Because the modern workforce is highly dynamic and works from home or anywhere they need to be, efficient space management is critical. Nonetheless, as fewer and fewer people work in the office, the expenses of corporate real estate continue to rise. It’s easy to notice how much space is wasted in most corporate buildings.
It’s not shocking that most businesses are under pressure to enhance space utilization and cut company real estate costs. However, before you can start optimizing your office, you must first fully understand its current utilization. This is where space utilization metrics come in handy. Any organization can benefit from space utilization in terms of corporate real estate (CRE) and space management.
The office can be future-proofed by optimizing how the space is used. It’s because when real estate directors set space utilization objectives, they can enhance performance and employee experience for inhabitants, among other things.
What is Space Utilization?
Space utilization refers to how effectively you use your available space. Do employees have enough space or the correct spaces to work productively? It is all about function when it comes to workplace space utilization. It refers to the amount of office space that is actually used.
Space utilization, which is best addressed with space management software, concentrates on how space is divided up and finally used by staff members across a facility over time. Monitoring space utilization with software can provide information on where individuals congregate as well as other essential space utilization metrics. Real estate and facility management teams can work together to use the software’s reports and analytics to make wise choices for both employees and employers.
One of the key trends these days is “hybrid workplace”- where the staff has an option to work a few days of a week in the office. This requires a “hoteling” concept where the offices provide reservable, flexible office spaces to maximize space utilization and minimize waste.
Finally, current office space utilization data provides real estate and management teams insights into the behaviors that shape a working space and its floor plan. These perspectives can then be used to create a far more efficient workplace.
Importance of Space Utilization
Space utilization is a major activity for office managers because you must make the most of the real estate at hand. It’s critical to make the most of every square inch in order to have an effective work environment, but it’s much more than cramming as many people as possible into a bunch of cubicles. Space utilization is the method of joining design and functionality elements so that they work in complete sync.
Improved space utilization provides the following main advantages:
Maximized space utilization while lowering costs
The most obvious benefit of tracking space usage is learning how much space isn’t being used. Firms usually overestimate their facility’s space occupancy. Tracking space allows you to avoid large, expensive, and useless adjustments and moves. Equally important, when businesses comprehend how their space is being used, they can either decrease their overall square footage or repurpose how certain spaces are being used. In either case, the end result is typically cost savings as well as improved use of space.
Improved sustainability
Office space utilization can help to support sustainability efforts in addition to saving money on real estate prices. Using less space is, of course, less expensive, and it is also beneficial for the environment. Businesses associated with the triple bottom line—people, planet, and profit—can reduce their carbon footprint in a responsible, sustainable manner by better utilizing their space.
Enhanced productivity
Another advantage of space tracking is discovering links between how people use space and its impact on productivity. It is worth noting that employees who formed bonds with their work colleagues and collaborated in teams were more productive. To motivate more relationship-building in the workplace, the company may require employees to take breaks in groups rather than individually. This seemingly simple space utilization hack may increase productivity by 10%. Space utilization tracking aids in monitoring and increasing productivity.
Benefits of Tracking Real-Time Space Utilization
Knowing exactly how every space in the workplace is used on a daily and minute-by-minute basis has numerous advantages, including:
- Using agile working methods to maximize real estate
- Lowering costs
- Enhancing Employee Experience
How Can You Track Real-Time Space Utilization?
If the company wants to make significant advancements in the areas of productivity and cost reduction. Space utilization tracking can be done in several ways, here are some ways to begin tracking real-time space utilization:
- Badge Data – Using ID badge systems can improve workplace security by tracking entry and exit, entry into secure areas, or entry into specific floors. These data can be used to identify trends in space utilization.
- Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons (BLE Beacons) – Bluetooth low energy beacons can be placed at various points on office floors to track space optimization by workers and clients. Input and data can help to optimize workplace space utilization.
- PIR Sensors – Passive infrared sensors can be attached to a seat or desk to detect body heat and determine whether or not it is occupied. These data can be used to assist employees in finding and booking a seat in real-time.
- Wi-Fi triangulation – Wi-Fi triangulation employs a wireless access point to determine the exact location of the occupancy. Hospitals, for example, can keep track of medical equipment and staff in order to plan and utilize space in real-time.
How does Zan Compute Aid in Effective Space Management?
Not only does Zan Compute provide the best space utilization tracking services, but we also use the best space utilization technology like door sensors that monitors entry and exit, Room Occupancy Sensors that use time-of-flight concepts, and room / open area occupancy sensors that use radar based technologies. Data on space utilization aids in the identification of opportunities for optimization, the avoidance of waste, the maintenance of social distance, and the improvement of hygiene standards. Space utilization tracking is becoming increasingly important as many organizations transition to dynamic seating arrangements. Zancompute can provide real-time data as well as data analytics power. Moreover, we can cover a wide range of areas, including cubicles, office rooms, conference rooms, phone booths, gyms, and other common areas in the office buildings. We can track usage in shared office spaces and send an alert when the space is vacated so that it can be sanitized before it is made available to the next person/s. In addition, we can monitor actual usage versus room capacity and send out alerts to prevent overcrowding (to maintain social distancing).
With our space utilization technology you can get the following benefits:
Improved space utilization
Space utilization tracking allows you to design an effective work environment that allows your place of work to become more fully utilized by truly understanding your space requirements by the facility and by area of business. A stroll through the facility will no longer reveal an ocean of vacant desks.
Reduce or eliminate moving expenses.
When every employee is tethered to a desk they rarely use, a lot of money is squandered unnecessarily to cater to business requests for more space every time headcount increases. Such costs are greatly reduced in an agile workplace environment controlled with the right space utilization technology because people can move around freely.
Encourages collaboration and creativity
The agile workplace environment frequently includes activity-based working spaces that are intended for the sort of work that an employee is required to do on any given day. Zancompute’s space utilization technology aids in increasing efficiency and productivity.
Attract and keep top talent
Corporations in several industry sectors and regions around the world are trying hard to attract and retain the top talent required to compete. Giving the comfortable and relaxing features of an agile workplace environment (managed by the appropriate space utilization technology) can be a beneficial perk that attracts the best candidates.
Finally, space utilization is central to how businesses can optimize the workplace. Measuring space utilization is a critical component of getting new knowledge information required to make necessary decisions. When top managers have real-time data and user-friendly analytics at their disposal, they can better forecast, track, and measure how individuals use the space. This can assist them in creating better workflows, reducing space costs, and providing better move management, all to the benefit of both workers and employers.