Workplace strategy: striking the right ratio between collaboration and focus

Workplace calibration rests on four criteria that most organisations assess by guesswork. Kytom measures them.

1. Activity profiles. A sales team mainly draws on collaborative spaces; an R&D team reverses the ratio in favour of individual focus.
2. Timing of uses. Focus peaks cluster in the morning and early afternoon, tensions that instant counts mask.
3. Spatial flexibility. A single space must shift between individual focus and informal exchanges, through mobile furniture and modular partitions.
4. Organisational scalability. A safety margin is recommended to absorb changes in headcount and ways of working over the term of the lease.

The final trade-off distributes your spaces across three typologies: enclosed spaces (offices, booths) for focus and confidentiality, semi-open spaces (alcoves, boxes) for informal exchanges and short focus, open spaces (open plan, circulation areas) for collaboration and transit. The proportions vary according to work culture and the actual occupancy rate; the profession generally recommends 25 to 30% formal collaborative spaces in a post-covid hybrid context. In practice at Kytom, the useful threshold observed is appreciably lower, and the margins saved are redeployed into individual acoustic booths whose occupancy rate stays high. Multiplying formal meeting rooms is an organisational reflex, not a usage need.

The workplace challenge goes beyond fit-out: it weighs on your rent, your OPEX and the value of your asset.

Rent avoided. On a 1,500 sq m floor in the Paris office region, 5 percentage points of excess collaborative space (75 sq m) represent 30,000 to 60,000 EUR in annual rent with no usage value. Over a 9-year lease, the extra cost reaches 270,000 to 540,000 EUR. Workplace calibration, by contrast, turns these sq m into useful acoustic booths or into sq m saved on the lease.

OPEX and energy efficiency obligations for the tertiary sector. Every sq m needlessly heated, lit and cleaned feeds your final consumption, running counter to the targets. Calibrating useful surface area downwards generates appreciable savings on utilities and facility services, mechanically reducing your OPEX costs.

Asset value. For your Asset Managers, a properly densified floor, with documented ratios and NF EN 12464-1:2021 compliance, will re-let faster when a tenant leaves. Workplace calibration becomes a marketing argument, not just an interior fit-out one.

Three pitfalls we help you avoid.

• Overestimating collaborative needs. A significant share of formal meeting rooms regularly runs below their nominal capacity, generating unjustified occupancy costs. Our solution: mobile partitions and furniture on castors, which cover several uses.
• Acoustics treated as an afterthought. Noise nuisance remains a major source of dissatisfaction in open plan, with a configuration offering less than 7 sq m per person being classed as unfavourable, within a regulatory framework structured by article R4222-10 in force since 01 July 2023. NF EN 12464-1:2021 sets the focus threshold at 35 dB(A). We anticipate it from the design stage (absorbent ceilings, acoustic partitions) to avoid post-delivery rework.
• Undifferentiated standardisation. A finance department does not have the needs of a marketing team. Our design and build approach adjusts the fit-out by business zone while keeping overall consistency.

On a typical refurbishment project from our 2023 portfolio (Paris region office headquarters, 1,500 sq m, 140 workstations, hybrid organisation with 3 days on-site), the behavioural audit revealed a clear gap between target ratios and actual uses.

Before the audit. The floor delivered in 2019 showed 28% formal collaborative spaces (12 meeting rooms, 4 open project zones), in line with post-covid orthodoxy. Occupancy readings over 4 weeks: 38% average usage rate on formal rooms, versus 82% on the 3 existing individual acoustic booths.

After recalibration. Our simulation converted 180 sq m of underused meeting rooms into 8 additional acoustic booths (focus, individual video calls) and 60 sq m of space released from the lease. The formal collaborative ratio dropped to 18%, consistent with our portfolio observations.

Result 12 months after delivery. The leased area was reduced, generating significant annual savings on rent and charges, with a return on investment observed in under three years. User satisfaction rose markedly, confirming the fit between actual uses and the reconfigured spaces. Our workplace strategy assignments follow this logic: a measurable return, not a marketing promise.

Not every configuration justifies a full behavioural audit. Here are the cases where we point you elsewhere.

Floors below 300 sq m or teams under 25 people. The statistical variability of uses becomes greater than the calibration gains. On these scales, a standard approach of 10 sq m per workstation with 2 acoustic booths is enough, and the cost of an audit exceeds the excess surface it helps to avoid. We tell you so in a scoping meeting, free of charge.

Greenfield projects (new building, new team). No prior behaviour is measurable: the behavioural diagnosis becomes inoperative. We switch to a logic of projected scenarios validated by manager interviews, with a 6-month post-occupancy adjustment planned from the contract onwards. Different method, different deliverables.

Urgent delivery within 8 weeks. No time to instrument 2 weeks of mapping. We then propose a 2-week flash diagnosis (targeted interviews, spot readings over 5 days, simulation of 2 scenarios), less granular but operational.

No mandate from management. A workplace strategy touches on ways of working. Without clear backing from the executive committee or HR department, the recommendations remain a dead letter. We would rather not start than deliver a report that goes unapplied.

The full behavioural diagnosis becomes relevant from 50 workstations, in a structural reorganisation (team mergers, hybrid switchover, relocation) or on a lease renewal with financial stakes.

1. Occupancy mapping
   Our consultants deploy on site a minimum of 2 weeks of readings by time slot (presence sensors, direct observation, cross-referenced instant counts). This phase identifies the real interactions between teams and often reveals a significant share of surface under-used compared with the theoretical organisations shown on the plan.
2. Friction analysis
   We pinpoint usage bottlenecks, abandoned zones, acoustic conflicts. The acoustic diagnosis checks compliance with the reference thresholds (below 35 dB(A) in focus zones) and vocal comfort. The mapped frictions feed the typology trade-offs for the next step.
3. Reading the configurations that work for you
   Through a user survey of a representative sample of your employees, we identify the existing configurations rated best within your own premises. The aim: to replicate what already works for you rather than importing theoretical models. This step reduces the risk of user rejection post-delivery.
4. Scenario simulation
   Our team models three to five fit-out options in 3D, with operating costs projected over 5 years (rent, utilities, facility, regulatory compliance applicable to tertiary buildings). The scenarios are delivered in a format presentable to the executive committee, for arbitration by your CFO and your real estate department on consolidated figures.