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?

Also public sector. We have a similar Hybrid working offer, similarly useless HR dept and similar people who present problems like this guy. It's getting quite boring!

Our HR have just very recently started saying it's going to be a performance issue if people don't/won't come in. It remains to be seen if this will be followed through or be effective as a deterrent at all - I suspect not.

It's all very well saying that if they're performing then why not just let them wfh but that's not the point. You're being paid to do a job, you're being asked to do something perfectly reasonable that is better than what you had before enforced wfh. If he's declining meetings just because they are in the office he is not performing is he. When you have people coming up with crap like this guy it makes it much harder for people who genuinely need accommodations.

Incidentally I've so far found there to be a fairly reliable correlation between the excuse making office refusers and performance issues.

Like a PP, I can wfh very effectively as a senior exec constantly being interrupted in the office (!), but I have serious reservations about adequacy of remote training and supervision, as well as the quality of remote collaborative work. I've also noticed a correlation between the people who do as little as possible in the office and the people who insist they can wfh "just as effectively" (i.e. not very!) Their current beef is the cost of petrol to commute (no public transport in the area), but that's going to be insignificant compared to the cost of heating homes this Winter. :( I'll happily come in for the free warmth!

I don't blame him. I hate hot desking and had a DSE and OH assessment and specific desk set up to force a fixed desk scenario. 9 out of 11 us did this, so work were forced to give us 11 desks in the end.

But for me, hot desking was the issue, not wanting perament WFH (which o wouldn't like) and it predated the Pandemic.

How desking is awful and increases risk of infection - not just covid.

I have worked in a number of places where hotdesking has been the policy, albeit warm desking in reality as people naturally gravitate towards a certain area if not specific seat.

We have a number of fixed desks for colleagues with reasonable adjustments in place and others who have specialist equipment stored for days when they are in the office. But all desks operate a clear desk policy - even if it's fixed, you must leave it empty at the end of the day.

I'm concerned that this is a senior member of staff showing such unwillingness to show up. We have a mandate for heads of and above to be in and visible.

Also for those saying hotdesking is a hotbed for infections, do you not have cleaners every evening? No wipes around the office to give you the option to do it yourself for peace of mind at the start of the day or later on if you're moving desk? Are you the same about meeting rooms if someone else has been in there before you?

Slightly baffled by all the 'it's unhygienic' posts. It's a desk with a monitor, dock, keyboard and mouse on it. They are left clear every day and cleaned by cleaners.

What do you think you will catch from a desk?

What do you do when you go to the opticians and have to put your chin on a variety of different machines to take diagnostics, or have the glasses that have been used by a million people put on your face?Or when you go to the dentist? Or the doctors and lay on the bed with paper that immediately folds up so should touching the bed? When you go to the supermarket and pick up a can of tomatoes that's been cargo shipped across the world, handled by dozens of people, put on a shelf and then touched by dozens of random shoppers?

Our offices all have stashes of antibac wipes you can use to wipe down the desks and equipment if you want to before use. There is no hygiene issue.

It's a desk with a monitor, dock, keyboard and mouse on it.
Not a hygiene issue, but in our case we don’t have laptops. We had to log onto company PCs, and it was the problems of PCs not recognising you, the server not recognising you, the IT programs we needed not available to us, and losing work which caused problems.

My feeling is stop pandering to the PrimaDonna and just focus on his job duties & actual performance. Simple "How will you get that done?" every time and his problem if he can't handle the hot desks or find a way to do his job duties.

@FatAgainItsLettuceTime our cleaners don’t wipe every desk and they’re done by 6pm when most people are still working. My colleague left dandruff all over my desk this morning and tbh if he’d seen me with the Dettol spray and wipes, retching, he’d probably have complained to HR.

People prefer their own space non-shocker. Particularly when they spend c. 8 hours every day in it.

People worried about sharing a desk with a coworker, how do you cope with public transport, public loos, restaurants etc.?

Irrespective of not being likely to 'catch something nasty' I still like the idea of having the desks and computer peripherals (keyboards/mice) sanitised once a day. I normally do it myself just in case with a wet wipe which is adequate.

When I think back to pre-COVID times, the thought of plonking myself at a desk where a gazzion other people have sat before and used the computer and probably picked their nose or not bothered ro wash their hands after the toilet I feel a bit

People worried about sharing a desk with a coworker, how do you cope with public transport, public loos, restaurants etc

Teaspoons that’ve been used to eat yoghurt and half-eaten chocolate bars in the desk drawer, keyboards full of debris, coffee stains on the chair, sticky surfaces and not being able to get legs under desk because of the cardboard boxes shoved under it, are all things I have encountered when desk sharing.

Slightly baffled by all the 'it's unhygienic' posts. It's a desk with a monitor, dock, keyboard and mouse on it. They are left clear every day and cleaned by cleaners.
What do you think you will catch from a desk?

Exactly. Nothing a £1 pack of wipes wouldn't sort. I bet half the people complaining of the hygiene issue fill their vehicles with petrol and push a trolley around a supermarket without donning gloves or wiping everything first. I'm also pretty darn sure they're not wearing masks any more either...

There are lots of reasons to prefer not to hot desk but hygiene, really?

Teaspoons that’ve been used to eat yoghurt and half-eaten chocolate bars in the desk drawer, keyboards full of debris, coffee stains on the chair, sticky surfaces and not being able to get legs under desk because of the cardboard boxes shoved under it, are all things I have encountered when desk sharing.

Fair play, I mean that's grim.

You only have to look inside some people’s cars to understand that we can all tolerate different levels of mess.

It's not just sharing a desk, it's all the people coughing all over the place, using the bathroom and not washing their hands etc.

I don't use public transport ever as it's completely useless up here. Don't use public looks either, again, people are disgusting and leave pee all over them, if you are lucky..

Restaurants tend to be safer as they clean the tables between people and the dishes etc. And I assume they are following hygiene rules, hopefully. People don't do that in offices.

Also for those saying hotdesking is a hotbed for infections, do you not have cleaners every evening? No wipes around the office to give you the option to do it yourself for peace of mind at the start of the day or later on if you're moving desk?

No we don't have cleaners or wipes (unless we bring them ourselves).

Meeting rooms are different due to amount of time spent in them and level of contact.

Haha. My car's an absolute state. But my house is immaculate!

And this...

We have a clean desk policy and for the most part it's been ok.
Having said that i use my own keyboard and mouse that i put in a cupboard after use.

You're ok touching these things as long as you're not then putting your fingers in your mouth, touching your face or rubbing your eyes before you wash your hands.

I work in an office where we hot desk and there is none of that. You get your desk for the day, teams have areas assigned and all desks are completely clear (other than a monitor) and cleaned everyday.

In a messy office I can see why it would be horrible to move around desks but I now don’t think I could go back to assigned desk and having to sit amongst other people’s clutter.

"Teaspoons that’ve been used to eat yoghurt and half-eaten chocolate bars in the desk drawer, keyboards full of debris, coffee stains on the chair, sticky surfaces and not being able to get legs under desk because of the cardboard boxes shoved under it, are all things I have encountered when desk sharing."

In. A hot seating environment with bookable desks none of this should happen, all desks completely clear and personal belonging packed away in locker/storage cupboard at the end of the day.

If anyone doesn't then it's easy to know who was sat there as they booked and it's a conduct issue. 1st time it's a chat to restate the rules, 2nd time it's a formal meeting with a verbal warning, 3rd time it's a formal written warning and so on.

Even with assigned desks they should be clear at the end of the day and clean, anything else is unprofessional, it's a workplace not your home, be as slovenly as you want at home.

Hot desking is not 'very stressful' ffs. Jesus, have people lost all fucking perspective??
It is a minor inconvenience for some people, at worst.

One thing your employer will need to consider is that if he wants to work from home full time his contract will need to be changed. The employer will then become liable for providing broadband and his home work set up such as desk and chair. The employer also becomes liable for travel expenses into the office. It also has tax implications.

Unless he declares a disability that requires reasonable adjustments, he comes in. If not, then issue an official warning.

Hot desking is not 'very stressful' ffs. Jesus, have people lost all fucking perspective??
It is a minor inconvenience for some people, at worst.

It takes at least 20 minutes out of my day if i have to reset the monitors, and go to where my files/keyboard/mouse is stored and put them where I'm working. Not to mention setting up the chair. And that is all on my employer's time, not mine. That's an hour a week if i go in 3 days.

It is longer if the fucker who used the desk before me didn't take their cups and put them in the dishwasher.

So yes, it is a "minor inconvenience" but it is nevertheless an inconvenience that needs to be considered properly before just saying "ok, no fixed desks from Monday"

Also, we dont have a booking system and often used to turn up to office to find no free desks, I'd then have to either drive home again or drive to another office to see if they had a desk free. Or you'd get a desk in the morning, go in to a meeting and come out to fine someone using the desk I'd been at, and no others available. It was genuinely quite stressful and we ended up working extra hours just to get work done because of the lost time waiting or finding a desk.

Again, this is all additional labour falling on employees, for the benefit of the employer. The reporting, monitoring and enforcement processes you discuss here all take time. It's not hard to see why some people might not be happy about it, especially if they're people whose roles could be done remotely but are nonetheless being expected to spend several days a week in the office without the benefit of an assigned workstation.