Tenant Advisors for a Hybrid Team: How Much Office You Actually Need

The hybrid worksheet: from full-time footprint to the real one

• Line one: everyone who would need a desk if the whole company came in. Multiply by 175 for the full-time footprint in rentable square feet.
• Line two: take off 10 to 20 percent. Most hybrid teams end up there and not at half, because the desks that go are replaced by meeting rooms, phone booths and team space.
• Line three, the other method: count the people in on your busiest day and size that number at the standard figure.
• Use line two or line three, never both. Doing both cuts the space twice.

Say the company is 30 people. The full-time footprint is 5,250 square feet and the hybrid range is roughly 4,200 to 4,725. The office space calculator has a hybrid setting that does this for any headcount. That range is about what 25 people take at the standard figure, which is the size the floors below are cut to.

The layout check: a test fit before any proposal

A worksheet gives a number, and a floor either holds your team or it does not. A test fit is a quick architectural layout of your desks, rooms and booths on the actual plate, and landlords often fund one for a serious prospect.

For a hybrid team we ask the architect to draw the busiest day and not the average one. The rule we plan to is one enclosed room for every eight people, plus phone booths, with more of both for teams that spend the day on video. Columns, a deep plate or an awkward core can cost a room, and it is better to learn that before a proposal than after a lease.

Comparing lease economics between two floors

Two floors that both pass the test fit are compared on cost over the term, not on asking rent.

• The monthly figure: the rate times the rentable square feet, divided by twelve.
• Free rent and the improvement allowance, spread across the term.
• The yearly escalation, usually about 2.5 to 3 percent.
• The loss factor, the gap between the area you pay for and the area you can use, which varies by building.
• What the floor needs before move-in, and how long that takes.

A smaller floor at a higher rate can cost less each month than a larger one at a lower rate, which is exactly the case a hybrid team should test.

Not only for startups: who uses tenant advisors

Hybrid right-sizing is most often an established company's problem: an agency, a professional firm or a mature software business holding a lease signed for five days a week. Any company taking office space in Manhattan gets the same work from us, whatever its age.

Send headcount, the days people come in, timing and budget. A broker reaches out within the hour during business hours, and you can browse floors by team size in the meantime.