Does it feel like no matter what you do, you can't find the right amount of space for your team?
Some days, it might seem like your office is too big. Other days, it might be too small to fit everyone and host all the meetings that are taking place.
If this hits home, this article is for you. In it, we’ll help you understand how to make your office space work better for you and your team, and how to optimize business spend without compromising the capacity of your people to work together efficiently.
Office space optimization in a hybrid world
Office space is one of the most expensive resources for businesses. For companies requiring everyone to come to the office full time, it’s easy to know exactly how much space they need, and either rent a bigger office or a smaller one, depending on their plans for growth or downsizing.
However, given that in the US, 58% of office workers are working remotely at least a part of the time, this calculation is far from simple for many businesses.
And, if you’re managing a hybrid workplace, you know all too well: Sometimes, all the available space you have is used at full capacity and tons of great ideas come out of all the conversations that are happening in the office; at other times, it sits frustratingly empty and unused.
So, what can you do to make better use of it and make sure you’re making good business decisions the next time your lease is up? You need to learn how to optimize your office space – which is exactly what we’ll guide you through today.
In this guide, we'll go through a step-by-step process for optimizing your team's office habits and maximizing the value of the space you’re renting.
Why take the time to optimize your office space? The benefits of office space optimization
Before we move on to the how, let’s first focus on the why, or the advantages of office space planning. Here’s why optimizing office space is worth your time and efforts:
Cost savings
The first and most obvious benefit of optimizing office space is saving money on overhead costs.
If you’re paying for square footage that’s often sitting empty, that’s clearly a waste of resources. By renting only what you actually need, you can reduce the cost of your lease and make sure you’re getting a good return on your investment.
Maybe you feel that you need more space on specific days or during busy periods, but by making the effort to optimize the space you have available, you might find out that it’s fully sufficient – or, if it isn’t, make smart choices that enable you to stay flexible.
Improved productivity
When you set up your office the right way, your people will be able to get more done. Having enough quiet areas for focused work and properly equipped meeting rooms means no one’s wasting time looking for a place to settle in or talk with others. You also need to make sure that your office layout is logical and easy to navigate.
Better collaboration
When people can work with each other in a comfortable setting, they’re more likely to be productive and engaged – and have conversations that spark ideas or solve problems on the spot.
Having spaces where team members can catch up, without necessarily needing to book a room, makes collaboration feel simple and natural.
And, of course, providing sufficient space for more formal or bigger meetings enables teams to use their time in the office effectively and work better together.
Employee happiness
No one likes feeling cramped or commuting to an empty office. By making sure your space fits the number of people actually in it, you create a more comfortable environment for everyone.
How can you achieve that easily?
The easiest way is to use an app like Officely that enables your employees to book a desk directly from Slack or Microsoft Teams – and also see when their favorite coworkers will be in the office.
Improved efficiency
An efficient space organization means things are where they need to be, and it’s easy for your team to book desks and find what they need once they get to the office. Tracking attendance metrics enables you to see how your employees use your space and what are the things you need more, or less, of.
By cutting out the hassle of looking for space or equipment, you’re helping everyone stay focused on their work.
These improvements in efficiency make your entire organization more flexible and agile, and able to adapt faster to changes.
How to optimize office space utilization to improve savings and satisfaction
So, how exactly do you optimize the space you have?
On one hand, you need to give everyone the space they need to think and work. On the other, you need to make sure your office isn’t sitting empty too often.
One thing is clear: You cannot optimize office space at the expense of your employees and their comfort and well-being. Rather, you need to look into usage patterns and see what makes the most sense for everyone at your company, and for your business as a whole.
Let’s see what this process might look like.
1. Identify areas that are over- and underused
Start by figuring out which areas of your office are always in use and which ones tend to stay empty. You can use desk booking and attendance visibility software like Officely to track this.
Once you know how your people use your office, you’ll be able to start making adjustments and repurpose different spaces to better fit their needs.
which spaces are being used well and which aren’t, you can start making adjustments, like converting underused rooms into areas that better serve your team’s needs.
Here’s how you can identify usage patterns:
- Use attendance visibility software to monitor desk and room usage
- Talk to your team to see what they think of your current office layout and how it could be improved
- Observe the way people use the office – sometimes, nothing beats direct observation and simply seeing how people interact with the space and equipment
- Review meeting room booking data to see which spaces are most in demand
2. Make spaces more comfortable for work
To improve productivity and motivate people to come to the office, you need to ensure the space you provide is comfortable.
That means having the right furniture, like ergonomic chairs and adjustable sitting/standing desks, and managing noise levels in different areas. Comfy break rooms where people could chill or catch up are definitely a nice addition to any office, and many employees would love to be able to bring their pets to work.
Here’s how to make your office space more comfortable and inviting:
- Create silent zones for focused work and areas for collaboration; consider using a white noise machine
- Add soundproof booths for video calls, especially for client-facing roles where distractions and background noise should be minimal
- Ideally, get an office that gets lots of natural light during the day – but if that’s not possible, ensure it’s well-lit
- Plants add a nice touch to any office space, but make sure someone actually takes care of them (nothing kills the vibe like dying plants)
- Consider making your office pet-friendly
3. Increase visibility and organize events to encourage in-person work
Global office attendance is down by 30%, compared to pre-pandemic levels; some companies made the choice to downsize their offices considerably, but others haven’t made this choice yet, or aren’t willing to – and are struggling to get people to come to the office more often.
If coworkers can see who’s in the office on a given day, they’ll be more likely to come in. An app that offers attendance visibility solves this challenge and helps coworkers coordinate meetings and office time. A desk booking system also means that people won’t commute to an office that’s already full and where they won’t be able to work.
Another way to boost attendance is to host team events regularly, be it workshops, book clubs, or board game nights. Officely helps you organize all this and let your team members know when each event is taking place.
Things you can do to encourage in-person attendance:
- Use an app that enables employees not just to book desks but also to know who else is coming to the office on any given day
- Organize formal and informal team events regularly, including lunches, workshops, board game nights, and more
4. Get employees’ feedback (and act on it)
Your team knows best what works for them and what doesn’t, so ask for their feedback. Find out which areas they love and or which ones they rarely use. Ask employees what they’d like more of or what would help them be more efficient and feel better in the office.
And, once you gather feedback, act on it. This way, you’ll be able to create a space your people will actually want to use.
How to get employees’ feedback:
- Use surveys with multiple-choice and open questions to see how your people feel about your office space
- Give them a way to provide feedback anonymously, as well
- Use polls in Slack or Microsoft Teams to get their feedback regularly
- Talk to people – not everything can be captured by a survey or a poll
- Act quickly on easy-to-fix issues, like moving desks or adding a quiet room
- Give a timeline for bigger changes (and stick to it)
5. Keep track of usage metrics and change things as necessary
Optimizing your office isn’t a one-time job.
Keep an eye on how your space is used by tracking resource utilization metrics like room bookings, desk occupancy, and attendance trends, to see whether the changes you’re making do actually lead to the results you’re after. Talk to people regularly to see if the office’s layout fits them.
Your team’s needs will change with time, so don’t be afraid to make changes whenever you notice something is no longer working for them.
How to track metrics and optimize your space continuously:
- Regularly review data from your desk and room booking app
- Analyze attendance trends to update the office’s layout as needed
- Involve your team in the decision-making process
- If you notice that your space isn’t used efficiently, you can also consider scaling down
Let’s optimize your workplace layout together
Office space is a precious and expensive resource that you must manage effectively. To make the most of it and optimize spend, you need a system that enables you to see how your space is actually used – and make sure it fits your employees’ needs. This helps you avoid spending money on space that you don’t actually use and reinvest your resources elsewhere.
Officely enables you to manage your office space and resources more efficiently, and lets your people book desks and rooms with a few clicks only, all in Slack or Teams – and see when’s the best time to come to the office.
To find out more about the future of work and how flexible spaces can help you be more efficient and boost employee happiness, check out our eBook, Our Flexible Future.
And, if you’re ready to improve the way your office space is used – and make sure it doesn’t get overcrowded or sit half empty – book a free demo to see how easy it is do just that, if you have the right software at hand.
.svg)