Balancing the Cost of Office Space with Productivity
Irisys is a Business Reporter client.
Office buildings are expensive to rent and operate. And while they are designed to enable productive work to happen, their costs need to be balanced against the productivity they deliver.
The assumptions around the importance of office buildings have been challenged during the pandemic. Businesses have seen how encouraging employees to work from home can save office operating costs, while realizing that their remote employees can often work very effectively.
However, they have also been shown the importance of gathering employees together in offices. There is an increasing acceptance that at least some degree of social working is important for employee well-being, creativity and team building, although the amount of time that employees must spend in an office to maximize their productivity has been questioned.
Achieving the right balance between hybrid working practices, the needs of employees and the large costs associated with physical space is tricky. But technology can help.
Cost-effective workspaces
Organizations struggle to understand how their buildings are used. They are constantly asking whether they have too much or too little space. They question whether their space is configured in an optimal way. And they look for ways to manage energy use so that lower costs are combined with a level of employee comfort that encourages maximum productivity.
The pandemic made these questions even more important. Businesses were forced to move to a hybrid workforce, with a greatly increased amount of remote working. And when the predicted reductions in productivity failed to materialize, many organizations asked: How much office space do we really need?
To answer that question, the right data must be available. Without accurate data on how buildings are used, it is impossible to know whether they are currently underserving or over-serving the business.
Do they provide enough collaborative space? Would more (or fewer) hot desks be useful? Would large conference spaces and meeting rooms be better structured as smaller spaces? And how flexible do office spaces need to be so that they provide the best environment for employees during a working week in which requirements change from day to day?
The biggest expenditure for many organizations is on employees, but this is followed by the cost of office space and the cost of utilities. It is important for businesses to understand how they can optimize their office spaces to both encourage employee productivity and reduce operating costs such as heating, lighting and air-conditioning.
Focus on employees
Buildings don’t just need to work for employers, however; they also need to work for the employees, and many have grown used to working from home. It is often very comfortable and very convenient, with no time taken commuting to work, and with the ability to manage personal and family tasks during the working day.
How can offices emulate the safe and happy home-working environment? How can they make the office an attractive place to work for employees? How can they meet the demands that employees are increasingly making on their work environments? If these questions are not answered, many employees will simply vote with their feet and move elsewhere.
Irisys has considerable experience measuring the movements of people within buildings. This is done without any impact on privacy by deploying smart IoT sensors that cannot identify individuals.
Sensors are typically placed on the ceiling in key locations, such as the entrances to buildings, floors and rooms. Within rooms, smaller discreet sensors placed underneath desks or tables track occupancy, again without identifying individuals.
This detailed data can then be analyzed and used to work out the reality of what’s happening within a building, with 24/7 data available in real time. Facilities and property managers can make decisions based on evidence rather than assumptions. And, importantly, they can see the effect of any changes they make.
Building a better workplace
Perceptions have changed. Planning office space in the future will not be the same as it was pre-pandemic.
One large company wanted to understand the reality of how its estate was being used, in part to enable more flexible working. Irisys installed sensors at appropriate points, such as the entrances to floors and rooms. It was quickly realized that many buildings in the estate were not being used as much as had previously been thought. The organization was able to close two buildings and, as a result, saved $10 million. The low cost of installing sensors delivered a major financial benefit.
Another example was a university which planned to build a new lecture theater. However, after a detailed analysis of footfall, it was clear that the new theater was unnecessary, and the money was freed up to benefit student life in different ways.
Automated people-sensing within buildings has many benefits. Employers can be sure they are not over-investing in office buildings. They can avoid wasting energy on heating areas that are not being used at certain times (becoming more sustainable in the process). And they can optimize building configurations so that collaboration opportunities can be maximized.
There are benefits for employees, too. As well as being able to easily plan meetings when rooms are available or find places for impromptu team events, they will also know when facilities such as gyms and canteens are quiet. All of this will make office life a little less frustrating and a little more pleasant.
Because of the pandemic, the way offices are used is changing radically. It is only by understanding the nature of that change in detail, through use of appropriate sensor technology, that the demands of a hybrid workforce can be met, and the opportunities derived from more flexible working patterns can be realized.
—Industry view from Irisys
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This article originally appeared on Business Reporter. Image credit: iStock id1281882590
