Tips and more - Defining your surface requirements

Are you planning to move, looking for your first premises or those of one of your establishments? You probably already have a vague idea of how much space you need. But are you sure you have thought of everything?

We share with you 5 golden rules to help you.

1 - Have a clear and shared vision of the project's objectives and challenges.

Each project is unique because it is linked to a particular context. Does the company have a financial issue that forces it to reduce its expenses? Is the priority issue the attraction and retention of talent? Is the project part of a more profound transformation of the company, including the organisation and working methods?

It is also important to measure the risks of the project, such as the departure of certain employees, a loss of operational efficiency, and the demotivation of managers.

Above all, it is vital that the vision is the same and shared by the entire Executive Committee. It is sometimes necessary and beneficial to plan acculturation workshops or inspiring visits (learning expeditions).

2 - Know your starting point

Before defining what you will need tomorrow, it is essential to have a clear vision of the surface areas occupied to date, their uses, and the level of satisfaction of your employees.
Involving an architect at this stage to determine your current layout ratios will help you to plan for tomorrow: number of individual offices, meeting spaces, density of spaces, etc. Not forgetting to benchmark against market standards and the competition.

3 - Anticipate the growth of your workforce over several years

This is a difficult but crucial exercise. Since you are committing yourself to a lease of several years and you are going to make structural planning choices, you must try to have the most accurate vision possible of the number of people who will come to the office.
One of the difficulties lies in not forgetting anyone! There are many profiles. In addition to the employees attached to the site in question, you have to plan for the presence of colleagues from other sites, service providers, freelancers, interns and work-study students in varying numbers depending on the period. Perhaps your activity leads you to receive many clients. Perhaps you plan to host start-ups.

4 - Take into account your working methods

The widespread use of teleworking and the implementation of a hybrid model in most companies is increasingly raising the question of moving to a flex office. But again, each company is specific. The proportion of the workforce involved in teleworking, the number of days allowed, the possible choice of a pivotal day when everyone is in the office... are all elements which have a direct impact on the surface area and types of space required.
Today, more than half of companies say they have switched to a flex office or intend to do so, and on average the spaces offer a ratio of 0.6 workstations per employee. But beware, fewer workstations does not necessarily mean less space. In general, more space is needed for collaboration, concentration and conviviality.

5 - Think of all surfaces!

The first things that come to mind are the workspaces that will be used daily by the employees. But the others should not be neglected or underestimated.

Don't forget those that may seem secondary, such as archiving, storage, reprographics, IT desks, server rooms
Don't underestimate the amount of space you need to dedicate to spaces that will contribute to your employees' return to the office and their well-being, through a quality employee experience: working cafés, corpoworking, nap rooms, sports rooms, media libraries, pitch rooms, etc.

A lease is a long-term commitment that you don't want to get wrong, either way. Underestimating your space requirements will be detrimental to the comfort and operational efficiency of your teams. Overestimating it will lead to unnecessary extra costs and the frustration that goes with them.
If this should happen, don't panic! There are solutions, but they must be planned from the outset. Indeed, the level of flexibility of your commitments is one of the levers of negotiation with your landlord.

We will come back to this topic in detail in a future episode!