If you’re an entrepreneur who owns a commercial premises, there’s no doubt that this represents one of the biggest and most important investments that you’ll ever make.
After all, the total value of commercial property in the UK was estimated at £883 billion at the end of 2016, with this type of asset accounting for about 10% of the UK’s net wealth overall.
Given this, the concept of office occupancy is something that you should give careful consideration to, not least because wasted or unused work-space often translates into inefficient spending.
In this post, we’ll explore the idea of office occupancy in further detail, while asking how you can make the most of your firm’s current and future real estate investments.
Understanding Office Occupancy and Managing your Expectations as a Business-Owner
Let’s start with a basic assertion; it’s almost impossible to achieve 100% office occupancy purely by design.
The primary reason for this is that external and often uncontrollable factors such as holidays, sick leave and remote working all impact on real-time levels of office occupancy, creating a scenario where between 40% and 60% of workplace desks are typically not in use at any given time.
Whilst this is already far from ideal, the level of office occupancy can plunge even further in instances where the design of your work-space is inefficient.
Interestingly, developing an understanding of office occupancy can also empower the decision making of businesses that are experiencing exponential growth.
More specifically, these firms can seek out expert advice and take proactive steps towards increasing levels of office occupancy in their existing workplace, potentially creating a scenario where they can negate the need to relocate and save huge sums of cash.
To Move or Relocate – Why You Should liaise with a Workplace Consultancy Firm
OK, we hear you ask, but where should you turn for advice on whether to redesign your existing workplace or relocate to a setting that offers optimal levels of office occupancy?
In truth, workplace strategists should represent your first port of call, as they’ll attend your office and carry out an extensive analysis of the space that you have at your disposal.
They’ll then take the time to understand your business’s precise operational and growth plans, before providing expert insight that will help you to make an informed decision between remodelling and relocating.
The main benefit of this is that it takes into account the intangible factors that impact on modern workplaces, including ergonomics and agile working (which allows employees the freedom to operate remotely and with greater flexibility than ever before).
With this in mind, you’ll need guidance to help calculate roughly how many people are usually in your office at the same time, whilst determining what type of desking system can help you to make the most of your existing space (if this is at all possible).
Ultimately, this type of insight can definitely help to determine the optimal level of office occupancy in your existing work-space, at which point you can decide whether this is fit for purpose in accordance with your growth plans.
In instances where you do relocate, understanding office occupancy can also help you to identify the best possible premises on the market and generate the optimal return on your real estate investment.
