Siemens has introduced a set of new features and collaboration tools to its workplace technology solution Comfy, which will play a key role for businesses returning employees to the office, and simplify the shift to hybrid work.
The new features are designed to address known employee concerns around hybrid working, such as a lack of social contact, difficulty with building and maintaining a network and a lack of collaboration opportunities. The new collaboration tools are part of Comfy’s ‘Flexible Spaces’ solution, and help create stronger community through a digitalised, app-based employee experience.
Hybrid working schedules
They maximise opportunities for employee collaboration and connection by providing employees with insights on colleagues’ in-office preferences and planned visits, and enable employees to find coworkers at the office. New features include:
The booking feature integrates with calendar applications to allow delegates to make space reservations
- In-Office Preferences: Employees can set workspace locations so they can better see colleagues in the office by viewing their chosen workspace ‘address’ on a map within the application. They can also set and view in-office preference days to align their hybrid working schedules and maximise their office time.
- Coworker Future Filter: An in-app filter allows employees to find out when relevant coworkers are coming into the office so they can plan their hybrid work schedules in advance. The filter also eases the onboarding process for new hires, by enabling new team members to find relevant coworkers’ future hybrid schedules, and meet new faces across teams and building locations. Opt-in capabilities ensure that employees have control over schedule sharing.
- Coworker Delegate Booking: This feature simplifies the process for organising meetings and booking desks or conference rooms, by allowing employees to book spaces for teammates or assign delegates for reserving space. The booking feature integrates with calendar applications to allow delegates to make space reservations.
Implementing hybrid working
“Our new Flexible Spaces features alleviate the ‘empty office syndrome’ and enable companies to rebuild a sense of community, by improving the convenience of space reservations and creating opportunities for collaboration and connection,” said Stefan Schwab, CEO, Comfy | Enlighted.
Businesses must carefully consider how they can elevate the employee experience"
“To succeed in implementing hybrid working and returning employees to offices, businesses must carefully consider how they can elevate the employee experience. These new tools build on Comfy’s core promise of making it easier for employees to connect with each other and their physical offices, by allowing them greater visibility into when their colleagues will be in the office for activity-based work.”
Workplace-essential solutions
A survey published by Siemens in November 2021 found that employees see clear benefits to flexible working, including better work/life balance (73%), ability to work flexibly (59%), and improved productivity (38%). However, many cited lack of social contact (65%), difficulty building and maintaining a network (52%), and a lack of collaboration opportunities (43%) as major drawbacks.
Comfy provides a suite of workplace-essential solutions that drive more positive engagement between occupants and their spaces. The new collaboration tools join additional recent enhancements to Comfy’s employee experience and space management capabilities, including Neighbourhoods, a way to group spaces for organisational assignment; In-App Check-In, a way for maximising reservable space; Space Traits, a way to categorise and track employee space preferences, and Insights Access, a data API that provides data insights for space planning and real estate portfolio decisions.
