Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Nirit Cohen – WorkFutures
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
For most companies, the second-largest fixed expense after payroll isn’t technology or marketing. It’s real estate. The line item labeled “facilities” — rent, utilities, maintenance, and the cost of accommodating people at desks — quietly consumes between 10 and 20 percent of total operating expenses, according to CBRE.
In a world obsessed with agility and asset-light growth, it’s remarkable how many organizations still carry an anvil made of square footage.
When a company scales fast, its physical footprint often scales faster. Those bricks don’t slow down easily.
What began as a smart expansion can quickly become a capital anchor when the business shifts direction, teams disperse, or the economy cools. The question isn’t whether companies need offices. It’s whether they need this much of them — fixed in this way, for this moment in time.
The Uncertainty of Where (and When) People Work
“Hybrid is here to stay — but it’s anything but predictable,” wrote researchers at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
Four years after the pandemic redrew the map of work, companies are still trying to understand when employees come in and why. Stanford data shows that about 40 percent of U.S. workers now follow a hybrid model, averaging two and a half days a week in the office.
But those averages hide wild variability: attendance surges midweek and collapses on Mondays and Fridays.
As CBRE put it, “space planning is no longer about headcount — it’s about attendance and behavior.” The challenge is that attendance and behavior resist prediction.
Some teams need collaboration; others crave quiet focus. Some departments rotate weekly; others show up monthly.
The outcome is spatial chaos: too many desks for people who aren’t there, and not enough of the right kinds of spaces when they are.
Underutilization Isn’t New
Even before COVID-19, the office was half-empty. Utilization rates in the late 2010s hovered around 60 percent — meaning four out of every ten desks sat unused on a typical day because employees were traveling, in meetings, or working elsewhere.
According to CBRE, the average allocation per employee has fallen to 152 square feet, down from more than 225 in 2010. Companies have shrunk the personal footprint, but not the inefficiency.
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Meanwhile, costs are climbing. The CBRE Facilities Management Cost Trends Report shows facility-related expenses rising by 15 to 25 percent, driven by labor shortages, material inflation, and higher energy prices.
In other words, the hybrid era didn’t create inefficiency — it illuminated it in high definition.
Quantifying the Drag
The weight of all this inefficiency adds up fast. A recent Gable analysis estimates that companies spend between $7,500 and $15,000 per employee per year on office space, and in cities like New York or San Francisco, that figure can exceed $20,000.
When headcount grows quickly, those costs multiply like compound interest. The office that once symbolized progress can become a liability when business direction shifts or when new work models take hold.
As Forbes observed, “Companies chasing growth often build faster than they think — and the real estate bill comes due long after the headcount shifts.”
Every desk is effectively a brick, and those bricks stack up quickly on the balance sheet.
The Fix: Align Desks with People
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
That simple idea is reshaping corporate real estate strategy. The next generation of workplace leaders is using data — badge swipes, booking systems, and occupancy analytics — to rightsize space.
Deloitte describes this shift as “understanding flow” — the patterns of how, when, and where work actually happens. By analyzing this flow, companies are learning to align real estate with behavior instead of headcount.
Desks are no longer sacred personal property but shared tools. Unused square footage is converted into spaces for collaboration, wellness, or project-based work.
Leases that were once long-term commitments are being replaced by flexible arrangements that move with the business.
This isn’t about austerity. It’s about precision.
Every square foot should work as hard as every employee.
Beyond Reduction: Purpose-Built Space
“The office isn’t dead — it’s just being rewired,” wrote the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. RICS found that companies are shifting from simply cutting space to creating purpose-built environments that drive culture, collaboration, and productivity.
That reframing changes everything. The question is no longer “How much space do we need?” but “What kind of space actually works?”
Offices today are evolving from storage for people to platforms for experience. The best spaces integrate technology seamlessly, support both deep work and creative energy, and make the commute worthwhile. They are designed for flexibility, well-being, and brand expression — not just for occupancy.
Companies that invest in these environments tend to see higher utilization, stronger culture, and better return on every square foot. The metric isn’t just cost anymore; it’s value.
Rethinking the Balance Sheet
Fast companies don’t need big offices. They need smart ones.
Real estate doesn’t have to be the enemy of agility. When managed as a living, data-informed system — one that flexes with headcount, culture, and market conditions — it can become a strategic advantage instead of a fixed drag.
But that shift requires a new mindset. It means letting go of the old equation that more desks equals more productivity. It means building space around purpose, not tradition.
The ton of bricks on the balance sheet won’t disappear overnight. But by aligning space with usage, transforming fixed costs into flexible ones, and designing workplaces that people actually use and value, companies can replace ballast with momentum.
Because in business, speed kills inefficiency — and it’s time the office caught up.
