Crowded offices pose a new dilemma for employers

The boss wants you back in the office but the problem is there’s not enough space for everyone.

Jenny Folley, founder of @WORKSPACES.

Is your office half-empty or crowded on those days when you commute in under the new hybrid rules of work? Are you suddenly finding that up close and personal with your colleagues is not as nice as you might have imagined during Covid-19 – especially when they eat curry at the desk or talk loudly to their mother on the phone?

Jenny Folley, founder of the co-working space @WORKSPACES, no doubt has a vested interest in arguing that overcrowding is the new post-pandemic phenomenon thanks to employers reducing their office space when employees were locked down.

She says co-work space like hers are the answer to that overcrowding, offering companies ­accommodation alternatives for grumpy ­employees.

And she says the proof is in the number of inquiries her company – which has spaces in Sydney, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Brighton, Toorak, Richmond and the CBD in Melbourne – is now receiving from people looking for respite from crowded offices.

“The consistent story that they are telling us is that they are being encouraged to go into the office but when they get there, often they can’t find a desk,” she says.

“They’re finding it difficult to also work in large, open-plan areas because they are now used to working from home in a private area.”

She says her company offers flexibility to companies: instead of investing in more permanent space, they can sign up to @WORKSPACES and test their needs.

Folley says some companies moved too quickly to reduce office space as Covid-19 raged. She is now taking up some of that ­relinquished real estate for her operations.

“I spent all day in Collins Street (Melbourne) looking at various floors,” she says. “In Queensland it’s unbelievable. I’m here in Queensland now looking at more space because the demand for it is huge.”

Her operation offers 1000 desks across the country and Folley says it did well during Covid because in cities like Melbourne, co-working spaces were used by many people who could not go into the CBD but could walk to work in the suburbs. Her spaces are often located near fitness centres, parks and dining and shopping precincts, so clients have access to a range of facilities.

Folley says the open-plan office might have been created to promote collaboration but the concept doesn’t work for all employees. “The idea of the open-plan style office was to promote collaboration; but the reality is quite the opposite and, in fact, not very many workplaces reap the intended benefits,” she says. “In an overcrowded office with few barriers, it can get quite difficult to focus when people all around you are making phone calls, eating at their desks, walking to and fro, or just having a chat. If the open plan hasn’t been designed strategically, it could really backfire.”