Hot desking is another method of teleworking. It involves one desk shared between several people who use the desk at different times. ‘Hot desking’ is regularly used in offices where not all the employees are in the office at the same time, or not in the office for very long at all, which means actual personal work spaces would be often vacant, consuming valuable space and resources. A primary motivation for hot desking is cost reduction through space savings - up to 30 per cent in some cases.
Hot desking is a viable option for any organisation that has a number of geographically dispersed offices. Hot desking allows employees to complete work in an alternate office to their usual location but remain on company property. Hot desking can be seen as a cheaper substitute to using a telecentre when the establishment of a telecentre is considered too costly but where teleworking would still be beneficial for staff and the organisation.
The RTA guidelines allow for hot desking by stating that a staff member with a teleworking agreement can work in another RTA office for part of the time. Most of the staff that hot desk do so because they live remotely or the travel time to their primary office is excessive. By allowing these staff to access hot desks in regional offices we assist them in creating a healthier work life balance and allow them to telework in areas where telecentres have not been established.
Hot desks can be formalised, giving specified desks to specific people on the days they are scheduled to telework. This can be done where a part time staff member’s desk is shared with the ‘hot desker’ on their designated day or by ensuring that there are enough desks in that office to cover the teleworkers schedule.
Hot desking can also occur on an ad hoc basis. These types of situations can occur when staff attend meetings at a location that is not their home office and wish to complete some work while they are visiting. This can be done in one of two ways, having a designated space for potential hot desk users or by simply allowing the staff to use unoccupied desks within the office.
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