Most hybrid offices end up with a mix rather than a policy of one or the other. People who are in five days a week, or who need fixed specialist equipment, keep a dedicated desk. Everyone else shares a pool booked per day. The mix is usually where the argument happens, because a dedicated desk sitting empty three days a week is the most expensive seat in the building.
The honest way to settle it is with attendance data rather than seniority. A dedicated desk is justified by how often it is actually used, and that figure is only available if the shared desks are booked and checked into. See hot desking for the opposite arrangement, and desk reservation for how shared seats are held.
HybridHero supports both: assign an asset to a specific user so it never enters the bookable pool, or leave it shared. See desk booking.
Common questions
How do you decide who keeps a dedicated desk?+
By attendance rather than grade. The defensible rule is a threshold, for example four days a week or more, applied consistently and reviewed each quarter against actual check-in data. Handing them out by seniority is what makes the policy impossible to defend later.
Should everyone have a dedicated desk?+
Only where attendance justifies it. A dedicated desk used two days a week costs the same as one used five, which is the calculation utilisation data makes visible.
Can a workplace mix dedicated and shared desks?+
Yes, and most do. Specific desks can be assigned to individuals while the rest stay in the bookable pool.