Four workplace charge points are an amenity. Forty are infrastructure, and almost everything that worked at four stops working at forty.
The transitions are predictable, which means they can be planned for rather than encountered.
The supply constraint arrives first
Workplace charging load coincides with the building's own peak, because staff arrive and plug in during the hours the building already draws most heavily. Charging stacks on top of the peak rather than filling a trough.
That means workplace sites reach their supply limit at lower point counts than operators expect, and managed charging becomes necessary earlier than at other site types.
Free stops being viable
At four points the energy cost is a rounding error and charging free is simpler than billing. At forty it is a visible line, and it creates an unequal benefit between staff who drive electric and those who do not.
The transition to charged-for is easier before people have grown used to free. Employers who defer it face a change that reads as a benefit being taken away.
Occupancy becomes the main complaint
With few points and few drivers, informal arrangements work. With many of both, vehicles occupying bays after charging completes becomes the dominant source of friction, and it is not solved by adding points.
It is solved by policy and enforcement: time limits, idle fees, or a booking system. All three need agreement before they are needed rather than after complaints start.
Eligibility needs a rule
Four points can be first come first served. Forty across a workforce with varying needs requires a stated basis: all staff, EV drivers only, a booking system, or priority for those without home charging.
Any of these is defensible. Having none is what generates the perception of unfairness, which is a management problem rather than an engineering one.
Support stops being informal
At four points, facilities handles the occasional problem. At forty, there will be faults weekly, and staff will report them to whoever is nearest. Without a defined route and someone with visibility of charger status, that becomes a persistent irritation.
Remote diagnosis matters here for the same reason it matters commercially: the alternative is someone walking to the car park to look at a charger.
Design the forty when installing the four
Containment, distribution and the supply assessment should reflect the eventual position even when only a few points are installed. Retrofitting capacity into a car park that was wired for four is the expensive path.
Adoption climbs steadily and rarely reverses, so the eventual position is a question of when rather than whether.