How healthy is your office floor plan? This 5-minute checklist will tell you

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to workplace design. Every organization has its own culture, goals, and constraints.

But the most successful companies do share one thing: they want employees to want to come in, have the tools and spaces to be productive once they’re there, and leave feeling their time in the office was well spent. At the same time, leaders want to know they’re making the right investments in layouts, policies, and technology, and seeing a measurable return.

The good news? There are proven strategies that can get you there. From flexible seating and hybrid-friendly policies to data-driven space planning, leading companies are finding ways to balance employee experience with operational efficiency.

The challenge is figuring out which of these will deliver the most value for your workplace. That’s why we created a 5-Minute Checklist to provide you with a quick, practical audit to spot gaps in your layout, technology, and policies, and see what’s working for enterprise teams.

Whether companies require more in-office presence or prioritize flexibility, they’re making decisions based on employee sentiment and data-backed results, while using technology to enable their success. Workplace trends have shifted from filling seats to using space as a magnet for talent, with smart organizations asking, “How can we make hybrid better?” rather than forcing compliance.

“Ultimately what we want is a vibrant workplace—whether it’s hybrid or full-time RTO—we want to connect with others. Regardless of whether you’re coming in two days a week, using ABW (activity-based working), or have cross-functional teams across the world, ultimately, you want vibrancy and you want collaboration. To do that, teams need the right tools and the right environment to succeed.”

— Rafa Guevara, Chief Client Officer, OfficeSpace

How leading companies design their workplace and seating arrangements

HUB International 

By shifting to a flexible seating model with OfficeSpace, HUB reduced its real estate footprint by 20% while increasing space demand and utilization. Read the full case study below.

Learn about Hub’s flexible seating journey 

Citigroup

Citigroup uses neighborhood seating and central coworking hubs with oversubscription (~2 employees per desk). This layout increased collaboration and productivity while maintaining utilization of ~50–60% on a typical day.

Across industries, we see the same principles being adopted:

• Provide a mix of collaborative and private spaces
• Use data to right-size space and refine policies
• Offer flexible seating to boost engagement and compliance
• Support it all with intuitive workplace tech

Our clients are focusing on making the workspace accessible and equitable. Governance is replacing control, with booking rules that support culture: employee-level caps, usage limits by team or time, and smart tools that prevent hoarding through no-show tracking and automatic availability resets. The result? Space is used more efficiently, and employees feel the system works for them, not against them.

The RTO compliance gap

Research shows that strict policies aren’t paying off. Full-time office mandates among Fortune 500s have nearly doubled since Q4 2024—from 13% to 24%—but actual attendance increased by less than 2%.

Stanford’s Nick Bloom and sensor data from Occuspace show no meaningful difference in utilization between five-day-mandate companies and those with flexible policies. For our clients, structured hybrid schedules are winning over forced compliance: For teams who are in the office three times a week on average, desk bookings per employee are ~7–10x higher than for organizations with mandates.

Take 5 minutes to see where you stand

Your office can be a strategic advantage if it’s designed for how your team works today. Download the checklist and quickly identify where you’re on track and where you have room to improve.