Hot Desking Checklist: Policy & Guidelines

When creating a hot desking program for your workplace, it’s best practice to write up a policy and guidelines for the workforce and workplace to follow. We designed a checklist that can help you get started.

What is Hot Desking?

Hot desking is a flexible workplace practice that keeps offices, conference rooms, etc., open for employees to use when it suits them best. This practice makes it easy for employees to find a desk in the spur of a moment or grab a workspace near their teammates so they can collaborate quicker and easier.

This means employees don’t have assigned seats and workspaces and rooms are a free-for-all. So, to run a successful hot desking program , organizations need to efficiently manage this flexible practice and communicate the expectations to the workforce.

They can do that by creating a Hot Desking Policy with Guidelines to follow.

What is a Hot Desking Policy?

A hot desking policy is a document that states what hot desking is, who will be affected by the program and how, its benefits, and guidelines to follow.

People enjoy having their own personal workspace so a program like this might be hard to get on board with at first. This document should encourage employees to see the benefits of a flexible program like hot desking and how it can positively affect their work environment. A few of those benefits include,

• Improved communication and productivity
• Rise in knowledge sharing
• Increased flexibility and creativity

Now that you’ve answered the initial questions like what it is, who it impacts, and how it will benefit everyone, it’s time to create guidelines for the workforce to follow. It’s also important to consider some guidelines to follow prior to rolling this out internally.

We’ve come up with a checklist for you to follow starting with what to do prior to implementation, what the company needs to do, and finally what employees should do. Read on below and then download this interactive checklist to take with you!

Hot Desking Guidelines You Can Follow

Prior to Implementation…

• Provide a VPN and cloud storage system so employees can access work documents from anywhere
• Equip employees with laptops and desks with phones, computer screens, keyboards, and mouses that connect to the laptops
• Create floor plans that offer a variety of workspaces, collaboration areas, and meeting rooms
• Implement a workplace resource scheduling software
• Add QR Codes to workspaces and rooms so employees can quickly access the space
• Provide lockers on each floor so employees can easily store and access personal items

Company should…

• Ensure employees know who to contact if they run into technical problems or have questions regarding these new changes
• Communicate everything always. Be transparent. Let your workforce know when it is working and when you are making changes to optimize and better the program
• Gather feedback from employees to understand what they like and don’t like about hot desking
• Continue to optimize your hot desking program using your workplace management software to see what’s working and what could use help
• Measure and monitor utilization of space to understand what’s being used and help make long-term office space decisions

Employees should

• Remove personal items from workspace once reservation is over
• Keep desks clean and tidy
• Use workplace booths or closed-door rooms for important phone calls
• Change it up! Try using different workspaces and different areas each day/week. Hot desking works best if you don’t get personally attached to a workspace
• Reserve workspaces and rooms ahead of time with your company’s workplace resource scheduling software

Download these Hot Desking Guidelines to take with you!

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