Research can offer much more than just numbers, and numbers can often mislead. But looking at the stats can also provide an excellent peak into what’s happening in our industry on a straightforward level. Architecture and design firm Ted Moudis Associates (TMA) recently released its 2016 Workplace Report, a bevy of data that frames its work into a context of meaningful workplace design metrics, trends and strategies.
In its report, TMA took stock of 39 domestic projects spanning four industries and 2.5 million usable square footage, encompassing 17,084 total workspaces in four industries – financial, professional services, consumer products and digital media.
One of the key points TMA’s work suggests is the widespread adoption of progressive workplace concepts. Although these concepts have existed for some time, they have not been accepted or adopted by a majority of organizations, until now.
The report reads, “As technology allows us to be more mobile, and as expectations about where ad how work happens continue to change, we are finding that companies of all types are challenging traditional assumptions about the workplace.”
Advancements in technology and shifting expectations in the workplace have led to the following:
>Visibility and transparency, in the form of open perimeters, glass walls and low partitions
>More variety and choice – informal collaboration spaces and alternative work settings
>Amenities as destinations
>Ubiquitous technology and mobility enabling a wireless office and encouraging activity based work environments
>Zones of activity – shared quiet spaces and privacy zones, focus rooms, and social gathering spaces.
>Neighborhoods of workspace, supported by scalable groupings of team workspaces and ancillary spaces that create special diversity in the open office.
The densification of the modern workplace is unprecedented:
“As companies seek to achieve greater efficiency and sustainability in the workplace, the area per occupant and number of private offices allocated across industries have dropped to an all-time low…Just a few years ago, it was considered ‘progressive’ for a workspaces to contain about 20% private offices and be between 175 to 200 USF [usable square footage] per seat. Today, the average is significantly lower and trending ahead of industry predictions. We expect these numbers to drop even further as more organizations adopt 100% open environments and implement leveraged seating models.”
TMA’s data showed an average of 11% enclosed workspaces and 89% open workspaces, and an average of 142 USF per seat. On average, 67% of open workspaces are desking/benching systems.
Densification is testing the limits of everything from building systems and vertical transportation to entranceways and parking allocations. It’s also asking architects and designers to use real estate with extreme efficiency and at the same time provide a pleasant and productive workplace that extends beyond traditional views of an “office” with more amenities and alternative workspaces.
One notable metric the report calls attention to is the 1:1.7 ratio of file drawers to people:
“The dream of the ‘paperless’ office still isn’t a reality at most organizations, but the ‘paper-light’ office is. With an average of around one file drawer for every two people, companies are able to save significantly on real estate, improve their sustainability, and use space for more human-centered purposes.”

In addition, the number of alternative seats – “seats” in the office that aren’t assigned to a particular individual – is skyrocketing. Workspace seats make up 53% of an office, while 47% are alternative seats; that’s about three times more than was typical five years ago. This metric points to a greater emphasis being placed on shared spaces that move far beyond the need for collaboration:
“Multi-functional amenities, focus rooms, and quiet work zones are supporting a greater diversity of activity with a lifestyle-oriented approach to work.”
People are also beginning to think differently about support spaces. Support spaces provide things like supplies, coffee, and printing/copying technology, and conventional office planning seeks to make them as convenient and accessible as possible so that people can quickly get what they need and head back to work.
“That’s changing,” reads the report. “With growing emphasis on things like health and wellness, sustainability, and cultural engagement, we’re challenging traditional assumptions about convenience in order to encourage new behaviors. Like, if you had to walk a little further to the printer, could that be a good thing for your health? Would it make you think about what you print? Or, if there were only one place on the floor to get coffee, would you bump into people from other teams more often as a result?”
This shift in thought is making an impact on the ratios of support to people:
>Copy/Print: One copy/print system per 72 people
>Pantries: One pantry per 133 people.
>Wellness/Fitness Rooms: One room per 251 people. “Wellness rooms and fitness areas are gaining traction, but are still surprisingly sparse in terms of actual allocations.”
TMA also reported the rise of “mobile workplace strategies” that focus on providing “new amenities and a broader spectrum of workspaces types, while simultaneously reducing total area per occupant. 100% unassigned ‘activity-based’ models are replacing more traditional ‘hoteling’ or reservation-based models, and enable even those people who come to work every day to be mobile within the office.”
In the projects surveyed, 18% of employees are participating in activity based work, hopping around from unassigned work station to project room, collaborative lounge, quiet room, open meeting space and huddle room – all in the same day.
The full TMA report expands on the topics discussed above, and is available at tedmoudis.com.