Hotdesking

[Jodie Bass]

hi guys! New to the group so thanks for having me, reaching out as a small local business who have been really affected by the pandemic, we are a group of creatives who are offering our studio space to anyone who wants to work outside of the home in our incredibly beautiful space.

We have strict socially distancing measures in place with a one way system, hygiene stations and maximum capacity in certain areas clearly signed.

Here is our space have a look, we'd love to connect with local businesses and creatives during this time, no better time then to support each other's independant local businesses.

I'm on [email protected] or dm me ☺️

https://www.gumtree.com/.../join-our-creative.../1385302833

[johnie]

The Gumtree link seems broken

[ed_pete]

Sorry to be a spoilt-sport but current UK Gov guidelines for office working are to try and avoid hot-desking completely but where it cannot be avoided, desks should be thoroughly sanitised between occupants.

[ianr]

Here's a working Gumtree link. There seem to be quite a few. It includes a link to their website as well. https://www.gumtree.com/p/commercial-property-to-rent/flexible-hotdesks-fixed-spaces-modern-office-social-distanced-norwood-se21-/1385166037

[malumbu]

Isn't this an advert?

[binkylilyput]

Great news and much needed! The assumption that people can do their job from home raises huge social class issues as far as I'm concerned.

Huge assumptions that everyone has a spare room, somewhere quiet, good wifi etc.

Deluded world!

Anyways, these facilities are very, very welcome!

[JohnL]

binkylilyput Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Great news and much needed! The assumption that

> people can do their job from home raises huge

> social class issues as far as I'm concerned.

>

> Huge assumptions that everyone has a spare room,

> somewhere quiet, good wifi etc.

>

> Deluded world!

>

> Anyways, these facilities are very, very welcome!

Companies can and will help you with wifi, desks, chairs and advice but not with space unfortunately :(. After this is over I see the expansion of shared local office space - we won't be working with our colleagues but we will have space, of course company should pay and you should negotiate for it at any job interview that is work from home - when they offer you the job is when you're at your most powerful.

Mind communication software has ways of faking backgrounds (choose a standard one or use a photo) and don't forget to mute when you don't speak. You don't need a bookcase behind you.

[Robbie]

binkylilyput Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Great news and much needed! The assumption that

> people can do their job from home raises huge

> social class issues as far as I'm concerned.

>

> Huge assumptions that everyone has a spare room,

> somewhere quiet, good wifi etc.

>

> Deluded world!

>

> Anyways, these facilities are very, very welcome!

Why would people working from home choose to go to a shared office space rather than their normal office, where they can socialise with their work colleagues?

I don't get it

[binkylilyput]

Because many employers have closed offices and aren?t allowing workers in

Robbie Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> binkylilyput Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Great news and much needed! The assumption that

> > people can do their job from home raises huge

> > social class issues as far as I'm concerned.

> >

> > Huge assumptions that everyone has a spare

> room,

> > somewhere quiet, good wifi etc.

> >

> > Deluded world!

> >

> > Anyways, these facilities are very, very

> welcome!

>

>

> Why would people working from home choose to go to

> a shared office space rather than their normal

> office, where they can socialise with their work

> colleagues?

>

> I don't get it

[JohnL]

Robbie Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> binkylilyput Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Great news and much needed! The assumption that

> > people can do their job from home raises huge

> > social class issues as far as I'm concerned.

> >

> > Huge assumptions that everyone has a spare

> room,

> > somewhere quiet, good wifi etc.

> >

> > Deluded world!

> >

> > Anyways, these facilities are very, very

> welcome!

>

>

> Why would people working from home choose to go to

> a shared office space rather than their normal

> office, where they can socialise with their work

> colleagues?

>

> I don't get it

To save on rent companies are closing offices - it's what IT has been working on as we move to the cloud - you don't need office or call center software onsite - it's available from anywhere.

Companies say they prefer to close offices than make redundancies - and at least when they come to redundancies they can say they made every other effort before they did. Rents in London are very high too - obviously places like the Czech Republic are attactive for things that remain office based.

[binkylilyput]

Nice ideas and I wish it were the case! Employers are not paying for heating and WiFi etc.

Fake backgrounds etc are great but doesn?t solve the space problem if you live in a small, cramped home. Family members are being forced to stay in the bedroom for a lot of the day. Confidential meetings and discussion can be overheard etc.

Think about all the thousands of low paid workers for the nhs for example.

Working from home is costly and miserable for workers and their co-habitors unless lucky enough to have space, an office, a spare room etc.

These kinds of facilities advertised by the OP will be a welcome relief for some

JohnL Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> binkylilyput Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Great news and much needed! The assumption that

> > people can do their job from home raises huge

> > social class issues as far as I'm concerned.

> >

> > Huge assumptions that everyone has a spare

> room,

> > somewhere quiet, good wifi etc.

> >

> > Deluded world!

> >

> > Anyways, these facilities are very, very

> welcome!

>

>

> Companies can and will help you with wifi, desks,

> chairs and advice but not with space unfortunately

> :(. After this is over I see the expansion of

> shared local office space - we won't be working

> with our colleagues but we will have space, of

> course company should pay and you should negotiate

> for it at any job interview that is work from home

> - when they offer you the job is when you're at

> your most powerful.

>

>

> Mind communication software has ways of faking

> backgrounds (choose a standard one or use a photo)

> and don't forget to mute when you don't speak.

> You don't need a bookcase behind you.

[JohnL]

binkylilyput Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Nice ideas and I wish it were the case! Employers

> are not paying for heating and WiFi etc.

> #

Mine is - a salary increase but also allowed to claim expenses for one offs - surely all responsible employers are doing this.

I haven't claimed for chair/desk yet but I can if I submit an expenses form - by the way I'm just a bog standard engineer not management.

> These kinds of facilities advertised by the OP will be a welcome relief for some

I agree and could see me doing it one day a week or so for the company if nothing else.

[Robbie]

ed_pete Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Sorry to be a spoilt-sport but current UK Gov

> guidelines for office working are to try and avoid

> hot-desking completely but where it cannot be

> avoided, desks should be thoroughly sanitised

> between occupants.

Whilst the intentions are good, if the guidelines are to try and avoid it completely, then encouraging it as the OP does would be in extremely bad taste.

[JohnL]

Robbie Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Whilst the intentions are good, if the guidelines

> are to try and avoid it completely, then

> encouraging it as the OP does would be in

> extremely bad taste.

Maybe but I see it as a post covid option (maybe the advert shouldn't imply otherwise). Our work practices are changing forever imho just like they did after the plague of Justinian or the black death - this was happening anyway but it's been accelerated.

[JohnL]

and yes there is an argument that as employers knew working practices were going to change over the next 5 years they used Covid-19 as an excuse to implement changes they had planned anyway.

[malumbu]

I've seen almost everything. From cellular offices fitting one to double figures, to smoking and non-smoking offices, to open plan, to reduced space and desk allocation, to hot desking and break out areas, to office hubs around the M25, to many people working from their bedrooms including on their bed on laptops. Awful working environment.

In the late 80s I read an article in the Times that London property prices, rents and population would collapse as we all moved to 'teleworking'. Wonder how much this would be the case.

But the thing that really got to me was office space reducing in central London as we were persuaded that it would be good to lose your desk if you left for a meeting, and even better if you worked from home, on the tube, from a park bench, Costa, wherever. Offices set up for 80% occupancy, falling to 50%, with a scrum for desks early on a Monday and even worse on a Tuesday, meaning those who arrived a little later roaming around looking for places to work, to half empty offices on a Friday as this was the preferred WFH day.

And now all up in smoke as you can't socially distance in a cramped office where you are an elbow away from your colleague.

Personally I need the contact and social element. A day a week at home is enough. A Graudian article reckoned that the young found this harder, due to the need to socialise, but I find it just as difficult due to the the need to have that buzz and creativity - that just doesn't work on Teams or Zoom. The article also mentioned the unconscious learning from picking up what colleagues were up to.

[JohnL]

Teams are now international in many companies - you don't see people in your team as they're based all over the world.

I have heard recently some have said a team that actually works together in the same office is a good thing and some are trying to revive that atmosphere and buzz but why would a company do that in London with higher office costs unless they want the prestige of being in London. ?

That's is why London and the UK need to differentiate themselves as being something special - but at the moment that isn't happening for a few reasons.

[Studio Manager]

Hey Guys,

The main difference in what we're offering is that we have a very large space and are not renting out every desk space, not many places are as easy to enforce one way systems like we are.

In addition to that we are only encouraging people in the locality to walk to us - saving on the dangers of public transport every morning. We also feel we're addressing the longer term mental health concerns of people who as some one mentioned in the comments above - do not have the space that others do to wfh in a productive environment. It seemed kinof responsible to us - 3 people rattling around in an extremely large space knowing that very many people in the residential area around us may not be able to return to the office for another 6 months and might not feel they can wfh very well. I guess as we are charging it could be seen as an advert but we are essentially a small business who have had our entire revenue wiped out by covid and have something valuable that we feel we can offer to the locality. 🙃[email protected]