What are the signals that an office is not working?

Meeting rooms always occupied while workstations stay half-empty. People wandering in search of a quiet corner for a call. Departments that should collaborate but never cross paths. Constant noise in areas where focus is needed, and flat silence where exchange would be needed instead. These are recognisable symptoms of a space misaligned with how the organisation actually works.

How do you move from the office's symptoms to diagnosis and action?

The diagnosis starts by measuring. A survey on each team's needs, occupancy data and BOMA standards for space efficiency: together they turn symptoms into identifiable causes. From there you understand where the space has margin and where something is missing. Often there is no need to overturn everything – targeted actions on specific areas are enough to noticeably change how people experience the office.

When the office does not work: the signals

The signals that an office is not working are almost always visible, but they are read as recurring annoyances rather than as data. Rooms always busy, empty desks, noise where silence is needed. Every symptom says something precise about the misalignment between the space and the way the organisation actually works.

Recognising the symptoms

Meeting rooms booked back to back – and people waiting outside. Assigned workstations that stay empty for most of the week. Colleagues looking for a quiet corner for a call and not finding one. Departments that should collaborate but physically never cross paths. Constant noise in individual work areas, and an almost motionless silence where exchange would be needed instead. Each of these signals is a measurable symptom of a space that no longer reflects the team's real needs.

The same floor, two readings: where actual use (illustrative example) diverges from how the space was conceived

Symptoms as data: diagnosis before action

The temptation is to act directly on the symptom – move a desk, add a room. But without an overall reading you intervene at one point and create a problem elsewhere. The diagnosis starts from three levels: the needs expressed by the teams (surveys and interviews that reconstruct the typical day), the occupancy data that measures how the space is actually used, and BOMA efficiency as an objective standard for reading whether the productive m² are in line with the size of the floor. Together, these tools turn a recurring complaint into an identifiable cause.

Symptom detected Cause identified Targeted action

Meeting rooms always occupied

→Support areas undersized

→Rebalance the distribution of m²

Assigned workstations half-empty

→Way of working changed, layout unchanged

→Redesign the sector around actual use

Noise where focus is needed

→Incompatible functions placed side by side

→Add a work setting that was missing

Departments that never cross paths

→Routes and adjacencies not studied

→Bring collaborating teams closer

Every symptom read as data leads to a cause, and every cause to a circumscribed action

From analysis to targeted action

Once the data has been read, it often emerges that the floor already has the m² it needs – but distributed in the wrong way. The support areas are undersized relative to use; a department that works collaboratively is squeezed into an area of closed workstations; informal places where lateral thinking can happen are missing. Targeted actions – rebalancing the distribution, redesigning a sector, adding a work setting that was missing – noticeably change how people experience the space, without reworking the entire floor. This also applies to layout optimisation work on existing spaces.

Is your office space sending the same signals?

The survey captures each team's typical day and the occupancy data provides an objective reading. It is the starting point for understanding what is not working and where to act.

When the office does not work: the signals

Recognising the symptoms

Symptoms as data: diagnosis before action

From analysis to targeted action

Is your office space sending the same signals?

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