hot-desking
verbal phrase

- the practice of using any available desk in an office rather than having your own desk

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

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PHRASE ORIGIN

“Hot-desking” is one of several business terms which were brought into common use in the 1990's to describe a new set of working practices. The phrase is believed to have originated from the old naval practices of "hot bunking" in which shifts of sailors shared limited bunk space for sleeping. This expression stems from the idea of a bunk remaining "hot" after someone has slept in it.

Hot-desking is also known as "location independent working," where workers do not have their own desks, but are allocated workspace according to their needs. It can be refined to mean the sharing of a desk/seat/workstation arrangement by more than one member of staff.

This type of arrangement enables employers with workers who do not have overlapping shifts or staff who are frequently out of the office to make better use of the available resources. This system of working is also well suited to firms with workers who are frequently out of the office, for example sales people who are mostly on the road, so that space within the office does not have to be allocated for them permanently.

Some workers dislike the impersonal nature of hot-desking — no family pictures or or other memorabilia — for many others though, the economics are clear and they enjoy the flexibility of home-working.

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MORE HOT IDIOMS

1. strike while the iron is hot = man muss das Eisen schmieden, solange es heiß ist [We should strike while the iron is hot and expand into the new market.]

2. hot under the collar = aufgebracht, aufgeregt [The manager got hot under the collar when the deadline was missed.]

3. hot potato = heißes Eisen [That issue is a political hot potato that we should avoid.]

4. hot off the press = druckfrisch [The magazine hot off the press will hit newsstands tomorrow.]

5. hot ticket = begehrter Artikel [As the hottest new gadget, it's sure to be a hot ticket this holiday season.]

6. too hot to handle = zu heikel, um es anzufassen; zu behandeln, bearbeiten, bewältigen [With the controversy swirling, that topic is too hot to handle right now.]

7. hot stuff = großartig, erstklassig [As the top salesperson, she is really hot stuff in the company.]

8. hot on the heels of = dicht auf den Fersen [Our new product launch comes hot on the heels of our competitor's release.]

9. hot air = leeres Gerede [All his big promises turned out to be just hot air in the end.]

10. hot seat = Schusslinie [The CEO was in the hot seat during the shareholder Q&A session.]

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation, say something like:

"HOT-DESKING works best in companies where a lot of staff are out of the office at any given time, either home-working, or visiting customers.”

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THANKS to Chris for suggesting today's phrase!

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