A Practical Hot Desking Policy Template (5 Simple Etiquette Rules)

A hot desking policy is a short set of rules for how employees book, use, and clear shared desks in an office where seats are not permanently assigned.

When companies try to build a hot desking policy (or desk sharing), they typically run into a few big issues:

• Employees don’t come to the office because they don’t know if there’s an available desk for them or who else will be there;
• People monopolize desk space by leaving food or personal items;
• The office can get hectic, with meetings and loud phone calls everywhere.

Fortunately, a few simple etiquette guidelines can help you avoid these issues and still take advantage of hot desking’s benefits like increased flexibility and more efficient office space usage.

Desk sharing is now standard practice. In CBRE’s 2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights, 69% of organizations said more than 40% of their people share desks, and none reported a one-desk-per-employee target. The same study put the global occupancy rate at 111%, which means companies now assign more people to a building than it has seats. A clear policy is what keeps that setup working.

Below, you can find a hot desking policy template with 5 of these rules, which you can start using today.

We’ll also discuss a few essential things your company must do, before trying out hot desking (or hybrid work, in general).

5 simple rules of etiquette for hot desking

• Rule #1: Reserve a desk in advance.
• Rule #2: Keep personal items on desks only during work hours.
• Rule #3: Be mindful of colleagues before starting meetings or long phone calls.
• Rule #4: Take your lunch in the kitchen (or another designated area) and don’t keep food on the desks.
• Rule #5: Protect your and your colleagues’ health.

We’ve purposefully left these rules broad, so you can tailor them to your needs and add employee responsibilities that are specific to your workspace.

Rule #1: Reserve a desk in advance

Again, one of the biggest issues with hot desking is that people don’t know in advance if there will be space for them in the office, especially if there aren’t enough desks for all employees. That’s why we believe desk hoteling is a better alternative for your employees.

Desk hoteling involves a proper reservation system, meaning you can reserve a specific desk and all team members can see that it’s taken. On the other hand, hot desking is reservation-less seating, meaning almost no one is permanently assigned a desk. That can’t work well if you’re making it mandatory for employees to come back to the office.

The best choice is to get an easy-to-use hot desking system, show employees how to use it, and ask them to reserve a desk before coming to the office. It’s important to note that the modern desk booking systems are so much nicer and easier to use than the previous generations which makes the overall experience so much better for people.

For more info on desk booking tools, check out our article on the best desk booking apps for 2026.

Booking ahead matters most on busy days. In CBRE’s 2026 data, 73% of organizations said Tuesday has the highest attendance, with Monday and Friday far quieter, so midweek is when desks run short. OfficeRnD Workplace is desk and meeting room booking software that lets employees reserve a seat, see who else is coming in, and gives facilities teams the occupancy data to size the office to real demand.

Rule #2: Keep personal items on desks only during work hours

Leaving food, laptops, and other personal belongings on desks is a classic way of monopolizing them. It’s hard to sit at a desk that’s full of other people’s stuff, so if this behavior is left unchecked, the whole hot desking experiment can go astray.

Also, make sure to remind people not to leave documents containing personal information on shared desks. Leaving those around for everyone to see can lead to massive issues, both for the employee and the company. Enforcing this rule is a lot easier if you have lockers or a storage area where employees can leave personal belongings.

And here’s more info on the most popular office seating arrangements.

Rule #3: Be mindful of colleagues around you before starting meetings or long phone calls

When you’re switching desks often, it’s easy to forget that people around you perform different tasks and have various requirements. That’s why the office can easily become hectic – one person starts talking loudly, others follow suit and before long you can’t hear your thoughts.

While it might be useful to implement more specific rules (like booking a room for meetings or brainstorming sessions), just asking people to be mindful can do a lot of good. Plus, it’s a good idea to have fewer strict rules, so people still have some freedom to choose how they work.

More info on that is in our extensive hot desking guide.

Rule #4: Take your lunch in the kitchen (or another designated area) and don’t keep food on the desks

Bad smells and greasy desks are more than enough reasons for implementing this rule. However, there are even bigger problems with eating at your desk like the lack of movement and workday balance.

Most people still skip a real break. In ezCater’s 2025 Lunch Report, only 35% of employees said they take a lunch break away from their desk every day, and 51% said they skip lunch at least once a week. Eating away from a shared desk keeps food off surfaces the next person will use and gives you an actual break from work.

There’s a lot of research on this topic, which points to the same conclusion – everyone should take their lunch breaks away from their desks. So, by implementing this rule, you ensure there’s no food lying around on shared desks and promote a healthier routine for your employees. It’s a win-win for everyone.

It’s not a surprise that sanitary wipes and hand sanitizers are among the most important hot desking accessories to have in your office.

Rule #5: Protect your and your colleagues’ health

Different people use the same desk throughout the week, so basic hygiene helps keep everyone comfortable and reduces sick days. Both the company and employees have a part to play.

Here are two specific things you can do:

• Provide antibacterial wipes and request that employees clean their desks at the end of the workday.
• Ask anyone who feels unwell to work from home and book a desk on a different day, rather than coming in and sharing a seat.

The specifics depend on your business and local health guidance. The point is to make people feel safe and remind them that small habits, like wiping a desk before they leave, protect everyone and support overall hygiene.

The same rules and tips apply if you decide to implement activity-based working as opposed to hot desking.

Hot desking policy guide

A policy only works if people actually know it exists. The rules above won’t change much if they’re sitting in an email someone skimmed once on their first day. The goal is to keep the policy somewhere people can find it the moment they need it, like when they’re booking a desk or wondering where to take a long call.

That’s one of the reasons we built a How To Guides section into OfficeRnD Workplace. You upload your hot desking policy as a guide, and it shows up for every employee right inside the app they already use to book desks and rooms. New hires see it from day one.

When you change a rule, everyone gets the current version instead of an old PDF that’s been passed around in chat for months. You can keep separate guides for different topics too, so your desk etiquette sits next to whatever else people need to know about the office.

It also takes some pressure off managers. Instead of answering the same questions about food at desks or end-of-day cleanup over and over, you point people to the guide once and let them check it themselves.

How many desks do you need for hot desking?

There’s no single right ratio. It depends on how often your team comes in. Start by counting how many people show up on your busiest day, usually midweek, then add a small buffer.

CBRE’s 2026 data is a useful benchmark: 48% of organizations target a sharing ratio between 1.01 and 1.49 people per desk, up from 21% in 2024, and none aim for one desk per employee. (CBRE, 2026). So if 60 people come in on a peak Wednesday, plan for around 60 desks plus a few spares, not one desk for every name on the payroll.

If you’d rather not work this out by hand, we built a free office space calculator that does the peak-day math for you. You put in your team size, how many days a week people come in, and your desk sharing ratio, and it tells you how many desks you need, how much floor space that adds up to, and what you could save once your desk count matches your busiest day.

It has two modes: one for teams sizing a new office or setting a hybrid policy from scratch, and one for teams who already have an office and want to see whether they’re paying for desks nobody uses. It’s free, and you can download the result as a PDF.

Booking and occupancy data make this easier to tune over time. Some tools now use that data to suggest which day to come in or to flag desks that are rarely used, so you can adjust the ratio with evidence instead of guesses. OfficeRnD’s workplace management software reports on how desks and rooms actually get used.

Company responsibilities

The rules above only work if the company holds up its end first. Here’s what to sort out before you start.

• Document health and safety

Write down your workplace safety measures, from cleaning routines to how many people can be in at once. A documented policy is the first thing to put in place.

• Get the right technology

Keep one place where everyone can see and book desks and meeting rooms. A spreadsheet can work at first (an Excel meeting room booking template or an MS Excel hot desking template), but as you grow you’ll want proper booking software that shows floor plans and stops double bookings. Friction here makes people resent coming in, so pick a tool that fits your current tech stack.

• Communicate the policy clearly

Put it in writing, share it before the change, and give people one place to ask questions. Written guidelines are now one of the two most common parts of a hybrid program, alongside booking technology (CBRE, 2026).

• Keep people comfortable

Invest in ergonomic office furniture so the workplace is somewhere people want to work.

• Start small

Don’t overwhelm everyone with a 50-page rulebook. Begin with the basics, watch what happens, and adapt. Once you’re settled, you can group desks into office neighborhoods to support collaboration. For more, see our guide to office hoteling policy.

FAQ

What is a hot desking policy?

A hot desking policy is a short set of rules for how employees book, use, and clear shared desks in an office where seats aren’t permanently assigned. It usually covers booking, desk use, food, end-of-day cleanup, and what to do when someone feels unwell.

What should a hot desking policy include?

At a minimum: how to book a desk, how long you can hold one, where to keep personal items, where to take calls and eat, and an end-of-day clear-desk and wipe-down step. Add anything specific to your office, like locker use or quiet zones.

Is hot desking the same as desk hoteling?

No. Hot desking is first come, first served with no reservation. Desk hoteling lets people reserve a specific desk in advance, which works better when attendance is mandatory. See our guide on hot desking vs desk hoteling.

How many desks do you need per employee?

It depends on attendance, not headcount. In CBRE’s 2026 data, most organizations target 1.01 to 1.49 people per desk, and none aim for one desk per employee. Count your busiest midweek day, then add a small buffer.

How do you stop people from monopolizing desks?

Use a clear-desk rule at the end of each day, give people lockers for personal items, and set booking limits so no one holds a desk they aren’t using. Booking data also shows who reserves a desk and doesn’t show up.

Is hot desking still common in 2026?

Yes. CBRE’s 2026 study found desk sharing is now standard, with 69% of organizations reporting that more than 40% of their people share desks and none targeting one desk per employee (CBRE, 2026).