Workplace operations insights

Hybrid working: advantages for companies and employees

What are the main advantages of hybrid working?

• Hybrid working allows for a more flexible approach to the working day.
• Personal interaction in the office is maintained with hybrid work.
• Employees gain more freedom to make decisions and can work with greater concentration.
• Companies have lower costs, more motivated teams and a better position in the labour market.

What are the advantages of hybrid working for employees and companies?

1. Better work-life balance

Currently, more than 60% of employees in the UK work in a hybrid model, i.e. partly in the office and partly from home. The ability to choose where to work flexibly noticeably improves the work-life balance. This is also confirmed by a study by Hardwig and Latniak (2025), which shows that hybrid structures allow employees to organise their day in a more self-determined and stress-free manner.

2. Greater concentration thanks to suitable environments

Many employees use their home office for highly concentrated work, while interaction in the office is used specifically for meetings or creative processes. According to a recent Fraunhofer IAO study, around 80% of hybrid employees report higher productivity, partly because they can plan their tasks better in line with their environment.

3. Time and cost savings through less commuting

The hybrid model is a real advantage, especially for commuters: those who do not have to go to the office every day not only save time but also travel costs. In a survey by TravelPerk, 88% of hybrid employees surveyed stated that they were able to significantly reduce their commute.

4. Higher motivation and stronger loyalty

When employees have a say in when and where they work, their satisfaction and emotional attachment to the company increase. This development is also described by Gallup's Engagement Index (based on data from 2023, but with a trend that remains valid), which shows that self-determined work has a positive effect on long-term motivation. Staff turnover is also reduced.

5. Competitive advantage in the labour market

Companies with hybrid working models find it easier to recruit skilled workers. In the Fraunhofer survey mentioned above, over 80% of the organisations surveyed stated that mobile or hybrid working is now firmly established, usually through company agreements. These companies are thus responding directly to the expectations of many applicants.

6. Space utilisation and costs

The study by Bath (Springer, 2025) shows that 34.1% of companies operate hybrid working with clear regulations, allowing structures to be adapted on a permanent basis. When offices and their individual workstations are no longer used to full capacity, the available space can be reallocated and repurposed for the benefit of employees. Even when the company grows, it can remain in the property, as efficient use means that additional capacity can be created at virtually any time.

7. Contribution to sustainability

Hybrid models also contribute to the ecological balance: reduced commuting leads to a measurable decrease in emissions. According to a study by the RKW Competence Centre, the switch to partial home office working is a relevant lever in the climate strategy of many companies, especially those with a high proportion of office workplaces.

How can hybrid working be successfully implemented?

To ensure the success of your hybrid working model, create clear guidelines that your employees can follow and that you can present to applicants. Ensure a high level of reliability in technology and software, and work on building trust and personal responsibility within your team.

Agree on binding rules with your team

Clearly define whether and on which days work will be done in the office, which tasks can be done remotely, and how personal availability is regulated. Document these agreements so that everyone in the team can read them at any time.

Tip: Develop a short, understandable team agreement with fixed guidelines for hybrid working. This will also benefit you when applicants ask about working conditions and when training new colleagues.

Plan days in the office with a specific purpose

Use office hours for activities that offer real added value through personal interaction, such as strategy workshops, retrospectives or project launches. Plan them in advance together with the team and make sure they are binding. However, avoid requiring days in the office for no reason or for vague reasons.

Tip: Introduce fixed team days that focus on coordination, planning and social interaction. Keep these days free of unnecessary remote meetings. Make the most of the time together and show your team that face-to-face meetings have intrinsic value.

Standardised technical equipment

Ensure that all employees, whether in the office or at home, can work with equivalent equipment. This includes stable internet connections, good audio quality and cloud software that can be used from anywhere.

Tip: Work with IT to develop a standard setup for hybrid workplaces and provide a fixed technology budget for home offices.

Define clear communication rules

Determine which tools are used for which type of communication, how information should be documented, and in which cases synchronous or asynchronous communication is appropriate. Agree on these rules with your team and review them regularly.

Tip: Put the standards you have developed in writing, for example for chat, email, meetings and project documentation. This will create a binding structure that works regardless of the place of work.

Foster team culture through fixed rituals

Create formats for exchange, joint reflection and cohesion for hybrid teamwork. These rituals give your team structure and a temporal rhythm.

Tip: Establish fixed formats such as monthly meetings, joint planning meetings or feedback sessions. Give these formats a fixed place in the calendar and associate them with positive experiences, such as a meal together.

Continuous improvement of the model

Regularly evaluate how well hybrid working is functioning in your team, both technically and culturally. Determine satisfaction, office utilisation and productivity, and use this information to make specific adjustments.

Tip: Conduct a compact team survey once a quarter. Evaluate the results and work with the team to derive possible changes. In this way, the system will improve evolutionarily.

Tip: PULT's Office Insights feature includes a personal feedback function. This allows you to conduct surveys within your team without any additional software and find out directly what is going on with your employees.

How does hybrid working compare to office-only or remote-only models?

In the discussion about the right way to work, there are three models: full presence in the office, purely remote working and hybrid working. Each of these models has advantages and disadvantages depending on the industry, task and team structure.

Working full-time in the office

Strengths

• Direct communication and coordination
• Clearly structured working day and location

Weaknesses

• Time lost commuting
• Less freedom to organise your time
• Hardly any opportunities to retreat

Particularly suitable for

• Tasks requiring a high degree of coordination
• Intensive teamwork on site
• Sensitive data (e.g., finance, research & development in laboratories)

Working completely remotely

Strengths

• Location independence
• High degree of time sovereignty
• Access to supra-regional talent

Weaknesses

• Less social connection
• Risk of isolation
• No access to local resources

Particularly suitable for

• Individual knowledge work
• Software development
• International project teams
• Activities with clear output

Hybrid working

Strengths

• Freely combinable
• Good balance between concentration and exchange
• Adaptable to tasks

Weaknesses

• Coordination effort
• Need for clear rules
• Potentially unequal visibility within the team

Particularly suitable for roles with changing requirements

• Consulting
• Marketing
• Project management
• Managers
• HR

How can the disadvantages of hybrid working be overcome?

Hybrid working offers a lot of freedom, but it also presents teams and companies with new challenges. These mainly concern communication, the organisation of collaboration and the creation of the necessary structures.

Frequently cited disadvantages of hybrid working include:

• Fewer face-to-face encounters within the team: If part of the team regularly works from home, this can undermine the sense of community. Informal conversations then take place much less frequently. You can counteract these disadvantages with face-to-face formats, such as regular team days or project-related face-to-face phases.
• Coordination effort: Hybrid working requires clear agreements: Who is available when? Which channels are used for what? What needs to be documented? Are there core working hours? Create binding communication standards, calendars and shared software for this purpose.
• Blurring the lines between work and leisure: When the workplace is also at home, the boundaries can sometimes become blurred. Employees report feeling that they are or must be "always available." This can be resolved by setting fixed offline times, clearly communicating availability rules, and fostering a corporate culture that encourages conscious breaks.
• Exploring office capacity: Removing desks creates space, but capacity must still be sufficient for peak times. Finding a balance requires forward planning and accurate analysis of utilisation.
  

Tip: In PULT, you can measure the utilisation of your office, even without active desk sharing. An employee's presence is recorded as soon as one of their devices connects to the company Wi-Fi. Your team does not have to actively dial in – you will still receive the attendance figures. Find out more about PULT Presence here.

Finding balance for hybrid working

Hybrid working is a standalone working model with clear advantages. Employees gain a great deal of flexibility in terms of time management and personal responsibility, while companies become more attractive to applicants and are both more productive and more resilient.

The basis for hybrid working is that you actively shape the concept. Ensure that you have the right framework conditions, acceptable rules and a model that is constantly evolving within your company.

Frequent hurdles lie in coordination:

• Who is in the office and when?
• Which workstations are actually available?
• Are there enough desks available during peak times?
• When is a meeting room free?
• Who is allowed to book which rooms?
  

With the PULT desk booking software, you can bridge the gap between home office and office. Your employees can book their office workspace from home, ensuring that it is available when they arrive. Meeting rooms, designated zones and parking spaces can also be booked.

By integrating PULT with Outlook, Google Calendar and many other tools, space bookings are also created as calendar entries. This provides an even better overview of which colleagues will be in the office.

Tip: Find out more about office evaluation in PULT here and desk booking here.

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Models for hybrid working: examples from Germany

Overview: Hybrid working models in comparison

Hybrid working can be implemented in many ways. Different models are suitable depending on the size of the company, the task structure and the team culture. The following overview shows proven hybrid models, their characteristics and typical areas of application.

1. 3:2 model

Description:
‍Employees work three days in the office and two days remotely. The distribution is either uniform across the company or regulated on a team-by-team basis.

Advantages
Clear structure with high acceptance. Can be easily combined with desk-sharing concepts.

Possible disadvantages:
‍Little flexibility for individuals and more complicated for part-time workers.

2. Fixed attendance days

Description:
‍Certain days of the week are designated for everyone to be present in the office, for example Tuesday to Thursday. Remote working is the norm on the other days.

Advantages
‍Strengthens team spirit and facilitates coordination, as it is clear when everyone is available.

Possible disadvantages:
Leads to peak loads in office utilisation, meaning that a separate workstation must be provided for each employee. From the employees' perspective, the model is very rigid.

3. Team rotation / cohort model

Description:
‍Employees or teams take turns working in the office. For example, week A team 1, week B team 2. The groups are fixed.

Advantages:
Very efficient and predictable use of office capacity.

Possible disadvantages:
Complex to organise, cooperation between the alternating teams is difficult.

4. Free choice with framework conditions

Description:
‍Employees decide for themselves when they come to the office, within an agreed framework, for example 4 days a month, with a booking requirement.

Advantages:
High level of personal responsibility, high satisfaction, ideal for well-functioning teams. Attendance patterns become predictable over time and can therefore be planned.

Possible disadvantages:
Requires booking systems and trust in the personal responsibility of each individual.

5. Remote-first

Description:
‍Work is primarily done remotely. The office is provided as an option, primarily for meetings or individual use.

Advantages:
High degree of location independence, access to a global talent pool, low fixed costs for the office.

Possible disadvantages:
Risk of disconnection from the company, social isolation, more difficult management.

6. Office-first with home office allowance

Description:
‍The office serves as the standard workplace, with, for example, one day per week working from home.

Advantages:
Easy to implement, few technical and organisational hurdles, easy to manage.

Possible disadvantages:
Little scope for employees to shape their working environment, can be perceived as a sign of control, culturally outdated for many employees.

7. Project-based presence

Description:
The place of work is determined on a project-by-project basis, for example for a kick-off event in the office. Implementation then takes place remotely and reviews are conducted on attendance days.

Advantages:
Adaptable to project phases, good balance between collaboration and focus phases.

Possible disadvantages: 
High coordination effort, can become confusing with many parallel projects.

8. Hybrid shift model

Description:
‍Teams work in fixed shifts, for example, in the office in the morning and remotely in the afternoon, or alternating weekly.

Advantages:
Clear planning, continuous coverage, often easy to combine with operational requirements.

Possible disadvantages:
Limited freedom to make decisions, complex shift planning, higher demands on IT and infrastructure.

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Examples of companies with hybrid working models

Many medium-sized companies and corporations have developed their own models for hybrid working, always adapted to team size, task type and location structure.

1. Taxfix: The Berlin-based FinTech company allows employees to work remotely for up to six weeks a year, even from abroad. Within Germany, teams decide for themselves how to combine office and remote working hours. This is coordinated within the team.
2. Urban Sports Club: Here, a standard for hybrid working applies: 50% office, 50% remote. In addition, the company offers up to four months of location-independent working in Europe.
3. Kaufland: Hybrid working models are now established in Kaufland's administrative departments. Office attendance and mobile working are combined depending on the situation.
4. Cisco Austria: Cisco Austria publicly advocates hybrid working models, both within its own company and in terms of social change. In a recent survey, 43% of employees in Austria were identified as staunch supporters of hybrid working.
5. SAP: Employees at SAP decide together with their team how often they come to the office. There is no universal rule, but rather a free arrangement within the framework of a global hybrid programme. Physical presence depends on tasks and collaboration requirements.
6. Allianz: At Allianz, hybrid working is regulated by a binding works agreement: up to 60% of working hours may be carried out remotely. The exact arrangements are left to the teams.
7. Siemens: Since 2020, Siemens has allowed up to three days of mobile working per week in many areas. The switch between office and remote working is based on trust and dialogue with managers.
   

Tip: Here you can find success stories from companies that work hybrid with PULT.

How do I find the right hybrid model for my team?

The right hybrid model should bring together the interests of your company and those of your employees. The most important points to clarify for this alignment are predictability, team cohesion, secure processes, employee autonomy and decision-making freedom, and a good environment for concentrated work.

1. Observe behaviour, don't assume
Before you establish rules for a hybrid model, take a look at how your team already works today. If you currently work in a very flexible model, you will be surprised at how clearly certain patterns emerge.

This is easy with PULT Presence, as employee attendance in the office is recorded as soon as one of their devices connects to the company Wi-Fi. This means no extra work for your colleagues, but you get a realistic picture of how your team actually behaves. From this, you can already learn a lot about their wishes.

2. Hold discussions, gather employee opinions
Supplement the measurements with workshops and employee surveys. Work with your team to determine what is needed for concentrated work, what is necessary for good coordination among colleagues, and what an ideal working week looks like. These answers will gradually give rise to criteria for your hybrid model.

3. Choose a model and establish structures
From the combination of data, opinions and criteria, you can deduce what your well-functioning hybrid model will look like.

In PULT, you can observe your team's attendance behaviour after the binding introduction of your model. The integrated employee feedback function allows you to easily gather the opinions of your colleagues.

The utilisation data shows you how well your model is working. You can see which structures are used frequently: specific workstations, equipment, rooms and zones. You can also see what is not necessary, can be dismantled and put to a more frequently used purpose.

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Desk sharing in employment law

The most important information about desk sharing in employment law at a glance:

• Desk sharing is permissible under labour law, but not unconditionally. The use of a workplace by several people is permitted as long as occupational health and safety, data protection and co-determination rights are upheld.
• Co-determination by the works council: The works council must be involved in the introduction and use of booking systems, clean desk policies and workplace allocation in accordance with Section 87 (1) of the Works Constitution Act (BetrVG).
• Occupational health and safety applies without restriction, even in the case of changing workstations. Every shared workstation must be ergonomically designed, hygienically maintained and individually adjustable. A risk assessment is mandatory.
• Only necessary data may be processed by desk booking systems. It is not permissible to draw conclusions about the behaviour of individual employees.

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Is desk sharing permitted under labour law?

Yes, desk sharing is generally permitted. Employers may determine how work is organised within the scope of their managerial authority (Section 106 of the Trade Regulation Act). This also includes the design of workstations.

However, this right to issue instructions is limited where occupational health and safety law, data protection or the co-determination rights of the works council come into play.

It is important that desk sharing does not entail any unreasonable disadvantages for employees:

• Workplaces must be equipped to the same standard.
• Availability must be guaranteed.
• Personal rights such as the protection of health or privacy must not be impaired.

Purely economic reasons, such as saving office space, are not sufficient to implement measures that violate other protective rights. The admissibility under labour law therefore always depends on the specific design and accompanying regulations.

Works council's right of co-determination in desk sharing

The introduction of desk sharing is subject to co-determination in accordance with Section 87 (1) BetrVG. Relevant co-determination issues include, in particular:

No. 1: Organisation of the workplace and conduct of employees
If desk sharing regulates behaviour in the workplace, for example through a clean desk policy, fixed booking rules or zone concepts, the works council must be involved.

No. 6: Technical monitoring equipment
If a digital booking system is used that allows conclusions to be drawn about the behaviour, attendance or performance of employees, this is only permissible in compliance with the GDPR and is also subject to co-determination in accordance with Section 87 (1) No. 6 BetrVG.

Depending on the design, Section 90 BetrVG (rights to information) may also apply if the change in the workplaces constitutes a redesign of the working environment. This applies in particular if structural changes, furnishing or room concepts are affected.

Case law recognises that desk-sharing models with a structural or disciplinary effect (e.g. clean desk, reduced number of permanent workstations, visitor control via booking systems) are subject to co-determination.

In a recent case, the Baden-Württemberg Regional Labour Court (2024) ruled that even the design of free workplace choice with supplementary rules of use may not be determined unilaterally by the employer. (File number 21 TaBV 7/24)

Data protection in desk sharing

The use of booking systems, access controls or presence sensors in connection with desk sharing generates personal data. This includes information on working hours, attendance, workplace use or booking history. This data is subject to the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and may only be processed if there is a legal basis for doing so.

As a rule, data processing is based on Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest of the employer), for example for the purpose of organising workplace occupancy.

The principle of data minimisation applies here: only as much information may be collected as is necessary for the purpose. Blanket collection of movement or behaviour data is not permitted.

In addition, the employer is obliged to inform employees transparently about the purpose, scope and storage period of data processing in accordance with Art. 13 GDPR. If there is a works council, it must be involved in the selection and introduction of appropriate systems in accordance with Section 87(1)(6) BetrVG.

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Occupational safety in desk sharing

The same occupational health and safety requirements apply to shared workstations as to designated individual workstations. The relevant basis for this is the Workplace Ordinance (ArbStättV).

Employers are obliged to set up workplaces in such a way that the safety and health of employees is guaranteed, regardless of whether a workplace is used permanently or alternately.

The requirements are derived from:

• § 3a ArbStättV: Design of the workplace in accordance with ergonomic principles
• § 4 ArbStättV: Regular cleaning and hygienic conditions
• Workplace Regulation ASR A1.2, which formulates requirements for space requirements and furniture, among other things.

Every booked workplace must be ergonomically adjustable (e.g. height-adjustable chair, correctly positionable screen), provide adequate lighting and be cleaned regularly, especially if there are frequent changes of users. In any case, the equipment must meet the requirements of the respective job profile.

In addition, a risk assessment in accordance with Section 5 of the ArbSchG is also required for desk sharing. The risks associated with changing workplaces, such as a lack of adjustment options or unclear responsibilities for maintenance and cleaning, must be taken into account and documented.

Typical challenges of labour law in desk sharing

Desk sharing brings organisational changes and potential conflicts in everyday working life. You can avoid these by considering the technical, legal and cultural framework conditions from the outset.

1. Overbooking and lack of workspaces
If the number of available workstations does not reliably match actual demand, dissatisfaction will arise. You can prevent this with a booking system that shows utilisation rates, allowing you to plan capacity based on real demand.

Tip: You can get a complete overview of utilisation and peak times in PULT's Office Insights.

2. Lack of planning security for employees
Your employees need to be able to rely on their journey to work not being in vain because there is no space available. A binding regulation on booking and use, for example in a works agreement or team guideline, creates certainty here. Then let your team make binding bookings for their preferred workspaces in the PULT desk booking software.

3. Personal belongings and storage
In an office with a clean desk policy, the question arises as to where personal materials such as keyboards, documents or private items can be stored. Lockers, personal rolling containers and personal IT equipment (e.g. laptops with docking stations, headsets) are practical and proven solutions.

4. Lack of quiet areas
Stress levels increase when all work has to be done in a shared open-plan office. With desk sharing, it is important to ensure that employees have access to quiet areas for concentrated work and confidential conversations and phone calls.

When is desk sharing compatible with occupational health and safety?

Whether desk sharing is permissible under labour law depends largely on whether occupational health and safety requirements can be met. The Workplace Ordinance (§ 3a, § 4 ArbStättV) requires, among other things, ergonomic workplaces, regular cleaning, adequate lighting and individually adjustable equipment. These standards must also be met when usage changes.

For you, this means:

Desk sharing only makes sense and is legally viable where workplaces are standardised, fully equipped and can be used without risk, regardless of who uses them.

When are desk sharing and occupational health and safety compatible?

• If the work is predominantly digital, location-independent and physically undemanding, ergonomic standards can be ensured by providing equivalent, standard-compliant equipment at all workstations.
• If all workstations have identical screens, input devices and ergonomic chairs, changing users can work without any health risks. Provided that individual adjustments (e.g. table height, screen distance) are possible.
• If quiet individual workstations, meeting rooms and retreat areas are planned and provided, psychological stress caused by sensory overload or constant reorientation can also be reduced.

When are desk sharing and occupational health and safety incompatible?

• Desk sharing is not well suited for employees with orthopaedic chairs, special screen readers or other adapted technology. They require permanently furnished workstations. These requirements are difficult to reconcile with changing workstations without violating § 3a ArbStättV or § 5 ArbSchG.
• Those who work exclusively in open desk-sharing zones without access to quiet rooms or retreat areas are exposed to increased psychological stress. This may violate the employer's duty of care.
• Workspaces that are used by different people every day must be cleaned and technically inspected on a regular basis. If there are no clear processes in place for this, there is an increased risk of hygiene and safety deficiencies.

Desk sharing can therefore only be operated safely where all occupational health and safety requirements can be monitored and met on a sustainable basis. The decision for or against a desk sharing model should therefore always be part of the risk assessment and not be based solely on space efficiency or cost reasons.

Conclusion: Reconciling desk sharing and labour law in your company

Desk sharing changes the requirements for planning, management and legal diligence with regard to workplaces. If you allocate workplaces in your company on a rotating basis, you are directly interfering with the organisation of work and must comply with the provisions of labour law.

Legal risks do not arise from desk sharing itself, but from implementation without a clear structure. Ergonomically inadequate equipment, a lack of private spaces and unclear booking rules lead to violations of occupational health and safety, co-determination and data protection, often unintentionally.

With PULT, you can lay the foundation for organising desk sharing in a legally compliant and team-friendly manner.

• Workstation booking according to ergonomic criteria using the filter function (height-adjustable desks, multiple monitors, etc.)
• Zone planning with retreat options
• Automated documentation of utilisation, for example for risk assessments or works agreements.
• No conclusions about the work and booking behaviour of individual employees

Office Insights show you how the office is actually used and thus help you with planning.

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Advantages and disadvantages of desk sharing

What are the advantages of desk sharing?

Desk sharing can help you to better organise the workspaces in your office, reduce their number in some cases and thus make more conscious use of the available space than before. This gives you and your team spaces that are better suited to your way of working and have a more modern feel overall.

Fewer desks, more space for employees

If your employees work from home part of the time, desks in the office will be empty. You can therefore reduce the number of desks and have your team share the available workspaces.

This step frees up space that you can make available to your team for other purposes. You can set up quiet zones for concentrated work or areas with rolling tables and movable partitions that work groups can reconfigure for their projects.

👉 According to Fraunhofer IAO, up to 30% less office space for desks is possible if workspaces are distributed intelligently.

You adapt the office to actual behaviour

Attendance fluctuates much more today than it used to. In many teams, employees are in the office two to three days a week, spread across different days of the week.

When you introduce desk sharing, you align your office with these actual usage patterns instead of a rigid full occupancy. This prevents individual spaces, entire offices or seating areas from standing empty and ensures that you can better plan the available space and layout.

Communication between departments improves

When seating is redistributed on a daily basis, colleagues from different teams get to talk to each other. This improves communication in everyday work, especially in areas where information is not only shared in meetings, but also in passing.

These conversations broaden everyone's perspective and increase understanding of each other's work.

You can react more quickly to changes

When you hire new employees or the team structure changes, you don't have to adjust the entire office space every time and you are not tied to a rigid configuration.

With desk sharing, you use the existing workspaces in such a way that everything works even during growth or restructuring. New employees simply fit into the ongoing workflow. There is no need to set up a new desk and hardware for them when they start work.

Keep an eye on office utilisation and the use of workspaces and meeting rooms with Office Insights from PULT. With the figures in front of you, you can react to emerging changes.

You reduce resource consumption

By reducing space requirements, desk sharing can significantly contribute to ensuring that you do not have to move to a larger property as your company grows. You remain in a comparatively smaller space with lower energy requirements, less cleaning and fewer equipment costs.

If more employees work remotely or in a hybrid model at the same time, CO₂ emissions from daily commuting are also reduced. Desk sharing can therefore help to achieve operational sustainability goals without compromising performance.

What are the disadvantages of desk sharing?

Desk sharing leads to problems when more employees come to the office at the same time than there are seats available. If there are no binding booking rules, this can lead to misunderstandings. In addition, the requirements for cleaning and coordination within the team increase.

Lack of available workspaces

If more employees come to the office at the same time than there are seats available, workspaces have to be improvised or some employees have to leave the office and switch to working from home or coworking spaces.

You can avoid this situation entirely by regularly checking capacity utilisation and introducing a reliable booking system. To check this, you can use the desk sharing ratio as a measure of the ratio of your number of employees to the number of workspaces currently available.

No personalisation of the workplace

Desk sharing eliminates the need for a fixed workstation with permanently placed personal items and individual storage space. Even the monitor, desk height and office chair are still set to the previous user's preferences when you start work.

Offer your employees the opportunity to store personal items, work equipment and documents securely. Lockers or lockable rolling containers are ideal for this purpose. This allows employees to continue using their favourite mug and placing family photos on their desk every day.

When purchasing new office equipment, make sure that monitors, chairs and desks are very easy to adjust. Height-adjustable desks are available with quick-select buttons that can be used to select different heights.

Greater organisational effort

Desk sharing only works if the process is clearly regulated. This includes booking systems, definable zones and information about which workstations are available and when. The handling of short-term changes or colleagues who do not show up must also be defined.

The larger your team, the more important it is to have binding desk sharing rules, for example in the form of an internal guideline or works agreement.

Hygiene and equipment requirements increase

If a different person uses the same workstation every day, the cleaning interval must be adjusted. Surfaces, keyboards, mice and chairs need to be cleaned more frequently than with fixed workstations.

The technical equipment must also be suitable for changing users. Height-adjustable chairs, easily positionable monitors and standardised connections (docking stations) are necessary so that every workstation is immediately ready for use, regardless of who is using it.

Irregular personal contact

With changing workstations, it can be more difficult to meet certain colleagues or make arrangements in person. If you can't find anyone in the office with whom you want or need to work, you lose time or postpone upcoming tasks. New employees and cross-location teams in particular need clear information about who is in the office and when.

In PULT, your employees can see where other colleagues are working. This makes it easier for them to sit next to each other. You can also reserve individual areas for specific groups or departments.

Comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of desk sharing

Advantages

• Unoccupied desks are saved when employees also work from home.
• Freed-up space can be redesigned for quiet zones or team areas.
• Office occupancy adapts over time to the actual behaviour of the teams.
• Teams mix more; there is more exchange between departments.
• The number of workstations can be scaled in response to changes without requiring additional space.
• Resource consumption decreases: energy, cleaning, furniture and commuting.

Disadvantages

• Bottlenecks can arise if no booking software is used and more employees come to the office at the same time than there are seats available.
• The workplace must be adjusted daily to suit the individual's height; lockers must be purchased for personal belongings.
• The organisational effort increases: booking, communication and utilisation must be managed.
• Cleaning must be carried out more frequently as workstations are used by different people.
• Spontaneous coordination is limited to digital channels when it is not clear who is in the office and when.

When is desk sharing worthwhile?

Desk sharing is worthwhile if employees already work in a hybrid manner and do not have any specialised requirements for their workplace. Daily use can then be organised with fewer desks without compromising productivity.

The model is less suitable or not suitable at all for activities that require fixed and special equipment or involve confidential conversations at the workplace. Desk sharing also has its limits in teams with a high office presence.

Desk sharing is suitable if...

• Employees regularly work in a hybrid manner: Those who are only in the office two or three days a week do not need a fixed workstation. In such teams, occupancy remains predictable on average.
• Workstations are equipped with standardised equipment: Uniform furniture, monitors, connections and technical requirements ensure that every workstation can be used by anyone without the need for reconfiguration or technical hurdles.
• Tasks can be performed regardless of location: Those who work with a laptop and headset and do not need any special equipment or documents can easily work in different locations.
• Communication is well organised: if it is clear to the team who is in the office and when, coordination works even without fixed seating arrangements.
  

Desk sharing is not suitable if ...

• Employees have special ergonomic or medical requirements. Those who rely on special equipment, such as orthopaedic chairs or individual monitors for image processing, should keep a fixed seat.
• Work is mainly confidential: staff appraisals or other very personal conversations; handling data that must remain confidential.

How can desk sharing be implemented successfully?

Desk sharing is a tool for adapting your office to the actual use and working behaviour of your team. If employees regularly work in a hybrid manner, you can save space by sharing workstations and use this space to benefit your team in other ways.

It is important that you take a structured approach to implementation:

You need clearly defined booking procedures, standardised equipment for each workspace and software that shows you how much your office is being used over time.

With the desk booking software PULT, your team can book workspaces, rooms and zones with a single click. Your employees can see directly which spaces are available, filter by equipment and see where their teammates are already sitting.

At the same time, you can evaluate the office usage data in Office Insights and see which rooms and zones are particularly popular and which ones you can remove or convert.

Tip: Here you will find inspiration for modern office concepts and help with workplace management.

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