PROJECT HISTORY
The challenge
With a post-pandemic vision of the workplace, United Way was looking for a technology partner to support its transition to a hybrid working model.
United Way Greater Toronto Return to Office
Driving a successful return-to-office at United Way Greater Toronto
The solution
Our Nspace product offers employees the ability to reserve office space and manage data analytics on how and when their office space is being used.
The impact
United Way enhanced office safety while gaining valuable insight into office management to improve employees' hybrid office experience.
200+
employees safely returned to office
3
offices transitioned to a hybrid model
The challenge
In March 2020, United Way Greater Toronto’s three offices with over 200 staff were forced to instantly respond to the pandemic. In two short days, United Way leaders transitioned staff from wired workstations to take-home laptops, and securely pivoted their critical business processes to a brand-new remote model.
A year into the pandemic, United Way had a small percentage of staff who were eager to return to the office. Some were not thriving at home, and many really wanted to see people again. For this reason, there was an initial attempt at a trial re-opening. During the trial, United Way relied on a manual process to manage capacity and vaccination acknowledgments, which ultimately created confusion and was inefficient.
The solution
United Way sought a technology partner to accelerate its transition to a hybrid model through a user-friendly platform that is cost-effective. Ultimately, Nspace was selected to expedite a pilot for the ultimate transformation of three United Way Greater Toronto offices to a hybrid model. In all, the implementation took just three weeks to complete and did not require training.
The Nspace team took a straightforward, support-driven approach, perfectly scaled to what United Way needed. Our team created a custom interface that mapped out the desk and meeting spaces within each of the three United Way offices. Within this interface, employees were able to access the app from the United Way intranet site, reserve office space and organize when other employees were collaborating in the office. In addition to the office booking capabilities, our app allowed management to monitor capacity seamlessly to ensure safe social distancing was possible.
Through the platform, management also had the opportunity to collect vaccination acknowledgments and require that staff fill out a wellness form before entering the office to further guarantee a safe transition to a hybrid working model.
The impact
Our Nspace product was able to positively impact United Way’s transition to a hybrid working model in four ways. It managed to enhance employee safety by ensuring anyone entering the office completed a health assessment and complied with Canadian vaccine requirements. It also ensured that in the event of a health risk, United Way could accurately and efficiently notify those who may have been exposed to the risk.
The product improved capacity management by providing a clear and accurate window into the number of staff pre-booked and present on site. In addition, it also provided valuable data and insights into how the space was used by visitors so managers could effectively improve the employee hybrid office experience. Finally, the data-driven insights from the app informed executive decisions and policies by providing data on employee health, office usage and in-office behaviors to empower leaders to guide the organization confidently forward.
Used capabilities
