about my employer and desks?

[desksareimportant]

This is a bit long and I'm sorry. Name changed just in case situation is recognisable!

I work in a great organisation. It's a bit complex, because I am seconded there from my primary role. Up until now I've been in the office 2-3 days a week and the rest of the time out in the field, as it were.

The organisation has a hot desking policy which is fine, but it's a small organisation and at present 7 of us share a room with 4 desks which works absolutely fine, given no one is in every single day. The directors are on the same floor and have their own offices, but we are allowed to use them for meetings etc or just work when the directors are out- as long as we book. They tend to have one big desk and a meeting table.

However a new (additional) director has been appointed and we've just been told "our" office is going to her. She'll be in most days.

We 7 have been told we can either use one of 2 desks in with the PAs, on our floor, who are lovely but it's a very noisy room as they're mainly on the phone OR we can WFH.

The issue is that I really don't want to work from home. I have a small house with no particular workspace, that is difficult to heat and the office is in a great city centre location just a 10min ride on the underground from my house. I also work really well in our small office where there's conversation for those who want it e.g. someone to pop out for coffee with, but no noise distractions.

I have said that I'm unhappy with this but just had shrugs in response. My contract doesn't mention WFH but it's for the organisation I'm actually employed by, not the seconded one. I really love this post and if I stay for the planned further 18 months then it will be fantastic for my career progression.

I could turn the spare room into a study (though I don't really want to!) and unfortunately I have a weirdly tiny head and find noise cancelling headphones really uncomfortable.

I think it's unreasonable that our office of 4 is going to make way for one person and a big table- I asked why they couldn't partition it/one of the other big offices and was told that it would then be too small for the directors.

How can I deal with this situation!? I feel like I've been annexed!

Honestly? I think you need to just suck it up.

Don't have huge amounts of experience with this. R they going to supply with with all equipment to work from home inc a phone

Work is a thing you do, not a place, in many cases. You need to find a way to make this work, if you want to. Space is at a premium in many organisations.

Can you think of any business related reasons to argue that this isn't a great idea apart from missing having people to chat to?

Unfortunately I don't think there's much you can do, suck it up it is.

I agree you just need to get on with it, maybe have a couple of days working from home and a couple of days in with the PAs and see which you prefer to begin with

You have my sympathies, we have to hot desk and I hate it. In your circumstances I wouldn't want to work from home either, so YANBU. I'm not clear though, are you losing the room with the 4 desks, or just the overspill director's office where (some of) the 3 extra people could go? If it's the former then I think that's completely unacceptable! But if that's not the case, any chance you could get in earlier on your days in the office to bag a desk in the main room (if it's first come first served like my place)?

Sorry, just re-read and realised you are losing your office. So if you were all in, they would be expecting 7 people to fight over the 2 desks in with the PAs?! That's crazy.

Yeah, we're losing the room with 4 desks. It's a bit odd as the PAs have their own desks which are generally allocated for ergonomic reasons etc but officially 2 are "hot" due to annual leave, etc. If no-one is off those desks are full. There are another 20 desks downstairs but they are always used by people who are in the office 9-5. I am usually out in the field for part of each day- so though I'm in 2-3 days total it is spread over 4-5 IYSWIM so I'd have no chance of getting a desk down there if I wanted to come in to write a report in the afternoon.

We have phones and small laptops for when we're out and about but they're small and designed for rough outdoor use. I wouldn't want to work on mine for an extended period of time- when in the office I plug it into the workstation and then work off a big screen and decent keyboard.

There's been no mention of providing other equipment, though it's an interesting point - one of the desks in our room is a multi-position standing desk which is always used by a lady who has sciatica. I quite like using it too when she's not in. I wonder what will happen to her!

You could look for local shared workspaces, and ask the company to pay for you to work there. I know many people who do this.

I really feel for you re hot desking. It's shit and I would leave tomorrow over it except everyone in my niche area seems to do it. We are part of a larger team of 45 people. We have 29 desks. Everyone is office based, pissed off and large numbers are in physio. If a unionised factory was set up like it we'd be out on strike! It's 18 months, can you wfh some days and head to office others when ur out on site in the afternoon. It's shot but at least you have an end in sight

Yeah max I guess since it is time-limited. This job pays OK but money is tight as I'm paying back an enormous student loan and I'm worried that WFH might cost me as well- especially if I need to buy a PC etc.

I have been looking into insulation but doesn't look like I'd be eligible for help there. I still have the heating on just now as it was 2 degrees today and the house is like a freezer... I think the cost of heating will be more than the couple of quid to get the tube!

I don't even own a desk chair. I wonder if anyone will notice if I wheel one out of the office...