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Workplace Management Defined

4 min read 6 December 2022

HubStar

Good workplace management is a cornerstone of any hybrid working business. It creates a better workplace experience, increases employee productivity and reduces real estate costs.

But what exactly is workplace management? What are the benefits associated with it? And how do you put it into practice?

Let’s take a closer look.

What is workplace management?

Workplace management is the strategy companies of all sizes and all industries use to improve efficiency and productivity, cut costs, and generally improve office management.

Workplace management encompasses the management of the physical office space, covering:

  • The design and layout of the workplace
  • Space optimization
  • Future space planning
  • Safety and security
  • Office resources
  • Workplace technology
  • Workplace policies and systems
  • Facilitation of hybrid working

Workplace management involves looking at all of the above, with the goal of making the physical workspace as cost-effective and efficient as possible.

Who needs workplace management?

Workplace management benefits anyone who operates a physical workspace, no matter how big or small.

Even a solo person running a one-man-band business should think about office basics such as where they place their desk and whether they have all of the tools they need to do their work well.

And workplace management is absolutely essential for larger, enterprise-level organizations managing lots of employees and multiple workplaces. In larger companies, it’s a good idea to have a dedicated manager to take on workplace management responsibilities to help get the most out of your space and the most for your money.

Good workplace management is the type of background process when, done correctly, ensures that the physical workplace environment empowers your employees to do their best work.

How workplace management can improve the working environment

Workplace management is so much more than repairing the odd trip hazard or topping up the coffee in the kitchen. It really does have the potential to make or break your workplace environment.

Here are just some of the things you can count on if your workplace is managed well.

Improved productivity

Part of workplace management means ensuring your workforce has the space, the tools, and the resources to do their jobs to the best of their ability. For example, giving your people project management tools like monday.com, Trello, or ClickUp can help employees better organize their schedules, focus on specific tasks in larger projects, and collaborate no matter where they’re working each day. 

When everything is right there and easy to access, people can focus on getting the job done.

Improved employee experience

When they come to work in a comfortable workspace, with all of the tools and resources they need, employees are happier. In this way, good space management supports the employee experience.

Better security

Workplace management ensures that the office is always a safe place to work. From cleaning protocols to visitor management, it means a higher level of security for the building and its inhabitants.  

Better agile working 

Striving to build an agile work environment? Then workplace management will help you make the best use of space when employees are in the office. Agile working practices are all about adaptability, and having a workplace that supports resilience and speed is essential. 

A well managed workplace can help you decide what kinds of spaces help your teams work with more agility. And the better you manage your workplace, the easier it will be to change things around if you need to reconfigure spaces quickly.

Reduced costs

Proper workplace management means understanding how you’re using the space available to you. With the right analysis, you can do away with unnecessary space, saving on real estate overheads in the process.

Better support for future expansion

Without space management, how will your workplace scale in line with your business growth plans? You need someone responsible for scaling your work environment in line with business objectives.

Best practices for workplace management

If you’re keen to implement better workplace management at your organization, here are a few ideas to get you started.

Analyze current systems

Before making changes, you need to understand what problems are currently at play within your workplace systems.

So take a look at the data. Where are you spending the most money? Which operational stages take the most time? Where are the bottlenecks?

Once you’ve identified these pain points, try to figure out which workplace improvements could help make things more efficient and effective.

Survey employees

Your employees are an incredible resource for workplace management.

They already know what works well and what doesn’t because they’re on the ground, experiencing your workplace day in and day out.

Survey them to find out about their pain points — where they experience friction when trying to achieve their daily tasks. Their feedback should give you plenty of food for thought. 

And don’t forget to consider any employee complaints you’ve received about workplace facilities, policies, or tools for ideas of things you need to address first.

Consider office design

The layout of your office is incredibly important. It impacts workplace productivity and innovation and affects the health and well-being of your team.

So rather than putting up with whatever layout you already have, take the time to explore possibilities. With options like flexible workspaces, multi-functional furniture, and even office pods, there are many ways to make your workspace more inspiring and effective.

Implement a room and desk booking system

If your company operates a hybrid work policy, chances are you’ve come across the concept of hot desking.

The problem with hot desking is that it is often disorganized. It doesn’t always support a good employee experience. And it doesn’t always equate to the best use of office space.

Office hoteling, via a desk booking system, is a great way to solve both problems. In fact, implementing a desk and meeting room booking system gives workplace managers better oversight of how space is being used — and ways to optimize usage going forward.

Focus on communication

When people are working from the office and home, you need seamless communication to ensure everyone stays up to speed. Without it, your company suffers.

You need to provide all of the tools and resources your teams need to stay in touch. The right AV equipment, for example, helps hybrid meetings function just as well as the face-to-face alternative.

Equally, the right communication software tools are essential. Regularly assess whether the software you’re using is pulling its weight, whether it integrates with other tools you’re using, and whether employees find it helpful rather than a hinderance.  


Workplace management is just one aspect of your overall workplace strategy, which aligns your working environment with employee work habits and preferences. Find out how to create and nail the execution of your workplace strategy in this guide!

HubStar

4 min read 6 December 2022

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"HubStar enabled us to save millions in operating costs while not only avoiding disruption, but improving employee experience."

Fortune 500

Global Real Estate Lead @ Fortune 500 Company

"We will not make any meaningful real estate and workplace decisions without HubStar data."

Fortune 500

Global Real Estate Lead @ Fortune 500 Company

"HubStar allows us to see how space is being used and occupied, and helps us predict the space we’ll need going forward."

donna-porter

Donna Porter

Senior Space Manager @ Sheffield Hallam University

"Team were very happy! Implementation was great. We were up and running in days."

gavel_88dp_FFFFFF

Law Practice

"Perfect fit. The application works very well, and the support given has been exceptional. This was originally required for desk booking, but the business quickly took to the system and have been requesting further functionality since."

oil_barrel_300dp_FFFFFF

Application Analyst @ Oil & Energy Company

"Brilliant solution for managing office space. We've been able to be proactive and intentional about making our office space work."

5-3

Commercial Director @ Technology & Services Company

"Would 100% recommended. Our account manager is by far the best and most approachable person I've met on any contract I've worked on. Nothings is too much. They always have the answer and help make the changes we need and want. Having this type of customer service really makes a difference."

groups_300dp_FFFFFF

Facilities Manager @ Civic & Social Organization

"Support response and attention to detail is exceptional. Highly recommend as very good value for the investment. Staff find it easy to use and integration to Microsoft Outlook is great. Support is excellent."

volunteer_activism_300dp_FFFFFF

ICT Manager @ Nonprofit Organization

"What we've found most useful is the ability to customise the system to suit our needs. The rules and policy engine have allowed us to build in desk and room booking processes to communicate well with our team, and manage the space in our building."

5-3

Commercial Director @ Technology & Services Company

"The standout features are it’s clean and simple interface, ability to integrate with Outlook and the simple way it can be deployed to the display screens outside our rooms, not to mention the high level of support that’s provided with the product."

AEU

Evan Henderson

IT Officer @ AEU Victoria

"User-friendly interface, real-time reservations, and effective resource management improve productivity and space use. I use it everyday."

engineering_300dp_FFFFFF

Civil Engineering Company

"Very adaptable, highly featured and easy to use. I like the ability to address our very detailed requirements in a quick implementation with a modern, attractive user interface."

diamond_300dp_FFFFFF

Luxury Goods & Jewellery Company

"My favourite feature is the Outlook integration, as it enables our staff to book meetings in a familiar way. The bookings are automatically transferred without any extra steps for the end user."

AEU

Evan Henderson

IT Officer @ AEU Victoria

"The system was so intuitive, we really didn’t need to give people a lot of training."

Russell-Group

Jeremy Wilson

Operations Manager @ Russell Group University

"The reporting has been brilliant."

Russell-Group

Jeremy Wilson

Operations Manager @ Russell Group University

"Employees need to be able to collaborate closely, working in one room. The office environment needs to align with this seamlessly. What that means for us is that we need to measure usage and occupancy rates and adjust the workspaces accordingly as needed."

Mark-van-Rijt

Mark van Rijt

Managing Director of Facility Management @ ABN AMRO Bank

"HubStar has removed so much admin from my daily to-do list. These days I only spend about an hour a week, covering six offices and 800 staff members. Before I was spending an hour a day messaging people back and forth! This means the system has cut the time I have to spend on managing bookings by 80%."

tristan-drinkwater

Tristan Drinkwater

Facilities & IT Services Manager @ Exertis

"There’s a tremendous range of reports that we use to measure capacity levels."

Russell-Group

Jeremy Wilson

Operations Manager @ Russell Group University

"HubStar allows us to see how space is being used and occupied, and helps us predict the space we’ll need going forward."

donna-porter

Donna Porter

Senior Space Manager @ Sheffield Hallam University

"The experience that users now have using HubStar is absolutely fantastic. The implementation went smoothly and our staff find the system really easy to use. The support I’ve had is phenomenal - incredibly knowledgeable about the product and so helpful. They’re second to none"

tristan-drinkwater

Tristan Drinkwater

Facilities & IT Services Manager @ Exertis

"With the single push of a button, my team gains insight into spaces that are consistently underutilised and how many ‘no-shows’ have taken place"

wur-350x350-1

Fred Jonker

Information Services Policy Officer @ Wageningen University & Research

"I’d absolutely recommend HubStar. If someone asked me why, I’d say it simply does everything you need it to do. The feature set is rich and covers all the requirements that most organisations are likely to have."

tristan-drinkwater

Tristan Drinkwater

Facilities & IT Services Manager @ Exertis

"HubStar enabled us to save millions in operating costs while not only avoiding disruption, but improving employee experience."

Fortune 500

Global Real Estate Lead @ Fortune 500 Company

"We will not make any meaningful real estate and workplace decisions without HubStar data."

Fortune 500

Global Real Estate Lead @ Fortune 500 Company

"HubStar allows us to see how space is being used and occupied, and helps us predict the space we’ll need going forward."

donna-porter

Donna Porter

Senior Space Manager @ Sheffield Hallam University

"Team were very happy! Implementation was great. We were up and running in days."

gavel_88dp_FFFFFF

Law Practice

"Perfect fit. The application works very well, and the support given has been exceptional. This was originally required for desk booking, but the business quickly took to the system and have been requesting further functionality since."

oil_barrel_300dp_FFFFFF

Application Analyst @ Oil & Energy Company

"Brilliant solution for managing office space. We've been able to be proactive and intentional about making our office space work."

5-3

Commercial Director @ Technology & Services Company

"Would 100% recommended. Our account manager is by far the best and most approachable person I've met on any contract I've worked on. Nothings is too much. They always have the answer and help make the changes we need and want. Having this type of customer service really makes a difference."

groups_300dp_FFFFFF

Facilities Manager @ Civic & Social Organization

"Support response and attention to detail is exceptional. Highly recommend as very good value for the investment. Staff find it easy to use and integration to Microsoft Outlook is great. Support is excellent."

volunteer_activism_300dp_FFFFFF

ICT Manager @ Nonprofit Organization

"What we've found most useful is the ability to customise the system to suit our needs. The rules and policy engine have allowed us to build in desk and room booking processes to communicate well with our team, and manage the space in our building."

5-3

Commercial Director @ Technology & Services Company

"The standout features are it’s clean and simple interface, ability to integrate with Outlook and the simple way it can be deployed to the display screens outside our rooms, not to mention the high level of support that’s provided with the product."

AEU

Evan Henderson

IT Officer @ AEU Victoria

"User-friendly interface, real-time reservations, and effective resource management improve productivity and space use. I use it everyday."

engineering_300dp_FFFFFF

Civil Engineering Company

"Very adaptable, highly featured and easy to use. I like the ability to address our very detailed requirements in a quick implementation with a modern, attractive user interface."

diamond_300dp_FFFFFF

Luxury Goods & Jewellery Company

"My favourite feature is the Outlook integration, as it enables our staff to book meetings in a familiar way. The bookings are automatically transferred without any extra steps for the end user."

AEU

Evan Henderson

IT Officer @ AEU Victoria

"The system was so intuitive, we really didn’t need to give people a lot of training."

Russell-Group

Jeremy Wilson

Operations Manager @ Russell Group University

"The reporting has been brilliant."

Russell-Group

Jeremy Wilson

Operations Manager @ Russell Group University

"Employees need to be able to collaborate closely, working in one room. The office environment needs to align with this seamlessly. What that means for us is that we need to measure usage and occupancy rates and adjust the workspaces accordingly as needed."

Mark-van-Rijt

Mark van Rijt

Managing Director of Facility Management @ ABN AMRO Bank

"HubStar has removed so much admin from my daily to-do list. These days I only spend about an hour a week, covering six offices and 800 staff members. Before I was spending an hour a day messaging people back and forth! This means the system has cut the time I have to spend on managing bookings by 80%."

tristan-drinkwater

Tristan Drinkwater

Facilities & IT Services Manager @ Exertis

"There’s a tremendous range of reports that we use to measure capacity levels."

Russell-Group

Jeremy Wilson

Operations Manager @ Russell Group University

"HubStar allows us to see how space is being used and occupied, and helps us predict the space we’ll need going forward."

donna-porter

Donna Porter

Senior Space Manager @ Sheffield Hallam University

"The experience that users now have using HubStar is absolutely fantastic. The implementation went smoothly and our staff find the system really easy to use. The support I’ve had is phenomenal - incredibly knowledgeable about the product and so helpful. They’re second to none"

tristan-drinkwater

Tristan Drinkwater

Facilities & IT Services Manager @ Exertis

"With the single push of a button, my team gains insight into spaces that are consistently underutilised and how many ‘no-shows’ have taken place"

wur-350x350-1

Fred Jonker

Information Services Policy Officer @ Wageningen University & Research

"I’d absolutely recommend HubStar. If someone asked me why, I’d say it simply does everything you need it to do. The feature set is rich and covers all the requirements that most organisations are likely to have."

tristan-drinkwater

Tristan Drinkwater

Facilities & IT Services Manager @ Exertis