Smart Strategies and Tips that Make a Difference to Your Space. Now and For the Future.

Things are rarely static in business, and that includes the physical layout of your office. Employees may even notice some symptoms of outgrown space before it’s visible, like the feeling that desks and cubicles are a little too closely spaced, corridors seem too narrow, or there are never enough available meeting rooms.

If this sounds familiar, you might be wondering if it’s just time to rearrange or if a redesign is the only practical solution. Here, we’ll take a closer look at what it means to your business when space is outgrown, how to accommodate growth now and plan for the future, and some ways to buy time before a full remodel, if necessary.

Why Organizations Outgrow Their Space

There are plenty of reasons and ways you may outgrow your space. And while that may sound like a good problem to have, it’s still a problem. Predictors of outgrowing your space include:

• Adding a new department, service, or program.
• Acquiring staff from another organization.
• Implementing a return-to-office initiative that requires more workstations.
• Expanding staff across departments.
• Reception areas are overflowing due to increased client and visitor volume.
• Operations slow down, or tasks are skipped because the space doesn’t support them or the needed equipment.

Familiar Growing Pains in Office Layouts

Even if your office appears organized and functional at first glance, that doesn’t guarantee there is truly enough space. Whether it’s a general feeling of frustration your staff experiences or an obvious physical lack of space for work, a too-small office eventually affects morale, productivity, and potentially your business’s bottom line.

In our experience at Office Basics, these are the most common pain points we’ve seen:

• Uncomfortably close quarters, a lack of privacy, or not enough room at one’s desk to get work done.
• Meetings are put off or continually rescheduled due to a lack of convenient or available meeting space.
• Not enough chairs or reception space for visitors and clients.
• Insufficient storage that results in supplies or personal items spilling into spaces and furniture needed for workers.
• Creating workarounds when space is not allocated appropriately for various tasks, such as storing files on the floor, filling extra cubicles with extra computer equipment, or backtracking around banks of cubicles to get to the copier.
• Some staff or departments notice the lack of space more acutely or sooner than others. This can lead to different opinions and levels of urgency about needed changes.
• Uncertainty about how much more space is really needed or what physical changes would solve the problem.

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Now and Later: Forecasting Your Space Needs

While you can’t predict the future with total accuracy, you can still think comprehensively about how your organization uses its office space to make valid predictions. Consider these points to make as accurate a forecast as possible:

1. Count. Get an accurate, current headcount of all employees.
2. Estimate. Note future headcount benchmarks at points over the next one to five years, looking at organizational goals and hiring plans.
3. Consider occupancy rates. The peak daily attendance over a 1-2 week period is a fairly reliable maximum for planning purposes; however, look for nuance. Is everyone there full-time? How do part-timers’ schedules overlap or diverge? How many hybrid workers do you have versus those fully on-site? How will these amounts change over time?
4. Remember visitors. Think about how often you have visitors (clients, guests, vendors, etc.) and the typical number of people who visit at one time.
5. Get familiar with space benchmarks. Your staff may prefer more or less square footage for different areas based on their work and how each space will be used. Just don’t underestimate the need for personal space and privacy throughout the workday.
6. Don’t skimp on shared spaces. As your headcount or peak occupancy increases, so does your need for open and closed shared spaces in different sizes.
7. Be mindful of ADA requirements (for employees and visitors). This is especially important for the widths of hallways and aisles, cubicle and office square footage, and open space around tables.
8. Map out tasks. Tasks like assembling mailings, sorting files, giving presentations, making copies, or brainstorming on a whiteboard usually need a physical buffer zone for safety, sound management, and comfort.

Guidelines for Space Allocation

This table contains rules of thumb, but remember that the numbers and circumstances you determined in the section above are the best guide for your specific space and team.

Always consider dimensions of tables, chairs, desks, and furnishings, as well as circulation space around them and “breathing room” for personal comfort.

Furnishings for Form and Function

Defining and Distributing Shared Spaces

How many conference rooms or shared workspaces your office needs, as well as the size of each, is highly specific to the type of work being done and the size of the organization.

For example, if most employees work independently or meet individually with clients in their offices, a single conference room and a small collaborative table area may suffice. In contrast, if teams and small groups meet frequently or spontaneously, having access to multiple meeting rooms of different sizes is probably a better organizational fit.

Here are some starting points:

• Aim for half of your meeting spaces to be small conference rooms or tables, large enough to seat 5 to 6 people comfortably. Wall-hung or movable partitions can be used to turn a larger conference room into two smaller ones.
• Larger conference rooms seat up to about 12. Consider how often you have meetings of this size and whether they always require a formal room, or if moving tables and chairs as needed is acceptable.
• In offices where small groups collaborate or brainstorm often, devote about a third of shared spaces to huddle rooms. These are a smart and pleasant alternative to squeezing in cubicles or the break room.
• While a large boardroom or training space looks impressive and can seat 15 to 20 people or more, be sure you require this much space regularly. Alternatively, a multipurpose room outfitted with mobile furnishings and moving glass walls may be a more flexible and utilitarian alternative.

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Other Factors That Affect Space Needs

There are also factors that are not directly related to your headcount, but are still impacted as your business expands. As your organization grows and changes, you’ll likely need more space to store supplies, house additional equipment, and welcome and meet with more clients or visitors.

For example, more employees often means more computers, more IT support staff, and a larger place for servers and electronic equipment. More people in the office also means more foot traffic and a greater variety of routes and ample space for passing in common areas and break rooms.

Because of these factors, and to account for unpredictable changes in your business, the market, or the world, it’s smart to increase square footage estimates by about 10% to 20% when possible.

Getting By With Temporary Strategies

Sometimes it’s clear you’ve outgrown your space, but timing or resources preclude a full redesign or major remodel. Fortunately, there are still many effective ways to make your office layout more functional until you’re able to make bigger, permanent changes. Ideas include:

• Room dividers. Hanging vertical partitions easily divide large spaces on demand for privacy and sound control or to define and contain zones.
• Separate with intention. Group workstations into multiple clusters, logically by task or by relative noise volume, to break up high-density seating or disruptions.
• Add a reception area. Even a small space that’s clearly designated for visitors creates a welcoming atmosphere and helps separate public-facing from more “back office” areas. If space permits, sofas or armchairs flanked with plants create the illusion of a separate room.
• Rightsize furnishings. Determine if you have more workstations or other furnishings than you really need based on your peak occupancy analysis, then remove any extras to reclaim floor space.
• Control sound. Adding floor mats, soft furnishings, or curtains to absorb and dampen sound in loud or open areas has a significant effect on the atmosphere.
• Try pods. Set up one or two pods for sustained independent work or phone calls that require privacy.
• Engineer foot traffic. Observe general traffic patterns through the office for a few days, then look for ways to improve the flow. Can busy corridors and walkways be adjusted logically or widened for better efficiency? Avoid diverting traffic through areas designated for quiet work.
• Declutter. Keep flat surfaces uncluttered, so they are readily available without having to relocate papers, boxes, or other items first. This is also a great first step in assessing your storage situation.
• Schedule spaces. Use scheduling or booking software to reserve conference rooms and meeting spaces, both for meetings and as flex and project spaces. Honoring scheduled blocks of time is the key to maximizing use in spaces like these.

Another advantage of this approach is that it gives you a lower-stakes way to test out partitions, movable or modular furnishings, or open floor plans before committing large amounts of money to new systems or setups.

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Business on the Grow? Don’t React. Plan Smart Starting Now.

When you’re surrounded by a space that’s not working, you probably know it. But good solutions are much harder to visualize from that vantage point. That’s why having an experienced team like Office Basics on your side can help. We’ll assess your space and biggest challenges, brainstorm options with you, and find a solution that’s functional and flexible for now and the future.

Schedule your consultation today, and get ready to grow.

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