Transition to Desksharing

Answers

• Posted at 12:00AM on Feb 1, 2003

  I have worked with organisations in the UK that have gone through this transition and I am finding more and more that this is starting to be a much more common practice these days. There are a number of different ways in which desk sharing (or hot-desking as we call it in the UK) is being used by organisations. I am not sure which way you are planning to do this, but the approaches I am aware of are:

  1. Agents sit at any desk in their 'team' area and agents on different shifts may use the same team area (because they are in the same team).
  2. Whole teams move to another area of the call centre so that they can be together in an area where there are sufficient available desks.
  3. Agents sit anywhere that a desk is available in the call centre, not necessarily with their team. In some cases, agents even hot-desk within their shift, sitting at a different desk after their break.

  The main advantage of desk sharing cited by agents is that they enjoy the change of scene and mixing with other agents rather than having to sit at the same desk all of the time. This allows them to get to know other members of their team better -- or other agents from other teams, depending upon how the desk sharing is organised.

  For many, though, it has to be said that desk sharing is not a popular working practice. Agents can become very frustrated by not having an 'allocated' desk and having to spend time in finding an available desk for themselves and then adjust the equipment before every shift. Many agents prefer to sit with their team members rather than being scattered through the call centre. In many cases, agents report feeling that they 'did not belong' and that desk sharing was de-personalising. There is also a very strong perception that team working is adversely affected by desksharing.

  I would suggest that the first thing you need to do to set yourself up for a smooth transition is to consult with your agents (and their representatives) before you implement desksharing. Involve them in the decision making process. The sort of questions you need to ask agents are:

  • What type of desk sharing is going to be most suitable not only to meet the business need that is driving you to do this, but also as far as possible takes account of your agents' needs and, importantly, limits any adverse impact on staff? Generally, agents prefer to sit in teams if this is at all possible.
  • What impact is this new working practice going to have on the morale and motivation of staff and what steps need to be taken to overcome this in a positive way?
  • What impact is this new working practice going to have on the health and safety of staff and what procedures need to be put in place to ensure that health and safety are not compromised?

  I appreciate that you have already started to prepare for the change and promote the benefits, but if you haven't already consulted agents I would strongly recommend this -- but only as long as you are able to act on the results!

  Based on my experience, having consulted with staff on the above issues, you are likely to need to consider doing the following:

  1. Find other ways in which agents can 'stamp' their personality on their workspace, perhaps by taking photographs, toys and any other personal belongings with them to their shared desk. Look at what they currently have on their allocated desks and see what type of things can be taken with them.
  2. Provide sufficient and suitable storage space. One of the big issues with desk sharing is that agents no longer have a set of pedestal drawers or other dedicated storage space in which to store reference materials, handbags and other personal items. This means that you need to provide secure storage space such as lockers for personal items and portable storage cases for agents to put their own headset and personal reference materials in so that they can carry them to their shared desks. Such cases should be designed based on agent requirements and suggestions, and you must provide secure storage for the cases themselves! Be careful that the amount of storage space you need because of desk sharing does not negate the benefit of sharing in the first place.
  3. Make disinfectant wipes available so that agents can clean desks, keyboards and other desk equipment as required. Many agents feel that hygiene is a problem when sharing desks so it is vital that they are given the tools to ensure high standards of hygiene are maintained.
  4. Make a time allowance (within 'Rostered Staff Factor') at the beginning of each agent's shift that provides reasonable time to find a desk and adjust the height of the chair/monitor and/or desk to meet their health and safety needs. Some call centres display a short checklist on screen to prompt staff to make the appropriate adjustments as soon as the user logs in - this helps agents remember at the beginning of each shift!
  5. On top of the time allowance mentioned above, you will probably have to come to terms with the fact that you can no longer have shift overlaps (where a new shift logs into the system before the outgoing shift logs out). Again, this should be accounted for in your planning process in 'Rostered Staff Factor.'

  I think these are the main areas of focus - I hope they help!

  The only other couple of things to mention are that you need to:

  1. Ensure that your ACD allows for agent log in and not just position log in - otherwise you may find you do not have sufficient agent log ins
  2. Check that you can fit the required number of people in at peak shift changes.

  I know these last points are perhaps a bit obvious, but I have seen them go unconsidered, with some difficult consequences! Best wishes with your endeavours.

  -- Becky Simpson, Managing Consultant, Improvement Solutions Ltd, UK, and Certified Associate, Incoming Calls Management Institute, Tel. +44 (0) 1926 640787, Fax: +44 (0) 1926 642281, becky@improvementsolutions.co.uk