Office space might only account for around 10 per cent of a company’s operating costs, but it sets the stage for everything else. The decisions made about space shape how people work, what kind of culture forms, and how much money and carbon is quietly lost in the background.
Too much space creates dead zones. Too little, and things get tense fast. The challenge is not just about cost-saving anymore. It is about creating the kind of working environment people want to show up to without overcommitting on a footprint you do not need.
Why space still matters more than you think?
Even with hybrid work becoming the norm, office costs have not caught up. CBRE’s 2024 research found that although three-quarters of companies see decent midweek attendance (above 60 per cent), only 28 per cent sustain that across the whole week.
In other words, we are paying for a space that works well for three days and sits underused for two.
The lease does not pause on Thursdays and Fridays.
The bias towards empty chairs
There is a strong, often unspoken bias in favour of oversizing. As researcher William Fawcett points out, leaders are more likely to be blamed when people cannot find desks than when space sits unused.
But the costs add up. Fawcett’s long-term studies suggest that carrying excess capacity can raise lifecycle costs by 20–30 per cent. Even after COVID-19, fewer than one-third of organisations are averaging more than 60 per cent desk use.
We keep renting chairs no one is sitting in. Not because it is rational, but because running short feels riskier than running wasteful.
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Introducing the Goldilocks curve
Through years of client work, we have noticed a pattern. As space per person increases, employee experience initially improves but only to a point. After that, it dips.
- Too tight (Red) – It’s noisy, hard to book a meeting room, and mentally tiring.
- Just right (Green) – There’s just enough density for a sense of energy, casual learning, and spontaneous collaboration.
- Too loose (Red again) – Floors feel empty, culture thins out, and the office starts to feel optional at best, irrelevant at worst.
Figure 1: Employee experience against office space provided (Square meters or feet available of office space, per number of occupants present).
Quantifying the sweet spot
- What the data says
Space-time surveys back from 2005 in large portfolios show a typical 57 per cent desk utilisation during any half-day —remarkably close to CBRE’s numbers 20 years later! Pushing utilisation from 60 per cent (historical “full” demand) to 85 per cent (modelled “expected” demand) lets organisations drop about one-third of fixed desks yet maintain service quality.
- Cost-and-capacity trade-offs
When you plot desk count (cost) against probability of “no-desk” events (service risk), returns diminish fast. Each extra desk buys a little more certainty but at escalating cost and detriment in employee experience.
In practice, portfolios that aim for ~95-97 per cent seating certainty (≈ 1–2 “no-desk” moments in entire years, usually over 200 effective working days) capture most savings without harming morale. The right KPI therefore shifts from cost per desk provided to cost per desk actually used (CPDU).
Three-step method for CRE + CFOs
| Step | Action | Outcome |
|
Merge badge swipes, people counting, sensors data (if any) to build a probability curve of true demand. | Fact-based utilisation spectrum > anecdotes. |
|
With Finance & HR, set an acceptable “no-desk” probability (e.g., ≤1 per cent, ≤5 per cent). | Quantified service-level target. |
|
Touch-down zones, co-work passes, dynamic seating tech, satellite offices. | Converts tail-risk into variable or predictable OPEX, not fixed CAPEX. |
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Implementation roadmap
You do not have to commit to everything at once. Start small and scale.
- Pilot for five days in one hub.
- Map the full regional portfolio within a month.
- Roll out internally over 6–12 months: dashboards, lease reviews, and workplace improvements.
- Create a review loop: quarterly usage checks, annual KPI refresh.
Track progress using:
- Cost per desk used
- Workplace experience scores (e.g., Leesman)
- Carbon per employee
Takeaways for 2025
Too much space quietly eats into profit. Too little makes people uncomfortable fast. But there is a middle ground, one that is informed by real usage patterns and supported by flexible tools.
We have seen what happens when companies find that sweet spot: the office becomes useful again, budgets become manageable, and people actually want to show up.
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