The term hot desking has been thrown around quite a bit in facilities management and companies in general; but what is hot desking, how do companies companies utilize it, and why has it become such a commonality?

Hot desking refers to one desk, or several desks, that are not assigned to a specific worker but are used by several different people, usually on a shift rotation. There may be several different people people at one desk.

It happens usually due to a need that the company requires 24 hour service for a specific area or location. Who is at the hot desk depends on their own personal working hours, so one could never say exactly that a certain specific person would be there as the needs of the company change depending on circumstances.

A help desk is a great example of a hot desk. In a hotel for example, one may have several different people operating the help desk, never always knowing who that person running the desk would be.

In facilities management where 24 hour service is required, there may be a rotating regular staff who work specific hours to serve the people who need assistance in a building. Those employees would take use of an ERP system based on what they require for the hot desks; service, maintenance, or security purposes.

Hot desking is an effective way for companies to get the maximum amount of work done at the minimum cost. Those assigned to a hot desk are in no way controlling what is occurring, instead it is the ERP systems in place which those at the hot desk simply maintain and keep at bay. This is beneficial to companies who do not want high overheads in employee costs. The hot desk can be easily transferred from one employee to another which is why companies find the use of a hot desk so attractive.