Can’t Find Meeting Rooms? We got you!

Date: Tue Sep 20 Author: Chelliah Nakeeran

Isn’t it annoying when you can’t find a meeting room? Or worse, you get kicked out without finishing your meeting because you could only book it for one hour when you needed two!

This is a common problem with many business entities today. Traditional offices simply do not have enough meeting rooms available to accommodate everyone that’s having a meeting.

And everyone’s having a meeting.

This issue is exacerbated now that businesses have downsized to smaller offices or moved into coworking spaces. A coworking space may give you access to more meeting rooms, but there are also more companies having meetings.

Having spoken with multiple CXO/Facility Managers looking into office closures and downsizing, there are genuine concerns that employees, managers and executives will not have access to rooms where they can conduct client, team and project meetings.

Fortunately, there are solutions.

Virtual Meetings

Companies that have adopted the hybrid working model or work remotely full-time, can take advantage of technology to hold virtual meetings. You don’t have to book a meeting room when all the participants are connecting from the comfort of their own homes.

Virtual meetings are also cost-effective and reduce your carbon footprint – and thus contribute to a healthier ESG rating. You can also record virtual meetings which can save time typing up the minutes of the meeting.

However, virtual meetings also have a downside. A common problem is that poor internet connections are disruptive. When the connection keeps breaking up, people miss what you’ve said and you have to repeat yourself. This prolongs the meeting and you’re tight on time as it is.

The much-talked-about “Zoom fatigue” is also a factor. Virtual meetings are not as productive as in-person meetings and remote workers often get ignored. Because you’re not all in the same room, the energy and dynamic are diluted.

Not only that, but researchers at Stanford University found that in-person meetings are more satisfying, psychologically and emotionally. Participants are also more focused and creative during face-to-face meetings. In virtual meetings, we zone out.

Access Multiple Meeting Rooms With BluDesks

Whilst virtual meetings are fine for short check-in meetings when you need to get into the nitty-gritty of a subject matter, in-person meetings are the best option.

If you can’t find a meeting room in your office building, look for vacant meeting rooms elsewhere. Ordinarily, that would be impossible, but with a BluDesks membership, you have a simple and effective solution at your fingertips.

BluDesks gives you access to multiple meeting rooms close to where you live. Meeting rooms are available at an hourly rate. There are no fixed fees or monthly subscription payments, and therefore, no risk of paying for space when you’re not using it (unless you cancel the meeting within less than 24 hours of your scheduled booking).

There are plentiful meeting rooms available through BluDesks. You will find appropriate meeting rooms in various sizes, fitted with multiple plug sockets, TV/audio equipment and refreshments available on request.

Can’t find a meeting room. Join BluDesks today and access multiple meeting rooms whenever you need one.

Hybrid Work & Co-Working Spaces: The New Normal?

Date: Wed Aug 17 Author: Chelliah Nakeeran

As unprecedented as the Covid-19 pandemic was, so were the business trends in the fallout. Once lockdown restrictions were lifted, 85% of British workers didn’t want to return to the office.

The hybrid working model provides benefits to both employers and employees. Given the flexibility to work part-time from home and the rest of the time in the office, employees have the work-life balance they crave together with the autonomy to choose where and when they work and save money.

Businesses also have an opportunity to save money by downsizing offices. By transitioning to a hybrid model, there is less requirement to rent office space to house an entire workforce.

There are two ways to downsize; rent a smaller office from a commercial landlord, or rent flexible coworking space which gives you the flexibility to rent the space when you need it.

Given the increase in office rental prices and utilities, co-working spaces are becoming the most cost-effective and preferred option for numerous businesses.

However, office managers should be wary about the nature of the contract you are entering into with coworking spaces. It can be the case, that you pay for services or office space you don’t need.

BluDesks has designed a business model most other co-working spaces do not offer. Firstly, we provide you with a portal to multiple co-working environments in the city where you live.

Secondly, our facilities are based on a pay-as-you-go basis which means you only pay for the space you use. Ordinarily, you are paying for space you are not using. The BluDesks model enables you to manage your office costs accurately – and save even more money.

What to expect from coworking spaces with BluDesks?

BluDesks offer affordable and flexible coworking spaces in London and across the UK. That means no matter where your employees need to work, they have easy access to a co-working space with all the amenities you can expect from a fully-functioning office. Because of the choices available, your team can book whichever workspace suits their needs. For example, you will be able to find a conveniently located meeting room for a 1-2-1 and a small room for 3 or 4 people to brainstorm or a large meeting room to provide training or a presentation.

If your business relies on team collaboration, it may be more convenient and cost-effective for a colleague to meet in a location that is more convenient for them to reach than your main base.

As we discussed in a recent article, reducing the need for all your employees to commute helps to improve your ESG score. Co-working spaces also serve as a convenient option for employees who prefer to work in an office environment rather than working from home.

Whilst the number of UK businesses that have adopted a hybrid working model is still relatively low at 37%, the number will increase as more office rental contracts expire. With hybrid working environments set to become the new normal, business planners need to look ahead to determine how they can save costs.

The Benefits of Coworking Spaces As Satellite Offices

Date: Mon May 30 Author: Chelliah Nakeeran

Businesses that take advantage of coworking spaces to create satellite offices can use this service to their benefit. A number of research studies have shown time and again that firms utilising coworking space thrive.

Both employers and employees are benefiting from coworking spaces. In the current paradigm, coworking spaces give employees working from home the opportunity to use equipment typically associated with offices together with convenient locations to hold a meeting.

Now that employees have returned to the office, the benefits they enjoyed from remote working are gone. According to YouGov, 60% of employees in the UK want to continue remote working. On the flip side, businesses benefit when they can bring teams together.

To compromise, a large number of businesses are switching to a hybrid model. Utilising coworking space to as satellite offices helps to make hybrid working even easier – and offer more benefits to both employers and employees.

Convenience and Flexibility

Coworking spaces give workers more flexibility to split their time between home and office. Stationing employees in satellite offices that are conveniently located closer to their home that your headquarters helps them to manage their time more efficiently.

Not only do satellite offices give your employees the flexibility to reach the office conveniently, it also makes it easier to just drop in from time to time. Maybe they need to use something in the office, like a photocopier, they were passing and wanted to say ‘hi’ or they spent the night in a different part of town (sleepovers) and will find it easier to work from an office that is closer to where they wake up.

Help to Manage Work-Life Balance

Happy employees are productive employees. And now your team has experienced remote working, they recognise the value of spending more time with their families, avoid commuting and spending less money.

Research has shown that the average cost savings of working from home is £44.78 a week. Cost savings come from commuting less and not buying lunch every day. If employees live closer to the office they are working from commutes and fuel costs are lower.

This is particularly the case for employees in London. According to Totaljobs, 76% of employees said they will quit their jobs if getting to the office requires a long commute. Using coworking spaces as satellite offices could therefore save businesses the cost of replacing employees – which is estimated to cost an average £12,000 per employee – between 6-9 months of the employees salary.

Raise ESG Score

Enabling employees to commute less should also help to improve your company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) score. With ESG scores having such a significant impact on consumer purchasing decision – especially environmentally conscious individuals – boosting your score in the environment section could pay dividends.

Commuting less means employees will consume less fuel. A satellite office also gives you more potential to organise meetings in locations that are closer for attendees to reach.

BluDesks makes it easy for companies to take advantage coworking spaces by offering you a wide range of offices all over London – with one simple sign-up and login.

Avoid The Hassles of Booking Meeting Rooms in London

Date: Tue Mar 15 Author: Chelliah Nakeeran

Booking a meeting room in London can be time-consuming. If you’re among the hordes of freelance workers, work-from-home-employees or start-ups that don’t have easy access to meeting rooms in a convenient location, browsing the net is a frustrating waste of time.

That being said, even if you do have access to meeting rooms, there’s no guarantee that booking one through your company’s internal room scheduling software will turn out well.

Have you had any Outlook headaches lately?

If you regularly need space for a variety of meetings, you’re probably familiar with the following scenarios:

You’ve booked the meeting room from 10 – 11. It’s 10:05 and your anxiety levels are bubbling because the previous meeting has overrun and you can’t get in. It’s eating into your meeting time. The anxiety is even worse when a client’s waiting!
You’ve booked the meeting room from 10 – 11. It’s 11:05, you’re frustrated because you’re running the meeting with important clients and need another 15 mins but have to close the meeting room early as someone else has booked the room at 11 and pressing you to get out. All the more annoying because you knew the meeting would take 1 1/2 hours and the space wasn’t available.
You’ve booked a meeting room for 11, but when you arrive, another manager has booked it for the entire day. How did that happen? The room was showing that it was available on Outlook – but the person that booked the room did select the right options to book the “New All Day Event” option. D’oh!

BluDesks can help by enabling meeting rooms to be booked when and where you want – even when all the rooms in your office of fully booked.

Book a Meeting Room on BluDesks

BluDesks has teamed up with hundreds of co-working spaces that offer meeting rooms in London. As a matter of fact, we give you access to over 1500 co-working locations all over the world.

The beauty of using BluDesks is that you can book a meeting room in London that is convenient for you to reach. So let’s say, you experience any of the common scenarios mentioned above. Simply log into your BluDesks account and see if there’s a meeting room within five or ten minutes of your office. There’s a strong chance there will be!

BluDesks also make booking a meeting room in London easy for freelancers, start-ups and work-from-home employees. If you want to impress a client, why not book a meeting room in a co-working space to give your client the impression you run a successful business. Fake it till you make it – every other successful has!

If you’re working from home and need to meet up with a colleague to brainstorm, it might be more convenient for you to meet in the middle instead of travelling all the way to the office.

BluDesks simply removes all the hassle of booking a meeting room in London by giving you access to hundreds of co-working spaces. It only takes a matter of minutes to find and book a meeting room. Plus you only pay for the time you use so it keeps the costs down as well.

Hop on board. Who knows where the BluDesks journey will take you!

3 Problems Hybrid Models May Face Booking Meeting Rooms

Date: Tue Mar 1 Author: Chelliah Nakeeran

Working from home proved pretty popular during the pandemic. According to one study, nearly half the UK’s professional workforce want to continue with flexible working in the post-pandemic era.

And that’s exactly what is happening. According to the Office of National Statistics, 85% of businesses intend to pivot to a hybrid model. But flexible working is not without its challenges.

Throughout the pandemic, the issues experienced due to lack of human interaction and in-person collaboration was well documented. Now employees are returning to the office, people are also facing drawbacks with holding meetings or booking a meeting room.

Here are three key issues.

1.Insufficient facilities at home

Not everyone’s home environment is suitable for meeting. For people living in rural areas, a poor broadband connection can be an issue. A bad connection is disruptive and frustrating for everybody listening to you sound like Norman Collier (one for the younger generations there).

A more common, and arguably more annoying issue, is background noise. How many times have you been in an important meeting when your three-year comes crashing in pretending to be a power ranger or the cat walks across your keyboard and blocks your camera?

Yeeaaah…we’ve all been there.

2.Emergency meetings are a no-go

Sometimes you need to call an impromptu meeting. Start-ups, in particular, can hit a snag that needs immediate brainstorming. If your team of collaborators are not all in the office, you can’t simply call an emergency meeting. Even if you are all in the office, there may not be a meeting room available.

This is where BluDesks rises out of the water like the sword Excalibur. If one of your team members is faced with the problem in scenario one or there are no meeting rooms available, you can book a nearby meeting room in a matter of minutes on the BluDesks website or app.

3.The meeting rooms are too small

Companies pivoting to a hybrid working office have been taking advantage of co-working spaces in London to cut down on overheads. The convenience is great – until you book a meeting room that’s not big enough to accommodate everyone.

It can work the other way around as well. Small groups occupy a large meeting room because it comes fully equipped with a digital whiteboard or TV screens that are ideal for video conferencing.

BluDesks gives you access to hundreds of fully-equipped meeting rooms in London. They are easy to book and give you the option to book a meeting room that is the ideal size for your needs.

What’s more, you can book a meeting room anywhere in London – or the world for that matter. We’ve teamed up with a network of over 1500 co-working spaces so you can conveniently book meeting rooms wherever you are.

Our business model is also designed to help you save costs. We charge affordable fees and you only pay by the hour. The minimum booking is one hour, but you can book the same room all day, all week or all month if that’s what you need – providing you get your booking in first of course.

Avoid problems when trying to book meeting rooms. Sign up to BluDesks today and access hundreds of co-working spaces with meeting rooms near you.