The Workplace Analytics You Need To Thrive In a New Era

by Rebecca Symmank on February 25, 2021
RECOMMENDED CONTENT
iXMS Workplace Technology Maturity Assessment
dots-pattern
inner-blogshape

For facilities managers and corporate real estate leaders, the pressure has never been greater, and the stakes have never been higher.

As you plan to reopen offices, you know capacity will likely change from one day to the next, but your costs remain the same. Employees will have new expectations for safety and cleanliness, but your budget hasn’t changed. If anything, you’ll be expected to do more with less. To thrive in this new environment, you’ll need to be more strategic and data-driven than ever before.

It’s time to redefine what success looks like — and how you measure it. These ten workplace analytics are essential to the future of work.

Real estate analytics

1. Real estate costs per employee

After a year of uncertainty in the office real estate market, we’re continuing to see fewer leases, shorter lease terms, and higher vacancy rates. Yet for most office real estate, the cost per square foot remains high.

To continue to justify these costs, you’ll need to know exactly how much space you lease and own, the total cost of that space, and the number of people actually occupying it.

2. Lease terms and expiration dates

To make data-driven decisions about which leases to renew, your corporate real estate team needs detailed information on lease owners, terms, and expiration dates.

Are there are penalties for early termination or subleasing considerations you need to know?

Is it easy for your team to take the next steps if they decide not to renew a lease?

Do you have the right documentation on every lease?

Having all your lease data and documents in one place helps you comply with lease accounting standards and plan for the future.

Fortunately, the right real estate management software makes it easy.

Space utilization analytics

 3. Desk utilization

Flexible office space strategies can reduce real estate costs per employee — but only if you are closely monitoring space utilization.

Traditionally, many facilities managers considered occupancy and vacancy rates as important workplace analytics, but today, these metrics are often incomplete. This is especially true at a time when many workplaces are moving away from assigned seats.

Rather than looking at how many workspaces are assigned, it’s more effective to focus on improving the ratio of employees to workspaces using strategies like desk hoteling.

Desk hoteling software makes it easy for employees to reserve workspaces while giving you valuable data on what percentage of these spaces are actually being used. If you monitor desk utilization for a period of time and determine you’re only at 50%, you may not need as much real estate as you thought.

Occupancy sensors are another good way to monitor workplace analytics like average space utilization and peak occupancy levels.

4. Conference room utilization

Room-scheduling-panels-3

One of the biggest reasons most employees want to return to the office is to collaborate with others. Unfortunately, many conference rooms aren’t set up to support the most frequent types of meetings — those between small groups of two to four people.

A lack of the right mix of spaces is just one reason why the average conference room is empty more often than it’s occupied. Confusion about room availability is another big culprit.

Understanding conference room utilization and collaboration patterns can help you optimize your spaces so they will be used more often.

Room booking software gives you insight into important workplace analytics related to utilization, such as:

  • The average meeting size
  • Average meeting length
  • Which rooms are most popular
  • How many meetings are booked in advance vs. on the spot
  • Number of unattended reservations

Facilities maintenance analytics

5. Asset maintenance costs

As a workplace manager, you need to calculate the costs of every asset you own, from heavy-duty equipment to computers and coffee machines. You also need to know when to repair or replace assets.

This is nearly impossible if you don’t know what you own and where it is.  

With asset tracking software, you can easily pinpoint who is using a particular piece of equipment, its location, contract details, maintenance records, and who to contact for repairs.

Here are a few important workplace analytics to track and strive to improve:

  • Operator hours
  • Time spent maintaining equipment
  • Cost of service
  • Labor hours compared to parts

Since these costs also vary by industry, the best way to gauge improvement is to review year-over-year data.

6. Facilities maintenance costs

As offices reopen, facilities managers will be under more pressure than ever to maintain cleanliness and sanitization in the workplace. These new standards can result in skyrocketing facilities maintenance costs if your team doesn’t monitor and manage them.

Start by reviewing all your maintenance costs from the past year. A few workplace analytics to consider include the total cost of building repairs and cleaning costs.

Using occupancy sensors for demand-based cleaning is one great way to minimize these costs. By integrating sensors with your facility management software, you can compile a space utilization report at the end of each day for your maintenance team.

That way they won’t have to clean every desk when only half of them have actually been used.

7. Utility costs

According to JLL’s 3-30-300 rule, companies spend about $3 on average for utilities, $30 for rent, and $300 for payroll for every square foot of space.

Closely monitoring occupancy can also help you optimize the costs of lighting, heating, and cooling in your buildings.

This is especially critical in the hybrid workplace, as more offices have occupancy levels that vary from one day to the next.

Keep a close eye on workplace analytics related to occupancy — including average occupancy and peak occupancy rates — to align your utility costs with actual demand.  

If you’re considering a new lease or construction in the future, you may even want to consider investing in a building automation system.

Workplace analytics related to the employee experience

8. Service request efficiency

As employees return to the office, they will be more concerned about safety and comfort. They’ll have more frequent requests related to cleaning, reserving space, and resolving IT issues that arise with the increase in remote work.

The faster your team responds to these requests, the more comfortable they will feel in the office.

Giving employees access to a mobile app where they can reserve space, request service, and stay connected to the physical environment empowers them while reducing your team’s workload.

9. Employee engagement

Even if you’re not in HR, if you’re a manager of any kind, you have a responsibility to promote employee engagement.

It’s one of the most important workplace analytics because it affects so many other key performance indicators, including profitability, productivity, and customer satisfaction.

Global Workplace Analytics President Kate Lister estimates improving engagement by just 10% at a company with 1,000 employees could have a total financial impact of close to $500,000 per year.  

Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most overlooked metrics. The most recent Gallup polls estimate only about a third of employees are actively engaged, while over half are putting in the minimum effort needed to keep their jobs. Another segment, about 16%, are actively disengaged. These employees are so unhappy, they are actively hurting your company’s morale.

If you want to create a culture of employee engagement, conducting regular surveys to measure it is a good place to start.

10. Visitor analytics

At a time when workplaces are increasingly dependent on interactions with consultants, vendors, customers, and clients, the employee experience isn’t the only one that matters.

A good visitor experience starts with a warm welcome, a secure check-in process, and clear directions. A visitor’s host should greet them as soon as possible and provide them with everything they need to have a productive, enjoyable day.

A good visitor management system streamlines this process with pre-registration, instant notifications, and visitor ID badges. It also records important workplace analytics like the number of visitors each day and peak check-in times.

These insights help you plan ahead so you can avoid long lines in the lobby during the busiest times.

See where you stand on workplace analytics that matter

Traditional integrated workplace management systems have focused primarily on workplace analytics related to buildings. But if the past year has taught us anything, it’s that the workplace is much more than the physical office environment.

Having the right data at your fingertips leads to a better workplace experience and better business outcomes.

You might decide to consolidate office space to reduce real estate costs, streamline or outsource facility management services, or add self-service technology to improve productivity.

Our 5-minute assessment will gauge your company’s maturity in five key areas of what we call the integrated experience management system (iXMS), including workplace analytics. Answer a few simple questions, and you’ll get a detailed report with actionable insights on how to improve.

Take the assessment today.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rebecca Symmank

As a member of the Business Development team for iOFFICE, Rebecca is spirited and is quick to take initiative. Previously a customer and daily user of the IWMS provider, she has extensive experience on both the front and back end structure of the product. Rebecca's enthusiasm for facilities management and her tangible experience in the field give her an unprecedented understanding and perception of iOFFICE customers. Rebecca is able to relate to organizations implementing on IWMS, and has a unique perspective on what makes the experience a success.

Capterra Ratings: ★★★★★ 4.5/5