Have you ever sat in an office full of computers but noticed only a few of them are in use? Did you ever consider how to use that space more efficiently?
Hot desking is an office trend that allows companies to save money and raise productivity while allowing for a flexible schedule and environment for their employees. The premise comes from the fact that there are usually very few reasons for everyone at a company to be in a permanent place throughout their work life.
For example, more people than ever work at least part of a week at home, coming in only periodically for meetings or on specific days. Globally, nearly 70% of people work from home at least once a week. With that in mind, it is not worth giving each person a dedicated station because it will sit vacant much of the time.
In addition, the concept of a fixed workstation can have serious disadvantages when new projects or teams need to work together. Most companies now work on the cloud and therefore employees can simply login to any workstation to begin collaborating. This makes meetings and specific initiatives easier to coordinate.
However, hot desking requires excellent organization. It’s an issue if there are not enough stations for those who need them or if people want to use the same spot. Basically, it can be compared to ride sharing for computers. However, app builders have already taken advantage of the trend and created software designed specifically to fulfill the needs of hot desking companies.
There are two major methods involved in hot desking logistics: Zone and Hoteling
- Zone: this is where a particular area is designated for a team that is working on a project. For this, companies will create named zones and allow them to be reserved by groups
- Hoteling: this is where people reserve workstations individually on a sharing basis.
Making Hot Desking a part of your funding pitch can demonstrate fiscal responsibility. The concept is very popular right now and funders like to hear about innovative ways your start-up plans to use to save money. When looking for capital or startup loans, a plan that involves Hot Desking will definitely impress, not to mention all the money it will save in the long run.
Fundera put together an infographic below that puts together some of the pros and cons of Hot Desking and how to roll it out to employees to ensure everyone is happy.
