Terms such as desk sharing, new work and coworking have long since found their way into the daily work of many people. Since the corona pandemic and its immense impact on the world of work, modern-run companies can hardly avoid a hybrid working model. This gives employees the option to switch between working from home and being in the office. The results of an Appinio study from 2022 show that this model will continue to prove itself in the future: 65% of employees there cited hybrid working as their preferred working time model.

‍

It can be seen that the trend of desk sharing is here to stay. By the way, this not only makes sense from an employee's point of view, because desk sharing not only saves your company costs, but also helps to increase productivity and make companies more attractive. So how can we ensure that a balanced mix of occupied workplaces, room utilization and employees working from home is achieved? The answer lies in correctly calculating the so-called desk sharing quota.

What is a desk sharing quota?

The desk sharing rate is the number of available workstations in your office space in relation to the number of employees. The goal is usually to achieve a smaller work area with fewer tables available than employees present. The basic idea here is that it can normally be assumed that a proportion of employees will always be either working from home or at mobile workstations. If the desk sharing rate is used sensibly, the desired effects, such as cost savings through smaller office space and the resulting lower rent and heating costs, occur.

Desk sharing ratio — proportions matter

Now that the terms are clear, it is important to find out which requirements must be met so that you can calculate your perfect desk sharing quota — the desk sharing ratio provides information about exactly that. It results from the points already mentioned above and is the basic requirement for determining the desk sharing quota.

The right office space

To think about going into hybrid work and making use of the associated amenities for your company is the first step. Now that you've already gone through this, the next step is to take on one of the biggest cost factors: the rented office space. One of the basic concepts of desk sharing is to reduce the usable space.

‍

It is best to look for a suitable rental property that meets the requirements but is smaller than the property you have used so far. The nature of the premises plays an extremely important role here. For example, large areas are ideal for attracting many tables and therefore many employees to the office. In most cases, this scenario only makes sense if your company has already reached an above-average size. If you only have a few tables available on a large area, you quickly get the feeling of working alone and the benefits of sharing ideas in an office environment are no longer available.

The composition of the team

The next logical step is to determine the team size of the employees present in the office in relation to the office space. How many employees must always be in the office? Who can use home office hours efficiently? Which areas of the company are difficult and which are easy to separate from each other? Are there new parents who would be happy to see an increase in working hours from home? Only when you have an overview of the employees who are essential in the office can you give others the options of working from home or Workation offer and use the full potential of desk sharing.

Overview of office space utilization

When calculating the number of employees present in the office, it can also help to be aware of how many days employees are actually present on average. After all, everyone gets sick, goes on vacation or goes on business trips. Since the regular introduction of hybrid working time concepts, it can therefore be stated that employees are not present in the office more than half of the week on average. On average, employees are working remotely for 1.5 days, sick for 0.3 days, 0.6 days on vacation and 0.1 days on business trips. This results in physical attendance times of no more than 2.5 days per week.

‍

Calculate desk sharing quota: Here's how!

Now that you are aware of all the general conditions, let's move on to calculating the desk sharing rate. The desk sharing quote formula itself is very easy to implement; provided that you have succeeded in the previous planning up to this point.

‍

In order to easily calculate your desk sharing quota, it is important to understand what it actually means:

‍

A ratio greater than 1 indicates that there are more employees than desks. This means that not every employee can have a desk should they come to the office. This scenario is common in environments where desk sharing and flexible working hours prevail.

‍

A ratio of 1 means that there is a desk for every employee. This is standard in traditional offices, as every employee has an assigned desk.

‍

A ratio of less than 1 indicates that there are more desks than employees. This is a signal that there is overcapacity and that space is not being fully used.

‍

In summary, it can therefore be stated that in the case of desk sharing a desk sharing rate of greater than 1 is optimal.

Sample calculation

If an office has 100 employees and 70 desks, the desk sharing rate would be calculated as follows: 100 employees divided by 70 tables results in a desk sharing rate of 1.43. 1.43 employees per table would therefore have to be considered in planning.

‍

Flexopus - The Desk Sharing Solution

Once you have calculated your perfect desk sharing quota, you need an uncomplicated and easy-to-use tool that your employees will enjoy using and which combines all conceivable features under one roof: Flexopus. ‍

‍

Whether it's workplace, car park or meeting room bookings - with Flexopus, all options are open to you. Even if you are still finding it difficult to take the step towards a hybrid working environment, Flexopus will help you in the form of workshops and support you and your company in calculating the optimum desk sharing ratio. ‍

‍

By the way: Flexopus can be seamlessly integrated into your existing ecosystem. With many practical integration options such as Outlook, Google Workspace or Microsoft Teams, the threshold for desk sharing has never been so low. So get in touch with us now by booking a consultation and immerse yourself in the world of New Work.

Synopsis

If you now summarize the most important points, you can create a checklist which perfectly prepares you for your desk sharing journey:

‍

Desk sharing quota: Ratio of available jobs to the number of employees.

‍

• Objective: Fewer tables than employees (desk sharing, home office).
• Advantages: Cost reduction through smaller office space.

Desk sharing ratio: Proportion of employees to tables

‍

• Ratio > 1: More employees than tables (common with flexible working models).
• Ratio = 1: One table per employee (traditional office).
• Ratio < 1: More tables than employees (excess capacity).

‍

Requirements for desk sharing:

‍

• Optimum office space: Search for smaller, suitable objects.
• Team composition: Determine who needs to be in the office regularly and who can work flexibly.

Calculation of the desk sharing rate:

‍

• Formula: Number of employees/number of tables.
• example: 100 employees/70 tables = desk sharing rate of 1.43.