Want to cut your office costs without making your team miserable?
Cutting overheads is every business’ dream. Rent, utilities, furniture, cleaning costs… before you know it, they start mounting up. So when it comes to tightening the belt; first out the door are always the “nice to haves”.
Here’s the problem:
Wellbeing shouldn’t be a ‘nice to have’. When you cut the wrong corner you pay for it ten fold with sick days, lack of focus and staff who quietly begin looking for a new job.
Cheap decisions can get very expensive.
The good news? You can do both. With a few smart changes, you can:
- Lower your running costs
- Make better use of the space you already pay for
- Keep your people healthy and focused
Here is how to do it…
Inside This Guide:
- Desk Screens For Offices: A Cheap Fix For A Noisy Problem
- Why Wellbeing Is A Cost Issue
- 5 Ways To Trim Overheads The Right Way
Desk Screens For Offices: A Cheap Fix For A Noisy Problem
Here’s where most offices are quietly leaking money.
Hybrid working has had a massive impact on desk utilisation. Studies conducted by the British Council for Offices revealed office space in the UK is sitting at only around 40% occupancy, even during peak midweek times. That’s money down the drain on unused desks.
The obvious solution is to downsize, go open plan and hot-desk. It does cut costs. But there’s a problem…
Open plan offices are loud. Oxford Economics discovered that 63% of employees feel they lack access to quiet space to concentrate on work. That’s productivity, job satisfaction and wellbeing negatively affected in one go.
Enter office desk screens. Office desk screens are one of the most cost-effective ways to help an open-plan office work for the people working within it. An effective desk screen eliminates visual distractions, muffles office chatter and creates an individual ‘territory’ for each worker. Office desk screens give you privacy at work without breaking the bank. On a budget? With budget desk screens, you can partition-off a row of open plan desks for just a fraction of the cost of constructing walls or relocating to a larger floor space.
Pretty smart, right?
Tip: Material desk screens will absorb sound better than clear acrylic ones. Bonus: If noise is the most common complaint among your employees, see if this is the problem first.
Why Wellbeing Is A Cost Issue
For many business owners wellbeing and cost savings are at war with each other. You win at one, you lose at the other.
But that’s not how the numbers work.
In the UK, employee sickness absence peaked at 9.4 days per employee (CIPD). Nearly two weeks per employee. Mental ill health was the leading cause of long-term absences.
Zoom out. Deloitte estimates the impact of poor mental health to cost UK employers £51 billion a year. And the single biggest area isn’t sick days…
Presenteeism. You know when employees come to work but aren’t productive. Noise, stress and a poor workplace environment all contribute to it.
So when you trim a budget line that supports your team…
You’re not saving money. You’re just moving the cost somewhere else.
5 Ways To Trim Overheads The Right Way
Ok onto the tips. Read through them all, select a few that will work for your office and begin. Spending smarter is really that easy!
Downsize Your Floor Space
Rent is typically your largest expense. Space often is. More than half of firms surveyed (55%) by CBRE said they plan to decrease their office space within the next several years.
Don’t just stuff more people in. Measure how many desks are utilized each day for 30 days. Then size your space to meet the needs of your busiest days… not your slowest.
Hot desking would be great here. Less desks. More people per desk. Ensure each desk has its own ergonomic chair. Enough lighting and screen separation between workers/stations. Otherwise you reduce overheads just to pay it out again on lost productivity.
Cut Your Energy Bills
Energy is the next big drain.
Here’s how:
Lights, heaters and air con stay on all day long in rooms that no one uses. Seal off unused areas when the office is slow. Install motion sensor lighting in conference rooms and break rooms. Set your heating system on a timer that corresponds with actual office hours.
They’re little adjustments that are extremely inexpensive to implement. And they add up on your bill each month.
Rethink Your Furniture Spend
New furniture is expensive. But it doesn’t have to be.
Assess what you already have before you purchase anything. Many desks and chairs can be cleaned, repaired with a new component or undergo cosmetic repair. Allocate your budget to the items that will have the greatest impact on employee morale:
- Supportive chairs
- Desk screens between workstations
- Good task lighting
That’s where real comfort comes from. Not fancy reception sofas that nobody sits on.
Build Quiet Zones
Not every task needs a meeting room.
Hours of your workday are spent concentrated on individual tasks like writing, strategizing and crunching numbers. Give your team a place to do that work without distraction. Convert a closet or empty conference room into a quiet space. Throw in some soft furniture and a basic “no phone calls” policy.
Done.
It costs almost nothing. But it allows employees to escape the noise — and that helps reduce stress (and sick days).
Focus On Free Wellbeing Wins
Some of the best wellbeing changes don’t cost a penny. For example:
- Encourage proper lunch breaks away from desks
- Let people take short walks to reset
- Give managers basic training on spotting stress
- Keep hybrid working flexible where you can
None of these affect your budget. But they demonstrate to your team that you’re listening. And that’s worth far more than a fruit bowl in the break room.
The Bottom Line
Slashing overheads isn’t skimping. In fact office wise, the cheapest option isn’t always the most cost effective. If your staff are stressed, distracted or calling in sick you’ll lose out somehow.
To quickly recap:
- Plan your space around real desk use
- Switch off what nobody is using
- Spend your furniture budget on comfort, not looks
- Use desk screens and quiet zones to fight noise
- Lean on free wellbeing wins
Get these right and you’ll run a leaner office with a happier, healthier team.
That’s a win-win.
