Rethinking the One-Desk-Per-Employee Assumption Before You Buy
Many offices default to one desk for every name on the payroll. With hybrid schedules common, companies lease space and buy office desks that sit empty two or three days a week. Hot-desking and hoteling offer an alternative, and the numbers are worth checking before your next furniture order.
Empty Office Desks Add Cost Without Adding Value
A desk costs more than its purchase price, because each station takes space, which increases your office footprint and drives overhead higher. When employees work from home part of the week, some desks go unused on the days nobody sits at them. Temporary staff, auditors, inventory control teams, and traveling employees are only on-site intermittently, some for just a few days per quarter. Total head count tells you how many people you employ. It says little about how many workstations you need on a given morning.
Hot-Desking Versus Hoteling: Choosing the Right Model
First, let’s define the terms. Hot-desking is first come, first served. Employees pick any open workstation when they arrive and leave it open for the next employee when they leave. Hoteling is reservation based, so a worker books a specific desk for the days they plan to be in-office. Hot-desking suits teams with unpredictable attendance. Hoteling suits hybrid teams that follow a known schedule and temporary roles that need a guaranteed spot, such as visiting auditors or consultants.
The two models call for different approaches and different office furniture. Because a hoteling desk is reserved for a specific person, it can support more personalization and storage. A hot-desk needs a simpler, faster-to-clear setup, with uncluttered surfaces and nothing that ties the space to one user.
Count Peak Attendance, Not Head Count, to Size Your Office Desks
A simple way to tell how many office desks you actually need to buy is a simple head count. On your busiest in-office day, count how many people show up, and add a small buffer for guests and schedule changes. That peak number, not total employee head count, is your optimal number of office desks.
For example, a company with 50 employees that never sees more than 32 in the building on its busiest day might plan for 36 desks. That is 14 fewer desks than one per employee.
Buying fewer commercial office desks reduces the floor space you need to furnish and your overhead. If you’re looking to economize your office desk setup, bring your peak attendance number to Santa Fe Office Interiors or contact us, and our team will walk through layout options that can save your business real money.
Find the Furniture Type That Works for Shared Desks
Santa Fe Office Interiors carries or can source modular desks and benching systems in L-shaped, U-shaped, and pod configurations for commercial office desk layouts. These are a natural fit for hot-desking areas, because a shared office floor may need to grow or shrink as attendance demands change. Uniform setups work better than a mix of personalized styles. When every desk offers the same surface and layout, employees won’t compete for specialized spaces and every unit will be used.
Each Employee Still Needs Personal Storage
Shared desks do not remove the need for personal storage. Each employee still needs somewhere secure for a laptop bag, files, and personal items. Lockers, mobile pedestals, storage shelves, and personal filing systems handle that job. Santa Fe carries a wide variety of storage products along with modular desk systems, so a shared workspace plan is easy to source with us.
Browse our storage and filing selection, and be sure to ask how lockers and mobile pedestals might fit into your layout when you visit our showroom.
Used Office Desks Fit the Shared Model Especially Well
Hot-desking or hoteling office furniture is uniform and egalitarian rather than status- or personalization-driven, so a used furniture store is a better place to buy.
A showroom like Santa Fe Office Interiors often purchases large lots of shared workstations at once, so you’re likely to find the right quantity to set up your office when you shop with us. Used office desks cost less per unit, and the savings multiply when you purchase a large number of units. You’ll get higher quality workstations for a lower cost.
Ready to reduce your office overhead? Call (913) 901-8800 to find out which modular or benching systems Santa Fe has in stock right now. Our stock of office desks for sale changes daily, so checking before you come in is a great idea.
Compare Desk Suppliers Before You Commit
Santa Fe Office Interiors offers new and carefully selected pre-owned furniture in a 9,000-square-foot Overland Park showroom, so you can compare both side by side. Owner and operator Jim Lust has worked in the office furniture industry since 1985, and his team is experienced and ready to help take your business’s shared office desks to a new level.
Find the right number of desks for your team. Bring your peak attendance number and a rough floor plan to our showroom, and Santa Fe Office Interiors can map a layout for the desks you need, including used office desks which maximize your budget. Call (913) 901-8800, reach out through our contact page, or visit the showroom at 8106 Santa Fe Drive, Overland Park, KS 66204, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.