SINGAPORE – Based on The Straits Times reporting, hot-desking became popular during the Covid-19 pandemic because employers needed less office space because most employees worked from home.
Experts say the trend of employees not having fixed desks in Singapore is likely to continue, even though safe management measures have been relaxed since April 26 to allow all workers to return to work.
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What you should know?
- Hot desking is likely to stay in Singapore in the near future.
- Singapore companies get staff connected through open spaces and discussion rooms.
Learn more: Hot Desking 101: a quick guide
Hot Desking is about…
Hot desking is a workplace practice in which some or all employees exchange desks rather than having a permanent one, which is most common in an activity-based work environment. It allows multiple users can use the same workstation at the same time.
Workplaces that enable employees to share desks save a lot of space and money. Certain areas, for example, have a high real estate value, causing municipal offices to cut back on spending. This works effectively for employees who spend less than half of their time at a desk during the day.
The reason why hot desking is likely to stay in Singapore is that it can help Singaporean companies to get employees more connected to each other and reduce office costs by cutting off their fixed workstations.
No fixed desks for everyone, even the bosses
More businesses are adopting a flexible and connected workplace, foregoing fixed workstations in favor of more community spaces and shared hot desks.
Tech firm SAP implemented a complete hot-desking strategy in Singapore when it began renovating its offices in April 2021, with the goal of increasing collaboration among its 1,200 or so employees while also providing flexibility in how employees work.
In SAP Mapletree Business City‘s office, there are no assigned desks across the three floors, not even for its senior leaders. Still, there are plenty of options – high workbenches for those who prefer to stand, workstations designed for small groups, or cafe-style seats.
SAP introduces 270 meeting spaces spread across three floors, with a mix of closed pods, open tables, and diner-style booths. This is a significant increase from the previous 104 meeting rooms.
“We see a lot more of the teams sitting on different floors, trying out different spaces,” Verena Siow, President & Managing Director for Southeast Asia of SAP, mentioned. “Also, when you sit on different floors, maybe you’ll meet colleagues that you may not have interacted much with before.”
Implementing hot desking in Singapore can thus help companies to improve cross-departmental communication and relieve the productivity paranoia of decision-makers.
Coming into the workplace is no longer about the physical amenities, it is about the employee experience,
Verena Siow, President & Managing Director for Southeast Asia of SAP
Reduce office costs by cutting fixed workstation
Takeda Pharmaceuticals has reduced the number of fixed workstations in order to create more meeting rooms and community spaces. Its redesigned workspaces were made available to employees at the beginning of this year.
As Inc. studies found out that 40% of an office’s dedicated desk space sits unused on a given day, hot desking can highly help Singaporean companies to reduce their office costs by freeing up these dedicated workstations.
There are now only 40 hot-desking workstations in Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ Singapore office, down from around 120 previously. Lockers have also been installed to provide employees with the option of storing their belongings if necessary.
“With the exception of meeting rooms, all workspaces are on a first-come, first-serve basis.” Ms. Janice Yee, head of HR at Takeda’s growth and emerging markets business unit, said.
(Takeda’s office is now become) a venue for meaningful face-to-face collaboration, networking, and social connections, rather than keeping to the traditional definitions of what an ‘office’ is
Ms. Janice Yee, head of HR at Takeda’s growth and emerging markets business unit
How to implement hot-desking?
Hybrid work in Singapore means a diverse working style of working at the office and working from home. You can allow your employee to have high flexibility in choosing their desirable workspace.
You can also consider how to reduce the operational cost such as reducing the office workspace and fulfilling the expectation of both employees and administrators.
ONES is one of the famous all-in-one smart office systems that can help you to easily implement hybrid working at ease. You can easily perform virtual meetings, desk hoteling, and digital office management with our Desk Booking and Management features.
Contact us: hello@ones.software, or visit ONES Software official website for more information: https://ones.software/.