In a working world that is increasingly characterized by flexibility and hybrid models, desk sharing is in the foreground as a concept for efficient office utilization. Instead of rigid workplace assignments, a growing number of employees share desks — often based on their actual presence in the office. But how do you determine the optimal number of desks per employee without risking bottlenecks? In this article, we show how various absence factors such as home office, vacation or business trips are incorporated into the calculation of an ideal sharing rate.

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In a typical working year, there is a fixed number of gross working days — these are the calendar days on which an employee could theoretically work. A 5-day week in Germany results in around 250 working days per year. However, these gross working days are reduced by various absence factors that influence actual office attendance. The most important factors include vacations, Sick days, Business trips and in particular the time spent in Home office. These influences result in the Net presence days, i.e. the days on which an employee is actually in the office, are significantly shorter. The exact number of Net presence days depends heavily on corporate culture and individual work models.

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To this Net presence days To calculate, the days of absence are deducted from the gross working days. Vacation, sick leave, business trips and home office days reduce the number of days an employee is present in the office. These factors are crucial for planning the optimal number of desks for a team, as the majority of employees are rarely present in the office every day.

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How do you calculate the net presence rate?

The average days of attendance per employee are calculated by deducting absences from the full year: