Things at the office have been weird for a couple of years, haven’t they? Covid promptly sent just about everyone who wasn’t an essential worker home to their makeshift kitchen/bedroom/playroom offices. Months of video conferencing devolved from “Everyone be quiet, I’m on a Zoom!” to the kids, dogs, and Peloton cozying in on camera with us. In addition to the very real human suffering caused by a once-in-a-century pandemic, it’s been a doozy for company leadership to navigate continued workflow and productivity.

If your office has experienced whiplash from the “everyone-go-remote” to “wait-we’re-back-in-the-office,” to “nevermind-let’s-try-hybrid” journey, you’re not alone. A 2021 report by Accenture found that “63 percent of high-growth companies have already adopted a ‘productivity anywhere’ workforce model,” and 83 percent of workers “prefer a hybrid work model, but a variety of factors influence their ability to thrive, whether they’re onsite or off.”

As more companies transition to a hybrid work model, Utah startup Tactic has developed an office management platform to make in-home and in-office collaboration easier, working to remedy hybrid’s most significant pain points. 

Hello? Anybody there? 

Tactic clients relayed that they had been looking forward to reopening the office after the shutdown, expecting people to rush back. But when only one or two people showed up at a time, “Employees wondered, ‘Why did I get ready and commute? I’m never coming back,” says Reid Hiatt, Tactic co-founder and CEO. 

Companies found that the “ghost town effect” was hurting morale and dissuading in-office collaboration. Tactic solves that problem with its live-seating tool, helping employees see when their co-workers will be in the office. On the Tactic app, team members can schedule same-day gatherings, book conference rooms, and reserve neighboring desk space. By making it easy for people to get together in a flexible work environment, employees get more value from their time spent in the office, Hiatt explains. 

Hiatt says that before Tactic, clients would rely on Google Sheets to manually organize which employees were coming in and when, where they would sit, how conference rooms were utilized, and more. Not only was this cumbersome for employees, but it also limited management’s clarity around how much office space is really necessary—which can impact the bottom line. 

Tactic’s data tracks office space usage, providing high-level analytics to determine how much space is critical and how it can be optimized. “We’re seeing a lot of people transition away from private desks to more collaborative spaces, and we’re seeing people downsize the physical office space,” Hiatt says.

But the hybrid model isn’t necessarily the same for all companies, Hiatt points out. “Some want totally flexible workplaces, others want key days where everyone is in, others more based on teams and departments. Some want open-seating desks, others want to assign private desks for employees who come in three or more days a week,” he says. “Being able to plan your office space and iterate as things change, as more data comes in, and as more people get vaccinated is huge.”

How’s everyone feeling?

Tactic helps address another issue that has been unique to the Covid era—ensuring workers returning to the office are well enough to do so on a day-to-day basis. 

“Before Tactic, health status was all tracked manually,” Hiatt says. “Typically, one HR administrator sent out emails with questionnaires to people who had signed up on a Google Sheet to come into the office. Automating this has been big for our clients.” With Tactic, employees can confidentially report health and/or vaccine status as required, and HR can discreetly manage compliance. 

At a time when external factors are forcing more companies to think outside the traditional in-office box, Tactic’s solutions are in high demand. With a rapidly-expanding client roster, things are moving fast for the company launched just last year by Hiatt, Christopher Barcus (CRO), and Austin Hale (COO).

“It’s been scary but great,” Hiatt says. “We’re focused on solving the real-world problems our customers have dedicated to making it successful for them. Most of our features are customer-driven, based off conversations with them. We’re excited—we have a long list of stuff to add, and the money helps with that.”

The money he’s referring to is Tactic’s recent $3 million seed round led by Salt Lake City-based Peterson Ventures. 

Looking ahead

As for where they go from here, Hiatt says Tactic will continue to innovate based on clients’ evolving needs and emphasize user experience. 

“Slack, Teams, Zoom—all these common tools that are phenomenal—we have focused on integrations with the tools everyone knows how to use,” Hiatt says. “We’re also looking to reduce friction from an employee point of view, a way for employees to work with Tactic without going into the app ahead of time. A couple of ideas include integrating with security badges. When you connect with the office Wi-Fi, Tactic could automatically identify that you’re at the office and check you in.”

With many predicting the future of work to continue down the hybrid path, the innovations Tactic provides could prove invaluable. And as things get a little less weird in the world, hopefully the “new normal” will feel a lot more normal.