Does hot desking really work in a call centre?
Do you use it in your call centre?
It strikes me that hot desking soon turns in to permanent desking. People come in every day and always sit in the same space. And before too long you start to find that they add in all of their personal effects like calendar, magazines, photos, mugs and other general items.
Does it also make managing a team more difficult?
It also could cause problems if agents are allowed to eat and drink at their desks.
www.callcentrehelper.com/can-your-agents-eat-and-drink-at-their-desks-1588.htm
Is it really worth all of that effort, just to save a few desks?
What is your opinion? Please add your thoughts in an email to Call Centre Helper
Author: Jo Robinson
Published On: 4th Feb 2009 - Last modified: 11th Sep 2019
Read more about - Archived Content
8 Comments
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The problem with hot desking is that staff leave their mess when they leave the desk and unless it is monitored closely, you do not know who is responsible and so cannot make people accountable. Also, it makes staff feel like a ‘number’ – as they cannot claim ownership for their own space snall in the office. In my opinion it has not worked in our office.
A.Allen
5 Feb at 12:04
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I like to have my own space and gain confidence from it.
BCH
5 Feb at 12:15
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We hotdesk in our office. Each team member has their own 3 drawer pedestal for their personal belongings to ensure desks are tidy at the end of a shift.
In our experience hotdesking is a good way of getting the team working together with every one. We work on an every changing shift pattern which means you can’t always sit at the same desk anyway. It’s good and means you’re often sat next to someone different and is particularly good for newer starters to help them integrate into the team.
In addition to hot desking, wer encourage infection control. At the end of each shift the team are encouraged to wipe their desks and phone sets with anti bacterial cleanser that we have readily available in the office. I have no statistics to prove that the infection control part works but it certainly helps with keeping the desks tidy and clean.
You do however, have the odd mug left on a desk. Name and shame ’em I say!
Jon Warr
5 Feb at 15:18
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Agents prefer having their own space, where they can call ‘home’. As mentioned ‘before too long you start to find that they add in all of their personal effects’ and a hot desk becomes a permanent desk.
From a management perspective, if you are looking after ten agents and they are sat in different desks within a call centre, it can be more difficult to create a ‘team environment’ where everyone is working towards a common goal.
In a call centre I have managed before, every agent had their own desk within their team, with their team leader sat in with them. Every six to eight weeks we would move the advisors around so they would sit next to a new team member.
Neil Wilkins
9 Feb at 17:37
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As long as the agent keeps his/her desk and surrounds clean and non-offensive, there shouldn’t be any issue regarding Hot Desking.
There are issues of Hot Desking, if there are limited seats available in a Call Center and others have to share the space in shiftings.
So all-in-all it depends on the agents to coupe with it, i would prefer the management not going for micro-management and keep their focus on key issues.
Thanks & Best Regards.
Sameer Junaid
24 Feb at 08:25
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Anonymous
30 Sep at 09:31
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The reason for hot desking in call centres is not to save desks as you article suggests.
It is to stop members of staff building solid relationships with colleagues who they sit next to. Combine being moved desks all the time with, variated breaks and staggered shift starts it becomes very difficult for staff to get to know one another and in particular to pass information around.
Making it particularly difficult to organise into a trade union.
If you don’t believe me check out some management hand books or websites where these are promoted as a way of stopping workers organising.
Kerry
15 Sep at 13:41
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No, I don’t think that hot desking is effective in a call center, or much of anywhere else, unless your goal is to drive off employees as quick as possible.
I work in a 24-hour call center (but not currently on the phones). One thing I have noticed is that despite the fact that we are 24-hour the vast majority of our employees work all or most of their shift during “normal business hours”, ie weekdays 8-5pm, so any real desk-sharing is impractical. There may be a call center that really does have a equal fraction of its staff working each of two or three non-overlapping shifts, but I honestly can’t imagine many situations like that.
I also have a problem with not getting paid for the time your a playing the “find-a-desk” game. Finding a working station, powering up and logging into a station can easily take 15 minutes, minimum, and my employer resists you clocking in until you are ready to take calls. A little math: 15 minutes * 5 days a week * 50 weeks = non-trivial wage theft.
If management has not arranged to have enough working stations to accommodate all their employees it’s either harassment or gross incompetence and in either event the responsible manager should be put on warning that they will be fired if it happens again.
callcenterpeon
28 Sep at 17:46
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The problem with hot desking is that staff leave their mess when they leave the desk and unless it is monitored closely, you do not know who is responsible and so cannot make people accountable. Also, it makes staff feel like a ‘number’ – as they cannot claim ownership for their own space snall in the office. In my opinion it has not worked in our office.
I like to have my own space and gain confidence from it.
We hotdesk in our office. Each team member has their own 3 drawer pedestal for their personal belongings to ensure desks are tidy at the end of a shift.
In our experience hotdesking is a good way of getting the team working together with every one. We work on an every changing shift pattern which means you can’t always sit at the same desk anyway. It’s good and means you’re often sat next to someone different and is particularly good for newer starters to help them integrate into the team.
In addition to hot desking, wer encourage infection control. At the end of each shift the team are encouraged to wipe their desks and phone sets with anti bacterial cleanser that we have readily available in the office. I have no statistics to prove that the infection control part works but it certainly helps with keeping the desks tidy and clean.
You do however, have the odd mug left on a desk. Name and shame ’em I say!
Agents prefer having their own space, where they can call ‘home’. As mentioned ‘before too long you start to find that they add in all of their personal effects’ and a hot desk becomes a permanent desk.
From a management perspective, if you are looking after ten agents and they are sat in different desks within a call centre, it can be more difficult to create a ‘team environment’ where everyone is working towards a common goal.
In a call centre I have managed before, every agent had their own desk within their team, with their team leader sat in with them. Every six to eight weeks we would move the advisors around so they would sit next to a new team member.
As long as the agent keeps his/her desk and surrounds clean and non-offensive, there shouldn’t be any issue regarding Hot Desking.
There are issues of Hot Desking, if there are limited seats available in a Call Center and others have to share the space in shiftings.
So all-in-all it depends on the agents to coupe with it, i would prefer the management not going for micro-management and keep their focus on key issues.
Thanks & Best Regards.
how much a week is it ?
The reason for hot desking in call centres is not to save desks as you article suggests.
It is to stop members of staff building solid relationships with colleagues who they sit next to. Combine being moved desks all the time with, variated breaks and staggered shift starts it becomes very difficult for staff to get to know one another and in particular to pass information around.
Making it particularly difficult to organise into a trade union.
If you don’t believe me check out some management hand books or websites where these are promoted as a way of stopping workers organising.
No, I don’t think that hot desking is effective in a call center, or much of anywhere else, unless your goal is to drive off employees as quick as possible.
I work in a 24-hour call center (but not currently on the phones). One thing I have noticed is that despite the fact that we are 24-hour the vast majority of our employees work all or most of their shift during “normal business hours”, ie weekdays 8-5pm, so any real desk-sharing is impractical. There may be a call center that really does have a equal fraction of its staff working each of two or three non-overlapping shifts, but I honestly can’t imagine many situations like that.
I also have a problem with not getting paid for the time your a playing the “find-a-desk” game. Finding a working station, powering up and logging into a station can easily take 15 minutes, minimum, and my employer resists you clocking in until you are ready to take calls. A little math: 15 minutes * 5 days a week * 50 weeks = non-trivial wage theft.
If management has not arranged to have enough working stations to accommodate all their employees it’s either harassment or gross incompetence and in either event the responsible manager should be put on warning that they will be fired if it happens again.