I've noticed in our consulting practice over the past 18 months a significant movement towards combining alternative officing solutions with telework arrangements. It seems that many organizations have now realized that their number two expense, after employee wages, is facilities. Unfortunately many of these organizations think that "hoteling" is alternative officing and by itself the cure to reducing space. Unfortunately the answer is yes sort of ... well not really!
Hoteling is a term which has received a lot of attention in the popular press in the past few years and seems to be on the minds of senior management everywhere. Hoteling is a space utilization concept where employees are able to reserve space in the regular office facility by calling ahead similar to the way you do when booking a hotel room.
The problem is that hoteling is not a type of space -- it is a way of reserving space. The space you reserve could be a traditional office workstation, an enclosed office, a meeting room, a library carrel, a phone booth, or whatever. The key to reducing space is to redesign your space options into a wider variety of smaller more focused workstations wherein employees can perform their jobs.
Unfortunately some people think hoteling is alternative officing (AO) and then drop the AO concept when they find out that hoteling only works for a small percentage of jobs. My objectives in writing are to stop the myth that hoteling is the only type of AO and to provide you with some examples of where hoteling works successfully and where it does not.
Let us first get you on track with some of the terminology used in the arena of alternative officing. The starting point for AO is to consider the space components. The components include a wide range of office settings for performing some portion of your job. These components include: traditional open and closed offices; smaller concentrated solo workspaces; library-style carrels; phone-booth sized spaces for privacy in making/receiving calls; lounge spaces for casual meetings; formal meeting rooms (all sizes); open areas with moveable work tables; etc. The list of components is really endless. Many furniture vendors and consultants have come up with catchy phrases to describe some space settings -- you are really only limited by your imagination.
The space components can be categorized into space groupings. This is where we hear expressions such as team suites, group address, free address, etc. For example, the group address is the concept that a group has ownership of a defined area of space but anyone within the group can use any space in the area at any time. The team suites is a similar strategy in that the area has been defined however usually the furnishings are on wheels and the team can easily reposition the components to meet their individual needs.
Finally, we come to the methods of securing space. This is where the hoteling concept comes into play. Hoteling is the concept of reserving space in the office. However, not everyone is able to plan ahead and reserve space so we have the concept I like to call "moteling" loosely based on the "motel" concept where you drive down the road until you find a spot that is acceptable. Those who motel, use their space on a first come first served basis.
So now that we've cleared up the true meaning of hoteling let's look at a few examples where it is successful. Hoteling tends to work most successfully for professional jobs involving people who are out of the office for extended periods of time. For example an auditor would make a good candidate. They work at the client's office for several weeks gathering information for their audit and then return to the office to write their report. These individuals will need quiet solo workspace to perform their "heads-down" work. Auditors usually have specific plans so it is relatively easy to schedule the days they will or will not be in the office or not.
Other examples of successful hoteling applications include consultants who typically perform some portion of their job at their client's office and come back into the consulting office in between assignments. Some mobile workers such as sales people are also potential hoteling candidates. They might spend 4 days per week on the road meeting customers and 1 day a week back in the office entering orders, performing follow-up tasks and meeting with their managers.
The successful examples show how people are able to plan ahead for specific days in the office. Like any good hotel it's best to be able to plan ahead ensuring that you will get the space you want. However, not every job is ideal for hoteling. Consider the financial analyst who teleworks 2-3 days per week from home and shares space in the regular office. Their specific telework days change all the time as it is impossible for them to schedule their face-to-face meetings or workload. These people decide to telework on short notice and often either do not have time or forget to reserve the space. For these individuals it is best to have a pool of space that is available either within their team or group or somewhere on their floor. This way they can use the space on a first come first served basis.
Another example where hoteling is a problem is where an employee will need access to multiple spaces. For example, an interior designer in a facilities company may be able to schedule the days he/she is in the office but cannot predict what type of office space they will need. In any one day they might need access to a specialty space with high technology CAD stations, or a meeting room, or a solo office, or a room with a drafting table. Remember, the concept of alternative officing is to provide a wide range of space components which can be used in a just-in-time basis. This person's work pattern and the variety of spaces he/she would need make hoteling a nightmare.
Hopefully this article has helped to dispel some of the confusion about hoteling and the concepts of alternative officing. It is unfortunate when organizations discount all AO concepts just because they believe hoteling will not work. They may be correct that hoteling is inappropriate but there is a lot more to AO than just hoteling.
CONTACT:
Ken Robertson
KLR Consulting Inc.
e-mail: Ken.Robertson@KLR.com
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