Hot Desking: A Great Way to be Agile Whilst Working

What is hot desking?

Hot desking is the ability for employees to base themselves at any available desk to carry out their work. Some businesses operate with a 100% non-allocated work stations where as others have a split of allocation.  Within many office environments the principles of hot desking have been in place for many years.

As people have been familiar with the concept of hot desking for so long the term is now being adopted within co-working offices as well. We are finding many of our guests who are more comfortable with using this term rather than contemporary phrases such as co-working spaces. The advancement of lighter and therefore more portable laptops have also increased the ease of use for ‘bring your own device’ office setups.

Workplace agility

Being agile in a modern office environment place is crucial to retain efficiency. Businesses are constantly looking for ways to support flexibility and foster teamwork and innovation. This is where adopting policies such as hot desking can work as they encourage a cultural change in the workplace. Here are our top benefits of hot desking for both companies and employees.

Benefits of hot desking

Cut out the clutter

We think that the old saying of ‘a tidy house equals a tidy mind’ can also be applied to the work place. Having less desk clutter means a cleaner working environment for everyone with less distractions. It helps to focus individuals on the job at hand.  Working towards a paperless office has been a long term goal for many businesses. Hot desking certainly assists with this. It also helps to create a good impression with client meetings. We believe it demonstrates a more organised approach compared to a desk littered with reports, note books and other paraphernalia.

Collaborative working opportunities

Encouraging people move around to different work stations can be beneficial for a number of reasons. Firstly it can help to foster new working relationships with colleagues that otherwise wouldn’t work closely together. You can learn more about other people’s skills set and are more likely to learn about new techniques and ways of thinking.

In a co-working office such as ours we find that people from different businesses and backgrounds start to interact. They then form networks which can be significant for the direction of their business.

Autonomy

Hot desking provides employees with autonomy by allowing them to change their day-to-day environment whilst remaining mobile. This gives them more flexibility and autonomy over what their work environment looks and feels like.

It also allows a great deal more flexibility when it comes to their social and home lives. Whether it’s giving employees the opportunity to attend an event or simply to be at the school gates in time to pick up the kids. It means that people are no longer fixed to their desks.

Cost savings

All businesses should be focussing on their overheads. Embracing a hot desking culture is a great way to lower costs. It can obviously help to cuts down on office equipment costs.  However it can also allow companies to consider downsizing operations into a more affordable space. This is a particularly compelling benefit for many of our guests at Purple Office. They find that they can maintain their productivity at significantly reduced overall costs.

The right working environment

We’re all different and these differences usually become apparent in the work place. Some people prefer a noisier working environment where as others seek more of a sanctuary  to be able to get through their daily tasks. Being able to choose what type of working environment you can base yourself in is one of the great benefits of hot desking. This is one of the main reasons why we have designed so many different types of work stations at Purple Office. We have a range of traditional desks, coffee shop-style seating and more secluded individual pods, for however you like to work.

Modern technology

Hot desking clearly encourages employees to move around the business or in our case the co-working office space. Even with this movement, the experience at work still needs to be the same regardless of which workstation they are at. Many businesses are moving their business systems to the cloud to make this a smooth process. This then allows employees to access everything they need remotely. HR, payroll, even joining meetings and chatting with colleagues, can be available from anywhere. At Purple Office we ensure that our guests have access to everything they would expect in large company building such as reliable printing and lightening fast Wi-Fi. Plus we have all the latest video conference technology to ensure your business meetings run smoothly.

Is hot desking or a co-working office right for you?