What’s Hot About Hot Seating?

Further to our article titled ‘Thriving in Offices with Open Layouts’ this article dwells on the aspect of hot seating, which is often coupled with open office layouts. Hot seating or free seating is the concept of allowing anyone in office to sit anywhere or anywhere in a range of seats and work.

So shared seats, networked printers which require a PIN to take a single print out, working from home and coffee machines instead of kettles are already very much a part of our corporate lives. These come with distinct advantages such as better utilisation of space, reduced costs, better controls and more flexibility for staff, but throw in a few selfish idiots or an office moron and you have had it. (By the way, stay tuned for an article on ‘The Office Moron’ soon.)

Let’s see what sort of behaviour pattern you should adopt to handle hot seating without causing headaches for everyone in office.

• Leave the Fixed Assets

The office may have allocated a set of stationery for each seat, possibly a calendar, a stationery holder, coasters, a calculator, a stapler, some files, sheets of paper and a few pens. These are yours to use while you occupy the seat, but never to take as you vacate. The same theory applies to the chair, the desk, the PC, the cables, the printer, the telephone and scanner which are allocated for that particular seat. I have heard horror stories of how people reported to work and found that the only work station left for them to use had no chair or had a half dismantled PC.

What is at the seat belongs to the company and cannot be removed under any circumstances. If the mouse at your workstation does not work, inform the IT department – do NOT unplug the mouse which is at the next vacant work station and make it your own.

• Lock Up Your Belongings

Did you bring your motor cycle helmet in to the office? It will look great on the side of your desk, right? WRONG! Leave it in the locker space that has been given to you or use a cupboard space in the service area of the office to leave your belongings. At most you can keep your handbag, a side bag, wallet, mobile phone and bottle of water with you at the seat.

• Take Your Stuff Home

Don’t plan to return to the same seat the following day. If your office wants there to be free seating, it means that anyone is free to choose where they want to work from for the day. If you leave your mug, your make up pouch, a pair of extra shoes, your laptop charger or anything else that specifically belongs to you, it could look like you are becoming territorial and ward off others who want to sit there. There is no need to be the wolf of the office that refuses to budge.

• Clean Up After Your Vege Roti Breaks

We love our vege roti and plain tea breaks in Sri Lanka. At Full of Etiquette, we promote good food and regular eating, so we don’t mean to dampen anyone’s foodie vibes at all. In fact, what we say is ‘eat the roti – don’t leave halves, pieces and corners lying around’. No matter how open the office layout is, it is laid out in a closed environment and smells spread. Bring it, eat it and be done with it. Be mindful as you eat and drink at your seat (we would prefer you heading to the lunchroom for this, but occasional snacking at the seat is not completely disallowed in offices), throw the waste in the specified bins, don’t leave uneaten food for long and do NOT leave any stains on the desk. Just imagine taking a seat in the morning and finding oil patches and tea cup smears all over the surface of the desk – yuck!

The rule is – don’t spill, but if you do, please wipe the place clean before you go. Also, don’t leave your empty cup of tea for the other person or the non existent office boy to clear up.

Make hot seating work and work well from your hot seat by following these few simple rules of etiquette and social consciousness. Don’t be an offender and if you see anyone violating these norms, just share the link and ask them to stay tuned to ‘Full of Etiquette’.

Send your questions to us at fullofetiquette@gmail.com and let’s learn and practice etiquette together.