Hotdesking here to stay in post-Covid office revolution

Part of the reason companies are likely to embrace hot-desking is simply because they can. The rise of working from home has forced staff to get to grips with software such as virtual desktops, video calling and chat apps. Desk phones and business cards have started to seem like anachronisms.

With many employees still likely to be working from home even after the pandemic, teams are less likely to all be in one physical location. Those who are in the office may even be encouraged to sit apart, so that those at home do not feel left out of conversations. “If one person is remote, everybody should be remote,” says Lister.

Anita Kamouri, Iometrics’ co-founder, says there are still costs involved. Workers would have to get used to storing personal items in lockers or rolling file cabinets, as well as embracing more online software. Cleaning expenses would rise. Cumulative hours could be wasted finding desks and attempting to get equipment to work.

All this might generate a groundswell of resistance. More than two thirds of workers would like to see less hot-desking as they return to the office, according to recent research from the design and architecture firm Gensler. Significantly, those who had worked with hot-desking before coronavirus were more likely to be sceptical of it than those who had not, suggesting opinion could decline further the more people experience it.

However, Kamouri says it may be a trade-off worth making. A majority of workers say they would give up a fixed desk if they were allowed to work from home some of the time, according to Iometrics’ survey.

Employers may well embrace that option. Property is often a company’s second-highest cost after salaries, and the economic consequences of the virus are likely to be felt long after it is safe to go back into the office. Few executives are likely to view banks of empty desks without wondering if costs can be cut. The death of hot-desking may have been exaggerated – just don’t call it that.