Failing to make proper use of your real estate is akin to pouring money down the drain

Commercial real estate is expensive. In fact, it is the second-biggest outgoing in a service business behind wages. As a result, in today’s high-pressured and increasingly competitive business world, making the most of your workspace and ensuring you get value for money from your assets is essential. With the average desk in a London office costing more than £8,000 a year[1], failing to fill your space is akin to pouring money down the drain. To put it simply, empty desks equal wasted money, which could be much better spent elsewhere. But how do you address this issue? Many large organisations have big unwieldy office buildings stretched over a series of floors, many of which are half empty. They would like to make better use of their assets and reduce their corporate real estate costs as a percentage of their total spend, but don’t know how. The uncertainty around Brexit-related relocations and the increased tendency towards flexible and home working has only exacerbated the challenge, leaving them unsure of how much space they actually need.

The key is to know how your space is being used

Believe it or not, this is not all bad news for employers. The key is to know how your space is being used and make it work for you. If you have large areas of empty desks, then merge the areas that are being used and repurpose or even remove the areas that aren’t in use. They could be sold off or rented out to bring in extra cash, or repurposed to make additional break-out areas, extra meeting rooms or even relaxations zones. While this may sound like an indulgence, it is widely accepted that happy employees make for better workers, so if you have the space, why not make better use of it?

Detailed MI on space utilisation is a valuable asset

As already mentioned, the key is to know how your workspace is being used. To address this, we have developed HybridHero, a new application that not only produces detailed MI about desk and meeting room utilisation, but also helps improve employee wellbeing and increase productivity. The MI gives employers a detailed and accurate insight into how their space is being used. They can then use this information to make better informed decisions about the future direction of their business and how to make better use of their real estate. In addition, the ability to pre-book a workspace or a meeting room can help alleviate anxiety for employees and also enable them to choose a particular work station in a specific part of the office – something that research shows can significantly improve the wellbeing of some employees.

Unused space can be repurposed or even removed

“Implementing a structured workspace management system, with desk and car park space booking applications, means that desk space can be used by multiple employees at different times as required,” says Chris Burke, CEO of HybridHero.

“Utilisation rates can be monitored and unused space can either be repurposed or removed, saving organisations substantial amounts of money.”

Proper workspace management can transform a business

In an environment where businesses are coming under increased pressure from all sides to reduce costs, optimising your workspace with the help of a specialised tool is a no brainer. HybridHero has been proven to increase desk utilisation by 57.4% and reduce real-estate costs by 55%[2]. In our most recent case study, the detailed MI gathered using HybridHero provided evidence for the closure of 11 properties, significantly reducing the client’s real-estate spend. Implemented correctly, a workspace management system has the potential to transform the way businesses use their real estate. Whether it provides evidence for an immediate reduction in the real-estate footprint, a repurposing of the unused space or simply to aid decisions about where future growth should be targeted, the potential is huge. To find out more about how HybridHero can help you optimise your workspace, save money and improve the overall wellbeing of your employees, sign up for a free trial today.

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