Should your office hot-desk?

With office rent prices going up and office space going down, we ask ‘Is hot-desking the best way to optimise your space’.

It’s difficult, your company is doing well but you still want to streamline costs, it’s business. With many companies now choosing to hot-desk rather than have set spaces for anyone below the role of management. We have collected data from several firms who have said that hot-desking has saved them money but also decreased productivity.

Why has productivity decreased and how this could affect your company?

It really does depend on the type of business you work for. A lot of media companies and start-ups have found hot-desking works well as it allows staff to produce creative new ideas by having to mix with different people and departments. However, for the vast majority of business types, this hasn’t been the case.

What is Hot-desking?

‘It is the system of allocating desks to workers when they are required using either a rota system or on a first come, first serve basis.
It takes away the idea that each worker needs or deserves their own desk.’

After speaking to a number of employees that now use the hot-desking system but were part of the old set desk routine. We found that the majority felt, the space at work where they could make their home away from home, through personalisation and customisation, had been taken away. This left them feeling like work had become more of a chore than they felt previously. It was found that those who worked in the finance sector and in admin based jobs struggled most when making the switch.

The group that had the easiest time with the conversion was found to be the under 30’s. They saw hot-desking as more of a formality than a personal attack on their space. With many then opting to switch desk spaces two to three times a year, to sit with workplace friends.

The over-50 age group found the transition hardest to cope with. Many of which would still sit in the same space day after day, regardless of who the space was assigned to. They were also found most likely to customise their space with toys, mugs, and pictures. Where as the younger age groups were much more happy to keep the space empty of such items.

In an era of collaboration, hot-desks aren’t all bad. They can provide different departments the ease when working together for projects, without being tied down to a set space. This means that the levels of inter-office creativity that can potentially be produced is a lot higher than previously thought. It really does depend on your company and the mindset of your staff to see whether it can work for you. With a lot more offices giving it ago, maybe it’s worth trying it with your business?