Navigation is an often overlooked issue. New employees need to learn their way around, and even remote work staff need to refamiliarize every time they come to the office.
A few minutes getting lost might not seem like much, but it leads to late meetings, a lack of focus, and a general sense of apprehension about coming to work.
So, when existing systems don’t offer such a solution, where can you turn? Office mapping works to solve this problem. As the name implies, it’s the process of digitalizing your office layout into handy maps, full of the useful information that everyone needs.
Benefits of Office Mapping
Let’s start with the most important question: why should you invest in office maps? Wayfinding tools might not necessarily help in reducing costs or raising productivity directly, but they offer numerous benefits that help staff focus on what matters.
Employees and Visitors alike Get a Better Understanding
There is no such thing as standard office layout. Every workplace is a little different, in part due to the office building’s dimensions and, perhaps more importantly, the unique nature of each business. When meeting rooms and other spaces vary in importance, it naturally changes how the work environment is perceived.
- For visitors, office mapping helps them to navigate otherwise complex office spaces.
- For employees, office mapping improves daily operations by providing critical information, helping them to better visualize the office when planning where to work.
Improves the Employee Experience when Onboarding
Even the most simplest of maps can make all the difference for new starters. Office navigation is a stressful topic for most people when they start somewhere new: they don’t want to ask for help, and they’re already trying to learn the ropes of more critical tasks.
Maps help employees find their desk, where various meeting rooms are, and where critical office amenities like the kitchen and toilets are located. It gives them not just the ability to make more informed decisions, but also the confidence to come to work. After all, it’s one less thing to worry about.
Supports Hybrid Work Models and Desk Booking
As hot desking increases in popularity, employees need to locate desks and other resources effectively. Even in the office hoteling model, where employees use the same space for short periods, the next visit might be in a different part of the office. Naturally, office mapping is an easy way for staff to find the desks that they’ve reserved.
It also helps when employees are trying to find their colleagues. With clear floor plans, staff can share their desk numbers, and the available office maps will help them navigate.
Digital Mapping Rapidly Supports Changes
More and more companies are rearranging their current workplaces to improve operational efficiency. Whether this is adding more meeting rooms, or utilising more hot desks to fit more employees per square foot via a hybrid workplaces, office managers still need a way to both plan changes, and then demonstrate these new layouts to staff.
Office mapping solves both of these things:
- With dynamic office mapping tools, admins can layout the bear framework of their office building, and then digitally rearrange desks and spaces. This helps them to better visualize changes, and can prove a real time saver.
- For staff, getting an updated digital map is easier than learning their way around by themselves. Maps can be sent to all staff very quickly, ensuring everyone has access to the new layout and knows where to go.
Employee Independence Removes Pressure on Internal Help Desks
You’d be surprised how often help desks get asked to locate things. Without a wayfinding solution, staff turn to internal help systems to find key locations or assets. It’s a few minutes here and there, but it adds to a distracted support system that could be solving more business critical issues.
Key Elements of Office Floor Plans
Now that we’ve highlighted the key benefits of office mapping in terms of both space management and office space utilization, what should a general map include?
Effective office mapping should include most, if not all, of the following.
Walls and Doors
It seems obvious, but it’s nonetheless essential. With the walls and doors added, you have the barebone structure for further office planning.
This is also where you may need a little manual work. In order to get the rest of your office maps correct, you need to ensure you have the correct measurements for every wall.
Similarly, be sure to include doors in your plans. These can be as simple as a clear gap in the walls, but staff need to know where the entrances and exits for each room are
Hot Desks & Permanent Workstations
Every desk should be included in your maps. It helps office workers not only find their own workstations, but also those of other employees. Therefore, even if someone has permanently allocated seating, their location could still prove useful for others.
If you’re running a hybrid office, then your facilities maps need a general way to identify any given seat. Common systems include:
- Simply numbering desks from 1 upwards. For small offices, this can often be enough. If you’ve got less than 50 desks, for example, this is still fairly intuitive.
- Numbering desks via clump/area and then by individual location. This is more popular in larger offices, those that use office neighborhoods, and those with multiple floors. For example, you could use numbers to refer to each neighborhood, and then letters for each seat. Desk 5B, therefore, would be the 2nd desk in neighborhood 5.
By including these in your wider maps, you also remove the need for separate seating charts. It also has the added benefit of putting office seating in the context of the wider work environment.
Departments & Dedicated Offices
Alongside hot desking and shared areas, many offices still have reserved space for key roles or processes. This can include dedicated, private offices for leadership, such as C-suite or senior roles, as well as those departments that require individual space. Accounting and HR are common examples of the latter, since they handle sensitive data and often need private, secured spaces.
Nonetheless, knowing where these people or departments are located is just as important as any other part of the office. If the CEO asks someone to come to his room, or someone has a meeting with accounting, effective office mapping helps staff navigate the different zones they don’t normally find themselves in.
Common Areas & Shared Spaces
Most workplaces have shared spaces that aren’t bookable,, but are still important for day to day work. On a typical day, employees and visitors will want to locate:
- Reception
- Kitchens
- Lounges
Even a small office may have a kitchen, lounge and reception area, whilst organizations based in larger corporate buildings can host multiple of each. Without simple labelling, these appear as unexplained blank paces in the map.
On a similar note, you can also use your digital maps to define quiet zones. This will better help those choosing which desk to reserve, or even when moving through the office. These spaces are vital for reducing stress in employees, so making them easier to find improves the workplace experience.
Utilities
Alongside shared spaces, there are utilities, such as toilets, storage closets, shared printers, lockers, vending machines and more. Each of these may be needed throughout the day, so it’s wise to include them when creating your office map.
Company Parking
Speaking of utilities and resources, we should talk a little about company parking. This is another area where a map can help. When using an assigned employee parking system, staff need to know which parking space is which.
On that note, Parkalot offers both office map creation and company car park mapping tools. Together, you’ll have the tools to both help employees find their parking spaces and navigate the work place, reducing confusion and stress in equal measure.
Safety Information
Finally, office maps can also have a practical purpose when it comes to safety. All of the following can be included on any floor plan:
- Fire exits
- First aid kits
- AEDs
- Assembly points
Or you may prefer to have separate maps for these. What’s important is that staff have immediate access to accurate information when they need it.
Easy Mapping Software to Get Started
You don’t need to be an expert cartographer to make useful floorplans. There are many office mapping software solutions available, including some that are free-to-use and even in-browser.
Parkalot offers free office mapping and car park mapping tools for this very purpose. It’s simple to use – just click, drag and explore – and you’ll soon have the basic foundations set up in no time at all.
And if you’re looking for something more interactive, consider using Parkalot’s desk reservation and employee parking app. More than just a map, the Parkalot app lets staff book desks, meeting rooms, parking spaces and other vital assets. Companies can set internal rules and limits, ensuring fairness across vital resources, such as parking, where demand often exceeds space availability.
All of this is supported with in-app maps, so staff can not only see which bays are free, they can easily navigate to that available space. It’s the best parts of interactive maps, paired with robust policy-implementation to help your office manage day-to-day reservations automatically.
Do You Need an Office Map?
The short answer is yes.
The long answer? Workplace navigation isn’t just an issue for the largest corporate campuses. Between new employees, on-site visitors and the rise of hot desking, the way we use the office is evolving. It’s becoming much more dynamic, and navigational aids are therefore becoming essential to smooth operations.
Fortunately, it’s quick and easy to get an effective office map out there. And with office mapping tools, you can easily come back and adjust as your office layout evolves and grows with the business.
