Office space, along with functionality, is crucial to a business or organization’s success. As businesses or organizations experience growth, planning additional office space and the utilization of that space becomes even more crucial. Space is required for new employees, temporary hires, and even volunteers. And that space has to be developed in way that allow for maximum function and collaboration.
Employees who frequently work together need to remain in close proximity for greatest effectiveness. Every office needs pleasant common areas as well as conference spaces which cultivate motivation, positivity, and satisfaction. On top of employee considerations, optimum office space planning requires your business or organization adhere to building codes and follow regulations governing your space including compliance with employee accommodation and accessibility laws.
In addition, planning ideal office space requires management input to ensure both employee and client needs are met. In doing so, you will gain maximum efficiency while staying ahead of your organizational growth. As you plan intelligently for growth, you should consider both a redesign as well as additional office space and determine what is best for you, your team, your clients, and your business. While adding more space, always seems attractive, an office redesign may be just as effective and more economically feasible saving you both time and money.
Keep in mind that management input will nearly always have employees requesting private office space and promising they will be more productive and successful with it. It is also important to remember that your will have as many opinions as the number of employees you ask, so utilize those responses as opinions while seeking the expert guidance of professionals (designers, builders, etc.) to help you define your new (or redesigned) office space.
Steps to Achieve Optimum Space Planning
Examine Your Current Staff – Is there adequate space for your current employees? Are there managers operating without office space?
Determine Your Projected Staff Needs – Project your organizational growth for the coming years. Consider your growth based on current growth patterns as well as project growth based on new projects and marketing efforts. Depending on the size of your organization, you may need to do this for each department. A two year projection is usually sufficient unless you are contemplating a large addition to your current space.
Review Your Projected Staff Needs – Once your projects are in place, determine how many of these new employees will require private offices, cubicles, or other workstations.
Access Needs Based on Current Workforce and Projected Staff – With the influx of new hires, will everyone have the needed access to common areas, conference rooms, storage, break/lunch rooms, and restrooms?
Consider Others’ Successful Office Planning Strategies – What successes and/or failures have you seen among competitors/colleagues? Could their strategies work for your organization? As you consider these strategies, what will work best for you? An addition to your current building? Redesign your current space? Move to new space? A build up? Rental Space and a Buildout? Build a new space?
As you calculate the amount of space needed, it is imperative that you consider not only offices, cubicles, and work stations, but also shared spaces. Today, one of the biggest debates in office space planning is the need for offices versus open space with cubicles which can be reconfigured to meet changing needs in a business or organization.
When you need expert guidance or advice for planning your optimum office space, call on the professionals at Perillo Construction. They are well-versed and can help you determine needed office area, as well as the best layout for private, collaborative, and public spaces in your design.