Overview.
A leading energy and oil company faced several challenges relating to one of their main offices, including:
- 40-% average occupancy versus 52% global benchmark
- Accommodating 1500 employees into 800 desks/seats
- Office was underutilized and used inefficiently
- Meeting rooms and phone booths were used by individuals significantly impacting availability and causing complaints
Occupancy was historically captured using twice daily manual counts, but they lack the granular insights to validate decisions around consolidation, design and future growth.
The company’s objectives were to:
- Consolidate and reduce real estate costs by optimizing space use
- Support future headcount growth without acquiring new premises
- Improve workplace experience by balancing desk, office, and collaboration space supply with actual demand
The Solution
Workplace Redesign, Powered by Freespace Sensors.
The client partnered with Freespace to gain granular data across 751 desks using sensor technology. This provided the first clear picture of how the workplace was being used versus how it had been designed. The opportunities identified, included:
- Consolidate office space by closing two floors while still enabling future growth
- Optimize desk use to achieve a target of 80% occupancy and support additional headcount
- Rebalance categories of workspaces, such as meeting rooms and phone booths, to ease pressure and enhance the employee experience
The data revealed that only 400 desks were in use on the busiest days, creating the opportunity to close two floors while still allowing for a 50% increase in attendance.
Optimizing strategies could increase daily attendance by 151–270 people and raise overall headcount capacity by 405–512 employees using a 1:1.5 desk-to-person ratio.
Balancing space across categories was also critical. Because meeting rooms and phone booths were in high demand on multiple floors, Freespace recommended replacing 78 desks with additional meeting rooms and phone booths on the 6th floor. This change would reduce peak meeting room occupancy from 86 – 100% to 46 – 60% across floors, making rooms more available for team activities and improving overall employee experience.
Key Takeaways
Unlocking real outcomes.
Financially, these actions offered a significant opportunity. Consolidation and optimization avoided the need for additional premises, $1.4 million in savings, while also reducing energy use and environmental impact.
Real Estate Impact.
✅ Consolidated 2 floors while accommodating 200+ additional employees.
✅ Achieved $1.4 million in savings by avoiding the need for additional premises.
✅ Reduced energy use and environmental footprint.
Employee experience IMPACT.
✅ Eased pressure on meeting rooms and phone booths.
✅ Rebalanced workspaces mix to better match demand.
✅ Future-proofed office for sustainable growth and enhanced collaboration.
This case demonstrates how workplace data and targeted modelling enables organisations to reduce costs, support growth, and enhance employee experience simultaneously by fully optimizing their office space.
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