Remote work and office space reduction: what are the real gains?

Expert

The basic premise: sharing workstations to redistribute surface area for the benefit of collaborative spaces
The low utilization of work environments before the crisis is to be qualified: it is mainly the workstations that are not occupied, while meeting rooms are often perceived as being undersized. The deployment of teleworking is transforming the way we work: the time allocated to individual work is decreasing on average by 10%, or even 20% for some profiles. The objective of job sharing is to rebalance the allocation of individual space to the benefit of collaborative space to best meet the needs of the users.

Scenario 1: Less than two days for all
In this scenario, the gain in surface area is only guaranteed if it is accompanied by a real transformation of work modes transcribed in activity-based environments with sharing rates that were, before the crisis, perceived as quite ambitious (between 6 and 7 traditional workstations for every 10 employees). In these scenarios, the gain in surface area is not automatic for three reasons. First of all, tomorrow we will come to the office to be better than at home: this often requires de-densifying the workstations. Secondly, we will come to the office to work collaboratively: this means creating new spaces. Finally, telecommuting is not spread evenly throughout the week: this requires anticipating peaks in occupancy.

Scenario 2: Two to three days for all
This is the trend scenario. On average, employees want between two and three days of remote work. Meeting their expectations will result in gains of 20 to 40% of the floor space. These gains exclude common areas in buildings that may be incompressible. In these scenarios, coming to the office can still be relatively free. Similarly, the notion of team territory can still function with more porosity. SmartWorkplace tools facilitate daily operations and employee buy-in.

Scenario 3: More than three days for everyone
This extreme scenario allows for 40% or more of the floor space. It requires a complete rethink of the "good reasons" for coming to the office: the norm is telecommuting and coming is anticipated (to participate in meetings, team rituals, etc.). The ratio of space (open/closed; work/meeting) is reversed and poses a number of technical challenges to buildings. The digital dimension is essential to manage these new spaces.

These three scenarios have different levels of acceptability depending on the maturity of telework, the ability to work remotely, the corporate culture and finally the evaluation of the gains and risks for the organization.

Release date: February 2021