Hot Desking: Advantages and some disadvantages
Hot Desking, ad-hoc desk booking, free seating, open office… You have probably heard these terms quite often in the last few months. This new way of operating, based on the sharing of physical space without assigned places, is becoming a new way of managing the office for many companies around the world after the Coronavirus pandemic.
But what exactly does Hot Desking mean? What advantages does it offer? How do we solve the inconveniences that we may encounter? Is it Hot Desking for me? In this article, we go over the basics concepts and try to answer all these questions.
It is believed that the origin of the concept of shared desks comes from a common practice within military organizations, where the crews of the submarines are assigned shared beds according to their shift. Instead of having an assigned bed per person, the number of beds is reduced, a system of rest shifts is created, and, in this way, it is possible to maximize and optimize the space of the ship.
However, Hot Desking goes beyond space optimization. Today, shared desks are seen as a driving force for innovation, flexibility, and cooperation, as by not being tied to a job position, we are more likely to meet people with whom we would not normally interact, fostering in this way a much more horizontal communication and collaboration and breaking departmental silos.
What does Hot-Desking mean?
Hot-desking is essentially a flexible work system in which employees no longer have an assigned space. Instead, employees are given the opportunity to booking spaces in a shared office using corporate space booking and management applications.
Hot Desking is used to improve the flexibility and efficiency of office space utilization when more and more employees work from home. In addition, Hot Desking is also a way to promote interdepartmental collaboration, since in the traditional model with fixed seats, departments are often isolated, thus minimizing the possibilities of cross-collaboration and discussions.
What are the advantages of Hot Desking?
Save and optimize space
One of the main advantages of Hot Desking is the use of office space. In the post-pandemic scenario that we seem to be entering, hybrid work has become a reality for most companies, which will mean that our employees will come intermittently to corporate headquarters. Therefore, we can consider smaller offices, in which we no longer must have a workspace for each employee.
In addition, with the appropriate space management software, we can optimize the use of our spaces and maximize their use. By means of automatic self-release systems when, after a reasonable time, the users who have reserved the space, have not attended it.
Save on costs
It is evident that the use of Hot Desking supposes a great saving in office expenses. The reduction of the size of our headquarters and the optimization of the resources that we offer will have a direct impact on the annual expenditure dedicated to our facilities (rent, outsourcing cleaning personnel, Internet, telephone, equipment…).
And not only that, but companies are also aware that if they want to continue growing on another scale and expanding their business, shared desktops offer the possibility of hiring more workers who can work remotely without the need for a large initial investment. These collaboration agreements between professionals or companies will allow them to quickly access other markets, without assuming the risks associated with opening a new office and additional costs.
Better communication and breakdown of departmental silos
Workers communicate with others from different sectors and departments and may even collaborate on projects. And although this is not always the case, at least communication between people increases.
Traceability: We know who and how our facilities are being used
With a good Hot Desking system, which allows us to have the traceability of all the movements that have been made in the company, we will not only be able to know how the corporate spaces are being used, but we will also be able to have an effective traceability report in the event of a COVID outbreak in our company, thus being able to stop the wave of infections quickly and effectively.
Hot Desking, the cold environment and safety
When talking about Hot Desking, it is pointed out that, although younger employees may feel comfortable with the system, due to the freedom it offers, those who have more time in the company, or older workers may come to see it as a discomfort due to tradition or a need to belong (such as having your own office or putting objects in a cubicle), and the fear of contagion due to the fact of using a different space every day, which is not offered by Hot Desking.
The system we use to manage spaces and bookings must take these needs into account and be able to offer users the possibility of having a preferred or favorite site, which helps them to booking the same site, whenever possible.
Hot Desking and teamwork
Although we commented at the beginning of this post that one of the advantages of Hot Desking is that we favor interdisciplinary and interdepartmental work by mixing people from different places in the same room, work in defined teams can sometimes be affected, by not having a common space in which to meet and work.
It will be vital that our corporate space request tool allows managers to make group bookings, thus being able to organize team meetings (beyond virtual meetings) at the corporate headquarters, thus being able to maintain the link between people, beyond shared labor responsibility.
Hot Desking and never find Ana, or John, or …
Not having a defined place can make us invisible and that our colleagues do not know where to find us when they need help. It is true that today, the collaboration and communication tools in the cloud bring us closer to a click from our colleagues, but the fact of being able to take advantage of the physical presence to be able to interact with our partner continues to provide interaction and communicative results much better than those obtained in a virtual conversation.
That is why it is important to be able to have a tool that allows us to know who is in the office every day and where they are, so that we can go to it, either to answer questions related to work or simply to drink a coffee and disconnect for a few minutes.
Is Hot Desking for me?
Hot-desking is a simple and effective way to empower employees, keep them safe at work, and ultimately save costs. With a strategic plan and specialized guidance, Hot Desking can provide both employee satisfaction and lower your facility costs.
If you are interested and want more guidance on how to implement Hot Desking to meet the specific needs of your business, please contact our team, and we will help you through the process.
