The expert view

Hotdesking is just so 2003. Today, whatever work can’t be done on a laptop is done on a phone. Some try to use tablets as “super tablets” or as convertible laptops, but the essence is the same. Why do you need a desk to move to, whether hot, lukewarm or mildly tepid? Hotdesking presumes that people need to work in a quasi office environment. That means computers, screens, phones and a printer, together with internal network and external internet access. All these can be solved by modern tools, and none requires a desk and a table. I place much higher value on a comfortable chair, a footstool, plenty of table space to either side of me, local USB sockets and power, and a fine coffee machine that takes real beans. Sitting at a desk, whether hot or cold, is a task reserved for workstation users, so let’s put them into the “hot desk” category and let the rest of us get on with our work using the modern tools we have.

Don’t ignore that managerial bugbear – managers like to see staff in the office to ensure, in their minds, that they’re actually doing real work. If they’re working at home, then maybe they’re changing the baby’s nappy, preparing dinner, painting the front door. All of which simply doesn’t matter providing the work gets done to standard and in the time allowed.

And there we hit the core issue. Hotdesking is mostly a concession by inadequate middle and upper management to allow some sort of work flexibility without actually letting go of the reins. It is their inability to manage that lands us in this “neither here nor there” land of hotdesking. Try fixing that problem first.