Today Here, Tomorrow There: How Hot-Desking Adds Unnecessary Stress to the Workplace While Saving Neither Time Nor Money
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Today Here, Tomorrow There: How Hot-Desking Adds Unnecessary Stress to the Workplace While Saving Neither Time Nor Money

Hot-Desking, Workplace Sharing, Flexible Offices—whatever you call the concepts where employees are on the hunt for a new workspace each day—were supposed to save time and money. Turns out they don’t.

According to Wired Magazine, the time spent by employees in the pursuit of a Hot-Desking workspace adds up to a whopping 2 lost weeks per person annually. What was once hailed as the office concept of the future gradually reveals itself not only as a hassle for employees but also as a failure in terms of time and cost savings.

Office spaces in major cities are costly. So, the idea emerged that in industries where employees are often on the move, expenses could be cut by simply sharing workspaces.

However, witnessing this trend firsthand with clients left me quite shocked. In an extreme manifestation of this seemingly groundbreaking concept, the head of communications of a big technology corporation would suddenly find herself sitting next to the IT specialist in what resembled telephone booths, akin to a call center or a battery farm.

Theoretically, even the company’s CEO was supposed to join them in these dreadful booths, but he found a creative solution for this absurd setup: He simply claimed one of the public meeting rooms forever, effectively replacing his corner office.

No privacy, no comfort zone - people hate it

Fast forward to an in-person meeting with another client. We are sitting at a table in the midst of their praised open office space. It’s noisy. Everyone can overhear things not meant for all ears. The solution to such dilemmas? Temporary room dividers are set-up as needed. The office becomes a perpetual makeshift arrangement. It never feels cozy or familiar. There’s never a true sense of comfort. The workspace isn’t a place to linger. It’s more something to escape from.

When I asked the head of cybersecurity from another company, operating under a similar hot-desk policy, to meet him at their headquarters, the response was almost outraged: "I’m hardly ever there!" Turned out he hated the place since his familiar office was taken away from him. The newly installed, beautiful aquarium and a slide in the office space, which might impress outsiders, didn’t alleviate the negative feelings he seemed to associate with the new hot-desk workplace style either.

To add insult to injury, it’s claimed that this workplace nomadism enhances communication and dynamics within the company. Quite the opposite is the case. A quick in-person chat with a colleague often proves more efficient than a barrage of emails, WhatsApp, or Slack messages combined. But heck, where can you find them today?

Working, military style

Personal belongings, one's laptop, or even a fresh shirt are no longer stored in a familiar place but always kept 'on the person', proudly explains a representative of Scheicherwand, a company realizing such allegedly revolutionary office concepts. 'On the person'?! I’ve only ever heard that as a military term. The expression refers to items or gear that soldiers carry with them personally during operations or tasks. Hopefully, the office isn’t a battlefield. Or is that the goal of all of this?

Back when I worked for Austria’s biggest PR & Lobbying agency, we were on the move with clients all day before we set down to work on press releases and creative concepts at our desk in the evening. Rushing from one appointment to the next is already stressful enough. Now, imagine having to hunt for a new desk every evening and rearrange all the necessary materials for creative concepts, usually spread out for easy access on my desk, all over again on a daily basis. I would have lost my mind. Thankfully, that was never even considered within the agency.

Flexibility needs a secure base

Hot-Desking enthusiasts mistakenly sell a constantly changing working environment as something to 'inspire and keep one mentally agile’. Alas, when it comes to the workplace, this notion is a misconception. Flexibility in thinking requires stability in other areas, such as the workplace or a place of rest. Many people struggle to sleep well in hotels, right? That’s because we subconsciously perceive the environment as unfamiliar and thus insecure. And this notion puts us into survival mode.

If we want to create something new, we are often pushed to adapt to brand-new situations. However, a perpetually changing desk setup doesn’t foster this. Creativity and flexibility flourish when there’s a secure foundation allowing for personal development. In this context, basic routines are crucial for people; without certain routines, stress levels rise unnecessarily.

Removing the workspace from employees every evening and making them fight for prime spots the next day induces totally avoidable stress.

And when stress peaks, we switch to survival mode, offering three options: fight, flight, or freeze. None of these choices align with our best interests or those of others. Inner quitting, burn-out, bore-out or even mobbing and aggression against fellow coworkers can be potential consequences. Time and cost savings then become our least concern.

What do you think? Have you experienced hot-desking, and if yes, did you like it?


*This piece was originally published in the Austrian technology magazine e-media in my monthly column “Code Red” (German edition) in a slightly different version.

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Anna Sunter

International Lead Smart Mobility / Human Factors

7 个月

As part of my Masters course I studied Organisational Psychology and Design. Although this was in the mid-90s, before hot desking took off in a big way, a key aspect of the work environment was that for people to be invested in the organisations they work for, they need to feel empowered and to have their own spaces over which they have some degree of control. This creates a sense of belonging. Fast forward to 2024 and it seems that the awareness of the needs of people, social animals, has all but disappeared, to be replaced with evangelising about the requirement for employees to be flexible and able to adapt to change at a moment's notice. Personal belongings can no longer be a marker, giving people a sense of ownership and belonging where they work. They instead have to carry all items around with them, in itself a potential risk to health and safety. I do worry about what the anonymising work spaces, and resultant disconnectedness of employees with their work environments, will ultimately lead to.

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