Flexible office space for hybrid teams: why day passes beat traditional offices

You’re managing a team of 50+ people. Most work remotely. Some come to London occasionally for meetings. A few would use an office weekly if one existed.

The question keeping you up at night: what’s the right office solution for a distributed hybrid team?

Traditional office lease? You’d be paying for 50 desks that sit empty 80% of the time.

No office at all? Your teams struggle to collaborate, client meetings happen in coffee shops, and new hires never meet their colleagues in person.

There’s a third option that’s solving this exact problem for hybrid teams at Konversational, Standing together against Domestic Abuse, Magnus Consulting, and dozens of others: flexible office space through day passes.

The hybrid team office dilemma

If you’re responsible for operations, facilities, or HR at a hybrid-first company, you’re facing a fundamentally new challenge that traditional office solutions weren’t designed to solve.

The old model doesn’t work:

• Traditional lease requires 3-5 year commitment for fixed number of desks
• You’re paying for space 52 weeks a year that teams use maybe 2-3 days per week
• Growing team? Locked into undersized space. Contracting? Stuck paying for empty desks.
• Monthly cost: £30,000-50,000+ for 50-person office in London

The new reality of hybrid working:

• 10-15 people might want office access regularly
• Different people different days (Monday team ≠ Thursday team)
• Quarterly all-hands need space for everyone
• Monthly team meet ups for 5-8 people
• Client meetings requiring professional space
• New hires needing onboarding collaboration
• International team members visiting occasionally

The maths doesn’t add up when you’re paying for 50 desks but averaging 12 people in the office.

What hybrid teams actually need

Based on conversations with 100+ hybrid workforce managers, here’s what actually matters:

Flexibility over commitment

• Scale usage up or down month to month
• No penalty for changing needs
• Pay for what you use, not what you might need

Professional space when it matters

• Client meetings in proper meeting rooms, not coffee shops
• Team collaboration spaces for quarterly planning
• Quiet focus environment when people choose office over home
• Onboarding space for new starters

Multiple locations for distributed teams

• Teams spread across London need accessible options
• Visitors from other cities need professional workspace
• Commute times matter for whether people actually use office space

Predictable, manageable costs

• Budget visibility without surprise property costs
• Expense tracking per department or team
• No fit-out costs, business rates, or hidden fees

Simple administration

• Easy booking for team members
• Centralised billing and reporting
• No facilities management headaches

 

How day passes solve the hybrid team challenge

Flexible office space through day pass programmes gives hybrid teams exactly what they need without the burden of traditional offices.

How it works in practice

Example 1: Konversational (90+ employees, 32 using office)

The situation:

• Tech company with Dublin HQ, London subsidiary
• 90+ total employees, about 31 in London team
• Only 10-12 attend office regularly, rest occasional
• Growing team, new hires joining monthly
• Previously at WeWork, didn’t have enough space

The solution:

• 32 flexible memberships at Work.Life
• 60+ day passes used per month across team
• Mix of people coming weekly (dedicated desks) and occasionally (hot desks)
• Can book meeting rooms for team sessions
• Easy to add new members as team grows

The result:

• Professional space when needed without paying for 90 empty desks
• Flexibility to scale as team grows
• Different team members use space different amounts
• Cost proportional to actual usage

Here’s what their Head of Talent and Operations had to say about the switch:

“Work.Life’s Flex membership has been a game changer for how our team works. We’re a tech company with 90+ employees spread across Dublin, London, Paris, Zurich, and Lausanne, so flexibility is key for us. Our London team needed somewhere professional and welcoming, but we didn’t want to commit to a full office that sat empty half the week.

With Work.Life’s Flex Membership, we have 60 day passes each month shared between 32 team members – it’s the ideal setup. Everyone can come in as often as they need, whether that’s for client meetings, collaboration days, or just a quiet space to focus. At Work.Life, there’s always room for our team, the process is seamless, and the community feel makes such a difference. It’s flexible, simple, and works perfectly for how we actually operate.”

The economics: day passes vs traditional office

Let’s compare real costs for a 50-person hybrid team where 15 people use office regularly and others occasionally:

Traditional office lease (50 desks)

• Monthly rent: £35,000-45,000 (Central London)
• Business rates: £4,000-6,000
• Service charges: £2,000-3,000
• Utilities: £1,500-2,000
• Cleaning: £800-1,200
• Fit-out cost: £150,000-250,000 (amortised: £4,000-7,000/month)
• Facilities management: £2,000-3,000
• Total monthly: £49,000-67,000
• Annual commitment: 3-5 years
• Utilisation: ~20-30% (10-15 people daily)

Flexible office space with day passes

• Regular users (15 people, 3 days/week = 180 passes/month): £4,500-6,300 (£25-35/pass)
• Occasional users (20 people, 1 day/month = 20 passes): £500-700
• Meeting rooms (8 hours/month for team sessions): £400-600
• Total monthly: £5,400-7,600
• Annual commitment: None (monthly rolling or 3-month minimum)
• Utilisation: 100% (pay only for what you use)

Annual savings: £523,000-714,000

Even if usage increases 50%, you’re still saving £400,000+ annually whilst providing better flexibility.

Beyond cost: why day passes actually work better

1. Different people, different patterns
Your marketing team might love coming in Tuesdays and Thursdays. Your tech team prefers home focus time but needs in-person sprint planning monthly. Day passes accommodate both without forcing everyone into one model.

2. Geographic flexibility
With Work.Life locations across London (Holborn, Borough, Liverpool Street, Soho, Shoreditch) plus Manchester and Reading, distributed team members can choose convenient locations. Your South London employees don’t trek to King’s Cross; they go to Borough.

3. Scalable without renegotiation
Hiring 10 people next quarter? Just buy more day passes. Project wrapping up and team contracting? Use fewer passes. No lease amendments, no penalties, no negotiations.

4. Professional spaces for what matters

• Client meetings: Book meeting rooms by the hour
• Team off sites: Book larger spaces for quarterly planning
• New hire onboarding: Give new starters week-long passes for intensive first week
• International visitors: Provide passes when colleagues visit from other offices

5. Simple expense management
Centralised billing, clear per-person costs, easy tracking by department. Your finance team actually knows what workspace costs, unlike traditional offices where property costs hide in multiple budget lines.

Common questions from hybrid workforce managers

“How do we manage booking and allocation?”
Most organisations handle this one of three ways:

1. Allocated passes: Each team/department gets monthly allocation to manage
2. Request system: Team members request passes, manager approves
3. Flexible pool: Passes available first-come-first-served with booking system

Work.Life provides booking platform and usage reporting so you can see patterns and adjust.

“What about people who want to come in daily?”
For regular office users (3+ days/week), dedicated desk memberships (£350-500/month) often make more sense than day passes. Most hybrid teams have mix: dedicated desks for regular users, day passes for occasional users.

“Can we get meeting rooms when we need them?”
Yes – meeting rooms are bookable by the hour. Some day pass programmes include meeting room credits, with additional hours available at member rates.

“What if our needs change significantly?”
That’s the point of flexibility. If half your team decides they want to be in office more, you can add dedicated desks or upgrade to small serviced office while keeping day passes for others. If team goes fully remote, scale down to just occasional passes.

“How do we handle accessibility needs?”
Important question. Work.Life spaces have accessible facilities, and you can specify needs when booking (e.g., accessible meeting rooms with standard chairs vs high stools). Alert us to specific team member needs and we’ll ensure appropriate spaces are available.

“Can we use this as registered business address?”
Yes – registered address and mail handling services available separately from day passes.

Is this right for your team?

Day pass programmes work best for:

• 50-200+ employee companies that are hybrid or remote-first
• Distributed teams where people work from different locations
• Growing organisations that need scalability without commitment
• Teams with variable office needs (monthly meet ups, quarterly planning, occasional collaboration)
• Companies optimising costs without sacrificing professional workspace

It might not be right if:

• Entire team in office 5 days/week (dedicated office more cost-effective)
• You need highly specialised space or equipment (labs, manufacturing, etc.)
• You need to heavily brand and customise physical environment
• Your team is concentrated in single location outside our network

How to get started

If you’re managing hybrid team of 50+ people and spending £40,000+ monthly on underutilised office space (or have no office at all), here’s how to explore whether day passes solve your challenge:

1. Understand your actual usage

• How many people would use office weekly? Monthly? Quarterly?
• What do they need it for? (Focus work, collaboration, client meetings?)
• Geographic spread of team – where are people located?

2. Calculate your scenario

• Regular users × days per month × day pass cost
• Occasional users × days per month × day pass cost
• Meeting room hours needed monthly
• Compare to current office costs (or coffee shop/hotel meeting costs if no office)

3. Trial with your team

• Book day passes for a month across different team members
• Try different locations to see what works geographically
• Test meeting room booking for team sessions
• Gather feedback on what works and what doesn’t

4. Scale based on learnings

• Establish regular users who might benefit from dedicated desks
• Create booking system for occasional users
• Set up centralised billing and reporting
• Adjust usage based on patterns

Make hybrid working actually work

The fundamental problem with flexible office space for hybrid teams isn’t finding professional workspace – it’s finding professional workspace that matches how hybrid teams actually work.

Traditional offices force you to pay for capacity you don’t need. Hot-desking across random coworking spaces lacks consistency and professionalism. Working from coffee shops isn’t sustainable for client meetings or focused collaboration.

Day pass programmes solve this by providing professional flexible office space that scales precisely with your team’s needs. You get the credibility and functionality of proper offices without the waste of paying for empty desks.

Konversational, Standing together against Domestic Abuse, Magnus Consulting, and 20+ other hybrid teams have already made this shift. Their teams get professional workspace when it matters, they avoid the cost of traditional offices, and they have flexibility to grow or adjust without penalty.

Managing a hybrid team of 50+ people? Let’s discuss whether day passes solve your workspace challenge.

Get in touch to discuss your team’s specific needs, calculate your usage scenario, and explore whether flexible day pass programmes work for your organisation.

Or email us at memberships@work.life with details about your team size, current office situation, and approximate monthly usage and we’ll get back to you asap with a proposal.