Hot-Desking is trending in office design which is inspired by the new way of doing work called Workshifting.
The jobs we do might remain constant from day-to-day, but increasingly, where we do them is a huge variable. It’s called workshifting and it describes a reality many of face when we see our work lives divided up between client sites, the company, and our home offices. With more of us shouldering the burden of outfitting our own offices, companies can reduce the amount of space that they maintain for completing their core business.
According to The Latest Telecommuting Statistics, 20% and 25% of the working population works from home at least one day a week. Companies are aware of the trend and have reduced the amount of workspace they maintain. In one extreme example, the Netherlands office of Deloitte has provided just 1000 desks in its cutting edge facility for 2500 workers.
How is it possible to have fewer desks for the same amount of workers? Hot-Desking tips.
- Resource management efficiency
- Schedule desks as needed
- Technology supported ‘smart-stations’
The practice is called hot-desking and it requires careful resource management. In addition to the 20-25% of workers who are working from home, companies who use hot-desking also have a high proportion of salespeople on the road and consultants out completing their work at client sites.
When those workers need to attend a meeting, or complete tasks that are confidential in nature, or complete work that requires a higher-security environment to protect intellectual property, then they are assigned a desk only for the time required to complete their task. The desk may be a different one each day of the project’s length and the people they work around may also change daily. In other words, the hot desk does not belong to them, or to anyone else, but is part of a desk bank that can be used on an as-needed basis.
In the future, hot desks may become “smart stations.” Using sensors and small motors, users assigned to a hot desk will use a phone app to scan their station bar code. The workstation will then automatically adjust to meet the needs of their height, weight and reach of a specific user to make for an ergonomically-correct working experience.
Photo Credit: Workstations available at Envirotech