How Many Square Meters per Workspace? Standards, Rules of Thumb, and a Calculation Example

"How many square meters do I need?" is usually the first question when moving or reorganizing, and often the question with the worst answer. Numbers between 4 and 25 m² per employee circulate, and they’re all correct — just for different situations.

Here’s what the law actually prescribes in Belgium and the Netherlands, which practical rules apply, and a calculation example you can adopt.

Two different questions

The misunderstanding starts with the question itself. There are two, and they yield very different numbers.

1. How much space does one workspace need? This refers to the desk and the surrounding area. Answer: 4 to 7 m².
2. How much office space do I need per employee? This includes meeting rooms, corridors, restrooms, kitchen, storage, and phone booths. Answer: 12 to 25 m².

If someone says "plan for 15 m² per person" and someone else says "the standard is 7 m²", they are usually not contradicting each other — they are answering different questions. Make sure you know which of the two you are asking.

What the law requires

Belgium: Hard Numbers

The Code of Practice on Workplace Well-being is specific. Article III.1-6 states:

Note that 10 m³ and 2 m² together relate to ceiling height. With a ceiling height of 2.5 meters, 10 m³ equals 4 m² of floor space — so in a low-rise building, air volume is the binding requirement, not the surface area.

Article III.1-7 adds a second requirement that is often overlooked: the free, unfurnished area of the workstation must be calculated in such a way that employees have sufficient movement space. If this is not possible due to the nature of the workstation, there must be another location nearby with sufficient free space.

Deviation is allowed, but only under four simultaneous conditions — including prior advice from the prevention advisor and approval from the Committee. The full explanation is in Codex Well-being at Work: what Book III means for your office.

Netherlands: a general standard plus NEN

The Dutch Arbobesluit (Work Environment Regulation) does not mention any specific number in article 3.19. It only states that the dimensions and air volume must be such that the employee can perform their work safely without risk to their safety, health, or well-being, and that there must be sufficient space to move around.

The numbers come from NEN 1824:2010, the standard for floor areas in office environments. It accounts for:

Two things to know. First: the standard applies to workstations used for more than two hours per day — an occasional touch-down spot is excluded. Second: NEN standards are not law. They fill in the gaps, and compliance is assumed if you follow them. Deviating is allowed if you can demonstrate an equivalent result.

More about how the Dutch system works: Arbo Act workplace requirements: checklist for offices.

The difference in one sentence

Belgium sets an absolute minimum (2 m² free, 10 m³ air) that you may never go below. The Netherlands specifies an outcome and leaves the details to a standard recommending 7 m². If you work in both countries and opt for 7 m², you comply everywhere.

From Workspace to Building

Legal minimums apply to the workspace. To determine how much office space you need to rent or build, consider four layers.

These are practical guidelines, not standards. They vary greatly by sector: a law firm with many individual offices will require more space, while a sales organization with extensive fieldwork will need less.

The game-changing factor: hybrid working

This is where it often goes wrong, in both directions.

If your team is on-site an average of three days a week, you don’t need a workspace per employee. The ratio of workspaces to employees — the sharing ratio — can then decrease. But not proportionally, and that’s the mistake often made: 100 employees each present 60% of the time does not mean 60 workspaces. Presence is not evenly distributed. Tuesdays and Thursdays are full, Fridays are empty.

Practical guidelines:

• Plan for peak days, not the average. Measure what percentage is present on your busiest day and use that.
• Add a 10 to 15% buffer. For growth, guests, and the days when everyone happens to be present.
• Common sharing ratios range between 0.6 and 0.8 workstations per employee in hybrid work. Below 0.6, you risk frustration.

And the key nuance: fewer workstations do not mean fewer square meters. Sharing means you need more collaboration space, more phone booths, and more storage. The space you save on desks, you largely spend on zones. That’s not a downside — it’s the very reason hybrid offices work better than rows of desks.

Calculation example: 50 employees

An organization with 50 employees, averaging 60% attendance, with a peak of 75% on Tuesday and Thursday.

Step 1 — workstations. 75% of 50 = 38 on peak day. Plus 12% buffer = 42 workstations. At 7 m² per workstation: 294 m².

Step 2 — consultation. 3 m² per employee × 50 = 150 m². In practice: two meeting rooms for 6 people, one for 12, and two informal consultation spots.

Step 3 — phone and concentration spots. 1 m² per employee × 50 = 50 m². Concretely: three to four phone booths and a quiet room. Determine the exact number not by rule of thumb but by observing for two weeks how often people step out to make calls.

Step 4 — supporting facilities. 3 m² per employee × 50 = 150 m². Kitchen, restrooms, locker room, storage, printing. Don’t forget the mandatory facilities: in Belgium, a canteen (minimum 18.5 m² for up to 25 employees, increasing), a rest room, and a lactation room

Step 5 — adding and circulation space. 294 + 150 + 50 + 150 = 644 m². Plus 20% circulation space = approximately 775 m²

This results in 15.5 m² per employee — comfortably within the range of 12 to 25, and it immediately shows where the focus lies: less than 40% of your floor consists of workstations.

Four mistakes when calculating

• Calculating based on the average instead of peak days. Leads to an office that is too small two days a week — precisely the days when people want to be together.
• Forgot the mandatory facilities. The canteen, rest area, and breastfeeding room have prescribed minimum square meters in Belgium. These are in addition to your calculation, not deducted from it.
• Forgetting circulation space. Account for 15 to 25% of the total. If you overlook this, you’ll consistently be too tight.
• Focusing solely on total square footage. Two offices of the same size can operate entirely differently. The distribution across zones determines whether the office functions, not the total square footage.

The number you truly need

The calculation above gives you a rough estimate, which is enough to start searching for a property. What it doesn’t provide, however, is the distribution — and that determines whether the office will function effectively.

You won’t find this distribution through rules of thumb but through behavior: how often do people step out to call, how often can’t they find a meeting spot, how often do they work from home because it doesn’t work at the office. Two weeks of measuring gives you more reliable numbers than any benchmark.

That’s exactly where the impact scan starts: first measure what’s needed, then design. From there, we move to the layout, with zones and products derived from the measurements — from phone booths and meeting rooms to desks and storage solutions in the workplace configurator.

The 25 questions to help you clarify this distribution are in employee survey on the workspace.

Frequently Asked Questions About Square Meters per Workspace

What is the minimum square meters for an office workspace?

In Belgium, the Codex requires at least 2 m² of free space and 10 m³ of air volume per employee, in a room that is at least 2.5 meters high. In the Netherlands, the Arbobesluit does not specify a number; NEN 1824 sets a base of 4 m² and approximately 7 m² for a standard screen-based workspace.

How much office space do you need per employee?

Calculate 12 to 25 m² per employee if you include everything: workstations, meeting rooms, phone booths, kitchen, restrooms, storage, and circulation space. Workstations typically account for less than 40% of that total. The 7 m² figure applies only to the workspace itself.

How many workspaces do you need for hybrid work?

Plan for the peak day, not the average: attendance is not evenly distributed throughout the week. Common occupancy ratios range between 0.6 and 0.8 workstations per employee, plus a 10 to 15% margin for growth and guests. Below 0.6, frustration arises structurally.

Is NEN 1824 legally required?

No. NEN 1824 supplements the open standard in Article 3.19 of the Work Environment Regulation. Those who follow the standard are considered to meet the legal requirement. Deviating is allowed if you can demonstrate an equivalent outcome, but you must be able to justify it.

Saving square meters with hybrid work?

Yes on workspaces, but much less on total area. Those who share desks need more meeting spaces, more phone booths, and more storage. The savings from fewer desks mostly go toward zones — and that’s exactly why hybrid offices work better than rows of desks.

Last updated on 24 October 2026 by Stijn Belmans