Workplace occupancy monitoring has become a strategic priority for organizations looking to cut real estate costs, enhance flexibility, and support hybrid work models. This is one of the most popular scenarios for using IoT in commercial buildings to leverage data for more efficient operations.
Why? Many organizations waste as much as half their space and they want to understand how to adapt their space and gain efficiency. Maintaining office space is still essential for most businesses, but most are looking into strategies to balance the real need for space, occupation trends, and prime quality spaces. In these cases, their savings potential is huge.
Not surprising, many companies consider or are in the process of moving from assigned seating to more agile workplace concepts, with flexible seating arrangements, hoteling or hot-desking. Early adopters such as AXA were able to reduce desk-to-employee ratios and use space more efficiently well before COVID-19 arrived. After the pandemic, agile working concepts, supported by digital technology to assist employees, have become more prevalent.
Workplace Occupancy Monitoring: a Cornerstone of the Modern Office
Although you don’t want your office spaces to be crowded at 100% occupancy without any margin, there should be a balance between your available space and its use. According to Savills, office occupancy across Europe is now at 60%.
Reducing empty space should not happen at the expense of the employee experience. A smart approach starts with measuring building utilization and occupancy levels. This allows you to gain insights into:
- Resizing your office footprint (or square footage)
- Improving the space configuration
- Adapting your workplace to your employees’ needs
Heads of real estate need to be able to make informed portfolio decisions with confidence. This requires detailed and highly accurate information – not partial data and sporadic feedback that may lead to the wrong conclusions. That’s where the IoT comes in. Sensors are much better than humans in systematically – and anonymously – capturing and mapping occupancy data.
Sensor options range from basic motion sensors that tell you when a space, desk, or seat is occupied to more sophisticated headcount sensors that you mount on the ceiling and that can really tell you how many people are in a specific space and where they are. This data is processed, securely stored in the cloud, and analyzed. And, most importantly, visualized on floor plans and dashboards that provide a detailed view of how office buildings are used throughout the day.
Non-Intrusive Workplace Occupancy Monitoring
It’s important to note that IoT sensors provide accurate occupancy tracking data without infringing on people’s right to privacy. A sensor knows whether a seat is occupied or not occupied; it doesn’t know who is in the seat. A smart solution such as Spacewell Workplace Analytics processes occupancy data to optimize the work environment, not to keep tabs on people’s activities. Responsible use of the IoT – and the insights derived from it – is critical in realizing the full potential of your workplaces.
A Huge Opportunity Ahead for Better Workplace Management
As hybrid work is present in most companies, many businesses have been paying for office space they no longer need. A recent CBRE survey found that 60% of occupiers expect to reduce their office footprint. On the other side, a small percentage are looking at expanding their spaces. In either case, Spacewell’s Opportunity Simulator can help you and your team to benchmark space performance, run different space optimization scenarios and calculate savings.
How? By leveraging workplace occupancy data to create possible scenarios based on your actual space usage.
Contact us to learn more about how Spacewell can help you. Together, we’ll explore how data-informed office space management could benefit your business.
