How Organizations Can Get Office Re-Densification Right

On March 15, 2020, states began implementing lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. Almost overnight, workplaces went from bustling to bare, as hybrid and remote work became the new norm. This shift led to the death of office densification, a term that characterized many offices where organizations minimized the amount of square footage per worker to reduce real estate costs, the second largest expense for employers.

Rebecca Sistruck

Even after the lockdowns were lifted, organizations had to spread out workstations to reduce the risk of infection, enhance workplace safety and meet worker expectations of social distancing. Once it became clear that alternative work models were here to stay, many companies jumped at the first opportunity to move to a smaller office. Between March 2022 and March 2023 alone, 9% of publicly-traded companies relocated to new offices, the highest rate since 2016-17, according to an analysis of Securities and Exchange Commission filings by HireAHelper.

Fast forward to 2024, and some of these companies that have moved into smaller spaces face a new challenge: Office occupancy is rebounding. In fact, almost half of respondents to a recent FM:Systems survey reported employees have been spending more time in the office over the past year. Another survey by Resume Builder found that 90% of companies plan to implement return-to-office policies by the end of this year.

Hanna Graziano

Businesses that downsized prematurely are now grappling with welcoming more employees back to smaller offices, leading to a new era of office densification. Done wrong, this “re-densification” can negatively impact the value of bringing people together in an office environment. Here’s a look at how organizations can get it right by embracing “smart densification.”

Putting people first

Return-to-office mandates are driven by what’s best for the business, from strengthening company culture to supporting the organization’s mission. But any plan for welcoming employees back to a smaller office space must place people at its center. Successful smart densification projects focus on increasing individual comfort, safety, wellbeing, and productivity. If an organization is unable to satisfy its team members’ needs, it is unlikely to accomplish its goals at scale within a department or larger workforce.

While the goal is to get employees in the office most of the week, the inherent mobility of work still supports working from a multitude of locations inside and outside of the physical office building. There is tremendous opportunity to execute workplace strategies that optimize current real estate footprints and empower employees to choose how they work and connect with others.

A focus on activity-based work design, ergonomic accommodations and improved environmental conditions helps set a foundation that can be built upon. Ultimately, gaining an understanding of what your employees need and desire helps form part of the data set you need to achieve success. Improving indoor air quality, expanding access to natural light, and incorporating elements of the outdoors into your interior design — in the form of plants and water features — are all good places to start.

You can’t just start adding green walls and fountains willy-nilly, however. First, you need to understand how occupants currently interact with your space.

Leveraging technology for utilization insights

There will always be a difference between how much space you have and how much space your employees use. The goal is to try to get the latter as close to the former as possible. Internet of Things (IoT) devices like occupancy and environmental workplace sensors can help you pinpoint areas people avoid due to excessive noise, poor ventilation, inadequate lighting or other deterrents. If you don’t deal with these “dead spaces” before embarking on re-densification, you’ll end up forcing people to work in them, and they won’t be happy about it.

Data sources like badge swipes, desk or room reservation information, or point-in-time walkthrough spot-checks can show you overall utilization at a building or floor level, but you need to capture empirical utilization data at a granular level to answer the million-dollar question: “How efficiently is this space used compared to its capacity and our goals for its use?”

Actively monitoring your spaces reveals an enormous amount of insight. In turn, this deeper understanding allows you to adapt to constant change while providing a workplace that entices employees to return to the office.

Leveraging technology for usability

One foundation of smart densification is acknowledging that a large portion of your workforce is not only comfortable adopting new technology, but may actually be lost without it. Gen Z, the generation of people born between 1997 and 2012, embraces technology for its benefits, especially if those benefits include helping them interact with their surroundings and organize their day. To appeal to this cohort that will make up 30% of the U.S. workforce by 2030, organizations need to lean into the types of technology available that can make offices more functional, data-driven and experience-driven.

For example, space reservation applications allow individuals to find an ideal space whether they need to focus solo or to collaborate with coworkers. Another example is integrated virtual meeting technology to support a more flexible, hybrid approach for when employees choose not to be in the office.

The pendulum has swung from accommodating too few workers in too large a space, to trying to accommodate more employees in a smaller office. But the days of old-school densification — packing people in haphazardly — are over. With the right mindset combined with intentional design and workplace technology solutions, organizations can optimize their space and reap the benefits of having people back in the office without compromising employee comfort, wellbeing or productivity.

Editor’s Note: Rebecca Sistruck, Prosci CCP, NCIDQ, LEED AP ID+C is Senior Workplace Strategist and Prosci Certified Change Practitioner at Little Diversified Architectural Consulting. With her extensive background in program, project management, workplace guidelines and best practice benchmarking, Sistruck is a clear communicator who understands the importance of connecting clients’ business drivers with the most relevant strategies. Jesse Thomas is Sr. Solutions Consultant & Experienced Workplace Technology Professional at FM:Systems. He has spent the last 10 years helping organizations improve space utilization and efficiency through thoughtful approaches with technology, IoT and data analytics without losing touch with the human element.