A recent study conducted by the Western Cape provincial government in South Africa revealed that inefficient use of their office space was resulting in a higher cost per employee, compared to that of the private sector. They are not alone in this problem – many offices are wasting valuable office space through inefficient office space planning and optimisation, layout and design.
According to Instant’s Head of Research, Branton Moore, “The flexibility of serviced offices allows users the ability to optimise space as headcount fluctuates; however, many companies fail to take advantage of this opportunity when space is renewed. The last thing that you want to pay for is under-utilised space in any office”.
How to make the most of your available space
- Hot desking is an effective method of ensuring that space does not go to waste. Essentially, one desk is shared between employees who work different shifts. As a result, work stations remain occupied, instead of remaining empty for four days of the week, for example. This solution works well for part-time employees, or those who work non-standard odd hours.
- Making use of cloud storage systems or external data storage can also free up room in the workspace. Data centres offer secure off-site storage for your computer servers and telecommunications equipment. Since servers can be noisy and take up a substantial amount of space, investing in an external data centre is prudent. Cloud storage, meanwhile, is another option for the storage of data. Online hosting services such as Google Drive, Microsoft’s Sky Drive and Amazon’s Cloud Drive, in addition to many lesser-known companies, all offer business packages that reduce the need for on-site servers.
- If you don’t require all of your employees to be physically present in the office, then offer the option of telecommuting. Essentially, employees work from home, but remain linked to the office via Skype, telephone calls and the like.
- Coworking is a viable alternative if you only require a small section of office space, or have extra space that you aren’t using. Coworking involves sharing an office space and communal facilities with a number of other businesses. We have written an in-depth post on this concept, if you’d like to find out more.
- As far as office interiors go, modular furniture is a must-have. Invest in items that can be transformed to serve multiple functions – e.g. a desk that converts to a bookshelf or side table as needed.
- Partition dividers or screens can be used to separate areas and create cubicles, but can also be rearranged as needed – for example, individual work areas can be transformed into a large conference room if you want to have a meeting with everyone in the office.
- Create a balance. The idea is not to cram your employees in the room and make them uncomfortable, but to provide everyone with a sufficient amount of space to work. Drawing up a floor plan before you move into a new office can help you avoid falling into the trap of under-utilising space.
An Instant solution
When we assist a client with a renewal, we will review your usage of office spaceand identify the most appropriate options within the centre to match up with the required level of usage. Often companies take space in serviced offices at the ratio of one desk for each employee, but in reality the office is never fully occupied. In these cases, we can look at creating hot desks or introduce a combination of physical office space and day office memberships. With the average serviced office contract only accommodating four workstations, removing just one desk can reduce costs by 25%.
Serviced offices offer the utmost in flexibility, and users should ensure they are taking full to avoid unnecessary costs.
If you’ve exhausted every possible space saving solution, and you need a flexible office space solution that can grow with your business, talk to knowledgeable Instant Offices expert in your area now.