4 ways to impress your executives using workplace occupancy data

As a workplace leader, you hold the keys to business-critical information: attendance and occupancy data. Your workplace analytics platform is a treasure trove of data that can help you make your office more efficient and productive. And you know who values this data? That’s right, your executives. Business leaders value data that helps them make smarter, more cost-effective business decisions, and workplace occupancy data can do just that. 

In this post, we’ll show you four ways you can use workplace data to help your organization make more informed decisions on everything from office occupancy and flexible or hybrid work policies to your real estate portfolio and workplace staffing. We’ll also go over insights to include in your reporting to highlight your team’s efforts and the impact of initiatives you’re already running.

1. Prove that your return-to-office efforts are paying off

It’s official. People are back in the office. In fact, 90% of companies say they’ll return to the office by the end of 2024. The return-to-office has been a major investment for businesses. Planning, staffing, onsite amenities and programs, real estate… The list goes on. But how can you be sure that you’re seeing a return on these investments? Simple: Measure if folks are showing up to the workplace, using resources, and attending onsite events. Sharing insights on employee foot traffic and space usage will show your executives how their investments (and your team’s efforts) are paying off. Here are some key insights to call out in your executive report:

• Average number of employees onsite: This gives executives a high-level look at how well employees are following return policies. In addition to the average number of employees onsite each week, month, and quarter, you should include month-over-month and quarter-over-quarter growth. This will help executives see how workplace occupancy has grown in the recent period compared to past periods.
• Busiest and slowest days onsite: This helps executives understand when employees prefer to work onsite, which can inform your organization’s workplace policies moving forward. For example, let’s say the data shows that the majority of folks prefer to come in during the middle of the week. Given the data, executives might decide to update your organization’s policy to make working onsite Tuesday through Thursday mandatory. This way, they can foster a better company culture and promote more onsite collaboration, while also taking into account employee preferences.
• Teams and departments most frequently onsite: This gives executives a look into which groups of employees rely on the workplace most. With this information, they can make more informed decisions about what onsite amenities to invest in to best support these groups. You can also identify the groups who are onsite least often and speak to those team leaders to understand how to improve the workplace for them.
• Average occupancy rate of meeting rooms (and desks): This gives executives a look at how much of their floor space actually gets used. You can use this data to see if your current workspace layout makes sense for your organization. For example, let’s say the data showed that employees needed more space to meet and less space for heads-down work. You might remove a row of desks to make room for meeting pods. Then, you can show how this data-driven change increased the total number of meetings booked each week and turned a previously underutilized space into one employees actually use.

Pro tip: Include an executive summary in your workplace occupancy data report. This should be a few bullets that summarize your high-level findings, conclusions, and recommendations up front. Executives will appreciate the brevity and be more likely to retain the most important points of the report. 

2. Show how your business gets value from its current workplace investments

Data on employee foot traffic and space usage is another way to highlight your team’s wins and help you make the case for additional investments. For example, say you rolled out several workplace initiatives to encourage more attendance onsite. You can compare employee foot traffic data from before and after these initiatives launched to show how onsite attendance has increased. You can also show how changes to your space have helped increase usage and decreased wasted space, which executives love to see. To highlight your workplace wins, follow these four simple steps:

1. Set your goal for what you are trying to impact with your investment. For example, this might be foot traffic or meeting rooms booked.
2. Pull a report from your workplace analytics software looking at the month before the change.
3. Pull another report from your analytics dashboard looking at the month after the change. Compare the reports and evaluate the impact of your initiatives.
4. Summarize the highlights of your findings in your regular executive report.

3. Rationalize future real estate needs

Data on employee foot traffic and space usage will also empower executives to make proactive decisions about their real estate investments. They can use this data to understand if they’re getting value out of existing investments and whether to expand or downsize their real estate portfolio. For example, the data might show that your workplace is nearing capacity. This could prompt conversations about future locations and help executives determine how much additional space they’ll need to meet business needs. Alternatively, they might decide to save on real estate investments and implement staggered workplace schedules to accommodate more people with less space. Without data to support these big decisions, it can be difficult for your leadership team to understand what’s best for employees and the business. With data, they can ensure employees have enough space to be productive and happy, while also saving on real estate costs.

4. Right-size IT, security, and workplace staffing costs

With a strong grasp on workplace occupancy trends, your executives will know when they need to increase their spending on the roles that support workplace operations (AKA your team!). For example, with more people onsite on a regular basis, your organization might need to hire additional security staff to keep the workplace secure. Similarly, it might have to provide additional IT and workplace support to ensure folks have what they need while they’re onsite. If your aim is to increase headcount, occupancy data can also help you build a solid case to expand your team.  

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Workplace occupancy data can unlock opportunities for you, your team, and your business. Equipped with accurate data, you can share valuable insights with executives about employee foot traffic and space usage trends. Learn how you can unlock even more data with an integrated workplace platform that connects to your existing tools. 

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