What are office sensors?

In this article, we take a look at the best occupancy monitoring solution for rightsizing offices in the new world of hybrid working, considering the importance of accuracy, scalability, and security.

The evolving real estate environment

The way office buildings are used is evolving fast. Hybrid working has come to stay, providing the perfect compromise of the freedom of working from home as well as the needed face-to-face time of visiting the office. We’re most likely never returning to the pre-pandemic office occupancy rates, so why keep huge office spaces empty?

How do you know if you have the wrong-sized office?

Space optimization can often be seen as downsizing and minimizing office space, and it does make sense if your office is just sitting there empty and unused. However, if your goal is to get people back to the office at least some part of the week, it’s important to know what size of office you need. Having a wrong-sized office can harm both employees and the company’s bottom line. When employees are cramped in a small space, they may feel uncomfortable and unhappy, which can lead to decreased productivity and job dissatisfaction. In a wrong-sized office, there aren’t correct activity areas available and the users need to make unwanted compromises and, for example, use collaboration spaces for focus work and the other way around. In addition, if space has been reduced too much, people will not have enough room or the needed equipment to perform their tasks, which can further decrease productivity and efficiency, and soon no one wants to visit the office.

Businesses are looking into how to use space in the most efficient way while still creating working environments that lure people to the office. 

With this difficult balance between wanting to reduce office space, and creating the best possible, versatile offices, it has become vital for employees and facility managers to understand what scalable occupancy solutions bring to the table.

What is rightsizing?

Rightsizing is about having the exact amount of space you need. Rightsizing is not about endless optimization and minimization of space; it’s about finding out what different kinds of workspaces your office needs and how much of each type is required. A right-sized office is also one that allows continuous design improvement and space modification. If the pandemic and the amazing surge of hybrid work have thought us something, it’s that work-life changes all the time, and offices need to keep up.

When it comes the rightsizing your office and making space design, there is no one-size fits all solution. Every office and company is different and the only way to make a useful office design and decisions over the needed office size is by gathering accurate usage and occupancy data on a workspace level.

Accuracy of the occupancy data is key for rightsizing your office

There are five levels of collecting and monitoring occupancy data, which are the following:

• Building-level monitoring
  Uses existing technology like keycard access or people counters. Provides a basic count of people in the building but lacks accuracy and detail for office design decisions.
• Floor-level monitoring
  Also uses existing technology to estimate the number of people on each floor. Useful for general insights but does not show which workspaces are used, limiting its value for rightsizing offices.
• Open area monitoring
  Typically uses cameras or laser-based solutions, suitable for large spaces like canteens. However, these methods can be inaccurate and raise security concerns.
• Room-level monitoring
  Utilizes PIR sensors or cameras to track occupancy in specific rooms. This data helps identify popular rooms and usage patterns but does not provide workspace-level insights.
• Workspace-level monitoring
  The most accurate and actionable level, using technologies like PIR sensors to monitor individual desks, rooms, or phone booths in real time. This enables data-driven decisions for office design, desk sharing, and space management, ensuring the right amount of space for each task.

Compared to, for example, open area technology PIR sensors give factual data on a workspace level, be it a desk, room, or phone booth. With occupancy data on a workspace level, not only do you know how many people use the office, but also space, area, and desk occupancy data, including the time of usage.

With this type of occupancy monitoring, you no longer need to rely on guesswork when deciding if you need more focus workspaces or perhaps more meeting rooms. All space design decisions can be data-driven, and you’ll always have the right amount of space for each task. In addition to continuous space design, occupancy data helps manage desk-sharing practices as real-time occupancy data can be shared with employees for ad-hoc booking and space finding.

Think about scale

Scalability is crucial for office occupancy monitoring solutions, especially for large real estate portfolios and changing office needs. A scalable system can easily expand (or shrink) as your company grows, without needing a complete overhaul.

Easy installation is key, as you may need to deploy hundreds of sensors at once. Scalability also means seamless integration with other systems, making the solution flexible for various office layouts and use cases.

Maintenance and connectivity matter too—wireless devices with long battery life and simple setup ensure you can update or modify your system with minimal disruption.

Addressing the Privacy

There are several security concerns with camera-based occupancy solutions and open area occupancy monitoring. These include privacy concerns related to the collection and use of personal data, the potential for hacking or unauthorized access to the cameras and the occupancy data they collect, and the risk of data breaches or leaks.

PIR technology detects movement only, which means that it is always 100% anonymous and causes no GDPR issues or concerns for the office security manager.

Conclusion – the time for rightsizing with occupancy data is now

With flexible working styles and hybrid work here to stay, constant office design and rightsizing are not just fleeing trends, but something every company should take as their facility management practice. The future of office design relies heavily on getting accurate and real-time occupancy data not just on a floor or room level, but on the workspace level.

The most important features to consider with any occupancy monitoring solution are your particular use case, accuracy, and scalability.