The short answer
Assigned desks (one desk per employee): 13 to 16 m² per person. Flex office (6 to 8 desks per 10 employees): 8 to 11 m² per person. These ratios include workstations, meeting rooms, breakout areas, circulation and plant rooms. In a Haussmann-era building, add around 10%.
| Headcount | Flex office (9.1 m²) | Assigned desks (14.5 m²) | Haussmann-era, flex office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 employees | 180 m² | 290 m² | 200 m² |
| 50 employees | 455 m² | 725 m² | 500 m² |
| 100 employees | 910 m² | 1,450 m² | 1,000 m² |
| 200 employees | 1,820 m² | 2,900 m² | 2,000 m² |
For your own situation: office space per employee calculator.
Assigned desks or flex office: the choice that changes everything
Assigned desks. Every employee has their own desk: a sense of belonging and personal space, but heavy under-use on days when people work from home. Actual occupancy is often only around 50 to 60% on Mondays and Fridays. Overall ratio: 13 to 16 m² per employee.
Flex office. You size the space for peak simultaneous attendance, not total headcount: 60 to 80 desks per 100 employees. Overall ratio: 8 to 11 m² per employee. The rule to follow: at least one alternative work setting (phone booth, huddle space, meeting room, sofa) for each desk removed.
How floor area is split
| Space | Share of floor area |
|---|---|
| Workstations | 40 to 50% |
| Meeting rooms and huddle spaces | 15 to 20% |
| Breakout and kitchen areas | 10 to 15% |
| Circulation and corridors | 15 to 20% |
| Plant rooms and toilets | 5 to 10% |
Typical areas, space by space
| Space | Area | Rule of thumb |
|---|---|---|
| Open-plan workstation | 4.5 to 6 m² | excluding circulation |
| Private office | 10 to 14 m² | 1 executive or manager |
| Director’s office | 18 to 25 m² | with a 4-seat meeting table |
| Phone booth | 1.5 to 2 m² | 1 person |
| Huddle space | 4 to 7 m² | 2 to 4 people |
| Meeting room | 15 to 20 m² | 8 to 10 people, about 2 m² per seat |
| Large meeting room | 30 to 50 m² | 20 to 30 people, about 1.5 m² per seat |
| Staff kitchen and café | 15 to 40 m² | 1 to 1.5 m² per seat in simultaneous use |
| Reception | 15 to 30 m² | reception desk and waiting area |
| Print room, storage, server room | 6 to 12 m² |
Workstation ergonomics: a desk at least 80 cm deep and 1.20 to 1.60 m long, with 1.20 m of clearance behind it (1.50 m for accessibility).
Example: a 50-person company
Moderate flex office, 40 desks for 50 employees, a mixed technical and sales team.
| Space | Number | Area |
|---|---|---|
| Private offices (management, HR) | 2 × 14 m² | 28 m² |
| Open-plan workstations | 38 × 5 m² | 190 m² |
| Phone booths | 4 × 2 m² | 8 m² |
| Huddle spaces | 2 × 6 m² | 12 m² |
| 8-seat meeting rooms | 2 × 16 m² | 32 m² |
| 16-seat large meeting room | 1 × 30 m² | 30 m² |
| Staff kitchen and café | 1 | 30 m² |
| Breakout area | 1 | 15 m² |
| Reception | 1 | 15 m² |
| Plant rooms | 2 × 8 m² | 16 m² |
| Net floor area | 385 m² | |
| Circulation and walls (around 18%) | 70 m² | |
| Lettable floor area | around 455 m² |
That is 9.1 m² per employee. Here is what those 455 m² cost depending on the arrondissement, at the median rent in our database as at 15 October 2026:
| Area | Median rent | Annual rent excl. VAT & charges |
|---|---|---|
| Paris 8th | 690 €/m²/year | 314,000 € |
| Paris 9th | 615 €/m²/year | 280,000 € |
| Paris 2nd | 596 €/m²/year | 271,000 € |
| Paris 11th | 480 €/m²/year | 218,000 € |
| Paris 13th | 390 €/m²/year | 177,000 € |
| Paris overall | 555 €/m²/year | 253,000 € |
Haussmann-era buildings
Corridors and interconnecting rooms lose 20 to 25% of usable floor area, against 12 to 15% in a modern office building. A 15 m² room takes 2 to 3 workstations; a former reception room of 30 to 40 m² takes 6 to 8. Load-bearing walls often rule out large open-plan floors, so it is better to organise teams by department.
What the rules say
The French Labour Code sets no minimum floor area per employee for offices. It mainly regulates ventilation, escape routes and toilets: at least one WC and one urinal for every 20 men, and two WCs for every 20 women. Standard NF X35-102 is not mandatory, but serves as the reference for occupational health doctors: 10 m² per person in a private office, 11 m² in a shared office, 15 m² in a noisy open-plan space.
Frequently asked questions
How many m² per employee should you plan for?
Allow 13 to 16 m² per employee if everyone has an assigned desk, and 8 to 11 m² with flex office, including circulation, meeting rooms, breakout areas and plant rooms.
How many m² for 50 people?
Around 455 m² with moderate flex office (40 desks for 50 employees), or 9.1 m² per person. At the Paris median rent of 555 €/m²/year excluding VAT and service charges as at 15 October 2026, that comes to around 253,000 € a year before service charges.
Does flex office really save space?
Yes, provided you compensate: you remove fixed desks, but you need at least one alternative work setting (phone booth, huddle space, meeting room, sofa) for each desk removed.
Why allow more space in a Haussmann-era building?
Corridors and interconnecting rooms lose 20 to 25% of usable floor area, against 12 to 15% in a modern office building. Load-bearing walls also make large open-plan floors difficult.
Is there a mandatory minimum floor area per employee?
The French Labour Code sets no minimum floor area per employee for offices. Standard NF X35-102, the reference used by occupational health doctors, recommends 10 m² per person in a private office, 11 m² in a shared office and 15 m² in a noisy open-plan space.
Indicative guidelines, to be refined once you have visited a specific floor. Updated 15 October 2026.