The zero-sum game

My heart sank.

It was the headline that drew me in – Real Estate Management Must ‘Start with effective data strategy’.

Now, as a data company in the CRE community it was music to my ears. However it was the outcome of a new occupancy report from a firm that earns its corn from building occupancy and the data they were discussing was utilisation data in pursuit of a ‘space optimisation strategy’.

There’s a few things in the article/report that I’d challenge and a few things that are red flags for me if we’re going to create better workplace approaches. Let me explain.

First off, the report claims that hybrid adoption is in decline. And while that’s technically true — the number of organisations maintaining hybrid programs has dropped from 87% in 2024 to 77% in 2025 — let’s not get carried away. That still means more than three-quarters of firms have a hybrid policy in place. So yes, there’s a dip, but it’s from a very high starting point, likely inflated by the wave of pandemic-driven policies that were never going to stick for every organisation. And while some are scaling back, a full third of organisations plan to expand their hybrid programmes. That hardly feels like a model in retreat.

The report also claims that the top strategic priorities for workplace leaders are now to optimise space (81%) and improve employee experience (67%). But here’s where things get fuzzy. There’s a bit of causal gymnastics at play — as if those two priorities naturally go hand in hand. The report suggests organisations are actively trying to right-size space while simultaneously creating more compelling environments. Maybe. But the data doesn’t explicitly link those intentions. It’s a fair assumption — one many of us would probably make — but it’s still a leap. What we’re really looking at here is a classic effectiveness vs. efficiency dynamic. That’s nothing new in workplace strategy. What has changed, though, is that the old assumption of five days a week in the office is no longer the default. And that shifts the whole conversation.

But that assertion might be undermined by a chart in the same report outlining the top occupancy planning objectives in corporate real estate. It tells a different story. At the top of the list? “Optimise portfolio” (73%) and “Reduce cost of portfolio” (71%). No surprise there. But scroll down and you’ll find “Improve workspace standards” sitting at seventh place — down from sixth last year — with only 55% of organisations selecting it as a priority. That’s 45% who don’t even have it on the radar. Experience, it seems, is still an optional extra.

So what are we really optimising for? If three-quarters of real estate strategies are driven by cost and utilisation — and barely half are concerned with the quality of the environment itself — then we’re playing a dangerous zero-sum game.

Real estate teams might hit get congratulated for squeezing more people into less space, but if no one’s measuring experience, or its impact on performance, then we’re left guessing — or hoping — that they’re not doing damage elsewhere. Because if your metrics stop at utilisation and cost, you’ll never know what’s happening to morale, productivity, or culture. And by the time you do feel it? It's often too late.

Apparently, some organisations are now targeting space utilisation rates of up to 79%, even though the current global average sits at around 54%. That’s a huge jump — and it assumes they even can track it properly, which, ironically, the report itself admits is still a major gap. So what do they think they’re gaining from a ‘space optimisation strategy’ based on shaky data and one-dimensional metrics?

Friend of the Audiem family, Josh Jackman, summed it up beautifully in response to this very point: “Starting with real estate data without measuring people is like trying to fill a water bottle with a leak in it.” You can pour people into the space all you like — but if you’re not capturing what’s leaking out in terms of fatigue, stress, or disengagement, you’re missing the point entirely. The goal isn’t to fill the office. It’s to do something meaningful with the people in it.

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And that’s really the heart of it. If your strategy is about putting bums in seats, you’re missing the bigger opportunity. We’re stuck in a zero-sum mindset. What we’d love to see — and what the workplace world desperately needs — is a shift toward employee performance strategies that bring together space, technology, and community with a clear focus on outcomes. Because that’s where the real return lies.

If you’re ready to look at it differently, give us a call. At Audiem, we’ve been using our Workplace Mix framework to help clients untangle this exact challenge — and when you start looking through the right end of the telescope, the pieces start to fall into place.

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