Identifying the Most Popular Spaces in Your Office: Unveiling Workplace Dynamics

As organizations strive to maximize productivity and employee experience, the optimization of office spaces has become paramount. Gone are the days of static floor plans and one-size-fits-all layouts. Today, businesses are leveraging advanced analytics and occupancy intelligence to tailor their workplaces to the unique needs of their workforce.

Central to this is truly understanding how employees use — and want to use — the workplace. From identifying the most frequented areas to gauging active time usage, occupancy intelligence is enabling informed decision-making like never before.

In this blog, we delve into the intricate dynamics of workplace analytics and explore how organizations can uncover invaluable insights into the ways their spaces are utilized. We’ll explore the key metrics, products, and strategies that empower workplace leaders to unlock the full potential of your office spaces and unveil the secrets to identifying the most popular spaces in your office so you can revolutionize your approach to workplace design.

Deciphering Popular Spaces: What Makes a Space "Popular"

The popularity of workspaces is a crucial indicator of workplace functionality and efficiency. But what exactly defines popularity in the context of office spaces? At its core, popularity is synonymous with active time usage — the measure of how much time individuals spend within specific areas of the office.

Understanding which spaces people gravitate towards sheds light on the factors that contribute to their popularity. There are several factors that play pivotal roles in shaping the popularity of office spaces:

• The type of work being performed
• The availability of amenities and technology
• The nature of the space itself
• The overall comfort level of the space (i.e. room temperature, furniture, etc.)

Identifying your most popular spaces is vital for workplace planning and design. Employees seek assurance that they can find the type of space they need to be productive. If their preferred space type is consistently unavailable, it can impact the workplace experience and deter them from coming into the office at all. 

Overcrowded spaces also exacerbate the risk of space shortages, leaving employees scrambling for suitable work environments. By pinpointing the most popular spaces, organizations can proactively address potential overcrowding issues and strategically recreate these spaces elsewhere, providing employees with a diverse array of options to choose from.

Tracking Active Time Usage: Strategies for Enhanced Efficiency

To identify your most popular space types, you must track active time usage. With advanced technologies and data-driven insights, organizations can gain unprecedented visibility into how their office spaces are utilized. Let’s explore some strategies for enhancing workplace efficiency through active time usage. 

1. Utilizing Occupancy Sensors and Data Collection Tools

Occupancy sensors and data collection tools, like the Occupancy Intelligence Platform, make it easy for workplace leaders to gain a true understanding of how their spaces are actually used. The Occupancy Intelligence Platform captures what’s happening in every workspace and uses VergeSense AI to generate insights around passive occupancy, active occupancy, and people count for more accurate space availability and intelligent space design. 

For example, using the platform, workplace leaders can:

• Make data-driven space design decisions and adjustments to ratios, characteristics, and amenities by understanding how space supply aligns with demands across space type
• Reduce underutilized space and optimize space allocation with insights derived from accurate historical and real-time usage data
• Improve global design standards through a better understanding of space usage across job functions, regions, and facility types

2. Analyzing Occupancy Patterns Over Time

Understanding how occupancy patterns evolve over time is equally important for optimizing space usage. By continuously analyzing occupancy data, organizations can identify trends, peak usage periods, and areas of underutilization. It also gives them a holistic view of space usage patterns, enabling proactive adjustments to space allocation and design so resources are always aligned with actual utilization patterns and evolving employee needs. 

The Occupancy Intelligence Platform makes it easy to track historic and real-time occupancy patterns. Using the Space Usage Timeline, workplace leaders can track which space types are running out and when, and understand where more space might be needed so they can make adjustments. 

3. Implementing Scheduling and Reservation Systems

Implementing scheduling and reservation systems can also optimize space usage and promote efficiency. By enabling employees to reserve spaces based on their specific needs and preferences, organizations can optimize resource utilization and enhance productivity.

The Occupancy Intelligence Platform features VergeSense-native integrations with some of the leading collaboration and reservation tools, including Google Calendar, Teem, Robin, Office 365, Condeco, and FM Systems. Using these integrations, workplace leaders can:

• Analyze reservations versus actual use to inform new workplace policies 
• Identify popular and unpopular spaces to make more optimal space design decisions
• Eliminate manual check-ins or QR scans to maintain employee productivity flow 
• Reclaim hours of space availability by automating the release of no-show and early-end space reservations 
• Protect employee reservations even if someone momentarily steps away

4. Incorporating Employee Feedback and Observations into Space Design Decisions 

Soliciting feedback and actively listening to employee experiences is another great way to uncover employee preferences and pain points regarding workplace design and workspace utilization. Incorporating this feedback into space design strategies fosters a culture of collaboration and empowers employees to actively participate in shaping their work environment.

You can solicit feedback through surveys, focus groups, or one-on-one discussions. From preferences for open, collaborative spaces to the need for quiet areas for focused work, your employees’ thoughts can serve as a compass when making space design decisions. 

Remember: it’s important to pair this feedback with actual occupancy data to ensure design decisions are grounded in both employee preferences and real-world usage patterns.

Occupancy Intelligence in Action

Real-life Example: How one VergeSense customer used the Occupancy Intelligence Platform to drive higher space usage and identify high and low-utilization spaces. In preparation for employees’ return to the office post-Covid, the company recognized the need for qualitative data to fuel its redesign project. Using occupancy data they:

• Ran a design experiment to determine which design elements (e.g. furniture, technology, amenities) were most important to employees. 
• Identified the most and least popular space types, enabling adjustments to meet the specific needs and expectations of employees. 
• Increased workspace utilization, enhancing employee satisfaction and productivity while minimizing wastage of valuable space.

Conclusion

Identifying popular spaces and tracking active time usage is pivotal for space optimization. By gaining insights into which areas of the workplace are most popular and how employees engage with them, you can make informed decisions to enhance productivity, efficiency, and employee satisfaction.

Hear from VergeSense customers who are using occupancy data to supercharge the employee experience and boost workplace efficiency. Read our blog to learn how they used VergeSense to guide major design and space availability decisions.