Flex office & parking booking glossary

Activity-based working is an office layout where employees choose the space that fits the task at hand: a quiet room to focus, a meeting room to collaborate, a phone booth for calls. Nobody has an assigned desk; people move between spaces during the day. It usually relies on a booking tool so that everyone can find the right space when they need it.

An agile office is a workspace designed to adapt to changing needs: unassigned desks, modular areas and spaces for collaboration as well as focus. The term is often used as a synonym for flex office. Its goal is to match the office to how teams actually work rather than to a fixed seating chart.

Check-in is the action of confirming, on arrival, that you are actually using the desk, room or parking space you booked. It turns a reservation into real attendance data and helps detect no-shows, so unused spaces can be identified. In Waldo, check-in is part of the complete version.

A clean desk policy asks employees to clear their desk at the end of each day: no papers, personal items or devices left behind. It is essential in a shared office, because the next person must find a desk ready to use. It also protects confidential information.

Coworking is a shared workspace, usually run by a third-party operator, where freelancers, start-ups and employees of different companies rent desks or offices on a flexible basis. Some companies use coworking spaces as a complement to their own offices for remote or travelling teams. Unlike flex office, coworking spaces are not reserved for a single organisation.

Desk booking is the reservation of a specific workstation in advance, for a day or part of a day, usually through an app or a floor plan. It guarantees employees a place when they come to the office and gives managers reliable data on who is coming. With Waldo, employees book a desk directly in Microsoft Teams, on an interactive floor plan.

Desk sharing is an organisation in which several employees use the same desks at different times, instead of each person having an assigned desk. It works because, with hybrid work, not everyone is in the office on the same day. It requires clear rules and a booking tool to avoid finding no desk available. Read our article on the highs and lows of desk sharing.

The desk-to-employee ratio compares the number of desks available with the number of employees who may use them. A ratio below 1 means there are fewer desks than people, which is the principle of desk sharing. The right ratio depends on your real attendance, so it is best set after measuring occupancy over several weeks.

First aider and fire warden coverage means making sure enough trained people are on site each day to handle an emergency. With hybrid work, attendance varies daily, so this coverage can no longer be taken for granted. Waldo lets you set thresholds for first aiders and fire wardens, so you can see when a day lacks coverage.

Flex office is a way of organising the workplace in which employees have no assigned desk and use available workstations when they come in. It is usually combined with hybrid work and desk sharing, and supported by a desk booking tool. Its aims are to use space better and give employees more choice. Waldo is a flex office app for Microsoft Teams.

Hot desking is a first-come, first-served desk system: employees take any free desk when they arrive, without booking in advance. It is simple to set up but offers no guarantee of finding a seat on busy days. Desk booking is often adopted as the next step to remove that uncertainty.

Hoteling is a reservation-based desk system: employees book a workstation in advance, as they would book a hotel room. It is the opposite of hot desking, where desks are taken on arrival. In practice, hoteling and desk booking describe the same approach.

Hybrid work is a work model in which employees split their time between the office and remote work, for example a few days a week in each place. It raises new questions: who is coming on which day, how many desks are needed, how teams meet up. Tools such as Waldo help teams see who is coming to the office and coordinate their days.

An interactive floor plan is a digital map of the office on which employees see available desks, rooms and parking spaces, and book them in one click. It also shows where colleagues are sitting. In Waldo's complete version, you book a specific desk on the floor plan, change seat via the map and design your own maps.

Meeting room booking is the reservation of a meeting room for a given time slot, to avoid double bookings and unused rooms. It is often linked to calendars so that a room is booked along with the meeting invitation. In Waldo's complete version, meeting rooms are booked on the floor plan, in Microsoft Teams.

A neighbourhood is an area of the office reserved for a team or department, within which members use shared desks. It keeps colleagues close together while keeping the flexibility of flex office. Neighbourhoods are often sized according to each team's attendance.

A no-show is a booking that is not used: the person reserved a desk, room or parking space but did not come. No-shows block spaces others could have used and distort occupancy data. Check-in is the usual way to detect them.

The occupancy rate is the share of available desks, rooms or parking spaces that are actually used over a given period. It is the key indicator for sizing a flex office and deciding on a desk-to-employee ratio. Waldo shows office and parking occupancy, and the complete version adds a Power BI connector and template for deeper analysis.

Overbooking happens when more people plan to come to the office, or reserve a space, than there are desks or parking spaces available. Some people then arrive without a place. Waldo's free version works as a presence declaration, so overbooking is possible; the complete version guarantees capacity and prevents it.

Predictive booking means anticipating reservations from existing information, such as an employee's calendar or habits, so they do not have to book everything by hand. It saves time and keeps bookings consistent with actual schedules. Waldo's complete version offers predictive reservation and Outlook smart sync.

A presence declaration is the simple act of indicating where you will work on a given day, for example at the office, remotely or absent, without booking a specific desk. It tells the team who is coming and gives a first view of office occupancy. This is how Waldo's free version works, directly in Microsoft Teams.

Remote work, or teleworking, means working away from the company's premises, most often from home, using digital tools. In a hybrid model, remote days alternate with office days. The rules that govern it vary by country and by company, see our article on the legalities of working from home.

Space utilisation analytics is the analysis of how offices, rooms and parking are actually used, based on booking, check-in or sensor data. It helps decide whether to resize, reorganise or reallocate space. Waldo's complete version includes a Power BI connector and template for this analysis.

A waiting list lets employees queue for a desk, room or parking space that is already fully booked. If a place is freed up, it can go to the next person on the list. Waldo's complete version includes waiting lists with priority.

A work-from-home policy sets the rules for remote work in a company: number of remote or office days, eligibility, days when presence is expected. Applying it fairly requires knowing who works where each day. Waldo's complete version lets you set home and office day limits, a good alternative to WFH Excel spreadsheets.

Workplace management software is a tool that helps organisations plan and run their offices: desk, room and parking booking, attendance, floor plans and occupancy reporting. It is the backbone of a well-run flex office. Waldo is a workplace management app that runs entirely in Microsoft Teams; see how it compares with Microsoft Places.

An accessible parking space is reserved for people with reduced mobility, usually wider and closer to the building entrance. In a shared car park, these spaces must remain available to the people who need them. Waldo lets you define reduced-mobility spaces among your parking space types.

A car park management system is software, sometimes combined with hardware such as barriers or sensors, used to allocate, book and monitor parking spaces. For a company car park, its main role is to share a limited number of spaces fairly among employees. Waldo is a parking management software for Microsoft Teams, with connectors for parking and badge systems.

An EV charging space is a parking space equipped with a charging point for electric vehicles. These spaces are often few, so booking them avoids conflicts and lets more drivers charge during the week. Waldo handles electric spaces as a dedicated parking type.

Fair-play rotation is a way of allocating scarce spaces, such as parking, so that access is spread fairly among employees over time rather than going to whoever books first. It avoids the same people always getting a space. Waldo's complete version includes fair-play booking.

Parking access control covers the systems that let authorised vehicles into a car park: barriers, badges, licence plate readers or intercoms. When linked to a booking tool, access can match the reservations of the day. Waldo's complete version includes parking access and booking, with connectors for parking and badge systems.

A parking booking app lets employees reserve a company parking space in advance, for a given day, from their phone or computer. It replaces spreadsheets, emails and first-come, first-served arrangements. With Waldo, employees book their parking space in Microsoft Teams, together with their desk. Read how parking reservation works with Waldo.

Parking occupancy is the share of parking spaces that are booked or used over a given period. It shows whether the car park is undersized, oversized or used unevenly across the week. Parking occupancy is visible in both Waldo's free and complete versions.

A parking quota is a limit on the number of times an employee can book a parking space over a given period, for example per week or per month. It is used when demand exceeds the number of spaces, to give more people access. It is often combined with fair-play rules and waiting lists.

A parking waiting list lets an employee queue for a parking space on a day when all spaces are booked. If a space is released, it can be given to the next person on the list. Waldo's complete version includes waiting lists with priority.

Shared parking is a car park in which spaces are not assigned to individuals but pooled and booked by employees as needed. Since not everyone comes in every day in a hybrid model, a shared car park can serve more people than there are spaces. It requires a booking tool and clear allocation rules.

A two-wheeler space is a parking space for motorbikes, scooters or bicycles. Managing these spaces separately avoids using a full car space for a two-wheeler. Waldo supports two-wheel spaces as a dedicated parking type.

Visitor parking is the set of spaces kept for guests, customers or suppliers coming to the company's premises. Planning these spaces in advance avoids visitors arriving with nowhere to park. It is often managed separately from employee parking.