Overview
Desk lending (also known as reverse hoteling) allows admins and employees to make an assigned desk available for others to book when they’re not in the workplace. By enabling desk lending, teams can make better use of available space without permanently giving up their assignments. For hotel desks, Space Saver can help free up desks that are not checked into by a certain time.
This feature helps increase desk utilization, support flexible work schedules, and reduce the need for additional seating, without changing assignments on the workplace map!
This article explains how admins can enable Desk lending. Are you an employee wanting to use this feature? See our How to lend your desk article!
How to enable
Navigate to Resources > Desks
Settings > and scroll down to Desk lending.Toggle Desk lending to On
Employees with permanently assigned desks will now see the option to lend their desk on the Schedule page of the web dashboard.
Lending desks on behalf of employees
While employees can proactively lend their own desks, admins can also lend desks on their behalf. This is especially useful for employees on extended leave who don't have access to their Envoy dashboard.
To lend a desk:
Navigate to the Live Map. Navigate to a future date using the date picker.
You cannot lend desks for the current date.
Select the desk you want to lend by clicking on it.
Remember, you can only lend desks that are permanently assigned to an employee. Shared desks are not eligible.
Click More > Lend desk for others to book.
By default, the current day will be selected for lending. To include more days, click into the date line and use the calendar modal to add more.
Click Lend desk to confirm.
The desk will be updated on the live map and will be available for booking.
FAQ
Can an employee reclaim their desk?
In most cases, yes, employees can reclaim their desks, even if they have been reserved by someone else. For same-day changes, desks can not be reclaimed if someone has already checked in to the lent desk.
Can I lend multiple desks at a time?
No, you can only lend one assigned desk at a time. If you have seating arrangements that change often, it might be better to use Neighborhoods or Shared desks to organize employees. Desk lending is intended to assist when employees are traveling to another office or on PTO, not as an ongoing tool for managing dynamic assignments.