Stop paying for empty chairs: 6 ways to cut small business costs

All businesses face cost pressures, and some of them are felt more keenly when margins are narrow, and bills never seem to go anywhere but up. However, while rent and utilities hit businesses hard, there is one expense which gets to fly under the radar, undetected, quietly chipping away at your margins, and that is:

Workspace you’re not using every day.

Cutting costs for SMEs is about reducing payments for services or utilities that don’t add value week to week. Smart savings free up the budget for the things that do add value, like hiring new talent or investing in better channels for customer support.

Empty chairs sitting idly in your office are one of those often overlooked expenses that can and should be looked at. If you have a business of 30 people, but only 10 to 15 are in on a given day, there are over a dozen empty chairs that are affecting your budget by taking up unnecessary rent and utility funds.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to cut costs in a small business without denting momentum or sacrificing quality.

Why cutting costs is harder for small businesses

Small businesses are the UK economy. At the start of 2025, there were 5.64 million small businesses in the UK private sector, which accounted for 99.18% of all UK businesses. 

Unfortunately, the number of small businesses doesn’t mean they have an easy ride, especially when it comes to cost-cutting. Whereas large businesses with greater resources can more easily make cuts, small businesses quite literally can’t afford this luxury.

Often, small businesses use unpredictable income to pay for fixed overheads. Rent or business rates aren’t interesting if sales dip. They still need to be paid, meaning small businesses feel the squeeze first. SME’s limited buying power means they don’t get access to bulk discounts or favourable terms, meaning any inefficient choices cost, proportionally, a lot more.

When cost-cutting does take place, it’s often done reactively, which does nothing but harm the customer experience and ability to grow. The smart move is to reduce small business costs that don’t track usage, such as office space, before targeting the things that affect revenue.

The four highest hidden costs in small businesses

1. Long-term leased office space: Multi-year leases that include large deposits create monthly outgoings which aren’t sustainable for businesses that don’t have the most predictable income.
2. Paying for desks no one uses: Modern hybrid working patterns can mean that whole rows of seats remain empty for several days, resulting in businesses renting thin air.
3. Utilities, cleaning, maintenance, and business rates: These costs are linked to the space you have bought or leased, not to how many people actually use the space daily. You’re still paying the same high fees whether 5 or 50 people are in the office.
4. Space that can’t scale: Downsizing a lease or moving to smaller office space is slow and expensive. The costs of this change can stay with your business long after you’ve handed the keys back.

6 practical ways to cut small business costs

1. Reduce the office space you don’t need

Start by tracking in-person attendance for a typical month. If you find that average occupancy hovers at around 60%, it might be time to look for office space which matches that average occupancy. Including a 10% or 15% capacity buffer is wise, and any additional desk needs can be switched to bookable hot desks.

2. Stop paying for permanently assigned desks

For teams that work at home and in the office, move to shared desks rather than paying for dedicated ones to reduce your office footprint and need for several rows of desks. If necessary, retain a small number of desks that include specialist equipment or where privacy is essential.

3. Cut utilities and facilities tied to unused space

The fewer square feet you pay for, the lower your bills will likely be. When looking at office spaces, look for providers that include bills in a single monthly fee so that costs track to the actual space used.

4. Share services instead of owning everything

Using shared meeting rooms, printers, and reception areas in coworking or flexible office hubs can reduce costs, especially when you compare them to buying, maintaining, and insuring these things yourself.

5. Avoid long-term commitments where possible

Opt for rolling contracts or solutions that come with short terms and clear upgrade or downgrade options. Being able to reduce office usage protects cash during quieter periods, and when business ramps up, you can scale fast.

6. Regularly review subscriptions and suppliers

Each quarter, review things like tool usage or agreements with suppliers, such as insurance firms or cleaning companies. These so-called small line items add up and can positively affect your revenue if their costs can be reduced.

Owning an office may not be the flexible solution you think it is

Owning or leasing your own office space may feel like an achievement. After all, it’s a place for your business to call home! However, in today’s flexible work environment, owning an office outright just locks you into rigid costs.

You pay for the office fit-out, including furniture and any repairs that are needed. Running costs like utilities and energy have to be paid even though the majority of your team works remotely, and every upgrade that’s needed (such as increased wifi capacity as more people join the business) has to be paid for by you.

Essentially, this model of owning office space no longer suits hybrid working. Instead, flexible office spaces allow you to keep the experience of working together without paying for more than you use.

How flexible offices and coworking help cut costs

Flexible office space makes more financial sense for…

• Teams that need privacy or client-facing spaces can use private suites with shared amenities, allowing you to control access without paying overheads.
• Businesses that want predictable monthly costs pay one monthly fee for office access as well as rent, rates, and cleaning.
• Growing teams that need the headroom to scale up can add desks or move into larger suites without needing to change addresses or refit an office.

Coworking is the most cost-effective option for…

• Hybrid teams or part-time office users who can now pay for the days they need and access hot desks or meeting rooms on busier days.
• Brand-new businesses that want to avoid deposits or long-term commitments while they start hiring.
• Businesses that want minimal commitment so they can scale up or down when they need to.

Cutting costs without cutting culture or productivity

There is a misconception that cutting office space will affect a business’s culture or how much work it produces. Fortunately, modern coworking spaces such as The Causeway have everything a business would want to keep teams feeling productive and together.

Bookable collaboration tables or meeting rooms can keep teams together when a project requires collaboration. There are also quiet zones for deep work for those who need to get stuff done and social areas for those energetic strategy meetings. 

Flexibility can, in some cases, actually improve morale and efficiency. Fewer commutes allow people to focus at home when they need to lock in, and moving from a half-empty office to a collaborative coworking space can stop people from feeling like they work in a ghost town.

For businesses, savings can be used to fund training or company away days rather than renting empty rooms.

Cut small business costs with The Causeway

Paying for empty chairs is one of the biggest hidden costs that businesses have to deal with. Opting for a more agile solution not only improves vital profit margins but also retains culture and allows you to invest money into people, instead of bricks and mortar that no one uses.