Desk Blocking – How to create safe distance at your office

We have enterered the Desk Hoteling era, and the Covid-19 pandemic has raised questions about office security and how we can ensure the safety of our employees. If you already have a Desk Hoteling solution for your office, social distance measures can be implemented in an easy way. In this blog post, we will show you how.

How to safely return to work following a Global Pandemic

Desk Booking as a safety measure

The reason why Desk Booking is so beneficial is mainly for its flexibility, but also for its
provided security. In contrast to Hot Desking, Desk Hoteling provides your employees with the options to book desks before their arrival at the office, guaranteeing them a spot without having to search for empty seats. Read more about the differences between Desk Hoteling and Hot Desking here. The current pandemic has also made Desk Hoteling the most beneficial desk management system for several reasons.

Firstly, Desk Booking makes it possible for you to control how many people that can be at the office at once. Because employees need to book desks to get a seat, density control of people in your office is easily manageable. Secondly, because employees book desks in their name, contact tracing can be done in an event of reported illness. With analytics tools like the FlowAnalytics, reports on desk utilization can be used to alert employees in a close proximity to the outbreak zone, so safety precautions can be made. Thirdly, if Desk Booking has already been implemented, employees will automatically avoid the desks that are not bookable, making desk blocking easy to adapt to.

If you have not implemented a Desk Hoteling solution at your office, read our guide to Desk Hoteling here to cover the basics. You can also read about our complete Desk Management solution here to start your desk management journey.

Using Desk Blocking to ensure Distance

When you have implemented a Desk Management solution, blocked desks can be used immediately. The Flowmap – which is the interactive map that displays all utilities at your office - will turn the desks you want to block grey on the map (See picture above). These desks will not be bookable.

The reason why a software system is beneficial over manual blocking and booking comes down to employee adaptability. Manual systems are prone to administrative errors and often confuses employees more than it helps. The Flowscape system can be configured so that only employees who have booked a desk in advance are allowed to work in the office that day. This eliminates the risk of an employee arriving at the office to find that there is no available desk and then trying to sit at a blocked desk.

The blocked desks can easily be turned bookable again when working closely becomes safe. Therefore, adapting a manageable booking software is also a long-term solution that you
can gain from many years ahead. Flowscape’s desk management solution incorporates booking, controlling, reporting and analytics capabilities. It has a proven track record in delivering agile workplaces globally and has been deployed as an integral part of companies’ COVID-19 response strategy. Contact us for guidance on how Desk Blocking can be incorporated at your office to ensure that safety measures are upheld.

Read More

• Sensors for Desk Hoteling – This is what you need!
• Future predictions for office management – Insights from Sweden
• What is Hot Desking?
• Long-term Strategies post-covid – This is what you should think about
• What should we do about empty offices and increased flexibility?