Space optimization is the same arithmetic as space planning read in the other direction: planning works forward from a headcount to the floor it needs, and optimization works backward from the attendance to what the floor could be. Office space optimization in numbers is three figures: the desks the busiest day leaves spare, the sharing ratio the attendance supports, and the days a week the existing desks could carry under a hybrid rule. How to optimize office space is therefore a question of measuring first, and this guide is the three figures worked on this site's example, what workplace optimization changes once they are known, and where it stops, which is at the layout, the furniture and the lease, none of which this hub does.
The desks the busiest day leaves spare
140 desks, 126 people in on the busiest day: 14 desks spare, at this attendance pattern and before any policy changes it. That is the honest surplus, the desks that could be released without anyone standing on the worst day, and it is smaller than the average suggests, because 84 in on an average day would read as 56 spare. Space optimization that starts from the average releases desks the busiest day needs; the space utilization worksheet works both from your own counts.
The ratio the attendance supports
126 at peak from 180 assigned is 7 desks per 10 people. Fed into the office space per person worksheet, that ratio is what turns a measured attendance into a smaller floor: 120 people at 7 per 10 is 84 desks and 10,425 square feet on the worked allowances, against 120 desks and 14,265 square feet at a desk each. The ratio is the biggest lever in office space optimization and the only one the attendance decides; the area per desk and the allowances stay the organisation's own.
The days the desks could support
Under a hybrid rule the third figure is how many days a week the existing desks could carry: 120 desks times five over 180 people is 3.33 days, spread perfectly, and a three-day rule fits only if the days are named to spread the load, because 70% clustering on one day takes that day to 158.4 against 120 desks. The return to office policy template works it from your headcount, days, desks and clustering; naming the days is the cheapest workplace optimization there is.
Where workplace optimization stops
At the layout, the furniture and the lease. Which desks go where, what the floor looks like and how the space is finished are the office design question, and this hub works the numbers under a layout without drawing it. Rent, the lease and the landlord are property's. HardFM works the three figures free from your own counts and keeps the counts, the desks and the inventory in the paid plan for $24 a month for the whole team; the decisions the figures support are the manager's.
Questions people ask about space optimization
How do I optimize office space?
Measure the attendance first, then read three figures from it: the desks the busiest day leaves spare, the sharing ratio the attendance supports, and the days a week the desks could carry under a hybrid rule. The worksheets on this site work all three free from your own counts.
How many desks can I release?
Desks less the busiest-day attendance, not desks less the average. On the worked example 140 desks with 126 at peak leaves 14 spare; the average of 84 would wrongly suggest 56.
Does space optimization mean a new layout?
Not on this hub. The numbers under a layout are worked here; the layout, the furniture and the finishes are the office design question, and the lease is property's.