How it works
A study starts with the decision it must inform, such as renewing a lease, merging two offices or redesigning a floor. That decision sets the scope: which buildings, which space types, which period and what level of detail.
Data collection uses one or more methods. Walk-through observation counts people and activity at set times each day. Sensors count presence at desks or in zones. Existing systems, such as desk booking with check-in, network presence and badge data, supply continuous records without new hardware. A short survey adds why people come in and what they need.
The analysis compares use with capacity: average and peak occupancy, room frequency and seat use, and patterns by weekday and team. The output is a set of options, for example how many desks each team needs at its peak, which rooms to resize and which floors to release.
Traditional studies are snapshots. Hybrid attendance shifts with policy and season, so many organizations now monitor occupancy continuously and treat the study as a periodic review of that data.
How to measure it
- Cover several normal weeks, avoiding holidays and one-off events.
- Measure at the level of the decision: desks and rooms for a redesign, floors and buildings for a lease.
- Combine observed use with a short survey on needs and reasons for coming in.
- Report the peak day and the average for each space type.
Examples
- Before a lease break, a company runs an eight-week study across two floors and finds that its busiest normal day needs one and a half floors.
- A university exports a term of room bookings and check-ins to decide which teaching and meeting rooms to combine.
Benchmarks
Karger measured desk use continuously through desk booking and check-in at 30 to 40% (its Kadence story calls this both utilization and occupancy), which backed its move to one and a half floors.
Kadence customer story: Karger
Common mistakes
- Studying an unrepresentative period, such as a holiday month or the week after a new mandate.
- Using bookings or badge counts alone, which cannot show desk- or room-level use.
- Stopping at the report without turning the results into options and a decision.
- Treating a one-off study as permanent in an organization whose attendance keeps changing.
How Kadence helps
Kadence records desk and room bookings and check-ins continuously, so the data for a study already exists. Workplace Insights reports occupancy, attendance, no-shows and heatmaps; CSV and bookings exports, which show who booked and who checked in, feed your own analysis; and SpaceOps turns the results into stack and scenario plans.
Workplace analytics · Workplace occupancy · SpaceOps
Frequently asked questions
How long should a space utilization study last?
Long enough to capture normal weekly patterns and some variation, usually several weeks outside holiday periods. In hybrid offices, continuous data is better, because attendance shifts with policy, season and headcount changes.
What data does a space utilization study collect?
Counts of people and spaces in use by time of day, room attendance against capacity, patterns by weekday, floor and team, and often a survey of why people come in. The sources are observation, sensors, booking and check-in records, network presence and badge data.
Do you need sensors for a utilization study?
No. If you already run desk and room booking with check-in, or can use office network presence or badge data, you have continuous records. Sensors or walk-through counts help for unbookable areas such as lounges and cafes.
What is the output of a utilization study?
A clear picture of average and peak use by space type, and options: desks per team, rooms to resize, floors to release or consolidate. The best studies end with a decision and a plan to measure its effect.
Related terms
- Space utilization How intensively buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their full capacity over time.
- Occupancy monitoring Continuous measurement of how many people use each building, floor, room and desk, and when, from presence signals or sensors.
- Occupancy sensor A device that detects whether a desk, room or zone is in use, or counts the people in it, usually anonymously.
- Office right-sizing Matching the amount and type of office space to how people actually use it, based on measured demand rather than headcount.
- Peak occupancy The busiest level of use a floor or building reaches in a normal week, which sets the capacity you actually need.
Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed