What is Desk Sharing?
With desk sharing, employees freely choose their workstation in the office. There is no longer a rigid allocation of space, but employees book the desk they need at the moment. Since the pandemic, more and more companies are using desk sharing, e.g. Lufthansa, Siemens or ADAC.
What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Desk Sharing?
Desk sharing is a modern and flexible form of collaboration that is gaining more and more followers. With the help of desk sharing, office work and home office can be efficiently combined. It offers many advantages, but also some pitfalls that you need to be aware of.
Advantages
- Flatter hierarchies: When all employees can use the same workstations, it also creates more "democracy" in the office in their minds.
- Better exchange of information: Teamwork simply works much better when you can also work closely together spatially. With desk sharing, you simply book a group room or desks together in the same office.
- Save space and costs: Companies save office space and costs when a not for each employee a fixed desk is provided. This makes a difference in rent, electricity and heating costs. Cost savings of up to 30% are possible.
- More flexibility: Employees can flexibly book the workstation they need at any given time. The new environment and the exchange with different colleagues promotes creativity and new ways of thinking.
- Employer branding: Flexible working is a core requirement of the younger generations X and Y. Work models that can be easily reconciled with one's own lifestyle are in demand and a real competitive advantage on the labor market.
Disadvantages
- Planning effort: With a desk-sharing system, employees have to plan in advance when they will go to the office and which space they will use. Especially when it's busy or a particularly large number of employees want to come into the office, bottlenecks can occur.
- Stress: Compared to fixed workstations, there is more uncertainty with desk sharing. No one has their own "turf." The sometimes daily search for a new desk can lead to stress and competitiveness, especially if certain spaces are more popular than others.
- Lower feel-good factor: Many employees see their own workplace as a kind of second home. If there are no longer any fixed desks, they are deprived of the opportunity to develop personally and to design their own workplace according to their own preferences.
How does Desk Dharing work best?
The most important thing is to involve your own employees when introducing desk sharing. Only if your own team has the opportunity to participate in the decision and contribute their own ideas and wishes will the new and flexible working model ultimately be successful.
In addition, companies should introduce and heed certain rules when it comes to desk sharing. They help prevent typical problems and make working life as pleasant as possible for employees.
1. Equal rights for all
Equip all workstations equally. This applies to the size of the desks, the storage options and the technical equipment. All workstations should have the same basic equipment. This is the only way to ensure that there are no particularly beloved or unloved places afterwards. The same technology is also important for the quick change of the workplace. “Plug and play” is the motto. That is, employees should be able to plug in their laptop and get started right away. If you have to deal with other hardware first, motivation and productivity will suffer.
2. Height-adjustable tables and chairs
If all employees are to be able to use a workstation, it must also be suitable for all employees. This only works if the desk adapts to one’s own working posture. No one should get back problems just because he or she works at a different desk. Height-adjustable desks also offer the option of working while standing. This is particularly easy on the back and practical for team meetings.
3. Space for privacy
Your employees spend a significant portion of the day in the office at your desk. To make this time as pleasant as possible, they should also have the chance in a flexible office to design their workstation according to their own wishes and needs. Above all, this includes a locker or compartment in which employees can store personal items. This way, each desk can be quickly personalized, for example with a family photo or a table plant.
4. Clean Desk Policy
Leave your workplace as you found it. This is how the “Clean Desk Policy” can be summed up in one sentence. No one wants to clean up their predecessor’s mess first thing in the morning before getting down to work. That’s why employees should take all work materials and personal items back with them after work or store them in a designated place. This will ensure that all workstations remain clean and that no disputes arise.
5. Own headsets
Since the pandemic at the latest, telephone and video conferences have become part of everyday working life. Headsets are therefore an indispensable part of many offices. It is important to pay attention to hygiene, because no one likes to put on a headset that has already been used by a dozen other colleagues. Therefore, all employees should get their own headsets, which they use exclusively.
7. Self-organization
Desk sharing can only work if your employees have the opportunity to coordinate among themselves independently. Group chats are not suitable for this because they are error-prone and inefficient. A better solution is a software solution that allows employees to view and book free workstations online. This way, team members working in the office can easily coordinate with their colleagues in the home office.
How does the teamspace Desk Sharing System help me?
The desk sharing system in the teamspace business software helps your team to organize themselves among each other. It supports you in all important topics related to shared desks:
- Share: Which desks or offices do you want to release for booking via the desk sharing system? What special features do they have (e.g. capacity or technical equipment)?
- Plan: How many seats are available tomorrow? Which workstations are currently available?
- Book: From when to when do I want to reserve the workstation? Do I need it only in the morning/afternoon or all day at a time?
- Coordinate: Where are my team members currently working? Who will come to the office next week? Where can our team meeting take place?
- By the way: With the teamspace Desk Sharing System you can also book parking spaces.
Share Workstations
Define individually which resources you want to release for booking – desks, offices, tech rooms or coworking spaces. You can also let your employees book parking spaces.
Book available Spaces
Via the web interface, your team can see at any time which workstations are currently free and can make a booking for them – for the whole day or just for half of the day. This can be done conveniently from the home office or even on the move.
Create Standard Planning
If offices or parking spaces are occupied in a certain way by default, you can create this directly as standard planning. In this case, employees only need to make changes if the planning changes.
Coordinate in the Team
In the employee overview, you can see who is currently working where and what planning your colleagues have made for the next few days. This makes it easier to plan and organize team events and meetings.
Start now with the teamspace Desk Sharing System
Do you already use desk sharing in your company or are you planning to introduce it? We would be happy to help you set up a suitable desk sharing system for your company. Simply book a free demo appointment with our consulting team.