Modular Pedestals in Jayanagar: Personal Storage for Shared Desks

The moment an office stops giving every person their own permanent desk, the pedestal has to change. A pedestal under a shared desk cannot hold anyone’s personal belongings, because the next person will be sitting there tomorrow. Yet people still have belongings, and if there is nowhere to put them they end up in bags under desks, which is untidy, insecure and a trip hazard.

This is a solved problem, but it requires deciding deliberately rather than reusing the standard desk pedestal.

Separate the two kinds of storage

Shared-desk working splits storage into two categories that used to be combined:

Shared desk storage. Items that belong to the desk, not the person: a spare cable, stationery, a headset if provided. This can be a simple unlocked drawer, or nothing at all.

Personal storage. Items that belong to the person regardless of where they sit: a bag, a laptop when not in use, personal effects, documents in progress. This must be lockable, assigned, and located somewhere the person can reach without occupying a desk.

Trying to satisfy the second requirement with a pedestal under a hot desk does not work, because the person does not know which desk they will have.

Three arrangements that work

Mobile personal pedestal. Each person is assigned a lockable mobile pedestal which they wheel to whichever desk they occupy. Elegant in principle; in practice it means pedestals circulating around the floor, and it only works if there is a defined parking bay for them.

Fixed locker bank. A bank of lockable compartments in a defined location, one per person. Simplest to manage, and it keeps the desk field clear. The compartment needs to be large enough for a bag and a laptop — 400 mm wide × 450 mm deep × 400 mm high is a realistic minimum.

Hybrid. A locker bank for daily personal storage, plus unassigned pedestals at each desk for the working day. This is the arrangement that suits most offices.

Locking that can actually be managed

The lock is the operational problem, not the furniture problem. Options:

• Keyed locks, assigned. Simple, cheap, and someone must administer keys. Expect losses and budget for replacement cylinders.
• Combination locks, user-set. No key administration; users forget codes and you need a master override.
• Electronic / card locks. Best experience, highest cost, and they need power and management.

Whatever you choose, specify a master override and record who holds it. A locker bank with no override becomes a set of permanently sealed boxes the first time somebody leaves without emptying theirs.

Pedestal specification for shared use

A pedestal used by different people every day sees more wear than a personal one — more open-and-close cycles, less care, and no individual ownership. That argues for over-specifying the hardware rather than the finish:

• Full-extension ball-bearing slides rated well above expected load
• Anti-tip interlock, since users are unfamiliar with the unit
• Impact-resistant edge banding, because pedestals get kicked
• Lockable castors, so the unit stays where it was left

Jayanagar workplaces

Jayanagar’s office stock includes a good number of professional practices, service businesses and back-office operations working shift patterns or part-time schedules — precisely the conditions where desk sharing is efficient. The furniture consequence is often overlooked in those offices because the change to shift working happens gradually rather than as a fit-out decision.

If your desk-to-headcount ratio has drifted below 1:1 without anyone re-planning storage, that is worth revisiting.

Talk to us about the ratio

Tell us your headcount, your desk count and your shift pattern, and we will propose a storage arrangement. We manufacture pedestals and locker banks at our own Bommanahalli workshop. Call +91 98860 03777 or email info@srirangainterior.com.