Creating an inspiring workplace with effective Space Utilization

Most companies today strive on improving the utilization of work and reduce expenses. But before you can begin optimizing your workspace, you need to understand your current utilization. Efficient space utilization is critical as today’s workforce is increasingly mobile and implementing work-from-home, or even remote working.

Therefore, space utilization metrics can be very useful. If you’re tracking the wrong data, it can’t help you make the best possible use of space. Tracking space utilization will allow you to have an insight and design a highly efficient and productive workspace and RentCubo is one of the best on-demand software and mobile app development companies that can help you with optimized space utilization.

Space Utilization

Space utilization can be simply defined as how often space is used, who uses it and why it is being used. A well-managed workspace will allow employees to focus and collaborate effectively with each other. And in the same way, wherever space is not utilized it is difficult for employees to concentrate on their work. So, an effective space utilization strategy is important if you are looking for long term growth. 

Importance of optimized space utilization

The overestimation of space occupancy is a grave mistake most companies tend to make. But if they know how much space is required it can help them greatly in reducing cost. The space optimization analysis can provide them with the insight they can use for their existing space and maintain efficiency.

For this, you need to outline peak occupancy and vacancy rate to improve office operations. According to studies in the majority of organizations, 30% to 40% of space is underutilized. This means companies are overspending than required in office space.

New space utilization metrics

Modern companies have moved to track cost-per-person as it enables more useful options for space utilization metrics. Consider space cost per person as metrics, it will provide the required data to optimize the space more effectively. This also helps create a floor plan and control cost within a workspace.

Also, the account should be taken where many workers are part-timers and remote workers. As there is a culture-building up for co-working space, people prefer working in co-working space rather than traditional offices. 

Using shared workstations instead of dedicated work stations for each employee will allow optimum utilization of space and help in getting rid of unutilized space. This also helps in reducing the cost-per-person by almost half. In an agile work environment, every additional space-utilization is tracked as metrics to reduce cost per person.

Daily peak utilization

This metric tracks the maximum number of people coming into a particular space on any given day.

Average peak utilization

It is the average peak usage of space over a specific period of time. It can also help you determine if you have enough seats to accommodate your average demand.

Frequency of peaks

This number tells you how many times you reach your peak utilization over a period of time. This can be very helpful in understanding the frequency and if there is maximum utilization of space. It also indicates you to acquire more space so as to accommodate more people if need be.

Benefits with modern space utilization metrics:

Adopting better space utilization metrics is all about making your building work better for you and your employee. 

Using space efficiently

When you track the more useful space utilization, you will come to know your requirement in order for your workspace to become more fully utilized, so you do not see any empty desks as you know exactly how many people on an average basis will come and occupy the space.

Eliminates move costs

When every person is attached to a desk they barely use, a great deal of money is spent unnecessarily to accommodate business requests for more space every time they increase headcount. But there is a great possibility that there are people who are hardly utilizing their dedicated desk as they spend most of their time outside the office. So by optimizing the space utilization these costs are greatly reduced.

Helps co-working space manage space utilization

By getting the average peak utilization, you can easily know the expected number of people to come for a given period of time. So, there is no need to increase desks for hot desks or dedicated desk till your frequency of peak is showing increment. As if there is a frequent requirement for more desks you need to simply have more desks added or dedicated desks added based on the type of rush you are receiving.

As for co-working space, people from different backgrounds come, such as thinkers and creative people may need isolated space, but a young entrepreneur may need to frequently meet with team members, so their space utilization will be different. Therefore, based on the crowd a co-working space can utilize their space more intelligently.

Encourages collaboration and innovation

The working environment may often have activity-based working spaces that are designed for a particular type of work an employee needs to perform on that day; for example, it could be training sessions for a group of employees, conference rooms for team meetings, video conferencing for people from different locations, isolated places for thinkers and creative team, etc. Space will boost efficiency and productivity since employees can choose the space according to their need and the task they need to perform. This helps improve collaboration and improve innovation among employees.