Kirksey's Agile Planning FAQs

A big benefit of Agile Planning is the ability to accommodate a wide range of headcounts without requiring expansion or contraction of the demised area. It is an inherent outcome caused by abandoning the requirement of a fixed desk or workstation for each and every employee.

Technology can do this for us. Software tools are currently available (e.g. Freespace) under the category of work optimization, and more applications will surely be developed with increasing sophistication as the need for flexibility and scheduling in the workplace increases.

By creating a place that employees want to regularly experience, companies can achieve superior collaboration, socialization, flexibility and access to technology for the organization. It’s a win-win for both employees and employers. 

Survey your employees to see where they are with their own experience with remote working and how they see it fitting into their future – or not.

Establish the percentage of employees who should be anchored, which means either in the office almost every day or requiring an assigned office or workstation in order to fulfill their duties. 

Then determine the ideal number of days of remote working per week for the other staff. Our algorithms can calculate how many people a floor can accommodate on any given day.

By creating a brand-rich destination office – amenities-laden – in order to draw people to the office regularly to connect with the brand and their colleagues.

Productivity in the workplace is difficult to measure, but the perception of productivity can be obtained anecdotally. People know what results can be achieved when their workplace is optimized. And in the case of remote workers, the ability to do very focused work away from the office has been reported by many during the Pandemic. 

The best mantra that we have heard is to shift the managerial mindset from “managing the people” to “managing the work”.

Further reading can be found here.

It takes more effort to manage people when they are not always present. Understandably there are many challenges and concerns on the part of management. For new hires, some companies are considering mandatory at-work periods of many months in order for proper mentoring and role modeling to be inculcated. Buddy systems can be implemented to make sure that socialization needs are addressed. 

Regular in-person meetings at the office will especially powerful for everyone when the office itself is an exciting, productive and inspiring place to spend time. In between these days at the office, regular “touchpoint” Zoom or Teams calls can be remarkably effective. A combination of these methods will likely produce results that exceed expectations. 

Further reading can be found here. 

In the US overall, many corporate leaders are developing their own plans to incorporate remote work in their return to the office. Here is a recent PwC report on their own survey findings from numerous companies during December and January (before vaccination was widely underway.)

Something in the range of 20% to 50%, depending on the two factors cited above.

Everything related to the Kirksey Agile Planning tool is based on what can happen in the workplace after the pandemic is under control. 

However, we believe that among the lessons learned from the pandemic will be these:

• There will be a negative reaction on the part of workers if they are presented with working conditions that roll back the behaviors that have been necessary to control the spread of the disease. 
• Sanitizing of the workplace will continue, along with upgrades to HVAC filtration.
• Spacing of workstations and seats in conference rooms should remain increased somewhat, because exposure to infection is never going away. Flu season will be returning every year. 
• We believe that the best policy is to maintain social distancing in new plans so that temporary interventions will not be needed again.

Over-booking can be managed with software tools. Each person who is scheduling a visit to the office will enter the time period for their visit and will select their preferred location on the floor during that period. In a sense it will be like booking a conference room, but with more sophisticated tools. 

In the same way, parking availability can be assigned during the booking process. What is unknown, however, is how the available parking can be negotiated and managed according to lease provisions. Brokerage teams will be addressing these issues in the near future.

The primary issue is solving for a larger headcount that utilizes smaller premises—albeit not at the same time—which will impact parking ratios.  The solution is likely an arrangement where all employees are issued parking cards but ratios are determined and met by actual utilization and not parking cards outstanding.  Creative solutions will be required and achieved.

• The perception of workplace impact
• The perception of workplace productivity
• The employee’s sense of community

• The employee’s way of working matched the work environment = good programming
• The employee’s sense of choice and flexibility was enabled by the company culture = trust

To save real estate expenses through reductions in occupied area and tenant improvement costs. By providing flexibility to accommodate fluctuations in headcounts. The ability to house a wide range of employees with a fixed complement of offices, workstations and agile furnishings will give leadership the ability to modify a) the number of anchored employees and b) the number of days per week that agile employees will be present in the office. 
 
These two variables create a range of possibilities instead of a fixed solution.
 
To avoid the “empty office” of the future. As people return after the Pandemic and request the ability to work remotely some portion of the week, there will be wasted space and inefficiencies – at great expense – for companies who do not adjust to these new work patterns.
 
To improve the company’s impact on climate change; by reducing the number of days that employees commute to the office, carbon dioxide output is reduced.