How to Avoid Empty Office Days (And Why They Matter)
By Sofia Andersson · January 5, 2025
You make the effort to come into the office, only to find nobody there. It’s demoralising, unproductive, and a waste of everyone’s time. Empty office days cause wasted commutes, lost productivity, damaged morale, and resource waste.
Why Empty Office Days Happen
The root causes: lack of visibility into who’s coming in, no coordination mechanism, misaligned schedules, last-minute changes, and no compelling reason to gather on a specific day.
Strategy 1: Create Visibility
The simplest fix: make it easy for everyone to see who’s planning to come in. The key is making it low-friction—a shared tool that takes seconds to update.
Strategy 2: Designate Team Days
Have teams agree on specific days when most or all members aim to be in the office. Let teams choose their own days, consider project cycles, make it a norm rather than a rigid rule, and review quarterly.
Strategy 3: Create Reasons to Gather
Give people positive reasons to come in: team lunches, social events, workshops, and all-hands meetings all create pull rather than push.
Strategy 4: Coordinate Lunches
When people know they’ll have colleagues to eat with, they’re much more likely to come in—and enjoy it. Lunch coordination is one of the most effective ways to ensure meaningful office days.
Strategy 5: Enable Last-Minute Visibility
Plans change. Make it easy to check who’s in right now, post spontaneous invites, and update plans without friction.
Measuring Success
Track the average number of people in office per day, percentage of days with “critical mass,” team overlap rates, and employee satisfaction with office days.