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Glite Dictionary
hot desking

hot desking

3.8
A system where employees do not have their own desk and use any free desk
  • noun
  • Jargon
translation icon : escritorio flexible
  • The team's productivity improved after adopting hot desking, allowing for greater collaboration and more dynamic workspaces.

Examples

  • Hot-desking can be problematic for disabled employees who may need to have their workstations specially set up to accommodate their needs.

    Academic text (2015)

  • At our new office, we implemented hot desking so that employees can sit wherever they prefer each day.

  • Many companies have embraced hot desking to maximize space efficiency and promote interaction among staff.

Surface Forms

hot desking singular
hot deskings plural

Morphology

hot + desking

Although the components point to desks and the adjective 'hot', the term 'desking' is rare and 'hot' has a specialized workplace sense (unassigned or shared) that is not the common meaning a B1 learner would assume. The expression is workplace jargon where the constituents give a partial clue but do not transparently yield the full idea of a system of unassigned workstations without prior exposure.

Etymology

Hot desking comes from the image of a hot desk — a desk someone has just left that is still 'warm', so the next person quickly takes it. That's why it means 'no assigned desk' and that workers 'use any available desk'.