In commercial furniture, density refers to how many people are working in a space. Workspace size is determined by square footage, and so density is the average square footage per employee.  

Pre-pandemic, workplace density was shrinking over the years, with smaller workstation sizes, larger amounts of open floorplans and benching applications. Commercial real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield recently reported that pre-pandemic average density was 193 square feet per employee… ranging from 150 to 250 depending on geography and industry.  

Then, when COVID19 emerged in early 2020, many offices closed their doors and spaces sat vacant as teams were sent home to work remotely…. Basically, not dense at all for the essential team members that did come in.  

Today, as we look toward an uncertain future and strive to understand the impact hybrid workforces will have on modern, post-pandemic workplace design, it is necessary to understand how density decisions will impact our planning and goals.  

Most experts agree that modern spaces will be less dense than in pre-pandemic times. Even as some organizations shed some of their commercial real estate, many are opting not to reduce their footprint but to instead repurpose their workspaces to serve a different purpose.  

Unlike before, when much of the floorplate was dedicated to individual spaces assigned to specific employees, post-pandemic spaces will focus more on collaboration spaces, group meeting areas and unassigned spaces created and optimized for different types of working.  

For organizations that embrace hybrid working, a less dense floorplan is achieved by staggering the number of employees within the space at any given time. Technology makes this more possible than ever before and provides an opportunity to configure, adapt and leverage space in a variety of ways for different uses and new ways of working.  

Understanding specific density formulas and ratios may become necessary for some professionals in commercial furniture, but having a solid grasp of general density trends… and more importantly why design decisions are being made to drive those trends… is knowledge that can benefit all of us. Remember that workplace density averages are constantly changing… a modern workplace that is agile will be capable of addressing the opportunities and challenges of post-pandemic working.