Designing an effective office space for a given number of employees is a key aspect of any workplace management plan.
This task falls primarily to facilities managers or other workplace professionals, who must consider both current and future needs in order to create a productive layout. In the past, the 3-30-300 rule and other guidelines were often used to determine space requirements.
However, the rise of hybrid work, remote work, and other new models has made these approaches less applicable. To design a modern office floor plan that meets the needs of a hybrid workforce, it is essential to gather and analyze the right metrics. In this post, we will examine how to approach the challenge of designing office space in the current hybrid reality.
Determining the appropriate amount of office space for each employee involves taking into consideration their specific work environment and how they use the space.
For example, an employee in an open office will have different needs than someone working in a shared workspace. The type of work environment, such as agile or activity-based, also plays a role in determining the optimal office layout and density.
It is important to not only understand how employees are currently using the office, but also to anticipate any future changes in space needs. Simply using an office space calculator may not be sufficient to accurately gauge the necessary square footage for your workforce. Instead, a more comprehensive approach is necessary to effectively manage office space.
In the past, managing office space and employee needs was relatively straightforward due to the traditional office setting where employees had assigned desks and a stable number of people using the office.
Facility managers (FMs) would use the 3-30-300 rule, which states that on average, companies spend $3 in utilities, $30 in rent, and $300 in payroll per square foot per year, to optimize productivity and control costs.
However, with the rise of remote and hybrid work, this rule has a blind spot as it does not take into account the impact of flexible work arrangements on productivity.
As a result, FMs and space planners now face the challenge of optimizing office space for the hybrid workplace, where some employees work remotely full-time, others have a hybrid schedule, and some still prefer to work in the office. To effectively plan for this new office setting, FMs and space planners will need a new strategy supported by workplace analytics to make the most of their usable square footage.
At Steerpath, we have a solution. Our solution allows your employees to plan their remote and local working days.
This makes it easy to collaborate with your team. This helps increase office attendance by up to 25%.
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