Walls no longer confine work, and the hybrid workplace is here to stay. A Gartner survey predicts that 39% of the global workforce will work hybrid by the end of 2023 — up from 37% in 2022.
Many employees want to spend at least part of their time working in the office to collaborate in person with their colleagues, reserve a quiet place to concentrate, and take advantage of on-site amenities. Managing a hybrid workplace brings new challenges, including space optimization.
How do you maximize office space while also allowing employees the flexibility to work remotely part-time? There are no easy answers, but here are a few recommendations.
What is space optimization?
Simply put, space optimization is making the most of all the available office real estate you have and using it to support a positive employee experience while reducing waste and minimizing costs. The goal of space optimization isn’t just to increase the number of employees per square foot but to ensure each space is being used the way it’s intended.
5 strategies to improve space optimization in the hybrid workplace
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Establish a baseline occupancy target to determine office space per employee
While different employee roles and functions require different types of space to be productive, it’s good to have some general guidelines.
Start by considering your average occupancy percentage before the pandemic or before you transitioned to a hybrid workplace. How much space did you have per employee at that time? If you don’t know, look at recommended industry averages.
Commercial real estate website Squarefoot also offers a handy space calculator.
Consider how employees’ needs might differ depending on your industry and their department and roles. Your legal team will likely need more private office space for closed-door meetings and review of confidential documents. In contrast, your marketing team will want more open areas for brainstorming and collaboration.
If you plan to continue having assigned desks, you probably won’t need one for every employee. Determine which employees can share desks based on how often they intend to be in the office — or consider implementing office hoteling.
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Establish a remote work policy
While each department may have its own guidelines for when employees work remotely and how they use your hybrid workplace, company-wide expectations help create clarity, transparency, and understanding. Decide what values are most important, not just for team morale and productivity but also when it comes to planning and optimizing your space.
Set clear parameters around when teams will meet in person, when they are expected to meet with clients in person, and when fully remote employees will be expected to attend company events.
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Survey employees to determine how often they plan to use the office
Ask employees to consider all aspects of remote and in-office work and give them the flexibility to decide on their hybrid work schedule.
Questions to ask employees include:
- How many days each week do you plan to be in the office?
- During what hours do you plan to spend most of your time in the office?
- How do you feel about attending meetings when you are not physically present?
- How will you take the initiative to remain involved in office activities?
- Have you discussed how often, if at all, you can travel back to your department’s primary worksite?
- How will you feel if your travel is limited once or twice yearly?
- What type of meeting space and amenities do you need when meeting with clients in person?
As you consider employees’ needs, don’t forget about their belongings. You might need to add shelves, closet space, or intelligent lockers to help employees keep valuable items secure.
Intelligent locker systems are ideal for a workplace with desk hoteling because they can be reserved, assigned, and reassigned by any employee throughout the day.
Understanding the employee’s needs and expectations helps you optimize your space accordingly. It also enables you to analyze, test, and implement tools to streamline space reservations/claims.
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Use a desk booking system
As you give employees more flexibility to choose when they come into the office, you need a way to manage seating while ensuring space optimization.
A desk booking system gives you a more structured way to manage your space and resources. Desk booking allows your employees to reserve space in advance, helping your facilities team update your workplace based on the number of employees who plan to be there. It also helps you monitor space utilization trends over time to better design your future space needs.
One of many considerations for desk booking is creating a welcoming and productive workspace for most people. It’s common for facilities managers to plan their booking strategies by thinking about the average day. How many people are typically in the office? What resources do they need? This narrow planning may create problems later. Instead of preparing for a reasonable scenario, think of the worst case.
Consider your peak demand; how many desks will you need if everyone shows up? Desk booking software gives you analytics and data regarding usage and timing. You can use this and prepare around that number.
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Make smart, multi-purpose furniture and surface choices
Your workspace is more than computers, desks, and tables. After overcoming a global pandemic, we all learned to adapt and pay attention to our surroundings to create the best environment to thrive. Look around your office space for innovative ways to use your current assets.
Use whiteboard paint on the walls in brainstorming or meeting rooms. Buildings.com, an industry news source for facilities and space managers, offers these and other tips for optimizing your space.
Furniture also plays a role in creating a space that can host a board meeting in the morning and be subdivided into smaller team meeting rooms later in the day using mobile walls or dividers that double as whiteboards. Use smaller desks or tables that can be rearranged Tetris-style to create differently sized spaces, change the energy or mood, and make the most of your area.
Use space management software to optimize your hybrid workplace
Space management software helps you visualize all your spaces, track utilization, and reconfigure your floor plans.
You can see a graphic representation of your floorplans overlaid with real-time data on desk and space reservations, giving you the ability to make strategic, data-driven decisions.
The right space management software will provide you with a sense of control and understanding of your facilities from a global perspective, helping you create short and long-term strategies while avoiding paying rent on unoccupied space. Understanding how your space is used and creating a space that serves your employees will lead to better employee productivity, boosting the bottom line while minimizing costs.
Just because your employees are scattered, your office space organization doesn’t have to be. Tour Eptura’s space management software and find the tools to improve space optimization in your hybrid workplace.
By Jonathan Davis
Jonathan writes about asset management, maintenance software, and SaaS solutions in his role as a digital content creator at Eptura. He covers trends across industries, including fleet, manufacturing, healthcare, and hospitality, with a focus on delivering thought leadership with actionable insights. Earlier in his career, he wrote textbooks, edited NPC dialogue for video games, and taught English as a foreign language. He hold a master's degree in journalism.
