Space Planning in a Shrinking Economy: How to Get More with Less
Economic uncertainty has a way of sharpening priorities. In today’s climate, every square foot of office space is under scrutiny, and every dollar spent needs to earn its keep. While some companies are pulling the ripcord on physical offices altogether, most are facing a more nuanced challenge: how to make smarter use of less space.
At Robin, we work with thousands of workplaces navigating this exact tension. Across industries, we’re seeing the same themes: rising real estate costs, flattened budgets, and a growing demand for in-office experiences that actually work. The takeaway is clear: space planning isn’t just a facilities function. It’s a strategic lever for cost control, productivity, and flexibility.
The Cost of Static Space
Traditionally, space planning happened once every few years. Teams moved floors, added desks, maybe swapped out conference tables. But in a hybrid world, static planning doesn’t cut it. Employees don’t use the office the same way week to week; and when plans are built on old assumptions, the result is wasted space and underutilized assets.
This kind of mismatch shows up in the numbers. For example, one Robin customer found that on average, 40% of meeting rooms were booked but went unused. Meanwhile, desks sit empty three or four days a week. That’s not just operational drag, it’s money out the door. By having that information on hand, they were able to make better decisions when right-sizing their office.
Shrinking Square Footage, Growing Complexity
Many companies are downsizing their real estate footprint but the logistics of supporting a dynamic, distributed workforce haven’t gotten any simpler. You still need collaboration space. You still need to host clients, accommodate drop-in days, and keep things running smoothly.
This is where modern space planning becomes a multiplier. When your layout, booking systems, and usage data are integrated, you can:
- Match space types to real employee needs
- Anticipate demand and prevent congestion
- Avoid costly overbuilds or underbuilds
- Get more value out of every square foot
Smart space planning doesn’t just save money. It builds confidence in how your office is working.
From Fixed Layouts to Flexible Scenarios
Let’s take an anonymized example. One of our customers, a mid-sized financial firm, downsized from three floors to one. Initially, they kept their original layout intact. Within weeks, they ran into familiar friction: overlapping team days, meeting room bottlenecks, and a lack of visibility into who was coming in.
Using Robin’s space planning tools, they started running real-time scenarios: shifting desk neighborhoods, right-sizing conference rooms, and layering in badge data to forecast occupancy. Within a quarter, they had:
- Reduced wasted space by 30%
- Freed up two meeting rooms by reconfiguring demand
- Increased booking efficiency with automatic desk assignments
How to Do More with Less
Here are four space planning moves that make a real difference when budgets are tight:
- Start with the data. Use sensor or badge data to understand true occupancy. Don’t rely on bookings alone.
- Rebuild your space for purpose, not legacy. What teams actually need may not align with your original floorplan. Adapt accordingly.
- Automate low-value tasks. Meeting services, visitor check-in, and booking flows should happen behind the scenes.
- Plan for change. Use software that lets you model different layouts, schedules, and demand patterns before making physical changes.
The Bottom Line
When done right, space planning becomes a financial strategy. It lets you reduce overhead without sacrificing experience. It turns the office from a fixed cost into a flexible asset. And in a shrinking economy, that flexibility is everything.
At Robin, we help organizations plan smarter, spend wiser, and unlock more from their workplace investments. Because in the end, it’s not about doing less. It’s about making less go further.
Learn how Robin powers flexible, efficient office planning.
