The Cost-Cutting Trend That Could Be Costing You More

‘Hot desking’ (having no fixed desks in a workplace) is perceived by some businesses as a smart way to save money. Fewer desks and less equipment mean lower overheads – so on paper, it makes sense!

But in practice, hot desking can be fraught with challenges that employers may never have considered.

While hot desking is not something that directly impacts me as a self-employed professional, I hear all about it from my husband who now goes into the office a couple of days a week. He shares a desk with two other colleagues, and the issues he experiences highlight the potential downsides.

A Home Desk of One’s Own

The reality is that while hot desking might seem an innovative solution for businesses looking to maximise their real estate and improve employee connections, it goes against that natural human instinct to claim our personal space.

Research has found over half of Australian employees working in hot desking environments feel anxious about finding a desk each day, with many spending up to 30 minutes just setting themselves up!

In other words, that supposed efficiency? It could actually reduce employee productivity and morale.

An Employer’s Duty of Care

As Brisbane-based management and HR consultant Madeline Quirk explains, “While there is currently no specific mandate around hot desking itself, employers must comply with broader WH&S laws – and that extends to providing ergonomic workstations, proper hygiene, and inclusivity in shared spaces.”

“At the end of the day, employers have a duty of care to identify potential risks in the workplace and put measures in place to prevent harm – whether that’s physical strain, exposure to poor hygiene, or psychosocial hazards,” says Madeline.

However there are other important factors to consider, such as:

• Ergonomics – Every time my husband goes into the office, he needs to adjust the chair, screen, and equipment to suit his body. This all wastes time and can become frustrating, even increasing the risk of strain or injury.
• Hygiene – Officially, workers are meant to sanitise their desks at the end of the day, leaving a bottle of hand sanitiser on the desk as proof. In reality, this isn’t always followed consistently! Worse still, it’s not uncommon to find a stray soiled coffee cup or food scraps left behind. Hardly the professional or healthy environment employers would want to promote!
• Booking Systems – For hot desking to function effectively, a booking system is often needed. But many organisations struggle to implement this – whether it’s teething problems with the software or staff simply ignoring the process.
• Psychological Comfort & Security – Perhaps the most concerning issue is the impact on employee wellbeing. People like to feel they belong, but hot desking removes that sense of ownership over personal space. For neuro-divergent employees in particular, this could feel unsettling and exclusionary.

Hot desking might appear to be a clever way to cut costs, but as we’ve seen, the reality is far more complex. What’s saved in office space and furniture could easily be lost through lower productivity, reduced morale, health and safety risks, and even compliance issues.

Weighing it all up

At its core, work is not just about efficiency—it’s also about people feeling safe, supported, and valued. Employers weighing up hot desking should carefully consider whether the financial savings are worth the potential human and organisational costs.