Soon You'll Be Able to Book Office Spaces Through Zoom
Don't have assigned office seating due to hybrid work setups? This Zoom feature can help.
- Apple software beta tester, "Helps make our computers and phones work!" - Zach's grandparents
Zoom further entrenches itself in hybrid work with its new reservation feature.
Zoom, the video-conferencing service that gained widespread use during the pandemic, is unveiling a new feature to help hybrid and remote workers. Called Workspace Reservation, the feature allows workers to reserve office spaces, see other workers who are planning to come into the office and get recommendations on where to sit.
A poll from Zoom and Momentive found that 55% of remote workers prefer a hybrid work setup, with 53% of workers wanting to come into an office to meet new clients and 58% of workers wanting to participate in team activities in the office. Workspace Reservation is meant to help organizations by letting them know the best way to equip their offices and how to allocate resources for more effective workspaces.
"Workspace Reservation expands on Zoom's already robust hybrid work offerings and helps ensure employees have access to the tools they need to do their best work on a given day," Jeff Smith, the group product manager, head of Zoom Rooms and Whiteboard, said in a news release.
For Workspace Reservation to work, administrators will need to upload a custom map of their office with seating locations, meeting rooms and more into Zoom. Workers will then be able to reserve things like rooms and desks for part of the day, or for a full work day. Zoom said some beta users even used the feature to reserve parking spots, which is probably easier than leaving your house early for a good spot, fighting through traffic and still getting one of the last spaces in your lot.
Workers will be able to reserve spaces by using Zoom's mobile or desktop app, an in-office kiosk or a QR code at the workspace site.
Workspace Reservation will be available by the end of July. You can talk to a Zoom specialist to see if Workspace Reservation is right for you and your organization.
Zoom's latest feature comes after a Microsoft survey found that workplace flexibility is now more important than pay for many people. About 52% of people in Microsoft's survey said they're considering switching to a hybrid or fully remote work model in the next year.
"It's heartening to see that employees are starting to learn how to use hybrid work and the tools to their benefit," Jared Spataro, Microsoft's corporate vice president for modern work, said, according to CNET's Ian Sherr.
For more hybrid and remote work news, check out other hybrid work features Zoom has unveiled, new collaboration features in Slack and Apple employees' criticism of the company's return-to-office plan.