of time. It can give them instructions on where the office is, send them any necessary documents to sign and notify the right employees when they arrive. This makes for a more seamless experience for everyone.
• Implement internal ticketing — An internal help desk for HR and IT allows employees to easily submit requests and gives IT and HR powerful ticket resolution tools to help them keep things organized. 

By implementing these tips in your workspace, you can make it more efficient than ever. Hybrid offices don’t have to be tricky. With the right tools, you can improve your work culture, improve productivity and optimize your office space utilization like never before.

Learn More with Eden

Eden is a comprehensive workspace management platform to help you transform your flexible workspace into an efficient and happy place for employees to work. Eden offers workspace management tools for room scheduling, desk booking, internal ticketing, visitor management, deliveries and more. Request a demo today to see how Eden can help your office.