Modern Management

More Companies Ditch Hot Desking For Giving Workers Their Own Space

As employees push back against sharing desks — including the ‘ick factor’ — some firms are relenting.

Giving employees their own desk can encourage them to show up, and more companies are now realizing that.

Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg
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To get workers back to the office, bosses have dangled fancy coffee, yoga classes and DJ parties. But that still hasn’t been enough, so some firms are giving employees a more traditional perk: a desk of their own.

Hot desking or hoteling, where workers get a desk when they show up instead of having a permanent one, isn’t new but really took off during the pandemic as a way for companies to save money amid a new era of hybrid work.