What is Hot Desking?
Hot desking is a workplace system where people use available desks at various times on a first-time, first-served basis, usually in a coworking environment. Businesses will opt for hot desks to optimize space utilization, heighten desk efficiency, and minimize real estate costs.
Hot desking is a workplace system that enables remote workers to decide where they sit onsite and for how long. Hot desking also unleashes the potential of your business's physical space and represents a more dynamic way of working.
By doing away with permanently assigned desks, your business is free to maximize space, pursue shared coworking, and take advantage of flexibility in a more agile way. Hot desks can also be used in private offices.
Why is it Called Hot Desking?
This is believed to have originated from the term "hot racking" – which is the practice of sailors with different shifts sharing the same bunk at various times.
How to Determine if Hot Desking is Effective for Your Business
Hot desking is an effective workplace strategy only when implemented in the right way. Ideally, it will support a flexible working strategy or a collaborative workspace.
The work settings that usually benefit from hot desking the most are the following:
Activity-based Workspaces
An activity-based workspace, or ABW, consists of a dedicated group of seats or zone that is set up to support any type of collaboration. Usually focused on a particular activity or type of work – quiet work, group work, desks to support team-specific tasks, and more – the majority of activity-based workspace designs can benefit from hot desks' flexibility.
Agile Workspaces
An agile workplace provides almost-unlimited autonomy to remote workers. For example, workers will be given a task to do, but they are given a choice as to when, where, and how to complete the task. Agile working usually depends directly on hot desks to deliver an extreme level of seating flexibility to remote workers.
Benefits of Hot Desking
The demand for flexible working spaces has increased tremendously over the past several years – prompted in a big way by the Covid-19 pandemic. Hot desking brings about a wide variety of benefits, from convenience and flexibility to community and creativity.
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7 Core Benefits of Hot Desks
1) Cost Savings
The main advantage of hot desks is decreasing real estate costs for business owners and entrepreneurs. Businesses like yours can maximize the use of existing office space or shared coworking and restrict the number of assigned desks from the floor plan.
They also enable businesses to reduce their real estate portfolio or delay expanding before they have to.
2) Networking
With hot desks, there are ample opportunities for you to network with other entrepreneurs in your industry. You can share ideas and exchange best practices with like-minded business leaders that you might not otherwise be able to do were it not for hot desking.
You'll also be able to build valuable connections and establish partnerships with other entrepreneurs that could advance your company's position in the marketplace.
3) Boost Job Satisfaction
Having hot desks empowers your remote workers, which greatly increases job satisfaction. For example, hot desking enables them to decide where they sit, which gives them more autonomy over the workplace environment.
4) Improved Collaboration
One of the biggest advantages of hot desks for businesses is significantly improving collaboration in the workplace. For example, if four departments are teaming up on a project, having a flexible work environment with a hot desking model can make it possible for projects to be ramped up and down quickly as needs change without the need to add more real estate.
5) Cost-Savings Alternative
As an entrepreneur, real estate is probably your second biggest overhead cost. Yet, research indicates that globally as much as 37 percent of office space is not utilized. Getting rid of this wasted space and switching to hot desks could decrease your operating costs by approximately 30 percent.
This realized savings would make it possible for you to spend that money on other projects and investments. The money you generate from making the move to hot desks will easily surpass the expense of increasing IT resources to accommodate this change.
6) Increased Productivity
As your remote workers don't have to schedule hot desks in advance, it makes it much easier for them to simply sit down, plug in, and begin working. You'll notice productivity increases as a result.
7) Efficiency for Larger Teams
Even if you are not a solo entrepreneur and you are part of a corporate team, hot desks provide high efficiency for project-based collaboration. Team members who work on a particular task can opt to sit around each other to share ideas and plans without the bother of scheduling a formal meeting.
Are Hot Desks Right for Your Business?
Hot desks could be an ideal way to generate greater productivity and reduce your expenses. And while the benefits outweigh the shortcomings, you must ensure the implementation process is thorough and well-planned.
Consider the culture at your company and the working environment, and then decide if hot desks could prove beneficial to your bottom line. Following hot desking trends such as modern tools, amenities, and booking technologies can help to translate into success for your business.
Look to Burbity Workspaces in Spokane for Your Hot Desk Needs
When you select Burbity Workspaces for shared coworking or hot desk options, you are sure to make a good impression when you meet with potential clients or conduct training and interviews, or you want to be highly productive. We have two locations available that will provide you with crazy fast internet and unlimited free coffee, along with free parking. You can also take advantage of our conference/media rooms.
Join our thriving community at Burbity Workspaces in Spokane and watch your business thrive!
