Employee returns from maternity leave to find coworker using her personalized desk despite several designated hot desks, plans to confront him: ‘Does he just work there [with photos of me and my baby] smiling at him?!’

Author image for Celeste Mello
Celeste Mello • Writer and Editor
Jul 14, 2026 3:15 PM EDT

An office desk may belong to a company, but once someone works there every day, it becomes more than a piece of wood and a monitor. Employees personalize their workstation as they please. They adjust the chair, put their personal belongings on it, organize their notebooks, and bring plants or family photos. So, walking in to find someone else using your desk can definitely feel intrusive. 

Especially when the company has several designated workstations available, there's no need for a coworker to steal your desk when you are away. It's your personal space, and everyone has an established space. Visiting employees are supposed to use the available hot desks, but a coworker in today's story seems to have a strong preference for a woman's personal desk. He changes the height of the standing desk, uses her equipment, and moves her papers. And it's not the first time that she's found her belongings moved again. Reasonably, she's getting tired of this recurring situation.  

What's even worse is that, after her maternity leave, she displayed photos of her and her baby in her workstation, which made the space feel a lot more personal. And do you think he stopped using her space? Well, no. He continued setting up there, and he didn't seem to care to be looking at her baby's face while working. It's understandable that she feels uncomfortable with this. 

Now she clearly needs to have a conversation with him. Some people treat silence as permission, so it's time to set a clear boundary. He won't stop doing it without a clear message from her side. It doesn't need to be a dramatic confrontation; just a simple, kind message setting a workplace boundary in a shared office should be enough. 

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  • Woman working at her personalized desk, illustrating an employee returning from maternity leave to find her workstation occupied.
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    Woman working at her personalized desk, illustrating an employee returning from maternity leave to find her workstation occupied.

    People shown are models.

  • WIBTAH for asking my colleague to stop using my desk as his ‘hot desk’ when I am absent?

    I work in an open plan office but we all have our own spaces. They're personalised, some of us have got plants, little trinkets, memes, pictures of family. You get it. We know where we all live around here.
    via preggersandhungy
  • However, for people coming in to work from other sites, we have several designated hot desks available.
    via preggersandhungy
  • But this guy has always used MY desk as his hot desk if I am away. He uses my equipment and leaves the desk at a different height, usually standing. It's annoying as f and I've caught him there a few times if I've come late from a meeting and he's just
    via preggersandhungy
  • assumed I'm away so he's set up shop. It's been pretty obvious in the past how irritated I am having to wait for him to get his sh and go to the actual hot desk literally less than 3 metres away.
    via preggersandhungy
  • Now I'm back from maternity leave so I've got all my cutie fave photos of my and my kid tacked up around my space. I like seeing his face and it brightens my day.
    via preggersandhungy
  • Today I came into the office after attending a work event, and he'd been hot desking in my space again. He'd moved before I got back, and he was sitting in
    via preggersandhungy
  • A carefully organized workspace with a computer and personal accessories, representing the employee’s personalized desk after maternity leave.
    via Unsplash+ (Huy Phan)

    A carefully organized workspace with a computer and personal accessories, representing the employee's personalized desk after maternity leave.
    This is a recreated scene.

  • the actual hot desk, but he had left my desk at standing height and all my sh (notebook, papers, etc) was moved.
    via preggersandhungy
  • You guys, what the f ? Am I being unreasonable wanting this guy to stop sitting at my desk? Now I've got photos of my baby and me right there, does he just work there with us photos of me and baby smiling at him?! I like to work at my space thinking
    via preggersandhungy
  • it's just mine but I feel this guy is just absolutely taking the, especially when there is a) an actual hot desk, SEVERAL EVEN! b) he does not do this to anyone else's desk JUST MINE! and c) I've got me and my baby's face there?!
    via preggersandhungy
  • WIBTAH if I tell him to stop using my desk as his secret personal hot desk?! Or do I just FYI my manager that it's happening and get him to talk to desk jockey's team leader (ie delegate the delivery, avoid being the messenger)?
    via preggersandhungy
  • A coworker taking over an employee's desk while she's on maternity leave.
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    A coworker taking over an employee's desk while she's on maternity leave.

    Subjects are models.

  • EDIT: I am awake! Sorry I've got a baby and went to bed. I'll be sending an email next week to tell this guy to not use my gold in desk and if he gets bent out of shape about it I'll escalate.
    via preggersandhungy
  • Know_It_Not NTA tbh if I were you Id tell your manager that it's a little weird that he only does it to your desk
    via Know_It_Not
  • kiwimuz NTA. It is your designated desk and not a hot desk. Time to escalate this as he is deliberately doing this knowing it is annoying you and knowing that there is already a hot desk available he can use.
    via kiwimuz
  • is_it_worth_itt NTA. It's your personal space, they should respect that. He's invading your privacy.
    via is_it_worth_itt
  • ProfessionalCat7640 NTA - Have you tried having a direct conversation with him? Not just, "Wow, you're here? This is my desk..." but more, "Hi, I have noticed you at my desk and I think there may be a misunderstanding and I would like to make sure we are all on the same page because this is invading my designated workplace" kind of talk? If that didn't work, I would then tell my manager.
    via ProfessionalCat7640
  • Tricky Parsnip 6843 I would.start.with a sign taped to the monitors when you leave. "NOT A HOT DESK"
    via Tricky_Parsnip_6843
  • suggeationsplease Just because you're visibly irritated when you get to your office and have to wait for him to move, that doesn't mean he knows you hate him using it when you're not there. As a first step, I suggest you ask him nicely to stop using your desk. If he does it again, then send him an email and copy in your line manager
    via suggeationsplease

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workplace-stories maternity leave hot desk coworkers reddit story Office workplace
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