Data plays a vital role in shaping business policies and approaches, including office planning strategies. By putting workplace data at the center of office planning, employers can design spaces that reflect how employees actually use them, boost productivity, and adapt more quickly to change.
Real-time, granular workplace data enables smarter decisions, ensuring office environments aren’t just efficient, but intentionally built to support the people working in them. With many solution providers offering workplace insights, the key questions become: what answers can different types of workplace data actually provide?
Different Types of Workplace Data
Workplace data is commonly collected using workplace sensors. Different sensors capture different insights, helping you answer questions about your office space, such as:
- How often do people use certain spaces?
- How many spaces are used/not used on a daily basis?
- How is the office space being used?
Here’s a breakdown of the sensors you need to answer these questions and guide your office planning strategy.
How Often Do People Use Certain Spaces?
People Counting Sensors measure occupancy levels by analyzing foot traffic across the office, from the entire building to specific floors and areas. This data reveals how many people use each space, how frequently, and when peak or low usage occurs. The result? A clear picture of busier days and periods.
How Many Spaces Are Used/Not Used on a Daily Basis?
Single Occupancy Space Sensors deliver granular space utilization data on desks, phone booths, and other single use workstations. This helps you identify how many spaces are used on a daily basis and how many are unused – even if they’re booked. You can also highlight specific patterns, such as which desks are occupied on which days, supporting smarter space management.
How is the Office Space Being Used?
Multi-Occupancy Space Sensors monitor usage in meeting rooms and collaboration areas. They track how often these spaces are used, their primary purpose, and how bookings and attendance align. They also capture dwell time data, showing how long these spaces are being used for and the activities conducted in different areas of the office.
How to Turn Workplace Data Into Actionable Insights
Now you know what answers you can achieve with workplace data collected by sensors, you may be wondering, “what does this solve?” Here’s how you can turn this information into actionable insights and build out your office space planning strategy.
Employee Satisfaction & Well-being
If employee satisfaction and well-being are priorities, understanding how individuals use spaces is essential. Real-time data collected by People Counting Sensors provides insights into individual preferences. From there, your strategy can be developed to implement flexibility that meets your employees’ needs and supports a healthy work-life balance. By driving change that makes your employees feel seen and heard, they will be more engaged and in-office occupancy will be promoted.
Office Space Optimization & Cost Savings
Looking to cut real estate costs? Optimizing existing space is the answer. By identifying how many spaces are being utilized and underutilized on a daily basis, you can reconfigure your design accordingly. The data from Single Occupancy Space Sensors can drive cost-efficiency by eliminating the overhead of underutilized office spaces. Reduce utility costs, leasing costs and maintenance costs by focusing your resources on the spaces that are actually being used regularly.
Productivity & Collaboration
If your goal is to improve productivity and collaboration, insights from Multi-Occupancy Space Sensors are invaluable. They can inform design choices, seating arrangements and layouts to accommodate how your team works. When spaces are aligned with evolving needs, stress decreases, collaboration thrives and productivity grows.
Designing an Adaptive Workplace
All of the above contribute to future planning and long-term strategic decision-making. By monitoring real-time workplace analytics, your strategy can adapt to changing employee needs and space usage trends.
At Freespace, our range of Workplace Occupancy Sensors collect data on occupancy and space utilization which can be analyzed on our workplace intelligence platform. Make informed workplace decisions and get in touch with us today.
