According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development office space per employee is less in Europe, China, and Japan than in the U.S. Currently in the U.S. we average 270 sf of office space per employee. Europe and Asia average less than 210 sf per employee.
This is slowly changing however as more U.S. companies are being influenced by European and Asian companies to reconfigure office and workspace to be more collaborative, team oriented, have more natural light, and with more amenities. In the future we will see more firms averaging 150 to 185 sf of office space per employee.
If using some of the straties below larger firms (those with 50,000 sf or more) could possibly reduce their office space needs by up to 50 percent.
- Hoteling – creating an office environment with reservation based unassigned seating.
- Hot desking – similar to hoteling however the unassigned seats do not need a reservation.
- Work on reducing turnover rates. Companies with less than 10% turnover are able to utilize office space better
- Age of employee – Consider your employees ages. Older employees may prefer more dedicated space than younger ones
- Allow employees to work remotely
