Today’s office is defined by contradiction in the numbers. Average occupancy now sits around 45%, roughly 1 in 5 workspaces is never used, and yet employees still experience room shortages and crowding at peak moments. Together, these figures point to an office that can be both underused and frustratingly hard to navigate at the same time.
Spacewell has launched its Workplace Benchmark Report 2026, “Office Myths vs. Real Use,” revealing how offices are actually being used across industries in the hybrid work era.
Built on aggregated, anonymized data from more than 80,000 sensors across 236 buildings in 20 countries, the report reveals several striking patterns in occupancy, vacancy, utilization, and reservation behaviour.
The findings suggest that the challenge is no longer simply how much office space organizations have, but whether that space matches how people actually work. For employers, the opportunity lies in using better data to reduce wasted space, improve availability, and rebalance workplaces around real behaviour.
Available now as a free download, the report provides organizations with a data-based benchmark to assess how their workplaces compare across occupancy, vacancy, utilization, and reservation behavior. For companies looking to cut waste, improve employee experience, and make smarter real estate decisions, it offers a clearer foundation for action.