Space optimization: Best practices to streamline your workplace
By CJ Frey• 13 mins read•March 25, 2026
By CJ Frey, Senior Workplace Strategist at OfficeSpace Software
Space optimization is the practice of using occupancy data, employee feedback, and workplace analytics to make every square foot of your office work harder, so you cut real estate costs without sacrificing employee experience.
For enterprise facilities, real estate, and workplace experience teams, that usually means using a space management software to consolidate floors, redesign layouts, and right-size around how people actually use the office, not how leadership assumes they do.
Done well, it is often the key to real estate savings, employee productivity, and a great workplace experience. The process is dramatically more complicated when managing hybrid employees and a distributed workforce, so it is no surprise that companies are actively looking for optimal solutions to improve how they are using their space.
And here’s the thing: the pressure has rarely been higher.
A recent JLL’s Occupancy Planning Benchmark Report found that 73 percent of corporate real estate leaders now rank portfolio optimization as their top priority, overtaking cost reduction for the first time. The average space allocation per person fell from 171 to 165 rentable square feet year over year, yet most organizations target 132 RSF. Closing that gap is the strategic priority.
In this article, we cover the strategy, the metrics, and the tools that make it work. While we focus on what works in a hybrid office environment, we cover best practices that will help optimize many types of space, including traditional offices.
What is office space optimization?
In general, the work is about finding ways to improve how you are using a given space, usually with the goal of cutting back on real estate costs.
In an office setting, this process can be quite granular, as facility managers (FMs) and administrators work to optimize floor plans and maximize different space types.
For example, does each business unit have the space they need? Do you have the right balance of formal and informal meeting spaces? Is your neighborhood layout actually in line with your neighborhood strategy?
Being able to answer these questions can dramatically improve floor and team layout decisions.
And if you can reduce the amount of floors you need, you can then sell or lease them, or cut back on your real estate portfolio in general.
Reducing your footprint in this way leads to cost savings, of course, while also improving your environmental sustainability.
That said, while the objective function here is optimizing space, it cannot be done at the expense of employees. Employees need enough space, and enough of the right space, to be productive, engaged, healthy, and happy.
That is why this work needs to be carefully planned, using real estate analytics, workplace analytics, and, critically, employee input.
Only by using the right data and keeping the end users (the employees) in mind can companies create a flexible work environment that is affordable and fit for purpose.
In the past, this process was often done manually, with bloated Excel spreadsheets and lots of guestimation.
Today, FMs run space optimization through space management software that automates measurement, modeling, and reporting in one place.
How is it different from space utilization?
Understanding and improving your space utilization can lead to more efficient use of every floor, but the two terms are not synonymous.
Like we have covered, optimization is about creating a space that serves its purposes in the most efficient and affordable way possible.
Space utilization, on the other hand, is simply the measure of how space is actually being used in real time. The two work together: utilization gives you the data, and the space optimization decisions follow.
What does space use look like in an office setting?
It is one piece of a much bigger space planning puzzle.
In order to optimize their space, FMs and decision makers will need to have a solid grasp of the three basic elements of space management. These are space planning, implementation using the right tools, and space tracking. They should also be familiar with space management best practices and how to implement them.
Beyond this, space planners need to combine the following concepts carefully in order to create the right office ecosystem:
- Desk utilization, a more granular level of data that focuses on individual desks rather than whole rooms.
- Room capacity, which refers to how many people can use the available space, often measured in people per square foot.
- Office density, a measure of how many people are using a given space.
- Occupancy rate, which measures how much space you are actually using over a given period of time.
- Headcount planning, the process businesses use to anticipate future staffing needs and plan for their workforce of the future.
When combined, these metrics can all be used to help make more informed decisions, which leads to more strategic space management in the workplace. JLL’s 2025 study found that 90 percent of organizations track utilization with badge swipe data, 49 percent use reservation systems, and 41 percent use visual observations. Yet only 7 percent rate their data collection capability as excellent. The takeaway is that most organizations have a measurement tool but very few have the analytical layer that turns the data into decisions, and that gap is where every program wins or fails.
From Fortune 100 space planning to space optimization in small offices and startups, FMs should use the right software and the right methodology to get it right.
Why this work matters more in 2026
Three forces have reshaped office demand between 2024 and 2026 and made space optimization a board-level priority rather than a back-office task.
First, hybrid work is settling into a structured pattern. The 2025 JLL benchmark shows fully flexible work arrangements collapsed from 41 percent of organizations in 2023 to just 15 percent in 2025, while 68 percent of companies now require either a defined number of in-office days or specific assigned days, up 7 percentage points year over year. The pendulum is swinging back toward the office, but on the company’s terms.
Second, office attendance is finally hitting post-pandemic records. Kastle’s Back to Work Barometer shows weekly average occupancy in A+ class buildings reaching 78.8 percent in late 2025, with single-day peaks of 95.5 percent on Tuesdays and the 10-city average crossing 56.3 percent for the first time since early 2020. Workplaces that under-invested in optimization during the empty years now have the opposite problem, not enough of the right kinds of space when teams actually show up.
Third, the office market itself stabilized. CBRE’s Q1 2026 U.S. Office Market Report shows net absorption of 6.9 million square feet, the highest first quarter since 2020 and the eighth consecutive quarter of positive demand, with prime vacancy falling to 12.7 percent and asking rents growing 2.2 percent year over year, the fastest pace in six years. Optimizing into a tightening market means tougher renewals, narrower windows to right-size, and higher penalties for over-leasing.
Together, those forces explain why JLL found 55 percent of organizations actively cutting real estate footprints in 2025, and why portfolio optimization has overtaken cost cutting as the top corporate real estate objective.
What are the benefits of space optimization?
Different companies will have different goals when it comes to optimizing their office. That said, getting it right generally brings the following five benefits.
1. Cost savings
Like we have covered, one of the biggest goals of data-informed corporate real estate decisions is cost savings. Combining facilities or floors helps companies to minimize lease and ownership expenses.
Of course, using less space also reduces energy costs and other utilities. This is in addition to insurance, supply chain, and maintenance costs. JLL reports 55 percent of organizations cut real estate footprints in 2025, with portfolio optimization now the top stated objective for corporate real estate leaders.
2. Workplace agility
When workplaces use their space well, they pivot quickly when organizational priorities shift, and the work becomes a continuous capability rather than a one-time project.
With this better operational efficiency comes better and easier workplace management, helping to overcome any space management challenges that arise.
3. Growth opportunities
A company with disciplined planning and workplace agility is a company that is ready for growth.
Armed with good workplace reports and analytics, FMs can make better space optimization plans that minimize disruptions while maximizing productivity.
4. Improved employee experience
When the work is done badly, with too much or too little of the right space, it is often the workers who suffer.
And when workers suffer, so does innovation and collaboration in the workplace.
On the flip side, creating an office that is fit for purpose can lead to happier workers and more workplace wellbeing. This, in turn, can help with both talent retention and talent attraction. JLL’s 2025 data shows 77 percent of organizations now provide sit-to-stand desks in new buildouts, up from 67 percent the prior year, a sign that experience investments are landing alongside footprint cuts.
5. A modern workplace
Finally, as we work to optimize hybrid work in our new normal, companies are experimenting with a variety of new work environment types.
Whether it is agile working, free addressing, flexible seating, working neighborhoods, or anything in between, having a well-optimized modern office floor plan is often the first step towards improving both the hybrid workplace and the employee experience. The 2025 JLL data shows structured office mandates outperforming other return strategies at a 61 percent effectiveness rate, but only when the underlying space supports the policy.
“It is not fit for purpose, down to the team level and down to the individual, you could be misappropriating funds, resources, space, and technology.”
— Angie Earlywine, Senior Director in the Total Workplace division of Global Occupier Services, Cushman & Wakefield
Space optimization best practices
Getting space optimization right in an office setting is a bit like Goldilocks and the three bears. You do not want an office that is too big or too small.
“It is not fit for purpose, down to the team level and down to the individual, you could be misappropriating funds, resources, space, and technology,” says workplace strategist Angie Earlywine, Senior Director in the Total Workplace division of Global Occupier Services at Cushman & Wakefield.
Every organization will need a customized approach. But there are certainly some best practices to follow.
Lead with data
First, data is essential. Space optimization without it is just guesswork.
The more real-time insight you have into how people are actually interacting with and using your space, the better position you will be in to make any changes.
This can help you establish a baseline occupancy. Then you can gain a good understanding of the minimum number of people who are typically in the office, which becomes the floor every space optimization decision rests on.
Ideally, your data will pull from desk booking and room booking software. This will give you accurate, actionable information around how people are using the office. Note that IoT sensors and a badge system can provide even more meaningful insight.
For example, you might be able to determine whether you need more quiet booths or huddle rooms, or if people are mainly coming into the office for collaboration versus heads-down work. Armed with this data, you can then adjust your space accordingly. VergeSense reports a single Big Four consulting client eliminating 4,160 hours of monthly ghosted meeting room bookings and avoiding 600,000 dollars in annual costs by closing the gap between booked space and actual presence.
Solicit employee feedback
Second, and just as important, you should solicit employee feedback before making any drastic changes to your physical space.
“It is best to conduct employee surveys and focus groups regularly, and then adjust based on that feedback,” says Earlywine. “If I reduce real estate because I do not think we need as much, all of that is a potential risk with significant costs associated. The antidote to figuring out how to reduce risk is in ensuring you are aligned with employee sentiment and the company’s vision for supporting a hybrid work environment.”
Develop a hybrid work model
Third, companies need to develop a hybrid work model that suits their goals and culture.
This will be an iterative process, since hybrid work is new and rapidly changing, and space optimization has to keep pace. The 2025 JLL benchmark shows the spectrum tightening, with structured mandates and assigned in-office days now the dominant pattern, and fully flexible arrangements increasingly rare.
“It is really important to stay agile as we figure out what flexibility means and test different methodologies and configurations,” says OfficeSpace Software CEO Erin Mulligan Helgren. “You need to measure how space is being used and the general sentiment for the space, to figure out the best space going forward.”
Part of this process will be creating clear guidelines around remote and hybrid work, so space optimization decisions reflect how many people are actually coming into the office, rather than how many leadership thinks should.
Many companies are now also working to create a more appealing physical space, in order to encourage more people to want to use it.
Redesign with intent
Once the data tells you what to change, change it deliberately. Use a modern office floor plan as the starting point for any redesign, then layer in the specifics your data is showing you. Build more of the spaces that are constantly fully booked, fewer of the rooms that sit empty, and create the missing categories the survey responses keep asking for, such as private phone booths, focus areas, mother’s rooms, or wellness spaces.
JLL found 44 percent of organizations made substantial space program modifications in 2025, up from 36 percent the prior year, alongside a near doubling of major facility renovations.
Finally, beyond these best practices, the work goes furthest when FMs and decision makers are equipped with the following tools.
Tools that turn space data into decisions
Good space optimization starts with good data management, which in turn starts with the right workplace technology.
Ideally, the same integrated workplace management system (IWMS) that allows for desk and room bookings will also gather data about this usage and put it into meaningful reports.
It can also be part of a lease management system that helps you manage your leases and track important dates.
And better still if the IWMS also simplifies office scenario planning and stack planning, so that FMs can play around with any new ideas for better space utilization, before having to commit to anything on the ground. JLL’s 2025 report observes that 78 percent of organizations now use occupancy planning services to maintain their space data, a sign that the operating model is moving from one-time audit to continuous improvement.
Frequently asked questions
How does space optimization save money?
Space optimization saves money in two key ways. First, if companies are able to reduce the amount of space they need, they can either sell or lease their leftover space, or they can reduce their own lease payments. Second, using less space also means using less energy, utilities, and other associated costs.
In the long term, good practice in this area can also improve employee experience, which has a positive impact on productivity and talent retention.
What workplace metrics matter most for planning?
For space optimization, the core five are desk utilization, room capacity, office density, occupancy rate, and headcount planning projections. Track them together so you see how individual desk usage rolls up into floor-level density and how that density compares against the headcount you expect to support over the lease term. JLL’s 2025 study found that 90 percent of organizations track utilization but only 7 percent rate their data quality as excellent, which is the maturity gap most programs need to close first.
What is the environmental impact?
Space optimization carries a clear environmental upside. The less space a company uses, the less energy and resources it consumes. In this way, the right approach can dramatically reduce overall carbon footprint. It may also lead to more remote and hybrid workers, which in turn means fewer employees traveling to and from work each day, further reducing the environmental impact. JLL’s 2025 data shows 74 percent of organizations now run active sustainability programs that integrate with occupancy planning.
Does it reduce office clutter?
It does not inherently reduce office clutter, unless shared desks are part of the equation. Shared desks typically do not collect personal items, so they tend to be clutter-free. This type of flexible seating is one of the most common ways to optimize space, as seen in many hybrid workplace examples.
How is space optimized in a small room or office?
Companies looking to optimize space in a small room may want to consider shared desks. Shared desks can reduce the amount of space they need overall. Strategies like office neighborhoods, agile working, and activity-based working can also make more efficient use of a small office space.
Of course, allowing employees to work remotely or on a hybrid work schedule can also reduce the amount of people needing to use a space at the same time. This can help companies maintain a small office space.
What is free space optimization?
Free space optimization is the practice of repurposing pockets of the office that are not being actively used. Perhaps because of their layout or location, these spaces do not work for desks or meeting rooms. Companies looking to optimize these free spaces often turn to flex room ideas flex room ideas like private phone booths, games rooms, or retreat rooms.
What is the difference between space optimization and space utilization?
Space optimization is the strategic work of designing and using office real estate so every square foot serves a purpose, with the goal of cutting cost and improving experience.
Space utilization is the underlying measurement of how often a desk, room, floor, or zone is actually being used. The two work together.
Utilization gives you the occupancy data, the meeting room booking patterns, and the desk-by-desk usage rates. Optimization is what you do with that data, including consolidating floors, redesigning layouts, and right-sizing the portfolio around how people are actually working.
How often should you reassess your office space optimization plan?
For most enterprises, a meaningful reassessment every 6 to 12 months is the right cadence, with lighter quarterly check-ins on occupancy and booking trends in between. Hybrid attendance patterns, headcount plans, and lease milestones all shift faster than a static annual review can keep up with. Tie the formal reassessment to a clear trigger, like a lease renewal, a return-to-office policy change, a merger or restructuring, or a measurable shift in average occupancy of more than 10 percent across a quarter.
Continuous data from desk and room booking software makes it easy to spot when an unscheduled space optimization review is warranted before the next planned one.
What software supports office space optimization?
Most enterprises run space optimization through an integrated workplace management system (IWMS) that bundles desk booking, room booking, occupancy sensors, floor plan visualizations, and reporting in one platform.
Look for software that ties real-time utilization data to floorplans, so facilities teams can spot underused zones, oversized meeting rooms, and stranded floors without exporting to spreadsheets.
Stack planning, scenario modeling, and lease management add real upside for portfolios above three locations. Sensors and badge data are useful inputs, but the platform that turns them into decisions is what moves the needle.
How does hybrid work affect office space optimization?
Hybrid work fundamentally changes the math, because attendance is no longer a fixed Monday through Friday baseline. Tuesday and Wednesday often hit 80 to 90 percent occupancy while Friday drops to 15 to 20 percent, which means a layout sized for the peak day leaves nearly half the office empty most weeks.
Smart strategies use desk sharing ratios of 1.5:1 or 2:1, modular zones that can flex from focus to collaboration as the day progresses, and sensor-driven data to right-size meeting rooms. The result is a smaller, more flexible footprint that matches how people actually show up.
Key takeaways
Modern space optimization is no longer about squeezing more people into less square footage. It is the operational discipline that ties occupancy data, employee feedback, and analytics together so corporate real estate, facilities, and workplace experience teams can make confident portfolio decisions.
The fundamentals to remember:
- Data comes first, because every redesign and consolidation needs a baseline of how people are actually using the office.
- Employee input matters as much as the numbers, since space changes that ignore the people using them tend to backfire.
- Plans must align, because hybrid policy, headcount, and lease cycles all need to follow the same operational rhythm as the optimization roadmap.
- Tools carry the work, because desk booking, room booking, sensors, and reporting in one platform turn a one-time project into a continuous capability.
OfficeSpace offers all the features facilities, real estate, and workplace experience teams need to simplify and streamline space optimization in any sized office. Reach out for a free demo.
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