New features that take the work out of working together

If your workplace has reopened in some capacity over the past few months, it’s likely that your company has adopted some sort of hybrid work model.  Giving employees the flexibility to choose when they work on-site and when they work from home has its benefits: less crowded offices, increased employee happiness, and even improved company culture.

But there are some drawbacks to hybrid work too—and new challenges that might keep employees from choosing to work on-site. Coordinating which days to work from the office with coworkers could become painful and time-consuming—especially if they need to meet with multiple people. On top of that, if your company moved to a hot desking model, then actually finding where a coworker is sitting creates another challenge. This could mean it takes more work to actually work together in person and leave your employees choosing to stay home.

The good news is that there are now seamless solutions within Envoy to make it easier than ever to collaborate with coworkers on-site. Read on to learn about new features that take the work out of working together.

Make it easy to coordinate schedules with coworkers

As much as people love the flexibility of remote work, they also miss working side by side with their co-workers. A majority of employees want to return to the workplace and say they most want to return to work alongside their peers. The challenge is that hybrid work makes it tricky to find a day that everyone can meet up in person. Earlier this summer, we released workplace schedules so that employees can easily coordinate what days they plan to work on-site using Envoy Protect. Rather than message each person “Want to work in the office on Tuesday?”, employees can invite co-workers to join them on days they want to collaborate in person.

Find where coworkers are sitting in a breeze

Employees may have their schedules in sync, but hot desking makes it tricky to find where their coworkers are working that day. If your company no longer uses permanent desk assignments or you’re brand new to the office, people could spend valuable time running around the workplace searching for someone for just an impromptu conversation.Now, with Envoy Desks, you can see exactly where your coworkers' desks are from the map within the Envoy app. Simply search for a coworker by typing in their name to see where their desk is located. Within the app, you can view your coworker’s schedules to know what days they’re planning to go into the office and where they’ll be sitting.

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Easily reserve a desk near teammates

Finding a coworker is one thing, but what if you need to work close-by in order to collaborate or even just want to sit next to your work BFF? A desk on the other side of the office simply won’t do in those cases.Starting today, you can easily book a desk near a coworker with just a tap. When you search for a coworker within the Envoy app, you’ll notice an option to “Sit nearby.” Click this and we’ll find you the perfect desk next to your teammate so you can get your best work—or your best chatting—done together… we’re not judging.

Choose if and when you want to share your location

Another big challenge that has come with hybrid work, is feeling like you need to be available at all times. If you’re remote, you probably have your work email and messaging app on your phone, answering pings at all hours of the day. If you’re working from the office, then anyone can just walk up to your desk to ask you a question.While the extroverts of the world are rejoicing that they can now find their coworkers in a breeze, not everyone wants to be so available. We got you covered. Employees can opt to disable sharing their schedule and desk location to maintain their privacy.

Try using these templates to introduce your employees to these new features and make it easier than ever before for your team to get back to work, together.