When space is limited, hot desking is an effective way to utilise space. It’s perfect in theory but, in practice, you also need to account for the human factor.
How people use hot desks speaks volumes about respect for others, the company environment, and how business ultimately gets done. When people practice good etiquette and consider others, everything improves. Likewise, when chaos reigns, work is easily impacted.
Whether you’re looking to implement better behaviour amongst shared desks, or want to start implementing hot desking at your workplace, these tips will help make the whole experience go a lot more smoothly.
What is Hot Desking?
Hot desking refers to flexible offices that don’t have directly assigned desks for individuals. Instead, employees have assigned desks.
This can be done in two different ways:
- A first-come, first-served system, where staff claim hot desks as and when they arrive. This generally isn’t a good idea. It only really works when you have more desks than people, in which case hot desking becomes irrelevant as a means.
- Through internal desk booking software that let’s staff reserve desks and other resources ahead of time. You might also see this referred to as desk hoteling, but it’s a form of hot desking.
The latter approach is naturally much more popular. It’s also becoming much more critical thanks to the rise in hybrid workplaces. According to a CBRE study, 69% of respondents report more than 40% of their workforce share desks on a daily basis. Most companies also target a ratio
Core Hot Desk Etiquette Rules
If you want to improve productivity, reduce workplace conflicts and make the most of your desk sharing spaces, these are the core rules worth following.
Book a Desk. Don’t Just Show Up
Hot desking should always be done in advance. It’s better to reserve a desk and later cancel it, then to show up and try to claim the first desk that you see.
Workspaces are limited resources, so planning ahead isn’t just about good manners. Office admins need to know how many hot desks are in use, and eschewing this data can cause further problems down the line.
When staff turn up without a dedicated desk for their shift, they stand around waiting for something to open up. It’s waste of company time and productivity. Desk reservation apps and office maps can help employees in making their own bookings, and finding the correct desk, respectively.
Don’t Focus on Reserving the Same Desk
Some employees often get attached to a specific desk, whether for its unique features or simply as habitually. However, this often goes against hot desking etiquette. Desk sharing works best when employees are assigned spaces as necessary. Trying to factor in personal preferences only strains the system.
Employees need to get used to having different assigned desks. If they become too attached, this can lead to additional problems, such as leaving personal belongings, not keeping the desk accessible for other people, and treating it like a dedicated workspace.
Respect Assigned Desks
Similarly, hot desking systems work best when people follow the designated schedules. If people start switching desks, it leads to various problems.
- First, they can sit at a desk that is reserved for someone else. This will lead to conflict when that person arrives on-site.
- Secondly, it creates confusion around availability. Internal systems no longer accurately reflect current desk sharing and usage.
- It also disrupts people who have chosen specific desks for a reason, such as proximity to teammates or access to specific equipment.
- Over time, such a loose approach undermines trust in the desk booking policy or system, and some may ignore it altogether.
- This can also lead to ‘desk hunting’, where employees waste time looking or negotiating for free spaces instead of getting to work.
Respecting assigned desks ensures keeps the system reliable and ensures everyone can start their day without unnecessary friction. When people trust that their booked space will be available, the workplace experience is smoother and more predictable for everyone.
Keep Each Desk Space Tidy
A clean desk makes a big difference, especially in a hot desking environment. Every employee should do their best to leave workstations as they found them.
When employees book desks, they should be able to easily get to work. Arriving at a desk with strange stains, spills or smells only disrupts workflow. Either staff spend time cleaning someone else’s mess, wasting time and hurting morale, or they stay distracted and offput by the overall lack of manners.
The same also goes for personal belongings. If staff get in the habit of leaving notebooks, jackets and other items at their last desk, it creates another hurdle for others to tackle before they can start working.
How far a company enforces this is unique to each business. For example, whilst cleaning generally falls under the company responsibilities, there should still be some expectation on the employee side nonetheless, especially when it comes to their own personal items.
Optionally, employers may also want to limit foods to breakrooms or other designated areas if it continues to have an impact
It all depends on your company culture.
Limit Phone Calls & Other Noise at Your Hot Desking Space
This one is less hot desk etiquette and more common decency. When working next to other people, avoid taking phone calls, playing loud music or otherwise distracting other people.
Music is easy to solve: use headphones. With phone calls, there’s a little more ambiguity.
- Someone calls out of the blue? You can answer it, but if it’s more than a minute or two, you should probably step away from the hot desking space.
- Planned calls that are supposed to be a few minutes but end up being much, much more? Those need to be in dedicated meeting rooms or booths.
- Frequency is also an issue. If you’re having multiple calls a day, then it’s an ongoing disturbance that needs to be considered.
Ultimately, hot desking environments are shared spaces. Employees working in such atmospheres often need to focus and don’t want to hear other coworkers personal music or phone calls.
Follow Security Best Practices
Hot desking can be a flexible and efficient way to use office space, but it also comes with security considerations that shouldn’t be overlooked. Always follow best practices to protect both company and client information.
- Lock Your Devices – Always lock your computer or mobile device when stepping away, even for a short time.
- Secure Physical Documents – Don’t leave sensitive papers on the desk. Use locked drawers, lockers, or secure filing systems.
- Use Secure Connections – When working on public or shared Wi-Fi, ensure connections are encrypted and avoid accessing sensitive systems if possible.
- Clean Up Thoroughly – Before leaving a desk, remove all personal and company materials to prevent accidental data exposure.
It goes without saying, but just to be clear, this is also why some teams are not suited for shared desks. This can include the likes of HR and accounting, where some roles require the storage of sensitive information. These often need their own secure storage, and a dedicated desk (preferably in its own room) often makes much more sense.
Good Hot Desking Etiquette for Teams
Now we’ve covered the basic tenets of hot desking, let’s look at the finer details for team-based hot desking.
When teams work in a hot desking environment, there are a few extra factors to consider, in order to not disrupt neighbours.
Use Different Workspaces for Meetings
When hot desking, teams might sit together, or at least be in the same wider office space. In both cases, they may gravitate towards spontaneous meetings that can disrupt the wider environment.
Your hot desking policy should make a point of requiring meetings to take place in dedicated rooms or spaces. Otherwise, it can become a major point of contestation for other staff.
Good Hot Desking Etiquette for Coworking Spaces
For some companies, hot desking occurs in coworking spaces alongside employees from other companies. Whilst all of the previous points still apply, there are a few more factors that should be considered.
Be Careful of Sharing Sensitive Information
When operating in a shared office with other companies, you need to be careful about what information is shared publicly. If teams get in to the habit of talking openly about clients, finances and other sensitive information, it creates a potential data leak, which can have strong, impactful repercussions.
Avoid Spreading Out or Taking Extra Space
With coworking spaces, it’s even more important that employees stick to their reserved desks. When staff start to spread out over their initial space, it impacts other teams, possibly those from other companies. This can lead to critical conflict at the company-to-company level, and the coworking owners may even need to be involved.
Respect Shared Facilities
When you’re in a shared office environment, it’s important to respect the kitchens, lounges, meeting rooms and additional spaces used by all businesses. If employees don’t clean up after themselves or simply cause disruption for others, it can impact your company’s standing within that coworking space.
How to Encourage Good Hot Desking Etiquette
Effective hot desking isn’t just about employee responsibilities: alongside setting proper etiquette rules and policy, companies also need to take some physical steps to make it achievable and realistic.
Implement a Hot Desking Policy
There’s a key difference between following good etiquette and following a hot desking policy. The former, whilst expected, is optional, whilst the latter is determined by the company or office management.
For hot desking to truly work smoothly in your own office space, you need to incorporate these hot desking etiquette rules into your internal policies. This should detail:
- What employees must do, such as booking desks in advance, cancelling when changes occur, and sticking to, and keeping desks clean.
- What employees must not do, such as not switching desks, playing loud music, or going outside of the desk booking system.
Your company’s rules of hot desking should also be included in the onboarding process for new employees, emphasising its importance in the workplace. Once your etiquette policy becomes a normalized part of company culture, it’s much easier to follow.
Provide Space for Personal Storage
If you don’t want employees to store personal items at their desks, common spaces should include storage options that make this possible. Depending on the circumstances, you might want to invest in a few different things.
- If it’s a private office, then cloakrooms for jackets, coats and other personal belongings can often suffice.
- However, if there are valuable items, such as personal keys, phones and wallets, then more secure storage, like lockers, may be necessary.
Providing the right storage options removes one of the biggest friction points in hot desking. When employees have a safe and convenient place for their belongings, they’re far less likely to “claim” desks or leave items behind, helping maintain a flexible and fair workspace for everyone.
Ensure Additional Spaces are Available
Hot desking work can often require more than a desk. Earlier, we mentioned that employees shouldn’t take phone calls or hold meetings in an open office space. Therefore, in order to keep hot desking areas as quiet zones, companies need to provide additional spaces:
- If teams need to have meetings, dedicated conference rooms.
- If individuals often take calls, then smaller meeting rooms, or even phone booths, should be available.
- Optionally, if your office space allows for it, you can establish quiet zones for employees that want a calmer atmosphere.
How many spaces you need depends on your company and the nature of individual roles. If you can track how these functional spaces are reserved in your office, it will give you a good idea if you have enough.
Use a Desk Booking App
If you want to make your hot desking policy as easy to follow as possible, consider using a desk booking system.
With an app like Parkalot, for example, employees can book a desk the day before and confirm in the evening; free desks go back to anyone waiting. This way, desk space is used to its maximum, and nobody has to go work uncertain about available desk space.
Furthermore, you can customise the system to not only follow your hot desking policy, but also ensure a fair approach for everyone involved. If you need to limit how many times people can reserve desks in a given period, you can do that. You can even create custom groups with key exceptions, which is useful when different employees have different needs, based on their roles and functions.
As an extra added benefit, Parkalot also offers parking space reservations and other resources. After all, what good is a desk if you can’t get to work? And what good is getting to work if you don’t can’t reserve a desk? Parkalot solves both needs in one-app, so employees can better plan their work days.
Get Started With Etiquette Rules
Want to make your hot desking office run smoothly? Implementing an etiquette policy is the way to go. It turns desirable traits into expectations, improving conditions for all employees working in that space.
A desk sharing app is a great solution, but it works best when implemented alongside clear guidelines. Understand both what you want your hot desks to achieve and what employees need to stay productive.
One last tip: avoid micromanaging. Good hot desking etiquette occurs when its actively encouraged and passively enforced. If people feel obligated just to avoid harassment, it’s not a true part of your culture. Instead, take a data-driven approach and only intervene when necessary.
Happy hot desking!
