Hybrid work pushes companies to rethink office space. The NOD reality

Traditional offices were long designed around a simple assumption: employees work primarily from the same location and use assigned desks, with relatively predictable working hours and attendance patterns.

Hybrid work has challenged this approach. In many organizations, employees alternate between days in the office, working from home and traveling to clients or other locations. As a result, attendance has become less uniform, with offices sometimes crowded on certain days and underutilized on others.

For companies, this shift raises both economic and organizational questions. Real estate represents a significant cost, but simply reducing the available floor space is not enough. Businesses must ensure that suitable spaces are available when needed, encourage collaboration and maintain a satisfactory working experience.

The challenge, therefore, is to move from a model based on the permanent availability of workstations to a more flexible approach in which space is allocated according to actual needs.

The Office Paradox: Fixed Costs and Variable Attendance

Rent, utilities, maintenance, cleaning and other services are costs that organizations must bear to keep an office operational. Many of these expenses do not automatically decrease when part of the workforce works remotely.

When attendance fluctuates throughout the week, companies may find themselves with more capacity than they need on average. At the same time, excessive space reductions can create difficulties on busier days, when teams and colleagues need to meet in person.

The issue is not limited to the number of desks. Companies must also consider meeting rooms, collaborative areas, spaces for individual work and the technological infrastructure needed to connect employees working on-site with those participating remotely.

The challenge is therefore to balance costs, capacity and the quality of the working environment.

According to CBRE's European Office Occupier Sentiment Survey 2025, 55% of the companies surveyed expect to reduce their office footprint over the medium term. Factors cited include hybrid work and cost reduction. The study also points to growing interest in flexible workspaces and in measuring how effectively office environments are used.

These figures reflect the intentions of the surveyed companies and should not be considered a forecast applicable to every market. Nevertheless, they indicate an important trend: corporate real estate management is becoming increasingly dependent on utilization data and the ability to adapt spaces to operational needs.

From Assigned Desks to On-Demand Workstations

One organizational response to hybrid work is the adoption of workstations that are not permanently assigned to individual employees. Workers can book a desk or meeting room according to their schedule, while companies seek to align available capacity with expected attendance.

This model, commonly known as hot desking, can increase flexibility and reduce the number of workstations required. However, it requires clear rules, reliable booking tools and up-to-date information about space availability.

If the system is difficult to use or does not reflect actual conditions, its benefits may diminish. Employees may struggle to find a suitable workstation, while managers may find it difficult to forecast demand.

For this reason, digital space management has become an important component of workplace management. Platforms can centralize bookings, monitor resource utilization and provide data to support decisions about how offices should be organized.

Flexibility can also extend beyond company-owned offices. If an employee works from a city different from the one where the company's main office is located, a coworking space near their home may offer an alternative to daily commuting.

In this case, hybrid work management becomes a network issue. The goal is not simply to organize company offices, but also to enable access to professional workspaces distributed across different locations.

Coworking as Infrastructure for Distributed Work

Coworking spaces have developed by offering workstations, private offices and meeting rooms to professionals, freelancers and businesses. Their model is based on providing access to a professional environment without requiring users to bear the costs and commitments associated with maintaining a permanent office.

For companies, a network of flexible workspaces can offer several advantages: reducing the need to open new offices, providing workstations near employees and accommodating temporary requirements without signing long-term real estate contracts.

This approach can also benefit organizations operating across multiple territories or requiring space for meetings, temporary projects and client appointments.

However, coworking does not necessarily replace the corporate office. Shared spaces may be suitable for individual work or small meetings, but they do not always meet every organization's requirements for confidentiality, security or collaboration.

The choice depends on the type of activity, frequency of use and quality of the available facilities. Geographic coverage is also crucial: an extensive network creates value only if it provides accessible locations in the areas where people actually need to work.

For service providers, the challenge is to coordinate a network of facilities with different characteristics and operators while ensuring consistent information, simple booking procedures and clear commercial terms.

Technology to Measure and Optimize Workspace

Digital office management can help transform the workplace from a relatively rigid cost into a resource that can be managed more dynamically.

Booking platforms make it possible to track demand for workstations and meeting rooms, while occupancy analytics can help identify spaces that are used less frequently. By combining this data with team requirements, companies can assess changes to office layouts and attendance arrangements.

The goal should not be to maximize occupancy at all times, but to find a balance between real estate efficiency and the quality of work. An office that is always full is not necessarily more productive, just as an underutilized facility is not automatically wasteful if it serves specific needs.

Technology should therefore support organizational decisions rather than replace them. Companies must consider collaboration, employee satisfaction, information security and the ability of physical spaces to facilitate activities that are more effective when performed in person.

Data protection is another essential factor. Booking and occupancy information must be collected and used proportionately, avoiding the risk that management tools become systems for monitoring individual employees.

Providers must also ensure that their business models are sustainable. A platform can generate revenue through corporate subscriptions, booking commissions or additional services, but it must offer measurable benefits compared with manual management or tools already used by the customer.

The Italian Market: From Individual Flexibility to Corporate Management

In Italy, hybrid work has become an established feature of many companies' organizational policies, although its adoption and implementation vary according to sector and company size.

JLL's Workforce Preference Barometer 2025, based on an international survey that also includes Italian workers, found that 63% of Italian respondents work under structured hybrid-work policies. The research also highlights the importance of workplace quality, office location and work-life balance.

This shift creates opportunities in the workplace management market, where software, flexible workspaces and corporate services can be integrated to support a distributed workforce.

For companies, the economic benefits depend on their ability to coordinate these tools without increasing administrative complexity. A coworking network can be useful, but if bookings, payments and cost monitoring are managed separately, the additional workload may erode some of the benefits.

Value emerges when companies can offer employees accessible alternatives while maintaining a centralized overview of space utilization and spending.

NotOnlyDesk and the Digital Management of Flexible Workspaces

NotOnlyDesk operates in this context as an Italian platform that enables companies to manage access to a network of coworking spaces and flexible offices. Its UCapital Dealflow profile presents the company as a digital solution for organizing hybrid work, while publicly available service information describes a booking system for desks, private offices and meeting rooms.

According to the platform's listing on Apple's App Store, the company reports a network of more than 300 partner locations across Italy and uses a system called Nodey to facilitate access and bookings. The company also offers tools designed to help businesses monitor workspace utilization and manage team costs.

The model's potential lies in connecting corporate demand with the supply of professional workspaces distributed across different locations, reducing the need to manage individual agreements and bookings separately.

The commercial challenge will be to demonstrate that the network is used consistently and that the service generates tangible benefits for client organizations. Key indicators to monitor include the number of active corporate customers, repeat bookings, workspace utilization rates, the network's geographic coverage and the actual savings achieved.

The transformation of hybrid work involves more than simply working from home a few days a week. It requires a rethink of the relationship between people, real estate and corporate organization. For platforms that can make this process simpler and more measurable, the workplace can become a market in which flexibility is not only an employee benefit, but also a tool for improving operational efficiency.

NotOnlyDesk (NOD) — "The Digital Backbone for Hybrid Work in Italy"