How to utilize office space more efficiently
In these days of remote work, rising building costs and electricity prices, many companies are rethinking their office space.
Do they need as much space as they have?
Should they get rid of their office entirely and let everyone work from home?
These are good questions, but there are other ways to utilize your office space more efficiently that don't involve getting rid of it entirely. Let's take a look at a few ideas.
Activity-based working. Activity-based working (ABW) is an approach that focuses on the activities employees need to do rather than where they need to do them. This type of workspace is designed to support the various activities that need to take place throughout the day, such as individual work, team meetings, and informal collaboration. ABW can be implemented in a number of ways, such as using open plan layouts, creating dedicated spaces for specific activities, or providing mobile workstations that can be moved around as needed. If you want to take a look at some options for activity-based working, Empire’s Office Planner will help you plan your optimal activity-based office. It will tell you what you need, based on data and research-based quality criteria, all to help you create an activity-based office to increase productivity and wellbeing.
Meeting room redistribution. For most companies, there is a mismatch between the needs for meeting rooms, and availability of them. This can lead to employees not being able to find a meeting room when it’s needed, or a low utilization which means that energy and building resources are wasted. The balance is hard to reach, but it is possible. Using utilization data, it is possible to reach this balance. Note that it does not always require massive rebuilds to see massive improvements.
Reduce or reuse underutilized space. Most office space has a low utilization, commonly around 30-35% measured during work hours. We believe that this is due to poor planning and a lack of good planning tools and data. By planning and building office space according to how it is actually used, you can both have a reduction in space and an increase in employee satisfaction.
Flexible working hours. Flexible working hours is another way to make better use of your office space. If employees are allowed to choose when they come into the office, you'll find that there are times when the office is less crowded and there's more space available. By also measuring peak times, employees can adjust accordingly, knowing that there will be more people during certain times than others.
There are many ways to utilize office space more efficiently without getting rid of your office entirely. Activity-based working, flexible working hours and looking at redistribution or rebuilding of underutilized space are all great ways to make better use of your existing space. Implementing even one of these ideas can help you save money and make better use of your office space.
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