How Much Space Does Each Employee Need?
Older workplace guidance often cited a fixed square footage per employee. That figure is far less useful now that working patterns and desk-sharing arrangements vary so much between businesses.
Why there's no fixed number anymore
A single per-person figure assumes everyone is in the office full time at a 1:1 desk ratio, which is increasingly not how hybrid businesses operate. Applying an old rule of thumb to a modern hybrid pattern tends to overestimate space needed.
Desk space vs total space per person
Desk space itself is only part of the total. Meeting rooms, breakout areas, circulation space and storage all add to the real total space required per person, and these tend to matter more in a hybrid workplace than raw desk footprint.
Hybrid working and shared desk ratios
If desks are shared across a working pattern where not everyone’s in every day, the effective space per person can be meaningfully lower than headcount alone would suggest, provided the ratio is based on genuine attendance data.
Using this figure properly, not as a rigid rule
Use space-per-person figures as a sense check against a proper space-planning exercise based on your actual team and working pattern, rather than as the primary basis for a leasing decision.
