Does anyone actually like hot desking and/or open plan?

[BMXsummoner]

I’ve recently started working for a company that does hot desking in a very open plan space. Prior to this I had always either had my own office (albeit entirely glassed so anyone nearby could see what I was doing) or my own desk in a cubicle type setup. Reasons I hate it:

• wasting a minimum of 5 minutes every morning and afternoon getting everything I need for the day out of my locker (power cables, headset, notebook, water bottle etc.) and getting set up at my workstation and then packing it all away again at the end of the day
• related, nowhere (like a set of desk drawers) that is convenient to store anything that would make my workday easier or nicer (snacks, extra stationery, painkillers, cardigan for when the office temperature is set to freezing)
• further time wasted if the work station I choose is defective and the monitors don’t work or connect to my laptop
• drab, impersonal workplace where no one can put up photos etc.
• putting up with all the inconsiderate arseholes in the office (the pen clicker, the chuckler, the stinker, the guy who gets 11ty million phone calls a day with his loud obnoxious ringtone)

I fucking hate it. I get why companies might think it’s a great idea (all the bullshit about fostering team work while saving money on floor space) but do any workers actually like it??

It’s fine if you’re only in a bit. It would not be ok full time.

I think its unprofessional to have photos and other desk personalisation in the workplace- you always got some people who took it too far.

I dont mind most of the elements of hot dealing- it's good to sit next to a variety of people etc...however we dont have lockers so I hate not having anywhere to store things like shoes (used to wear trainers for commute and change at work), hand cream (office air is v drying), deodorant in case I forgot in the morning etc. I shove some paracetamol and tea bags (I drink fruit tea and we only have builders) in my bag but if you're in the office a few times a week its irritating to not have available all the stuff I used to have in my drawers

I've worked in several open plan offices, never had hot desking though thank goodness.

I have my own office now and you can prise it from my cold, dead hands.

Yes, every place I've worked has made a thing of checking your workstation set up, so that it isn't causing you eye or back problems, or RSI.

I like open plan as I'm essentially quite nosy and like overhearing personal and work chats. I can't focus when it's quiet.

We don't hot desk though, I'd hate that. I like working with my team, we're hybrid but we know who's in when.

I don't have any experience hot desking, but I feel like I'd hate it. I was annoyed enough when they took away our desk drawers.

As for open plan, it depends on the size of the space and the type of work. I'd be fine with sharing an open plan space with my department of less than a dozen people or even another team who does mostly quiet work, but being in a big open plan office of 50 people including phonelines to service users who frequently struggle to hear so the person speaking to them has to talk very loudly and repeat themselves a lot can be absolutely maddening when trying to focus.

Fortunately, I still have a desk I can use in an office on my own one day a week. I have a docking station on the desk and I bring in my laptop and headphones.

However, someone else uses the office space when I’m not in and they always leave evidence of this be it crumbs, hairs, faint coffee stain rings, smells etc. I would much rather be at home in my own space or have an office or a desk that only I use. Although no office photos is a blessing.

Also the desk is meant to be sanitised after use but this person is obviously oblivious and unable to read and understand the emails and the notice in the desk relating to this.

I hate open plan offices from years ago trying to concentrate with all the inane chatter, people with loud voices talking nonsense full volume on the phone, someone taking an eternity to chomp through a massive crunchy salad, people eating sushi or egg sarnies etc etc.

I didn't love it when we first started doing it around 6-7 years ago, but now I find it fine.

I bring what I need with me in my bag and it means I don't build up piles of stuff on a desk.

I don't even have a locker now, just what comes with me in my backpack. It's very freeing. Can work from anywhere and it's no trouble.

Oh god, the shit people used to have on their desks and in pedestal drawers before hot-desking was vile. One of my first IT jobs involved lots of time spent trying to sort faults out at peoples desks, wading through filthy cups, mouldy fruit and tissues…so many tissues.

My view is with the widespread introduction of hot-desking, offices are certainly tidier and companies can reduce their footprint due to not needing a desk for everyone. it’s easier to maintain as well.

I’ve seen some companies do hot desking/open plan better than others. My last one had different areas for collaborative work, quite spaces and “normal” banks of desks.

My current one is just big standard hot-desking, with loads of background noise and people moving about to talk to people in their team they couldn’t get a desk next to.

I can’t imagine going back to fixed desks, or a “private” office. I would presume it would come with an expectation to be on site much more.

I'm retired but when working I didn't mind the open plan so much, but the hot desking varied between being ok to being really annoying.

Some people were decorating their desks with so many pictures of their relatives, kids, pets etc., those silly tiny toys from cereal packets, fancy pen holders that took up half the desk etc. you spent about ten minutes clearing an area to work in.

Then there was cleaning the desk and keyboard before trying to adjust the chair and the footrest and eventually log on.

So glad I don't have to put up with that any more.

I've worked in:

1. a massive open plan office where we all had our own desks.

2. A small open plan office where we had our own desks.

3. A medium open plan office where we hot desk.

I prefered number 2, then number 3.

HATED number 1. It was noisy, hot (too many desktop computers, printers and people giving off heat), messy and smelly,. Peolple became bitchy/territorial - they would have their own section of the office and would be weird with people in other sections. There was no privacy anywhere and nowhere to go to make a private phone call.

Number 3 is fine, it is quieter, cooler and tidier and there are always empty side rooms for private calls. I miss not having somewhere to keep my own tea and coffee supplies, and dislike carrying a heavy bag with all my belongings in on the commute. And I hate zoom meetings in an open plan office cause the background noise is distracting.

Number 2 was perfect.

Love it. I like how you get to choose who you sit next to (or don't sit next to). Great way to get to get to know people better, also much better overall atmosphere

I like it. Always been in open plan offices (20 years+) and hot desking for about 9 years. The office is so much tidier when everyone has to clear their desks. We all have laptops we plug in. Lockers are available but I've never needed one. I carry my laptop bag and a small handbag that fits a coffee cup.

Setting up/packing away takes no longer than it did at a fixed desk.

Never had a desk of my own in 20 years as a social worker. All offices are hot desks. Teams tend to stuck together in similar areas. But really wherever you find a space. Lockers and draws are all eliminated too. Just carry it around in a Rucksack.

I’m sure you don’t!

We have just moved office from a huge one which was way too big for the organisation even pre-hybrid working to a small floor which is open plan hot-desking. We have to go in two days a week. I'm not loving it so far. It's so noisy, partly due to ongoing building work on other floors. But also it feels so constrained and I don't like being so tightly packed in next to others. We do have a desk booking system so you know in advance where you are sitting, and if you don't check in within two hours it frees up the booking. We are all expected to wipe down desks, keyboards and mice at the end of the day and people do, as far as I know. We do have lockers if we want them. So I suppose it could be worse! Longer commute for me as well though.

Another one here who hates hot desking. Not so keen on open plan either, but I mind it less than hot desking. I agree: hard to adapt my chair, desk height etc to just how I like it, hard not to leave documents out that I'm in the middle of, hard not to have a place to stash my office stuff

hate not feeling like I have my own space.

I much prefer hot-desking which tends to be first gone first served or hoteling, where desks are booked, to having a fixed desk where people expect me to me.

Having the freedom to work wherever I happen to be and to be able to get good quality work done in odd moments is priceless for me.

I've been working on projects for decades, the facilities for getting real work down away from any office have come on in leaps and bounds.

I don't mind open plan but I would hate hot desking. I like my space and I'm very protective towards my chair!

In my experience the people who like it are the slackers who like a chat whilst distracting everyone else from their work

I don't mind the open plan thing so much as i'm used to that but the hotdesking thing drives me nuts, particularly the unpacking / packing up, adjusting chair / monitors, back n forth to my locker etc every day. I try and book the same desk on consecutive days so I don't have to fiddle with the screens and chair, but we have a clear desk policy so can't leave anything out overnight.

I like it, but only go into the office twice a week.

Same here. Hot desking twice a week is a million times better than sitting at my own desk 5 days per week!

open plan? no problem. Actually quite like it.

Hot Desking is the work of the devil. First you have to book/find a space. Then you have to hunt around until the mouse is found and the keyboard and fight to connect them to your laptop. And then you have to faff with the monitors and the settings and before you know it an hour has gone and you're hot, sweaty and angry.

Or it's just me and everyone else loves it.

I HATED it. I think you’re doing really well if you can set up in five minutes! It used to take me 10-15 minutes, mind you my locker was a long way from my desk.

My laptop also didn’t like being unplugged, so on a good day I’d have to reset the settings, but on a bad day, something wouldn’t work. The IT guys must have been sick of me, but I rarely experience IT issues now I’m WFH.