In an office planning world where seats no longer automatically equate to people, ratios matter. Concurrent shifts toward greater workplace density and desk-sharing are challenging a decades-old notion that “people” and “seats” are interchangeable for planning purposes.

Anyone who has ever been involved in an office planning, design or construction has—undoubtedly—encountered the a common metric: workplace density. A deceptively simple measure, density is typically expressed in square metres of space allocated per person (“square metres/person”) and commonly used to indicate the number of seats present (or soon-to-be present) in a workplace, relative to the total area.

Notice how we said that the allotted square metres per person usually means square metres per seat? Did you find that strange or confusing?

No? Then, there’s something you need to know.

Critical ratio miscalculations have become common with the open workspace adoption, desk-sharing schemes, and higher daily office attendance. These missteps can be costly upon the overprovisioning or underprovisioning of resources, as it can impact employee productivity and experience. Yet, architects and designers don’t always get it right.

In addition to challenging which variable—seats or people—we use in workplace planning calculations, new ways of working also impact how those variables influence our projects. From furniture to technology to building services and amenities, traditional ratios no longer apply.

Traditional parking ratios—often stated as the minimum number of spaces required per 1,000 square-foot office space (e.g., “3 per 1000”)—are stressed by higher workspace density and desk-sharing programs. Combined, these practices increase the number of desks and people in a given office daily. As a result, a company may find it has not quite enough parking spaces after years of having too many.

Depending on your situation, you might not be able to change the supply of parking spaces allocated to your company, but you can be smarter about forecasting demand. By monitoring how many workers are present in the office each day, you can identify peak times and seek workarounds such as carpooling, shuttle services, and public transit incentives. Of course, identifying the right workplace utilisation strategy for your organisation carries its own challenges.

No matter which approach you take, it’s clear that simply assigning parking spaces by average seat density no longer supports today’s dynamic workplaces. Instead, it’s better to focus on people and occupancy patterns.

And as it goes for parking, the same applies for restrooms and other facility features.

To avoid making an embarrassing and potentially costly mistake, you must build a culture of awareness, vigilance and permission within your project teams. Consider nominating a “Ratio Reviewer” to challenge assumptions across the board, and publicly share examples of where potential mistakes were caught early (e.g., forgetting that everyone is going to need their own headset).

Don’t be shy: The next time someone hands you a floor plan with a workplace density metric calculated as square metres per person, cross it out. Write “You mean seats,” and send them back to the drawing board. You'll be thankful you did later down the line.