Businesses waste millions in unused desk space
Business Info Magazine 01/08/2009
The greater adoption of flexible working to reduce costs means that businesses are now wasting millions of pounds in unused desk space.
RNM Systems claims that a company with 2,000 employees could be wasting as much as £8 million a year, based on an average desk occupancy rate of 45% (source: Flexibility Limited).
Actium Consult has worked out that a 10m_ desk in the City of London costs as much as £9,510 per annum when you take into account rental costs, heating, electricity and ventilation (source: Total Office Cost Survey 20O8 11th Edition, Actium Consult, May 2008).
Paul Statham, managing director at RNM Systems, said: "The days when large firms could afford to operate half-empty office floors have gone. We have seen evidence that many companies are taking measures to ensure that every single inch of real estate is put to good use.
"Companies that traditionally operated on six floors are increasingly looking to divest their real estate so that they can function with just four floors – vacating expensive floor space and making huge savings on both rent and the cost of servicing the under-utilised space.
“This process is facilitated by workspace management and booking solutions, such as RNM Systems' Condeco software suite that allows users to book desks, meeting rooms and car park spaces via a single, centralised web-based application (see page 8).
Such solutions are essential for the success of 'hotelling' policies that underpin flexible working practices by replacing 'owned' desks with a smaller number of unassigned seats that employees book as and when they are needed.
www.rnmsystems.co.uk