Downsizing your office, workshop or retail unit is one way to reduce your overheads. For my business and many others, downsizing creates a double saving. Not only is our rent reduced, our business rates have also gone down, simply because they’re calculated on floor space. If you’re currently paying for water, lighting and heating on top of your business rent, those outgoings would be likely to drop as well.
Er… but what about all those new people you’ve just hired?
Waste of space
Before Covid, we expected everyone to come to the office and sit at their designated desk each day. Over the last 2.5 years, we’ve embraced a hybrid working model which allows team members greater flexibility.
Whilst the size of our team has doubled, some of those are remote workers based 200+ miles away and local staff also spend a chunk of their week working from home. It’s rare that 100% of the hot desks are taken, but our online booking system makes sure everyone has the chance to save their spot.
There’s clearly no point paying for space you’re not using. But there’s been a cultural benefit to our downsizing decision as well. Rather than rattling around and occasionally shouting to one another across a huge room, colleagues now sit close together, chatting and sharing ideas.
Our smaller, cosier office has allowed colleagues to develop a greater appreciation for each other’s activities and workloads - something that Slack messaging could never replace, if we’d opted to go fully remote.
If you take care of people, they’ll take care of you
The most valuable resource in your business is the people who work there. And in an economic downturn, it’s the people who’ll get you through.
Your staff might be your greatest expense, but that doesn't mean they should be your first cost saving. Downsizing your unit may not feel ideal, but it might allow you to hold onto what really matters - the people in it.
Till next week,
