Introduction
What impression is your reception making? Facilities Managers deal with many different areas of expertise and have a lot on their plate at times; does experience fall short in your department? Do you want to improve the way customers feel about your office?
In this post, we’ll give you an office reception checklist to help you create the best experience in your reception area.
Why do I Need a Checklist to Optimise my Reception?
First impression matters, an office reception checklist is a group of tasks that you should undertake in order to have a fully optimised reception supporting your staff to deliver the best customer service. Whether businesses are planning innovative workplace strategies or positioning themselves that they care about their customers and employees, having a fully optimised reception area will overcome the challenges of managing reception and:
- Increase efficiencies: automating processes and going digital
- Improve productivity: visitors processed quickly will allow meetings to start on time
- Achieve compliance: handling visitor data without breaching GDPR compliant
- Better customer experience: a VIP experience will lead to better relationships, increased sales and more
- Reduce costs: in the current climate, which CFO won’t appreciate cost reductions?
Improving your reception area with our carefully written checklist can only benefit your operation. Read on to find out more.
1. Design
Having a warm, welcoming, and sleek reception area will impress visitors and let them know from the beginning what impression you intend to make.
A good office design can improve productivity, consider the lights, open space, and colours while planning your reception area. If your business demonstrates certain values you should take the opportunity to show them in your reception area. For example, if your organisation values innovation, think outside the box with your office design. If you value caring for the environment, avoid using unsustainable materials and waste.
When planning your reception redesign, be sure to involve stakeholders who champion your brand; your reception area is a way to show people your brand from the moment they enter your building, so it’s important to include the people who understand your brand more than most.
2. Accessibility
Make sure your reception is accessible to the diverse nature of people. It is estimated that there are approx. 14.1 million people in the UK with a form of disability and 4.1 million of those are in work. Inclusivity has never been more important; everyone deserves the right to work in a comfortable setting, with dignity.
In addition to caring about others, you have a legal requirement to ensure your workplace is accessible for employees and visitors.
Simple changes that you can make include adding braille signs, digital signage and displays, and the option to change light settings, or you can consider assistive technology.
3. Data compliance
How are you collecting and storing your visitor details? Companies were fined €273m for GDPR infringement in 2021, therefore it is important you have a process in place to handle the visitor data properly.
Collecting visitor details helps managers to maintain building security, but the process requires manual tasks to collect, manage, store, and erase the data which might lead to a single point of failure.
Visitor management systems automate the process of handling visitor data while featuring end-to-end encrypting to store the information safely.
Read our checklist to ensure your visitor management is GDPR compliant.
4. The right technology
As we are expecting to see a return to the office, Vodafone’s digital building report pointed out the importance of implementing the right technology to create environmentally friendly spaces to welcome employees and visitors back.
Are you aware of the different challenges for different types of receptions? Depending on the number of receptionists and your reception footfall, choosing the right digital reception system overcomes a variety of challenges.
- For employees, the support of technology will ensure employees have a great experience in the workplace, thus reducing absence and sickness levels.
- For visitors, with the support of technology, a seamless and frustration-free experience is ensured during every visit.
What is Reception Management Software?
An automated reception software improves the reception area’s efficiencies and your reception service. There are a lot of software products on the market, so it can be challenging to decide which one will suit your organisation.
When choosing the right reception management software for your reception, consider the following pointers:
- Compliance: Does the software meet GDPR and other laws you must follow?
- Experience: Does the tech improve the experience for the visitor and for your team?
- Efficiency: Does the software allow you to automate processes, remove manual workflows and save time?
Visitor management kiosks can pre-register visitors, send out meeting invites in a branded email with a QR code for express check-in, and more.
Technology and People
However, even though choosing a technology is an important part of our office reception checklist, technology is not here to replace front desk receptionists. We truly believe that a healthy mix of people and technology is the way forward for businesses to significantly improve their reception area that meets the needs of the business and the customers.
Read more about why we think self-service kiosks can supplement your reception staff.
5. Added touches
The final part of our office reception checklist is those small touches that will really help your visitor feel special when they are at your office.
For example, making sure visitors receive a Wi-Fi code when they arrive, having the option to book a desk if they wish, or even having coffee ready upon arrival all feed into a wider experience.
Consider what your visitors may need when they’re at your office and provide it to them. You will reap the benefits.
Summary
There are many ways in which you can optimise your reception, but if you use our office reception checklist you will see vast improvements in efficiency and productivity, along with seeing cost reductions and improved visitor experience.
Here is a simple recap of our reception checklist for your office
- Design
- Accessibility
- Data Compliance
- The right technology
- Added touches
More Resources
- The ultimate guide to Visitor Management Systems.
- Click here to download our free and tailored visitor management guide for your persona
Get in touch
Want to hear how our tailored solutions can benefit your organisation and deliver the VIP visitor experience in your office at all times? Download the Vgreet Brochure
