The practices of remote working, hot desking and flexible business space have been on the rise in recent years. In fact, a survey by Virgin Media Business last year predicted that, by 2022, 60 per cent of office-based employees will regularly work from home.
Hot desking allows multiple staff to use one workstation at different times – a practice that’s growing in popularity in modern offices. This rise has been possible in part thanks to advancements in wireless and cloud technology. The increased popularity of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) culture has also had an impact. Here we look at the perks – and pitfalls – of this working style.
The perks of an agile workforce
The benefits of a mobile workforce are boundless, with employers seeing results such as a 30 per cent cost reduction. Encouraging agile working can free up space in an office and allow workers to interact more with other staff in different teams and departments, thus considerably improving cross-departmental communication.
This allows the spreading of ideas, feedback and general communication, which is always positive in a work environment.
Office support
When implementing this method of working it is essential that the employee is supported by relevant software, in order to ensure a seamless and productive transition. This flexible style of working can require a ‘follow me’ type phone system, whilst cloud based services and personalised desktops will also likely be key. With emails hosted in the cloud, roaming becomes much easier.
Keeping data safe
As with anything, there are always potential pitfalls to be aware of and hot desking brings with it a high potential for security risk when not managed correctly. Ensuring that your employees’ (and therefore your company’s) data remains safe is integral. As staff members chop and change around the office, or even work remotely, the possibility of data breaches will only increase.
It goes almost without saying that with this infrastructure, robust network access and competent security measures are essential. This needs to be as adaptable as the workers, allowing them to access their services from anywhere inside or outside the office, without compromising on security.
The business of managing data to keep it secure is important, but with the correct systems in place this is easily achievable. If the right preparation and strategy is undertaken in advance then there is no reason why flexible working methods cannot be successful for your business.
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