Almost every real estate manager senses it at some point: the office feels too large. But 'feels' is no basis for ending a lease, moving, or investing. How do you know for sure? By three signals.
The tricky part is that the answer lives in two worlds that rarely meet: your people (what do they need?) and your buildings (what's available?). Only when you place the two side by side does 'too big' become measurable. These three signals help you do that.
Signal 1: Where people want to work
The first signal isn't in your building, it's in your people. Measure where they want to work (home, office, or somewhere in between) and compare that with where they actually sit today. If that gap is persistent, with more people wanting to work from home or elsewhere than your office allows for, you're paying for seats that stay empty.
Signal 2: Whether activities fit the place
This is the strongest signal. Not all work belongs in the office: focused work is often fine at home, while collaboration and connection are not. If you measure what work people do and where it best fits, you see whether the office is over- or under-used for the work that actually happens there. An office mostly serving work that could just as well happen elsewhere is simply too big, and this signal is the most concrete, because it points directly to which space you can release.
Signal 3: How much space is really used
The third signal is the hardest: occupancy. How many of your square metres are actually used in an average week? Almost every organisation with multiple buildings has hidden capacity: floors standing half empty while space is rented elsewhere. Add it up across the whole portfolio and 'too big' becomes a number instead of a feeling.
Too big isn't a feeling. It's a number, once you place supply and demand side by side.
What you do next
One signal is a hint; three together are a foundation. The trick is not to read them separately, but side by side, and next to your actual real estate. That's exactly what rightsizing does: it brings the measured need of your people together with the capacity of your buildings, so that 'the office feels too big' becomes a decision you can defend to finance and leadership.
Frequently asked
How many people do I need to survey?
Start where it's easiest, a first team or building, and build up from there. You don't need everyone at once to begin steering; over time you work towards the full picture, covering the whole organisation, so the insight only gets sharper. It's always at group level, never per individual.
How often should I measure this?
Periodically. One assessment gives a snapshot; repetition shows the trend, and it's the trend that drives real estate decisions reaching years ahead.
