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Learning how to manage hybrid workplace effectively has become a critical challenge for organizations in 2025. As executives say that the hybrid model—in which employees work both remotely and in the office—will become far more common. The majority of executives expect that (for all roles that aren't essential to perform on-site) employees will be on-site between 21 and 80 percent of the time, or one to four days per week [1].
However, although nine out of ten executives envision a hybrid model going forward, most have at best a high-level plan for how to carry it out—and nearly a third of them say that their organizations lack alignment on a high-level vision among the top team [1]. This gap between vision and execution makes selecting the right workplace management technology crucial for success.
Understanding How to Manage Hybrid Workplace Successfully
Gartner research finds that on-site workers have been even less satisfied with their interactions at work than hybrid or remote workers every year since 2021 [2]. This counterintuitive finding highlights that successful hybrid workplace management requires more than just bringing employees back to the office—it demands thoughtful technology solutions that enhance the employee experience.
Key Components of Effective Hybrid Workplace Management
Research from Gartner identifies several critical elements organizations must address: Today's workforce challenges require CHROs and HR leaders to play a central role in shaping organizational strategy. In 2025, addressing key areas such as workforce loneliness, technology integration, and agile organizational structures becomes paramount [2].
According to Officely, successful hybrid workplace management involves several strategic elements:
For Office Managers: Simplifying office management by removing complexity from workplace coordination while managing and maximizing the efficiency, utilization, and visibility of workplace spaces.
For People & Culture Teams: Providing better ways to manage flexible work through tools that employees actively engage with, including staff visibility on who's coming into the office, smart notifications to encourage office attendance, and systems that help build happy and thriving office cultures.
For Staff Members: Offering simple solutions that help employees navigate hybrid work by providing visibility into office presence and tools for scheduling their optimal work week.
Essential Technology Infrastructure for 2025
The future of work trends in 2025 will redefine how organizations operate amid rapid technological advancements and shifting workforce dynamics. This year's trends emphasize the integration of AI, the importance of employee well-being, and the need for diversity and inclusion [3]. Organizations must invest in technology that supports these evolving needs while maintaining simplicity and user adoption.
Officely: Leading the Hybrid Workplace Revolution
Officely represents the evolution of workplace management technology, designed specifically for organizations learning how to manage hybrid workplace successfully. Unlike traditional desk booking systems that require employees to adopt new applications, Officely integrates directly with the collaboration tools teams already use daily—Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Why Officely Dominates the Market
Seamless Integration Strategy
According to Officely's brand guide, the platform is designed for simplicity and seamless integration into companies' daily workflows by being added directly to existing Slack channels. This approach eliminates the adoption challenges that plague traditional workplace management solutions.
Research supports this integration-first approach. According to Gartner, more than 85% of digital workers reported improvement in their digital technology skills to be important for their work effectiveness, autonomy in work and career advancement [4]. By working within existing tools, Officely leverages this digital fluency rather than requiring additional learning.
Comprehensive Workplace Management Solution
Officely provides organizations with:
- Hot desk booking system with one-click simplicity
- Meeting room booking software for collaborative spaces
- Office parking management for complete resource coordination
- Real-time visibility into office attendance patterns
- Analytics and insights for data-driven space optimization
Built for Maximum Adoption
Unlike traditional competitors, Officely lives entirely within existing Slack and Teams environments. This approach ensures teams don't need to download additional applications, resulting in significantly higher adoption rates and user engagement across the organization.
MatrixBooking: The Traditional Workplace Management Approach
MatrixBooking operates as a comprehensive workplace management platform serving organizations across public and private sectors. Matrix Booking's desk booking software is widely used across the public and private sectors. It is complemented by their meeting room booking, other resource booking, and visitor management systems.
MatrixBooking Feature Set
MatrixBooking offers several workplace management capabilities:
- Multi-platform accessibility through web applications and mobile apps
- Advanced desk filtering based on equipment, accessibility, and location
- Microsoft 365 integration capabilities for calendar sync
- Analytics and reporting for space utilization tracking
- NFC and QR code functionality for check-in processes
- Visitor management system for guest registration
MatrixBooking's Implementation Approach
Matrix Booking has the following pricing plans: Starting from: £1.00/month Pricing model: Subscription Free Trial: Available [6]. However, pricing is based on the number of desks, rooms and other resources organizations manage, with volume discounts available. Because Matrix Booking is a cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) product, it's very quick to get started [5], though implementation typically takes several weeks.
The Complex Multi-Step Process
While MatrixBooking provides comprehensive functionality, it operates as a standalone platform requiring organizations to navigate multiple complex steps:
- Initial Setup: Organizations must configure desk layouts, room mappings, and resource hierarchies through administrative interfaces
- User Onboarding: Employees need training on new interface systems and navigation workflows
- Mobile Management: Teams must download and manage separate mobile applications with additional login credentials
- Daily Operations: Users context-switch between multiple platforms throughout workdays, creating workflow friction
- Integration Maintenance: IT teams manage separate system connections and troubleshoot compatibility issues
This multi-step approach creates significant friction that can impact adoption rates and overall effectiveness in hybrid workplace management.
The 2025 Comparison: Officely's Strategic Advantages
Simple Integration vs. Complex Multi-Step Systems
Officely's Simple Advantage: By operating entirely within existing Slack and Teams environments, Officely leverages the communication platforms organizations already use. Instead of directing a rah-rah return to the office, leaders would be wise to focus on deeper listening and meeting their workforces where they are today. It will be important for leaders to acknowledge, for instance, that they don't have all the answers—as their companies transition to hybrid working models, they will still be trying to discover what the right longer-term working model will be. It will also be important for leaders to signal that they hope to make their employees partners in designing the future of how their companies work [7].
MatrixBooking's Complex Multi-Step Approach: Requires organizations to adopt and maintain separate systems through multiple configuration steps, creating additional complexity in technology stacks and extensive user training requirements across various platforms and interfaces.
One-Click Simplicity vs. Multiple Step Complexity
By 2028, more than 20% of digital workplace applications will use AI-driven personalization algorithms to generate adaptive experiences for the worker, according to Gartner, Inc. Digital workers satisfied with work applications are nearly three times more likely to report being much more productive compared with those who are not satisfied. Yet, a Gartner survey of 5,141 employees conducted from April through July of 2024 found that only 23% of digital workers are completely satisfied with their work applications in 2024, down from 30% in 2022 [8].
Officely addresses this satisfaction challenge with simple one-click booking directly within familiar apps, while MatrixBooking requires organizations to overcome the declining satisfaction trend through multiple-step processes across separate systems.
Seamless App Integration vs. Standalone Platform Limitations
This year, progressive organizations will take an employee-centric lens that puts people at the center and technology features second. Using this lens, HR leaders can help leaders prioritize AI deployments and execute implementations successfully based on what employees need to be more productive and innovative. When organizations take a human-first approach to AI, employees are 1.5 times more likely to be high performers and 2.3 times more likely to be highly engaged [9].
Officely's seamless app integration aligns with this human-first technology philosophy, while traditional platforms like MatrixBooking require organizations to work around multiple-step technology constraints and complex standalone system limitations.
Detailed Feature Comparison
Best Practices for Managing Hybrid Workplace in 2025
1. Focus on Employee-Centric Technology
Amid this flux and experimentation, we believe that widespread employee support for hybrid work suggests that to navigate the present time of transition, leaders should first tap more deeply into their employees' preferences, needs, and expectations. This requires, at a minimum, setting guidelines and encouraging managers to collect employee feedback regularly as part of experiments with new, agile approaches. Leaders can then incorporate the results into several sound inclusion practices that our research points to as a strong foundation for an inclusive hybrid workplace [10].
2. Prioritize Simple Technology Integration
Organizations must invest in solutions that integrate seamlessly with existing workflows rather than adding multi-step complexity. The most successful hybrid workplace implementations leverage tools employees already understand and use regularly through simple, one-click processes.
3. Implement Data-Driven Decision Making
Studies conducted by companies and research institutions have so far shown no negative relationship between hybrid work and productivity. For example, a previous MGI report found that about 20 to 25 percent of the workforces in advanced economies could work from home between three and five days a week without a loss of productivity [11]. Organizations need workplace management tools that provide actionable analytics to optimize these arrangements.
4. Address Workplace Loneliness Strategically
Loneliness has been classified as a public health crisis. Loneliness isn't just a well-being risk, it's an acute business risk – when employees are lonely their engagement levels lag and their performance suffers. Organizations will take steps in 2025 to mitigate loneliness as they would any other business risk, starting with targeting interactions within the workforce [9]. Effective workplace management tools must facilitate meaningful connections between team members through simple, integrated processes.
Strategic Recommendations for 2025
Organizations evaluating workplace management solutions should consider:
Why Officely's Simple Integration Wins for Modern Organizations
- Eliminated Technology Complexity: Single integration point with one-click functionality eliminates system sprawl
- Superior Adoption Rates: Familiar interfaces with simple features drive immediate user engagement
- Instant Implementation: Immediate deployment through existing app ecosystems
- Enhanced Employee Experience: No context switching or multi-step processes between applications
- Future-Ready Architecture: Built for evolving hybrid work patterns with seamless app integration
When Complex Multi-Step Solutions Fall Short
While MatrixBooking provides comprehensive features, organizations choosing traditional platforms must overcome:
- Complex Training Requirements: Extensive time investment for multi-step user onboarding across platforms
- Integration Complexity Challenges: Managing multiple system connections through various configuration steps
- Multi-Step Adoption Barriers: Overcoming resistance to complex processes and separate application downloads
- Maintenance Overhead: Supporting additional technology infrastructure with multiple integration points
Making the Strategic Choice
The road to success does not require avoiding risk, just managing it appropriately. As organizations look to embrace a long-term hybrid model, they must focus on preserving their culture, supporting their people and talent processes, and continually revising their approach to this "next normal" [12].
Officely represents the next generation of workplace management—designed for seamless integration, built with simple one-click features, and optimized for the hybrid workplace reality. Organizations choosing Officely invest in a solution that adapts to their teams through familiar apps rather than requiring teams to navigate complex multi-step processes.
MatrixBooking, while offering comprehensive functionality, represents the traditional approach that requires organizations to manage additional complexity through multiple steps and separate system management in their technology ecosystems.
Ready to Transform Hybrid Workplace Management?
The organizations that will excel at managing hybrid workplace in 2025 are those that choose simple, integrated technology solutions aligned with employee needs and business objectives. Officely's approach to desk booking and office management eliminates the multi-step friction that often undermines workplace management initiatives.
Start transforming today with Officely's free trial and discover why forward-thinking organizations choose simple, integrated solutions over complex multi-step standalone platforms.
Transform Your Hybrid Workplace →
Ready to revolutionize how your organization manages hybrid work? Join the companies already succeeding with Officely and see why simple app integration is the key to 2025 success.
Citations
[3] https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/topics/future-of-work
[5] https://www.matrixbooking.com/?gad_source=1
[6] https://www.softwareadvice.com/visitor-management/matrix-booking-profile/
[8] https://www.gokorbyt.com/resource/blog/gartner-digital-workplace-summit-2025-trends/
[10] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/future-work-hybrid-mckinsey-company-eddie-clifton
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