How much does bad office utilisation cost?💰🧾
Bear with us, we know this is a topic that’s been talked to death!
But we think it’s so important to get it right, and for people to know how to REALLY get this right!
⚡💰From soaring energy bills, to rising staff costs, to looming environmental regulations (we will cover this important topic separately) and an uncertain economy, we are all under significant pressure to justify all expenditure – whilst overall office space utilisation is sitting at around 50%.
And for many orgs, other than people, office space is likely their greatest expense.
So why are we OK with hugely expensive office space being sporadically and inconsistently used?
How expensive is space really?
Office space is really expensive!
According to Knight Frank, In London in 2024, for example, space cost anywhere from £500 to £1,200 per sq m per year. And that’s before factoring in energy, cleaning, maintenance, insurance, and security. Every square metre that isn’t being used productively is money your organisation could be putting toward your mission instead.
🏢👨💼 Did you know - the average floorprint of a desk is 10 sq m?
That means...
A desk in London? Conservatively £5,000 per annum
A desk in New York? No better – conservatively $7,000 per annum
That is...per desk!
So tell me again why a 50% usage rate is OK!?
We get completely that no space will be occupied and utilised 100% of the time, that isn’t realistic...but can you name another business asset this expensive that it’s acceptable to drive such low utilisation rates from and to just sit idle half of the time?
How much does poor utilisation really cost?
If you’ve got 50 desks in London at £5,000 per desk, that’s potentially £125,000 per year being spent which is not delivering any value!
📊Finding data that enables you to stop paying for space, even for just a few desks you are hardly using, when your office contract is up for renewal can quickly amount to tens of thousands per annum in savings – with no loss to output.📊
The NFP funding challenge is difficult – knowing how to action savings is also difficult 💰🧾
We know charities and not-for-profits are under particular financial pressure, as we discussed previously. To briefly recap, 86% of UK charities say demand for their support has risen in the past year, with 54% saying it’s risen “a lot.” Funding and grants are being cut. While doing more with less is nothing new in the third sector, it's becoming unsustainable.
Overheads on physical space like rent, energy and office management software are increasing and even with office occupancy slowly increasing – it's still common to have overall utilisation rates between 40-60% - even for shared spaces!
What's the problem?
It might be that space is poorly designed, that it’s the wrong type of space – or just that office attendance policies (if you have them) aren’t matched well to the amount or types of space provided.
Easily getting actionable data on not just utilisation, but how to improve it and streamline the amount of space needed or identify how much space can be shared with other charities can feel really difficult – especially without much budget to play with.
It's a perfect storm – savings are needed, but spending money – or have the ability - to find savings is can feel impossible. 🌧️
So here’s the big question:
Do you know if you need the space and space mix you have?
Let’s be honest: the “return-to-office" debate is getting boring – but a “that’ll do” attitude to space might be costing a fortune 😴
We get it. It’s boring! Endless posts and discussions about return to office, and what organisations and/or people want.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to workplace strategy. Some teams need regular office time for collaboration, while others work brilliantly from home.
It’s also doubtful your needs are a nice, neat, straight line every day!
We will spare you the charming acronym – but do you find Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays seem busy, but Monday and Friday are a ghost town in the office?
🤑💎💸💶💰There is a cost to this – and it may be one you are willing to take, but spreading office traffic may also reduce the space you need...and unlock significant savings at office renewal – even if you’ve already downsized a bit!
🕴🕴🕴Matching attendance policies to the space you’ve got – and what people want 🕴🕴🕴
When too few people show up to the office — or too many turn up at the same time, people have a poor experience of the office and get little benefit from it.
The good news? You can make your space work smarter, not harder – and it shouldn’t cost the earth to get meaningful insights on the performance of your space.
With the right data all organisations, but charities and NFPs in particular - can provision just the space they need, make sure they’re getting value from it — and make sure it’s giving people what they want.
Right-sizing your space and streamlining how it’s used isn’t a nice-to-have — it’s essential.
It’s really important to look at this not just for today and tomorrow, but that the data you get puts you in position to know how your needs – and budgets – are changing. You can’t usually adjust the amount of space you pay for on super short term cycles, so getting data to plan space expenditure for the coming months and even years is vital.
And it must be easy to get this data! This isn’t something that should require weeks or work or investment in costly tools.
AskAiB: Designed for People, Built for Value🧠💼
At AskAiB, we can help charities and NFPs with:
✅ Simple metrics to show where the office is delivering value, and how to easily identify savings
✅ Allocating space dynamically and provide better in office experiences
✅ Avoiding spending £1000’s on space delivering no value
✅ Reducing long term overheads without cutting essential tools or services
✅Identifying space which can be use and cost shared with other orgs
✅ Visualising the cost impact and value of every space
We can help you avoid having your space sit empty. Whether it’s reaching the goal of shrinking space, getting people into the office at the right time or looking for ways to better share the space you’ve got – askAiB has tailored charity and NFP friendly solutions.
🔍 What now?
Charities are already doing extraordinary work with limited resources. Don't let your office suck up vital money that could be spent elsewhere — on your people, your mission, and your future.
✨ Or just get in touch and let’s talk about what your workplace could look like.
