Where Is Your Workplace Really Underutilized? How to Identify Hidden Gaps Across Buildings, Floors, and Regions

For corporate real estate (CRE) professionals and workplace strategists, one of the most common, and most important, questions today is: which parts of our portfolio are actually being used, and which are not?

At first glance, this seems straightforward. Look at occupancy rates, identify low numbers, and flag underutilized spaces. But in practice, determining whether a building, floor, or region is truly underutilized is far more complex - and far more strategic.

What Does “Underutilized” Really Mean?
Underutilization is often misunderstood as simply “low occupancy.” But in enterprise workplaces, utilization is not just about how many people are present, it’s about how space is being used relative to its intended purpose.

For example:

• A floor with 40% occupancy may actually be functioning effectively if it’s designed for flexible, collaborative work.

• A meeting room that appears fully booked may still be underutilized if it’s consistently used by only one or two people.

• A region may show moderate attendance overall, but specific teams or spaces within it may be heavily underused.

True utilization looks at alignment between space design, user behavior, and demand.

How to Identify Under-utilized Spaces

To accurately determine which buildings, floors, or regions are underutilized, organizations need to go beyond static metrics and adopt a more nuanced approach. This typically involves:

1. Establishing a Baseline

Start by understanding expected usage:

• What is the intended capacity of the space?

• What types of work is it designed to support (focus, collaboration, hybrid)?

• What are the expected attendance patterns?

Without this context, raw data lacks meaning.

2. Analyzing Occupancy Trends Over Time

Instead of looking at a single point in time, examine patterns:

• Are certain floors consistently below expected thresholds?

• Are there specific days or times when usage drops significantly?

• Are trends stable, improving, or declining?

This helps distinguish between temporary dips and systemic underutilization.

3. Comparing Demand vs. Supply

Utilization should always be evaluated relative to demand:

• Are there more desks or meeting rooms than needed?

• Are some spaces consistently empty while others are overbooked?

Underutilization often exists alongside localized overutilization, indicating imbalance rather than excess.

The Pitfalls of Relying on Occupancy Alone

Many organizations still rely heavily on occupancy data - badge swipes, desk bookings, or headcounts. While useful, this approach has clear limitations:

• It lacks context: Occupancy shows presence, not purpose.

• It misses behavior: It doesn’t reveal how people are interacting with space.

• It can be misleading: A space can appear “used” but not effectively used.

• It ignores movement: It doesn’t capture how people flow through the workplace.

For example, a floor may appear underutilized based on headcount, but in reality, it could be a critical collaboration hub used intermittently but with high impact. Conversely, a space may appear busy but provide little value if it doesn’t support actual work patterns.

Moving Beyond Occupancy: Understanding Behavior

To truly understand underutilization, organizations need to examine how people and teams use space, not just whether they are present.

This includes:

Team-Based Utilization

• Which teams are using specific areas?

• Are teams clustered together or dispersed across floors?

• Are certain teams rarely using assigned spaces?

Understanding team behavior can reveal mismatches between space allocation and actual usage.

Movement and Flow

• How do people move through buildings and floors?

• Are there areas people consistently avoid?

• Where are bottlenecks or under-trafficked zones?

Movement data can highlight hidden inefficiencies - spaces that are technically available but practically unusable.

Resource Utilization

• Which meeting rooms are being used and by how many people?

• Are large rooms being used for small meetings?

• Are certain types of spaces (e.g., focus rooms, collaboration zones) in higher demand?

This level of detail helps identify whether underutilization is due to lack of demand or poor space design.

A More Complete Picture of Utilization

When you combine occupancy with behavioral insights, a clearer picture emerges:

• A floor may be underutilized because teams are not co-located, reducing collaboration.

• A building may see low attendance because it doesn’t support the types of work employees come in to do.

• A region may appear balanced overall, but specific floors may be consistently underperforming.

In many cases, the issue is not too much space, but the wrong type of space in the wrong place.

From Insight to Action

Once under-utilized areas are identified, the next step is action. This doesn’t always mean reducing footprint. In fact, the most effective strategies often involve rebalancing and redesigning rather than eliminating space.

Examples include:

• Reconfiguring floors to better match team workstyles

• Consolidating teams to improve collaboration and reduce fragmentation

• Repurposing underused areas into high-demand spaces

• Adjusting workplace policies to better align attendance patterns

The goal is to ensure that space is not just occupied, but valuable and effective.

Why This Matters for Enterprise Leaders

For enterprise organizations, the stakes are high. Real estate decisions impact not only cost, but also:

• Employee productivity

• Collaboration and innovation

• Workplace experience and retention

Understanding which spaces are underutilized - and why - enables leaders to make data-driven decisions that align the workplace with how work actually happens.

The Role of Deeper Utilization Insights

This is where platforms like InnerSpace play a critical role. By moving beyond basic occupancy metrics, organizations can access deeper insights into:

• How individuals and teams interact with space

• Where collaboration is happening and where it isn’t

• How resources like meeting rooms are actually being used

• How movement patterns shape the workplace experience

These insights provide the foundation for identifying not just where underutilization exists, but what is driving it.

Rethinking Underutilization in the Modern Workplace

In today’s hybrid environment, underutilization is not a simple metric - it’s a signal. A signal that something in the workplace, like design, policy, or alignment, is not meeting the needs of its users.

The organizations that succeed will be those that:

• Look beyond surface-level data

• Understand behavior, not just occupancy

• Align space with real-world usage patterns

Because ultimately, the goal is not to maximize occupancy, it’s to create workplaces that people choose to use, and that enable them to do their best work.