Employees are returning to offices everywhere, but office life does not quite look the same as it did before. You may have moved to a smaller office or a co-working space, where workspaces might be shared. In those cases, using online appointment scheduling can help ensure that there is a free desk or workspace for everyone. Does your office have meeting rooms? Create an additional calendar and give access to all employees.
How to create your office calendar
You can create unique calendars (resource schedules in SuperSaaS) for each workspace and combine them all in an overarching calendar (service schedule). This way you can see all the workspaces in an organized overview.
The quickest and easiest way is to create a calendar for several resources, that includes each workspace available for employees to book. Then create a service calendar with the available times that employees can book a workspace for.
If you have no need for an overview, a capacity schedule with time slots is also an option. In that case, you can cap the capacity for each time slot. This ensures there are enough desks for every employee, but they have the freedom to choose an empty workspace upon arrival. Optionally, you can add a waiting list to fill any workspaces left empty due to illness.
Learn more about the different calendars.
Note: There is no limit on the number of calendars you can create, even with the free version, so it does not matter how many office spaces you have.
Create a calendar for your meeting rooms, so you can meet with clients
For your meeting rooms it is probably easiest to create an additional calendar. You can choose to use a capacity schedule if you need to cap the number of people that can share the room, or a resource schedule if you only allow one person to reserve the room at a specific time. Furthermore, if your office receives clients, you can also use the meeting room calendar to book a quiet meeting area and ensure no overlap or double bookings.
Read more about how to set up a calendar for your meeting room in our tutorial.
Add a waiting lists for when all office spaces are taken
It is possible to add a waiting list, so employees can sign up if the office calendar is already at capacity. In SuperSaaS, this option is available for all capacity schedules. So, if an employee falls ill or decides to work from home after all, the next employee gets a notification and can go to the office that day. With this feature you can still get the most out of your office space without having to manage the capacity manually.
Explore how to implement a waiting list.
Consider using a credit system to distribute space evenly
You might want to make the office available for everyone equally. A great solution would be to give every employee credit. They can “spend” the credit on reserving a workspace in the office. This way you can ensure that everyone gets the opportunity to work in the office.
Tip: If you want to automatically reset credit levels each month, you can configure a starting credit that resets every month. This way you do not have to manually add more credit each time an employee runs out of credit. Of course, it might be easier to track attendance if you add the credit yourself.
Read our tutorial on how to implement a credit system.
Notify your employees about new company policies
To ensure your employees are up-to-date on any new or existing company policies, you can choose to notify them by email or text. If your employees share their desks, it might be helpful to send a notification prior an in-office workday that reminds everyone to clear their desks at the end of the day.
Learn how to set up reminders for your office.
Another option would be to add a form to your booking process to inform your employees of your company policies. You can also add a checkbox, so employees have to indicate that they have read the policies before they can continue. This can be especially helpful if you want to double-check that employees have read any new updates.
Find out more on how to set up a form.
If you are using a capacity schedule and do not want to send a copy of your company policy every time an employee plans an office day, you can choose to send a notification manually (in your own mail app). You can easily copy and paste the email addresses for every user that reserved a specific time slot by going to Supervise > Overview, then clicking the magnifying glass next to said time slot to open it, and finally clicking the “Email all in this slot” link to load the list of email addresses.
Start with the free version
Create an account now and start saving time and energy on managing your office capacity. Use the free ad-supported version of SuperSaaS to configure your schedule and try it out until you are satisfied. Paid ad-free subscriptions start at $9 and should suffice for most offices. If you get stuck and need some help, you are welcome to reach out to our support team.