If you're like many business leaders, you've probably spent the last few years watching your organization undergo major changes. Some of those changes may have had an impact on your physical workplace and now, you’re wondering if it would be best to stay in your current location, move, or let your lease go altogether.
One of the best ways to determine the right course of action for your organization is to start with the right tools, such as those found in CORT Permanently Flexible™ Solutions. 4SITE by CORT helps businesses make accurate and unbiased decisions around space optimization based on hard data and insights. When paired with CORT Furniture-as-a-Service™ (FaaS), organizations can stay ahead of what is next through access to furniture without the burden of ownership.
Let us explore a few things to consider before your next decision for the workplace.
One of the best places to start is to look at your office square footage per person and compare it to the national average. According to Zippia, "The average North American employee needs between 150 and 175 square feet of office space to work comfortably and productively." They also suggest having about 10 percent to 20 percent extra space to give yourself room to grow.
However, industry can impact these numbers. A person who works in a call center will need less space than a person who works in a legal office. Age can be another factor. If your workforce is older, they may place more value on having more space than someone who is just starting a career.
Office space cost may impact how much square footage you're willing to allocate to each employee as well. Zippia also reports that the average cost per square foot in Atlanta is only $20.97 while it's $52.61 in Washington, D.C., and $74 in New York City.
If your numbers are lower, you'll most likely need to go ahead and make that move to accommodate your current and future workforce. If it's around average or above, you should be able to work with what you've got.
If you're still on the fence about whether you should stay or go, look at your current space utilization stats by conducting an occupancy study with sensor technology. More specifically, consider adding occupancy sensors to desks, conference rooms, and common spaces throughout the workplace to determine if you have the right amount of space but it's not being used to its fullest capability.
For example, you may find that one department prefers collaborating in common areas or that a conference room is underutilized. Once a clear picture starts to form, you can start making decisions about changing your current space to fit your organization's needs better.
When added to a workplace, 4SITE sensor technology can start aggregating data on how office space is utilized without intruding on how employees work or gathering identifiable data that’s personal. From day one, these insights are sent to a dashboard that can be accessed anytime from any device, anywhere in the world.
If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it's that we need to be prepared, as the way we work can change in an instant. With more businesses reporting that their employees will be returning to the office in 2023, flexibility will be a huge part of creating a meaningful workplace experience.
At CORT, we believe in offering organizations the ability to create a workplace that is flexible enough to keep up with changes when they happen. This is why we provide our Permanently Flexible Solutions with CORT FaaS and 4SITE. Furniture-as-a-Service allows you to rent high-quality office furniture and accessories in a seamless way while space utilization sensors technology and data can help you determine which parts of your office need reconfiguring.
Call us today to get started or set up a demo and learn more.