The era of open-plan, flexible offices has made it even more critical that workspaces include gathering areas for people to discuss important projects, hash out details, and connect with clients and stakeholders. It is clear that the meeting room is an essential part of the workplace in spite of speculation about its “death” (especially with the pandemic at hand).
According to a recent survey by Gensler, almost half of respondents said meetings and socializing were key reasons for coming back to work. Organizations at all levels are responsible for making this possible for their employees. Using meeting room scheduling systems is one way to make meetings more effective.
With this post, we’ll outline how you can use meeting room booking software to make meetings more productive for your people, as well as some of the challenges to booking and managing conference room schedules.
Table of Contents
Meeting Room Booking and Maintenance Challenges
Open office environments present many challenges, but scheduling meeting rooms when you need them is one of the most common complaints. The digital revolution has paved the way for hybrid teams and international clients to use conference rooms for cross-company meetings. The humble meeting room is no exception. When it is in demand, you’ll face challenges with its use.
A No-Show
Meeting rooms that are empty pose the greatest challenge. They become abandoned as a result of the meeting getting canceled, a parameter of the meeting changing, or the parties skipping a recurring event. No-show bookings pose the greatest challenge because they affect everyone else’s bookings.
- In addition, other meetings that could utilize the room efficiently aren’t able to do so (and may end up taking a smaller or larger room than they need).
- It is not uncommon for employees to plan a meeting outside the booking system (see below “Theft”).
- Your conference rooms are used less frequently, which can lead to skewed data on usage.
Theft
A no-show can cause people to resort to desperate measures when an office room isn’t available for scheduling. They may simply “take” the room they need to meet their needs. Normally, this means ejecting someone from the room by making excuses (“Sorry, we really need this room.”) or coming from a chain reaction of other meeting rooms being robbed. Many times, this is due to hierarchy or project sensibility (“Someone stole ours, so we must steal yours.”) This can also lead to friction between departments or employees.
Squatting
In the same way that thieves steal, squatters occupy meeting rooms in order to get the space and quiet they need (whether they are visitors or someone working on a focus-intensive project). Besides being poor form, this takes up a whole room of usable space to accommodate one employee.
Cleaning
While the above lapses in etiquette annoyed people before COVID, they have also taken on greater significance since the advent of COVID. As part of any return plan, enhanced cleaning protocols will be followed, so it’s useful to be able to “turn off” the meeting room automatically after usage.
Conclusion
After all, it’s a workplace team’s job to remove any friction experienced by employees during their working day. By enabling easy meeting scheduling, effective meeting room reservation systems unlock your business.