Hot desking: is it really a new way of working ?

[goosegrease]

Edward II.

And hot desking is beyond shite. It's one of those things senior management do when they don't feel hated enough. Beyond stupid. Pure wanton cruelty. Something I know a lot about.


On the other hand I used to 'Hot Bunk' in Northern Ireland and Bosnia, there were fewer bunks than men on the assumption that you are never all asleep at once. This was done on ops too by some Feet, carrying fewer maggots (sleeping bags) than there were patrol members.

Nasty dirty things Regular infantry. Google 'skiffing' if you don't believe me.

And 'queening'.

No, don't google that one.

The one portreyed as a week, homosexual English king in that documentary with Bruce Willis in.

Hmm, in comparison a filthy keyboard is nowt to the above but then I wouldn't sign up for the forces.

Alcohol wipes.

 

[chainsaw cat]

Things looked up when they posted a lady soldier to my det in NI.

We made a few weak jokes about hot bunking with her and then just got on with it. Apart from the 25 years worth of porn on the walls I think she was made quite welcome... she even added some.

My first proper mental engagement with a real feminist issue I think.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Last week I did some temping in the swanky offices of a consultancy.

It was everything that I imagined these kind of places to be: every staff member had a laptop which they plugged in whereever they wanted and phones that could be reprogrammed for their individual number etc. I was initially very impressed thinking this must be the way of the future.

But from day two onwards it was evident that there wasnt really much change - everyone tended to go to exactly the same space in the office daily and apart from clearing away the laptops and desk items at the end of the day it could have been any other conventional office.

This set me thinking about the patterns of behaviour in offices. I would be interested in others' experiences of hot desking and the like. Do people actually just want a stable workplace instead of the flexibility and 'thinking outside the box', breaking down barriers and 'getting rid of the silos' etc etc which the culture which embraces hot desking is meant to bring in. Is hot desking just a cost saving measure by management?

My desk is too messy for others to use, aside from myself.

 

[kyser_soze]

Like most things, when it's done with forethought and planning it's genuinely useful. As it's implemented in most places it's a big pile of shit.

 

[goosegrease]

I agree. I can see why they do it at my place, in a 24/7 call center with rolling shift patterns it does make sense. It just needs to be backed up with much, much better cleaning and maintainance of the work areas/equipment.

 

[Part 2]

This is fairly new in my organisation. All cost cutting of course.

Gives no thought to the time spent sorting out fuck ups when some nobend logs into your desktop, fucks settings up and leaves you to reinstall printers and the like. We have people coming in from other projects to save travel costs and the like and they have no stake in the office environment, all very disruptive, holding meetings or having loud conversations etc

I'm fortunate in that I have to have a special chair so if I come in and anyone's sat there they have to shift sharpish.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Hot-desking as a single solution can not work, however having dedicated areas that are designed for flexible working can be very useful. It unlikely that an office with 400 employees will ever need 400 desks, therefore there is the potential to design the space so that more people can manage in less space without it impacing negatively on work output.

Some people really want the home away from home that a desk offers, others do not need that and function being able to just plonk down where they fancy.

It's also generational, those used to always having a desk see status in desks/offices etc and feel abandoned without one, while younger workers, those atuned to wireless technology and it's possibilities, are pushing the options to work anywhere they choose.

A sensible approach is to cater to all needs and develop spaces that are multi-functioning, with quiet rooms, collaborative spaces, permanent and flexible desking, wireless networking and homeworking options. There's little point making a finance clerk hot-desk when they need a desk daily, along with space and storage etc, but some other occupations can bounce from place to place and work anywhere.

Operating hot-desking purely to cut costs is counter-productive, but with most businesses operating at an 80% occupancy rate it makes sense to think intelligently about how space is used in order to save money, energy, time and create good, dynamic environments that people can thrive in.

The biggest issue I find is getting the 'output not input' mentality across to management teams - they still want to oversee their staff and ensure that every minute is accounted for instead of realising that good work is not always done between 9 & 5.