How a Modern Workplace Management Platform Helped VHB Embrace the Hybrid Office

Challenge: Reimagining the VHB Offices for Flexible Work

As VHB embarked on reimagining their offices, the challenge was not just a matter of an office move but also rethinking their workplace technology and office management strategy. The Boston office was a perfect opportunity to enhance the way VHB managed their office.

"Over the last few years, obviously like everybody else in the world, it was the question of: "Hey, we're returning to the office. How do we do that? What does an office look like?” reflected Dale. “That's where we had an opportunity to use Robin to solve a pretty significant challenge."

Dale and his team needed a solution that allowed employees to easily access and book office resources when they were in the office, and empowered local office managers to run their locations as they saw fit.

• Securing Buy-In from Leaders and Teams: Without buy-in, there’s no chance of getting off the ground. Securing support from leadership and managers is an instrumental part of introducing any new technology or processes. This was a big piece of the puzzle for the team as they wanted to find a solution everyone could be confident about.
• Onboarding Teams and Streamlining Processes: Big transitions require big change management. From VHB leadership to local office managers to employees in each office, every level of the organization needed to understand what Robin does and how to use it. Ideally, these processes need to be straight-forward and simple for quick adoption.
• Managing Multiple Offices: VHB has over 30 offices and they wanted to provide teams with a solution that was consistent but also could be tailored in small ways to suit the unique needs of each office. Ultimately, whatever the solution, the IT team would need to hand off the day-to-day management of each location to the individual office leads. As such, the tech needed to go beyond efficiency and also be user-friendly.

Solution: Adopting a Modern Workplace Management Platform

How could VHB tackle all three of these challenges most effectively? The short answer is by implementing scalable and flexible workplace technology. Enter: Robin. 

The end goal with Robin for Dale and his team was to avoid getting too caught up in the details like: "Hey, Steve sits here instead of here," and, "We have someone coming into the office tomorrow. Can we book this desk?” 

“Ultimately, I wanted to get the IT team out of the day-to-day management and put it in the hands of the local office admins and the local managing directors of the offices,” explained Dale. 

“To say it's your office and you got your map, so if you want to keep your map up to date and you want to have everything look right, you got the tools to do it.”

Here’s how that process worked out.

Step One: Preparing for New Processes and Securing Buy-In 

With the Boston Office, The Workplace Strategy and Operations Team, led by their Director Mike Altobello, preparing for all possibilities ahead of the rollout. 

Office leadership selected the office space and committed to an unassigned and flexible seating approach?  Then, Altobello and his team went around talking to senior leaders to the Boston-based managers and then, the entire Boston office. They said: ‘Here's how we think the new office will work with fully unassigned seating from office directors down to interns and here’s what we need to do in order to make it work.’

"We had a tool in place that we used for space planning and navigation around the office that we had built internally. But for hot desking and room booking to work, it needed to be something that was much more streamlined,” explained Dale.

“This new office process of 'Hey, I need to book a seat or space and know it's going to be booked when I get there and I want to be able to do that in an easy way.’ Robin was built for that."

Step Two: Building Thoughtful Training for Quick Adoption‍

The preparation by the entire VHB team made the rollout of Robin an out-and-out success. Dale and his team thought through how to help get the people comfortable with things like:

• How does flexible seating work?
• What does hot desking mean?
• What does the process of booking resources look like?
• Who can help me with any issues?

“Robin really helps smooth over a lot of those concerns because of how easy it is to use. Once I rolled out Robin with an email about the basics, I didn't hear from anybody. In IT that just doesn't happen,” explained Dale.

“So then I started to worry. Do they hate it? But it wasn’t that. I sent the follow-up survey to Boston saying, "Hey, how is the Robin stuff working?" They all loved it.“

"With Robin, you deploy it, communicate what's coming, show them how to use it, and then it runs, which is to me just a huge credit to the platform."

Step Three: Translating Success Across Offices with Intention

The Boston Office project was an opportunity to learn what worked and what didn’t. It was clear to the VHB team and using that knowledge, VHB began a wider rollout.

VHB had multiple offices where it wasn’t exactly an office move but an immediate need for new office processes. For example, their New York City office was at capacity and they were in need of something ASAP. 

“We couldn’t exactly say: Okay, let’s buy new space and get new furniture and redesign and re-architect." It was like, "What can we do today?’ so we turned to Robin,” said Dale.

“We got the New York team up and running relatively quickly. We set up a mix of assigned and shared desks and communicated with everyone involved. Robin has really been a nice bridge to figure out what we actually need from our office spaces.”

Outcomes: Streamlined Operations and Better Experiences

Since implementing the Robin platform, VHB has seen significant improvements in their office management and employee experience. The centralized platform has streamlined administrative tasks, reduced the complexity of managing multiple offices, and enhanced the overall efficiency of workplace operations.

“With Robin, I know I’m handing off a product that can be managed by people who might not be super technical and shouldn't need to be,” explained Dale.

Continued Rollout of Robin across VHBs 30+ Offices

Looking ahead, VHB plans to roll out the Robin platform to more of their offices, further leveraging the platform's capabilities to enhance their workplace strategy.

“After the NYC offices, we began the process of implementing Robin at each office,” Dale shared. “Whenever we would do a significant office renovation or move offices, we would make the transition. Like, okay we're adding in 20 desks and we're doing some layout changes, it just made sense to introduce Robin as a part of that transition.”

This expansion will allow VHB to continue optimizing their office environments and supporting their hybrid workforce with a robust, scalable solution.

Beyond Booking: Reimagining Office Space with Robin Data

VHB's workplace and IT leaders get the valuable insights they need to make smarter decisions about desks and spaces but Dale plans to continue to reimagine what the office can be with Robin. 

By connecting space data with employee interactions in Robin, VHB can make smarter decisions regarding office space utilization and employee needs. This data-informed approach is instrumental in driving a modern workplace strategy. 

"It's a core objective of IT, being data-informed when we're making a decision. Is it based on facts? What needs to be solved and where are the metrics to help solve it. Robin allows us to make office decisions based on facts, not feelings,” Dale added.

Partnering with Robin for Continued Success

VHB's partnership with Robin has provided them with the tools and insights needed to effectively manage their office spaces and support their employees. Moving forward, Dale is excited to see how both the VHB offices and the Robin platform evolve.

“We try to find vendors that we can partner with and not just be another client. I definitely feel that we have that relationship with Robin. There’s so much value in how you guys are elevating your game to meet our needs, which also then elevates our offices and our needs even further.” said Dale.

“It's a good partnership, I think that’s a really successful part of the story too. Evolving as a larger workplace at VHB and you guys evolving with us as well as we try to figure out what offices are in this new world of work.”