The end of the Humble Desk: Employees need space to Collaborate more than they need desks !
Nicolas BEHBAHANI
Global People Analytics & HR Data Leader - People & Culture | Strategical People Analytics Design
?? The global workplace utilization is less than 30 percent - about half the pre-pandemic level - If we look at it another way, this means that more than 70% of desks are free during the week !
?? Highly publicized discussions about RTO mandates failed to move the needle.
?? Global office utilization rates continue to be highest midweek, with Mondays and especially Fridays showing far lower workplace utilization.
?? In practice, many workers spent their days shifting among conference rooms, lounge space, private offices, and coffee areas.
? Half of the desks in offices are utilized for less than one hour per day !
Conference rooms and smaller enclosed meeting areas are occupied during 67 percent of the workday, according to a new interesting research published by XY Sense using data ?? from +34,000 office spaces, 9 countries.
?Less than 30% of office utilization per week !
Researchers noticed that the average global office utilization is declining during holidays seasons (July to August) but remains around 29% on average.
?? While return-to-office (RTO) mandates from major global companies were widely publicized across the year 2023, this data showed no material change in workplace utilization compared to the previous quarters.
?Mondays and Friday have lowest occupancy day!
Researchers found that Tuesdays were the highest utilization day for offices globally, at 34%. Wednesday and Thursday showed utilization rates of 31% and 32%, respectively.
? But Mondays and especially Fridays showing far lower workplace utilization.
?UK workers come more to the office!
Researchers found that the UK continues to lead the world in office utilization, with a rate more than twice as high as the US and almost 60% higher than APAC.
?? The US showed the lowest utilization across the tracked regions, again averaging 21%.
?Desk utilization trends
Researchers found that half of the desks in offices are utilized for less than one hour per day. Globally, 31% of individual desks are never used, and a further 21% are used for less than one hour per day.
Interestingly, just 30% of individual workstations are utilized more than 3 hours per day!
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?Collaboration spaces beat individual workspaces
Researchers found that
?? Utilization rates for collaboration workspaces (meeting rooms, project spaces, breakout spaces) were higher than for individual workspaces (personal work points and enclosed offices).
?? Collaborative spaces were also utilized for more hours per day than individual workspaces. Average utilization across collaborative spaces was 2.8 hours, 33% higher than for individual work points.
?Meeting rooms are the most popular spaces!
Researchers found that the most popular meeting spaces are enclosed meeting rooms. Both utilization rates and average hours of utilization are much higher for enclosed meeting spaces than open collaboration areas.
The typical meeting in a workplace was physically attended by about 2.2 people.
?? Meeting rooms with a capacity of seven in-person attendees or larger operate at less than 37% capacity a majority of the time. This means that rooms designed/fitted out for greater than seven people are significantly less efficient than smaller spaces.
?? Finally researchers recommend below popular ways to leveraging the insights of this study:
?? Integrating real-time occupancy data into space management and meeting booking tools
?? Reducing overall workplace footprint
?? Rebalancing the ratio of individual to collaborative workspace
??Right-sizing collaboration spaces
?? Validating space types for hybrid offices
?? ???? ???????????????? ????????: This wonderful research found that the primary reasons people choose to come into the office are connection and relationships. Teams may be coming in to build relationships with colleagues and get work done together, but this research highlighted that not all collaboration spaces are equally popular. If your office has fewer smaller meeting spaces versus large conference rooms, it might be time to consider re-balancing these spaces.
Thank you ?? XY Sense researchers team for these insightful findings:
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9 个月Nicolas BEHBAHANI at my former organization, there was a lot of open air work spaces. Some focus rooms and smaller conference rooms had been re-purposed to office space. Sometimes meeting space was booked so an individual could attend a virtual meeting. The global executive team wanted a better hybrid arrangement, so employees could work from home to have better focus time or when their day was stacked with virtual meetings (provided they had technical capabilities to work from home) but the local management team wanted in office all of the time. There were times when multiple offices, meeting spaces were occupied by employees on the SAME virtual meeting instead of booking on large conference room for the onsite team. (Ironically, the manager who was the biggest proponent of only onsite work, spent most of his day on the virtual meeting option with his door shut - even if the meeting was happening next door to his office). From my personal experience there was no intentional thought into crafting the work environment and space to foster collaboration, instead we seemed to focus on "presenteeism".
Terrified and fascinated by VUCA-level change | AQ Authority | Millennial in a Baby Boomer Body | Hall of Fame Speaker | Future of Work Global Thought Leader | Helping ordinary people thrive in extraordinary times |
9 个月Fascinating stats on #RTO and utilization of office space. Thank you for sharing Nicolas BEHBAHANI Dave Ulrich
Lead consultant in HR Strategy & Value Management. Enhancing Value through Human Performance. Delivery of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Training. Lecturer and International Speaker on HRM and Value Management.
9 个月Great post Nicolas BEHBAHANI. I have replied to the comment by Dave Ulrich outlining the reasons why employers might wish for staff to attend 'the office' but would add: One of the main reasons for wanting people to attend a 'get together' is to pass on tacit knowledge (that has been gained through implicit learning (unstructured learning), held in the minds of individuals. Because tacit knowledge is not available through written work, it can be difficult to codify, making sharing in person essential. There is a view that you can only really access another's tacit knowledge when you know them and trust each other. Having a space whereby people can engage with each other can provide the right atmosphere to enhance the sharing of such knowledge. When making change in one area, it can often result in change in other areas within the organisation - it may well be advantageous to invite people from other departments to take part in such discussions so that they can also provide input. Thank you for sharing Nicolas.
Speaker, Author, Professor, Thought Partner on Human Capability (talent, leadership, organization, HR)
9 个月Nicolas BEHBAHANI Thanks for sharing this interesting research. It affirms the value of being in person (connections, relationships ... and add development, shared purpose, informal information sharing, etc. George Kemish LLM MCMI MIC MIoL MIoD) But, i really like the focus on office space. I was privileged to be on the board for Herman Miller for 16 years and came to fully appreciate the impact space and place on company culture and employee productivity. The integration of chairs, desks, storage, gathering rooms, personal work space, technology, and other furnishings create a productive and collaborative work environment. Knowledge - Herman Miller
HR Professional @ UNOPS | Strategic HR Partner | MBA
9 个月Can I add. To optimize workplace utilization: 1. Use real-time occupancy data. 2. Reduce overall footprint. 3. Balance individual and collaborative spaces. 4. Right-size collaboration areas. 5. Validate space types for hybrid work.