The Challenge
About two years ago, Bolinda moved into a new, larger office in central Darmstadt, right by the train station. The move brought a hybrid model: a lot of home office, flexible hours, no mandatory attendance rules. Whoever comes in takes a desk, on a first-come, first-served basis. That only works if everyone knows who is in and when. Before, coordination was manual, run on Excel lists and fixed team days with little rotation. The blind spot was visibility: no one could see at a glance who had been in the office that week and who hadn't.
For the office management team, that's a real day-to-day risk. "If you don't know who's coming, organizing anything is very hard," says Tanja Hahn. In the worst case, someone travels in, finds no desk, and decides next time they'll just stay home. That was exactly the friction Bolinda wanted to remove: a reliable view of who's in, and the certainty that there's room for everyone.
Why PULT
For a team this size there were few suitable options, and off-the-shelf software was out of the question. "We didn't want a one-size-fits-all solution, we wanted something that genuinely fits us," says Tanja Hahn. The deciding factor was the close exchange during onboarding: PULT kept asking what needed adjusting instead of just handing over a finished tool.
The decision was made by the office management team around Angela Harris and Juliane Späth. Because the CEO in Australia places great value on data protection, GDPR compliance was reviewed, alongside the budget. Only then did head office give the go-ahead.
In Action
Desk Booking is at the center. The roughly 33 employees book their own workstations, plus the five parking spots, which can also be reserved for tradespeople or visiting colleagues from abroad. The booking view shows colleagues' photos, which makes it especially easy for new starters to settle in.
Public holidays are loaded into the calendar, and through the Personio integration, bookings are released automatically when someone is off sick or on holiday. "When someone is sick or on holiday, it's linked to Personio and the booking is automatically freed up again," says Tanja Hahn. Regular attendees set up recurring bookings and favorite desks.
PULT is used daily: the analytics show office management the average occupancy, the popular and less popular rooms, and the peak days. Tuesday and Thursday are busiest; on Fridays the office is nearly empty.
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Results
- Full visibility at a glance: office management can see who's in and when at any time, with photos in the booking view. No more asking around.
- Flexibility without conflicts: at roughly one desk per person, first-come, first-served runs smoothly. No one travels in for nothing.
- Noticeably less coordination effort: up to 1 hour saved per coordination task.
- Data-driven office planning: analytics on occupancy, room popularity and peak days (Tue/Thu) show where to rebuild or adjust.
- More in-person presence: because colleagues can see who's in, they meet face to face more often instead of on Zoom.
"The biggest value is flexibility: everyone decides for themselves when and where they work." — Tanja Hahn, Office Management, Bolinda
Discover how PULT makes your hybrid office plannable, from Desk Booking to parking management. Book a short demo and see how quickly your team gets the full picture.
