Research shows that as much as half of corporate office spaces don’t get used at any point in time. That is a lot of wasted space that you must pay for whether it’s used or not. Fortunately, there are solutions available.

With technology becoming more and more portable and many employees moving to remote working arrangements, that number is only going to go up.

A hot desking system lets you make more efficient use of your office space and save money in the process. Let’s look at how hot desking works and why you should consider it.

What is hot desking?

With a hot desking system in place, employees are not assigned to their own desks. Instead, desks in the office are available for anyone to use and workers can choose their desks on any given day. The term “hot desking” comes from the term hot racking in which sailors working different shifts share the same bunk. Instead of sharing a bunk, office workers share a desk.

Does reserving a room feel like a breeze or more like navigating a labyrinth? Are the available rooms clearly displayed to all users? Can even the least tech-savvy staff member use the system? If the answer to many of these questions is a resounding “yes”, then that meeting room booking option is worth looking into further.

Benefits of a hot desking system

There are several big benefits to a hot desking system, both to the employer and to the employee. reservations manually, you’ve truly got your job cut out for you. Unfortunately, the deluge of requests might mean that you can’t update venue statuses in real-time — a problem that could lead to double-booking. However, when a centralized meeting room management system is used, all reservations are recorded instantaneously in a central database. This means that everyone — whether they’re using a PC, tablet, or smartphone — will see which venues are available in real-time and which are not. By removing potential human errors through transparent information sharing, double-booked room conflicts will be a thing of the past.

Flexibility

In an era where literally everyone owns a smartphone, you may be thinking that people will easily warm up to a digital meeting room booker. The truth of the matter, however, is that there will always be workers who may find such solutions intimidating. Fortunately, the best technology options can easily integrate with legacy systems, making the transition and implementation less painful. For example, if a person prefers using Outlook to send meeting invitations, they can use that platform to book the meeting room venue as well. This level of flexibility greatly enhances user adoption and system usage.

Wayfinding

Bigger companies often have sprawling workplaces, sometimes even spanning multiple floors in the same building. Since there are meeting rooms scattered throughout the premises, finding the right one can be a little challenging. This is especially true for new hires or visitors to your company. The solution? Pick a meeting room management system that shows where the meeting venue is actually physically located through a visual map of the office.

Users can access this map through their smartphone app, or they can refer to a large TV display in the lobby that shows their booked room. Having a robust wayfinding feature ensures that meetings always start on time, in the right place, and with the right people.

Automated communication

There’s nothing worse than inviting a colleague to a meeting only to have them not show up. In many cases, this is because they weren’t looped in properly about the meeting or venue. The good news is that a meeting room manager will automatically notify a person if they’ve been added as an attendee. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as through email or through an in-app notification (if they have the room booking app on their phone). By making sure that people are aware that their attendance is needed, they are less likely to not miss crucial meetings.