As offices become increasingly digitized and employees become more mobile, companies are adopting new ways of managing their office space efficiently. Two such methods are hot-desking and desk hoteling. Hit desking is when employees share a smaller workspace by working at different desks each workday. And desk hoteling is when employees reserve workspaces on an as-needed basis.
Both methods have advantages and disadvantages when compared to the traditional way of allocating desks to workers based on their position or seniority. So, let’s take a look at how these newer approaches can affect your company’s culture.
What is Hot Desking?
The space-sharing strategy involves employees sharing an office environment, often by working at different desks each workday. In hot desking, employees are allotted a shared desk or area and can use any available space to work at any time during the day.
At the end of the day, they put their belongings away and clean up after themselves before leaving. Hot desking can be a cost-effective way to ensure that all workers have access to the workspace they need when they need it without going over budget on permanent furniture items.
What are the Pros of Hot Desking?
Hot desking—the practice of giving employees their own office space, but requiring them to use it only when they need it—may seem counterintuitive at first. After all, isn’t having an assigned desk one of the perks of working in an office? But there are actually many benefits to hot desking that go beyond the simple fact that it saves money.
First, hot desking allows employees to work from anywhere. This means they can work from home if they’re sick, or from a coffee shop if they need some inspiration. It also means that employees don’t have to commute as much, which helps with traffic and pollution issues.
Second, hot desking improves employee satisfaction by increasing collaboration between coworkers and managers alike. When you’re not tied down to your desk all day long, you can make more frequent trips back and forth between departments and offices—which means more opportunities for face-to-face communication on projects (and less time spent staring at your computer screen).
Why do People Need to Hot Desk?
Companies often use hot-desking because it’s the most cost-effective way to ensure that all workers have access to the workspace they need when they need it.
In both cases, the goal is to lower costs and increase productivity by limiting the amount of unused space. Hot desking has gained popularity among large companies looking to cut down on costs while still providing employees with flexible work environments that allow them to work from home when necessary—for example, an employee whose child is sick may be able to log in remotely from home rather than travel into an office that’s closed for the day.
Hot desking is also beneficial for employees’ health. Working in an open environment encourages teamwork and collaboration, which can improve your company’s culture. Employees who work remotely also have less stress, as they don’t have to commute every day or deal with parking lots and traffic jams.
What are the Cons of Hot Desking?
The drawbacks of hot desking are pretty clear:
No Designated Space
You don’t really have a designated space. This is a huge issue for introverts, who can feel overwhelmed by the noise and activity of open floor plans. It’s also an issue for people who need a lot of alone time to do their best work. And it’s an issue for people who like to keep their personal belongings in one spot—they’ll likely have to move them from place to place every day or two.
May Cause Anxiety
Hot desking creates a culture of “perpetual motion.” People are always moving around, which can create stress and anxiety for some people. Even if you’re not someone who gets stressed out by constant movement, you’re still going to need to get up and walk around occasionally just because there are other people around. If you do get stressed out by hot-desking, you might start feeling like you have no control over your environment—and that can lead to unhappiness at work.
Fewer Friendships
Hot desking doesn’t allow employees the opportunity to create relationships with their coworkers. When people have assigned desks, they tend to develop friendships with their neighbors because they see each other every day and chat while they eat lunch together or grab a coffee.
What is Desk Hoteling?
Hoteling is a space-sharing strategy in which employees reserve a desk or office on a space-as-needed or first-come-first-served basis.
Office hoteling is a method by which a company can rent out office space for short periods of time to different businesses. It often occurs when a company needs to move into a new office in order to grow but does not want to commit to a long-term lease. The office hoteling space can be used for as little as one day, or up to several months or even years, depending on the needs of the client.
Hoteling is popular among companies that have just moved into new offices, or are planning to move into new offices soon. It allows them to test out their new space before committing to anything long-term, such as signing a long-term lease or moving in permanently.
Such businesses often find that the flexibility of hoteling works well for them. In fact, more and more companies are starting to implement this strategy because they see benefits such as increased employee satisfaction, reduced real estate costs, and increased productivity. However, hoteling still isn’t perfect and can have its drawbacks if not properly managed or executed by your organization’s leadership team.
What are the Pros of Desk Hoteling?
Office hoteling, or telecommuting, is a popular option for employees who want to avoid the stress of commuting from home. It can be beneficial for employers as well since it allows them to retain talented employees who would otherwise be unable to work due to their commute.
The process is especially useful for employees who are new parents or those with young children. They can stay at the office and avoid childcare costs by bringing their children with them each day.
Office hoteling also helps employers retain workers who might otherwise move away from their jobs because they’re too far away from their homes. This allows companies to keep valuable employees without having to pay relocation fees or relocate themselves.
Why do Employers Need Desk Hoteling?
This is often used in companies that have a high turnover rate, where employees are hired on a temporary basis and may only stay with the company for a few months before moving on to another job.
In this type of workplace arrangement, employees reserve an office when they need it rather than being assigned one permanently during their employment at the company. In order for these workers to keep track of where their belongings are located within the office building (and avoid having them stolen), some companies require that all personal effects be kept under lock and key whenever not in use by their owners so as not disrupt others working nearby who might see such things as potential targets for theft themselves.
Companies often use hoteling because it offers more flexibility than hot-desking and allows employees to reserve private workspaces on an as-needed basis.
Hoteling works by providing employees with a laptop or tablet, which they use to reserve their own private workspace. It offers more freedom than hot desking—employees can organize themselves into teams or even work remotely if needed.
Hoteling also allows companies to scale their office space much more easily, and it can be more cost-effective than hot desking because it doesn’t require the purchase of computers for every employee. This method is ideal for companies that want to give employees the freedom to decide where they want to work each day while still providing them with access to IT resources like printers and Wi-Fi networks.
What are the Cons of Desk Hoteling?
Office hoteling is a great way to increase productivity and collaboration, but it does have some drawbacks.
It can Cause Confusion
The first drawback of office hoteling is confusion. Employees are often unsure about where they can work, and this causes them to spend more time looking for the right place than they would if they were able to just go straight to their desks.
Disturbs People
Another drawback of office hoteling is disruption—when an employee needs to move from one part of the building to another, it can be disruptive for other employees who are trying to concentrate on their work.
Less Private
The third drawback of office hoteling is that it’s less personal. It’s hard for employees who aren’t used to working in an open space environment to feel comfortable sharing their workspace with other people, which can cause them stress and make them less productive than they could be otherwise.
Can be Unhygienic if not Sanitized Regularly
Finally, there’s the issue of sanitation: If too many people are working in one area at once, germs can easily spread among coworkers who don’t have time (or space) to wash their hands before eating lunch!
Are Hot Desking and Desk Hoteling the Modern Office Model?
It’s no secret that the way we work is changing, and it’s not just because of new technology. It’s also because of a shift in the way we think about work.
Hot desking and desk hoteling are two ways that companies are trying to make their workplaces more flexible, mobile, and efficient.
How AttendanceBot can Help
AttendanceBot offers a WFO feature where employees can see who is booking time at work and who is working from home WFH.
It allows:
- Administrators to book office space efficiently
- Assigns seats to those who are Working From Office (WFO)
- Employees to book time at work accordingly
Seat Availability and WFO Booking with AttendanceBot
Employees can use the ‘Seats‘ command as a direct message in AttendanceBot to check the number of seats available in their office.
Seat capacity is set at the office level and availability is blocked when users apply for “working from office” leave in AttendanceBot. As long as your office has not hit capacity, you can use the apply command to book a WFO seat for yourself.
Admins have the additional option of viewing the seat calendar from the settings dashboard under Hybrid Work >> Seat Calendar.
If you face any issues using the seats command or the seat calendar, let us know by logging a ticket for us using the ‘Dialm’ command as a direct message in AttendanceBot & our support team will get back to you with a solution.
To Sum Up
As you can see, both hot-desking and desk hoteling are valid strategies that help to make the most of your office space. The one you choose will depend largely on how flexible you need your workspace to be—do you want a designated desk, or do you prefer floating around? We’ve outlined what each option entails, but remember that there are still many potential variations within these themes.
A company might implement both strategies at once; employees could reserve a desk for personal use when they’re in the office (hoteling), but also have access to other desks when they need them (hot desking). As long as the strategy is carefully considered and executed, it should pay dividends in productivity and happiness for all involved.
People Also Ask
Is hoteling the same as hot desking?
Yes! Hoteling and hot-desking are basically the same things. You get a temporary desk, but share it with other people. This may be better in some situations than having your own desk so that you can work more collaboratively with your coworkers.
Do employees like office hoteling?
According to SpaceIQ, 78% of employees think flexible work arrangements make them more productive. And this is just what hot desking/office hoteling does.
What is another word for hot-desking?
Hot desking is also called non-reservation-based hoteling
Does hot desking improve productivity?
A study shows that just 46% of workers feel that they are more productive when working in a hot-desking environment.
