Office Occupancy Rates – latest trends

• 24 February 2025
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So what do you think the average office occupancy was in the UK, during the last week of January 2025?

I recently asked my LinkedIn connections and the results might surprise you.

The correct answer – if you were wondering – is 37.1% occupancy.

The data comes from research carried out by Remit Consulting, who have been monitoring office occupancy rates since the first lockdown. 

Happy Mondays

This research has been done on a national level and includes some interesting findings:

• 37.1% is the highest weekly occupancy rates they have ever recorded – the previous best being during March 2024 
• This week included the second consecutive Monday where occupancy has ever topped 33%

What is full?

This seems a silly question, but isn’t. 

Not all businesses have the same desk-to-person ratio. Where a business has dedicated desks, then it’s easy to understand. But where a business runs a leaner operation, for example with hot desking, it can be more opaque. 

If a business runs a desk space ratio of 7:10 (7 desks for every 10 people) then even when all desks are used, then only 70% of employees are in the office. So is the office full if not everyone is there?

But what is a desk? Yep, that great existential question of our time. 

Some businesses will include touch down desks, collaboration space and even seats in the canteen within their total count. So you tell me, what is full?

The idea that before Covid everyone was in the office every day is a myth. Holidays, illnesses, parental leave, client meetings, part-time work, site visits – all meant offices were never ‘full’. A good rule of thumb is that pre-Covid, offices were never more than 70% utilised. 

Perceptions matter

Why do most of the guesses over-estimate occupancy rates?

I would suggest there are a number of factors:

1. most people come into the office themselves on the most popular days – that’s why they are popular. By not experiencing the quieter days they underestimate the weekly average;
2. it’s hard to assess occupancy when hot decking; and
3. offices have never been fully utilised, so our baseline understanding of fullness is skewed.

I will look forward to seeing if this upwards trend of increased occupancy continues. Until then – I hope to see you in the office soon.