You have a company or work at one. You decide that the work model will be hybrid. Some office, some home. Flexibility. Autonomy. It all sounds well thought out. But when it comes time to lease an office, you fall into the most common trap: you lease for everyone. For all 60 people.

Why? Because that way we're covered. Because it's better to have extra space. Because it's better to be safe than sorry.

But the day-to-day reality is different. Not 60 show up. Not 50. Not even 40. Twenty show up. Sometimes 15. And that huge office, with its desks and meeting rooms, sits almost empty.

The problem is that all that extra space? You're paying for it. Month after month.

A model that doesn't fit

Work has changed. But office leases haven't.

Today companies pivot, expand, contract, experiment. But rent stays fixed, rigid, tied to square footage that nobody walks on.

And there's the mistake: still making space decisions with old-school logic, from when everyone clocked in at 9 and left at 6.

Now, if only 20 people show up per day, why do you need 3,200 square feet? With 1,000 square feet you're more than covered.

What if you flip the script?

Now imagine this scenario:

• Instead of paying for 60, you pay for 20.

• Instead of an annual contract, you use a demand-based model.

• Instead of tying yourself to one office, your teams can choose where to work.

The result? More flexibility, less waste. And a budget freed up for smarter things: training, travel, face time, growth.

What nobody tells you about hybrid

A lot of companies call themselves "hybrid." But in practice, they keep 100% office-based structures. They tell the team they can come in whenever they want, but they lease like everyone's coming in every day.

And that creates two things:

1. Empty offices, but expensive ones.

2. Teams that never cross paths or connect, because nobody knows when the other person is coming in.

Bottom line: lots of spending, little gain.

Red flags

Is your company falling into this trap? Here are some signs:

• You have empty desks more than half the time.

• You don't know how many people come to the office each week.

• You're paying utilities and services for spaces that barely get used.

• You can't measure the return on your infrastructure investment.

If any of this rings a bell, you're not alone. It happens to startups, small businesses, and corporations alike.

"But people like having a fixed space"

Maybe. But that doesn't mean they use it every day. Having a base, a place to meet, is key. But it makes no sense to pay for more than you actually need.

The answer isn't to eliminate the office. It's to adapt it to real usage. It's to stop paying for "just in case."

What can you do differently?

There are options. Plenty of them.

• On-demand spaces: rent desks, meeting rooms, or hubs only when you need them.

• Smart rotation: have teams organize themselves to come in on different days.

• Real measurement: know who's coming, when, and how often.

• Geographic flexibility: let people choose spaces close to home (instead of crossing the whole city just to get there).

Bottom line: match your model to your team's actual behavior.

And with what you save, you can invest smarter

Back to the Buenos Aires example: If you go from paying $7,020 to $2,340 per month, you free up more than $55,000 a year.

With that you can:

• Organize meaningful in-person gatherings.

• Fund trips for regional team building.

• Invest in professional development.

• Improve your team's wellbeing.

• Expand to new markets without breaking the budget.

Space isn't an expense. It's a tool. But only if you use it right.

It's not just a financial decision, it's a cultural one

The workplace doesn't define culture. But it does reflect it.

And when a company pays thousands of dollars for an empty office, it sends a message: "We don't understand how we work today."

But if you adjust your spaces to match how your team actually operates, you're saying: "We get it. And we're using it to our advantage."

So if you're in HR, Finance, or in a decision-making role, I'll leave you with this question: Are you paying for what you use or for what you used five years ago?