From Data to Insights: How to Optimize your Workplaces, Intelligently
With hybrid workplaces  becoming the new normal, companies need to make the most of their real estate and employees with strategies that prioritize what we need.
We’ve seen several smart workplaces over the years. But, how can we call workplaces productive? Does a workplace hold the ability to accommodate and provide for everyone, to build an intelligently connected workplace or just look at the overall employee experience?
With about 70% of employees working from home two to three days every week, according to the 2022 EY Future Workplace Index, companies are looking to make a dramatic shift in how companies will manage their real estate portfolios.Saving space costs by utilizing real estate portfolio will help build productive workplaces.
Workplaces draw on constantly evolving technologies to ensure their spaces’ effectiveness remain at the forefront and propel company goals forward. An efficient workplace management tool integrates with devices, sensors and systems to enable automation and allow for data-driven decision-making within the workplace environment.
Until now, organizations have had no simple and tangible way to measure space efficiency. Organizations may hold informal assessments, leading to instinct based learnings that often make room for errors.
Currently, 83% of employees in a corporate setup prefer working full-time from a single location, while still falling within a hybrid workplace model. The role of modern workplaces is multifaceted. Interconnected devices and real-time data analysis allow companies to optimize operations, improve energy management, enhance security, and improve workplace functionality and employee experiences. By leveraging emerging technologies, organizations can set their workplaces up for success and enable their employees to tackle any issue they may face, in the present and in the future.
Workplaces that know their needs are unique, are productive
A hybrid workplace that is highly productive will holistically analyze and understand the organization. Every employee and every amenity is granularly assessed to deliver better experiences. A hybrid workplace would understand that different workplace branches may differ in their unique needs and day-to-day processes.
Actions that can help a workplace become well-utilized and productive:
a.Sweat existing real estate to its maximum
Planning moderate to extensive changes within a real estate portfolio may be crucial, especially if your organization was structured before 2020. It is critical for companies to weigh the benefits of monetizing selected assets, restructuring their real estate portfolio for increased flexibility and reduced costs. But first, we need to understand how the existing real estate is being consumed.
Leveraging valuable data insights will assist in the strategic planning and decision-making processes concerning office real estate utilization. Enable data-driven decision-making to support the organization’s long-term objectives and accurately forecast future expenditures related to office facilities.
Employing workplace metrics helps prevent issues such as abandoned meetings, double bookings, excessive or insufficient use of office spaces, and shortages of workstations. However, by integrating analytical tools and data, the optimization of office occupancy can be achieved more efficiently.Know exactly what you need and don’t. With less space on the books, downsizing the real estate portfolio will contribute to a long-term lowering of your organization’s capital commitment.
b.Access multi-source granular data on one single dashboard
A good workplace management software not only is a good collaborative tool, but holds the capabilities to provide a complete dataset for analytics-driven decision making within the workplace environment!
Nitpick from multiple sources of data and determine the most popularly used amenities and rooms in the office among other information. Good workplace management technology holds the capability to integrate seamlessly with best-in-class technology solutions like sensors, WiFi, among others, enabling you to get a complete dataset for analytics-driven decision-making within the workplace environment – all on a singular dashboard! With Space Analytics, utilize your existing resources well and empower employees productivity.
c.Adapt your workplace with detailed insights into employees work from office days
Many of the software applications used in hybrid offices provide data analytics capabilities. Hybrid offices are able to harness the power of advanced technologies and utilize data to make real-time decisions.
Strategies such as identifying the busiest days in the office on both department and individual levels, establishing employee spatial needs based on in-office frequency and room and desk utilization patterns to ensure office spaces are able to accommodate all employees – all based on existing data. By analyzing this data, hybrid workplaces can identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions to enhance productivity and efficiency.
Additionally, hybrid offices often employ AI and learning algorithms to analyze complex data sets and generate actionable insights. For example, they can analyze meeting room booking patterns to optimize scheduling or identify patterns of employee collaboration to enhance teamwork. This leveraging of data analytics enables hybrid offices to make data-driven decisions regarding space utilization and workflow optimization.
d.Setup the right business rules after understanding space utilization patterns specific to your workplaces
It is crucial to build and follow business rules, but we should embrace local differences. A good Space Analytics tool will help utilize every square footage by understanding employee patterns.
Additional app functions to auto release spaces, make instant bookings, opt for early-checkouts and prevent double bookings and cancellations are other great ways to never let a space go to waste. Utilize data on available spaces to develop effective business rules and eliminate the over-usage, under-usage or shortage of workplaces.
e.Take a glocal view, customize how to examine employee workplace utilization for every workplace
An efficient hybrid workplace will analyze space utilization across workplaces, through both local and global lenses. On the local level, with Space Analytics, organizations are able to examine employee workplace utilization for each of their individual workplace locations – allowing for an analysis tailored to that workplaces’ specific environment and needs. It additionally can divide workplace analysis by building floor or department, enabling companies to differentiate between the needs of varied groups within the company.
On the global scale, the employment of space analytics enables organizations to collate individual workplace needs and develop a global strategy. Being able to customize the master dashboard to track employee utilization patterns across various workplaces helps consider local work patterns, calendars, events, and cultural factors. In doing so, companies can align spaces across international offices with objectives of efficiency, productivity, and cost-cutting.
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