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Why Workplace Space Management Can Make or Break Your Hybrid Office

24 March 2023

HubStar

Workplace space management can turn a hybrid office into the place to be, even under a landslide of pressures.

Multiple hybrid work schedules, sky-high employee expectations of the office, shrinking budgets and steadily dwindling corporate real estate portfolios are all weighing down workplace leaders as they figure out how to make the office experience worth the morning commute.

This task is no walk in the park. If people are going to come into the office, they’d better get the best possible work experience out of it.

When office space isn’t up to snuff, people won’t come back.

But when it exceeds their expectations, the office gets its spark back, occupancy rates go up, and your CFO flashes you a beaming smile and thumbs up from across the room.

Here’s why workplace space management is so important for a hybrid office that gives every employee a 10/10 workplace experience.

What is workplace space management?

Workplace space management is the measurement, classification and continuous optimization of all physical space that a company occupies.

The objective of workplace space management is giving every employee the best possible workplace experience while keeping costs low and efficiency high.

Think of space management in terms of supply and demand.

Supply is the space available for employees to work in. Demand is what employees need and want from the workplace, and how they’re occupying it right now.

Workplace space management is the process of measuring that supply and making sure it’s meeting demand.

Why the hybrid office has reinvented space management

Hybrid work has shaken up the ratio of employees to the workspaces they occupy. This is the single biggest thing hybrid has changed about the way office spaces need to be managed.

Back in BC (before COVID), each employee occupied one workspace – an occupancy ratio of 1:1. Whereas today, multiple employees are occupying the same workspace at different times and for different reasons – an occupancy ratio of at least 2:1.

That means more people with different work schedules, habits and preferences are all occupying the same space. And that space needs to give each person the best possible work experience.

Throw in the overall reduction of office real estate and available square feet into the equation, and you have more employees to serve in multiple ways with less space.

To manage hybrid offices effectively, space management needs to be reinvented.

How?

By integrating and accommodating lots of different occupancy ratios, hybrid work schedules and optimal workplace experiences into the space management process.

What are the benefits of workplace space management?

  • Efficient use of office space from continuously optimizing overused and underused workspaces
  • Reduced costs and carbon emissions from cutting back on needless energy consumption and facilities management services 
  • Better office functionality since all workspaces are classified by purpose, making adjustments easier
  • Better space planning, since space management gives a solid foundation from which to plan and configure workspaces in the future.
  • The best possible hybrid workplace experience, since office layout, design and functionality are shaped around what different employee groups need and want from the office.  

Essential elements of effective hybrid workplace space management

Here are the key building blocks of space management for a hybrid office:

What are the steps to hybrid workplace space management?

Hybrid work is constantly evolving. That means your space management should be too.

Make sure your space management process follows these steps so your hybrid office meets everyone’s needs:

  1. Measure total office space down to the square inch by pulling in up-to-date floor plans.
  2. Classify each workspace. For example, workstation, meeting room, reception area, hallway, and so on.
  3. Identify usable space. Employees can work in a lounge area, so this would be a usable space. They can’t work in a hallway, so this would be unusable space.
  4. Subtract usable space from total space. This tells you how much office space you have to work with, as well as the loss factor, which is the area’s unusable space. Your loss factor tells you how efficient a building or floor is at a high level, helps you make effective space planning decisions and helps CRE teams decide which areas to cut from the real estate portfolio.
  5. Bring in employee hybrid occupancy profiles. For this, you’ll need to group employees by how and when they use the office. For example, you could have three different occupancy profiles – employees who come in twice a week, employees who come in every day, and employees who come in infrequently with no set schedule.
  6. Classify each workspace by hybrid occupancy profile. If 60% of the workforce comes in twice a week, classify a proportionate amount of individual workstations as schedulable, for example.
  7. Assign employees to spaces. Rather than assigning one person to one workspace, you could be assigning three groups to the same shareable workspace.
  8. Optimize. Focus on maximizing occupancy ratios, so each workspace can accommodate multiple employees without sacrificing productivity or comfort. For example, you could optimize a group of directly assigned workstations by making them schedulable. Or you could optimize a floor by replacing an underused workstation with a printer.

(Psst… optimizing workspaces so they do more with less space is where cost savings from more efficient use of space enter the picture)

With Hubstar, hybrid offices deliver a better workplace experience, even with less space.

Hubstar’s space management and planning software gives you the insights and analysis you need to manage hybrid office space, so employees keep coming back for more.

HubStar

24 March 2023

Share this post

"HubStar enabled us to save millions in operating costs while not only avoiding disruption, but improving employee experience."

Fortune 500

Global Real Estate Lead @ Fortune 500 Company

"We will not make any meaningful real estate and workplace decisions without HubStar data."

Fortune 500

Global Real Estate Lead @ Fortune 500 Company

"HubStar allows us to see how space is being used and occupied, and helps us predict the space we’ll need going forward."

donna-porter

Donna Porter

Senior Space Manager @ Sheffield Hallam University

"Team were very happy! Implementation was great. We were up and running in days."

gavel_88dp_FFFFFF

Law Practice

"Perfect fit. The application works very well, and the support given has been exceptional. This was originally required for desk booking, but the business quickly took to the system and have been requesting further functionality since."

oil_barrel_300dp_FFFFFF

Application Analyst @ Oil & Energy Company

"Brilliant solution for managing office space. We've been able to be proactive and intentional about making our office space work."

5-3

Commercial Director @ Technology & Services Company

"Would 100% recommended. Our account manager is by far the best and most approachable person I've met on any contract I've worked on. Nothings is too much. They always have the answer and help make the changes we need and want. Having this type of customer service really makes a difference."

groups_300dp_FFFFFF

Facilities Manager @ Civic & Social Organization

"Support response and attention to detail is exceptional. Highly recommend as very good value for the investment. Staff find it easy to use and integration to Microsoft Outlook is great. Support is excellent."

volunteer_activism_300dp_FFFFFF

ICT Manager @ Nonprofit Organization

"What we've found most useful is the ability to customise the system to suit our needs. The rules and policy engine have allowed us to build in desk and room booking processes to communicate well with our team, and manage the space in our building."

5-3

Commercial Director @ Technology & Services Company

"The standout features are it’s clean and simple interface, ability to integrate with Outlook and the simple way it can be deployed to the display screens outside our rooms, not to mention the high level of support that’s provided with the product."

AEU

Evan Henderson

IT Officer @ AEU Victoria

"User-friendly interface, real-time reservations, and effective resource management improve productivity and space use. I use it everyday."

engineering_300dp_FFFFFF

Civil Engineering Company

"Very adaptable, highly featured and easy to use. I like the ability to address our very detailed requirements in a quick implementation with a modern, attractive user interface."

diamond_300dp_FFFFFF

Luxury Goods & Jewellery Company

"My favourite feature is the Outlook integration, as it enables our staff to book meetings in a familiar way. The bookings are automatically transferred without any extra steps for the end user."

AEU

Evan Henderson

IT Officer @ AEU Victoria

"The system was so intuitive, we really didn’t need to give people a lot of training."

Russell-Group

Jeremy Wilson

Operations Manager @ Russell Group University

"The reporting has been brilliant."

Russell-Group

Jeremy Wilson

Operations Manager @ Russell Group University

"Employees need to be able to collaborate closely, working in one room. The office environment needs to align with this seamlessly. What that means for us is that we need to measure usage and occupancy rates and adjust the workspaces accordingly as needed."

Mark-van-Rijt

Mark van Rijt

Managing Director of Facility Management @ ABN AMRO Bank

"HubStar has removed so much admin from my daily to-do list. These days I only spend about an hour a week, covering six offices and 800 staff members. Before I was spending an hour a day messaging people back and forth! This means the system has cut the time I have to spend on managing bookings by 80%."

tristan-drinkwater

Tristan Drinkwater

Facilities & IT Services Manager @ Exertis

"There’s a tremendous range of reports that we use to measure capacity levels."

Russell-Group

Jeremy Wilson

Operations Manager @ Russell Group University

"HubStar allows us to see how space is being used and occupied, and helps us predict the space we’ll need going forward."

donna-porter

Donna Porter

Senior Space Manager @ Sheffield Hallam University

"The experience that users now have using HubStar is absolutely fantastic. The implementation went smoothly and our staff find the system really easy to use. The support I’ve had is phenomenal - incredibly knowledgeable about the product and so helpful. They’re second to none"

tristan-drinkwater

Tristan Drinkwater

Facilities & IT Services Manager @ Exertis

"With the single push of a button, my team gains insight into spaces that are consistently underutilised and how many ‘no-shows’ have taken place"

wur-350x350-1

Fred Jonker

Information Services Policy Officer @ Wageningen University & Research

"I’d absolutely recommend HubStar. If someone asked me why, I’d say it simply does everything you need it to do. The feature set is rich and covers all the requirements that most organisations are likely to have."

tristan-drinkwater

Tristan Drinkwater

Facilities & IT Services Manager @ Exertis

"HubStar enabled us to save millions in operating costs while not only avoiding disruption, but improving employee experience."

Fortune 500

Global Real Estate Lead @ Fortune 500 Company

"We will not make any meaningful real estate and workplace decisions without HubStar data."

Fortune 500

Global Real Estate Lead @ Fortune 500 Company

"HubStar allows us to see how space is being used and occupied, and helps us predict the space we’ll need going forward."

donna-porter

Donna Porter

Senior Space Manager @ Sheffield Hallam University

"Team were very happy! Implementation was great. We were up and running in days."

gavel_88dp_FFFFFF

Law Practice

"Perfect fit. The application works very well, and the support given has been exceptional. This was originally required for desk booking, but the business quickly took to the system and have been requesting further functionality since."

oil_barrel_300dp_FFFFFF

Application Analyst @ Oil & Energy Company

"Brilliant solution for managing office space. We've been able to be proactive and intentional about making our office space work."

5-3

Commercial Director @ Technology & Services Company

"Would 100% recommended. Our account manager is by far the best and most approachable person I've met on any contract I've worked on. Nothings is too much. They always have the answer and help make the changes we need and want. Having this type of customer service really makes a difference."

groups_300dp_FFFFFF

Facilities Manager @ Civic & Social Organization

"Support response and attention to detail is exceptional. Highly recommend as very good value for the investment. Staff find it easy to use and integration to Microsoft Outlook is great. Support is excellent."

volunteer_activism_300dp_FFFFFF

ICT Manager @ Nonprofit Organization

"What we've found most useful is the ability to customise the system to suit our needs. The rules and policy engine have allowed us to build in desk and room booking processes to communicate well with our team, and manage the space in our building."

5-3

Commercial Director @ Technology & Services Company

"The standout features are it’s clean and simple interface, ability to integrate with Outlook and the simple way it can be deployed to the display screens outside our rooms, not to mention the high level of support that’s provided with the product."

AEU

Evan Henderson

IT Officer @ AEU Victoria

"User-friendly interface, real-time reservations, and effective resource management improve productivity and space use. I use it everyday."

engineering_300dp_FFFFFF

Civil Engineering Company

"Very adaptable, highly featured and easy to use. I like the ability to address our very detailed requirements in a quick implementation with a modern, attractive user interface."

diamond_300dp_FFFFFF

Luxury Goods & Jewellery Company

"My favourite feature is the Outlook integration, as it enables our staff to book meetings in a familiar way. The bookings are automatically transferred without any extra steps for the end user."

AEU

Evan Henderson

IT Officer @ AEU Victoria

"The system was so intuitive, we really didn’t need to give people a lot of training."

Russell-Group

Jeremy Wilson

Operations Manager @ Russell Group University

"The reporting has been brilliant."

Russell-Group

Jeremy Wilson

Operations Manager @ Russell Group University

"Employees need to be able to collaborate closely, working in one room. The office environment needs to align with this seamlessly. What that means for us is that we need to measure usage and occupancy rates and adjust the workspaces accordingly as needed."

Mark-van-Rijt

Mark van Rijt

Managing Director of Facility Management @ ABN AMRO Bank

"HubStar has removed so much admin from my daily to-do list. These days I only spend about an hour a week, covering six offices and 800 staff members. Before I was spending an hour a day messaging people back and forth! This means the system has cut the time I have to spend on managing bookings by 80%."

tristan-drinkwater

Tristan Drinkwater

Facilities & IT Services Manager @ Exertis

"There’s a tremendous range of reports that we use to measure capacity levels."

Russell-Group

Jeremy Wilson

Operations Manager @ Russell Group University

"HubStar allows us to see how space is being used and occupied, and helps us predict the space we’ll need going forward."

donna-porter

Donna Porter

Senior Space Manager @ Sheffield Hallam University

"The experience that users now have using HubStar is absolutely fantastic. The implementation went smoothly and our staff find the system really easy to use. The support I’ve had is phenomenal - incredibly knowledgeable about the product and so helpful. They’re second to none"

tristan-drinkwater

Tristan Drinkwater

Facilities & IT Services Manager @ Exertis

"With the single push of a button, my team gains insight into spaces that are consistently underutilised and how many ‘no-shows’ have taken place"

wur-350x350-1

Fred Jonker

Information Services Policy Officer @ Wageningen University & Research

"I’d absolutely recommend HubStar. If someone asked me why, I’d say it simply does everything you need it to do. The feature set is rich and covers all the requirements that most organisations are likely to have."

tristan-drinkwater

Tristan Drinkwater

Facilities & IT Services Manager @ Exertis