Accommodating diverse office seating models – a key feature of POC’s seating management solution

An outline of the advanced seating options supported by our seating management software.

According to an international survey, most employees would like to continue working in hybrid offices, combining the benefits of several days at the office and several days of remote work. In numerous companies, the workspace is already shared by employees who work on different schedules and spend different amounts of time working from home. Thus, offices have become more dynamic than ever before, and it is likely to remain so. Successfully overseeing an active, living workspace requires the right skills and tools. POC Systems’ seating allocation solution helps hybrid offices run smoothly, serving the management and the employees alike. This advanced software displays the organization’s detailed seating plan in an intuitive interface. Employees can in advance book themselves workstations where they need, promoting flexible cooperation among coworkers. For managers and administrators, the seating allocation solution serves as an indispensable utility to monitor actual usage patterns, track the occupancy on the premises, and define policies accordingly.

Let us have a closer look at one of the notable features of our seating allocation solution: the various seating models it can accommodate. Companies differ in structure and scale, and no two companies are identical: naturally, their needs and requests also vary to a great extent. For this reason, POC’s seating allocation solution supports a number of employee profiles, as well as different categories of workstations.

Employee profiles define the seating areas open for different workers when they arrive at the office:

• Homers – these employees have a permanent workstation which remains assigned to them even on days they work remotely. Therefore, they need not book hot desks.

This profile is best suited to roles that require physical stability rather than fluid seating among colleagues. Executives are an example of typical Homers, as it is vital for their duties to have a stable office, workstation, and perhaps assistants or supporting staff.

• Zoners – employees who may book any hot desk in their department (which constitutes their work zone) but do not have a permanent workstation. The Zoner profile especially fits those whose position demands teamwork and creative cooperation, since Zoners can easily organize meetings with teammates, while having the confidence that their workstation will be located within their organic department.
• Roamers – employees that may choose any available hot desk on the premises. Roamers enjoy maximum freedom of seating, which is highly desirable for workers that must be mobile around the premises. Being a Roamer also fits employees who work remotely most of their time.

These employee profiles are augmented by a range of workstation types, which includes:

• Permanent workstations – allocated to a specific employee only, these workstations may not be booked by others, even while unused.
• Shared workstations – permanent workstations which are shared by two or more workers according to a predetermined schedule. Typically, employees that share a workstation have complementary workdays or shifts: while one works from home, the other comes to the office, and vice versa.
• Hot desks – these workstations are reserved beforehand via the app, as they are not permanently assigned to a particular employee. There are several variants of hot desks:
• General hot desks – workstations that can be booked by any employee and may be positioned wherever needed on the premises.
• Group-assigned hot desks – This is the type of desks allocated to Zoners. Group-assigned hot desks are positioned within the physical area of a certain department or team, and only members of the relevant group can reserve them.
• Hybrid workstations – part-time permanent workstations that follow a specified schedule. A hybrid workstation is reserved for a particular person on some days of the week only. The rest of the time it automatically becomes a general hot desk available for booking as required.
• An upcoming feature in our seating allocation system will be the option for Homers to turn their permanent workstations into hot desks for periods of time they plan to be away from the office. This new option will help to ensure every free workstation is available to be booked, further increasing the conveniency and efficiency of the hybrid workspace.

The combination of employee profiles and the various workstation types makes POC’s seating allocation solution flexible and adaptable to any existing office space, work format or corporate structure. The system allows for seamless and precise control on all levels: employers can use it to effortlessly change the seating plan as needed. Employees can use the system to book workstations in advance according to their schedules via a convenient app, creating order and stability in the ever-changing hybrid office.

The seating allocation software is a dedicated interface designed to coordinate the use of a company’s premises. However, in addition to improving productivity, it brings a greater, psychological value to all the organization’s workers: it is a dependable, confidence-instilling platform that supports your organization’s present and future operations.