Why employees hate hot desking and how to fix it

Employees hate hot desking, but there is no reason to scrap the idea, as it continues to grow with an estimated 25% of South Africans working remotely on any given day.

It seems like a cost-saving no-brainer, but Linda Trim, director at Giant Leap, a workplace design consultancy, says there is just one problem: many employees hate it.

“They complain about the nuisance of having to hunt for a workspace every day when they are in the office, not being able to find a station that suits their needs and no longer having a permanent space that they can personalise. They say collaboration is harder and they feel less connected to their colleagues.”

However, despite employee resistance, it seems hotdesking is growing. In their 2022 study, the Gensler Research Institute, a global architecture, design and planning firm, found that about 20% of the US office worker respondents had unassigned workspaces, compared to 10% in 2020.

“In South Africa the numbers are similar, with using hot desking doubling over the past three years. Employees experience more anxiety and rootlessness with hotdesking and are often emotionally and physically exhausted. Carrying work materials from place to place often makes employees feel adrift from the broader team.”

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Companies must think about hot desking

Trim says companies must give hotdesking more thought. On one level, the problems with hot-desking are logistical.

“Employees often found it impossible to locate the right kind of workstation for their needs, such as a cubicle with two monitors for example, or a quiet standing desk, or a huddle room with a whiteboard.”

Trim says issues like these are more than just a personal annoyance. “Hotdeskers also often have difficulty finding colleagues they want to collaborate with, while managers often find it more difficult to manage their teams because they are not always close to each another.”

She says it is clear that more collaboration does happen when you simply throw people together in a soup of random desks. Dissatisfied workers who do not feel supported in the office are also more likely to leave an organisation, while the cost of replacing talent can outweigh the cost-saving measures that hotdesking provides.

“However, hotdesking does not have to be a disaster for employees. Some companies have adapted the basic model of hotdesking in ways that employees find attractive. The introduction of ‘neighbourhoods’ where people still have to move around but they become linked to a home base area, as opposed to a desk, can work.”

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Rather book a space

She says so-called ‘hoteling’ is another common solution that takes some of the day-to-day stress out of having to find a workspace. Here employees book a specific space ahead of time, making it more likely that they can find the properly equipped workstation they need and eliminating the wasted time of searching for a spot upon arrival at the office.

Research has also found benefits from providing a mix of spaces with different ambiences, including some with privacy. Quiet areas with high partitions, noisier open cafes, spaces for small meetings and conference rooms, in addition to hotdesks, are often a good solution.

“Workers prefer control over their interactions with each other,” Trim says.