What is Hot Desking?

Hot desking is a form of workplace sharing where employees will take whatever desk is available instead of having an assigned workspace. It was first introduced in the 1990s. Today, technology has aided in the implementation of hot desking by making it more feasible and accessible. Some businesses use hot desking for the whole company, while others use hot desking for specific spaces or roles in the company. 

With hot desking, workers can typically use any desk phone on the network by logging in to the phone with company credentials supplied by IT. Cloud-based systems also make remote and flexible work environments possible with tools like VoIP communication, desktop virtualization and more. 

Benefits And Advantages Of Hot Desking

Implementing hot desking in your organization can help to greatly reduce overhead. For many workplaces it can bring more flexibility to the lives of your employees by offering remote work options while allowing your business to cut back on physical office expenses. 

Remote work options don't have to be full-time, either. Even offering employees part-time remote working combined with hot desking can help reduce real estate needs by limiting the total number of people in-office who require desks at any given time. It also helps make sure there's no wasted capacity, as there would be when assigned desk workers are on vacation or out sick. 

When people have to move desks, IT no longer has to conduct extensive reconfigurations and hardware moves. The employee can simply move to a new desk and log into the phone that's already there. 

In remote or flexible work settings, or even functions like sales and management consulting, where most of the work takes place away from the desk, introducing hot desking can be effective at keeping employees connected despite changing locations.

It’s also been shown to improve worker morale and team bonding. In the traditional assigned office environment, employees will only come across people in their shared proximity. Hot desking can encourage a more collaborative team environment that will go a long way towards strengthening inter-departmental communication.