Underutilized space is one of the most common hybrid hangovers. It’s the leftover footprint from an old way of working, even as attendance patterns and space needs have changed.

Teams come in a few days a week, yet the office still doesn’t feel evenly used. Some rooms are constantly booked, while other areas sit quietly. The result is frustrating: you’re paying for square footage that looks great on a floor plan but isn’t earning its keep day to day.

Reducing underutilized space isn’t always about shrinking the office. More often, it comes down to understanding what’s actually being used and when, then adjusting the space to match how people work today.

Here’s a practical playbook based on what we see across client projects.

Start by measuring what’s underutilized

One of the biggest mistakes teams make is trying to “fix” utilization based on instinct alone. The most reliable starting point is data, especially across different space types such as conference rooms, focus rooms, lounges, and pantry/café areas.

Some tools and services can track utilization across these areas (often down to patterns by day and time). But even without a formal platform, you can learn a lot by observing what’s happening on the ground. Walk the space at a few consistent times, compare notes with your team, and look for repeatable patterns:

→ Which rooms are always booked?
→ Which areas sit empty most days?
→ Do certain spaces spike only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays?

Once you can clearly describe the pattern, the next steps become much easier and far less expensive.

Underused Doesn’t Mean Unnecessary

Sometimes a space isn’t used because it isn’t useful. Not because it isn’t beautiful.

We see this frequently with lounge areas. A space can photograph well and still be ignored if it doesn’t support the way people show up to work. For example, a “soft lounge” might feel too low, too relaxed, or too disconnected from power and surfaces, so people walk past it instead of working from it.

In those cases, the fix is often functional: better lighting, better comfort, better access to power, and furniture that supports the way employees want to work for 30–60 minutes at a time.

In other words, the goal isn’t to remove the space, it’s to make it useful enough that people actually choose to use it.

Fix the disconnect between the space and employee behavior

Underutilization usually means there’s a gap between what a space was designed for and how people are trying to use it day to day.

If employees are drifting into lounge areas to work, the space needs to support that behavior; laptop-friendly surfaces, easy access to power, and seating that can handle longer stretches comfortably.

If teams are taking calls from conference rooms, it’s often a signal that you need more phone rooms or small focus rooms. And if large conference rooms are constantly booked but frequently used by one or two people, that’s usually a “right-sizing” issue: you may need more huddle-sized rooms (or a better mix of room types), not more square footage.

This is where hybrid workplaces often improve quickly; not by adding more space, but by reshaping the mix so each area matches how people actually use them.

Build in flexibility for when needs change

Hybrid patterns shift. Teams grow. Departments reorganize. Policies change. A workspace that can’t adapt to these inevitable changes becomes outdated quickly.

It’s about planning for change. With operable wall systems, teams can reconfigure interiors faster than traditional construction when utilization patterns shift, for example, combining adjacent offices into a larger meeting room, or rebalancing enclosed vs open space.

Through our architectural walls division, FalkbuiltNY, we’ve seen clients use operable wall systems to do exactly that. Falkbuilt operable walls can be on site in about 9–10 weeks, which is significantly faster than traditional construction timelines and can help teams respond to change without waiting through long construction cycles.

That said, reconfiguration should never be improvised. Changes like this need to be planned well in advance and coordinated with the right trades, especially electrical, low voltage, and AV, so power, data, and technology support the new layout the moment it’s ready. The best outcomes happen when planning starts early, before drawings are final and timelines become tight.

What to do next

If your office feels underused, treat it as feedback, not failure.

Start by identifying patterns and pressure points. Then adjust the space mix, so employees have settings that match how they work today. Finally, consider where flexibility matters most, especially in areas that are likely to change over the next 12–24 months.

If you’re exploring ways to reconfigure your workplace, whether that’s improving utilization, right-sizing rooms, or adding flexibility through operable wall systems, our team is happy to help you think it through. A quick conversation can often clarify what’s most worth changing first: https://laneoffice.com/contact/