Offices are rapidly changing. As technology evolves, the needs of workers and companies change too. With many workers working remotely, or needing flexibility to move around the office, many companies are choosing to say goodbye to traditional office layouts. Some companies have turned to hot desking as an alternative to traditional office desks or cubicle spaces. Hot desking is an open office setup where there are unassigned workstations set up throughout the office. These hot desks usually are complete with a computer, but can also be optimized for laptop users.
Hot Desking Pros
Space and Cost Saving: For companies with lots of employees that spend significant amounts of time away from the office, this is an ideal way to accommodate your team. By hot desking you save space and reduce costs by lowering the number of office desks needed. By using shared space and hot desks, you only need to have workspaces for the number of employees who are there any given day.
This is perfect for companies with large sales teams who are often out on sales calls, consultants who spend most of their time with clients, or creatives who spend much of their time working remotely. The more time your team spends away from the office, the more space and money that can be saved.
Collaboration: For companies with highly collaborative atmospheres, where team members need to work with each other closely, hot desking allows for day-to-day flexibility. Team members can work in close proximity with whoever they are working with that day, allowing for smooth transitions between projects and reducing the need for meetings.
Hot desking flattens hierarchy, giving everyone access to all other team members and the chance to work in proximity with whomever they chose. This contributes to cross-team collaboration and an increase in creativity.
Reduced Clutter: Hot desking means that all desks are shared and employees will have to clean their space and remove all personal items at the end of each day. This stops clutter from building up and encouraged tidy, professional, work spaces that encourage productivity.
Greater Design Flexibility: Hot desking allows for more design flexibility, as different types of office desks and workspaces can be used without losing parity between employees. This opens up possibilities of mixing L shaped office desks, corner desks, and other types of workspaces throughout the office to best utilize space and give employees variety and options.
Hot Desking Cons
Increased IT costs: Hot desking requires ready to use spaces complete with computers, or employees will need their own laptops. Either way, this requires extra work for IT. Any company considering hot desking needs to analyze the trade off between increased IT costs and the money saved from having fewer desks and needing less space.
Lack of Privacy and Personal Space: Using hot desks takes away personal space from employees. They will have fewer ways to take ownership of their surroundings. This can be partially counteracted by providing lockers where personal items can be kept.
There is also less privacy in hot desk offices. This can negatively impact performance for some employees who need a quiet space free of distractions. This can be mitigated by offering a variety of types of work spaces, and include some that are quiet or offer more privacy.
Is Hot Desking a Good Option For You?
Hot desking can be a great solution for any office with lots of workers who spend significant time away from their desks. However, it is important for anyone considering hot desks to determine how much time employees spend in the office in order to build a hot desk environment that meets everyone’s needs.
For many, partial hot desk solutions are ideal. These give assigned desks to some employees whose duties keep them at the office, while other departments or teams have hot desks to best suit their particular needs. This can be the best of both worlds solution.