Caroline Ruhland, product marketing lead at Accruent looks at how office use have changed forever.
With California's return-to-office push for state employees taking effect this summer and the increase of mandates across the country, organizations are once again facing the challenge of evaluating whether their workplaces are ready for employees to return. But this type of readiness extends beyond counting if there are enough desks in the office. Most facility managers still rely on fragmented data to manage workplace operations, from room occupancy to energy usage and building performance, making it difficult for teams to gain a complete understanding of how workplace spaces are actually being utilized and what actions need to be taken. With 30% of commercial building energy wasted, this lack of visibility increases operating costs while making it harder to meet both RTO goals and ESG objectives.
Although increased RTO and hybrid models present numerous challenges for businesses, this latest shift also presents an opportunity for organizations to reflect on what the ideal workplace experience might look like. To successfully strike a balance between optimizing space, reducing energy waste, and improving employee experiences, companies must leverage connected workplace and building analytics to create more efficient, adaptable, and sustainable spaces.
Addressing underutilization of space
The global average building utilization rate dramatically jumped last year to 53% - the highest it’s been since pre-pandemic. But to continue this momentum, organizations must first understand how employees are actually using office spaces – and optimize accordingly. For example, when facility managers can track how many people regularly book a particular space for a meeting or presentation, they can then analyze average seat-fill numbers to adjust percentage goals as employees return to the office. This kind of space utilization data can also help organizations understand when one meeting room has a higher utilization rate than another, so facility teams can determine how to guide employees to use alternative spaces.
Unused or underutilized space was still a significant issue before the pandemic, but it has taken on an even greater importance now that organizations are looking to optimize cost savings with RTO mandates. But optimizing space isn't only about reducing unused square footage. It also changes how organizations consume energy and operate their buildings.
Tapping into an energy-saving mindset
Commercial buildings consume an immense amount of energy. In fact, buildings consume 40% of the nation’s total energy usage - even more than the industrial or transportation sectors. But with utility costs continuing to rise and more organizations looking to implement sustainability initiatives, facility managers can’t afford to let habits that lead to unnecessary waste fall through the cracks. Many of these issues come down to daily practices and overlooked inefficiencies. By simply identifying these energy-wasting habits and adjusting them, commercial buildings can simultaneously cut utility costs and strengthen their environmental responsibility.
For companies running hybrid models, for example, instead of cooling, heating, or lighting an office floor on a day that workers may not come into the office, facilities teams can use real-time analytics and occupancy insights to automatically adjust building systems based on usage patterns. This lowers energy consumption and reduces utility costs by ensuring building systems aren't running at full capacity in empty rooms.
Today, ESG goals should be viewed more as a natural outcome of running buildings more efficiently. Real-time insights from connected building systems can help organizations identify energy waste, optimize HVAC performance, and extend the life of building assets, all while reducing operating expenses and supporting broader sustainability initiatives.
Improving employee satisfaction
With 73% of employees saying they need a better reason to go into the office than just company expectations, improving workplace satisfaction should be a top priority in the return-to-office wave. To ensure a successful return to work, organizations must establish spaces that are comfortable, reliable, and designed to support collaboration. This includes factors like consistent temperatures, easy ways to book meeting spaces, good indoor air quality, and consolidating spaces to co-locate employees to be near each other for collaboration – making the in-office experience something that employees actually want to return to.
Looking ahead
CBRE reported that average peak utilization now stands at 80%, hitting target rates for the first time since early 2020. This high peak utilization suggests that employers are succeeding in bringing employees back to the office for events or collaboration-based activities.
That said, organizations and facility managers should use this opportunity to rethink how workplaces operate. By combining space utilization, occupancy, energy, and building performance data into a connected view, companies can create workplaces that are more efficient, reduce operating costs, support sustainability goals, and deliver a better experience for employees.