Colleague refusing to hotdesk at work – anyone else face this issue??

[Singleparent78]

Post-pandemic our offices have moved to a hotdesking set up as part of new hybrid working. Most FT staff now WFH 2-3 days/week and now, when they do come in, they no longer have ‘their own’ desk but instead sit at a series of desks which they book in advance – each desk has IT equipment, but staff have all been given laptops that they can bring in.

It’s not ideal but it encourages a good mixing of staff and ultimately saves money - with staff WFH it was possible to reduce the overall office footprint rather than have the same office with half populated desks. A lot of effort went into setting up the new hot desk system to ensure it was well kitted out and comfortable.

One Staff member has been refusing to come in and hot desk. Says it’s a policy that can’t be enforced, that this way of working is not in his contract.

He claims the desks aren’t access compliant – he doesn’t have a disability he just is complaining about the process of setting them up and doesn’t feel the set-up is compliant. He has been WFH for months now, refusing to come in and use the hot desks until he gets his own desk with a number of other requirements on his list.

HR have been useless, just saying I will need to make adjustments ‘to support him’ but my view is as he doesn’t have special requirements, just a general grievance, so needs to follow policy - otherwise what is the point of the policy?

Anyone else have this problem? How did you address it?

I bet when the energy hikes start to hit people's bank accounts, they'll all be tripping over themselves to work in the office! DH and I are planning to work in the office on the same days so we will mitigate some of the energy costs,

OP your colleague will probably try to bring his dogs in with him to keep warm

I hate hot desking, why would you want to create a bacteria sharing pit? It's been proven offices with hot desking have higher sickness levels

So sanitise the workstation before and after you use it, takes less than 5 minutes to give everything a wipe over.

OP, you've had some good advice on here - and I hope you also have better places than mumsnet to go to for management advice. It seems clear to me that he just wants to work from home because of his dogs, but that's a problem he needs to find a solution for, not you. He needs to come in to the office for meetings. Have you put it back on him to find a solution? "Hey Paul, we do need you to be in the office at least twice a week. Hybrid working and desk sharing is here to stay. We have offered you several solutions to assist you with the change, all of which you have refused. We are not aware of any reason why you may require reasonable adjustments but if you need to update us on this please do so immediately. Given the basic need for all employees to be on site 50% of the time and for hot desking, and the absence of a valid reason for you not to, I expect to see you in the office for a minimum of two days a week starting next Monday. If you have any concerns about this please submit a proposal of your needs for consideration of provision of reasonable adjustments which would ensure that you are able to work from the office for a minimum of 2 days a week".

Reasonable adjustments are a legal right if there is a disability present BUT they don't have to be given exactly what they ask for. E.g. if he has a disability which means he finds the workplace too noisy, he can request to WFH or to have his own office, but a valid RA may be the provision of a noise cancelling headset and being told nicely to get on with it.

as previous suggestions. call his bluff. stick a sign on 1 desk that its his. ffs my taxes are paying for this! you have my sympathies

Ahh, public sector.

When I worked there, my team had to have a seating rota implemented because a bunch of adults, who were presumably competent enough to manage budgets and contracts, couldn’t sort it out between themselves. The HoD had a bad reputation for treating employees like children, but how else do you treat people who act like children.

This is no help whatsoever, but I’d hate hot-desking.
Where would I keep my run-out pens, paper clips that I’ve unwound to pull out a staple, and pencil shaving morsels?

Honestly, I'm kind of with your colleague on this. While he's going about it in a kind of arsey way, hotdesking is awful. I had a similar work requirement and every time I attended the office, without fail, someone had messed with/adjusted my DSE equipment, and nobody ever cleaned the desks, they had a thick film of grease and dust and random bits of people's lunch on them. You're reliant on the hygiene and courtesy of the person who sat there before, which can be non-existent, even if you always clean up after yourself.

Could he block book 'his' desk for weeks in advance, and can you get him storage so he can put his things out? It is actually important to the productivity and wellbeing of some people that their workstation feels right, it's not just a disability thing.

I'm just not sure fighting him over this is the way to go. Ultimately his environment is making him unhappy. Telling him to like it isn't going to change his mind, he'll be awkward or quit. Or you could try to accommodate him and have a happy worker doing his best work.

I haven't read the whole thread, just the OP's messages but put him on a performance review and manage him out.

If he is not attending key meetings, not complying with his contract and not interfacing with junior staff, he's not doing his job. Senior managers in the public sector need to act with integrity and accountability when it comes to spending public money on non-performing employees. Your HR is a disgrace.

Or you could try to accommodate him and have a happy worker doing his best work

What about the rest of the team, who have complied with the change? If I were the OP, I'd be a lot more bothered about keeping them happy that one awkward sod

"Get yourself diagnosed" ? As if you can wave a magic wand, get a desired bespoke diagnosis for your WFH needs and voila, all sorted. Not least of all the timescales involved, the fact the NHS doesn't cater for idiots last time I checked, and the fact you'd be lying through your teeth. On what planet are you? Planet delusional, clearly

<shrug> I guess you don't know many people in HR? Putting it politely, they have a miniscule appetite for risk. Or maybe you don't understand sarcasm?

Anyway, I would quite happily lie through my teeth to avoid hot desking. The point is that many people really hate the practice, and it can cause really difficulties for those of us with a spicier neurotype. No idea whether that applies to the OP's colleague, ofc.

And I'm far from an idiot - I just wouldn't dream of imposing an almost universally disliked way of working, that suppresses productivity and individuality, because I value and appreciate my team.

Goodness me! Please tell me you work in the private sector?

What on earth is "family days"? 🤔

lol 'spicier neurotype'

Did hold back from 'is it the autism' as it's such a MN cliche, but just the way the colleague seems to come across, and the particular issue with hot-desking, feels very familiar (I am diagnosed autistic)

I wonder if he's disclosed a fact or suspicion disability-wise to HR that he doesn't feel comfortable sharing with direct line management, hence they've taken the line of 'put something in place for him' rather than 'this is a performance issue'.

People's line managers need to know about their accessibility needs.

That is all.

Hot desking is very stressful. Changing height of desks, chairs, different keyboards, windows, blinds.
If you find this stressful how on earth do you do your job?!

Not sure about anyone else but it means, for me: plug laptop into docking station, retrieve keyboard & mouse from potentially a different office, adjust for the nth fucking time the order of the monitors* (we have 3 plus laptop). Adjust chair. Got to find a chair that hasn't been used by someone whose clothes are covered by dog/cat/guineapig hair. Use half a roll of sellotape pathetically trying to get all the fucking pet hair off the chair, meanwhile use half a box of tissues to wipe streaming eyes/blow runny nose, Adjust the chair to the height i require to work comfortably, with additionall running round to find one of the Rocking Horse Shit Style footrests because i have to have the seat too high 99% of the time because the desks are adjustable but it needs the facilities manager and a toolbox to do it.

It is fucking tedious.

*it is a constant source of bafflement to me that the docking station is to the left of the leftmost monitor, why some absolute fuckers have the monitors ordered 231 or some such nonsense. Come the revolution and all that.

I’ve never come across anyone who actually thinks hot desking is a good way of working but it is an obvious money saving opportunity for the company if you have hybrid workers. If you value him as a member of staff, and want him to stay, I would let him have his own desk. If you don’t, then make him hot desk.

@TirisfalPumpkin I pinched spicy neurotype from another MN'er a few days ago - it's great isn't it?

Agree with you about "the autism" as a MN trope. Sadly.

My DS is profoundly autistic - I'm not diagnosed but I catch DH narrowing his eyes at me sometimes when I colour code the laundry pegs and can only use them in size order

Hotdesking shouldn't even exist!

I'm going to pinch that phrase too.

We have someone like this,

their manager got sick of trying to accommodate them as it was obvious nothing other than 100% WFH would be accepted by them.
so he decided to call their bluff said ok to all of their demands, but also said they needed to be in office 4 days a week, or 5 as per contract, they tried to fight back that everyone else gets to wfh 3 days a week but manger said but you want to do everything by the book and your contract states you can wfh a maximum of 1 day a week only with prior approval.

they now work in the office 4 days a week.

Wow thanks everybody for the useful comments - lots of perspectives I hadn't considered.

One thing it's important to point out, that was brought up earlier, is that I can't mindread so if staff member does have an invisible disability he needs to say. I really can't assume that everyone has one. And if he doesn't want to say or go to OH then how can I possibly consider or guess?

Is he right about the contract aspect ? If he is then surely the contract overrides the new policy ?

I think I’d start disciplinary action. You’ve asked him to turn up somewhere he’s contractually obliged to do so! If he’s a chancer I’d call him on it (after warning HR).

He didnt want to work from the office because he had a 90 minute commute (that he did daily pre-pandemic with no issues).

You say that but as someone who has had a 90 minute (when all trains ran on time... so once in a blue moon) commute, it was more a case of dogged resignation because i did like my job and i CBA to look for a new one (paid off in the end but bloody hell those 6 years were hellish)

At that time (maybe 10 years ago) i repeatedly asked for permission to WFH for 2 or 3 days a week, with the proviso that for important stuff (monthly, quarterly annual closing for eg) i would be in the office as previous (sometimes all night)

Soundly rejected by an organisation based on presenteeism. Surprisingly though the HR director did come up with a lot of reports about how in certain circumstances and for certain roles (mine) it could be effective. Not least in wildly improving employee satisfaction.

I now work for one of the "we do hybrid" organisations, but lots of people had WFH contracts (now it's all hybrid) and we were well on the way to this before covid hit because it is something people in our industry want and appreciate. Now they've brought in hotdesking because we are also a rapidly expanding organisation and although we did have lovely big roomy office buildings, spread all over the country, there simply aren't enough desks for everyone.

Collaborative working has always been via some sort of remote access conferencing and as long as people know how to use it, it's fine. We have team days now and again just so we get the face-to-face experience, and it works very well.

But fuckers who rearrange workspaces in baffling ways are the subject of my ire.

The people whose roles could be done remotely and who are denied the opportunity to do so because of someone else's idea of fairness are also going to be difficult to retain.

This. I don't like hot desking because of other people. Many are disgusting, I don't want to share anything with them thanks.

If he can do his job at home, why are you wanting him or any of the others in the office? Out of curiosity.

If you desperately want him in, then you'll probably need to provide him with a desk of his own and request he comes back in full time, as per his contract.