How could desk booking be made flexible? How does hot-desking differentiate itself from hoteling? Which one would be better for your enterprise? Creating a responsive work environment for employees to become productive isn’t an easy task. Given there are multiple options well within reach today, the need for experimenting and iterating with modern technologies has become a must! With traditional desking becoming a passe, methods of shared desking are gaining more and more popularity. However, prospective adopters may be perplexed as to how to choose between them.
Hot- desking vs hoteling: Is there any distinction between both?
As more businesses use agile dynamic workspaces, there has been an increasing misunderstanding of the concept. Not only do different parts of the world use different terminologies, but the space and idea of flexible working are also evolving. Thus, stirring a lot of discussions around the difference between hoteling and hotdesking.
Employees worked in the office in the 1980s, and at home in the 1990s, a shift towards attaining a balance between the two has been on since then. When employees work from home, the office, or somewhere in between, additional needs arise in order to successfully accommodate them. Some companies implemented hoteling, while others implemented hot-desking. Few more then began introducing flex space after understanding that mobile workers frequently walk into the workplace to collaborate and meet rather than sit at a desk.
What is hot desking?
- ‘Hot Desking’ have been an old concept regaining its meaning in the modern world. This technique has seen the light of the day given its advantage of sharing limited desk resources in the workspace. Users now have the option to pick from a range of workstations based on their needs in both hot-desking and hoteling. There are no dedicated owners in any sort of space. Employees use work areas as and when they need them. Assignments in hot-desking could be rotated, shift-based, or first-come, first-served. These assignments continually change possibly numerous times throughout the day—and maybe completely ad hoc.
What is hoteling?
- Desk hoteling typically refers to lengthier utilisation of those shared desks, maybe for the entire day or even a week. Employees could be permitted to utilise any space in the work area or be restricted to a particular group of shared workspaces based on the physical area of the office or teams.
No wonder why leaders at the workplace leaders are giving this solution a shot. For the majority of companies, the working space is the second-highest expense. The ideal technique would be the one that maximizes the space and area allotted to each workstation, which would be a decent section of the complete floor plan. Every organisation needs to evaluate how they could utilise the workspace better.
Concept of hot desking and hoteling around the world
In the United Kingdom, the phrase “hoteling” is rarely used; instead, hot-desking, desk booking or shared desks are used. Employees can go up to a hot desk and claim it, or they can be made bookable using a scheduling application. In fact, a keyword search for hoteling on Google Trends yielded a score of 81 out of 100 in the United States and 0 in the United Kingdom. Hot-desking, on the other hand, received a perfect score in the United Kingdom but only a seven in the United States. One of the many other approaches adopted by companies to differentiate the two terms is to think of hoteling as reservation-based unassigned sitting against hot-desking as reservation-free unassigned seating.
How to implement hot desking successfully
It isn’t as straightforward as instructing them to vacate their offices. You must ensure that each person who joins the program has all they require to succeed.
- The following are the elements that we believe are essential:
- Ensure that workspaces are consistent
- Create more flexible work areas
- Indicate which desks are shared
- A way to reserve space
- Installing digital lockers
Which would be the ideal workspace management approach for your enterprise?
In a nutshell, there are numerous ways to define what is quickly becoming a popular way of working. If your organization is looking for dynamic and flexible workplace management, but reservations would normally be for a longer period, then hoteling is the approach you would go for. This is perfect for cases when teams working on short-term projects come together for a week in the office and need to sit together for the entire duration. If your organization does not have a long-term desk booking need, but it’s OK for employees to make a desk reservation every day, then Hot-desking is the right approach for you. This is perfect for cases when employees come to the office infrequently and would need a seat for a day or just a few hours.
We believe your workspace is better managed when you can plan for this flexibility. At Veris, we create a flexible workplace experience with our intelligent hot-desking and hoteling solutions. Whether you book as you walk up to a desk or reserve it in advance, we believe your workspace is better managed when you can plan for it.