
The hidden hell of hot-desking - apress
https://www.ft.com/content/bff71b8c-ae34-11e9-8030-530adfa879c2
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hprotagonist
_Y. T.’s mom works in Fedland.

...

So Y.T.'s mom has clacked up the stairs in her black pumps and gone into her
office, actually a large room with computer workstations placed across it in a
grid. Used to be divided up by partitions, but the EBGOC boys didn't like it,
said what would happen if there had to be an evacuation? All those partitions
would impede the free flow of unhinged panic. So no more partitions. Just
workstations and chairs. Not even any desktops. Desktops encourage the use of
paper, which is archaic and reflects inadequate team spirit. What is so
special about your work that you have to write it down on a piece of paper
that only you get to see? That you have to lock it away inside a desk? When
you're working for the Feds, everything you do is the property of the United
States of America. You do your work on the computer. The computer keeps a copy
of everything, so that if you get sick or something, it's all there where your
co-workers and supervisors can get access to it. If you want to write little
notes or make phone doodles, you're perfectly free to do that at home, in your
spare time. And there's the question of interchangeability. Fed workers, like
military people, are intended to be interchangeable parts. What happens if
your workstation should break down? You're going to sit there and twiddle your
thumbs until it gets fixed? No siree, you're going to move to a spare
workstation and get to work on that. And you don't have that flexibility if
you've got half a ton of personal stuff cached inside of a desk, strewn around
a desktop.

So there is no paper in a Fed office. All the workstations are the same. You
come in in the morning, pick one at random, sit down, and get to work. You
could try to favor a particular station, try to sit there every day, but it
would be noticed. Generally you pick the unoccupied workstation that's closest
to the door. That way, whoever came in earliest sits closest, whoever came in
latest is way in the back, for the rest of the day it's obvious at a glance
who's on the ball in this office and who is -- as they whisper to each other
in the bathrooms -- having problems._

(1993, and as prescient as always.)

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sundayedition
I did this for a period of time as a federal employee. You see people's
interesting (read: dirty) habits and learn that there's simply no amount of
trash cans, disinfectant wipes, and cleaning supplies that can be provided
(for "free" by the government) that will have people clean up after
themselves.

I've also seen some interesting behaviors as certain people will become very
territorial over their preferred workstation, and generally the quality of
workstations in general is lower as it becomes easier to move to a new
workstation than try to fix the issue, or file a "ticket".

Cables & docking station parts go missing, keyboards get breadcrumbs & soda,
chairs disappear (?!), etc. Once accountability for personal space goes away
it seems a certain level of apathy kicks in

~~~
apple4ever
Textbook example of the tragedy of the commons.

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mc32
Thankfully I’ve not yet been subject to this new angst.

But; I can imagine this has whispers and perhaps the discomfort many
experienced in middle and high school of not being the one left out or left
hanging at the lunch table. The stepchild of the Corp.

Is life so certain and determined that we yet need some form of uncertainty in
our lives and in particular at work?

We hear about and experience dark patterns in the digital realm. These things,
hot dealing and open offices are an affront to humanity and are whispering
below our conscious “You’re not really needed, as your desk and personal space
are coyly violated, so is your presumed place in this company. You’re welcome
here so long as we allow you to be welcome. We’re the boss of you.”

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Tempest1981
Funny new term "fresh working" \-- a fresh new desk every day.

Archived: [http://archive.is/aBNBj](http://archive.is/aBNBj)

~~~
slowmovintarget
The more apropos terms were "inmates, jailers, and guards".

Thank you for sharing the non-pay-wall version.

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vinceguidry
They tried pulling this crap at my current org. We were supposed to reserve
our desks for two week stretches and clean your place out every day to
pristine. Luckily we had lockers. I never did, and luckily never got kicked
out of my desk. After three months of this nonsense they finally started
giving us assigned desks.

Apparently some employees at the last location were getting really cozy and
kept really messy workspaces. Hot-desking was the solution.

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elindbe2
Moving to this later in the year. We'll see if I tolerate it or not.
Unfortunately, there's been no mention of the benefits that are supposed to go
with hotdesking (flexible hours and work from home) so it's all downside at
this point. I'd be ok with it if it meant I could work from home a couple
times a week.

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sombragris
Paywalled.

~~~
dang
If there's a workaround, it's ok. Users usually post workarounds in the
thread.

This is in the FAQ at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)
and there's more explanation here:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989)

[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20paywall&sort=byDate&...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20paywall&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix&page=0)

