Many manufacturers have already moved away from the dedicated lobby receptionist, and because of previous health scares, this trend is likely to accelerate. Modern visitor management systems (interactive kiosks) can fill the void by providing a great visitor experience, notifying hosts and employees when they have visitors, and collecting valuable data about visitor patterns.

Since the early 2000s, many manufacturers questioned the necessity of having a dedicated person sitting at a desk in your manufacturing company’s lobby. In some manufacturing lobbies, the reception area went empty; in others, an employee from another function wound up in a dual role. Today (2023), many manufacturers have to plan for lower staffing levels at any point in time or visitors who do not want any unnecessary human-to-human interactions.

The lobby reception is a moving target. Receptionist is multi-tasking and not helping visitors.

Reception expectations have changed drastically over the years. Dedicated receptionists used to be the norm in most offices. Some organizations have few visitors, some have many, but nearly every organization has a number of tasks that need to be done and can’t afford to have someone sitting idly in between greeting and assisting guests.