The office environment has changed radically in recent years, affecting space allocations, planning, and energy. Gone are the days when most office workers sat at their desks all day and perhaps used a rare conference room for a meeting or two. Technology and social changes have transformed workplaces, resulting in what experts call the “liquid workforce”.

Today, according to surveys, more than half of all workers spend significant time away from their office desks, either working from home or remote offices or holding meetings or other sessions away from the desk. The average knowledge worker sits at his/her desk only 40% of the time. According to JLL survey, 43% of respondents indicated that enclosed offices now constitute less than 5% of their sites.

Occupancy data is changing how space should be used.
Surveys indicate that office workers spend over 80% of their time doing collaborative work. Every year the number of people working from home, cafes, outside coworking spaces and even alternative spaces within their own workplace is increasing.

Companies are spending more resources tracking occupancy metrics as a first step to a more optimized real estate portfolio. According to JLL, companies that report metrics are twice as likely to report cost savings and avoidances. Artificial intelligence (AI) and utilization monitoring can be combined with visual observations to provide real-time utilization insights to help plan for the future.

While this is being done to reduce real estate expenses and to please current and future workforce (Millennials) to the firm, a potential disadvantage of such workplace flexibility is that more space will be underutilized as workers work elsewhere. Instead of heating or cooling an area where one knows workers will be working all day, those workers will move from space to space, potentially necessitating controlling the temperature and humidity and lighting of workspaces not being utilized in a given moment. This makes the use of occupancy sensors to control temperature or lighting more important. With improved insights of short-term occupancy, companies can move toward optimizing energy usage to provide broad range comfort and acceptable lighting to enhance worker productivity, while saving energy when spaces are not utilized.

CCES has the experts to advise you on energy conservation matters if your workspace is new or is undergoing changes. We can recommend technologies based on your knowledge to optimize worker conditions and minimize energy usage. Contact us today at 914-584-6720 or at karell@CCESworld.com.