In order to operate as efficiently as possible and maximise their profit margins, companies need to ensure they make the best use of their office space.
This is particularly important for businesses based in London and other major cities, where firms are required to pay more per square foot of office space than in other locations.
Every extra room they rent out to accommodate their staff can have a significant impact on the bottom line.
As such, the more companies can do with the space they have available to them, the less they need to spend on additional capacity.
And this helps keep expenditure under control, giving companies a better chance of keeping the bottom line healthy.
One of the ways companies can maximise the use of floor space is by asking employees to share desks and other facilities, rather than having one to themselves.
By using hot desking – where workers share workstations and potentially PCs – businesses can employ more people than they can accommodate on any one particular day.
So long as there is someone away from work on annual leave or out of the office, there will be enough desks and computers to go around.
If, on a certain day, managers are expecting a 100 per cent attendance, capacity problems can be avoided by asking some individuals to work from home.
In many cases, employees may feel they can work more effectively and productively in their own environment, and actively wish to do so.
So both parties may be able to benefit from this arrangement.
Where a company is using hot desking, it is in the employer’s interests to allow employees to work remotely should they choose – they cannot have everyone in at the same time.
And with fewer workers coming into the office, employers can resort to the use of smaller offices with reduced rental costs and other overheads.
This helps ensure that businesses remain as lean as possible, with costs kept to a minimum.
