Workplace Strategy · Business Expansion
How to Plan Office Space for a Growing Team
How to plan office space when your team is growing: forecasting headcount, choosing flexible options, and avoiding a disruptive move.
Growing teams face an awkward trade-off. Take too little space and you'll be cramped within months. Take too much and you pay for empty desks. Here's how to plan for growth without guessing.
Forecast in ranges
Write down a likely, low and high headcount for 6, 12 and 24 months. Base it on your hiring plan, not hope. Plan your space for the likely case, and make sure you have a way to handle the high case.
Separate today's space from tomorrow's
You don't need to rent tomorrow's space today. Options include:
- Flexible terms that let you add seats.
- Expansion space in the same building.
- A phased setup for larger moves, such as a GCC or a new site.
- Overflow coworking desks for short-term peaks.
Design for change
Open layouts with movable furniture are easier to reconfigure than lots of fixed cabins. Meeting rooms that can be combined or split give you flexibility as team sizes change.
Watch the signals
Regularly busy meeting rooms, people taking calls in corridors, and desks that are full on most days are signs that you'll need more space soon. Start looking before it becomes urgent; a good office takes time to find and set up.
Keep one partner
Working with a workspace partner that can offer private offices, managed offices and coworking means you can change format as you grow without starting your search from scratch.
Share your current and expected headcount when you book an office tour, and we'll show you offices that can grow with you.