Scenario‐based approach to office occupancy analysis

Purpose – The office is considered as a strategic resource that can support knowledge‐based organisations to gain competitive advantage and operational efficiency. Although the modern scholar emphasises the role of user involvement in workplace design and management, there is little evidence showing how it can be linked to occupancy cost performance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate benefits of a user‐centric workplace practice by focusing on working time and space utilisation practice of office users. Design/methodology/approach – A scenario‐based approach was designed to analyse office occupancy cost performance. A questionnaire survey was conducted from a number of UK‐based offices to create three workspace utilisation scenarios, namely, existing, property‐centric and user‐centric. Key comparison criteria include potential areas of savings, potential total cost savings and cost saving per person. Findings – It was found that a user‐centric approach reflects an opportunity to save annual occupancy costs in terms of total costs and cost per person where users indicated how they utilised working time and space. In return, the organisations can gain more productivity from office users who are likely to perform better when they can work in the preferred workplace practice. Practical implications – By adopting this approach, organisations can understand the occupancy characteristics of the offices from multi perspectives, leading to better management in office premises. Originality/value – This paper is concerned with the analysis of how to achieve higher office efficiency by focusing on office user's working time and space utilisation practice.