Advantages of Hot Desking and How To Get Buy In From Your Team

Cubicles are so last year, Since the pandemic, when workers fled their offices for the confines of home, employers have been rethinking how they implement work spaces. With so many workers insisting that they work remotely for at least part of their week, office managers have to figure out how to balance the office logistics with worker demands. Read on to learn how a hot desking model can maximize your workspace utility.

What is Hot Desking?

One of the hottest trends in maximizing work space is hot desking—a setup where employees come into the office and sit anywhere they like—first come, first serve—no more assigned seating. It's not musical chairs; everyone coming into the office on any given day does have an available desk and chair —it just varies every day.

The phrase "hot desking" is probably a play on the old Naval practice of "hot racking"—sailors on different shifts shared one bunk.

What's the Point of Hot Desking?

Hot desking provides a hybrid workplace model that allows businesses to bring employees in as needed, but allows some remote work. Technological advances have been making remote work the norm for thousands of workers, but Covid really has made employers rethink how much office space they need, and how they can create a flexible working schedule for their workers. A hot desking plan reduces the amount of space a company needs, since only a portion of the team is present on any given day.

How Hot Desking is Different from Hoteling and Free Addressing

Hot desking is just one solution for the space utilization challenge, but it's probably the best one overall.

Hoteling

With this office model, employees book their desks in advance via a mobile app when they need to come into the office. This concept gives each employee an assigned desk for the day.

Free Addressing

Remote workers can track which desks are being used with an app. Seating here is also first come, first serve, but the sensors add a big brother aspect to the workplace that many workers find unappealing.

What are the Advantages of Hot Desking?

We've already touched on reduced real estate costs and better use of space as two benefits of a hot desking system , but there are also the intangibles that improve your worker's productivity and overall job satisfaction.

Improved Colleague Relationships

When team members can be together in the same space, they get to work with colleagues that they may ordinarily only see at Zoom meetings. This fosters a better sense of community within the team, as well as encouraging new connections, strengthening existing ones, and creating a stronger community spirit among coworkers.

Efficiency

There are times a worker needs to come into the office right away and just doesn't have time to book a desk on the fly. Hot desking allows them to come in, plug in their laptop, and get right to it.

Satisfaction

Hot desking is one way that employers can treat workers like the adults that they are, and the workers respond by reporting greater job satisfaction. People who are empowered to get the job done with autonomy are generally happier and more productive than when they are micromanaged, and a hybrid work environment fosters that feeling.

You can also implement hot desking within temporary office space. Temporary office space also leads to higher employee satisfaction by bringing both a comforting and positive atmosphere.

Cleaner Workstations

Hot desking completely discourages workers from setting up lots of personal items in the workspace. Since everyone packs up all their stuff to go home at the end of the day, you have a more sanitary and less cluttered office.

How Can I Get My Team to Buy In?

The concept of hot desking, or desk sharing of any kind, is a hard sell for many employers. If you're considering a move to this office model, be sure that you are providing not only the logistical tools your staff needs to succeed, but that you're making the transition as easy as possible.

Update Your Technology

Be sure that all your desks have the connections your teams need for work—provide monitors as well as VGA, DVI, and HDMI portals. Be sure the desks are large enough to accommodate additional monitors or screens.

Provide Storage Space

Be sure that your team has somewhere to store personal belongings while they're hot desking. Lockers and a coat room are simple solutions. Make it clear that the desk is theirs for that day, and bags and other personal items need to be removed at the end.

Provide Private Meeting Space

Sometimes workers need to meet privately, and how do you manage that in a shared space? Simple—with meeting pods that can accommodate up to four people, with surface space for laptops.

How to Make Hot Desking Work

The key to a successful transition to hot desking is to make it as seamless as possible. Juniper Office has the design services you need to shift to a hot desking office environment.Juniper also has essential office furntiture from shared bench tables to ergonomic office chairs. We can even install hard power capability to your desks, so workers are able to power up easily. Juniper Office has all you need to maximize space and productivity, and minimize costs.

 

Sources:

1. WeWork: What is hot-desking and what are the benefits.https://www.wework.com/ideas/workspace-solutions/flexible-products/what-is-hot-desking
2. Computerworld: How to choose desk booking software for the hybrid workplace.https://www.computerworld.com/article/3628210/how-to-choose-desk-booking-software-for-the-hybrid-workplace.html
3. Office Space: Hot Desking 101.https://www.officespacesoftware.com/blog/hotddesking-101-what-is-hot-desking/
4. Office Space: Empowerment in the workplace: the key to a happier office space.https://www.officespacesoftware.com/blog/empowerment-in-the-workplace/
5. BBVA—Hot Desking:The new trend in the return to offices.https://www.bbva.com/en/hot-desking-the-new-trend-in-the-return-to-offices/