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Hot Desking – Is it for you?

Industry News February 13th 2015

2015 is now in full swing and nearly all of the world population's New Year’s resolutions will be effectively over. However, today I want to take a look at a trend that seems to be providing a cost effective solution for business owners. HOT DESKING!

“Hot Desking?” “What does that mean?” Simple… Hot Desking is an office organisation system which involves multiple workers using a single workstation during different periods of the day. In some such environments, each work station has its own computer and the employee logs into a cloud hosted desktop. In other cases, workers have laptops/notebooks that they bring to work with them.

So, you now know what ‘Hot Desking’ is and for some of you it will never be a feasible option. However, for the ones that could reap the benefits of hot desking, you may want to hold onto your hat.

There are two major advantages to implementing this system; reduction in space required for the workforce to operate and, thus, lower costs. If your business is starting to outgrow your current office space in terms of staff numbers, subsequently leading to the purchase of more office desks, this could be something to think about.

Office relocation is not only expensive, it can be quite testing on the stress levels (unless Online Reality are doing it of course). On a day to day basis, we deal with clients that have these exact problems, however it's not the only solution.

Ok, let’s break this down a little bit. You have 14 members of staff that all have their own office desk. Your office space is bursting at the seams and you’ve had to recruit two more members of staff to keep up with the work levels yet you don’t have the space. Bit of a predicament isn’t it? 50% of the time Sales Executive, Joe Bloggs, is out meeting clients. As a result, his desk space is surplus to requirements. Therefore, a 2 x 2 metre square space is being wasted. Many companies will have numerous staff similar to Joe Bloggs, I guarantee it! WASTE OF SPACE!! Not Joe Bloggs he’s a fantastic salesman, but his desk is. It’s just something to think about the next time you’re in the office. Take a look around and think “are we really utilising the current space we have?”

Of course, there is a flipside, one of the most noteworthy being the issue of staff satisfaction. In struggling to find information on the network or having to set up their phone every time they come in to the office to use a non-territorial desk, employees may feel disconnected and rootless. At worse, this could lead to dissatisfaction and underperformance, and a drop in productivity could outweigh the cost savings you’re making. Unfortunately, there is always a downside.

From a personal perspective this is how I see it – perhaps you could gather the thoughts of your staff before jumping into the volcano that is Hot Desking. This is critical to the success and/or failure of taking this system on. The last thing you want to do is upset your employees. But, give them options. Don’t say “this is what’s happening and that’s it”. Introduction of height adjustable desk could be an option as we all know there seems to be a huge shift towards such desks because office chairs could affect us in the future. It’s only a matter of time before another scientific study comes to the forefront and states that standing up at work stems blood flow to you brain.

Something to think about!

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