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??

Its gross. The desks are never cleaned. Covered in muck and filth and the odd bogie.

Seen many people leave the loo without washing their hands.

Picking their ears, nose and eye bogies and goes all over the keyboard then licking their fingers and touching everything. Gross.

I should say - we have lockers and can book desks so that's fine.

I did work somewhere that refused to introduce a booking policy even though I complained again and again that I couldn't sit with my team so what was the point of coming in. Was told to get in earlier which I couldn't do due to childcare/drop off. I wasn't late for work, it was just that everyone else was early!

I hate it, my laptop doesn't connect to half the desks in the office and if I can't get sat with my team then what is the point in me going into the office? If I'm sat on my own or with randoms then I may as well stay at home and save myself the effort.

Plus the office is noisy and I've really struggled with that after 3 years of quiet working from home. They don't give us noise cancelling headphones either so I'll be on a meeting but can hear the person next to me too.

Most of the places I've worked, have cleaning wipes and you're expected to wipe down your station every night. I used to also wipe mine down in the morning before I started. I really like hot desking but that part I didn't like (my friend who's a clean freak has her own wipes)

There weren't always mobile phones, believe it or not. Also, the early ones did not have cameras and couldn't store photos (or anything else for that matter).

Soooo, I needed my framed photos.😃

"putting up with all the inconsiderate arseholes in the office ..."

Hot desking provides the ideal opportunity to move away from such types rather than being stuck next to them forever, I've found 😅

I thought I'd hate hot desking but I actually don't mind it!

It's ok but there's no privacy any more. Everyone can hear us and we can hear them. Some have jobs where they're on the phone all day, saying the same thing to 50 people. Occasionally you get a really loud or miserable one. The chairs give me backache. I have to take painkillers to cope. But it's so much better than having to come in 5 days a week. I can live with it.

Hate hotdesks, forced into it by swankier city centre office with reduced floor space post-pandemic, but I’ve always worked for companies that either have always been open-plan or have become open-plan with a change of leadership so the idea of cubicle/offices just seems a little old fashioned now

Interesting to see why some people do like hot desking! Our set up includes fixed keyboards and mouse at each workstation so if you use a different desk each day then it feels a bit grotty. Cleaners do come round in the evening but I’m not convinced that sharing a mouse and keyboard is very sanitary despite that.

I only come in 2 days a week and start a bit later (and finish later) so often have to sit in different places depending on what’s available. Which of course means having to set up monitors and chair each time adding to the faff and wasted time.

My job also requires me to deal with hard copy documents and having to put them in my locker each night is not efficient or convenient.

Also had no idea that some people seem to get annoyed or offended by photos! You don’t have to look/comment. Personally I like seeing photos of my colleagues family/pets, it’s humanising and gives me something to start a conversation with. Obviously if desk paraphernalia is encroaching on other people’s space then that’s inconsiderate.