Is it time to de-bunk some of the received “wisdom” on optimising our office space?

There has been a rise in more flexible ways of working, characterised by employees choosing to work part time from home, and members of your sales force who although needing a space in the office, being out on the road for a large proportion of the time.

Improvements to technology facilitating job shares and allowing employees “to carry the office with them” when they are away from base, make it understandable that an employer looking across a half empty office should wonder whether he could make better use of his, let’s face it, expensive, space.

Hot- desking seemed to offer an opportunity to cut the costs of running an office by up to 30%, so it isn’t hard to see why many businesses across a range of industries have been enticed by the hot-desking model. Indeed, hot-desking was seen, for a time over the last few years as the Holy Grail of work space optimisation, and saw a huge growth in popularity.

Aside from the financial gains it was believed that with employees sitting away from their usual desks that they would build connections and create collaborating opportunities with other departments and team members with whom they don’t usually engage.

Moreover when an employee doesn’t have their own dedicated workspace it was thought that hot-desking would reduce personal clutter around the office and create a more focused working environment.

It all sounds good, but does it work?

Warning bells have been ringing for a while, with the latest office design teams providing “pods” in which people can work who need a quiet space away from the new swish open plan office, and digitally enabled tables where a whole team can get together to work on an individual project. These initiatives, however, still don’t answer the need for an individual space that an employee can take ownership of to feel a permanent part of the team.

The need for a personal “defensible” space seems to be core to our self-esteem and to be much preferred by workers, leading to greater job satisfaction and productivity. Under a hot desking regime, in order to establish that personal space around a third of UK workers have to find an empty desk set it up with all the things they need and then clear it all away again at the end of the day, which can be quite stressful.

Did I hear “Then at least they will be in on time.”? Fine, but have you considered how much time will be wasted, establishing the space they do find, the time taken to move around the office to talk to colleagues they normally sit next to, and the clearing up at the end of the day?

A number of recent surveys say more than a quarter of companies that have introduced hot desking report a drop in staff morale. So perhaps it’s time to take a close look at the evidence for whether hot desking really boosts productivity – or whether it actually makes people ill.

A study by the University of Wolverhampton in 2011 showed that unwanted noise and competition for space can make employees feel less valued, and the fact that no-one 'owns' some shared spaces can lead to clutter and neglect. There are also anecdotal reports that hot desking can actually harm communication in small teams, if the team has to split up and sit in different areas of an office.