Tell me about hoteling

[Anonymous]

My agency just announced that anyone who's out of the office 50% of the time or more will lose their dedicated cubicle and have to go to a large room that looks much like a call center. There is no privacy- just open desks and we'd have a locker for our personal items on the days we're at work.

How does this work for other agencies?

[Anonymous]

Not at an agency but I've had this all my working life. You bring a laptop and you plop down wherever you want, sign into the phone and boom go. I like being able to move around a bit (helps with monotony) downside is you are less likely to know your next door cube mate.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks, 14:05. Have you ever had a problem with not being able to get a desk? Are there problems with noise levels? We are on the phone a lot to grantees, and while they're building conference rooms, it would be completely impractical to get up every 15 mins to talk to someone.

[Anonymous]

My company has had hosteling since 2010. There were some bumps in the road as we made the change (eg, people didn't reserve desks and "squatted" in other people's spaces, developing a hoteling "etiquette" - noise levels, introduce yourself to strangers sharing your office for the day, use of communal office supplies, etc). Everyone's pretty used to it now and honestly I prefer it. It forces me to be judicious about printing, files, etc. there was an article in WSJ a week or so about the adjustment to hoteling, if you want to look it up. I'd link but I'm on my phone

[Anonymous]

Agencies are doing this for a variety of reasons, but mainly to cut leasing costs. The employees get a small drawer that they can store their things and they have large counters to place their laptops and connect to the wifi.

The spaces I've seen resemble a modern university library; it's quiet in some spots, but more like a starbucks in others. Workers hang out with headphones and coffee, typing away like students working on term papers.

There are sometimes small meeting rooms that can be reserved for private meetings. It will be interesting if agencies experiment with 100% telework. Much of the admin/low level management work for your DC job can be done from the home office, maybe even in Guam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My company has had hosteling since 2010. There were some bumps in the road as we made the change (eg, people didn't reserve desks and "squatted" in other people's spaces, developing a hoteling "etiquette" - noise levels, introduce yourself to strangers sharing your office for the day, use of communal office supplies, etc). Everyone's pretty used to it now and honestly I prefer it. It forces me to be judicious about printing, files, etc. there was an article in WSJ a week or so about the adjustment to hoteling, if you want to look it up. I'd link but I'm on my phone

I guess budgets are getting tight!