How to Build a Flexible Workspace Strategy in 7 Steps

A flexible workspace strategy combines the offices you lease or own with on-demand workspace you pay for only when used. You size fixed space for typical attendance, not peak headcount, and cover the rest with coworking desks and meeting rooms. Seven steps get you there: audit utilisation, set a policy, map your footprint, choose an on-demand network, consolidate contracts, centralise booking, and review the data regularly.

For companies working across several cities or countries, the old model adds a lease, a local contract and another stream of invoices with every new market. This guide shows how to bring headquarters, satellite offices and on-demand coworking into one cost-controlled model.

If you are still choosing between single-operator, aggregator and curated-network models across countries, start with how to give employees flexible workspace access across multiple countries.

 

The 7 steps at a glance

1. Audit your space utilisation: measure occupancy at every location and find space you pay for but rarely use.
2. Define your workspace policy: set booking rules, in-office days and spending limits before rolling anything out.
3. Map your multi-location footprint: list HQ, satellite offices and coworking needs by city, team and usage pattern.
4. Choose your on-demand workspace network: approve a set of coworking spaces and meeting rooms that complement your fixed offices.
5. Consolidate agreements and invoicing: move workspace contracts under one agreement so spend is visible in one place.
6. Centralise booking and access: give employees one place to book desks, meeting rooms and external workspace.
7. Track utilisation and adjust: use the data to decide which leases to renew, shrink or exit.

How to build a cost-controlled flexible workspace strategy

1. Audit your space utilisation

Start by measuring how much of your office space is actually used. JLL’s 2026 occupancy research found that actual utilisation reached 56% globally, against a target of 74%. On an average day, a large share of leased space sits unused.

Collect badge, booking or sensor data for each location over at least 60 working days. Calculate average and peak occupancy for desks, meeting rooms and collaboration areas.

Then set those figures against lease costs per location. The gap between what you pay for and what you use is your baseline for every later decision.

2. Define your workspace policy

A flexible model needs clear rules. Decide booking lead times, cancellation windows and how teams coordinate office days before you introduce new tools.

Structured attendance is becoming the norm. According to the same JLL research, 62% of organisations now require a fixed number of in-office days, up from 49% a year earlier. Anchor days for specific teams make attendance predictable and help you size space.

Set spending limits by team or cost centre. Define who can use external coworking spaces and when. A written policy gives Finance the controls it needs and prevents budget overruns.

3. Map your multi-location footprint

List every workspace you have: headquarters, satellite offices and existing coworking memberships. For each, record size, lease end date, cost per seat and current utilisation.

Then look for gaps. Where do employees live with no workspace nearby? Where do teams travel often for client meetings? These gaps are candidates for on-demand access rather than new leases.

Build a simple matrix of which teams need which space types in which cities. A product team may need collaboration space every week, while a sales team mainly needs meeting rooms near clients.

4. Choose your on-demand workspace network

Instead of signing a separate agreement with a coworking operator in each city, give employees access to an approved network through one platform. You keep cost control without limiting choice.

Assess spaces on quality, distance from where employees live and the facilities they offer. Approve the locations that meet your standards and your people and culture goals.

Spacent’s network covers 1,300+ workspaces in 400+ locations across 26 countries, including coworking desks, meeting rooms and team spaces. Employees in Helsinki, London or Berlin book through the same app.

5. Consolidate agreements and invoicing

Every separate lease or membership adds a supplier, a payment process and a usage report to reconcile. Across several countries, that admin grows quickly.

The guiding principle is one agreement, one platform, one invoice. Move flexible workspace contracts under a single agreement where you can.

The bigger gain is visibility. Your Finance and Procurement teams see workspace spend in one view, split by cost centre or country, instead of waiting for month-end reconciliation. For where spend tends to hide, see our guide to managing office spend.

6. Centralise booking and access

Give employees one place to book desks, meeting rooms and external workspace across all locations, including your own offices. Mobile booking matters, because people often book on the move.

Configure the platform to match your policy: booking lead times, who can book external space, and spending limits by department.

These controls prevent budget surprises while still letting employees choose a workspace that suits their day.

7. Track utilisation and adjust

Your strategy should change as your business does. Use space analytics to follow utilisation across owned and on-demand space.

After 90 to 180 days you will have enough data to answer key questions. Which locations are consistently underused? How full are you on your busiest days? Where do employees book external space, showing demand you could meet differently?

Use the answers when leases come up for renewal. Spacent’s reporting shows spend by team, city and country alongside utilisation trends, so footprint decisions rest on data rather than headcount ratios.

What are the main benefits of a flexible workspace strategy?

The benefits fall into three groups: financial, operational and employee experience.

• Financial: you pay for space you use. Fixed space is sized for typical attendance and on-demand workspace covers the peaks.
• Operational: one agreement and central reporting mean less supplier management, so your workplace team can spend more time on portfolio decisions.
• Employee experience: people get professional workspace near where they live or travel, including meeting rooms and quiet space for focused work.

How do you control costs across different workspace types?

Cost control across owned and on-demand space comes down to three things: one view of all workspace spend, clear policies on spending limits and booking, and regular reviews of utilisation data to decide which space to keep, cut or add. For a step-by-step look at managing costs across locations, read how to manage a hybrid office across multiple locations.

How Spacent helps you build a flexible workspace strategy

Spacent is a hybrid workplace management platform that brings your own offices and on-demand workspace into one system. It combines three things:

• Admin tools that track office costs, spend, vacancy and usage rates for Finance, Operations and HR teams.
• A workspace network of 1,300+ workspaces in 400+ locations across 26 countries, including coworking desks, meeting rooms and team spaces. Browse the locations.
• Own office integration, so employees book your leased or owned offices and the network in the same app.

Administrators set budgets, approve locations and follow utilisation from one portal. Finance receives one invoice, split by cost centre or country.

Contact Spacent to discuss how a flexible workspace strategy could work for your teams.

FAQs about building a flexible workspace strategy

What is a flexible workspace strategy?

It is a planned mix of fixed office space and on-demand workspace. You size permanent space for typical attendance and use coworking desks and meeting rooms to cover variable demand. Spacent supports this with one platform for booking, invoicing and reporting.

How does a flexible workspace strategy reduce costs?

Savings come from three sources: cutting space you pay for but rarely use, using on-demand access instead of fixed leases in smaller locations, and seeing actual usage so decisions rest on data. The size of the saving depends on your starting point.

What workspace types should a flexible strategy include?

Most strategies combine four types: headquarters for core operations, satellite offices where many employees are based, on-demand coworking desks for occasional use, and bookable meeting rooms for clients and team days. Spacent gives access to all four through one platform.

How do you get employees to actually use the workspace system?

Employees use the system when it makes their workday easier. They can see where colleagues are working, check up-to-date availability, find different work environments for different kinds of work, and plan team get-togethers more easily. Make sure the spaces meet their quality expectations, and explain the benefits for employees, not only the savings for the company.

How long does implementation take?

It depends on how many contracts and countries you start with. Employees can usually start booking on-demand workspace before longer-term contract consolidation is finished.