How to Survive Hot Desking“辦公桌輪用制”生存指南

珍妮·薩哈迪/文　李亞姿/譯

If you work best having a routine in a predictable environment next to people you know， you may soon find going to the office unsettling.

在一成不變的環境中，坐在認識的同事旁邊，按部就班地工作——如果你在這樣的場景下工作狀態最好，那么你很快就會發現去辦公室工作令你不安。

Thats because many employers are starting to use so-called “hot desking”—also known as “hoteling，” “dynamic seating” or “agile seating.” Translation： Employees have to reserve a desk or team room every time they come to work on site.

這是因為很多企業漸漸開始采用“辦公桌輪用制”，又稱“旅館式辦公制”“動態工位制”，或者“靈活工位制”。也就是說，員工每次來辦公室工作前，必須預定工位或者小組會議室。

If the system is poorly set up， employees may be left feeling untethered， like theyre trying to snag1 a seat in a crowded waiting room， potentially next to some stranger with irksome habits. And they will spend real time not getting work done but instead inefficiently wandering around looking for colleagues who used to be within earshot2.

如果這個制度沒有落實好，或許會讓員工覺得沒著沒落，就像他們要努力地在擁擠的等候室里搶個座位，而鄰座很可能是一個舉止惹人厭的陌生人。這樣一來，他們不會實實在在地花時間完成工作，反而毫無效率地四處尋找曾經近在咫尺的同事。

But it doesnt have to be that way.

其實不一定非要如此。

What is happening now

目前的情況

Hot desking is not new. Pre-pandemic， a lot of management consulting firms used it for employees who spent the majority of their time at client sites but only some days working in the home office during any given month.

辦公桌輪用制并不是新概念。疫情前，很多管理咨詢公司就采用了這種制度，實施對象是大部分時間在客戶公司、每月僅有幾天需要在自己公司辦公的員工。

But post-pandemic， the strategy is taking hold in a wide swath of industries as employers try to adapt to a hybrid work model and reduce their real estate footprint.

疫情后，辦公桌輪用制漸漸在各行各業廣泛應用，因為很多企業試行混合辦公模式，試圖縮減實體辦公空間。

The primary goal for many employers is less to cut costs （although that is certainly a priority for some） than it is to repurpose the office to better reflect how people work now.

很多企業采用辦公桌輪用制的主要目的與其說是削減成本（盡管部分企業的確優先考慮此事），不如說是調整辦公室的用途，以便更好地體現人們現在的工作方式。

“We think of it as a liquid workplace… a boundaryless workplace，” said Sanjay Rishi， the Americas CEO of Work Dynamics at JLL， a global commercial real estate services firm.

桑賈伊·里希就職于全球商業地產服務公司“仲量聯行”，是美洲地區“智動辦公”業務線的首席執行官。他表示：“我們認為辦公桌輪用制構建了一個流動的工作場所……一個沒有邊界的工作場所。”

In exchange for having largely unassigned seating at work， employees have the opportunity to work remotely more often， Rishi said. “Flexibility is very important to people. They get it. They say， ‘Im not in the office 5 days a week. Thats the tradeoff.”

里希說，辦公室工位基本不固定換來的是員工有更多遠程辦公機會。“靈活性對人們來說很重要。他們能夠靈活安排，而且會說：‘我不必一周五天都在辦公室辦公。有得有失。”

Transparency is key

透明是關鍵

Still， intellectually accepting that such a tradeoff is worth it doesnt mean employees will embrace hot desking if it becomes harder to get their jobs done.

不過，雖然人們從理智上認為這種有得有失的工作方式值得一試，但如果害工作變得更難完成，他們也不會接受辦公桌輪用制。

While every employer has to assess what works best for their specific culture， there needs to be clear communication with employees about why the company is switching to a hoteling system in the first place.

每個企業都必須評估出最適合自身獨特文化的工作方式，而首先要做的就是與員工溝通清楚公司為什么要實施旅館式辦公制。

And real thought needs to go into the physical layout.

此外，真實的想法都需要落實到物理布局上。

Ideally， Rishi said， individual teams should be assigned to their own area within an open-plan office. And within that area， there should be a mix of “me spaces” and “we spaces” to allow for both individual work and collaborative work between team members.

里希表示，理想的情況下，在開放式辦公室里，應為每個團隊分配屬于他們自己的固定區域。在該區域內，應搭配設置“個人空間”和“團隊空間”，讓團隊成員既可各自辦公，又可相互協作。

That not only allows teammates to easily interact， but also informs others in the company where they can be found.

這樣不僅方便團隊內部溝通，還能讓公司里的其他人知道該團隊的位置。

If thats not possible， the reservations software program should at least make it easy for people to see who has reserved the available work stations on any given day. “Once youre coming to the office， its important to know who is sitting where，” Rishi said.

如果上述措施無法實施，那么預定工位的軟件程序至少要讓人們一看就知道誰預定了哪天的可用工位。里希表示：“員工來辦公室工作的話，知道誰坐哪里對他們來說很重要。”

That can also be helpful for younger workers who may want to sit near an executive or someone else they want to observe and learn from.

這對年輕員工也很有幫助，因為他們可能想坐在主管或其他他們想觀察和學習的人旁邊。

Beware territoriality

提防地盤意識

Jessica Kriegel， chief scientist of workplace culture at strategy firm Culture Partners， was working with a department in a large company that operated out of an office with about 60 people.

杰茜卡·克里格爾就職于戰略咨詢公司“文化合伙人”，是專注于職場文化的首席科學家。她曾與一家大公司的某個部門合作，該部門有大約60人，大家都在一個辦公室辦公。

While she wasnt consulting with them about hot desking per se， she witnessed its failure in the course of her work there. “It was just wildly disliked，” Kriegel said.

雖然克里格爾沒有與部門里的人討論過辦公桌輪用制，但她在合作的過程中可以看出該制度無法實施。她說：“人們非常反感這個制度。”

The reason， she explained： Tenured employees became territorial about the desks theyd chosen and other employees knew not to mess with the social hierarchy.

她解釋說，原因在于終身制員工對自己選擇的工位已經有了地盤意識，而其他員工也知道不能去擾亂這種社會等級結構。

That kind of anecdotal example illustrates a point that Carlos Martinez， co-managing director and principal at Gensler， a global office design and planning firm， makes to his clients： You never want to alienate any group of employees when changing the structure of the workplace.

卡洛斯·馬丁內斯是全球辦公室設計和規劃公司“晉思”的聯席總經理兼項目負責人。上述趣聞闡明了他向客戶提出的那個觀點：改變工作場所的結構時，千萬不能冷落任何一個員工群體。

Thats also why employers embarking on the switch to hot desking may want to customize the options to best suit different employees needs. For instance， some might want or need a permanent desk because theyre on site far more than others. Or， some might benefit from sharing a desk with just one other colleague who will be in on different days.

正因如此，開始實施辦公桌輪用制的企業可能希望根據員工的需求定制最適合他們的制度。例如，有的員工想要或需要一個固定工位，因為他們在辦公室工作的時間較其他人多得多；有的員工或許可以跟另一位同事共享一個工位，兩人正好不在同一天來辦公室。

Aim for acoustic privacy

追求隔音

Noise in open-plan offices has always been a top complaint when designers havent taken care to create some acoustic privacy through use of sound-absorbing materials and locating collaboration spaces out of earshot of individual desks.

人們對開放式辦公室抱怨最大的就是噪音，因為設計師在設計辦公空間時沒有專門考慮用吸音材料來隔音，也沒有特別注意將協作空間與個人工位隔開。

In fact， Martinez said， some of the early missteps in the creation of open-plan offices were putting collaborative spaces right next to individual work stations， and putting cushions on top of individuals filing cabinets inviting people to sit and chat （loudly） next to colleagues at nearby desks.

馬丁內斯表示，早期建立開放式辦公室時其實存在一些錯誤，包括將協作空間設置在個人工位旁邊，以及在個人放文件的矮柜柜頂擺放坐墊，鼓勵人坐在那里跟旁邊工位上的同事（大聲地）討論。

Creating acoustic privacy is especially critical in a hot-desking situation where people may be sitting next to new colleagues with different work habits and varying levels of courtesy regarding volume control on the phone or holding conversations or meetings nearby.

采用辦公桌輪用制，員工旁邊可能坐著有不同工作習慣的新同事，而且新同事在電話音量控制、與人交談或進行會議等方面的禮貌程度也參差不齊。在這種情況下，隔音尤其重要。

Plus， people taking part in meetings held in open spaces may be less willing to contribute if they worry about being overheard by others， Kriegel noted.

此外，克里格爾指出，在開放空間開會時，如果員工擔心不相關的人聽見自己說的話，那么他們可能不太愿意在會上發表意見。

Invite employee feedback

征求員工反饋意見

Switching to hot desking should be viewed as a work in progress by everyone.

每個人都應該把采用辦公桌輪用制當成一項不斷改進的工作。

“Dont stop experimenting，” JLLs Rishi said. “Check in with teams to see whats working or not.”

仲量聯行的里希表示：“要不斷嘗試，問問各個團隊，看看哪些措施有效，哪些無效。”

In its 2023 global workplace survey， Genslers researchers suggest employers should design the office in ways that make it a destination of choice for employees who perform work that can be done remotely. The best workplaces， they wrote， “will… offer diverse and adaptable spaces where employees can self-curate their desired individual workplace experiences.”

在2023年的晉思全球工作場所調查報告中，研究人員建議，企業應將辦公室設計成那些可以遠程完成工作的員工首選的辦公場所。調查報告里寫道：“最好的辦公場所能提供多樣化和適應性強的空間，員工身在其中可以自己去創造他們想要的個人工作場所體驗。”