How much office space do I need?

How much office space do I need?If you are asking yourself this question, we are ready to reveal the spoiler of this article: there isn't a magic formula for that. Nevertheless, if you are interested in finding out a simple employee/space standard ratio or learning about an office space calculator (yes, such a thing exists on the Internet), keep on reading!

Average office space per employee

When looking for a new office, the first thing you might think about is the size of the space. Workspace layout, desks, chairs, and seating arrangements are all irrelevant before you decide how much room you'll need. After all, the only thing you can't alter without incurring a huge cost is the size of your office. How much office space do I need? This is the question. 

Multiply your employee headcount by the number of square feet per employee that best suits your density requirements to determine how much room you'll need for your office.

Many studies on optimal workplace design published in the last decade advocated for office densities of 75-150 square feet per person, which is significantly less than the 325 square feet usually allocated to employees at the beginning of the century.

As you could expect, in the post-COVID workplace, this average, as well as the widely accepted standards of sufficient space, will most likely change to adhere to safer distancing.

Office density

It is not news that if workspace density is too high, it will risk the employees' performance, production, and retention. Usually, office density is classified into the following categories:

High density (80 – 150 square feet per employee)

Let's confess: we all pictured those busy and restless telemarketing offices when we thought of a highly dense office. You’re not off the mark as such operations fill their office space with workbenches or lots of small desks. Usually, sales teams, IT companies, coworking spaces, or customer support offices go for high-density spaces.  

Average density (150 – 250 square feet per employee)

Have you seen cube rooms with transparent glasses in the middle of a crowded office space? This is when an office can be considered to be of average density. It can also include desk spaces or private offices. Commonly, traditional offices (where employees work from Monday to Friday, 40+ hours a week) are of average density.

Spacious (250 – 500 square feet per employee)

As you might have already guessed based on the previous categories, spacious office spaces are all about large private offices and as much free space as you can imagine. Typically, such offices are seen in law or accounting firms, where there is a big need for a space to communicate with the clients and each other. 

Estimated size of office elements

Understanding the space allocated for each employee is not enough for answering the question "How much office space do I need?" Most probably, you are going to at least have a reception area or a break room, right? Here are some rough estimates to help you figure out how much space certain parts of an office setting usually take up, as well as how much space you really need:

• Mail room: 125 sq ft
• File room: 200 sq ft
• Reception area: 100-200 sq ft per person waiting
• Lunch/break room: 75 sq ft + 25 sq ft per person seating
• Conference room: 50 sq ft + 25 sq ft per person seating
• Halls/corridors within the space: 20% to 30% of the total allocated area for use 

The following figures should give you an idea of standard sizes for various types of work areas in your overall office space:

• Small private office: 90-150 sq ft
• Work group areas: 80-100 sq ft per person
• Large private/shared office: 200-400 sq ft
• Medium private/shared office: 150-250 sq ft
• Open space workstations: 60-110 sq ft per person

Office space calculator

Here is one last tip for you at the end of this article: we couldn't leave you without the ultimate list of 10 best office space calculators out there. Here are the names of the tools or the companies that feature such a calculator:

1. Cresa
2. Zoopla
3. HubbleHQ
4. SquareFoot
5. LeaseMatrix
6. CoStar Group
7. Office Principles
8. PlanForce Group
9. The Workplace Company
10. Boxer Property Management

By all means, such calculators cannot give you the best "advice", as there are so many unique conditions in this sphere. On the other hand, such tools can give you at least a general understanding of how much office space you need.
 

You know now that it is not easy to come up with a magic figure to account for how much office space you’ll need (as if any important decision is easy to make). However, if you are familiar with the standard sizes of certain office areas or the average space allocated for an employee, your questions narrow down, especially when you are using an office space calculator. Enough said, do not forget to allocate 10% or 20% of the total office space to be able to accommodate future growth. We all have huge plans regarding the future, don't we?