How to Combat Booking Mentality

In the spheres of Real Estate, Human Resources, and Employee Experience, there's a common problem that professionals often grapple with - the 'booking mentality.' A brief search online will unveil a host of tech-driven solutions designed to tackle the hurdles of managing today's workspace occupancy.? Yet these tools often bypass the essential root of the problem: human behaviour.? Despite the pivotal role technology plays in managing and enhancing office spaces, the core issue resides in the complexities of human behaviour.

Over the last 15 years, the endorsement of activity-based working has emerged as the 'gold standard' for workplace functionality, bolstered by tech advancements and the roll-out of complex booking systems.? This shift in workplace dynamics has unveiled a compelling facet of employee behaviour. ?While the practice of ‘block booking’ predates the Covid-19 era, the rise in hybrid work models has substantially decreased the physical visibility of our workplaces.?

This reduction in on-site presence has amplified the prevalence of the booking mentality.

We're not here to dictate the best tool or application for your unique needs. ?Instead, we're offering insights into what aspects you should bear in mind and some actions you can start implementing today.

Take time to understand what's driving the behaviour.

It's crucial to comprehend the underlying reasons for overbooking and block booking behaviours before making a substantial investment in a new booking and sensor ecosystem.?

When we drill down to the core driver behind this behaviour, the tendency to reserve spaces days, weeks, or even months in advance arises from the perception that these 'resources' are scarce.? The more people witness the lack of availability because spaces are booked, the more this hoarding behaviour intensifies, eventually snowballing into a larger issue.

This behaviour will manifest in diverse ways depending on other factors involved, so let’s take a look at some examples we commonly see with our clients.

Distribution of tech and tools between meeting rooms or collab spaces

A common cause of overbooking may come from small groups of people booking large rooms, say 2 – 3 people have booked a 10-person meeting room. ?Why? ?In one instance we saw, it was because the larger room had key tools that this small group of people needed to conduct a certain activity.

While supplying the most desirable technology tools in every space is certainly aspirational, we know that’s not always realistic and rarely practical. ?What is important is to recognise what are critical tools for collaboration (charging ports for laptops and viewing monitors being the most requested), know the most common group sizes and understand the typical outcome or experiences people are searching for.

Block booking for exclusive rights

Another situation we hear all too often is that management or leaders always need to have a room available to them ‘just in case’ - regardless of booking policy or how often they use these rooms. In one client office, the admin staff were incentivised through their performance metrics to block these rooms for their bosses’ exclusive use.

This is a situation where keeping a certain number of non-bookable spaces would be helpful. A silent agreement between a manager / leader with their team can be understood that a designated meeting room may be given priority to that leader and is only booked for their meetings, but the rest of the time that room is open to the team for use.

Passively occupied spaces / booking often removes flexibility.

“When we looked at desk booking for [Client] we found that people booked desks for the day but were only in them 40% of the time?.” - Workplace Transformation Specialist, APAC

In traditional assigned desk offices, it was understood that your desk was your home base where you would keep your belongings and you weren’t expected to sit there all day but to also utilise all the other spaces available to you. ?Years and even decades of this behaviour is hard to break as any change manager will tell you.

In the above client situation, desks that were closer to desired amenities like the conference area and cafe were booked earliest and most frequently, partly because people were coming in for big meetings and it was convenient.

This issue requires a nuanced solution, but the first step to creating an effective response is to talk to your people and understand where they are for the other 60% of the time they are not at a desk, why they may be ‘saving’ their spot by leaving their belongings there, and begin exploring if ‘available / occupied’ signage for spaces (alongside auto-release) would be an appropriate solution.

Having reviewed some real-life scenarios, we leave you with three practical ideas to consider implementing in your workplace.

When and how to make the most of sensors (& other tech) with your booking system

As hybrid environments continue to evolve, we’re seeing a shift away from the bookable spaces we were accustomed to in traditional offices.

With the many advancements in technology, sensors, panels and real time occupancy signage, this system of ‘reservable instead of bookable’ becomes much easier to implement. ?For this client it has prompted a gradual shift from the previously entrenched booking mentality to more of a ‘check-in’ mentality, where you pick a free room or space and are given 15 mins or so to get there.

Even on smaller budgets, we can begin to implement some key principles from this strategy by introducing limitations in the booking system to allow for more flexibility overall.

Tip: setting limitations on how far in advance you can book a room or for how long in total will help to eradicate some of those irksome recurring meetings that always seem to slip people's mind to cancel.

Reserve a percentage of spaces as non-bookable?

While at first thought having every space available to book seemed like a fantastic idea, we’ve now had experience and information to show us the consequences of that decision. ?So now we must decide which spaces should be bookable and which shouldn’t.

We often recommend spaces for activities that require co-ordination within a large group stay bookable, such as large meeting rooms, conference rooms, multi-use rooms and some client or visitor spaces.

The remaining shared spaces we typically recommend booking as a last resort. ?These spaces benefit from some spontaneity, allowing for organic connections between teams and colleagues and fulfilment ‘on demand’ to adapt to changing daily priorities. Making such spaces bookable ends up creating an overly structured process that doesn’t adapt well to today’s fluid workstyles and rapidly shifting circumstances.

Construct a fair set of rules around space use based on mutual respect.

We don’t want to be draconian with these workplace rules, but they should aim to:

• Clarify why there is a need for change
• Be clear and concise when communicating recent changes
• Encourage people to build new habits, or for those who cannot adapt their work process, be intuitive enough to remember each time
• Allow for compromise and accommodation where appropriate

Example: “Don't leave your belongings in a space if you'll be absent for more than an hour.”

Concluding thoughts

Mindfully managing space booking habits in a hybrid work model is critical for fostering a harmonious and equitable work environment and removing obstacles to efficient in-office days. ?The true value of shared workspaces in the office lies in their versatility and adaptability, which can be highly constrained by a rigid booking system.

Take time to understand the root causes of overbooking or block-booking, consider only making large spaces bookable in advance and consider embracing a check-in mentality, aided by technologies like sensors and booking panels. ?Floor zoning strategies that provide good sightlines to a variety of non-bookable spaces, and responsible practice of space-use etiquettes can help reinforce fair access to needed resources.

Taking these steps will help to ensure workspaces are equitably accessible and efficiently utilised, while still preserving the fluidity and spontaneity that fuels creativity and collaboration in the office.

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