# Kadence > Workplace management: SpaceOps for space planning and WorkOps for workplace operations. Every kadence.co page in Markdown, one section per page with its canonical URL. The index is https://kadence.co/llms.txt. ## AI Workplace Management for Corporate Real Estate | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/ Description: Kadence turns desk, room, visitor and occupancy data into real estate decisions. One AI platform for corporate real estate and facilities teams. AI workplace management for corporate real estate ### Workplace Operations for the AI Age The world’s top-performing workplace and real estate teams trust Kadence to turn workplace performance into a strategic advantage [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Trusted by - MIT - University of Cambridge - Intel - Boeing - Bombardier - Dow Jones - NHS - BDO - Willis Towers Watson - Ashurst Perkins Coie - Starling Bank - TrueLayer - Trainline - Softchoice - BambooHR Engineering, +36 people, Floor 6; Product, +18 people, Floor 5; Sales, +52 people, Floor 4; Finance, +24 people, Floor 3; Finance, +24 people, Floor 2; Reception, +12 people, Floor 1. Illustrative team headcounts. Scenario 01 of 03 Consolidate to 5 floors Annual occupancy cost ~~$4.2M~~ **$3.1M** Released 28.4k sq ft, one floor #### One Place for Everything Workplace ##### The leader's command center SPACEOPS SpaceOps brings floor plans, headcount, and moves into one agentic platform. Model, plan, stack, and execute change in hours, not weeks. Stack planning New York · 3 floors SpaceOps stack planning for New York: levels 2 to 4 with Sales, Marketing and Finance teams and predicted headcount SpaceOps stack plan showing teams distributed across building floors SpaceOps occupancy data and workplace utilization reporting SpaceOps move management with team assignments and move planning - Stack and restack planning - Move management with go-live dates - Occupancy modeling [Explore SpaceOps]() ##### The employee's daily guide WORKOPS WorkOps brings desks, rooms, and people into one place. From space booking and visitor management to powerful insights and analytics — unify your entire workplace experience on a single platform. Desk booking London HQ · Floor 2 WorkOps desk booking: the London HQ floor plan with teammates on desks and a prompt to book nearby a colleague WorkOps workplace bookings and team coordination in one place WorkOps presence data showing who is working in the office WorkOps team scheduling to bring the right teammates into the office together - Desk, room and visitor booking - Team coordination - SSO and directory sync [Explore WorkOps]() Named outcomes #### Real estate results, not adoption charts. 80% **Smaller footprint** Karger Occupancy held at 30 to 40%. Karger downsized to one and a half floors and cut its real estate footprint by 80%. [Read the story]() 55% **Less office space** Softchoice Cut office space by more than half with no drop in employee satisfaction. [Read the story]() 50% **Fewer floors** RCS England Consolidated two floors into one, saving thousands a year in facilities cost. [Read the story]() 38% **Meeting rooms in use** University of Exeter Meeting-room use nearly doubled, from 20% to 38% on an average day, across 14 buildings without adding a square meter. [Read the story]() Minutes **Reporting** Denbighshire County Council Occupancy reporting cut from days to minutes, and an office consolidation backed by evidence. [Read the story]() Kadence AI #### AI-powered workplace concierge for every employee. Ask for a desk, book a room or find out who is in tomorrow. Kadence AI handles every workplace task inside Kadence. - The assistant inside Microsoft Teams and Slack; calendar and directory sync with Outlook, Google, Okta and Workday - MCP connects Kadence to the AI assistants your company already uses Singapore HQ · Level 12 Live Teammate Teammate Teammate Sam **K** Kadence AI Hi Sam. What do you need for tomorrow? Who from my team is in tomorrow? Three of your team are in on Level 12. Desk 14 is free next to them. Book it? Yes Desk 14 · L12 · Fri 8 Jun Booked --- What teams use Kadence for #### Run your workplace at the speed of AI. - ##### [Consolidate floors]() Measure real occupancy, run the scenario, release the space with the numbers to back it. - ##### [Plan and execute a move]() Stack plans, neighborhoods and move lists, written back into the systems that run the building. - ##### [Run a flexible workplace]() Desks, rooms and visitors across every building, inside Teams, Slack, Outlook and Google. - ##### [Bring the right teams in together]() Team days, neighborhoods and automatic check-in, so the office fills with the people who need each other. - ##### [Prove the occupancy]() Bookings, badges and sensors in one dataset. Reporting that took days takes minutes. - ##### [Make the business case]() Occupancy evidence and planning scenarios to explain the space you need to finance. Enterprise readiness #### Built for your workplace. Trusted by the world’s top technology companies, financial services, public-sector and defense. Ready for integration and security review: workplace data connections, single sign-on and directory sync, SOC 2, Cyber Essentials and data controls. [Security and trust]() [All integrations]() - ##### SOC 2 and Cyber Essentials Monitored continuously through Drata. - ##### SSO and directory sync Okta, Microsoft, Google and JumpCloud. - ##### Workplace data Bookings, badges, Wi-Fi, rooms and check-in. - ##### Data protection GDPR and CCPA. Encrypted in transit and at rest. - ##### Tested, independently Third-party penetration tests every year. - ##### Tools you already use Teams, Slack, Outlook, Google, Okta, Workday. AICPA SOC 2 Cyber Essentials certified Considering your next step #### Coming up on a renewal? [See how Kadence compares](), with the trade-offs on the page. Agentic workplace operating system with space-planning agents. [Read Kadence vs OfficeSpace]() More comparisons: [Mapiq]() · [Appspace]() · [Gable]() · [Skedda](). [All comparisons →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Take the product tour (opens in a new tab)]() ## Anti-Spam Policy - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/anti-spam-policy/ Description: Kadence's Anti-Spam Policy: permission-based communication and how to report spam. ### Anti-Spam Policy *Last updated: September 29, 2026* Kadence is committed to responsible, permission-based communication. This policy applies to [kadence.co]() and to every Kadence product and service. **Our Policy**Kadence does not permit [kadence.co](), or any Kadence product or service, to be advertised or promoted using unsolicited commercial email, text messages, or other unsolicited electronic messages (“spam”). This applies to everyone who communicates on our behalf, including:– Kadence employees and contractors– Affiliates, resellers, referral and channel partners– Agencies, vendors, and any other third party acting for Kadence **How to communicate**– We do not buy, rent, or use third-party email lists.– Marketing email is sent only to people who have opted in to hear from us.– Every marketing email includes a clear, working unsubscribe link, and opt-out requests are honoured promptly.– Our business email is one-to-one correspondence with customers, partners, and contacts we have a relationship with or have been introduced to.– Product emails (for example booking confirmations and account notices) are sent only to users of Kadence’s software.– We follow applicable laws, including the US CAN-SPAM Act, the EU and UK GDPR, the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), and the Australian Spam Act 2003.– Our outbound email is authenticated for [kadence.co]() using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. **Enforcement**Any employee, partner, or third party found sending unsolicited messages that advertise [kadence.co]() or Kadence services will be required to stop immediately, and their relationship with Kadence may be suspended or terminated. **Report spam**If you receive an unsolicited message that mentions [kadence.co]() or claims to be from Kadence, please forward it, with full headers if possible, to [abuse@kadence.co](). We investigate every report. ## Beyond Hybrid - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/beyond-hybrid/ Description: Join our community at Beyond Hybrid to stay on top of the latest stories, insights and trends in the world of work. With Dave Cairns ### Beyond Hybrid Curated by our Future of Work Strategist Dave Cairns, “Beyond Hybrid” is a content series where workplace innovators share how they are navigating the future of work. Join our community to stay on top of the latest stories, insights and trends in the world of work. [Join the community]() Illustrative sessions worth showing up for at Community roundtable: People scheduled for Tue and Thu; Workplace scheduled for Mon and Thu; Leaders scheduled for Wed and Thu. Thursday · Learn from each other. #### Newsletter Series Our Latest Edition Sep 01, 2024 ##### [Welcome To Beyond Hybrid]() Oct 15, 2024 ##### Nonlinear Career Journeys Are Going To Save The Future of Work Oct 22, 2024 ##### The Definition Of ‘Work’ Jan 31, 2025 ##### RTO Mandates = Forced Quits… #### Beyond Hybrid: Unstructured Conversations Our Latest Episodes Sep 03, 2024 ##### Dropbox’s Approach To “Virtual-First” Oct 01, 2024 ##### [For The Moments That Matter]() Nov 20, 2024 ##### CREtech In New York City Dec 16, 2024 ##### What Workplace Leaders Need To Hear Stay connected #### Join our community Stay on top of the latest stories, insights and trends in the world of work. Loading the form… By submitting this form you agree to Kadence contacting you. Read our [privacy policy](). ## Workplace Management for Business Services | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/business-services/ Description: Workplace management software for business services firms: get people into the right office on the right days and report on who actually came in. Business and professional services ### Workplace Management for Business Services Tools consultants actually use, and reporting you can rely on. Consultancies and professional firms need people in the right office on the right days, check-ins that reflect what happened, and reports leaders trust. Kadence works inside Teams and Slack and measures actual presence. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative: an office floor with Advisory, Audit and Tax neighborhoods and client rooms; 15 people checked in against 18 bookings. Trusted in business services - Ankura - O5 Group - Personal Care Products Council - SGS Team days #### Client teams in the same office on the same days. AI recommendations for in-person team days, a live view of who is in and where they sit, and neighborhoods so teams find each other. HRIS keeps the roster current and cancels bookings on leave. - Team-day recommendations - Who is in, where, before the day starts - HRIS-driven roster and desk assignment WorkOps · Team coordination Team today: four of seven teammates in on Thursday, the highest overlap this week. Attendance #### Actual presence, not planned attendance. Kadence tracks presence via Wi-Fi, badge and check-in, so reporting reflects what happened and leaders know which teams are in and which are not. - Presence from Wi-Fi, badge and check-in - Attendance by team and office - Role-based permissions WorkOps · Attendance Office attendance with the most popular day and recent check-ins. Integrations #### Inside Teams, Slack, Outlook and Google. Booking and team scheduling in Microsoft Teams and Slack; calendar sync with Outlook and Google Calendar; and a public API and MCP server for your own tools and agents. - Teams, Slack, Outlook, Google Calendar - Ticketing integrations - Public API and MCP server WorkOps · Integrations Microsoft Teams Kadence app · Chat Desk 4.12 booked Thursday · 9:00 to 17:30 4 teammates in Booked Slack/kadence book room Huddle room 2 Today · 14:00 to 14:30 Auto-releases if no one checks in Booked Outlook Calendar · Room finder Client review · Room 5.01 Wednesday · 10:00 to 11:00 Room display updated Confirmed Google Calendar Calendar · Event Team day · Floor 3 Tuesday · All day Desks held for 6 Synced #### Market research on Kadence Customer story · Market Research ##### GWI runs London, New York and Athens from one workplace system. **3** cities, one system [Read the story]() Reviews on G2 · Business services #### In their own words. [All Kadence reviews on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “making desk booking independent and users self managing their own and their teams bookings saves a huge amount of admin time” **Dominic B.** Head of IT Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) · G2 review, July 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “Having your office floorplan built into the app to show precisely what desks and rooms are available to book makes it a very easy-to-use and intuitive experience for end users.” **Verified User in Management Consulting** Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) · G2 review, November 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “Very intuitive, no training required so extremely user friendly.” **Verified User in Staffing and Recruiting** Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) · G2 review, June 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() By industry - [Financial services →]() - [Technology →]() - [Legal →]() - [Commercial real estate →]() - [Consumer goods →]() - [Energy and utilities →]() - [Government →]() - [Healthcare and pharma →]() - [Higher education →]() - [Manufacturing →]() - [Media and entertainment →]() - [Non-profits →]() - [Retail →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace platform buyer's guide and RFP checklist | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/buyers-guide/ Description: A scorecard, an RFP requirements checklist with a downloadable spreadsheet, and a step-by-step guide to switching your workplace platform. Buyer's guide ### How to choose, and switch, your workplace platform. Eight questions to put to every vendor, what a good answer looks like, a requirements checklist for your RFP, and the steps to move from the tool you have today. [Use the scorecard]() [Get the RFP checklist]() [Plan the switch]() The scorecard #### Tick what each vendor can prove. 0 of 8 proven 1. Proven: Occupancy you can defend 01 ##### Occupancy you can defend “Where does your occupancy number come from, and would finance accept it?” A good answer One number built from the systems you already run, not a single source. How Kadence answers Kadence Sense combines bookings, badge data, Wi-Fi/network, rooms, authentication and Agent check-in. 2. Proven: Planning that reaches the building 02 ##### Planning that reaches the building “When the plan changes, what writes the change back?” A good answer The stack plan, the move list and the bookings update in one system. How Kadence answers SpaceOps plans the change; when it executes, it writes back into WorkOps instantly. 3. Proven: Adoption where people already work 03 ##### Adoption where people already work “Can employees book without opening another app?” A good answer Booking inside the tools employees use every day. How Kadence answers Microsoft Teams, Slack, Outlook and Google Workspace. 4. Proven: Identity and security 04 ##### Identity and security “Which identity providers, and what evidence for security review?” A good answer SSO, directory sync and third-party evidence your security team can check. How Kadence answers Okta, Microsoft, Google and JumpCloud sign-in with directory sync. SOC 2 and Cyber Essentials. Penetration-tested at least annually. 5. Proven: Data protection 05 ##### Data protection “Where is data encrypted, and what do you store?” A good answer Encryption in transit and at rest, and only the data the product needs. How Kadence answers GDPR and CCPA aligned. Encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest. 6. Proven: Open data and AI access 06 ##### Open data and AI access “Can our own systems and AI assistants use the data?” A good answer A documented API, plus a supported way for AI assistants to act on the workplace. How Kadence answers An open API and an MCP server that lets your own agents act on the workplace. 7. Proven: Time to value 07 ##### Time to value “What does it take to get the first building live?” A good answer Live on your existing directory and floor plans, without a specialist project. How Kadence answers WorkOps activates on your existing employee directory and floor plans. Most teams are live within days. 8. Proven: Commercials that follow use 08 ##### Commercials that follow use “What are we billed for, and what is the commitment?” A good answer Billing that scales with real use, with the term stated up front. How Kadence answers Active-user billing, with a one-year minimum billed annually. The RFP checklist #### 66 requirements to put in your RFP. A vendor-neutral requirements checklist for enterprise workplace platforms. Each row names the team that should verify the answer and a suggested weight. Change the weights to fit your project. [Download the spreadsheet (CSV)]() [More templates]() ##### How to run the evaluation 1. 1 ###### Set your must-haves first Mark each row Must, Should or Could before any vendor sees it. A missed must-have ends the evaluation early and saves everyone time. 2. 2 ###### Send every vendor the same list Ask for evidence on each row: a demo of the feature, a document or a report. A yes without evidence scores zero. 3. 3 ###### Give IT and security their rows early Identity, directory sync, data hosting, any desktop agent and the integrations are IT's project. Start their review in week one. 4. 4 ###### Score each row from 0 to 3 0 for no answer, 1 for a promise, 2 for a document, 3 for a working demo. Multiply by the weight, and compare totals only after must-haves pass. 5. 5 ###### Pilot the shortlist on one building Run the finalist on real floors with real presence data. Check the reports against what you see in the building. ##### Presence data and check-in The occupancy number is only as good as the signals behind it. Ask how each one is collected. | No. | Requirement | Verified by | Weight | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 01 | Which check-in methods are supported: mobile, web, kiosk, room display, badge, Wi-Fi or network, desktop agent? | Workplace | Must | | 02 | Can presence be detected without employees opening an app? How does it behave on VPN and across floors? | IT | Must | | 03 | How are people who turn up without a booking counted in occupancy? | Workplace | Should | | 04 | Can bookings, badge data and network signals be combined, and can you see which source each check-in came from? | Workplace | Must | | 05 | What hardware, if any, does presence detection need, and who installs and maintains it? | IT | Should | | 06 | How are unused bookings released, and can each building set its own check-in window? | Workplace | Must | ##### Booking and space rules Rules people can follow, enforced by the system rather than by memo. | No. | Requirement | Verified by | Weight | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 07 | Can employees book desks, rooms, parking, lockers and other spaces ahead, on repeat and on the day? | Workplace | Must | | 08 | Can you set booking windows, maximum and default durations, and limits per person or team? | Workplace | Must | | 09 | Can selected teams get priority access to spaces before general release? | Workplace | Should | | 10 | Are assigned desks, team neighborhoods and neighborhoods that change by date all supported? | Workplace | Must | | 11 | Can admins close a building, floor or single space for holidays or works, and tell the people affected? | Workplace | Should | | 12 | Can assistants book on behalf of others, with a record of who made each booking? | Workplace | Should | ##### Identity and provisioning (SSO and SCIM) IT owns these rows. Settle them early; they decide how fast the first building goes live. | No. | Requirement | Verified by | Weight | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 13 | Which identity providers are supported for single sign-on (SAML, OpenID Connect, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, Google)? | IT | Must | | 14 | Can single sign-on be made mandatory for every user? | IT | Should | | 15 | Is SCIM or directory sync supported, and are leavers removed automatically? | IT | Must | | 16 | Can teams be built from directory attributes such as department, cost center or location? | IT | Should | | 17 | Can admin rights be limited by role and by building? | IT | Must | | 18 | If a desktop agent is used, can it sign in silently with your identity provider and deploy through your device management tool? | IT | Should | ##### Microsoft Teams, Outlook and collaboration tools Adoption follows the tools people already use. Microsoft shops should weight these rows highly. | No. | Requirement | Verified by | Weight | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 19 | Can people book desks and rooms inside Microsoft Teams? | IT | Must | | 20 | Does room booking sync both ways with Outlook or Google Calendar, including edits and cancellations? | IT | Must | | 21 | Is there an Outlook add-in for finding and booking rooms and desks? | IT | Should | | 22 | Is Slack supported for the parts of the company that use it? | IT | Could | | 23 | Which permissions does each integration request, and can your admins review them before consent? | IT | Must | | 24 | Are there native iOS and Android apps, and which languages does the product support? | Workplace | Should | ##### Data hosting, retention and security Ask for evidence, not a yes. Reports, certificates and documents your security team can read. | No. | Requirement | Verified by | Weight | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 25 | Which independent certifications can the vendor show, such as SOC 2 Type II, and how recent is the report? | Security | Must | | 26 | In which regions can your data be hosted, and can you choose the region? | Security | Must | | 27 | Is data encrypted in transit and at rest? | Security | Must | | 28 | Can you set how long personal data is kept, and delete it on request? | Security | Must | | 29 | How often does a third party penetration test the product, and can you see a summary of the results? | Security | Should | | 30 | Can audit logs be exported to your SIEM, and how much history is kept? | Security | Should | | 31 | Which sub-processors handle your data, and where are they? | Security | Must | ##### Privacy and works-council readiness Presence data raises fair questions. Answer them before rollout, not after. | No. | Requirement | Verified by | Weight | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 32 | What exactly does presence detection collect, and what does it not collect? | HR and legal | Must | | 33 | Can employees hide their location from colleagues? | HR and legal | Should | | 34 | Can reports show teams and departments without naming individuals? | HR and legal | Should | | 35 | Can presence detection be turned on country by country or site by site, so you can roll out by region? | IT | Should | | 36 | Will the vendor supply documents a works council or data protection officer can review, such as a data map and help with a data protection impact assessment? | HR and legal | Must | ##### Reporting and exports The reports leadership will ask for, and the exports finance will check. | No. | Requirement | Verified by | Weight | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 37 | Does reporting show attendance, occupancy, no-shows and peak use by building, floor and team? | Workplace | Must | | 38 | Can you decide what counts as an office visit, for example whether parking or lockers count? | Workplace | Could | | 39 | Can you build custom dashboards, including attendance against your hybrid policy? | Workplace | Should | | 40 | Can every report be exported, with who made each booking and who checked in? | Workplace | Must | | 41 | Can reporting data reach your BI tool, such as Power BI, through an API or a scheduled export? | Finance | Should | | 42 | How far back does history go, and is it kept if you change plans or packages? | Finance | Could | ##### API, integrations and AI Your data should reach your own systems, and your own AI assistants, under the permissions you set. | No. | Requirement | Verified by | Weight | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 43 | Is there a documented REST API, with keys you can create and revoke? | IT | Must | | 44 | Are webhooks available to send real-time events to other systems? | IT | Should | | 45 | Can your HR system sync new starters, leavers and leave dates? | IT | Should | | 46 | Can badge or access-control data be brought in as a presence signal? | IT | Should | | 47 | Can AI assistants such as Copilot, ChatGPT or Claude act on the workplace through a supported interface, such as an MCP server, under each user's own permissions? | IT | Could | | 48 | What are the API rate limits, and is there a test environment? | IT | Could | ##### Visitors Front desk, security and the visitor log your auditors may ask for. | No. | Requirement | Verified by | Weight | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 49 | Can hosts invite visitors and get notified when they arrive? | Workplace | Should | | 50 | Is there a self-service kiosk or QR check-in, with badge printing? | Workplace | Should | | 51 | Can visitors sign NDAs or site policies at check-in? | Workplace | Could | | 52 | Is there a central visitor log you can export? | Security | Should | ##### Moves and space planning Where a lease event, move or consolidation is coming, these rows decide the business case. | No. | Requirement | Verified by | Weight | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 53 | Can you plan new starters, leavers and team relocations, and tell each person where they are moving? | Real estate | Should | | 54 | Can you build stack plans and compare scenarios side by side before you commit? | Real estate | Should | | 55 | Do plans use measured attendance and occupancy, not only headcount? | Real estate | Must | | 56 | When a plan is approved, does it update live neighborhoods and seat assignments, or does someone re-enter it by hand? | Real estate | Must | | 57 | Can floor plans be edited in the browser, and can plans be exported for stakeholders? | Real estate | Could | ##### Multi-site rollout and administration How the platform behaves on the tenth building, not just the first. | No. | Requirement | Verified by | Weight | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 58 | Can you roll out building by building or region by region, with local admins for each? | Workplace | Must | | 59 | Can each site keep its own rules, time zone and closures? | Workplace | Must | | 60 | Can spaces, neighborhoods and assignments be created in bulk from a spreadsheet? | Workplace | Should | | 61 | How are floor plans brought in, and what does setup cost per floor? | Finance | Should | ##### Support and commercials What happens after signature, and what you pay for. | No. | Requirement | Verified by | Weight | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 62 | What uptime does the vendor commit to in writing, and how is it reported? | IT | Must | | 63 | What onboarding and admin training is included? | Workplace | Must | | 64 | What support channels and hours are there, and in which languages? | Workplace | Should | | 65 | How is billing counted (licensed seats or active users), and what is the minimum term? | Finance | Must | | 66 | Can the vendor give references from organizations of your size and sector? | Finance | Should | Terms behind the checklist: [presence data]() · [SSO]() · [SCIM]() · [SOC 2]() · [works council]() · [workplace API]() · [scenario planning]() · [workplace management system]() The switching guide #### Six steps from your current tool. Most of the work is knowing what you have. Identity and floor plans come first; people follow when booking lives in their own tools. [Security and trust evidence →]() [The AI maturity model →]() 1. 1 ##### Take stock of what you run Buildings, floor plans, desks, rooms and neighborhoods; users and teams; booking rules; and every integration the current tool touches. 2. 2 ##### Ask your current vendor for your data Booking and occupancy history, floor plans and user lists, in formats you can reuse. Check the notice period in your contract. 3. 3 ##### Connect identity first Single sign-on and directory sync, so people and teams arrive ready and nobody is set up by hand. 4. 4 ##### Bring in floors and spaces Floor plans, desks, rooms and neighborhoods, with the booking rules each building needs. 5. 5 ##### Connect calendars and collaboration tools Microsoft Teams, Slack, Outlook or Google, so booking moves to where people already work. 6. 6 ##### Pilot one building, then roll out Measure adoption on the first building, then roll out by building or region. Retire the old tool once bookings have moved. FAQ #### Buyer's guide questions **What should a workplace management software RFP include?** Group your requirements by what each team must verify: presence data and check-in, booking rules, identity and directory sync, Microsoft Teams and Outlook, data hosting and retention, privacy and works-council readiness, reporting and exports, API and integrations, visitors, moves and planning, multi-site rollout, and support and commercials. Give each requirement an owner and a weight. **Is there a desk booking RFP template?** Yes. The checklist on this page has 66 requirement questions for desk booking, room booking and the wider workplace platform. Download it as a spreadsheet, delete the rows you do not need, set your own weights and send the same list to every vendor. **How do you choose workplace management software?** Start from your trigger, such as a contract renewal, a lease event or a move. Decide which data you need to trust, then test vendors on evidence: where the occupancy number comes from, how it reaches your planning, whether people can book in the tools they already use, and what IT and security need to sign off. **Who should be involved in evaluating a workplace platform?** Workplace, real estate or facilities leads own the evaluation. IT is a co-buyer, because single sign-on, directory sync, Microsoft Teams and any desktop agent are its project. Security and legal review data hosting and privacy, HR covers works councils, and finance or the executive sponsor signs off the business case. **How do you score vendor answers in an RFP?** Score each requirement from 0 to 3 based on the evidence you saw, not the answer you were given: 0 for nothing, 1 for a promise, 2 for documentation and 3 for a working demo. Multiply by the weight, then compare totals only among vendors that pass every must-have. Next step #### Put Kadence through the scorecard. Bring your criteria. A workplace strategist shows the evidence for each one, on your buildings. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Customer stories | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/ Description: How enterprise real estate and workplace teams use Kadence: floors released, costs cut, offices run on evidence. Customer stories ### Real estate results, on the record. Floors released, footprints cut, teams brought together. Explore 14 customer stories, with results as published and industries drawn from each story. - Higher Education · United Kingdom #### [The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter.]() **38%** of meeting rooms in use on an average day, up from 20% Read the story → - Healthcare · Switzerland #### [Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy.]() **80%** smaller real estate footprint Read the story → - Government · United Kingdom #### [Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence.]() **Minutes** for reports that took days Read the story → - Higher Education · United Kingdom #### [RCS England consolidated two floors into one and saved over £40,000 a year.]() **50%** fewer floors, two into one Read the story → - Market Research · London, New York, Athens #### [GWI runs London, New York and Athens from one workplace system.]() **3** cities, one system Read the story → - Manufacturing · United States #### [Axalta moved into an office half the size and made all of it bookable.]() **½** the previous office footprint Read the story → - Technology · United Kingdom #### [Wavex reached 4x desk efficiency in its new London HQ and saved over £20,000.]() **4×** desk efficiency Read the story → - Technology · United Kingdom #### [MOO saw office occupancy often exceed 70% after six months with Kadence.]() **70%** occupancy often exceeded on individual days, after six months Read the story → - Non-profit · Australia #### [Five Good Friends cut office space expenses by 15%.]() **15%** savings on office space expenses Read the story → - Public Services · United Kingdom #### [MOPAC reached 83% adoption within weeks and now forecasts office demand from usage data.]() **83%** user adoption within weeks Read the story → - Non-profit · United Kingdom #### [RSPB accommodated 2,500 employees on flexible desking without major portfolio changes.]() **2,500** employees accommodated without major portfolio changes Read the story → - Technology · Canada #### [Softchoice made hybrid work simple across its organization with shared team schedules.]() **Team coordination** shared visibility of colleagues’ schedules Read the story → - Healthcare · United States #### [A healthcare technology company reduced its office size by 68%.]() **68%** reduction in office size Read the story → - Non-profit · United Kingdom #### [A UK nonprofit used occupancy data to reconfigure its office space.]() **46%** daily employee occupancy at the end of March, after three months of growth Read the story → Next step #### Bring your floor. We bring the numbers. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Axalta halved its office and made all of it bookable | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/axalta-return-to-office/ Description: A global coatings manufacturer halved its office footprint and used Kadence to allocate desks, rooms and private offices fairly, with 30% fewer booking conflicts. [Customer stories]() · Manufacturing ### Axalta moved into an office half the size and made all of it bookable. A global coatings manufacturer halved its office footprint and used Kadence to allocate desks, rooms and private offices fairly, with 30% fewer booking conflicts. - **Company**: Axalta - **Location**: United States - **Products**: Desk booking, Room booking, Space analytics Axalta ½the previous office footprint 70%+ user adoption 30% fewer room booking conflicts 40% occupancy on team days (Tue and Thu) 6,288+ total bookings made The situation #### Before Kadence Moving to an office half the size of the previous one, Axalta needed to allocate limited desks, meeting rooms and private offices fairly as more people returned. The old system treated private offices and meeting rooms the same, creating constant conflicts. What changed #### With Kadence - Every space in the smaller office made bookable, with private offices and meeting rooms clearly distinguished. - Team days on Tuesdays and Thursdays, planned against measured occupancy. - Space analytics to keep peak days working. > “Kadence can roll with the punches and come up with the smart solutions we need to make hybrid work for everyone.” Rica Lade, Executive Coordinator, Axalta More stories - [University of Exeter The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter.]() - [Karger Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy.]() - [Denbighshire County Council Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence.]() Figures and quotes as published on kadence.co/case-studies/axalta-return-to-office/ (original title: “How Kadence Helped Axalta Adapt As More People Returned To The Office”). Next step #### See what Kadence would do with your floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Denbighshire Council right-sized its estate with data | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/denbighshire-workplace-occupancy-analytics/ Description: A county council replaced days of manual reporting with live occupancy dashboards, and used them to right-size its estate and its hybrid policy. [Customer stories]() · Government ### Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence. A county council replaced days of manual reporting with live occupancy dashboards, and used them to right-size its estate and its hybrid policy. - **Company**: Denbighshire County Council - **Location**: United Kingdom - **Products**: Insights Plus, Workplace occupancy, Office neighborhoods Denbighshire County Council Minutes for reports that took days Evidence behind every consolidation decision Thursday the real peak day, not the assumed Wednesday Fewer ghost bookings inflating usage The situation #### Before Kadence The facilities team faced pressure to cut real estate costs and shape hybrid policy, but leaders could not see who was using which office, when. Reporting was slow and fragmented, so every consolidation plan risked over- or under-cutting capacity. What changed #### With Kadence - Insights Plus dashboards giving leadership on-demand visibility into building usage, departmental movement and occupancy trends. - Evidence for which buildings were heavily used and which were underused, validating past consolidation and surfacing new savings. - Hybrid policy aligned to actual behavior, which improved fairness, adoption and trust. - Spaces redesigned around how departments actually collaborate. > “Kadence takes away the guesswork. We finally have the evidence to make the right decisions for our people and our spaces.” Dan Ick, Denbighshire County Council More stories - [University of Exeter The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter.]() - [Karger Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy.]() - [RCS England RCS England consolidated two floors into one and saved over £40,000 a year.]() Figures and quotes as published on kadence.co/case-studies/denbighshire-workplace-occupancy-analytics/ (original title: “How Denbighshire County Council Turned Complex Occupancy Data Into Actionable Workplace Strategy”). Next step #### See what Kadence would do with your floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## A healthcare technology company cut its office by 68% | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/embracing-coordinated-hybrid-with-a-downsized-workspace/ Description: A US medical lab and diagnostic solution company introduced desk hoteling and automated desk release to run its smaller headquarters. [Customer stories]() · Healthcare ### A healthcare technology company reduced its office size by 68%. A US medical lab and diagnostic solution company introduced desk hoteling and automated desk release to run its smaller headquarters. - **Company**: Medical lab and diagnostic solution company (not named) - **Location**: United States - **Products**: Desk Booking, People Coordination, Space Analytics - The published office-size reduction has no stated measurement period or financial amount. Medical lab and diagnostic solution company (not named) 68% reduction in office size 25% month-on-month growth in recurring desk bookings over the last six months 150 desks for 200 employees returning to headquarters Auto-release unused desks made available to others The situation #### Before Kadence The company reopened a section of its headquarters after the pandemic. With less space, informal hot desking needed a booking process and reliable availability. What changed #### With Kadence - Desk hoteling let employees reserve space on the days they chose to come in. - Team scheduling supported shared office days and visits from out-of-town colleagues. - Automatic desk release made missed check-ins and early departures available for other people to book. > “When someone is coming in from out of town, or when executives come in, it was incredibly easy to utilize Kadence to reserve a desk while travelling!” Anonymous customer, US medical lab and diagnostic company More stories - [University of Exeter The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter.]() - [Karger Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy.]() - [Denbighshire County Council Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence.]() Figures and quotes as published on kadence.co/case-studies/embracing-coordinated-hybrid-with-a-downsized-workspace/ (original title: “Embracing Coordinated Hybrid With A Downsized Workspace”). Next step #### See what Kadence would do with your floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Five Good Friends cut office space expenses by 15% | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/five-good-friends/ Description: Facing a lease expiry and a strict budget, Five Good Friends moved to a smaller office and replaced manual booking administration with occupancy visibility. [Customer stories]() · Non-profit ### Five Good Friends cut office space expenses by 15%. Facing a lease expiry and a strict budget, Five Good Friends moved to a smaller office and replaced manual booking administration with occupancy visibility. - **Company**: Five Good Friends - **Location**: Australia - **Products**: Desk booking, Room booking, Space analytics - The published savings result has no stated measurement period. Five Good Friends 15% savings on office space expenses 7,647+ total bookings made over four months 44% MoM growth in space bookings 70% reduction in booking conflicts The situation #### Before Kadence Its lease was ending in late 2023. Calendly bookings duplicated desks, staff could not see who was booked in, and the team could not easily report actual usage. What changed #### With Kadence - Desk and room booking replaced the previous system within weeks. - Occupancy insights informed use of the downsized office. - Cancellation notifications helped staff find available desks and decide whether to travel. > “The great thing about Kadence is that it doesn’t need a team of people to manage your bookings. After you set the initial parameters during setup, Kadence manages all of your bookings behind the scenes.” Anthony Mitropoulos, Manager — ICT, Data & Facilities, Five Good Friends More stories - [University of Exeter The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter.]() - [Karger Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy.]() - [Denbighshire County Council Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence.]() Figures and quotes as published on kadence.co/case-studies/five-good-friends/ (original title: “How Five Good Friends Cut Office Costs By 15%”). Next step #### See what Kadence would do with your floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## RSPB put 2,500 employees on flexible desking | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/flexible-desk-booking-with-rspb/ Description: RSPB rolled out flexible desking office by office, using live space data to accommodate its teams without major changes to its real estate portfolio. [Customer stories]() · Non-profit ### RSPB accommodated 2,500 employees on flexible desking without major portfolio changes. RSPB rolled out flexible desking office by office, using live space data to accommodate its teams without major changes to its real estate portfolio. - **Company**: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) - **Location**: United Kingdom - **Products**: Desk Booking, Space Analytics, Health certification - Booking growth is quantified; savings on office expansion are not given a financial amount. Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) 2,500 employees accommodated without major portfolio changes Within weeks desk hoteling model implemented 98% month-on-month growth in flexible desk bookings over the last two months The situation #### Before Kadence RSPB had no consistent way to manage hot desks across its buildings. Changing employee needs accelerated an existing effort to use desks more efficiently. What changed #### With Kadence - Color-coded floor plans helped people find and book available desks. - Building admins gained a live office view and control of bookable spaces across floors and buildings. - Space analytics helped the workplace team forecast demand and plan office use. > “Kadence has helped through the next phase of hybrid work by helping us keep people organised and allow flexible desking in the office buildings that are currently open.” RSPB team, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds More stories - [University of Exeter The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter.]() - [Karger Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy.]() - [Denbighshire County Council Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence.]() Figures and quotes as published on kadence.co/case-studies/flexible-desk-booking-with-rspb/ (original title: “How RSPB Achieved MoM Growth In Flexible Desk Bookings”). Next step #### See what Kadence would do with your floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## GWI runs London, New York and Athens from one system | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/gwi-employee-productivity/ Description: A global research company replaced spreadsheets with one platform for desks, rooms and team days across London, New York and Athens. [Customer stories]() · Market Research ### GWI runs London, New York and Athens from one workplace system. A global research company replaced spreadsheets with one platform for desks, rooms and team days across London, New York and Athens. - **Company**: GWI - **Location**: London, New York, Athens - **Products**: Desk booking, Team coordination, Space analytics GWI 3 cities, one system 500+ employees across three offices Team days scheduled so the right people are in together Neighborhoods implemented across every location The situation #### Before Kadence After the return to the office, attendance was unpredictable: nobody knew which team was coming in on which day. Manual spreadsheets could not coordinate a global workforce or show how office space was being used. What changed #### With Kadence - Desk and room booking replacing spreadsheets across all three locations. - Team days coordinated so sales teams sit with their mentors and their teams. - Office neighborhoods and workplace announcements across every site. - Space analytics showing where people actually work. > “We didn’t know who was coming when, which team on what day — so we used Kadence as soon as we were able to return back to the office!” Maud Santamaria, Global Real Estate Director, GWI More stories - [University of Exeter The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter.]() - [Karger Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy.]() - [Denbighshire County Council Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence.]() Figures and quotes as published on kadence.co/case-studies/gwi-employee-productivity/ (original title: “GWI's Solution For A Productive Return To The Office”). Next step #### See what Kadence would do with your floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/how-karger-reduced-office-space/ Description: A global medical and scientific publisher used Kadence occupancy data to downsize from fixed desks to one and a half floors, without losing productivity. [Customer stories]() · Healthcare ### Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy. A global medical and scientific publisher used Kadence occupancy data to downsize from fixed desks to one and a half floors, without losing productivity. - **Company**: Karger - **Location**: Switzerland - **Products**: Desk booking, Workplace analytics, Team coordination Karger 80% smaller real estate footprint 30–40% measured occupancy before the decision 1.5 floors after consolidation 200+ hybrid employees accommodated The situation #### Before Kadence Karger managed a diverse international workforce on fixed desks, with no reliable measure of how much of the office was actually in use. The move to hybrid work required a real estate decision that could be defended. What changed #### With Kadence - Occupancy measured continuously through desk booking and check-in, showing utilization consistently at 30 to 40%. - An informed downsizing decision to one and a half floors, with flexible seating replacing fixed desks. - Team coordination so people know before they travel that there is space to work. > “Kadence gave us that confidence. On a regular basis, we know how many people are coming into the building, and therefore we are not going to be in a position where people come into the office and have nowhere to sit.” Adrian Harper, Head of Digital Landscape, Karger More stories - [University of Exeter The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter.]() - [Denbighshire County Council Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence.]() - [RCS England RCS England consolidated two floors into one and saved over £40,000 a year.]() Figures and quotes as published on kadence.co/case-studies/how-karger-reduced-office-space/ (original title: “From Fixed Desks To Flexibility: How Karger Reduced Office Space By 80%”). Next step #### See what Kadence would do with your floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## MOO saw office occupancy often exceed 70% | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/moo-office-utilization/ Description: MOO used booking data and employee feedback to coordinate team time and reshape its London office around focused work and collaboration. [Customer stories]() · Technology ### MOO saw office occupancy often exceed 70% after six months with Kadence. MOO used booking data and employee feedback to coordinate team time and reshape its London office around focused work and collaboration. - **Company**: MOO - **Location**: United Kingdom - **Products**: Desk booking, Team coordination, Space analytics - Attendance and booking results; the story does not quantify financial savings. MOO 70% occupancy often exceeded on individual days, after six months 20,860 space bookings made over six months 296 Personal Kadences created Over 50% MoM growth in recurring bookings 15% month-over-month growth in individual bookings The situation #### Before Kadence A year after launching Work 2.0, most hybrid roles were not meeting the 20% office-time guidance. MOO needed to understand what would make time in its new offices useful. What changed #### With Kadence - Employee surveys identified team time and socializing as reasons to come in. - Booking data revealed peak days and demand for desks and meeting rooms. - London spaces were organized for focused work, customer calls and collaboration, with team schedules visible before booking. > “We want our employees to use Kadence to support our in-person culture. To have a tool that would help boost creativity, collaboration, conversation, and connection!” Bryony Gilhooly, Head of People Operations, MOO More stories - [University of Exeter The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter.]() - [Karger Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy.]() - [Denbighshire County Council Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence.]() Figures and quotes as published on kadence.co/case-studies/moo-office-utilization/ (original title: “MOO: Boosting Office Utilization To 70% With Kadence”). Next step #### See what Kadence would do with your floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## MOPAC reached 83% desk booking adoption within weeks | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/mopac-implementing-desk-booking-with-83-user-adoption/ Description: MOPAC introduced desk hoteling with 37 desks, giving teams visibility of office days and facilities staff data to forecast demand. [Customer stories]() · Public Services ### MOPAC reached 83% adoption within weeks and now forecasts office demand from usage data. MOPAC introduced desk hoteling with 37 desks, giving teams visibility of office days and facilities staff data to forecast demand. - **Company**: Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime (MOPAC) - **Location**: United Kingdom - **Products**: Desk Booking, Personal Kadence, Space Analytics - Attendance and adoption results; the story does not quantify financial savings. Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime (MOPAC) 83% user adoption within weeks 35% month-on-month growth in desk bookings 70% occupancy 37 desks managed for 200 employees The situation #### Before Kadence MOPAC needed a fast rollout for its office reopening, while preserving flexibility for staff to choose when to work on site. What changed #### With Kadence - A desk booking requirement supported adoption and gave staff a simple process for office days. - Personal Kadence helped teams plan shared days and book near colleagues. - Usage data helped forecast demand and identify underused spaces. > “The app usage has always been high because our staff cannot come to the office unless they book a desk through Kadence. The ability to use it more effectively has significantly improved over time.” MOPAC team, Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime More stories - [University of Exeter The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter.]() - [Karger Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy.]() - [Denbighshire County Council Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence.]() Figures and quotes as published on kadence.co/case-studies/mopac-implementing-desk-booking-with-83-user-adoption/ (original title: “MOPAC: Implementing Desk Booking With 83% User Adoption”). Next step #### See what Kadence would do with your floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## A UK nonprofit reshaped its office with occupancy data | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/new-way-of-working/ Description: A nonprofit replaced a clunky spreadsheet and desk numbering system with booking, team coordination and space data for its return to the office. [Customer stories]() · Non-profit ### A UK nonprofit used occupancy data to reconfigure its office space. A nonprofit replaced a clunky spreadsheet and desk numbering system with booking, team coordination and space data for its return to the office. - **Company**: UK-based non-profit organization (not named) - **Location**: United Kingdom - **Products**: Desk Booking, Space Analytics, People Coordination - Attendance and capacity results; the story does not quantify financial savings. - The source gives no year for March. Daily employee occupancy and overall occupancy are reported separately. UK-based non-profit organization (not named) 46% daily employee occupancy at the end of March, after three months of growth 26% average booking capacity over the last three months 3% overall occupancy in the separate capacity analysis The situation #### Before Kadence The team needed a workable way to bring people back safely while moving to hybrid work. Its spreadsheet and desk numbering system were not meeting those needs. What changed #### With Kadence - Admins coordinated team days and restricted desks to manage office capacity. - Booking and occupancy data exposed a gap between reservations and actual use, informing space reconfiguration. - Personal Kadence and the employee directory helped staff plan time with colleagues. > “When evaluating different solutions, it was clear to us how easy it is to roll out with Kadence, and we were confident that our entire staff would be able to use the app without much hassle!” Anonymous customer, UK non-profit More stories - [University of Exeter The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter.]() - [Karger Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy.]() - [Denbighshire County Council Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence.]() Figures and quotes as published on kadence.co/case-studies/new-way-of-working/ (original title: “A New Way Of Working With Kadence”). Next step #### See what Kadence would do with your floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## RCS England consolidated two floors and saved £40,000+ | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/rcs-attendance-voluntary-win/ Description: RCS England released a floor, reclaimed 300+ admin hours a year, and saw 85% of staff exceed the minimum office policy without enforcement. [Customer stories]() · Higher Education ### RCS England consolidated two floors into one and saved over £40,000 a year. The Royal College of Surgeons of England released a floor, reclaimed 300+ hours of admin a year, and saw 85% of staff exceed the minimum office policy without enforcement. - **Company**: RCS England - **Location**: United Kingdom - **Products**: Desk booking, Team coordination, Workplace analytics RCS England 50% fewer floors, two into one £40,000+ annual facilities savings 300+ hours of admin reclaimed a year 85% of staff exceed the minimum office policy, unenforced 50% more cross-team collaboration 100% of employees booking desks within two weeks The situation #### Before Kadence Policy required staff in the office 20% of the time, and many were not meeting it. Desk uncertainty and manual coordination made in-office days harder than they needed to be, on more floor space than the college needed. What changed #### With Kadence - Desk booking and team coordination that removed desk uncertainty, so staff chose to come in more often; 100% of employees were booking desks within two weeks, with SSO. - Two office floors consolidated into one on the strength of measured use. - Automated desk release and AI-assisted booking that freed more than 6 hours a week, 300+ hours a year. - AI-powered coordination that lifted cross-team collaboration by half. > “Kadence has become second nature, like getting a coffee. It’s woven into how we work.” Mahsa Mohseni, Project Manager, RCS England More stories - [University of Exeter The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter.]() - [Karger Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy.]() - [Denbighshire County Council Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence.]() Figures and quotes as published on kadence.co/case-studies/rcs-attendance-voluntary-win/ (original title: “From Mandates To Culture: How RCS England Turned Attendance Into A Voluntary Win”). Next step #### See what Kadence would do with your floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Softchoice simplified hybrid work with team schedules | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/softchoice-hybrid-work/ Description: Softchoice gave its teams the flexibility to choose when and where to work, with shared schedules to make office time easier to coordinate. [Customer stories]() · Technology ### Softchoice made hybrid work simple across its organization with shared team schedules. Softchoice gave its teams the flexibility to choose when and where to work, with shared schedules to make office time easier to coordinate. - **Company**: Softchoice - **Location**: Canada - **Products**: Desk Booking, Team Coordination, Space Analytics - The published story describes employee experience and engagement without a quantified result. Softchoice Team coordination shared visibility of colleagues’ schedules Flexibility to choose when and where to work Ease of use a priority when choosing and rolling out the platform The situation #### Before Kadence Softchoice wanted a workplace that supported collaboration and innovation, with technology that made hybrid working straightforward for people across the organization. What changed #### With Kadence - Team schedules let colleagues coordinate their work week and office time. - Ease of use informed the choice of platform and gave the team confidence in rollout. > “Kadence is a critical layer between people and place, it's the tool that supports and simplifies our spaces to bring our people together.” Jeff Gwinett, Workplace Experience Lead, Softchoice More stories - [University of Exeter The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter.]() - [Karger Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy.]() - [Denbighshire County Council Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence.]() Figures and quotes as published on kadence.co/case-studies/softchoice-hybrid-work/ (original title: “How Softchoice Boosted Productivity With Less Space”). Next step #### See what Kadence would do with your floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/university-of-exeter/ Description: Across 14 buildings on Kadence, the university turned space into a strategic asset and created a 120-person computer lab from space it already owned. [Customer stories]() · Higher Education ### The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter. Across 14 buildings on Kadence, the university turned space from an administrative headache into a strategic asset, and created a 120-person computer lab from space it already owned. - **Company**: University of Exeter - **Location**: United Kingdom - **Products**: Workplace occupancy, Space management, Desk booking Chart: average share of University of Exeter meeting rooms in use per day rose from 20% in December 2025 to 38% in June 2026. 38% of meeting rooms in use on an average day, up from 20% 20% to 38% average share of meeting rooms in use per day 120 person computer lab from existing space 3x adoption in a year, 14 buildings live The situation #### Before Kadence Space booking ran on Excel spreadsheets and emails, and attendance was guesswork. The university needed to grow and change its courses without expanding its footprint or carbon consumption. What changed #### With Kadence - Workplace Analytics showed which spaces were under pressure and which were under-used, as a springboard for asking why. - Occupancy evidence let teams move into less-used space and stagger anchor days, so collaboration grew without new space. - Professional services workspace was compressed and restacked to create a 120-person computer lab, academic offices and a larger cafe. - The Microsoft Teams integration drove adoption: end users needed almost no training. > “We’re able to stack our use of space, which has given us really fabulous results. It means that teams can still be together, while also allowing us to drive that efficiency of space.” Helen Wallace, Assistant Director of Estates, University of Exeter More stories - [Karger Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy.]() - [Denbighshire County Council Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence.]() - [RCS England RCS England consolidated two floors into one and saved over £40,000 a year.]() Figures and quotes as published on kadence.co/case-studies/university-of-exeter/ (original title: “How University of Exeter Grew Collaborative Team Days 4.5x Without Adding a Single Square Meter”). Next step #### See what Kadence would do with your floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Wavex reached 4x desk efficiency in its new London HQ | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/case-studies/wavex-4x-space-efficiency/ Description: A London technology firm reached four times desk efficiency in its new HQ, saved £20K+ without sensors, and got 100% adoption through Microsoft Teams. [Customer stories]() · Technology ### Wavex reached 4x desk efficiency in its new London HQ and saved over £20,000. A London technology firm reached four times desk efficiency in its new HQ, saved £20K+ by avoiding a sensor deployment, and got 100% adoption through Microsoft Teams. - **Company**: Wavex - **Location**: United Kingdom - **Products**: Team scheduling, Desk booking, Automated check-in Wavex 4× desk efficiency £20K+ saved by avoiding sensor deployment 100% adoption, in one week, via Microsoft Teams 60% better team visibility and scheduling transparency 5+ hrs of admin removed every week The situation #### Before Kadence Moving into a new London HQ with 18 desks for 80+ employees, Wavex needed to run the office without sensors, spreadsheets or scheduling headaches. What changed #### With Kadence - Team scheduling and desk booking inside Microsoft Teams, adopted by every employee within a week. - Automated check-in in place of a sensor deployment. - Team visibility that lifted collaboration 60% since launch. > “Kadence has improved collaboration across our entire company — it gave us visibility, flexibility, and structure, all without needing hardware or hand-holding.” Savva Flouri, CFO, Wavex More stories - [University of Exeter The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter.]() - [Karger Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy.]() - [Denbighshire County Council Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence.]() Figures and quotes as published on kadence.co/case-studies/wavex-4x-space-efficiency/ (original title: “How Wavex Achieved 4x Space Efficiency With Kadence”). Next step #### See what Kadence would do with your floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Management for Commercial Real Estate | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/commercial-real-estate/ Description: Workplace management software for commercial real estate: measure how space is used across the portfolio and turn scenarios into stack plans, not spreadsheets. Real estate ### Workplace Management for Commercial Real Estate Occupancy evidence for the buildings you own, manage and lease. Real estate firms need to see how space is used across a portfolio, plan without spreadsheets and bring one tool to scattered sites. Kadence measures occupancy per building and turns scenarios into stack plans. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative: four buildings on a lease timeline from 2026 to 2031 with measured use; 12 King St 71% used, lease ending 2030; Riverside 34% used, lease ending 2027; Park Tower L4–L9 63% used, lease ending 2031; Canal Wharf 52% used, lease ending 2028. Riverside is flagged to consolidate before its lease event. Trusted in commercial real estate - GID - BSC Group Occupancy you can defend #### Know how each floor is really used before a lease event. Bookings, badge data, Wi-Fi presence and check-ins in one dataset, per floor, per building, per team, on peak days and on average. - Occupancy and utilization by floor and building - Peak-day analysis, not averages - Reports in minutes for leadership and finance WorkOps · Presence data Floor 4 actual presence: Wi-Fi detection, badge, kiosk and meeting-room check-ins against booking data. Scenarios with a cost line #### Consolidate, merge or absorb growth: compare the options. Tell SpaceOps what you need in plain language. It models the scenarios on your live occupancy, compares trade-offs, and recommends a path with its impact on space, cost and team productivity. - Consolidation, growth and downsizing scenarios - Absorb headcount without a new lease - Impact on space, cost and team productivity SpaceOps · Scenario SpaceOps recommends moving Finance to Floor 4 with the estimated impact. From plan to execution #### A stack plan, a sequenced move and the floors released. Once a scenario is approved, SpaceOps builds the stack, sequences the moves against the booking calendar, resolves conflicts and applies desk assignments and neighborhoods in the platform. - Stack and restack planning - Move sequencing with conflict detection - Go-live automation written back to the daily system SpaceOps · Stack planning Stack planning: the Sales team auto-stacked onto Level 2. By industry - [Financial services →]() - [Technology →]() - [Legal →]() - [Business services →]() - [Consumer goods →]() - [Energy and utilities →]() - [Government →]() - [Healthcare and pharma →]() - [Higher education →]() - [Manufacturing →]() - [Media and entertainment →]() - [Non-profits →]() - [Retail →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Compare Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/compare/ Description: How Kadence compares with OfficeSpace, Envoy, Robin, Eptura, deskbird, Mapiq, Appspace, Gable, Skedda, Resource Scheduler, Condeco and Microsoft Places on AI, space planning, occupancy and booking. ### How Kadence compares Where Kadence fits, and where it does not. Each page compares Kadence with another workplace platform, using what that vendor states on its own public site. We say where the other product is the better fit. - [Kadence vs OfficeSpace]() - [Kadence vs Envoy]() - [Kadence vs Robin]() - [Kadence vs Eptura]() - [Kadence vs deskbird]() - [Kadence vs Mapiq]() - [Kadence vs Appspace]() - [Kadence vs Gable]() - [Kadence vs Skedda]() - [Kadence vs Resource Scheduler]() - [Kadence vs Condeco]() - [Kadence vs Microsoft Places]() Last reviewed: Oct 2026 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence vs Appspace | Compare Canonical: https://kadence.co/compare/appspace/ Description: Compare Kadence and Appspace capabilities side by side, with frequently asked questions about workplace software. ### Kadence vs Appspace #### At a glance | Capability | Kadence | Appspace | | --- | --- | --- | | Stack and scenario planning. Model floors, teams and cost before you commit. | Yes | No | | Move scheduling and execution. Turn an approved plan into scheduled moves. | Yes | No | | Occupancy data. Bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and sensors in one view. | Yes | Stated | | Desk and room booking. The daily layer for every employee. | Yes | Stated | | Visitor management. Invite, register, host and audit. | Yes | Stated | | Mobile apps. Book, check in and see who's in from a phone. | Yes | Stated | | Neighborhood manager and controls. Give teams their own zones, schedules and rules. | Yes | Stated | | Floor plan editing. Update your own floor plans as the office changes. | Yes | Stated | | Smart suggestions for when to join colleagues. Help people pick the days their team is in. | Yes | Stated | | Announcements. Reach the right people with office news. | Yes | Stated | | Events. Bring people in for the moments that matter. | Yes | Stated | | Surveys. Hear from employees about the office. | Yes | Stated | | Custom dashboard reporting. Build the reports your leaders ask for. | Yes | No | | Open MCP for your own AI assistants. Your company's AI assistants acting on workplace data. | Yes | No | | AI for end users. Employees booking and getting help with AI. | Yes | Stated | | AI for admins. Workplace and real estate teams using AI to analyze and plan. | Yes | Stated | "Yes" means Kadence offers it, "Stated" means the vendor states it publicly as of October 2026, and "No" means it is not stated publicly, or is only announced, in preview or via outside BI tools. #### Why teams choose Kadence - Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, built into the platform: one MCP server for booking, visitors, occupancy and planning, native connectors for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot, and Kadence AI in Teams and Slack. - SpaceOps planning and executed moves on one occupancy dataset. - Room displays, visitor management and booking in one daily layer. - Custom dashboards are built into Kadence, so you do not need a separate BI tool for workplace reporting. #### FAQ ##### Is Kadence an intranet or signage platform? No. Kadence focuses on booking, visitors, occupancy, planning and moves. It works alongside your intranet through Teams, Slack and our public API. ##### Can our own AI assistants act on the workplace? Yes. Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, and it's built into the platform rather than bolted on as a chatbot. Kadence MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to Kadence, so people book desks, rooms and parking, invite visitors, and ask occupancy and planning questions from the assistants they already use, each signed in with your SSO and working under their own permissions. Kadence AI also works in Teams and Slack, and admins get the SpaceOps AI planning agent with guided workflows to restack, consolidate or find space for a team. Appspace offers customizable AI assistants inside its own platform. ##### How is Kadence priced? Kadence bills by active user, with a one-year minimum billed annually, and you get a quote in your local currency. See [kadence.co/pricing]() for details. Last reviewed: Oct 2026 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence vs Condeco | Compare Canonical: https://kadence.co/compare/condeco/ Description: Kadence vs Condeco, now Eptura Engage: desk and room booking, occupancy, planning, AI and switching, compared from each vendor's public site. ### Kadence vs Condeco #### At a glance | Capability | Kadence | Condeco | | --- | --- | --- | | Stack and scenario planning. Model floors, teams and cost before you commit. | Yes | No | | Move scheduling and execution. Turn an approved plan into scheduled moves. | Yes | No | | Occupancy data. Bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and sensors in one view. | Yes | Stated | | Desk and room booking. The daily layer for every employee. | Yes | Stated | | Visitor management. Invite, register, host and audit. | Yes | Stated | | Mobile apps. Book, check in and see who's in from a phone. | Yes | Stated | | Neighborhood manager and controls. Give teams their own zones, schedules and rules. | Yes | Stated | | Floor plan editing. Update your own floor plans as the office changes. | Yes | No | | Smart suggestions for when to join colleagues. Help people pick the days their team is in. | Yes | Stated | | Announcements. Reach the right people with office news. | Yes | Stated | | Events. Bring people in for the moments that matter. | Yes | Stated | | Surveys. Hear from employees about the office. | Yes | No | | Custom dashboard reporting. Build the reports your leaders ask for. | Yes | Stated | | Open MCP for your own AI assistants. Your company's AI assistants acting on workplace data. | Yes | No | | AI for end users. Employees booking and getting help with AI. | Yes | Stated | | AI for admins. Workplace and real estate teams using AI to analyze and plan. | Yes | No | "Yes" means Kadence offers it, "Stated" means the vendor states it publicly as of October 2026, and "No" means it is not stated publicly, or is only announced, in preview or via outside BI tools. #### Why teams choose Kadence - Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, built into the platform: one MCP server for booking, visitors, occupancy and planning, native connectors for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot, and Kadence AI in Teams and Slack. - SpaceOps adds what booking alone does not: scenarios and stack plans on live occupancy, published straight to live neighborhoods and desk assignments. - The Kadence Agent checks people in over Wi-Fi and network, with no sensors or badge integration needed. - The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding space. - Employee surveys sit alongside office events, announcements and booking, and Kadence works in Teams, Slack, Outlook and Google Calendar. #### FAQ ##### Is Condeco the same as Eptura Engage? Yes. Eptura says the solution once known as Condeco is now Eptura Engage, its room and desk booking product. This page compares Kadence with Eptura Engage. Eptura sells space and scenario planning in other products, such as Serraview by Eptura, and our Kadence vs Eptura page covers the wider Eptura platform. ##### Can people keep booking from Outlook and Teams? Yes. The Kadence Outlook add-in books rooms and desks from inside a meeting invite, with two-way calendar sync, and Kadence AI books desks and rooms by chat in Teams and Slack. Eptura Engage also offers an Outlook add-in and a Teams app, so people keep a familiar way to book. ##### How do we move from Condeco to Kadence? Kadence imports spaces, neighborhoods and desk assignments in bulk from a spreadsheet, and directory sync brings people and teams across from Okta, Microsoft Entra ID or Google Workspace. Tell us when your Condeco contract renews and we will plan the switch with you. ##### Can our own AI assistants act on the workplace? Yes. Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, and it's built into the platform rather than bolted on as a chatbot. Kadence MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to Kadence, so people book desks, rooms and parking, invite visitors, and ask occupancy and planning questions from the assistants they already use, each signed in with your SSO and working under their own permissions. Kadence AI also works in Teams and Slack, and admins get the SpaceOps AI planning agent with guided workflows to restack, consolidate or find space for a team. Eptura offers the Eptura Assistant, and AI booking with Copilot in Eptura Engage. ##### How is Kadence priced? Kadence bills by active user, with a one-year minimum billed annually, and you get a quote in your local currency. See [kadence.co/pricing]() for details. Eptura sells Eptura Engage in tiers on an annual subscription based on the number of users, and does not list prices on its site. Last reviewed: Oct 2026 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence vs deskbird | Compare Canonical: https://kadence.co/compare/deskbird/ Description: Compare Kadence and deskbird capabilities side by side, with frequently asked questions about workplace software. ### Kadence vs deskbird #### At a glance | Capability | Kadence | deskbird | | --- | --- | --- | | Stack and scenario planning. Model floors, teams and cost before you commit. | Yes | No | | Move scheduling and execution. Turn an approved plan into scheduled moves. | Yes | No | | Occupancy data. Bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and sensors in one view. | Yes | Stated | | Desk and room booking. The daily layer for every employee. | Yes | Stated | | Visitor management. Invite, register, host and audit. | Yes | Stated | | Mobile apps. Book, check in and see who's in from a phone. | Yes | Stated | | Neighborhood manager and controls. Give teams their own zones, schedules and rules. | Yes | Stated | | Floor plan editing. Update your own floor plans as the office changes. | Yes | Stated | | Smart suggestions for when to join colleagues. Help people pick the days their team is in. | Yes | No | | Announcements. Reach the right people with office news. | Yes | Stated | | Events. Bring people in for the moments that matter. | Yes | Stated | | Surveys. Hear from employees about the office. | Yes | Stated | | Custom dashboard reporting. Build the reports your leaders ask for. | Yes | Stated | | Open MCP for your own AI assistants. Your company's AI assistants acting on workplace data. | Yes | Stated | | AI for end users. Employees booking and getting help with AI. | Yes | Stated | | AI for admins. Workplace and real estate teams using AI to analyze and plan. | Yes | Stated | "Yes" means Kadence offers it, "Stated" means the vendor states it publicly as of October 2026, and "No" means it is not stated publicly, or is only announced, in preview or via outside BI tools. #### Why teams choose Kadence - Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, built into the platform: one MCP server for booking, visitors, occupancy and planning, native connectors for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot, and Kadence AI in Teams and Slack. - Kadence MCP lets every employee book desks, rooms and parking and invite visitors from Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot, not just admins. - SpaceOps adds stack planning, scenarios and executed moves. - The Kadence Agent checks people in automatically over Wi-Fi and network, with no hardware to buy. Kadence works in 38 languages. #### FAQ ##### How do the MCP servers differ? Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, and it's built into the platform rather than bolted on as a chatbot. Kadence MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to Kadence, so people book desks, rooms and parking, invite visitors, and ask occupancy and planning questions from the assistants they already use, each signed in with your SSO and working under their own permissions. Kadence AI also works in Teams and Slack, and admins get the SpaceOps AI planning agent with guided workflows to restack, consolidate or find space for a team. deskbird's MCP is read-only analytics for admins. ##### Does Kadence work with more than one AI assistant? Yes. Kadence MCP works with Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, so you are not tied to one assistant. ##### How is each priced? Both bill by active user. Kadence has a one-year minimum billed annually, and you get a quote in your local currency. See [kadence.co/pricing]() for details. ##### Does Kadence do space planning? Yes. SpaceOps runs scenarios and stack plans on live occupancy, then schedules and executes the moves. Last reviewed: Oct 2026 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence vs Envoy | Compare Canonical: https://kadence.co/compare/envoy/ Description: Compare Kadence and Envoy capabilities side by side, with frequently asked questions about workplace software. ### Kadence vs Envoy #### At a glance | Capability | Kadence | Envoy | | --- | --- | --- | | Stack and scenario planning. Model floors, teams and cost before you commit. | Yes | No | | Move scheduling and execution. Turn an approved plan into scheduled moves. | Yes | Stated | | Occupancy data. Bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and sensors in one view. | Yes | Stated | | Desk and room booking. The daily layer for every employee. | Yes | Stated | | Visitor management. Invite, register, host and audit. | Yes | Stated | | Mobile apps. Book, check in and see who's in from a phone. | Yes | Stated | | Neighborhood manager and controls. Give teams their own zones, schedules and rules. | Yes | Stated | | Floor plan editing. Update your own floor plans as the office changes. | Yes | Stated | | Smart suggestions for when to join colleagues. Help people pick the days their team is in. | Yes | No | | Announcements. Reach the right people with office news. | Yes | Stated | | Events. Bring people in for the moments that matter. | Yes | No | | Surveys. Hear from employees about the office. | Yes | No | | Custom dashboard reporting. Build the reports your leaders ask for. | Yes | Stated | | Open MCP for your own AI assistants. Your company's AI assistants acting on workplace data. | Yes | Stated | | AI for end users. Employees booking and getting help with AI. | Yes | Stated | | AI for admins. Workplace and real estate teams using AI to analyze and plan. | Yes | Stated | "Yes" means Kadence offers it, "Stated" means the vendor states it publicly as of October 2026, and "No" means it is not stated publicly, or is only announced, in preview or via outside BI tools. #### Why teams choose Kadence - Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, built into the platform: one MCP server for booking, visitors, occupancy and planning, native connectors for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot, and Kadence AI in Teams and Slack. - SpaceOps turns occupancy into scenarios, stack plans and executed moves across your portfolio. - Kadence Sense brings bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and network, rooms, sign-in and Kadence Agent check-in into one occupancy dataset. - Visitor management sits inside the same daily layer as booking, so hosts, desks and rooms stay in one place. - Smart suggestions, office events and surveys help bring teams in on the same days. #### FAQ ##### Does Kadence do visitor management? Yes. Hosts invite guests, guests register and check in, and admins get an audit trail. It runs alongside desk, room and parking booking in WorkOps. ##### How does occupancy compare? Both use badge and network signals. Kadence brings bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and network, rooms, sign-in and Kadence Agent check-in into one occupancy dataset, and SpaceOps plans directly on it. ##### Can our own AI assistants act on the workplace? Yes. Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, and it's built into the platform rather than bolted on as a chatbot. Kadence MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to Kadence, so people book desks, rooms and parking, invite visitors, and ask occupancy and planning questions from the assistants they already use, each signed in with your SSO and working under their own permissions. Kadence AI also works in Teams and Slack, and admins get the SpaceOps AI planning agent with guided workflows to restack, consolidate or find space for a team. Envoy offers an MCP server in public beta. ##### How is each priced? Kadence bills by active user, with a one-year minimum billed annually, and you get a quote in your local currency. See [kadence.co/pricing]() for details. Envoy publishes prices by module on its site, plus a platform fee. Last reviewed: Oct 2026 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence vs Eptura | Compare Canonical: https://kadence.co/compare/eptura/ Description: Compare Kadence and Eptura capabilities side by side, with frequently asked questions about workplace software. ### Kadence vs Eptura #### At a glance | Capability | Kadence | Eptura | | --- | --- | --- | | Stack and scenario planning. Model floors, teams and cost before you commit. | Yes | Stated | | Move scheduling and execution. Turn an approved plan into scheduled moves. | Yes | Stated | | Occupancy data. Bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and sensors in one view. | Yes | Stated | | Desk and room booking. The daily layer for every employee. | Yes | Stated | | Visitor management. Invite, register, host and audit. | Yes | Stated | | Mobile apps. Book, check in and see who's in from a phone. | Yes | Stated | | Neighborhood manager and controls. Give teams their own zones, schedules and rules. | Yes | Stated | | Floor plan editing. Update your own floor plans as the office changes. | Yes | Stated | | Smart suggestions for when to join colleagues. Help people pick the days their team is in. | Yes | Stated | | Announcements. Reach the right people with office news. | Yes | Stated | | Events. Bring people in for the moments that matter. | Yes | Stated | | Surveys. Hear from employees about the office. | Yes | No | | Custom dashboard reporting. Build the reports your leaders ask for. | Yes | Stated | | Open MCP for your own AI assistants. Your company's AI assistants acting on workplace data. | Yes | No | | AI for end users. Employees booking and getting help with AI. | Yes | Stated | | AI for admins. Workplace and real estate teams using AI to analyze and plan. | Yes | Stated | "Yes" means Kadence offers it, "Stated" means the vendor states it publicly as of October 2026, and "No" means it is not stated publicly, or is only announced, in preview or via outside BI tools. #### Why teams choose Kadence - Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, built into the platform: one MCP server for booking, visitors, occupancy and planning, native connectors for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot, and Kadence AI in Teams and Slack. - A modern IWMS that is quick to stand up: booking, visitors, occupancy, planning and moves in one platform. - Kadence MCP lets every employee book desks, rooms, parking and visitors from Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot. - One occupancy dataset from bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and the Kadence Agent, with no sensors required. #### FAQ ##### Is Kadence an IWMS? Yes. Kadence is a modern IWMS, built in the cloud around how people actually use space: booking, visitors, occupancy, space planning and moves in one platform, with AI built in. ##### Can Kadence work alongside Archibus or Serraview? Yes. Kadence is a modern IWMS, and it can also work alongside a legacy IWMS through our public API and exports. Ask us how data would move in your setup. ##### Can our own AI assistants act on the workplace? Yes. Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, and it's built into the platform rather than bolted on as a chatbot. Kadence MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to Kadence, so people book desks, rooms and parking, invite visitors, and ask occupancy and planning questions from the assistants they already use, each signed in with your SSO and working under their own permissions. Kadence AI also works in Teams and Slack, and admins get the SpaceOps AI planning agent with guided workflows to restack, consolidate or find space for a team. Eptura offers the Eptura Assistant, including in Microsoft Copilot and Teams. Eptura uses MCP inside its own AI; we did not find a way for customers to connect their own assistants. ##### How is Kadence priced? Kadence bills by active user, with a one-year minimum billed annually, and you get a quote in your local currency. See [kadence.co/pricing]() for details. Eptura does not publish prices on its site. Last reviewed: Oct 2026 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence vs Gable | Compare Canonical: https://kadence.co/compare/gable/ Description: Compare Kadence and Gable capabilities side by side, with frequently asked questions about workplace software. ### Kadence vs Gable #### At a glance | Capability | Kadence | Gable | | --- | --- | --- | | Stack and scenario planning. Model floors, teams and cost before you commit. | Yes | Stated | | Move scheduling and execution. Turn an approved plan into scheduled moves. | Yes | Stated | | Occupancy data. Bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and sensors in one view. | Yes | Stated | | Desk and room booking. The daily layer for every employee. | Yes | Stated | | Visitor management. Invite, register, host and audit. | Yes | Stated | | Mobile apps. Book, check in and see who's in from a phone. | Yes | Stated | | Neighborhood manager and controls. Give teams their own zones, schedules and rules. | Yes | Stated | | Floor plan editing. Update your own floor plans as the office changes. | Yes | Stated | | Smart suggestions for when to join colleagues. Help people pick the days their team is in. | Yes | No | | Announcements. Reach the right people with office news. | Yes | Stated | | Events. Bring people in for the moments that matter. | Yes | Stated | | Surveys. Hear from employees about the office. | Yes | Stated | | Custom dashboard reporting. Build the reports your leaders ask for. | Yes | No | | Open MCP for your own AI assistants. Your company's AI assistants acting on workplace data. | Yes | No | | AI for end users. Employees booking and getting help with AI. | Yes | Stated | | AI for admins. Workplace and real estate teams using AI to analyze and plan. | Yes | Stated | | On-demand coworking. Book third-party flexible space. | Yes | Stated | "Yes" means Kadence offers it, "Stated" means the vendor states it publicly as of October 2026, and "No" means it is not stated publicly, or is only announced, in preview or via outside BI tools. #### Why teams choose Kadence - Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, built into the platform: one MCP server for booking, visitors, occupancy and planning, native connectors for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot, and Kadence AI in Teams and Slack. - SpaceOps executes moves from scenarios built on one occupancy dataset. - Enterprise governance: SSO, directory sync, custom roles and building-level admins. - Smart suggestions help people come in on the same days as their team, and custom dashboards are built in. #### FAQ ##### Does Kadence offer coworking space? Yes, through Kadence Flex. Teams book coworking desks and rooms worldwide through our LiquidSpace partnership, alongside the offices you own or lease. If a coworking marketplace is the main need, Gable is built around it. ##### Can our own AI assistants act on the workplace? Yes. Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, and it's built into the platform rather than bolted on as a chatbot. Kadence MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to Kadence, so people book desks, rooms and parking, invite visitors, and ask occupancy and planning questions from the assistants they already use, each signed in with your SSO and working under their own permissions. Kadence AI also works in Teams and Slack, and admins get the SpaceOps AI planning agent with guided workflows to restack, consolidate or find space for a team. Gable offers Gable AI inside its own product. ##### How is Kadence priced? Kadence bills by active user, with a one-year minimum billed annually, and you get a quote in your local currency. See [kadence.co/pricing]() for details. Last reviewed: Oct 2026 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence vs Mapiq | Compare Canonical: https://kadence.co/compare/mapiq/ Description: Compare Kadence and Mapiq capabilities side by side, with frequently asked questions about workplace software. ### Kadence vs Mapiq #### At a glance | Capability | Kadence | Mapiq | | --- | --- | --- | | Stack and scenario planning. Model floors, teams and cost before you commit. | Yes | Stated | | Move scheduling and execution. Turn an approved plan into scheduled moves. | Yes | No | | Occupancy data. Bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and sensors in one view. | Yes | Stated | | Desk and room booking. The daily layer for every employee. | Yes | Stated | | Visitor management. Invite, register, host and audit. | Yes | Stated | | Mobile apps. Book, check in and see who's in from a phone. | Yes | Stated | | Neighborhood manager and controls. Give teams their own zones, schedules and rules. | Yes | Stated | | Floor plan editing. Update your own floor plans as the office changes. | Yes | Stated | | Smart suggestions for when to join colleagues. Help people pick the days their team is in. | Yes | No | | Announcements. Reach the right people with office news. | Yes | Stated | | Events. Bring people in for the moments that matter. | Yes | No | | Surveys. Hear from employees about the office. | Yes | No | | Custom dashboard reporting. Build the reports your leaders ask for. | Yes | Stated | | Open MCP for your own AI assistants. Your company's AI assistants acting on workplace data. | Yes | No | | AI for end users. Employees booking and getting help with AI. | Yes | Stated | | AI for admins. Workplace and real estate teams using AI to analyze and plan. | Yes | Stated | "Yes" means Kadence offers it, "Stated" means the vendor states it publicly as of October 2026, and "No" means it is not stated publicly, or is only announced, in preview or via outside BI tools. #### Why teams choose Kadence - Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, built into the platform: one MCP server for booking, visitors, occupancy and planning, native connectors for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot, and Kadence AI in Teams and Slack. - SpaceOps covers scenarios, stack planning and executed moves. - Sensorless auto check-in through the Kadence Agent. - Office events with RSVP and employee surveys sit alongside booking and announcements. #### FAQ ##### Can our own AI assistants act on the workplace? Yes. Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, and it's built into the platform rather than bolted on as a chatbot. Kadence MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to Kadence, so people book desks, rooms and parking, invite visitors, and ask occupancy and planning questions from the assistants they already use, each signed in with your SSO and working under their own permissions. Kadence AI also works in Teams and Slack, and admins get the SpaceOps AI planning agent with guided workflows to restack, consolidate or find space for a team. Mapiq's MCP is in private preview. ##### Does Kadence do space planning? Yes. SpaceOps runs scenarios and stack plans on live occupancy, then schedules and executes the moves. ##### How is Kadence priced? Kadence bills by active user, with a one-year minimum billed annually, and you get a quote in your local currency. See [kadence.co/pricing]() for details. Last reviewed: Oct 2026 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence vs Microsoft Places | Compare Canonical: https://kadence.co/compare/microsoft-places/ Description: Kadence vs Microsoft Places: booking, visitors, occupancy, planning, Copilot and licensing, and how Kadence works inside Teams and Outlook. ### Kadence vs Microsoft Places #### At a glance | Capability | Kadence | Microsoft Places | | --- | --- | --- | | Stack and scenario planning. Model floors, teams and cost before you commit. | Yes | No | | Move scheduling and execution. Turn an approved plan into scheduled moves. | Yes | No | | Occupancy data. Bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and sensors in one view. | Yes | Stated | | Desk and room booking. The daily layer for every employee. | Yes | Stated | | Visitor management. Invite, register, host and audit. | Yes | No | | Mobile apps. Book, check in and see who's in from a phone. | Yes | Stated | | Neighborhood manager and controls. Give teams their own zones, schedules and rules. | Yes | Stated | | Floor plan editing. Update your own floor plans as the office changes. | Yes | No | | Smart suggestions for when to join colleagues. Help people pick the days their team is in. | Yes | Stated | | Announcements. Reach the right people with office news. | Yes | No | | Events. Bring people in for the moments that matter. | Yes | Stated | | Surveys. Hear from employees about the office. | Yes | No | | Custom dashboard reporting. Build the reports your leaders ask for. | Yes | No | | Open MCP for your own AI assistants. Your company's AI assistants acting on workplace data. | Yes | No | | AI for end users. Employees booking and getting help with AI. | Yes | Stated | | AI for admins. Workplace and real estate teams using AI to analyze and plan. | Yes | Stated | "Yes" means Kadence offers it, "Stated" means the vendor states it publicly as of October 2026, and "No" means it is not stated publicly, or is only announced, in preview or via outside BI tools. #### Why teams choose Kadence - Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, built into the platform: one MCP server for booking, visitors, occupancy and planning, native connectors for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot, and Kadence AI in Teams and Slack. - Visitor management is built in: hosts invite guests, guests check in at a kiosk or by QR code, and badges print on arrival. - SpaceOps builds scenarios and stack plans on live occupancy, and Move Manager turns the approved plan into seat moves and tells each person where they are moving. - The Kadence Agent checks people in over Wi-Fi and network on Windows, Mac, ChromeOS and Linux, and those check-ins feed the same occupancy data as bookings, badges and rooms. - Kadence works in Teams and Outlook and also in Slack and Google Calendar, with announcements, surveys and custom dashboards in the same platform. #### FAQ ##### How does Kadence fit with Microsoft Places? Kadence works inside Microsoft 365: in Teams, through an Outlook add-in that books rooms with two-way calendar sync, and with sign-in through Microsoft Entra ID. Places covers work plans, in-person events and booking in Outlook and Teams. Kadence adds visitor management, space planning and moves, and Kadence Agent check-ins feed the same occupancy data that planning runs on. Tell us how you use Places today and we will show where each one fits. ##### What comes with Microsoft Places, and what costs extra? Microsoft lists Places core features for Microsoft 365 Business, Microsoft 365 and Office 365 E1, E3 and E5, education, frontline and Teams plans: work plans, in-person events, room and desk pool booking, desk assignment and Places analytics. Since April 1, 2026, Microsoft licenses these per space: individual desk booking, auto-release and occupancy reports for a desk need a Microsoft Teams Shared Space or Shared Space Single Space license, and auto-release and occupancy reports for a room need a Teams Rooms or Shared Space license. Customers with an active Teams Premium subscription keep those features until renewal. Copilot room booking needs a Microsoft Copilot license. Kadence bills by active user; see [kadence.co/pricing]() for details. ##### Can our own AI assistants act on the workplace? Yes. Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, and it's built into the platform rather than bolted on as a chatbot. Kadence MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to Kadence, so people book desks, rooms and parking, invite visitors, and ask occupancy and planning questions from the assistants they already use, each signed in with your SSO and working under their own permissions. Kadence AI also works in Teams and Slack, and admins get the SpaceOps AI planning agent with guided workflows to restack, consolidate or find space for a team. In Places, Microsoft says Copilot recommends rooms, rebooks them when meetings change and suggests the best days to come in. Copilot room booking needs a Microsoft Copilot license. ##### Does Microsoft Places include visitor management? We did not find visitor management in Microsoft's Places documentation or on its product page. In Kadence, visitor management is part of WorkOps: hosts invite guests, guests register and check in at a kiosk or by QR code, and admins keep a central log of every visit. ##### Does Microsoft Places do space planning? Microsoft describes Places analytics for planned versus actual attendance and for room and desk use. We did not find stack planning, scenarios or move management in its documentation. Kadence SpaceOps builds scenarios and stack plans on live occupancy, and Move Manager turns the approved plan into seat moves. Last reviewed: Oct 2026 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence vs OfficeSpace | Compare Canonical: https://kadence.co/compare/officespace/ Description: Kadence vs OfficeSpace: scenario planning, occupancy, booking, MCP, integrations, pricing and switching, compared from each vendor's public site. ### Kadence vs OfficeSpace #### At a glance | Capability | Kadence | OfficeSpace | | --- | --- | --- | | Stack and scenario planning. Model floors, teams and cost before you commit. | Yes | Stated | | Move scheduling and execution. Turn an approved plan into scheduled moves. | Yes | Stated | | Occupancy data. Bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and sensors in one view. | Yes | Stated | | Desk and room booking. The daily layer for every employee. | Yes | Stated | | Visitor management. Invite, register, host and audit. | Yes | Stated | | Mobile apps. Book, check in and see who's in from a phone. | Yes | Stated | | Neighborhood manager and controls. Give teams their own zones, schedules and rules. | Yes | Stated | | Floor plan editing. Update your own floor plans as the office changes. | Yes | Stated | | Smart suggestions for when to join colleagues. Help people pick the days their team is in. | Yes | Stated | | Announcements. Reach the right people with office news. | Yes | Stated | | Events. Bring people in for the moments that matter. | Yes | No | | Surveys. Hear from employees about the office. | Yes | No | | Custom dashboard reporting. Build the reports your leaders ask for. | Yes | Stated | | Open MCP for your own AI assistants. Your company's AI assistants acting on workplace data. | Yes | Stated | | AI for end users. Employees booking and getting help with AI. | Yes | Stated | | AI for admins. Workplace and real estate teams using AI to analyze and plan. | Yes | Stated | "Yes" means Kadence offers it, "Stated" means the vendor states it publicly as of October 2026, and "No" means it is not stated publicly, or is only announced, in preview or via outside BI tools. #### Why teams choose Kadence - Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, built into the platform: one MCP server for booking, visitors, occupancy and planning, native connectors for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot, and Kadence AI in Teams and Slack. - SpaceOps runs scenarios and stack plans on live occupancy, then schedules and executes the moves and writes them back to WorkOps. - One occupancy dataset from bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and network, rooms and the Kadence Agent, with no sensors required. - Office events with RSVP and employee surveys are built in, alongside targeted announcements. - The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding space. #### FAQ ##### Is Kadence an IWMS? Yes. Kadence is a modern IWMS: booking, visitors, occupancy, space planning and moves in one platform, with AI built in. If you use OfficeSpace for work orders or asset tracking today, tell us which modules you rely on and we will map the move with you. ##### Can both run scenario planning? Yes, both state scenario and stack planning. The difference with Kadence is what happens next: the approved plan becomes scheduled moves and live desk and neighborhood assignments in WorkOps. The fair test is a floor of your own. ##### Can our own AI assistants act on the workplace? Yes. Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, and it's built into the platform rather than bolted on as a chatbot. Kadence MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to Kadence, so people book desks, rooms and parking, invite visitors, and ask occupancy and planning questions from the assistants they already use, each signed in with your SSO and working under their own permissions. Kadence AI also works in Teams and Slack, and admins get the SpaceOps AI planning agent with guided workflows to restack, consolidate or find space for a team. OfficeSpace offers AI agents inside its product and an MCP server that lets employees use OfficeSpace from Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot once an admin turns it on. ##### How is Kadence priced? Kadence bills by active user, with a one-year minimum billed annually, and you get a quote in your local currency. See [kadence.co/pricing]() for details. OfficeSpace publishes its plan tiers but not prices. ##### Is visitor management included in Kadence? Yes. Visitor management is part of Kadence WorkOps, alongside desk, room and parking booking, with reporting across all of it. Last reviewed: Oct 2026 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence vs Resource Scheduler | Compare Canonical: https://kadence.co/compare/resource-scheduler/ Description: Kadence vs Resource Scheduler, now OpenBlue Employee from Johnson Controls: booking, visitors, occupancy, planning and AI, from each vendor's site. ### Kadence vs Resource Scheduler #### At a glance | Capability | Kadence | Resource Scheduler | | --- | --- | --- | | Stack and scenario planning. Model floors, teams and cost before you commit. | Yes | No | | Move scheduling and execution. Turn an approved plan into scheduled moves. | Yes | No | | Occupancy data. Bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and sensors in one view. | Yes | Stated | | Desk and room booking. The daily layer for every employee. | Yes | Stated | | Visitor management. Invite, register, host and audit. | Yes | Stated | | Mobile apps. Book, check in and see who's in from a phone. | Yes | Stated | | Neighborhood manager and controls. Give teams their own zones, schedules and rules. | Yes | Stated | | Floor plan editing. Update your own floor plans as the office changes. | Yes | No | | Smart suggestions for when to join colleagues. Help people pick the days their team is in. | Yes | No | | Announcements. Reach the right people with office news. | Yes | No | | Events. Bring people in for the moments that matter. | Yes | Stated | | Surveys. Hear from employees about the office. | Yes | No | | Custom dashboard reporting. Build the reports your leaders ask for. | Yes | No | | Open MCP for your own AI assistants. Your company's AI assistants acting on workplace data. | Yes | No | | AI for end users. Employees booking and getting help with AI. | Yes | No | | AI for admins. Workplace and real estate teams using AI to analyze and plan. | Yes | No | "Yes" means Kadence offers it, "Stated" means the vendor states it publicly as of October 2026, and "No" means it is not stated publicly, or is only announced, in preview or via outside BI tools. #### Why teams choose Kadence - Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, built into the platform: one MCP server for booking, visitors, occupancy and planning, native connectors for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot, and Kadence AI in Teams and Slack. - Booking and space planning in one platform: SpaceOps builds scenarios and stack plans on live occupancy, and Move Manager turns the approved plan into seat moves and tells each person where they are moving. - The Kadence Agent checks people in over Wi-Fi and network, with no sensors to buy, so occupancy shows who actually came in. - Kadence works the way Microsoft shops work: in Teams, through an Outlook add-in that books rooms with two-way calendar sync, and with sign-in through Microsoft Entra ID. - Neighborhoods, smart suggestions, announcements, office events and surveys sit in the same app people use to book. #### FAQ ##### What is Resource Scheduler called now? Resource Scheduler started at Asure Software. FM:Systems bought it in 2019 and renamed it FMS:Employee, and Johnson Controls bought FM:Systems in 2023. Johnson Controls now sells it as OpenBlue Employee. This page compares Kadence with OpenBlue Employee as Johnson Controls describes it on its own site. ##### Does Johnson Controls offer space planning with Resource Scheduler? Yes, in a separate product. Johnson Controls sells scenario planning, stack plans and move management in OpenBlue Workplace, its IWMS. Kadence covers both jobs in one platform: WorkOps for booking, visitors and occupancy, and SpaceOps for scenarios and stack plans that publish straight to live desk and neighborhood assignments. ##### Can our people keep booking rooms from Outlook? Yes. The Kadence Outlook add-in finds and books rooms and desks from inside a meeting invite, and bookings sync both ways with Outlook calendars. People also book in the Kadence web and mobile apps, or by chatting with Kadence AI in Teams or Slack. ##### Can our own AI assistants act on the workplace? Yes. Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, and it's built into the platform rather than bolted on as a chatbot. Kadence MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to Kadence, so people book desks, rooms and parking, invite visitors, and ask occupancy and planning questions from the assistants they already use, each signed in with your SSO and working under their own permissions. Kadence AI also works in Teams and Slack, and admins get the SpaceOps AI planning agent with guided workflows to restack, consolidate or find space for a team. Johnson Controls describes OBI, an AI assistant for building and facility teams across OpenBlue. We did not find an MCP server for OpenBlue Employee on its site. ##### How is Kadence priced? Kadence bills by active user, with a one-year minimum billed annually, and you get a quote in your local currency. See [kadence.co/pricing]() for details. Johnson Controls does not list prices for OpenBlue Employee on its site. Last reviewed: Oct 2026 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence vs Robin | Compare Canonical: https://kadence.co/compare/robin/ Description: Compare Kadence and Robin capabilities side by side, with frequently asked questions about workplace software. ### Kadence vs Robin #### At a glance | Capability | Kadence | Robin | | --- | --- | --- | | Stack and scenario planning. Model floors, teams and cost before you commit. | Yes | Stated | | Move scheduling and execution. Turn an approved plan into scheduled moves. | Yes | Stated | | Occupancy data. Bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and sensors in one view. | Yes | Stated | | Desk and room booking. The daily layer for every employee. | Yes | Stated | | Visitor management. Invite, register, host and audit. | Yes | Stated | | Mobile apps. Book, check in and see who's in from a phone. | Yes | Stated | | Neighborhood manager and controls. Give teams their own zones, schedules and rules. | Yes | Stated | | Floor plan editing. Update your own floor plans as the office changes. | Yes | Stated | | Smart suggestions for when to join colleagues. Help people pick the days their team is in. | Yes | Stated | | Announcements. Reach the right people with office news. | Yes | Stated | | Events. Bring people in for the moments that matter. | Yes | Stated | | Surveys. Hear from employees about the office. | Yes | Stated | | Custom dashboard reporting. Build the reports your leaders ask for. | Yes | Stated | | Open MCP for your own AI assistants. Your company's AI assistants acting on workplace data. | Yes | Stated | | AI for end users. Employees booking and getting help with AI. | Yes | Stated | | AI for admins. Workplace and real estate teams using AI to analyze and plan. | Yes | Stated | "Yes" means Kadence offers it, "Stated" means the vendor states it publicly as of October 2026, and "No" means it is not stated publicly, or is only announced, in preview or via outside BI tools. #### Why teams choose Kadence - Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, built into the platform: one MCP server for booking, visitors, occupancy and planning, native connectors for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot, and Kadence AI in Teams and Slack. - Stack planning across a portfolio, with moves scheduled, executed and written back to WorkOps. - One occupancy dataset a real estate lead can defend, from bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and the Kadence Agent. - Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy. #### FAQ ##### Do both do space planning? Yes. Both state scenario planning and moves. Kadence SpaceOps adds stack planning across buildings and executes the approved plan into live desk and neighborhood assignments. ##### Can our own AI assistants act on the workplace? Yes. Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, and it's built into the platform rather than bolted on as a chatbot. Kadence MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to Kadence, so people book desks, rooms and parking, invite visitors, and ask occupancy and planning questions from the assistants they already use, each signed in with your SSO and working under their own permissions. Kadence AI also works in Teams and Slack, and admins get the SpaceOps AI planning agent with guided workflows to restack, consolidate or find space for a team. Robin offers an AI agent for employee booking inside its own product, and an MCP server that connects Claude and ChatGPT for booking and floor layout drafts. ##### How is Kadence priced? Kadence bills by active user, with a one-year minimum billed annually, and you get a quote in your local currency. See [kadence.co/pricing]() for details. Robin's pricing page does not list prices. ##### Which integrations does Kadence support? Single sign-on and directory sync with Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google Workspace and Workday, HR sync including BambooHR, HiBob, Gusto and Rippling, Outlook and Google Calendar, Teams and Slack, major ticketing tools, a public API, webhooks and Kadence MCP. Last reviewed: Oct 2026 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence vs Skedda | Compare Canonical: https://kadence.co/compare/skedda/ Description: Compare Kadence and Skedda capabilities side by side, with frequently asked questions about workplace software. ### Kadence vs Skedda #### At a glance | Capability | Kadence | Skedda | | --- | --- | --- | | Stack and scenario planning. Model floors, teams and cost before you commit. | Yes | No | | Move scheduling and execution. Turn an approved plan into scheduled moves. | Yes | No | | Occupancy data. Bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and sensors in one view. | Yes | Stated | | Desk and room booking. The daily layer for every employee. | Yes | Stated | | Visitor management. Invite, register, host and audit. | Yes | Stated | | Mobile apps. Book, check in and see who's in from a phone. | Yes | Stated | | Neighborhood manager and controls. Give teams their own zones, schedules and rules. | Yes | Stated | | Floor plan editing. Update your own floor plans as the office changes. | Yes | No | | Smart suggestions for when to join colleagues. Help people pick the days their team is in. | Yes | No | | Announcements. Reach the right people with office news. | Yes | No | | Events. Bring people in for the moments that matter. | Yes | No | | Surveys. Hear from employees about the office. | Yes | No | | Custom dashboard reporting. Build the reports your leaders ask for. | Yes | No | | Open MCP for your own AI assistants. Your company's AI assistants acting on workplace data. | Yes | No | | AI for end users. Employees booking and getting help with AI. | Yes | No | | AI for admins. Workplace and real estate teams using AI to analyze and plan. | Yes | No | "Yes" means Kadence offers it, "Stated" means the vendor states it publicly as of October 2026, and "No" means it is not stated publicly, or is only announced, in preview or via outside BI tools. #### Why teams choose Kadence - Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, built into the platform: one MCP server for booking, visitors, occupancy and planning, native connectors for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot, and Kadence AI in Teams and Slack. - SpaceOps for stack planning, scenarios and moves across a portfolio. - One occupancy dataset from bookings, badges, Wi-Fi and the Kadence Agent. - Announcements, office events, surveys and custom dashboards come with the same platform. - Admins edit their own floor plans in the browser, with version rollback, through the Archilogic add-on. #### FAQ ##### Does Kadence do space planning? Yes. SpaceOps runs scenarios and stack plans on live occupancy, then schedules and executes the moves. ##### Can our own AI assistants act on the workplace? Yes. Kadence leads on AI for the workplace, and it's built into the platform rather than bolted on as a chatbot. Kadence MCP connects Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to Kadence, so people book desks, rooms and parking, invite visitors, and ask occupancy and planning questions from the assistants they already use, each signed in with your SSO and working under their own permissions. Kadence AI also works in Teams and Slack, and admins get the SpaceOps AI planning agent with guided workflows to restack, consolidate or find space for a team. We did not find AI features stated on Skedda's site. ##### How is Kadence priced? Kadence bills by active user, with a one-year minimum billed annually, and you get a quote in your local currency. See [kadence.co/pricing]() for details. Last reviewed: Oct 2026 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Management for Consumer Goods | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/consumer-goods/ Description: Workplace management software for consumer goods teams: find the days brand teams overlap, book the space and run the events that bring people in together. Consumer goods and services ### Workplace Management for Consumer Goods Brand teams in together for the days that matter. Consumer brands work in launch cycles, with teams that need to be in the same room at the same time. Kadence finds the days teams overlap, books the space, and runs the events and arrivals that bring people in. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative: the autumn launch all-hands on Thursday at 10:00 in the Atrium, with 86 people going, catering ordered and a reminder sent in Teams. Trusted in consumer goods - Chelsea Football Club - MOO - Iconic London Team days #### Find the day the whole brand team is in. AI recommendations for in-person team days, a live view of who is in and where they sit, and neighborhoods so teams find each other. HRIS keeps the roster current and cancels bookings on leave. - Team-day recommendations - Who is in, where, before the day starts - HRIS-driven roster and desk assignment WorkOps · Team coordination Team today: four of seven teammates in on Thursday, the highest overlap this week. Events #### Launches and all-hands in the same place people book. Workplace events, employee surveys and announcements run in the platform employees already use every day, so engagement lands where attendance is measured. - Workplace events and announcements - Employee surveys - Easy check-in WorkOps · Today's office Today's office: occupancy by desks, rooms and parking with a live map. Arrivals #### Partners and agencies arrive smoothly. Pre-registration, kiosk check-in and badge printing on arrival, with a complete, timestamped digital log exportable for any audit, and every check-in feeding presence data. - Pre-registration and kiosk check-in - Badge printing and host notification - Exportable audit log WorkOps · Visitor management Visitor check-in today: pre-registration sent via Teams, kiosk check-in, NDA signed, badge printed. #### Kadence in consumer goods Customer story · Consumer goods ##### MOO saw office occupancy often exceed 70% after six months with Kadence. **70%** occupancy often exceeded on individual days, after six months [Read the story]() Reviews on G2 · Consumer goods #### In their own words. [All Kadence reviews on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “It has been very easy to use in our new hybrid approach at the office. It is a big change management challenge, but thanks to Kadence, not a technology challenge.” **Verified User in Consumer Goods** Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) · G2 review, April 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “It's easy to see which desks are available and where other people have booked already. It's very visual and straight forward.” **Verified User in Cosmetics** Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) · G2 review, February 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() By industry - [Financial services →]() - [Technology →]() - [Legal →]() - [Business services →]() - [Commercial real estate →]() - [Energy and utilities →]() - [Government →]() - [Healthcare and pharma →]() - [Higher education →]() - [Manufacturing →]() - [Media and entertainment →]() - [Non-profits →]() - [Retail →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Contact us - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/contact-us/ Description: Contact Kadence for a custom quote, support, partnerships or press. Call North America on 415 758 4757 or EMEA on +44 20 3884 2705, or send us a message. Get in touch ### Got Questions? Have specific requirements, or need a custom quote? Get in touch with our team for more details. We’re here to assist you every step of the way. #### North America [415 758 4757]() 9am – 6pm PST #### EMEA [(+44)20 3884 2705]() 9am – 6pm GMT Contact Kadence #### Let's Talk Tell us what you need and the right person will get back to you. Loading the form… By submitting this form you agree to Kadence contacting you about your inquiry. Read our [privacy policy](). #### Support Inquiries Our friendly team is here to help. [Visit Help Center]() #### Partnership Let’s chat about how we can work together [Get in touch]() #### Press Get in touch for more information [Drop us a note]() our location #### Where We Are OUR OFFICES ##### UK- London 31 Hill Street, London, W1J5LS ##### UK – Belfast Metro Office, 6 Donegall Square South, Belfast, BT1 5JA ##### US – Palo Alto 3/F, 555 Hamilton Ave Ste 300, Palo Alto, CA 94301 ##### US – Salt Lake City 168 E Midvillage Blvd #250, Sandy, UT 84070 try kadence #### Get Started With Kadence Today Discover how to connect Kadence into your workflow. Book a customized demo today. [Book Demo]() ## Cookies policy - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/cookies-policy/ Description: How Kadence uses cookies on its website and apps: strictly necessary, functionality, analytics, performance and advertisement cookies, and how to control them. ### Cookies Policy #### Last Updated: November 2023 #### Information About Kadence’s Use Of Cookies Welcome to Kadence’s Cookie Policy. This policy explains how Kadence uses cookies to enhance your experience on our website and to improve the services we provide. By continuing to use the Kadence website, you agree to our use of cookies. For the purposes of this policy, references to the “website” also include Kadence applications. #### What Are Cookies? Cookies are small files containing letters and numbers that we store on your browser or computer’s hard drive if you consent. Cookies transfer information to your computer’s hard drive to enhance your experience. #### Types Of Cookies We Use Kadence uses four main types of cookies: - - **Strictly Necessary Cookies:** These cookies are essential for activities such as logging in, navigating the website, and using Kadence services. No consent is required for their use, and they serve security and integrity purposes. - - **Functionality Cookies:** These cookies enable Kadence services to remember your preferences, providing enhanced and personalized features. - **Analytics Cookies:** These cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source. - - **Performance Cookies:** These cookies collect information about your online activity (for example the duration of your visit on Kadence Services and websites), including behavioral data and content engagement metrics. These cookies are used for research and to perform statistics (based on aggregated information). - - **Advertisement Cookies:** These cookies deliver personalized offers and advertisements based on your interests, as well as support email marketing campaigns. They are typically placed by advertisers, such as advertising networks, to gain insights into ad viewers, website visitors, or app users. #### Cookie Control You have the option to block cookies by adjusting your browser settings to reject all or some cookies. However, please note that blocking all cookies, including essential ones, may limit your access to certain parts of the Kadence website. #### Changes To This Policy Kadence reserves the right to modify this Cookie Policy at any time and for any reason. We will notify you of changes by updating the “Last Updated” date in this Cookie Policy. Any changes or modifications will be effective immediately upon posting the updated policy on the site. By continuing to use the site after such changes, you agree to accept the revised Cookie Policy. #### Contact Us If you have questions or comments about this Cookie Policy, please reach out to Kadence’s Privacy team at [privacy@kadence.co](). ## Corporate Real Estate Management Software | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/corporate-real-estate/ Description: Turn occupancy and utilization data into real estate intelligence with Kadence. Optimize office portfolios, model scenarios, and plan with confidence. Corporate Real Estate ### Plan your real estate portfolio around actual demand. Use occupancy data and scenario planning to compare space needs, identify consolidation opportunities, and align your portfolio with the way teams work. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative corporate real estate occupancy: Finance 72%, Operations 58%, Client teams 84%. A floor plate shows the three team neighborhoods on HQ · Level 4. #### Solution Workplace Intelligence For Real Estate Strategy Data-Driven Optimization #### Plan Smarter, Not Bigger Kadence helps Corporate Real Estate teams easily monitor occupancy trends, track booking behaviors, and identify underutilized spaces. Empower decision-making with real-time data on space usage across your entire footprint—helping you avoid costly overbuilds and uncover opportunities for consolidation. View daily occupancy across buildings, floors, and teams—and proactively adjust your strategy as work patterns evolve. Kadence Accurate visitor occupancy data on your spaces Scenario Planning #### AI-Powered Scenario Planning To Optimize Utilization Instantly generate multiple “what-if” scenarios, from headcount growth to policy shifts, and evaluate impacts on space, costs, and team productivity before committing. Model growth or downsizing with lease options, and identify underused areas for reallocation opportunities. Kadence Kadence: AI-Powered Scenario Planning To Optimize Utilization Real-Time Utilization Insights #### Drive Real Estate Decisions With Real Data Access detailed, department-level occupancy reporting and trend analysis. Understand how often your spaces are used, by whom, and for what purpose—enabling you to defend renewals, drive savings, or reconfigure assets based on real demand, not assumptions. See occupancy patterns for buildings, floors, desks, and rooms—and align investments with actual team behaviors. Kadence Kadence: Drive Real Estate Decisions With Real Data Dynamic Space Management #### Adapt Your Spaces To Today’s Workforce Whether consolidating locations or redesigning for hybrid flexibility, Kadence makes it simple to dynamically manage workspace availability, assign neighborhoods to teams, and optimize layouts to match evolving attendance patterns. Assign departments to dedicated neighborhoods, adjust booking availability, and create high-performing spaces without guesswork. Kadence Kadence: Adapt Your Spaces To Today’s Workforce How Softchoice Boosted Hybrid Productivity With Less Space Discover how we helped Softchoice create a seamless hybrid working experience that drives productivity and team engagement. [Learn More]() Next step #### Start Working Smarter With Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Book a demo | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/demo/ Description: Thirty minutes with a Kadence workplace strategist. Leave with the occupancy evidence, the scenario and the cost delta. ### See why top workplace teams use Kadence. The world’s top-performing workplace and real estate teams run on Kadence. Book a demo to see it in action. - Dow Jones - NHS - BDO - Willis Towers Watson - Starling Bank - TrueLayer - G2 badge 1 - G2 badge 2 - G2 badge 3 - G2 badge 4 - G2 badge 5 - G2 badge 6 #### Book a demo Takes 30 seconds. Pick a time on the next screen. Loading the form… By submitting this form you agree to Kadence contacting you about your demo. Read our [privacy policy](). This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google [Privacy Policy]() and [Terms of Service]() apply. Enterprise readiness #### Ready for IT, security and legal review. SOC 2 compliant, Cyber Essentials certified, SSO and directory sync, GDPR and CCPA aligned, encrypted in transit and at rest, penetration-tested annually. The evidence lives on one page. [Security and trust]() ## Desk Booking Software & Hot Desk Booking System | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/desk-booking-software/ Description: Kadence desk booking software lets employees book hot desks in Teams, Slack, the web or mobile, with check-in and auto-release for occupancy data you can trust. Desk booking ### Desk booking your employees love. Kadence desk booking, part of WorkOps, shows employees when their teammates are in and lets them book a desk nearby in a few taps, from Teams, Slack, the mobile app or Kadence AI. Workplace leaders get the booking data to plan the space they need. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() See a teammate suggestion, pick a desk on the floor plan and book it. [Explore WorkOps]() Desk booking system #### What is a desk booking system? A [desk booking system]() lets employees reserve a desk before they come in, check in when they arrive, and release it when plans change. Kadence adds [hot desk booking]() from Teams, Slack, the web, the mobile app and Kadence AI, and gives workplace teams occupancy data they can trust. #### How it works 1. ##### 1. Get A Booking Suggestion Get notified when your teammates are heading into the office 2. ##### 2. Choose Your Space Book any available hot desk nearby for the exact times you need 3. ##### 3. Connect With Your Team Be with the right people, at the right time, and in the right place Employee experience #### An experience your employees love, in the tools they already use Employees book desks where they already work: Microsoft Teams, Slack, the iOS and Android apps, and AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude. Neighborhood controls #### Keep Teams Together With Neighborhoods Give every team a home on the floor. Set team neighborhoods and assigned desks, then change them by date as teams share or rotate through floors. - Assign teams to Office Neighborhoods on any chosen day of the week - Give people permanent desks with the Assigned Desk Schedule - Plan which team uses which neighborhood by date with the Neighborhood Scheduler - Employees book next to their team from Slack or Teams by asking Kadence AI WorkOps · Neighborhoods Kadence floor plan with team neighborhoods on the 2nd floor and a weekly team schedule Flexible Desk Booking #### Transform The Way Your Teams Book Desks Give employees a reason to come in together. Flexible desk booking fits their schedules, with suggestions when teammates plan to be in the office. - Get Smart suggestions whenever your teammates are heading to the office - Book multiple desks for you and your teammates in one go just by asking Kadence AI - Never waste time to commute by getting notified when your teammate has canceled their booking WorkOps · Desk booking Kadence Smart Booking Suggestion Employee Experience #### Make Your Spaces A Place Your Teams Want To Be See which areas people choose and use that evidence to improve the workplace. Test layouts and understand where teams want to sit. - Interactive floor plans make it easy to test new layouts - Color-coded floor plans indicating popularity of office areas WorkOps · Desk booking Kadence desk booking: Make Your Spaces A Place Your Teams Want To Be Enterprise-Grade Integrations #### Enable Your Teams To Work In The Tools They Use The Most Make booking a desk part of the tools employees already use. Keep desk bookings, team coordination, and notifications together. - Handle all of your check-in and hot desk booking notifications in one place - Effortless adoption and zero set up means your team can start booking desks right away [Discover integrations]() WorkOps · Desk booking Microsoft Teams Integration Works inside - Microsoft Teams - Slack Office Analytics #### Measure The Success Of Your Hybrid Workplace Policies Give workplace leaders evidence for space and policy decisions. See when teams come in, which desks they choose, and how space is used over time. - Visualize desk availability and which spaces are more popular than others - Understand the effectiveness of your hybrid working policy by seeing when teams are coming to the office - Download and report on space usage or integrate with data platforms you already use WorkOps · Desk booking Kadence Office Utilization Data Desk booking system #### Hot desk booking controls for every office Set the rules once and Kadence applies them at every site, so desks are shared fairly and bookings stay accurate. - **Advance, recurring and same-day booking** Book ahead, on repeat or on the day, from web, mobile, Teams or Slack. - **Multi-day bookings** Book a desk across several days in one go. - **Preferred desks** People save favorite desks, so booking is faster and more consistent. - **Edit bookings** Change the time or the desk without canceling, on web or mobile. - **Booking rules and windows** Set maximum and default durations and how far ahead people can book. - **Booking credits** Control how much space each person or team can book. - **Priority booking access** Give selected groups first access before general release. - **Neighborhood Scheduler** Assign teams to neighborhoods by date for shared or rotating floors. - **QR codes and booking links** A link or QR code opens straight to a specific desk to book. - **Booking Scheduler role** Assistants and coordinators book on behalf of others. - **Lockers, pods and parking** Book more than desks: lockers, pods, parking and private offices. - Writing your desk booking policy first? [Get the template]() Occupancy you can trust #### Check-in and auto-release make desk data trustworthy A booking is a plan, not proof. Before leaders cut or add space, they need to know who actually came in. Kadence confirms each booking with a check-in and frees the desks nobody uses, so occupancy reports show what happened. [See how Kadence Sense works]() - **Auto-release** Desks with no check-in go back to the pool. [Auto-release]() cuts [ghost bookings]() and frees space for people who turn up. - **Automatic check-in** The Kadence Agent checks people in when it detects them on the office network. It signs in with Microsoft Entra ID or Okta, and Enhanced Network Detection adds floor-level, VPN-aware presence. - **Walk-ins counted** Automatic Bookings create a booking when someone arrives without one, so [walk-in usage]() shows up in your reports. - **Every signal in one place** Check-ins from kiosks, room displays, [badge data]() and the public API all count. Hardware sensors are optional. Key features #### Powerful Tools For Your Hybrid Workspace [Discover plans]() - On-Site Booking: Track office attendance better by allowing employees to make on-site bookings. - Dynamic Neighborhoods: Assign certain areas of the office to any teams within the neighborhood schedule. - Live Office Floormap: See where your teammates are, or which desks are available immediately. - Permanent Desks: Assign hot desks to any individual you choose using the Assigned Desk Schedule. - Mobile App: Check your booking schedule, see who’s going to be in the office, and make desk bookings on the go. - Desk Booking Data: Make desk bookings and see all of your booking data in one place. - Priority Access: Give priority booking access to certain teams ahead of time. - Check-In: Check into your hot desk using your mobile device or integrate Kadence with your check-in API. Built for IT and workplace teams #### Roll out desk booking across every office Workplace teams own the booking policy. IT owns identity, devices and Teams. Kadence gives both what they need to go live site by site. 1. 01 ##### Connect identity [SSO]() and [SCIM]() with Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google, OneLogin or JumpCloud. Teams build from directory attributes, and you can require SSO or allow passkeys. 2. 02 ##### Load every site Upload desks, neighborhoods and assignments in bulk from a spreadsheet. Building admins manage only their own offices, and closures cover holidays and events. 3. 03 ##### Go live where people work Switch on [Microsoft Teams](), the [Outlook add-in](), [Slack]() and the [iOS and Android apps](). Kadence works in 38 languages. 4. 04 ##### Report with confidence Booking exports show who booked and who checked in. Kadence holds [SOC 2 Type II and Cyber Essentials](), and hosts data in the US or EU. [GWI runs London, New York and Athens from one workplace system.]() [MOPAC reached 83% adoption within weeks.]() FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is hot desk booking software?** Hot desk booking software enables employees to book a desk with the right amenities they need, check-in when they get there, or even book a desk where their teammates are sitting nearby. It’s an effective tool for workplace managers to manage their workspaces to ensure they’re making the most of their available space. **How does hot desk booking software benefit my workplace?** A good hot desk booking software should feature an easy-to-use interface for your team to easily find and book a desk anytime, anywhere. It should also capture real-time occupancy data to improve desk availability. Most importantly, it should integrate with your team’s weekly schedule for collaboration. **Can desk booking software integrate with other systems?** Yes. Employees book desks from Microsoft Teams, Slack, the web and the mobile app, and meeting rooms sync both ways with Outlook and Google Calendar. Kadence also connects to HR systems such as Workday, BambooHR and HiBob. A public REST API and outbound webhooks send booking and check-in data to the other systems you run. **What is Hoteling Software?** [Hoteling software]() is a digital tool that optimizes workspace utilization. Providing a flexible solution, it allows employees to reserve desks whenever they need to, enhancing productivity and fostering a more dynamic work environment. The point of a hoteling software is to support your team and your workspaces. **Can hoteling software support different office and seating layouts?** Yes. Kadence can be customized to fit your office layout, your seating arrangements, and your conference rooms, to enable you to make your workspace work for you. Facility Managers are able create Office Neighborhoods and assign teams to particular areas on any day of the week using the Office Neighborhood Schedule. **What is desk reservation software?** Desk reservation software lets employees reserve a specific desk for a date and time before they come in. Kadence handles advance, recurring, multi-day and same-day reservations, and people can save preferred desks to book faster. Admins set booking windows, maximum durations and booking credits, so reservations follow your desk booking policy at every site. **Can employees book desks in Microsoft Teams?** Yes. Employees book desks in Microsoft Teams with the Kadence app or by asking Kadence AI, and the Outlook add-in finds and books meeting rooms without leaving Outlook. The same bookings appear in Slack, on the web and in the iOS and Android apps, so nobody has to learn a separate tool. **How does auto-release work in a desk booking system?** When nobody checks in to a booked desk, Kadence releases it automatically so someone else can use it. People check in from the mobile app or the office kiosk, or automatically when the Kadence Agent detects them on the office network. No-shows appear in Workplace Insights, so reports show real use rather than reservations. **How do you roll out desk booking across multiple offices?** Start with identity: Kadence supports SSO and SCIM with Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google and others, so people and teams sync automatically. Upload desks and neighborhoods in bulk from a spreadsheet, give each building its own admins, then switch on Teams, Outlook and the mobile apps. RSPB, for example, rolled out flexible desking office by office. **Do we need sensors to see real desk occupancy?** No. Kadence Sense builds presence data from systems you already run: desk check-ins, the Kadence Agent on laptops, office Wi-Fi and network signals, kiosk and room display check-ins, and badge data. Automatic Bookings create a booking when someone arrives without one, so walk-in use is counted. Hardware sensors are optional when a floor needs denser coverage. #### Explore more - [Office Neighborhoods]() - [Discover Integrations]() - [How Karger reduced office space by 80%]() - [View Pricing]() - [Office hoteling software]() - [Room booking software]() - [Desk booking in Microsoft Teams]() Next step #### Start Working Smarter With Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Distributed Workforce Solution for Team Management | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/distributed-teams/ Description: Support distributed team management with Kadence’s workplace tools for scheduling, space booking, and team coordination across locations. Distributed Teams ### Bring teams together, effortlessly. Give teams visibility into who is working where, make office booking simple, and coordinate team days across locations. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative Bay Area hub with San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Jose. Sales team days: Tue in San Francisco and Thu in San Francisco; Marketing team days: Tue in San Jose and Wed in San Francisco; Product team days: Tue in Palo Alto and Thu in San Francisco. Kadence suggests for Tuesday: Maya (Sales) to San Francisco, Priya (Marketing) to San Jose, Lena (Product) to Palo Alto. Tuesday · Three teams, three offices. #### Key Features Create The Best In-Person Experience Office Activity #### Provide Visibility Into Who’s In-Office Eliminate the hassle of wasted commutes! Gain a clear view of team bookings each week, helping you decide if commuting is necessary. Plan your office visits by checking how busy the office will be each day of the week. Kadence Who’s in One Liberty Plaza: bookings each day for everyone, your team and starred colleagues, with daily employee occupancy Interactive Floor Plan #### Make It Easy To Come Into The Office Designed to encourage team building and productivity. Foster office connections by simplifying booking process with a simple interface to book desks, rooms, or collaboration spaces. Kadence Smart Desk Booking Software Suggestions based on when your team are heading to the office. Team Day Planning #### Schedule Team Days With Team Kadences Transform the way you bring your teams together by notifying team members about in-office days. Allow team managers to suggest in-office days tailored to company needs and individual schedules. Enhance resource allocation and efficiency by minimizing booking conflicts. Kadence Use Slack or Microsoft Teams to reschedule bookings On-Demand Flex Space #### Flexible Spaces For Your Distributed Teams Get access to the largest global market of flexible spaces for your distributed teams. Get savings on your office space costs by only paying for the flex space you need. Kadence Kadence Flex: flexible workspaces with the dates and teammates booked at each one #### Kadence comes with - **Team Activity** See where your team is working and when they plan to be in the office, in one view. - **Colleague Finder** See where your team is sitting so you can book the nearest space. - **Smart Booking Suggestions** Get a booking suggestion every time your starred colleagues are heading in. - **Personal Kadence** Plot your office days on your weekly schedule so teammates know when you’re in. - **Floor Plans** Know which spaces are booked, or block out spaces when you need to. - **Building Closure Announcements** Get important announcements, such as an office closure, by email. - **Slack & Microsoft Teams** Coordinate with your team and book spaces in advance from Slack or Microsoft Teams. - **Employee Directory** View every employee’s profile and follow their schedule. Customer stories #### Teams that come together with Kadence Customer story · MOO ##### MOO saw office occupancy often exceed 70% after six months with Kadence. > “We want our employees to use Kadence to support our in-person culture. To have a tool that would help boost creativity, collaboration, conversation, and connection!” > > > > **Bryony Gilhooly** Head of People Operations, MOO [Read the MOO story]() Customer story · GWI ##### GWI runs London, New York and Athens from one workplace system. > “We didn’t know who was coming when, which team on what day — so we used Kadence as soon as we were able to return back to the office!” > > > > **Maud Santamaria** Global Real Estate Director, GWI [Read the GWI story]() #### Explore more - [Discover More]() - [Kadence Flex]() - [Plan Your Team Day]() Next step #### Start Working Smarter With Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Management for Energy and Utilities | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/energy-and-utilities/ Description: Workplace management software for energy and utilities: see who is in on which day, keep desks for office staff and govern visitors at every site. Energy and utilities ### Workplace Management for Energy and Utilities Offices sized for field and office teams. Energy and utility teams split their time between sites, the field and the office. Kadence shows who is in on which day, keeps desks and rooms for the people who come in, and governs visitors at every site. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative: share of 100 people in the office, in the field or remote each weekday at operations headquarters; the office peaks on Wed at 61, so 61 desks cover the busiest day. Attendance #### Know who is in, by team and location. Monitor office attendance, space capacity and booking habits as they happen, and plan for what teams need from real trends, not anecdotes. - Attendance and capacity in real time - Booking patterns by team - Presence from Wi-Fi, badge and check-in WorkOps · Attendance Office attendance with the most popular day and recent check-ins. Shared space #### Desks and rooms for the days people come in. Assign teams to neighborhoods on chosen days, enforce closure and capacity controls automatically, and let room displays release no-shows instantly. - Unified booking for desks, rooms and car parking - Closure and capacity rules applied automatically - Room displays that auto-release no-shows WorkOps · Space management Room occupancy on Floor 3 with auto-release on and a live team view. Arrivals #### Governed arrivals at every site. Pre-registration, kiosk check-in and badge printing on arrival, with a complete, timestamped digital log exportable for any audit, and every check-in feeding presence data. - Pre-registration and kiosk check-in - Badge printing and host notification - Exportable audit log WorkOps · Visitor management Visitor check-in today: pre-registration sent via Teams, kiosk check-in, NDA signed, badge printed. Reviews on G2 · Energy and utilities #### In their own words. [All Kadence reviews on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “Easy to use, easy to setup. Integration to Entra and Teams was very easy to setup, good pricing and very good support.” **Verified User in Oil & Energy** Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) · G2 review, April 2026 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() By industry - [Financial services →]() - [Technology →]() - [Legal →]() - [Business services →]() - [Commercial real estate →]() - [Consumer goods →]() - [Government →]() - [Healthcare and pharma →]() - [Higher education →]() - [Manufacturing →]() - [Media and entertainment →]() - [Non-profits →]() - [Retail →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Events | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/events/ Description: Meet Kadence at workplace, facilities and corporate real estate events. Events ### Meet us where workplace leaders meet. Find Kadence at corporate real estate and facilities events, and make time for a conversation with our team. [Upcoming events]()[Past events]() #### Upcoming events - Nov 24-26 · Cannes ##### [Workplace Salon Cannes]() A dedicated trade show for facilities management, workspace design, and procurement professionals. November 24–26, 2026 at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, Cannes. [View event →]() - Nov 18-20 · Anaheim ##### [IFMA World Workplace 2026]() The facility management industry's biggest conference and expo, bringing together FM leaders from around the world. November 18–20, 2026 at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA. Visit us at booth 1757 to see Kadence in action. [View event →]() - Oct 27, 2026, 6:30pm · Chicago ##### [Kadence Dinner Series: Chicago]() Join us for an intimate evening with peers navigating the same questions: what does the workplace look like as AI reshapes how and where we work? We'll gather a small group of workplace leaders for a candid fireside conversation on the challenges, opportunities, and open questions defining this next chapter. No pitches, no panels, just a good meal and a real conversation with people facing the same decisions you are. [View event →]() - Oct 26-28 · Chicago ##### [CoreNet Summit Chicago]() The flagship gathering for corporate real estate's senior decision-makers. October 26–28, 2026 at McCormick Place, Chicago. Stop by booth #106 to see how Kadence powers the modern workplace. [View event →]() - Oct 22, 2026 · London ##### [FM Technology Forum]() An invitation-only forum matching facilities buyers and suppliers through curated one-to-one meetings. October 22, 2026 at the Hilton London Canary Wharf. Come meet our team and see Kadence live. [View event →]() #### Past events - Oct 15, 2026 · London ##### [CoreNet UK Future Focus]() CoreNet UK's annual half-day gathering for the UK corporate real estate community, featuring a keynote and panel discussion. October 15, 2026 at WTW, Lime Street, London. Join us there to see Kadence in action. [View event →]() - Oct 13, 2026 · London ##### [Space+ Occupeers 2026]() Join us at OCCUPEERS on 13 October, where we're hosting two roundtables on the questions every real estate leader is being asked: where to be, and how to prove it's working. [View event →]() - Oct 4-6 · Santa Barbara ##### [Workspaces 2026]() An invitation-only gathering of corporate real estate and workplace design leaders for real conversation over networking. October 4–6, 2026 at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beach Resort, Santa Barbara. Come find our team and see what Kadence can do for your workplace. [View event →]() ## Kadence Dinner Series: Chicago | Kadence events Canonical: https://kadence.co/events/chicago-dinner-2026/ Description: Join us for an intimate evening with peers navigating the same questions: what does the workplace look like as AI reshapes how and where we work? We'll gather a small group of workplace leaders for a candid fireside conversation on the challenges, opportunities, and open questions defining this next chapter. No pitches, no panels, just a good meal and a real conversation with people facing the same decisions you are. [Events]() · Upcoming event ### Kadence Dinner Series: Chicago Join us for an intimate evening with peers navigating the same questions: what does the workplace look like as AI reshapes how and where we work? We'll gather a small group of workplace leaders for a candid fireside conversation on the challenges, opportunities, and open questions defining this next chapter. No pitches, no panels, just a good meal and a real conversation with people facing the same decisions you are. - **Date & time**: Oct 27, 2026, 6:30pm - **Location**: Chicago - **Venue**: Tre Dita (St. Regis Chicago) - **Find us**: 401 E Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60601 - **Event site**: [kadence.co]() #### Join Us for an Intimate Evening in Chicago We'll gather a small group of workplace leaders for a candid fireside conversation on the challenges, opportunities, and open questions defining this next chapter. No pitches, no panels, just a good meal and a real conversation with people facing the same decisions you are. - When: October 27, 2026 at 6:30 PM - Where: Tre Dita, 401 E Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60601 - Dress Code: Business Casual Kadence Event #### Request a slot Takes about 60 seconds. We'll be in touch within one business day. Loading the form… By submitting this form you agree to Kadence contacting you. Read our [privacy policy](). #### Featured Speakers - Dave Cairns ##### Dave Cairns VP of Strategic Growth · Kadence Dave Cairns is VP of Strategic Growth at Kadence, where he leads enterprise sales, partnerships, and industry positioning for the hybrid work platform. Before joining the tech world, Dave spent over a decade as a Senior Vice President at CBRE, closing 1,000+ commercial real estate transactions across 6M+ square feet — including co-leading the second-largest office deal in Canadian history. A McGill grad and sought-after speaker, he's taken the stage at Harvard, Running Remote, and Workspaces. [← All events]() ## CoreNet UK Future Focus | Kadence events Canonical: https://kadence.co/events/corenet-future-focus/ Description: CoreNet UK's annual half-day gathering for the UK corporate real estate community, featuring a keynote and panel discussion. October 15, 2026 at WTW, Lime Street, London. Join us there to see Kadence in action. [Events]() · Past event ### CoreNet UK Future Focus CoreNet UK's annual half-day gathering for the UK corporate real estate community, featuring a keynote and panel discussion. October 15, 2026 at WTW, Lime Street, London. Join us there to see Kadence in action. This event has ended. - **Date & time**: Oct 15, 2026 - **Location**: London - **Venue**: WTW, Lime Street - **Find us**: Drinks Reception - **Event site**: [corenetglobal.connectedcommunity.org]() #### Keep the conversation going. Talk to us about your workplace and see Kadence in action. [Book a demo]() [Visit event site]() [← All events]() ## CoreNet Summit Chicago | Kadence events Canonical: https://kadence.co/events/corenet-summit-chicago/ Description: The flagship gathering for corporate real estate's senior decision-makers. October 26–28, 2026 at McCormick Place, Chicago. Stop by booth #106 to see how Kadence powers the modern workplace. [Events]() · Upcoming event ### CoreNet Summit Chicago The flagship gathering for corporate real estate's senior decision-makers. October 26–28, 2026 at McCormick Place, Chicago. Stop by booth #106 to see how Kadence powers the modern workplace. - **Date & time**: Oct 26-28 - **Location**: Chicago - **Venue**: McCormick Place - **Find us**: Booth 106 - **Event site**: [corenetglobal.org]() Book a meeting #### Meet our team 1:1 Tell us a little about your workplace and we'll line up a 15-minute slot with the right person on our team. - A workplace strategist matched to your team size & setup - A live walkthrough of the parts of Kadence you care about Book a meeting #### Request a slot Takes about 60 seconds. We'll be in touch within one business day. Loading the form… By submitting this form you agree to Kadence contacting you. Read our [privacy policy](). [← All events]() ## FM Technology Forum | Kadence events Canonical: https://kadence.co/events/fm-tech-forum-2026/ Description: An invitation-only forum matching facilities buyers and suppliers through curated one-to-one meetings. October 22, 2026 at the Hilton London Canary Wharf. Come meet our team and see Kadence live. [Events]() · Upcoming event ### FM Technology Forum An invitation-only forum matching facilities buyers and suppliers through curated one-to-one meetings. October 22, 2026 at the Hilton London Canary Wharf. Come meet our team and see Kadence live. - **Date & time**: Oct 22, 2026 - **Location**: London - **Venue**: Hilton London Canary Wharf - **Find us**: Kadence Booth - **Event site**: [fmtechforum.co.uk]() Book a meeting #### Meet our team 1:1 Tell us a little about your workplace and we'll line up a 30-minute slot with the right person on our team. - A workplace strategist matched to your team size & setup - A live walkthrough of the parts of Kadence you care about - No follow-up sales calls unless you ask for one Book a meeting #### Request a slot Takes about 60 seconds. We'll be in touch within one business day. Loading the form… By submitting this form you agree to Kadence contacting you. Read our [privacy policy](). [← All events]() ## IFMA World Workplace 2026 | Kadence events Canonical: https://kadence.co/events/ifma-world-workplace-2026/ Description: The facility management industry's biggest conference and expo, bringing together FM leaders from around the world. November 18–20, 2026 at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA. Visit us at booth 1757 to see Kadence in action. [Events]() · Upcoming event ### IFMA World Workplace 2026 The facility management industry's biggest conference and expo, bringing together FM leaders from around the world. November 18–20, 2026 at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA. Visit us at booth 1757 to see Kadence in action. - **Date & time**: Nov 18-20 - **Location**: Anaheim - **Venue**: Anaheim Convention Center - **Find us**: Booth 1757 - **Event site**: [worldworkplace.ifma.org]() Book a meeting #### Meet our team 1:1 Tell us a little about your workplace and we'll line up a 30-minute slot with the right person on our team. - A workplace strategist matched to your team size & setup - A live walkthrough of the parts of Kadence you care about - No follow-up sales calls unless you ask for one Book a meeting #### Request a slot Takes about 60 seconds. We'll be in touch within one business day. Loading the form… By submitting this form you agree to Kadence contacting you. Read our [privacy policy](). [← All events]() ## Space+ Occupeers 2026 | Kadence events Canonical: https://kadence.co/events/space-occupeer-2026/ Description: Join us at OCCUPEERS on 13 October, where we're hosting two roundtables on the questions every real estate leader is being asked: where to be, and how to prove it's working. [Events]() · Past event ### Space+ Occupeers 2026 Join us at OCCUPEERS on 13 October, where we're hosting two roundtables on the questions every real estate leader is being asked: where to be, and how to prove it's working. This event has ended. - **Date & time**: Oct 13, 2026 - **Location**: London - **Find us**: Kadence booth - **Event site**: [www.space-plus.org]() #### Keep the conversation going. Talk to us about your workplace and see Kadence in action. [Book a demo]() [Visit event site]() [← All events]() ## Workplace Salon Cannes | Kadence events Canonical: https://kadence.co/events/workplace-salon-2026/ Description: A dedicated trade show for facilities management, workspace design, and procurement professionals. November 24–26, 2026 at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, Cannes. [Events]() · Upcoming event ### Workplace Salon Cannes A dedicated trade show for facilities management, workspace design, and procurement professionals. November 24–26, 2026 at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, Cannes. - **Date & time**: Nov 24-26 - **Location**: Cannes - **Venue**: Palais des Festivals et des Congrès - **Find us**: Kadence Booth - **Event site**: [workplace-one-to-one-meetings.fr]() Book a meeting #### Meet our team 1:1 Tell us a little about your workplace and we'll line up a 30-minute slot with the right person on our team. Coffee or cocktails — your call. - A workplace strategist matched to your team size & setup - A live walkthrough of the parts of Kadence you care about - No follow-up sales calls unless you ask for one Book a meeting #### Request a slot Takes about 60 seconds. We'll be in touch within one business day. Loading the form… By submitting this form you agree to Kadence contacting you. Read our [privacy policy](). [← All events]() ## Workspaces 2026 | Kadence events Canonical: https://kadence.co/events/workspaces-2026/ Description: An invitation-only gathering of corporate real estate and workplace design leaders for real conversation over networking. October 4–6, 2026 at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beach Resort, Santa Barbara. Come find our team and see what Kadence can do for your workplace. [Events]() · Past event ### Workspaces 2026 An invitation-only gathering of corporate real estate and workplace design leaders for real conversation over networking. October 4–6, 2026 at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beach Resort, Santa Barbara. Come find our team and see what Kadence can do for your workplace. This event has ended. - **Date & time**: Oct 4-6 - **Location**: Santa Barbara - **Venue**: Hilton Santa Barbara Beach Resort - **Find us**: Kadence Booth - **Event site**: [workspacesevent.com]() #### Keep the conversation going. Talk to us about your workplace and see Kadence in action. [Book a demo]() [Visit event site]() [← All events]() ## Workplace Management for Financial Services | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/finance/ Description: Workplace management software for financial services: attendance compliance, one policy across every office and the audit trail a regulated estate requires. Financial services ### Workplace Management for Financial Services Secure, consistent workplace operations across every office, with the audit trail built in. From global banks to branch networks: attendance compliance, multi-office consistency, real estate metrics and the governance controls a regulated estate requires. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative: one three-days-a-week attendance policy checked in New York, London and Singapore from badge, Wi-Fi and check-in presence, with each event written to an audit log. Trusted in financial services - Revolut - TrueLayer - BMW Financial Services - CFA Institute - Dow Jones - Exness - Finance Ireland - Flagstone - Mukuru - NJEDA - Nubank - Rothschild & Co - Servus - TransUnion - Starling Bank - Axi - Equisoft - MGIS - Peapack Private Bank & Trust Attendance compliance #### Actual presence, not planned attendance. Kadence tracks presence via Wi-Fi, badge and check-in, so policy is enforced on what happened and leaders know which teams are in and which are not. - Automated attendance compliance - Immutable audit logs of every access, booking and change - Role-based permissions WorkOps · Attendance Office attendance tracking with recent check-ins. Multi-office consistency #### New York, London and Singapore on one system. Room reservations, desk policies and visitor flows work the same in every office, with one set of metrics on attendance, room recovery and desk usage by floor, team and location. - Consistent policy enforcement globally - Real-time metrics for workplace, compliance and finance - Data residency: choose where your data lives WorkOps · Multi-office Room booking synced across London, Berlin and Copenhagen with employee occupancy. Room chaos #### Release unused rooms before the meeting fails. Recurring holds and calendar conflicts delay high-stakes decisions. Kadence releases unused space, syncs with calendars and flags device conflicts ahead of time. - Auto-release of unused rooms - Calendar sync with Outlook and Google - Device conflict detection WorkOps · Room booking Room booking detail with a Microsoft Teams confirmation. Reviews on G2 · Financial services #### In their own words. [All Kadence reviews on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “Seeing when areas of the office are busy to help with space management. Helping us to roll out and track our hybrid attendance policy.” **Verified User in Financial Services** Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) · G2 review, January 2026 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “Allowing us not to increase our footprint as we grow our team.” **Fatima B.** Chief People Officer Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) · G2 review, February 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “Kadence has great support and the technology is very easy to use and well thought out” **Verified User in Financial Services** Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) · G2 review, February 2026 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() By industry - [Technology →]() - [Legal →]() - [Business services →]() - [Commercial real estate →]() - [Consumer goods →]() - [Energy and utilities →]() - [Government →]() - [Healthcare and pharma →]() - [Higher education →]() - [Manufacturing →]() - [Media and entertainment →]() - [Non-profits →]() - [Retail →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Flexible Workspace Solutions for Distributed Teams | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/flexible-office-space/ Description: Kadence flexible workspace solutions help teams access and book office space on demand while reducing lease costs and improving flexibility. Flexible Office Space ### Find flexible space for your distributed teams. Give teams access to on-demand workspaces, coordinate where people work, and pay for the space they need. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative flexible office space occupancy: Project team 50%, Visiting team 33%, Local team 67%. A floor plate shows the three team neighborhoods on City workspace · Shared floor. #### Key Features Flexible Office Space On Demand Flex Spaces #### Get Access To Thousands Of Flexible Office Space Near You Discover thousands of flexible office spaces and co-working spaces near you. With just a few clicks, book the perfect spot for your teams, whether it’s a shared office or a dedicated desk. - Make hot desking arrangements for you and your team members - Gain instant access to on-demand office spaces for remote and hybrid work Kadence A Kadence Flex illustration that shows you where you can find a space to work. Cost-Effective #### Only Pay For The Office Space You Need Cut back on your real-estate costs and ditch the long leases on your office space. Unlock a global network of office spaces – all with rental terms including short-term leases, rolling contracts, or pay-as-you-go options. - Maximize savings by only paying for the space you need - Manage spending budgets for each team by setting up permissions based on location, and space type Kadence A Kadence Flex illustration that shows you available conference rooms to book and how much they cost. Streamline Coordination #### Coordinate Your Entire Workforce In One Place Cut back on your office spend is by seeing how much your office is used on a daily or monthly basis. With Kadence Flex, you can keep track of real-time bookings, measure the success of your hybrid policies all in one platform. - See all of your booking data across your leased and on-demand spaces in one platform - Choose the best flex space options for your teams based on the distance of your HQ office space Kadence A Kadence Flex illustration of the Activity Map showing Top Locations, 453 Reservations, and how many people booked, checked in or canceled. Seamless Connectivity #### Join Your Team Wherever They’re Working Planning to meet your favorite teammates in the office can be a huge challenge – especially when everyone is in a different location. See where all your teammates are so you can join them in the office space that’s closest to you. - Get notified every time your teammate has made a booking or canceled their booking - Schedule recurring team days in the closest flexible office space that’s best for everyone Kadence A Kadence Flex illustration of a map with various office and co-working hub locations that enables you to see where your teammates are working, > An absolute game-changer to empower teams with the autonomy and flexibility, as well as provide our business with a unified experience across our leased and flex portfolio. #### Jeff Gwinnett Senior Director, Workplace Experience & Sustainability at Softchoice FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is a Flexible Office Space?** #### A flexible office space, such as a shared office or flexible workspace, offers various work options, from stylish [hot desks]() to relaxed open offices and vibrant coworking areas. Due to COVID-19, companies are recognizing the importance of these adaptable setups for productivity, teamwork, and adaptability, and they’re leveraging technology to effectively manage and comprehend these work environments. **What is the difference between flexible workspace and coworking space?** #### A flexible workspace offers different kinds of office setups like private offices, open areas, and shared facilities to suit different work preferences. On the other hand, a coworking space is all about creating a community where independent workers and small businesses can collaborate and network while sharing the same workspace. **How can I start booking on-demand flexible office space?** #### You can start booking on-demand workspaces if your company has Linked its Kadence and LiquidSpace account. Once they have done this, users will gain access to hybrid workspaces across the globe. On their first booking, users will need to log in to LiquidSpace. Those without LiquidSpace accounts will have an account generated for them during this process. Read here to learn how to get started with on-demand space booking. **Can I schedule team days in any flex space?** #### Yes. In Kadence you can set up regular times for you and your teams to meet in any flex office location available. If you’re a Team Manager just go to edit your teams and set up a Team Kadence to determine the office location, the regularity of your team days and when you’d like it to start. [Read more here]() **Can I see where my teammates are working?** #### Yes. There are several ways for you to see where your teammates are working on the day you’re planning to head to the office. You’ll either get notified when they’ve made a booking which will tell you where they will be working that day, or you can go to create a booking and find which office they’re in that way. You can also see where they plan to be working in the future by checking out their profile or in your Starred Colleagues list. However, the quickest way to find where your teammates are working is by asking [Kadence AI]() #### Explore more - [hot desks]() - [Read more here]() - [Kadence AI]() Next step #### Get Started With Kadence Today Let Kadence take the hassle out of hybrid working. Book a customized demo today. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Minds Redefining The Future Of Work | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/future-of-work/ Description: Kadence is partnering with forward-thinking pioneers to shape the tools and insights powering the future of work. Join our community to stay on top of the latest stories and insights. Future Of Work ### The Minds Redefining The Future Of Work Kadence is partnering with forward-thinking pioneers to shape the tools and insights powering the future of work. Join our community to stay on top of the latest stories and insights. #### Ideas Shaping Tomorrow’s Work Together with our grow community of workplace pioneers, we’re engaged in conversations that challenge old norms and inspire better ways to connect September 24, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] September 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] September 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] September 15, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [23% Is Not an Adoption Story]() CBRE says AI is already influencing space-planning decisions for 23% of occupiers. The workplace leaders I talk to are watching the rest of the company get lost, with tools that do not help them keep up. CBRE’s 2026 Americas Office Occupier Sentiment Survey put a number on a feeling a lot of workplace leaders already had. In \[…\] August 25, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Chief Places Officer Is Coming]() The most influential forecast in commercial real estate just floated a new job title, and I think it is the most important idea in the entire report. In this year’s PwC and ULI outlook, in a passage about how occupiers are reorganizing their floors, is the suggestion that coordinating where teams sit may soon become \[…\] August 12, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Workplace Leader’s Playbook for When a Reorg Hits]() Our team at Kadence was recently in a conversation with a large enterprise, and one thing a workplace leader on their side said has stuck with me. This particular company has publicly, very publicly, re-auged multiple times already this year and the Workplace team are feeling it. When a reorg hits and you have to \[…\] August 11, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Offices Were Repriced. Your Space Decisions Should Be Too.]() The market has already repriced your real estate. It did not ask whether you wanted to participate. Values have corrected, leases are getting shorter and smaller, and new supply has effectively stopped. What has not changed, in most enterprises, is how the lease decision itself gets made. That is the gap I want to close \[…\] July 14, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Your Workplace Operating Model Determines Your Real Estate Cost]() Most enterprise leaders can tell you their headcount, their cost per square foot, and their target occupancy. Far fewer can tell you, in a single sentence, how their organization actually allocates space. They know the floor is busy on Tuesdays and quiet on Fridays. They know real estate is one of their largest fixed costs. \[…\] June 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Intentional Gathering: How Smart Companies Are Designing Time Together]() I’ve been thinking a lot about what equals work. Ask a carpenter to break down their job, and they’ll talk about specific tools, assembly processes, and tangible results. There’s a clear relationship between input, process, and output. But ask someone in knowledge work, and you’ll get: “I type on a keyboard, I sit in calls, \[…\] June 17, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Why the Workplace Needs a Digital Twin: Lessons From LSE and WPP]() Digital twins already run hospitals, factories and energy grids. At a June 2026 Kadence breakfast, LSE's Prithwiraj Choudhury and WPP's Bex Moorhouse explained why the workplace is next. June 8, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [SpaceOps: Built for What Happens Next]() Something Rory from our Product Engineering Team said recently has stayed with me. Most workspace tools, he explained, are good at telling you what happened. What floor engineering used last Wednesday. How many desks were occupied in Q3. Which neighborhoods ran at capacity and which sat empty. What they are not built to do is \[…\] June 1, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Junior Hiring Decline Is a Workplace Operations Problem]() Generative AI took the blame for falling junior hiring. The Broken Ladder paper points to remote work instead, which makes it a problem organizations can solve. Page 1 of 6 [Older posts →]() #### Join our community Stay connected #### Stay on top of the latest stories and insights Loading the form… By submitting this form you agree to Kadence contacting you. Read our [privacy policy](). Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Minds Redefining The Future Of Work — page 2 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/future-of-work/page/2/ Description: Kadence is partnering with forward-thinking pioneers to shape the tools and insights powering the future of work. Join our community to stay on top of the latest stories and insights. Page 2 of 6. Future Of Work ### The Minds Redefining The Future Of Work Kadence is partnering with forward-thinking pioneers to shape the tools and insights powering the future of work. Join our community to stay on top of the latest stories and insights. May 13, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Space Planning Problems Portfolio Averages Can’t See]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. This series uses aggregated and anonymized data from Kadence customers to understand how workplace behavior is changing at scale. I’m Ali Carson, a Data Scientist at Kadence. My role is to analyze workplace data to understand how offices are really being used day to day. In this edition of Kadence Pulse, \[…\] April 16, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Brian Elliott on Why Workplace Strategy Can’t Stay Static in the Age of AI]() At IFMA, Brian Elliott and I kept coming back to the same tension. AI is accelerating the speed of business, but workplace strategy is still too often built on assumptions from a more stable era. Companies want faster answers on growth, attendance, capacity, and cost, while workplace leaders are still dealing with leases, layouts, infrastructure, \[…\] March 1, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Gen Z Is Choosing the Office. Is Your Workplace Ready?]() Gen Z is choosing office time for mentorship, visibility and faster careers. Enterprise workplaces need the operations to turn that presence into performance. February 23, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [AI Is Reshaping Work. The Workplace Must Catch Up.]() If you wanted evidence that AI in the enterprise workplace has moved beyond experimentation, you didn’t have to look far this past week. Accenture announced that it is linking employee promotions to AI tool usage, signaling a structural shift in performance expectations. AI literacy is no longer a technical skill reserved for innovation teams. It \[…\] January 29, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Intelligence Behind SpaceOps]() Over the past few years, the conversations we’ve been having with workplace, real estate, and operations leaders have started to sound very similar. They’re being asked to make space decisions with incomplete information and still stand behind them. These aren’t abstract planning questions. They’re operational decisions with financial, cultural, and human consequences. Once they’re made, \[…\] January 28, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: How Culture Shapes Workplace Operations]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. This series uses aggregated and anonymized data from Kadence customers to understand how workplace behavior is changing at scale. Rather than focusing on individual offices or policies, each Pulse looks at a single signal in the data and what it reveals about how workplace operations actually function. I’m Ali Carson, a \[…\] January 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [How Bloomberg Designs Its Office Around Movement, Not Desks]() Most organisations face the same constraint. They want more interaction between teams, but they cannot change the building. Floors are leased. Cores are fixed. Vertical separation is inherited rather than designed. Kadence SpaceOps addresses this problem operationally. It allows organisations to model how teams move through space, test how different layouts affect interaction, and adjust \[…\] January 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Why Amazon Is Tracking Office Hours]() Amazon is no longer just tracking whether employees come into the office. It is tracking how long they stay. In December, the company rolled out a manager dashboard that measures employees’ in-office hours across a rolling eight-week period. The system categorises workers based on duration rather than attendance alone, flagging those who spend fewer than \[…\] January 8, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [How Google Designs Offices Around How Teams Actually Work]() Google did not build their offices at the Bay View campus to look impressive. It built it to work better. As organizations scale, coordination becomes harder to maintain. Teams drift apart. Dependencies stretch across floors and buildings. Decisions slow down, not because people stop communicating, but because the physical environment no longer reflects how the \[…\] December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Your Office Is Busy on Tuesdays and Empty on Fridays]() By 2026, uneven office attendance is no longer surprising. What surprises leaders is how persistent it is. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are crowded. Mondays and Fridays remain quiet, even in organizations with clear in-office expectations. This pattern appears across sectors, geographies, and workplace strategies. Yet it is still often discussed as an employee behavior issue rather \[…\] December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [The Enterprise Workplace Operations Playbook for 2026]() It’s 2026, and the workplace conversation has shifted. The question is no longer whether the office matters, whether hybrid work is permanent, or whether employees want flexibility. Those debates are largely settled. What remains unresolved is far more practical: how to operate the workplace so it actually works for the organization and the people inside \[…\] December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Wrapped: How You Used Kadence in 2025]() Welcome to Kadence Wrapped 2025! In 2025, workplace behavior stopped looking experimental and started looking intentional. Across millions of desk and room bookings, clear patterns emerged around when people came in, how they collaborated, and how reliably offices were used. The data does not simply show more activity. It shows greater operational maturity. Offices were \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 2 of 6 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Minds Redefining The Future Of Work — page 3 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/future-of-work/page/3/ Description: Kadence is partnering with forward-thinking pioneers to shape the tools and insights powering the future of work. Join our community to stay on top of the latest stories and insights. Page 3 of 6. Future Of Work ### The Minds Redefining The Future Of Work Kadence is partnering with forward-thinking pioneers to shape the tools and insights powering the future of work. Join our community to stay on top of the latest stories and insights. December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [How to Measure Collaboration in the Workplace]() Measure collaboration by what teams do, not how they feel: in-person overlap, meeting alignment, clustering by day and location, and whether space helps. December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [What Employees Want From the Office in 2026: A Workplace That Works]() Employees in 2026 do not want stricter attendance rules or more perks. They want an office that runs predictably, supports collaboration and respects their time. November 26, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Return of Real Meetings]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. In this edition, we look at how team meetings are evolving and what that shift tells us about modern workplace operations. Hybrid work has moved past the phase of chaos. For Kadence customers, it has settled into a predictable, midweek, team-first operating rhythm. The data from 2024 and 2025 shows a \[…\] November 26, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Riding Into 2026: Talking Workplace With Brian Elliott]() There is something fitting about talking about the future of work while sitting in the back of a Waymo gliding through San Francisco. An autonomous car is a real-time example of systems quietly rewiring themselves. What looks like a neat consumer experience is actually the result of deep structural changes in how data, infrastructure, and \[…\] November 24, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [What AI Can't Replace: OpenAI's Tracy Hawkins on People, Purpose and the Office]() Dave Cairns sits down with Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, on raising kids with AI and why people still need to gather. August 19, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: What Predictability Says About Office Use]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse, where we explore how hybrid work is unfolding through real-world data from the Kadence platform. In this edition, we’re moving past averages to examine something more telling: the shape of office use across different business sectors. From consistency to chaos, and from bursty collaboration to habitual rhythms, the story isn’t just \[…\] August 18, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [What Is a Workplace Operations Platform? The Backbone of the Modern Workplace]() Workplace operations aligns people, space and technology to business outcomes. What it covers, why it matters, and what a workplace operations platform does. August 4, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [AT&T Return To Office: Employee Survey Results And A Culture Shift (August 2025)]() In August 2025, AT&T CEO John Stankey answered falling engagement scores with a memo moving staff from hybrid work to five office days and a market-based culture. July 22, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Raises $20M To Transform How Enterprises Run The Modern Workplace]() Today marks a major milestone in our journey: Kadence has raised a $20 million Series A to accelerate the future of work. The round was led by High Alpha, with participation from Kickstart, Midwich Ignite, and Four Cities Capital and Mantaray. We’re also honored to have the backing of 515 Ventures led by Frederic Kerrest \[…\] June 16, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Deutsche Bank, UBS And The City Of London: How Banks Are Redrawing The Hybrid Work Week]() In June 2025, Panmure Liberum joined Deutsche Bank in asking staff to cover Mondays and Fridays in the office. What it meant for hybrid working in the City of London. June 15, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: Unpacking Office Utilization Trends By Sector]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse, our deep dive into how hybrid work is evolving—powered by real-time desk booking data from our customers using Kadence. After a year of settling into hybrid rhythms, the first half of 2025 is showing signs of structural change in how different sectors are using office space. Our latest analysis — drawn from \[…\] June 2, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [RBC Pushes For More Office Time But Flexibility Still Wins]() The decision by RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) to require employees in the office four days a week is part of a broader trend: large enterprises are looking to reconnect people, rebuild culture, and spark the kind of collaboration that’s harder to replicate remotely. It’s a well-intentioned move—and a clear signal that the pendulum is \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 3 of 6 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Minds Redefining The Future Of Work — page 4 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/future-of-work/page/4/ Description: Kadence is partnering with forward-thinking pioneers to shape the tools and insights powering the future of work. Join our community to stay on top of the latest stories and insights. Page 4 of 6. Future Of Work ### The Minds Redefining The Future Of Work Kadence is partnering with forward-thinking pioneers to shape the tools and insights powering the future of work. Join our community to stay on top of the latest stories and insights. April 29, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Uber Sets The Standard For Structured Hybrid With Three-Day In-Office Rhythm]() When Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced that all employees—including those previously approved for remote work—would align to a three-day in-office rhythm, it signaled the company’s continued investment in structured hybrid work. Rather than pulling back on flexibility, Uber is fine-tuning its hybrid model to strengthen in-person collaboration while preserving the autonomy teams value. In a \[…\] April 24, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Google's Hybrid Work Model: Inside the Breakdown of Its Hybrid Strategy]() In April 2025, Google teams told some remote employees to come in three days a week or risk their jobs. What the move reveals about hybrid work without coordination. April 23, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why IBM Is Struggling With Their Hybrid Policy]() IBM has been a master of reinvention for over a century. But its latest shift — requiring U.S. sales employees to relocate near offices or clients — suggests it’s falling into the same trap as many legacy firms: mistaking location for coordination. According to The Register, IBM is asking its U.S. sales teams to confirm new \[…\] April 3, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Atlassian Is Sticking With Distributed Work]() At a time when many corporate leaders are calling for a return to the office, Atlassian is doubling down on distributed work—and it’s paying off. The software company just secured a top spot on Fortune’s 2025 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, and their commitment to remote-first operations is a big reason why. In \[…\] April 2, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Recharge Days Miss The Point Of Modern Work]() Another week, another trend in employee wellness. This time it’s “recharge days”—company-wide time off designed to combat burnout by shutting the laptop lid for everyone at once. On the surface, it sounds thoughtful. Generous, even. But let’s call it what it really is: a backwards step. This week’s Fortune article on the “100 Best Companies to Work \[…\] April 2, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The American Work Ethic—Is Longer Always Better?]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse—our regular deep dive into hybrid work trends, behaviors, and insights pulled straight from the data of thousands of our global users. In this edition, we’re turning our attention to the American work ethic. Known globally for its hustle culture, the U.S. is showing a noticeable trend in extended office hours—even in the \[…\] March 25, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Is Freddie Mac Forcing A Full-Time RTO?]() Freddie Mac is bringing everyone back to the office. Full-time. No flexibility. That’s the latest directive from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), announced just days after a major leadership shake-up that saw Director Sandra Thompson removed and Clinton Jones appointed in her place. This new mandate affects thousands of employees who had been thriving \[…\] March 14, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Nvidia Is Sticking With Hybrid Work]() It feels like every day brings a new headline about a company pushing for return-to-office (RTO) mandates, making the debate one of the most divisive workplace topics in recent years. While companies like Amazon and JPMorgan Chase have doubled down on their mandates, Nvidia has taken a decidedly different approach—one that prioritizes flexibility, trust, and \[…\] March 13, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Vodafone Is Getting Serious About Hybrid Work]() Vodafone is tightening its grip on hybrid work, turning a nudge into a mandate. A recently leaked memo reveals that the telecoms giant is taking a hardline approach to hybrid work, warning employees that non-compliance could lead to disciplinary action, even impacting bonuses. This crackdown raises a critical question: Is rigid hybrid enforcement the right \[…\] February 25, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Stripe Co-Founders Ask Why Companies Are Designing RTO For Their Worst Employees]() In a world where top talent thrives in flexible environments, why are companies structuring their workplace policies around the bottom 5% of performers? That’s the question posed by Stripe co-founders, John and Patrick Collison, when they were asked about return-to-office (RTO) mandates. It suggests that widespread RTO mandates are a misguided attempt to correct for \[…\] February 25, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Starbucks Cuts 1,100 Corporate Jobs: What It Means For Hybrid Work (February 2025)]() In February 2025, Starbucks cut 1,100 corporate jobs and tightened office rules for leaders. What the move meant for its hybrid work culture, and lessons for other employers. February 14, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Magic Number Is 2]() Kadence Pulse is our new data-driven series where we uncover key trends in hybrid work, using insights straight from Kadence’s platform. Our goal is to help businesses and employees understand how hybrid work is evolving and how they can make smarter, more informed decisions. The way we work has changed forever, and at Kadence, we \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 4 of 6 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Minds Redefining The Future Of Work — page 5 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/future-of-work/page/5/ Description: Kadence is partnering with forward-thinking pioneers to shape the tools and insights powering the future of work. Join our community to stay on top of the latest stories and insights. Page 5 of 6. Future Of Work ### The Minds Redefining The Future Of Work Kadence is partnering with forward-thinking pioneers to shape the tools and insights powering the future of work. Join our community to stay on top of the latest stories and insights. February 11, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Gathering Weeks: Airbnb’s Innovative Hybrid Strategy]() Companies are trying to figure out how to keep things flexible without losing that sense of connection. Airbnb seems to have cracked the code with their Live and Work Anywhere policy, centered around a simple yet transformative concept: the gathering week. Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, sums it up succinctly: Airbnb’s approach is rooted in the belief that \[…\] February 7, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [The Future Of Work In 2025 And Beyond With Nick Bloom]() In our latest webinar, economist and remote work expert Nick Bloom shared key insights into the evolving landscape of hybrid work. With data suggesting that work-from-home levels have stabilized globally, the discussion focused on what this means for organizations navigating hybrid models and the future of remote work technologies. We kicked off the webinar by \[…\] February 6, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [How Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG Make Hybrid Work: The Big Four's Approach]() In February 2025, the Big Four accounting firms were sticking with hybrid in their US offices. How Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG each set office expectations. February 4, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Zuckerberg Says Hybrid Passes The Performance Test—That’s Why Meta Isn’t Changing Course]() After years of debate over remote vs. office work, Meta has made its decision: hybrid is here to stay. CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently confirmed that there will be no changes to the company’s return-to-office (RTO) policy—a significant move at a time when many companies are still tightening their grip on in-office attendance. Zuckerberg delivered the statement at a \[…\] February 4, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Citi Is Sticking To Hybrid Work While Rivals Push For RTO]() While big banks like JPMorgan and Barclays are ramping up their return-to-office (RTO) mandates, Citigroup (Citi) is staying firm on its hybrid work policy. CEO Jane Fraser has made it clear: flexibility isn’t just a perk—it’s a competitive edge. Rather than dragging employees back with a “butts in seats” approach, Citi is investing £1 billion \[…\] January 31, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why More Companies Are Moving To A Three-Day Office Week]() The workplace is shifting—again. A few years ago, many leaders thought hybrid work was just a pit stop before a full return to the office (RTO). But here we are, and it’s become increasingly clear: three days in the office is becoming the sweet spot for companies across the globe. Instead of forcing rigid five-day \[…\] January 16, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Building Operations and Experience (BOE) in Commercial Real Estate]() Building operations and experience (BOE) combines property management, building operations and workplace experience. Here is what it is, why CBRE backed it, and its challenges. January 14, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Toyota’s RTO Mandate: Breaking Away From The Automotive Norm]() Toyota just dropped some big news—starting September 2, employees are expected back in the office four days a week. This puts Toyota on a completely different track compared to other carmakers, many of which are sticking with more flexible hybrid setups. Sure, Toyota says it’s all about boosting collaboration and keeping the company culture alive, \[…\] January 13, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [WPP Return to Office Policy: A Growing Divide Between Leadership and Workforce]() In January 2025, WPP's push for a stricter return to office met an employee petition. What it showed about running one RTO policy across global offices. January 8, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [JPMorgan's Full-Time Return to Office Plan: A Risky Move in a Hybrid World]() In January 2025, JPMorgan Chase was reported to be planning a five-day return to office. Why the plan risked talent, productivity and real estate value. December 12, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Why Sonos Shifted From Remote To Hybrid Work For 2025: Its December 2024 Return-To-Office Mandate]() In December 2024, Sonos asked its product teams to be on-site two or more days a week, ending its remote-friendly stance. Why it happened and what it means for hybrid work. December 2, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [The CEO’s Perspective: Driving Growth, Innovation, And Hybrid Working ROI]() Embracing hybrid work isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for forward-thinking CEOs. This article unveils how hybrid work models drive unprecedented Hybrid Working ROI across the triple bottom line: By implementing a robust hybrid working ROI strategy, CEOs can future-proof their organizations, attract top talent, and gain a competitive edge in an evolving business \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 5 of 6 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Minds Redefining The Future Of Work — page 6 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/future-of-work/page/6/ Description: Kadence is partnering with forward-thinking pioneers to shape the tools and insights powering the future of work. Join our community to stay on top of the latest stories and insights. Page 6 of 6. Future Of Work ### The Minds Redefining The Future Of Work Kadence is partnering with forward-thinking pioneers to shape the tools and insights powering the future of work. Join our community to stay on top of the latest stories and insights. November 25, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [What Is a Hybrid Work Model? Types, Examples and How to Implement One]() A hybrid work model splits employees' time between the office and remote work. Here are the four main types, company examples, benefits, challenges and steps to implement one. November 5, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [The Evolution of Hybrid Working: How We Got Here and What Comes Next]() Hybrid working evolved in three phases, from early-2000s home internet to the pandemic and today's uncoordinated hybrid. Here is how it happened and what companies need next. October 24, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [From Thought Leadership To Sense Making With Perry Timms]() Thought Leadership has been a “thing” for some three decades now. It is often provocative, ideological, and agitative, sometimes research-led and evidence-based on trended analysis and experimentation. People who are leading “thinkers” are considered very differently from strategists and operational implementors. Inevitably, there are tensions between those who do and those who think. Thought leadership \[…\] October 7, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [The Short-Term Pain And Long-Term Gain Of Being Brave]() Human beings are wired to avoid pain. We try to “fix” the pain, often papering over the cracks. When it comes to technology within the workplace, I see the papering over the cracks in ways like: You see, none of these are actually okay statements to make, and yet, for the last 17 years, these \[…\] September 18, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Amazon's Five-Day Return to Office and the Hybrid Work Challenge]() In September 2024, Amazon said employees would return to the office five days a week from January 2025. The risks, and how hybrid could work instead. August 30, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Starbucks' Hybrid Work Policy: An Opportunity To Brew A Better Hybrid Culture (2024)]() In 2024, Starbucks' three-day office policy and its October threat to fire staff who did not comply drew criticism. How it could build a fairer hybrid culture instead. August 14, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Creating Moments That Matter: Dave Cairns and Helen Attia on Connection at Work]() Helen Attia and Dave Cairns on why in-person moments still matter for distributed teams, and how to create them with intention. April 10, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Exploring The Future Of Work: Understanding Hybrid Remote Work]() Welcome to a new era of work. Traditional notions of where and how work gets done have been redefined. But what is hybrid remote work? This new terminology has become commonplace. It’s now an integral part of both how companies choose to operate and the attraction of jobs to employees. In this article, we delve \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 6 of 6 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Get a quote | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/get-quote/ Description: Tell Kadence about your buildings, floors and teams and get a proposal for the WorkOps and SpaceOps scope that fits, with rollout and support included. Get a quote ### A proposal built around your workplace. Tell us about your buildings and teams. We come back with the scope, rollout and price that fit the estate you actually run. 1. #### Tell us about your estate Buildings, headcount and the products you are weighing. Two minutes. 2. #### Talk it through A workplace strategist comes back with questions, not a sales script. 3. #### Get your proposal Scope, rollout, integrations, support and price, line by line. > “Kadence takes away the guesswork. We finally have the evidence to make the right decisions for our people and our spaces.” **Dan Ick** Denbighshire County Council Trusted by workplace teams at - Dow Jones - NHS - BDO - Willis Towers Watson - Starling Bank - TrueLayer Not ready for a quote yet? [Book a demo]() [See pricing]() [Try the ROI calculator]() About two minutes #### Request your proposal A few details now. A workplace strategist follows up with questions and a first-pass scope. Loading the form… By submitting this form you agree to Kadence contacting you about your quote. Read our [privacy policy](). ## Request a Customized Demo of Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/get-started/ Description: Schedule your customized demo of Kadence with our team to see the product, ask questions, and learn about our platform. Get Started ### Talk To Our Workplace Strategist Explore how leading organizations use Kadence to: [Let’s talk]() Illustrative bring your first team in at Your first neighborhood: Workspace scheduled for D1 and D3; People scheduled for D2 and D3; Operations scheduled for D3 and D4. Day 3 · First team day planned. #### Explore what Kadence can do - Cut real costs by 20% using powerful workplace analytics - Increase team productivity by 40% with AI-powered coordination - Eliminate admin overhead through seamless space management - Scale workplace operations across multiple locations with zero setup hassle #### Jeff · Head of Workplace Experience · Softchoice Kadence is a critical layer between people and place, it’s the tool that supports and simplifies our spaces to bring our people together! It helps me to connect with people I normally wouldn’t connect with. Get started #### Book a demo Takes 30 seconds. Pick a time on the next screen. Loading the form… By submitting this form you agree to Kadence contacting you about your demo. Read our [privacy policy](). This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google [Privacy Policy]() and [Terms of Service]() apply. ## Workplace glossary: corporate real estate and workplace operations terms | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/ Description: Plain definitions of the terms real estate, facilities and workplace teams use: stack planning, scenario planning, occupancy rate, desk ratio, densification, restack, sublease, IWMS, MCP and more. Resources · Glossary ### The workplace glossary. Clear answers to the terms real estate, facilities and workplace teams use, with formulas, worked examples and how to measure them. 152 terms, by topic and A to Z. Search the glossary [#]() [A]() [B]() [C]() [D]() [E]() [F]() [G]() [H]() [I]() [J]() [L]() [M]() [N]() [O]() [P]() [R]() [S]() [T]() [V]() [W]() #### \# - ##### [3-30-300 rule]() A rule of thumb: per square foot each year, a company spends $3 on utilities, $30 on rent and $300 on its people. Space planning & real estate #### A - ##### [Activity-based working (ABW)]() A workplace model in which people move between settings designed for different tasks instead of working at one assigned desk. Workplace operations - ##### [Additions]() Preparing a seat, equipment, access and records for a new occupant such as a new hire, contractor or team. Moves & change - ##### [Agentic workplace]() A workplace where AI agents carry out tasks, such as booking space and drafting plans, with people approving decisions. AI & workplace data - ##### [AI space planning]() Using AI to draft and test stack plans, seating plans and scenarios from headcount, occupancy data and floor plans. AI & workplace data - ##### [AI workplace assistant]() A chat-based assistant that books desks and rooms and handles workplace tasks from a plain-language request. AI & workplace data - ##### [Anchor days]() Set days each week when a team or company agrees to be in the office together, with the other days flexible. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Assigned desk]() A desk reserved for one person, either permanently or on set days, instead of being shared through booking. Workplace operations - ##### [Auto-release]() A booking rule that frees a desk or room automatically when nobody checks in within a set grace period. Workplace operations #### B - ##### [Badge data]() Access-control swipe records showing who entered a building or floor and when, often used to measure attendance. AI & workplace data - ##### [Block plan]() A floor-level layout that assigns each team to a zone of one floor, between the stack plan and the seat-level plan. Space planning & real estate - ##### [BOMA standards]() The Building Owners and Managers Association methods for measuring office floor area, used in leases, benchmarks and space reporting. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Bookable vs non-bookable space]() Separating spaces people can reserve from first-come, first-served ones (lockers, phone booths), while still showing both on the map. Workplace operations - ##### [Booking policy]() The rules for booking shared desks, rooms and other spaces: who can book, how far ahead, for how long and when bookings are released. Workplace operations - ##### [Building operations]() The day-to-day running of a building's systems and services, such as heating, cooling, lighting, security, lifts and maintenance. Workplace operations - ##### [Business case for consolidation]() The financial case for moving into less space, with cash savings, one-off costs and softer benefits kept separate. Space planning & real estate #### C - ##### [CAD / DWG floor plans]() Architectural drawing files that provide the accurate geometry behind digital and interactive floor plans. Space planning & real estate - ##### [CAFM (computer-aided facilities management)]() Software that links floor plans to a database of rooms and assets to run space, maintenance and service requests. Platforms & integrations - ##### [Changes]() Updates to a workspace, team area or setting that do not relocate the people assigned to it. Moves & change - ##### [Churn rate (move churn)]() The number of people moved in a year as a percentage of the population, a measure of how much physical change a workplace absorbs. Moves & change - ##### [Closure management]() Blocking desks, rooms or floors for maintenance, events or emergencies, and automatically notifying or moving affected bookings. Workplace operations - ##### [CMMS (computerized maintenance management system)]() Software that plans, assigns and records maintenance work on buildings and equipment, from asset register to work order. Platforms & integrations - ##### [Coffee badging]() Badging into the office to register attendance, staying briefly, often for a coffee, then leaving to work elsewhere. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Compressed work week]() A schedule that fits full-time hours into fewer, longer days, such as four ten-hour days, in exchange for extra days off. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Corporate real estate (CRE)]() The buildings and leases a company occupies for its own operations, and the team that plans and manages them. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Cost per move]() The average cost of relocating one person inside the workplace: total move costs divided by people moved. Moves & change - ##### [Cost per seat]() The total annual occupancy cost of an office divided by the seats it provides, or by the seats actually used. Space planning & real estate #### D - ##### [Densification]() Supporting more people in the same floor area, through desk sharing, a tighter desk ratio or reuse of underused space. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Desk booking system]() Software that lets employees find and reserve a desk before they come in, check in on arrival and free desks nobody uses. Workplace operations - ##### [Desk check-in]() Confirming that you are at the desk or room you booked, by app, QR code, badge or Wi-Fi presence, so unused bookings can be released. Workplace operations - ##### [Desk ratio (desk sharing ratio)]() The number of people assigned to a workplace for each desk, set from peak attendance and policy. Occupancy & utilization - ##### [Desk utilization]() The share of available desk-hours people actually use, measured desk by desk from check-ins or presence data. Occupancy & utilization - ##### [Desktop presence agent]() A lightweight app on employees' laptops that detects when they're on the office network and checks them in automatically. AI & workplace data - ##### [Destination office]() An office designed to be worth the commute, drawing people in with space, amenities and experiences rather than mandates. Hybrid work & policy #### E - ##### [Editable floor plans]() Floor plans that workplace teams update themselves, without CAD skills or an architect, typically with a review step before changes go live. Workplace operations - ##### [Employee monitoring vs occupancy data]() Employee monitoring tracks what individuals do; occupancy data measures how spaces are used. Workplace planning needs only the second. AI & workplace data #### F - ##### [Facilities management (FM)]() The function that keeps buildings and their services working: maintenance, cleaning, security, catering, energy, safety and space. Workplace operations - ##### [Facility service request]() A request to the facilities team to fix, supply or change something in the workplace, logged and tracked until it is resolved. Workplace operations - ##### [Fixed vs rolling booking window]() A rolling window opens one new day each day, always the same distance ahead; a fixed window opens a whole period at once on a set day. Workplace operations - ##### [Flexible working]() Any arrangement that changes when, where or how much someone works, such as flextime, hybrid work or part-time hours. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Flexible workspace]() Workspace used on short or on-demand terms, such as coworking desks, bookable rooms and serviced offices, instead of a long lease. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Flight to quality]() The shift of office demand toward the best-located, best-equipped buildings, while older, lower-quality space loses tenants. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Floor plate]() The area and shape of one floor of a building, which sets how many people, rooms and teams fit on it. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Four-day work week]() A working pattern that cuts the standard week to four days, usually with fewer total hours and no cut in pay. Hybrid work & policy #### G - ##### [Ghost booking]() A desk or room that is booked but never used, so it shows as taken while it sits empty. Workplace operations #### H - ##### [Headcount planning (for space)]() Forecasting how many people will work in each team and location, and turning that into the office space they will need. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Hidden capacity]() Usable space that accurate utilization data reveals inside the current footprint. It often removes the need to lease more. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Hot desking and hoteling]() Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in. Workplace operations - ##### [HRIS integration]() A connection that syncs joiners, leavers, teams and leave dates from the HR system into workplace software automatically. Platforms & integrations - ##### [Hub-and-spoke office model]() An office network with a central headquarters hub and smaller satellite offices or flexible spaces closer to where people live. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Hushed hybrid]() When managers quietly let employees come into the office less often than a formal return-to-office policy requires. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Hybrid coordination]() The work of getting the right people into the office on the same days and giving them the right space when they arrive. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Hybrid meeting]() A meeting where some people are in the same room and others join remotely by video. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Hybrid policy compliance]() Reporting on whether individuals and teams meet the organization's in-office expectations over time, such as 45 of 52 weeks. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Hybrid work]() A way of working where employees split their time between the office and remote locations such as home. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Hybrid work model]() The specific rules an organization uses to decide where and when people work, from flexible to office-first. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Hybrid work policy]() The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured. Hybrid work & policy #### I - ##### [In-person collaboration]() Work people do together face to face, and the practice of measuring whether office time brings the right people together. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS)]() Enterprise software that runs real estate, leases, space, maintenance and assets from one shared database. Platforms & integrations - ##### [Interactive floor plan]() A live, clickable map of an office that shows desks, rooms and people, and lets employees book space and find colleagues. Workplace operations #### J - ##### [Joiners, movers and leavers (JML)]() The process that keeps access, equipment, seating and records in step when people join, change role or leave. Moves & change #### L - ##### [Landing pad]() A small set of drop-in desks for short stays, visiting colleagues or people between meetings, with no booking required. Workplace operations - ##### [Lease event]() A lease date that forces or allows a decision, such as an expiry, a break option, a renewal option or a rent review. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Lease management]() Tracking lease terms, critical dates, costs and obligations across a portfolio, and linking them to how each site is used. Space planning & real estate #### M - ##### [MAC (moves, adds and changes)]() The routine work of relocating people, seating new occupants and updating workspaces as an organization changes. Moves & change - ##### [Mailroom and package management]() Logging incoming deliveries, notifying recipients and tracking pickup, often run through the same front-desk system as visitors. Workplace operations - ##### [MCP (Model Context Protocol)]() An open standard that lets AI assistants use tools and data in other systems, such as booking a desk, without custom integrations. AI & workplace data - ##### [Meeting room display]() A screen at a meeting room that shows live availability and lets people book, check in and release the room at the door. Workplace operations - ##### [Meeting room utilization]() How often meeting rooms are used and how full they are when used, which shows whether you need more rooms or different ones. Occupancy & utilization - ##### [Microsoft Teams and Slack booking]() Booking desks and rooms, seeing who is in and checking in from inside Microsoft Teams or Slack. Platforms & integrations - ##### [Move management]() Planning, sequencing and carrying out workplace moves, from one desk change to a whole-team relocation. Moves & change - ##### [Moves]() Planned relocations of a person, team or department to a different seat, neighborhood, floor or building. Moves & change - ##### [Multi-source occupancy (unified occupancy model)]() One occupancy picture built by combining Wi-Fi, badge, sensor and booking data, so no single source has to be complete or perfect. Occupancy & utilization #### N - ##### [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. Workplace operations - ##### [Neighborhood manager]() The person who owns a neighborhood's seating rules, capacity and changes, usually a team lead or site admin. Workplace operations - ##### [No-show rate]() The share of desk and room bookings nobody checks in to, which makes space look busier than it is. Occupancy & utilization #### O - ##### [Occupancy confidence score]() A rating of how reliable an occupancy reading is, based on how many independent data sources agree. Occupancy & utilization - ##### [Occupancy monitoring]() Continuous measurement of how many people use each building, floor, room and desk, and when, from presence signals or sensors. Occupancy & utilization - ##### [Occupancy planning]() Deciding where people and teams will work across floors and buildings, and how much space each needs, as the organization changes. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Occupancy rate]() The share of available desks, rooms or floor area in use, at a point in time or on average over a period. Occupancy & utilization - ##### [Occupancy sensor]() A device that detects whether a desk, room or zone is in use, or counts the people in it, usually anonymously. AI & workplace data - ##### [Occupancy vs utilization]() Occupancy is the share of space in use; utilization is the share of capacity-time actually used. Occupancy & utilization - ##### [Office attendance policy]() A rule that sets how often employees are expected in the office, such as a number of days per week or month. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Office attendance rate]() The share of employees, or of expected office days, that people actually spend in the office, measured from presence data. Occupancy & utilization - ##### [Office consolidation]() Moving teams from several floors, buildings or sites into less space, then giving up or repurposing the space that is freed. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Office fit-out]() The work that turns shell or existing space into a usable office: walls, services, finishes, furniture and technology. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Office heat map]() A floor plan colored by how often each desk, room or zone is used, so busy and quiet areas stand out at a glance. Occupancy & utilization - ##### [Office move automation with AI]() Software and AI that recommend seats, assign people in bulk, notify them and update records for workplace moves. Moves & change - ##### [Office relocation]() Moving an office or department to another building, planned around the lease date, real attendance and a clear move schedule. Moves & change - ##### [Office right-sizing]() Matching the amount and type of office space to how people actually use it, based on measured demand rather than headcount. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Office seating chart]() A map or list of who sits where in an office, showing assigned desks, team areas and shared seats. Workplace operations - ##### [Open-plan office]() An office layout with few internal walls, where most people work at desks in shared open areas rather than private offices or cubicles. Workplace operations #### P - ##### [Parking management]() Allocating and booking office parking, including accessible, electric vehicle and bike spaces, so drivers know a space is waiting. Workplace operations - ##### [Peak occupancy]() The busiest level of use a floor or building reaches in a normal week, which sets the capacity you actually need. Occupancy & utilization - ##### [Plan of record]() The approved, current version of a stack, block or move plan that every team works from. Moves & change - ##### [Post-occupancy evaluation (POE)]() A structured review of how a building or workplace performs for the people using it, carried out after they move in. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. AI & workplace data - ##### [PropTech]() Property technology: software, data and devices used to invest in, build, run and occupy real estate. AI & workplace data - ##### [Proximity bias]() The tendency to favor people who are physically present in the office over equally effective remote colleagues. Hybrid work & policy #### R - ##### [Real estate footprint]() The total space an organization occupies, owned or leased, across all its offices, floors and sites. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Real estate portfolio optimization]() Matching the buildings, floors and leases an organization holds to the space its people actually need. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Recharge day]() A company-wide paid day off, given to everyone at once, meant to help employees rest and prevent burnout. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Remote work]() Work done away from the employer's office, usually from home, for all or almost all of the working week. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Rentable vs usable square feet]() Usable area is the space a tenant occupies; rentable area adds a share of common areas, and rent is charged on it. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Restack]() Reassigning teams across the floors of a building to free space, absorb growth or improve adjacency, done as a sequence of moves. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Return to office (RTO)]() An employer requirement that remote or hybrid staff spend more time in the office, either full time or on set days. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Room booking system]() Software that lets people find, reserve and check in to meeting rooms, and frees rooms nobody uses. Workplace operations #### S - ##### [Scenario planning]() Modeling several possible futures for space, cost and teams, and comparing them side by side before committing to one. Space planning & real estate - ##### [SCIM provisioning]() An open standard that creates, updates and deactivates user accounts in apps automatically from the company directory. Platforms & integrations - ##### [Single sign-on (SSO)]() One set of company credentials to sign in to many apps, verified by the identity provider rather than each app. Platforms & integrations - ##### [Smart office]() A workplace that uses connected tools and data, from booking and room displays to presence and building controls, to fit real use. AI & workplace data - ##### [SOC 2]() An independent auditor's report on a service provider's security controls; Type II tests that they worked over a period. Platforms & integrations - ##### [Space allocation]() Deciding which people, teams and activities get which desks, zones and rooms, and whether each is assigned, shared or bookable. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Space management]() The ongoing tracking, allocation and improvement of how an organization's buildings, floors, desks and rooms are used. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Space operations (SpaceOps)]() The practice of planning, modeling and carrying out changes to how an organization uses its space, using live workplace data. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Space per person]() Office floor area divided by the number of people it serves, in square feet or square meters per person. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Space planning]() Deciding how office floor area is divided and allocated, from which teams go on which floors to where each desk and room sits. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Space programming]() Working out how much space an organization needs, and of which types, before anyone draws a floor plan. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Space roster]() The authoritative list of who is assigned to which seat, zone or space at a point in time. Moves & change - ##### [Space utilization]() How intensively buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their full capacity over time. Occupancy & utilization - ##### [Space utilization study]() A time-bound exercise that measures how desks, rooms and floors are actually used, before a lease, consolidation or redesign. Occupancy & utilization - ##### [Stack planning]() A floor-by-floor plan of which teams occupy which floors and buildings, used to test moves and consolidations first. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Stay vs go decision]() The choice, ahead of a lease event, between staying in a building (and possibly reconfiguring it) or relocating. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Sublease]() Letting leased space you no longer need to another party, while staying responsible to the landlord under the original lease. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Swing space]() Temporary workspace people use while their permanent space is refurbished, reconfigured or not yet ready. Moves & change #### T - ##### [Team adjacency]() Placing teams that work closely together near each other, and keeping those links intact through every move. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Team days]() A recurring day when a hybrid team agrees to be in the office together, usually set by the team or its manager. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Team dynamics]() The patterns of behavior and interaction that shape how a team works together and how well it performs. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Test fit]() A quick draft layout that checks whether a space program fits a specific building before a lease is signed. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Total occupancy cost]() Everything an organization spends to occupy a workplace in a year: rent, operating costs, utilities, services and fit-out. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Two-way calendar sync]() A link in which room bookings and changes made in Outlook, Google Calendar or the booking system update the others. Platforms & integrations #### V - ##### [Virtual receptionist]() A self-service or remote alternative to a staffed front desk, such as a visitor kiosk with QR check-in or a receptionist working remotely. Workplace operations - ##### [Virtual water cooler]() An informal online space, such as a chat channel or open video call, where remote and hybrid colleagues talk about non-work topics. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Virtual-first (remote-first)]() An operating model where remote work is the default for individual work and offices are used for planned gatherings. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Visitor management system (VMS)]() Software that registers and checks in visitors, notifies their hosts and keeps a record of who was on site and when. Workplace operations #### W - ##### [Walk-in usage]() Desks or rooms used without a booking. If it isn't captured, utilization reports undercount real demand. Occupancy & utilization - ##### [Wayfinding]() Helping people find their way around an office, to a desk, room or colleague, through maps, search, signs and landmarks. Workplace operations - ##### [Working time recording]() The EU requirement that employers run an objective, reliable and accessible system to record each worker's daily working time. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Workplace analytics]() Analysis of bookings, check-ins, attendance and occupancy data to guide decisions about office space, policy and services. AI & workplace data - ##### [Workplace API]() A programming interface that lets other systems read and write workplace data such as spaces, bookings and check-ins. Platforms & integrations - ##### [Workplace change management]() A structured approach to helping people adopt a new layout, policy, system or location so the change lasts. Moves & change - ##### [Workplace digital twin]() A live digital model of buildings, spaces and the people who use them, used to see how space performs and test changes first. AI & workplace data - ##### [Workplace experience (WX)]() How employees experience the office and its services, from finding a desk and colleagues to hosting visitors and getting help. Workplace operations - ##### [Workplace KPIs]() The measures that show how well offices serve people and budget: occupancy, utilization, attendance, no-shows, cost per seat and more. Occupancy & utilization - ##### [Workplace management system (WMS)]() Software that runs daily office use (desk and room booking, visitors, check-in, attendance) and reports how space is used. Platforms & integrations - ##### [Workplace operating system]() One platform that connects daily office use (booking, check-in, visitors) with space planning, on one set of data. Platforms & integrations - ##### [Workplace operations (WorkOps)]() The day-to-day running of an office for the people in it: space, bookings, visitors, services, policies and the data they produce. Workplace operations - ##### [Workplace personas]() Profiles of typical employee work styles, used to design hybrid policies, offices and tools that suit different people. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Workplace strategy]() The plan that links how an organization works to the space, policies and tools it provides for work. Space planning & real estate - ##### [Works council]() An elected employee body, common in Germany, the Netherlands and the Nordics, that must be consulted before attendance tracking starts. Hybrid work & policy - ##### [Workspace booking]() Reserving any bookable space at work, such as desks, rooms, lockers, pods, parking or coworking space, from one system. Workplace operations - ##### [Workspace types]() The settings an office offers, such as desks, focus rooms, phone booths, huddle rooms and lounges, each suited to a kind of work. Workplace operations Next step #### See the terms in practice. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist, on your floors. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is the 3-30-300 rule for office costs? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/3-30-300-rule/ Description: The 3-30-300 rule says companies spend $3 on utilities, $30 on rent and $300 on payroll per square foot a year. What it means, the math and its limits. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is the 3-30-300 rule for office costs? Short answer The 3-30-300 rule is a real estate rule of thumb: for each square foot of office space, a company spends roughly ten times as much on rent as on utilities, and ten times as much again on payroll. Workplace teams use it to show that people cost far more than the space they work in. Also called 3/30/300 rule. #### How it works The rule compares three yearly costs per square foot: $3 for utilities, $30 for rent and $300 for payroll, including salaries and benefits. JLL describes it as illustrating the average order of magnitude between those costs, so the figures are a ratio to reason with, not a benchmark for any one market. Its main use is in business cases. Because payroll is a hundred times utilities and ten times rent in the rule, a change that helps people work even slightly better can be worth more than a much larger saving on energy or rent. Equally, cutting space in a way that makes work harder can cost more than it saves. The real ratios vary by city, industry and building, and hybrid work changes the picture: the rule assumes the space is used by the people whose pay it counts. Teams applying it today use their own cost figures and measured occupancy rather than the rule's round numbers. #### Formula Cost per sq ft = Annual cost ÷ Office area, calculated separately for utilities, rent and payroll - **Annual cost**: The yearly spend on one layer: utilities, rent, or payroll and benefits for the people based in the office. - **Office area**: The area of the office in square feet, measured the same way for all three layers. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. An office of 50,000 sq ft has annual utilities of $150,000, rent of $1,750,000 and payroll of $20,000,000 for the people based there. 2. Utilities: $150,000 ÷ 50,000 = $3 per sq ft. 3. Rent: $1,750,000 ÷ 50,000 = $35 per sq ft. 4. Payroll: $20,000,000 ÷ 50,000 = $400 per sq ft. 5. A 1% gain in productivity is worth $200,000 a year; a 10% cut in rent saves $175,000. This office runs at 3–35–400: payroll is more than eleven times rent, so a small productivity gain is worth more than a sizable rent cut. #### How to measure it 1. Use your own figures: utilities and rent from bills and the lease, payroll and benefits for the people based at the site. 2. Divide each by the same area, rentable or usable. 3. In hybrid offices, add a view per occupied seat, because the space serves fewer people each day than headcount suggests. #### Examples - A workplace team argues for better meeting rooms and quiet space by showing that a small productivity gain is worth more than the rent saved by cutting them. - An energy project is judged not only on utility savings but also on whether better air and temperature help people work. #### Benchmarks - JLL describes the rule as the average order of magnitude between a company's costs: $3 for utilities, $30 for rent and $300 for payroll, per square foot per year. [JLL Spark, The science of smart buildings]() - JLL notes that many organizations still rely on the 3-30-300 rule, and warns that focusing on those fixed costs overlooks the effect of design on well-being and productivity. [JLL, Office makeovers: giving employees what they want]() #### Common mistakes - Treating the figures as market benchmarks; they are an illustrative ratio. - Using the rule to justify any spending on space without evidence that it helps people work. - Applying full payroll to an office that most people use only some days. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the 3-30-300 rule? It is a rule of thumb for office costs: per square foot each year, a company spends about $3 on utilities, $30 on rent and $300 on payroll. The point is the ratio. People cost far more than the space they use, so the workplace's effect on their work matters most. ##### Where does the 3-30-300 rule come from? JLL describes it as a rule of thumb that illustrates the average order of magnitude between a company's utility, rent and payroll costs, and notes that many organizations still rely on it. It is not a formal standard, and the figures are a ratio to reason with rather than precise costs. ##### Is the 3-30-300 rule still accurate? As a ratio it still makes its point: payroll is by far the largest cost tied to an office. The exact figures vary widely by city, industry and building, and hybrid work means fewer people use each square foot on a given day, so calculate your own ratios. ##### How is the 3-30-300 rule used in workplace strategy? It is used in business cases for workplace improvements. If better rooms, air, light or coordination tools help people work even a little better, the gain can outweigh the cost. It also warns against space cuts that save rent but make work harder. #### Related terms - [Total occupancy cost]() Everything an organization spends to occupy a workplace in a year: rent, operating costs, utilities, services and fit-out. - [Cost per seat]() The total annual occupancy cost of an office divided by the seats it provides, or by the seats actually used. - [Workplace experience (WX)]() How employees experience the office and its services, from finding a desk and colleagues to hosting visitors and getting help. - [Workplace strategy]() The plan that links how an organization works to the space, policies and tools it provides for work. #### Sources 1. [The science of smart buildings: PropTech to improve workspaces](), JLL Spark 2. [Office makeovers: giving employees what they want](), JLL Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is activity-based working? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/activity-based-working/ Description: Activity-based working gives people a range of settings for different tasks instead of one assigned desk. How ABW works, examples, how to measure it and mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is activity-based working? Short answer Activity-based working is a workplace model in which employees have no single assigned desk and instead move between settings designed for different tasks, such as focus rooms, collaboration areas, project rooms, phone booths and lounges. Organizations use it to match space to the work people actually do and to use floor area more efficiently. Also called ABW, activity-based workplace, activity-based office. #### How it works An activity-based office offers a range of settings under one roof: individual workspaces and quiet rooms for focus, open lounges and project rooms for collaboration, cafe areas for informal meetings, and private rooms and booths for calls. Employees choose the setting that suits each task and move during the day. The idea is often traced to the American architect Robert Luchetti in the 1980s, and the Dutch insurer Interpolis is widely cited for one of the first activity-based offices, in the 1990s. Interpolis dropped assigned desks and let employees choose when, where and for how long they worked. Furniture is only half the change. Activity-based working depends on cues that tell people what each setting is for, shared etiquette such as silence in quiet zones, and managers who trust people to work where they choose. Usage data by setting shows which areas are overused or ignored. #### How to measure it 1. Occupancy by setting type, not only desks. 2. Whether settings are used for their purpose, for example quiet rooms used for calls. 3. Employee feedback on finding the right setting when they need it. #### Examples - An employee starts the day at a shared desk, joins a project room for a workshop, takes a call in a booth and finishes in a quiet room. - A team turns a block of desks into a lounge and two project rooms after booking data shows its collaboration space is always full. #### Benchmarks - Interpolis, the first organization to adopt activity-based working, reduced its office space from two buildings to one. [Kadence guide: Flexible office models]() #### Common mistakes - Removing desks without adding enough of the settings people need, especially quiet space. - Letting people camp in one setting all day, which recreates assigned desks. - Skipping signage and etiquette, so quiet rooms fill with calls. - Treating activity-based working as a furniture project rather than a change in how managers lead. #### How Kadence helps Kadence books desks, meeting rooms, pods, lockers and private offices from one interactive floor plan, with booking rules set per space type. Heatmaps and occupancy reports in Workplace Insights show which settings people use, and floor plan search helps people find a colleague, desk or room. [Space management]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [Guide: flexible office models]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What are examples of activity-based working? Typical settings include shared desks, focus rooms, open lounges, project rooms with video and whiteboards, cafe areas with tall tables and private phone booths. An employee might move between three or four of these in a day, depending on the work. ##### What is the difference between activity-based working and hot desking? Hot desking shares identical desks first come, first served. Activity-based working goes further: it replaces the single desk with a range of settings for different tasks and expects people to move between them. ##### What are the disadvantages of activity-based working? Common problems are too few quiet spaces, time lost looking for the right setting, people claiming one spot all day and difficulty finding colleagues. Clear rules, booking for high-demand settings and visible team locations reduce them. ##### Where did activity-based working start? The concept is often traced to the American architect Robert Luchetti. The Dutch insurer Interpolis is widely cited for one of the first activity-based offices, where it dropped assigned desks under the motto 'As long as the work gets done.' #### Related terms - [Hot desking and hoteling]() Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in. - [Workspace types]() The settings an office offers, such as desks, focus rooms, phone booths, huddle rooms and lounges, each suited to a kind of work. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. - [Open-plan office]() An office layout with few internal walls, where most people work at desks in shared open areas rather than private offices or cubicles. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is an agentic workplace? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/agentic-workplace/ Description: An agentic workplace uses AI agents that act, not just answer: booking space and drafting plans within each user's permissions. How it works and how to govern it. [Glossary]() · AI & workplace data ### What is an agentic workplace? Short answer An agentic workplace is one in which AI agents carry out workplace tasks, not just answer questions: booking space, drafting stack and seating plans, and preparing changes for people to approve. Workplace and real estate teams use agents to cut routine coordination and planning time, while keeping approval of decisions with people. Also called AI agents at work, agentic AI in the workplace. #### How it works An AI agent is software that can take actions through tools, not only generate text. In the workplace, the tools are the systems that hold space and people data: booking, floor plans, the directory, calendars and occupancy records. The agent reads from them, proposes an action and, within its permissions, carries it out. Agents work at two levels. For employees, an assistant books a desk near the team, finds a room or invites a visitor from a chat. For workplace teams, a planning agent drafts a stack plan or seating layout from headcount and occupancy data, compares options and hands the result to a person to approve. Open standards such as the Model Context Protocol let the AI assistants people already use connect to workplace systems. Governance does the rest: agents act with each user's existing permissions, keep a record of what they did and leave consequential decisions, such as moving a team, to people. Agents are only as good as the data and decision history they can see. Clean occupancy data, current floor plans and a record of past decisions matter more than the model. #### How to measure it 1. List repetitive tasks by volume (bookings, visitor invites, seat assignments, plan revisions) and start where the volume is. 2. Check that agents act with each user's existing permissions and that every action is logged. 3. Measure time saved and errors avoided against the manual process. 4. Keep a human approval step for moves, closures and anything that affects many people. #### Examples - An employee asks their AI assistant for a desk near the design team on Tuesday; the agent books one within the booking rules. - A workplace lead asks a planning agent to fit a growing team onto two floors; the agent drafts a stack plan, the lead adjusts it and publishes it. #### Benchmarks - In JLL's Global Real Estate Technology Survey, only 5% of corporate real estate occupiers piloting AI had achieved all their program goals. [JLL, Global Real Estate Technology Survey news release]() #### Common mistakes - Letting agents act with broader access than the person using them. - Automating decisions that need human judgment, such as team moves, without an approval step. - Pointing agents at stale floor plans or booking data and trusting the output. - Calling a chatbot that only answers questions an agent. #### How Kadence helps Kadence AI books desks and rooms by chat in Microsoft Teams and Slack. The Kadence MCP server (early access, enabled by an admin) lets Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot book desks, rooms, parking and visitors and check people in, with per-user sign-in and each person's existing permissions. In SpaceOps, the AI planning agent builds or changes stack and space plans from plain-language requests, and a person approves a plan before it is published to WorkOps. [Kadence MCP]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Kadence AI]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is agentic AI in the workplace? Agentic AI is AI that can take actions through connected tools, not only answer questions. In a workplace it books space, invites visitors, drafts seating or stack plans and prepares changes, within the permissions and rules the organization sets. ##### How is an AI agent different from a chatbot? A chatbot answers questions. An agent can also act: it calls tools, such as a booking system or a floor plan editor, to complete a task, and it can plan several steps toward a goal. That makes permissions and approval steps essential. ##### Is it safe to let AI agents act on workplace systems? It can be, with controls: agents that act only with the permissions of the person using them, per-user sign-in, a log of every action and a human approval step for consequential changes such as moves and closures. ##### What does an agentic workplace need to work? Accurate, connected data (occupancy, floor plans, directory and bookings), a standard way for agents to reach it, such as the Model Context Protocol, clear permissions, and a record of past decisions the agents can reason over. #### Related terms - [MCP (Model Context Protocol)]() An open standard that lets AI assistants use tools and data in other systems, such as booking a desk, without custom integrations. - [AI space planning]() Using AI to draft and test stack plans, seating plans and scenarios from headcount, occupancy data and floor plans. - [AI workplace assistant]() A chat-based assistant that books desks and rooms and handles workplace tasks from a plain-language request. - [Office move automation with AI]() Software and AI that recommend seats, assign people in bulk, notify them and update records for workplace moves. - [Workplace operating system]() One platform that connects daily office use (booking, check-in, visitors) with space planning, on one set of data. #### Sources 1. [Real estate’s AI reality check: 90% of companies piloting, only 5% achieved all AI goals](), JLL 2. [Introducing the Model Context Protocol](), Anthropic Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is AI space planning? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/ai-space-planning/ Description: AI space planning uses AI to draft stack and seating plans and compare scenarios from headcount, occupancy and floor plans. How it works and what to check. [Glossary]() · AI & workplace data ### What is AI space planning? Short answer AI space planning is the use of artificial intelligence to draft and test how teams are placed across buildings, floors and desks, from headcount, occupancy data, adjacency needs and floor plans. Real estate and workplace teams use it to produce stack and seating plans and compare scenarios quickly, then review and approve the result. Also called AI planning agent, AI-powered space planning, AI occupancy planning. #### How it works The inputs are the same as in manual planning: headcount by team and forecast growth, measured attendance and peak occupancy, which teams need to sit together, floor plans with desk counts, and constraints such as closed floors or fixed rooms. The difference is that the AI holds all of them at once. An optimizer or planning agent proposes a stack plan (which team goes on which floor) and then a seating plan (which desks within each floor), scoring options against goals such as keeping teams together, fitting the busiest day or minimizing moves. Planners ask questions in plain language, lock decisions they want kept and let the AI rearrange around them. Scenarios are the main output. Leaders compare, for example, releasing one floor against two, or growing a team in place against moving it, with the desks, teams and moves for each. A person approves the chosen plan before anything changes in the booking system. Results depend on the data. Plans built on headcount alone assume everyone comes in; plans built on measured occupancy size each team to how it actually uses the office. #### How to measure it 1. Check that the plan uses measured occupancy, not headcount alone. 2. Ask for the reasoning behind each placement and the trade-offs between scenarios. 3. Lock the constraints that matter, such as adjacencies and fixed rooms, before optimizing. 4. Compare the approved plan with actual occupancy after the move. #### Examples - A planner asks, 'Can Engineering take ten contractors next quarter without splitting across floors?' and gets a revised stack showing the desks and teams affected. - A company models three consolidation options, from one floor released to three, and approves the one that keeps two closely linked teams together. #### Benchmarks - In CBRE's Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights, data quality issues and lack of expertise were named as the biggest challenges, cited by 55% of respondents. [CBRE, 2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights]() #### Common mistakes - Planning from headcount instead of measured attendance. - Accepting an AI plan without seeing its reasoning or constraints. - Stopping at the plan: without scheduling and execution, the approved layout never reaches the booking system. - Letting the AI assume adjacencies nobody has confirmed with the teams. #### How Kadence helps In Kadence SpaceOps, the AI planning agent builds or changes stack and space plans from plain-language requests. Stack planning with auto-stack places teams on floors, scenario planning compares options side by side, space planning goes down to seat level on real floor plans, and guided workflows cover restacks, floor consolidation and finding space for a team. Plans use WorkOps attendance, occupancy and visitor data, export as PDFs and, once approved, publish to live neighborhoods and assignments. The SpaceOps page describes the aim as to "model, plan, stack, and execute change in hours, not weeks." [Space planning software]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Scenario planning]() · [Office space planning guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is AI space planning software? It is software that uses optimization or AI agents to place teams on floors and desks from headcount, occupancy data, floor plans and adjacency rules. Planners ask for changes in plain language, compare scenarios and approve a plan instead of redrawing it by hand. ##### Can AI replace a space planner? No. AI speeds up drafting, checking constraints and comparing scenarios. Planners still set the goals, confirm adjacencies with the teams involved, judge the trade-offs, explain the plan to stakeholders and own the recommendation to leadership. ##### What data does AI space planning need? Headcount by team with forecasts, measured attendance and peak occupancy, current floor plans and desk inventories, adjacency requirements, and constraints such as fixed rooms, closed floors and lease dates. Measured occupancy stops the plan from assuming everyone comes in every day. ##### Which companies offer AI-powered space planning tools? Workplace management platforms, integrated workplace management systems and specialist planning vendors all offer some AI features. Compare them on whether they plan from measured occupancy, show their reasoning, handle both stack and seat-level plans, and carry an approved plan through to live bookings. #### Related terms - [Stack planning]() A floor-by-floor plan of which teams occupy which floors and buildings, used to test moves and consolidations first. - [Scenario planning]() Modeling several possible futures for space, cost and teams, and comparing them side by side before committing to one. - [Agentic workplace]() A workplace where AI agents carry out tasks, such as booking space and drafting plans, with people approving decisions. - [Space planning]() Deciding how office floor area is divided and allocated, from which teams go on which floors to where each desk and room sits. - [Occupancy planning]() Deciding where people and teams will work across floors and buildings, and how much space each needs, as the organization changes. #### Sources 1. [2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights](), CBRE Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is an AI workplace assistant? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/ai-workplace-assistant/ Description: An AI workplace assistant books desks and rooms from a plain-language request in Teams, Slack or an AI assistant. How it works and what to check before rollout. [Glossary]() · AI & workplace data ### What is an AI workplace assistant? Short answer An AI workplace assistant is a conversational tool that lets employees book desks and rooms, find colleagues and handle other workplace tasks by typing or speaking a request, usually inside chat apps they already use. Organizations use it to make booking and coordination faster and to reach employees who rarely open a separate workplace app. Also called conversational booking, AI desk booking, workplace chatbot. #### How it works The assistant turns a request such as 'book me a desk near my team on Thursday' into actions in the workplace system: it checks availability, applies booking rules, picks a desk and confirms. Follow-up messages narrow the request, for example a room for six with video at ten. It lives where people already work: Microsoft Teams, Slack, a mobile app, or a general AI assistant connected through the Model Context Protocol. That matters more than the language model, because adoption depends on not asking people to open another tool. The assistant acts with the employee's own permissions and the organization's booking rules, so it cannot book spaces the person could not book themselves. Good assistants say what they did, and the booking appears in the same system, calendar and reports as any other. #### How to measure it 1. Share of bookings made through the assistant, by team. 2. Time to complete a booking compared with the app. 3. Requests the assistant could not complete, reviewed monthly to find gaps. #### Examples - An employee in Slack types 'desk near the product team Wednesday' and gets a confirmed desk two seats from a teammate. - A manager in Microsoft Teams books a room for five and desks for a visiting team in one request. #### Common mistakes - Launching a separate AI app instead of meeting people in Teams, Slack or the assistant they already use. - Letting the assistant bypass booking rules, booking credits or neighborhood assignments. - Measuring success by chat volume rather than by bookings completed and time saved. #### How Kadence helps Kadence AI books desks and rooms by chat inside Microsoft Teams and Slack, using the same booking rules and calendar sync as the rest of Kadence. For AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot, the Kadence MCP server (early access, enabled by an admin) adds desk, room, parking and visitor booking and check-in with each user's existing permissions. [Kadence AI]() · [Microsoft Teams]() · [Slack]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What can an AI workplace assistant do? Typical tasks are booking desks, rooms and parking, finding when teammates are in, inviting visitors and changing or cancelling bookings. The best assistants work inside chat tools people already use and follow the same rules as the booking system. ##### What is AI desk booking? AI desk booking lets an employee book a desk by asking in plain language, for example for a desk near their team on a certain day. The assistant checks availability and booking rules, picks a suitable desk and confirms the booking. ##### Does an AI workplace assistant train on company data? It depends on the vendor. Ask whether customer data is used for training, where data is processed, whether the assistant acts with each user's own permissions, and whether it can be switched off for teams that do not want it. ##### What is the difference between an AI workplace assistant and an MCP integration? An AI workplace assistant is built into the workplace product or its chat apps. An MCP integration lets general assistants, such as Claude or Copilot, reach the same workplace tools, so people can book space from the assistant they already use for other work. #### Related terms - [MCP (Model Context Protocol)]() An open standard that lets AI assistants use tools and data in other systems, such as booking a desk, without custom integrations. - [Agentic workplace]() A workplace where AI agents carry out tasks, such as booking space and drafting plans, with people approving decisions. - [Microsoft Teams and Slack booking]() Booking desks and rooms, seeing who is in and checking in from inside Microsoft Teams or Slack. - [Desk booking system]() Software that lets employees find and reserve a desk before they come in, check in on arrival and free desks nobody uses. - [Workspace booking]() Reserving any bookable space at work, such as desks, rooms, lockers, pods, parking or coworking space, from one system. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What are anchor days in hybrid work? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/anchor-days/ Description: Anchor days are set days when a team or company agrees to be in the office together. How they work, how to choose them and how they change space planning. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What are anchor days in hybrid work? Short answer Anchor days are set days of the week when a team, department or whole company agrees to be in the office together, while the remaining days stay flexible. Hybrid organizations use them to make sure colleagues overlap in person, and workplace teams use them to predict demand for desks, meeting rooms and neighborhoods. Also called anchor day, core days, core office days. #### How it works An anchor day turns a vague expectation into a shared plan. Instead of asking everyone to come in on some days, the team agrees which days it will be together, for example Tuesday and Wednesday, and schedules meetings, reviews and social time on those days. People keep the other days for focused or remote work. Anchor days can be set at different levels. Company-wide anchors make it easy to hold all-hands and cross-team meetings but concentrate the whole workforce on the same days. Team-level anchors spread demand across the week because different teams choose different days, which usually makes better use of the floor. Because anchor days are predictable, they drive space planning. Workplace teams can reserve a neighborhood for each team on its anchor days, size meeting rooms for the meetings that land there, and check that the busiest anchor day still fits. Attendance on anchor days is also a direct measure of whether the arrangement is working. #### How to measure it 1. Track attendance on each team's anchor days separately from other days. 2. Check peak-day occupancy when several teams share the same anchors; staggered anchors lower the peak. 3. Ask teams whether their anchor days include the activities that need people together, not only desk work. #### Examples - Engineering anchors on Tuesday and Thursday and sales on Monday and Wednesday, so the floor is busy on four days without overflowing on any of them. - A company keeps Wednesday as a company-wide anchor for an all-hands and lunch, and lets each team add one anchor day of its own. #### Benchmarks - Tuesday and Wednesday were the peak in-office days across most regions in Kadence's November 2024 booking data. [Kadence Hybrid Pulse Check]() #### Common mistakes - Giving every team the same anchor days, which creates a midweek crush and empty Mondays and Fridays. - Setting anchor days without a reason to be together, so people commute to join video calls. - Not reserving space for teams on their anchor days, so colleagues cannot sit together. #### How Kadence helps In Kadence, managers set recurring team days with Team Kadence, choosing the days, the location and the neighborhood. Team members get smart suggestions to book on those days, and the Neighborhood Scheduler assigns neighborhoods to teams by date so each team has space on its anchor days. Workplace Insights shows attendance and occupancy by day. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [People coordination]() · [Workplace occupancy]() · [Hybrid work policy template]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is an anchor day? An anchor day is a set day of the week when a team or company agrees to be in the office together. It gives hybrid workers a fixed point to plan around, so collaboration, meetings and social time happen when the right people are present, while the other days stay flexible. ##### How many anchor days should a team have? Most teams choose between one and three anchor days a week, depending on how much of their work needs people together. Start with fewer, make each one useful, and add more only if the team asks for them or attendance data shows the days are full of work that benefits from being in person. ##### What is the difference between anchor days and team days? The terms overlap. Anchor days usually describe fixed weekly days set by a company or department as the backbone of a hybrid policy. Team days are the days a specific team chooses to be in together, weekly or monthly. A team's team days often serve as its anchor days. ##### Do anchor days reduce the office space you need? They can. When different teams anchor on different days, demand spreads across the week and the office can be sized for a lower peak. When every team anchors on the same days, the peak rises and you may need more space than a flexible pattern would. #### Related terms - [Team days]() A recurring day when a hybrid team agrees to be in the office together, usually set by the team or its manager. - [Office attendance policy]() A rule that sets how often employees are expected in the office, such as a number of days per week or month. - [Hybrid coordination]() The work of getting the right people into the office on the same days and giving them the right space when they arrive. - [Peak occupancy]() The busiest level of use a floor or building reaches in a normal week, which sets the capacity you actually need. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is an assigned desk? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/assigned-desk/ Description: An assigned desk is reserved for one person, permanently or on set days. When assigned desks make sense in a hybrid office, how to manage them and mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is an assigned desk? Short answer An assigned desk is a desk reserved for one specific person, either permanently or on set days of the week, rather than shared through hot desking or booking. Hybrid offices keep assigned desks for people who come in most days, need special equipment or handle sensitive work, and share the rest. Also called fixed desk, permanent desk, dedicated desk. #### How it works A permanent assignment gives one person the desk every day. A scheduled assignment gives the person the desk on set days, such as their team days, and frees it for others the rest of the week. In a booking system, assigned desks appear on the floor plan with the owner's name. The owner does not need to book, only to check in. When the owner cancels, is on leave or does not check in, the desk can be released to someone else, which stops assigned desks from sitting empty. Most hybrid offices mix models. Assigned desks go to people with fixed routines, accessibility needs, specialist equipment or confidential work; everyone else books shared desks, often inside their team's neighborhood. #### How to measure it 1. Occupancy of assigned desks compared with shared desks. 2. Days per week each assigned desk is actually used, from check-in data. 3. How often released assigned desks are rebooked by others. #### Examples - A trader with a multi-screen setup keeps a permanent desk, while the rest of the team books desks in its neighborhood. - A manager gives each team member the same desk on Tuesday and Thursday, their team days, and the desks are bookable by anyone on other days. #### Common mistakes - Handing out assigned desks by seniority rather than by need and attendance. - Never checking whether assigned desks are used; many sit empty most days. - Not releasing assigned desks when their owners are away. #### How Kadence helps Kadence manages permanent desks and day-based assignments with the Assigned Desk Schedule, alongside bookable desks and team neighborhoods on the same floor plan. Owners check in without booking, and cancelled or unused assigned desks can be released to others. On WorkOps Pro, Move Manager and the HRIS integration seat new starters and remove leavers automatically. [Desk booking software]() · [WorkOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do I assign permanent desks in a hybrid workplace? Start from attendance data. Give permanent desks to people who come in most days or need specific equipment, and use scheduled assignments for people with fixed team days. Put assigned and shared desks on the same floor plan, and release assigned desks when their owners are away. ##### What is the difference between an assigned desk and hot desking? An assigned desk belongs to one person, permanently or on set days. Hot desking shares desks first come, first served, with no owner. Many offices combine the two: assigned desks for fixed routines and shared desks for everyone else. ##### Do assigned desks help people feel they belong? A fixed desk can feel like a place in the organization, but belonging comes more from regular time with the team. Neighborhoods, team days and seeing who is in can give the same sense of home without a desk that sits empty most of the week. #### Related terms - [Hot desking and hoteling]() Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. - [Desk ratio (desk sharing ratio)]() The number of people assigned to a workplace for each desk, set from peak attendance and policy. - [Space allocation]() Deciding which people, teams and activities get which desks, zones and rooms, and whether each is assigned, shared or bookable. - [Office seating chart]() A map or list of who sits where in an office, showing assigned desks, team areas and shared seats. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How many days a week should employees be in the office? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/attendance-policy/ Description: An office attendance policy sets how often employees should be in the office. Common forms, how many days organizations choose and how to measure compliance. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### How many days a week should employees be in the office? Short answer An office attendance policy is a rule that sets how often employees are expected to work from the office, usually as a number of days per week or a share of working time. HR and workplace leaders use it to create predictable overlap for collaboration and to plan the desks, rooms and floors the office needs. Also called in-office days, days-per-week policy, attendance mandate, three days a week in office. #### How it works Attendance policies take a few forms: a minimum number of days per week, a share of time over a month or quarter, named days such as Tuesday to Thursday, or team-set days with a company-wide minimum. Some add rules on which days may be remote, such as no remote Mondays or Fridays. The number of days matters less than whether the right people overlap. Two days a week that a team agrees together often produce more collaboration than three days chosen at random. For that reason many organizations pair a minimum with anchor days or team days, so attendance clusters around the people who need each other. Compliance is measured from presence data: check-ins, badge swipes, network presence or bookings. Each signal has limits. Bookings show intent, badges show entry but not duration, and none of them show whether time in the office was useful. Workplace teams usually report attendance by team and weekday and read it next to occupancy and employee feedback. #### How to measure it 1. Report the share of people meeting the policy by team, not only the company average. 2. Use check-ins or network presence rather than bookings alone, so no-shows do not count as attendance. 3. Decide in advance what counts as a day in the office, for example whether a short visit or a parking booking counts. 4. Track which weekdays are busiest; policies with open day choice usually concentrate attendance midweek. #### Examples - A company requires three days a week but lets each team choose which three, and publishes team days in the booking app. - A professional body sets a minimum share of office time over a month instead of fixed days, so people can cluster their time around projects. #### Benchmarks - RCS England's policy required staff in the office 20% of the time, and many were not meeting it before the college introduced desk booking and team coordination. [Kadence customer story: RCS England]() - Kadence booking data from over 500 companies showed that, in November 2024, US hybrid work had settled at two office days per week. [Kadence Hybrid Pulse Check]() - Among Fortune 500 companies, full-time requirements jumped from 13% to 24% in two quarters, and required office days rose from 2.3 to 2.9 on average. [Kadence guide: Return to office (citing the Q2 2025 Flex Index Report)]() #### Common mistakes - Setting a day count without a purpose for office time, which produces presence without collaboration. - Counting bookings as attendance, which overstates compliance when people book and do not come. - Sizing the office to the policy on paper rather than to measured peak days. - Enforcing attendance so rigidly that everyone clusters on the same days and overloads the floor. #### How Kadence helps Kadence records attendance from check-ins: automatic check-in by the Kadence Agent on the office network, check-ins from badge data, kiosks or room displays, and Automatic Bookings for people who arrive without a booking. Admins choose what counts as in-office, Workplace Insights reports attendance and average weekly hours, and Insights Plus custom dashboards (WorkOps Pro or add-on) include policy compliance reporting. [Workplace analytics]() · [Workplace occupancy]() · [RCS England story]() · [Hybrid work policy template]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How many days a week should employees be in the office? There is no single right number. It depends on how much your teams rely on working together, the purpose of office time and the space you have. Many organizations settle on two or three days, but coordinated days matter more than the count: fewer days that teams share usually beat more days chosen at random. ##### Is three days a week in the office normal? Three days a week is a widely used expectation, especially in structured hybrid models at large organizations, but measured attendance often runs below the written policy. Before adopting it, check whether your office can hold the peak day at that level and whether teams will use the days together. ##### How do companies track office attendance? Companies track attendance with badge data, desk and room check-ins, presence on the office network and bookings. Each has gaps: bookings show intent rather than presence, and badges show entry but not how long someone stayed. Combining signals, and reporting by team rather than by individual, gives a more accurate and less intrusive picture. ##### What is the difference between an attendance policy and a hybrid work policy? An attendance policy sets how often people are expected in the office. A hybrid work policy is broader: it covers why the organization works hybrid, eligibility, how teams coordinate, booking rules, meeting norms, manager duties and how success is measured. The attendance rule is one section of the hybrid work policy. #### Related terms - [Hybrid work policy]() The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured. - [Office attendance rate]() The share of employees, or of expected office days, that people actually spend in the office, measured from presence data. - [Anchor days]() Set days each week when a team or company agrees to be in the office together, with the other days flexible. - [Return to office (RTO)]() An employer requirement that remote or hybrid staff spend more time in the office, either full time or on set days. - [Coffee badging]() Badging into the office to register attendance, staying briefly, often for a coffee, then leaving to work elsewhere. - [Hybrid policy compliance]() Reporting on whether individuals and teams meet the organization's in-office expectations over time, such as 45 of 52 weeks. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is auto-release in room and desk booking? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/auto-release/ Description: Auto-release frees a desk or room when nobody checks in within a grace period. How it works, how to set grace periods, what to measure and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is auto-release in room and desk booking? Short answer Auto-release is a booking rule that automatically cancels a desk, room or other space reservation when nobody checks in within a set grace period after the start time. Workplace teams use it to return unused bookings to the pool, reduce ghost bookings and make availability and occupancy data reflect how space is really used. Also called room release, booking release, desk release, automatic release. #### How it works Each bookable space has a check-in window. If the person or organizer checks in by app, room display, QR code, badge or network presence, the booking stands. If the window closes with no check-in, the system cancels the booking, updates the calendar and shows the space as free. Grace periods are set by space type and location. Meeting rooms usually get short windows, because a room held for an absent meeting blocks a whole group. Desks can get longer windows to allow for commutes. Assigned desks can be released on days the owner is away or has cancelled. Auto-release depends on reliable check-in. If check-in is manual and people forget, rooms get released while in use. Automatic check-in from the network, badges or sensors, and a prompt on the room display, keep false releases rare. #### How to measure it 1. Released bookings as a share of all bookings, by space type and team. 2. How often released rooms and desks are rebooked the same day. 3. False releases: complaints from people whose booking was released while they were there. 4. Repeated no-shows on recurring bookings. #### Examples - A weekly meeting stops happening but stays in calendars; the room is auto-released each week until the organizer ends the series. - An employee's assigned desk is released on the days they are on leave, and a visiting colleague books it. #### Common mistakes - Turning on auto-release without an easy way to check in, which releases rooms that are in use. - Using one grace period for every space type. - Letting recurring bookings survive repeated no-shows. - Not telling people that auto-release exists, so a released booking feels like a system error. #### How Kadence helps Kadence auto-releases desk, room and other space bookings that are not checked in, with check-in windows set by admins. Kadence Room Displays (WorkOps Pro) enforce check-in at the door and release no-shows, and the Kadence Agent checks people in automatically from the office network so people who are present are not released. No-shows appear in Workplace Insights. [Room booking software]() · [Desk booking software]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [Desk booking policy template]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does room release mean? Room release means a booked meeting room is cancelled and returned to availability, either by the organizer or automatically when nobody checks in within the grace period. Automatic room release stops rooms from showing as busy when they are empty. ##### How long should the auto-release grace period be? Long enough for someone running a little late, and short enough that others can still use the space. Meeting rooms usually get a window of several minutes after the start time, while desks often get longer to cover commutes. Review release and complaint data and adjust by space type. ##### Does auto-release work without sensors? Yes. Check-in can come from a room display, the booking app, a QR code, badge data or presence on the office network. Sensors are one more signal, not a requirement. ##### What is the difference between auto-release and a no-show? A no-show is a booking where nobody turned up. Auto-release is the rule that frees the space when a no-show is detected. The no-show rate measures the problem; auto-release limits its cost. #### Related terms - [Ghost booking]() A desk or room that is booked but never used, so it shows as taken while it sits empty. - [No-show rate]() The share of desk and room bookings nobody checks in to, which makes space look busier than it is. - [Desk check-in]() Confirming that you are at the desk or room you booked, by app, QR code, badge or Wi-Fi presence, so unused bookings can be released. - [Meeting room display]() A screen at a meeting room that shows live availability and lets people book, check in and release the room at the door. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is badge data, and how is it used to measure occupancy? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/badge-data/ Description: Badge data is the record of access-control swipes at building and floor doors. How it measures attendance and occupancy, where it falls short and what to add. [Glossary]() · AI & workplace data ### What is badge data, and how is it used to measure occupancy? Short answer Badge data is the record of access-control card or mobile-credential swipes at building and floor doors, showing who entered, where and when. Workplace, security and HR teams use it to measure office attendance and building occupancy because it is already collected, although it shows entry, not which desks or rooms people used. Also called access control data, badge swipe data, badge-in data. #### How it works Every swipe creates an event: credential, reader, door and timestamp. Rolled up by day, the events show how many people entered each building and, where floors have readers, which floors they reached. Linked to the directory, they show attendance by team. Badge data has known gaps. People tailgate through doors behind a colleague, many buildings record entry but not exit, landlord-run systems may not share data with tenants, and a swipe says nothing about which desk or room someone used or how long they stayed. It works best combined with other signals. Badge arrivals confirm building attendance; desk and room check-ins or office network presence add where people went. Badge events can also trigger automatic check-ins, so a booking is confirmed when its holder enters the building. #### How to measure it 1. Confirm you can get the data; landlord systems often need an agreement and an export. 2. Count unique people per day, not swipes, and decide how to treat repeat entries. 3. Map readers to buildings and floors before reporting floor-level figures. 4. Report in aggregate by team and building, and restrict access to individual swipe histories. #### Examples - Badge data shows 400 unique arrivals on Tuesday while desk check-ins show 310: some people used unbookable spaces or skipped check-in. - A company sends badge events to its workplace platform so people are checked in to their booked desks automatically on arrival. #### Benchmarks - In CBRE's benchmarking, 71% of organizations with hybrid programs requiring office presence monitor attendance, mainly through badge swipes, sensors and VPN logins. [CBRE, The Hybrid Reality (2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights)]() #### Common mistakes - Treating badge entries as desk or room occupancy. - Counting swipes rather than unique people. - Ignoring tailgating and entry-only readers when comparing buildings. - Using swipe histories to discipline individuals without a clear, communicated policy. #### How Kadence helps Kadence can take check-ins from badge data, alongside the apps, kiosks, room displays, the Kadence Agent on the office network and the public API. Outbound webhooks send Kadence events to other systems, such as security or badge tools. Workplace Insights reports attendance and occupancy from all check-ins together. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Integrations]() · [Workplace analytics]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How is badge data used to measure occupancy? Unique badge-ins per day show how many people entered a building, and floor readers show which floors they reached. Divided by capacity, that gives building-level occupancy. For desk and room use, you still need check-ins or other space-level data. ##### Is badge data accurate enough to measure office occupancy? It is a good measure of building entry, with gaps: tailgating, missing exit reads and landlord systems that do not share data. Combine it with office network presence or check-ins to confirm attendance and see where people worked. ##### Can badge data count as working-time records? Usually not on its own. Badge systems show entry and sometimes exit, not breaks, overtime or remote work. Where law requires working-time records, as in the EU, employers need a system designed for that purpose. Check requirements with legal advisers. ##### Is using badge data for attendance legal? Generally yes, if employees are told how it is used and the use is proportionate. Data protection rules, and in some countries works councils, may require a stated purpose, limited access and retention periods. Take advice for each country. ##### What is a better alternative to badge data for tracking office attendance? Most teams add to badge data rather than replace it. Office network presence and desk or room check-ins show who stayed and where they worked, which badge swipes cannot. This matters most when security owns the badge system and shares data late or not at all, or when each office runs a different access system. #### Related terms - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Occupancy sensor]() A device that detects whether a desk, room or zone is in use, or counts the people in it, usually anonymously. - [Office attendance rate]() The share of employees, or of expected office days, that people actually spend in the office, measured from presence data. - [Coffee badging]() Badging into the office to register attendance, staying briefly, often for a coffee, then leaving to work elsewhere. - [Working time recording]() The EU requirement that employers run an objective, reliable and accessible system to record each worker's daily working time. #### Sources 1. [The Hybrid Reality: Why the Office Is More Important Than Ever](), CBRE Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a block plan, and how is it different from a stack plan? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/block-plan/ Description: A block plan assigns teams to zones on a single floor. How it differs from a stack plan, how blocking and stacking fit together, and common mistakes to avoid. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is a block plan, and how is it different from a stack plan? Short answer A block plan is a floor-level layout that assigns each team or department to a zone of a single floor, drawn as blocks of space rather than individual desks. Space planners use it after the stack plan to place teams near the colleagues and resources they need, before any seat-level assignment. Also called blocking and stacking, block planning, blocking plan. #### How it works Blocking and stacking are two steps of the same process. The stack plan decides which floor each team goes on. The block plan then works on one floor at a time, dividing it into areas and giving each team a block sized to its needs, with shared spaces such as meeting rooms, focus rooms and amenities placed around them. Each block is sized from the team's seat requirement, usually peak-day attendance plus a buffer for hybrid teams, and placed by adjacency: teams that work together sit next to each other, and teams that need quiet sit away from busy circulation and social areas. Fixed elements such as cores, windows, columns and existing rooms shape where blocks can go. An approved block plan sets the boundaries for neighborhoods and seat-level plans. Desks are assigned or made bookable inside each block, so a later change in one team can often be absorbed within its block without redrawing the floor. #### How to measure it 1. Compare each block's seats with the team's peak-day attendance; a large gap means the block is oversized. 2. Check that each block is near the room types its team uses most, such as small meeting rooms or focus booths. 3. Record which adjacency requests the plan meets and which it does not, so trade-offs are visible. #### Examples - On a floor of 180 desks, the block plan gives Engineering the quiet east wing, Sales the area near the elevators and Product a block between them, with shared meeting rooms at the boundaries. - A team that grows by a few people expands into an adjoining flexible block instead of triggering a new stack plan. #### Common mistakes - Drawing blocks from headcount rather than attendance, which gives hybrid teams far more floor than they use. - Skipping the stack step and blocking floors one at a time, which can leave related teams on different floors. - Filling every square foot, which leaves no flexible block for growth or for teams in transition. #### How Kadence helps Kadence SpaceOps takes a stack plan down to seat-level layouts on real floor plans, and floor plans can be imported and edited in the browser. In WorkOps, team neighborhoods turn each block into a zone on the interactive floor plan, where people book or are assigned desks, and the Neighborhood Scheduler assigns teams to neighborhoods by date on floors that rotate. [SpaceOps]() · [Space management]() · [Office space planning guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between a block plan and a stack plan? A stack plan works vertically across a building and decides which floor each team occupies. A block plan works within one floor and decides which area of that floor each team gets. Stacking comes first; blocking follows. ##### What does blocking and stacking mean? Blocking and stacking is the two-step space planning process of assigning teams to floors (stacking) and then to zones on each floor (blocking). It is used for new offices, relocations and restacks, and it produces the brief for the detailed seat-level layout. ##### When do you need a block plan? Whenever a floor will hold more than one team, and especially when moving into new space, restacking a building or setting up neighborhoods for hybrid teams. The block plan settles which team sits where on the floor before anyone discusses individual desks. ##### Who creates a block plan? Usually the in-house space planner or workplace team, sometimes with an architect or interior designer for a new fit-out. Team leaders supply their requirements and adjacency needs, and real estate or finance approves the result when it affects cost. #### Related terms - [Stack planning]() A floor-by-floor plan of which teams occupy which floors and buildings, used to test moves and consolidations first. - [Team adjacency]() Placing teams that work closely together near each other, and keeping those links intact through every move. - [Space planning]() Deciding how office floor area is divided and allocated, from which teams go on which floors to where each desk and room sits. - [Floor plate]() The area and shape of one floor of a building, which sets how many people, rooms and teams fit on it. - [Test fit]() A quick draft layout that checks whether a space program fits a specific building before a lease is signed. - [Plan of record]() The approved, current version of a stack, block or move plan that every team works from. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What are BOMA standards? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/boma-standards/ Description: BOMA standards are the Building Owners and Managers Association methods for measuring office floor area. What they cover, how rentable area works and mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What are BOMA standards? Short answer BOMA standards are the Building Owners and Managers Association methods for measuring office floor area, used in leases, benchmarks and space reporting. Landlords, tenants, brokers and space planners use them so that everyone calculates rentable and usable area the same way, because rentable area is a key figure in office leasing. Also called BOMA measurement standards, BOMA floor measurement standards, ANSI/BOMA Z65.1. #### How it works BOMA International publishes measurement standards for several building types, including office, industrial, retail, multi-family and mixed-use properties. The office standard, ANSI/BOMA Z65.1, is mainly used to calculate rentable area, which BOMA calls a crucial metric in office leasing. It also gives area figures for space utilization analysis, valuation, benchmarking and allocating building costs. The method separates the area a tenant occupies (usable area) from the shared areas of the building, such as lobbies and corridors, and allocates a share of those common areas to each tenant. The result is rentable area. The ratio between rentable and usable area, often called the load factor, shows how much space a tenant pays for but cannot use directly. The standards change over time. BOMA published its first office standard in 1915, and the current office edition is BOMA 2024 for Office Buildings. Because editions differ, two measurements of the same floor can give different results, so leases should name the edition used. BOMA is also a founding member of the coalition behind the International Property Measurement Standards (IPMS). #### How to measure it 1. Check which BOMA edition and method each lease uses before comparing sites. 2. Use usable area for space planning and rentable area for cost comparisons, and label which one each report uses. 3. Ask for the measurement report behind any area figure in a lease or offer. #### Examples - Two floors with the same usable area carry different rents because their buildings have different load factors. - A tenant has its space remeasured before renewal and finds the rentable area was calculated under an older edition. #### Benchmarks - BOMA published its first office measurement standard in 1915. [BOMA International, BOMA Standards]() - BOMA's current office standard is BOMA 2024 for Office Buildings (ANSI/BOMA Z65.1-2024). [BOMA International, BOMA Standards]() #### Common mistakes - Comparing cost per square foot across sites measured under different standards or editions. - Planning seats from rentable area, which includes common space nobody can sit in. - Assuming a BOMA measurement matches an IPMS measurement or a local standard. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does BOMA stand for? The Building Owners and Managers Association. BOMA International publishes area measurement standards that are used in many real estate markets across the United States, Canada and internationally, and it is the American National Standards Institute secretariat for them. ##### What is the difference between rentable and usable area under BOMA? Usable area is the space a tenant occupies. Rentable area adds a share of the building's common areas, such as lobbies and shared corridors. Office rent is usually charged on rentable area, so the gap between the two matters to tenants. ##### Which BOMA standard applies to offices? The office standard, BOMA for Office Buildings: Standard Methods of Measurement. BOMA also publishes separate standards for industrial, retail, multi-family and mixed-use properties and for gross areas. Leases should name the edition used. #### Related terms - [Rentable vs usable square feet]() Usable area is the space a tenant occupies; rentable area adds a share of common areas, and rent is charged on it. - [Floor plate]() The area and shape of one floor of a building, which sets how many people, rooms and teams fit on it. - [Space per person]() Office floor area divided by the number of people it serves, in square feet or square meters per person. - [Lease management]() Tracking lease terms, critical dates, costs and obligations across a portfolio, and linking them to how each site is used. - [Total occupancy cost]() Everything an organization spends to occupy a workplace in a year: rent, operating costs, utilities, services and fit-out. - [CAD / DWG floor plans]() Architectural drawing files that provide the accurate geometry behind digital and interactive floor plans. #### Sources 1. [BOMA Standards](), BOMA International Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is the difference between bookable and non-bookable space? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/bookable-vs-non-bookable-space/ Description: Bookable vs non-bookable space separates spaces people reserve from first-come, first-served ones. Which spaces to make bookable and how to measure both. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is the difference between bookable and non-bookable space? Short answer Bookable vs non-bookable space is separating spaces people can reserve from those that stay first-come, first-served (lockers, phone booths), while still showing both on the map. Workplace teams make this choice for each type of space, so that scarce or planned space is shared fairly and short, casual use stays quick. Also called bookable space, non-bookable space, first-come, first-served space. #### How it works Each space type gets a rule. Desks for full days and meeting rooms for planned meetings are usually bookable. Phone booths, focus pods, lockers, landing pad desks and informal seating are often left first-come, first-served, because booking them takes longer than using them. Showing both kinds on the floor plan helps people find what they need without booking anything. A person looking for a quiet place to take a call can see where the phone booths are, even though they cannot reserve one. The split affects data. Bookable space has bookings, check-ins and no-shows. Non-bookable space needs presence signals, such as sensors or check-ins, or it disappears from utilization reports. #### How to measure it 1. List every space type and record whether it is bookable, assigned or first-come, first-served. 2. Measure non-bookable space with presence data so it appears in utilization reports. 3. Review the split when a non-bookable space is always full or a bookable one is rarely booked. #### Examples - Desks and meeting rooms are bookable; phone booths and café seating are first-come, first-served but shown on the map. - Lockers are first-come, first-served at a small site but bookable at headquarters, where demand is higher. #### Common mistakes - Making every space bookable, which adds steps to short, casual use. - Leaving non-bookable space off the map, so people do not know it exists. - Leaving non-bookable space out of utilization data and then cutting it. #### How Kadence helps Kadence lets admins make desks, rooms, lockers, pods, parking and private offices bookable, and floor plan search helps people find a person, desk or room. Admins choose whether lockers and parking count toward attendance, and Automatic Bookings records people who turn up without a booking. [Space management]() · [Desk booking software]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### Which office spaces should be bookable? Spaces people plan around: desks for full days, meeting rooms, and anything scarce, such as parking or private offices. Spaces used briefly and on impulse, such as phone booths, usually work better as first-come, first-served. ##### Should phone booths be bookable? Usually not. Calls are short and often unplanned, so a booking step slows people down and leads to booths that are booked but empty. Some offices make a few booths bookable for long calls and leave the rest open. ##### How do you measure use of non-bookable space? With presence signals rather than bookings: occupancy sensors, QR code or kiosk check-ins, or network presence for the area. Without them, non-bookable space looks unused in reports, even when it is busy every day. #### Related terms - [Workspace booking]() Reserving any bookable space at work, such as desks, rooms, lockers, pods, parking or coworking space, from one system. - [Workspace types]() The settings an office offers, such as desks, focus rooms, phone booths, huddle rooms and lounges, each suited to a kind of work. - [Landing pad]() A small set of drop-in desks for short stays, visiting colleagues or people between meetings, with no booking required. - [Interactive floor plan]() A live, clickable map of an office that shows desks, rooms and people, and lets employees book space and find colleagues. - [Walk-in usage]() Desks or rooms used without a booking. If it isn't captured, utilization reports undercount real demand. - [Hot desking and hoteling]() Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What should a desk and room booking policy include? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/booking-policy/ Description: A booking policy sets the rules for shared desks and rooms: booking windows, maximum durations, check-in, release and priority. What to include and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What should a desk and room booking policy include? Short answer A booking policy is the set of rules that governs how employees reserve shared desks, meeting rooms and other spaces: who can book what, how far in advance, for how long, how much at once, when check-in is required and when unused bookings are released. Workplace teams use it to keep access fair and data accurate. Also called booking rules, booking window, maximum booking duration, booking credits, priority booking, desk booking etiquette. #### How it works A good policy answers a short list of questions. Who can book each space type and neighborhood? How far ahead can they book (the booking window)? What are the maximum and default durations? How much can one person hold, and how far can recurring bookings run? Is check-in required, and how long is the grace period? Most rules are enforced by the booking system rather than by memo: booking windows, maximum and default durations, booking credits, priority access for chosen teams, end dates for recurring bookings and auto-release. Write down which rules apply everywhere and which vary by site, so people know what to expect when they visit another office. The etiquette part covers what software cannot: cancel when plans change, do not book for colleagues who may not come, clear the desk at the end of the day and keep quiet in quiet zones. Publish both parts on one short page and explain what booking data is used for. #### How to measure it 1. No-show rate before and after a rule change. 2. Share of bookings made by people on behalf of others. 3. Refused bookings and complaints about popular spaces. 4. How often admins override the rules. #### Examples - A company sets a two-week booking window for desks, a one-day window for its most popular rooms and a four-hour maximum on focus pods. - A policy gives the sales team priority access to its neighborhood on Mondays before the zone opens to everyone else. #### Common mistakes - Writing rules nobody enforces instead of configuring them in the booking system. - Setting windows so long that a few people claim popular desks weeks ahead. - Adding so many rules that nobody remembers them. - Not explaining the purpose of booking, which feeds suspicion that it tracks attendance. #### How Kadence helps Kadence enforces booking policy in the product: maximum and default booking durations, a fixed window for how far ahead people can book, booking credits that cap how much space a person or team can book, priority booking access for chosen teams, recurring booking end-date controls, and check-in with auto-release of unused bookings. [Desk booking software]() · [Space management]() · [Desk booking policy template]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a desk sharing policy? A desk sharing policy explains how shared desks work: how to book, how far ahead, how long a booking can last, when to check in, what happens to unused bookings, what a clear desk means and which teams have zones or priority. It sets fair rules for everyone who shares desks. ##### What is priority booking? Priority booking lets selected teams or people book certain spaces, such as a team neighborhood, before those spaces open to everyone else. It helps teams that need to sit together on set days get the space they need. ##### What is desk booking etiquette? Book only what you will use, cancel as soon as plans change, check in when you arrive, do not hold desks for colleagues who might not come, clear the desk when you leave and respect quiet zones. ##### How far in advance should employees be able to book desks? Far enough to plan office days with teammates, but not so far that bookings become guesses. Many organizations allow one to a few weeks for desks and shorter windows for scarce spaces, then adjust based on no-show data. #### Related terms - [Auto-release]() A booking rule that frees a desk or room automatically when nobody checks in within a set grace period. - [Desk booking system]() Software that lets employees find and reserve a desk before they come in, check in on arrival and free desks nobody uses. - [Hot desking and hoteling]() Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in. - [Fixed vs rolling booking window]() A rolling window opens one new day each day, always the same distance ahead; a fixed window opens a whole period at once on a set day. - [Closure management]() Blocking desks, rooms or floors for maintenance, events or emergencies, and automatically notifying or moving affected bookings. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What are building operations? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/building-operations/ Description: Building operations is the daily running of a building's systems and services. What it covers, how it links to BOE and which measures matter. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What are building operations? Short answer Building operations is the day-to-day running of a building's physical systems and services, including heating, ventilation and air conditioning, lighting, access control, security, lifts and maintenance. Owners, property managers and facilities teams run it to keep buildings safe, comfortable and efficient, and increasingly combine it with workplace experience and property management. Also called building operations and experience, BOE, building ops. #### How it works Building operations teams run equipment on schedules and respond to faults. A building management system (BMS) monitors and controls systems such as heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting in real time, while maintenance teams carry out planned and reactive work. Data drives efficiency. Sensors and meters report temperature, air quality, energy use and, in some buildings, occupancy. When operations teams know which floors are in use on which days, they can run heating, cooling and lighting to match rather than to a fixed timetable. Building operations and experience (BOE) is a newer framing that joins building operations with workplace experience and property management, so decisions about systems, services and the occupant experience are made together. CBRE created a business segment under that name when it agreed to acquire the flexible workplace provider Industrious in January 2025. #### How to measure it 1. Energy use per square foot, compared across floors and days with different occupancy. 2. The balance of planned and reactive maintenance, and time to resolve faults. 3. Comfort complaints and service requests by floor. 4. Occupancy by floor and day, so system schedules follow real use. #### Examples - An occupier that concentrates office days midweek shuts down heating and lighting on two quiet floors on Mondays and Fridays. - A landlord combines building management system data with tenant feedback from its building app to decide which upgrades come first. #### Benchmarks - CBRE's Building Operations & Experience segment comprises its entire global property and corporate facilities management portfolio of 7+ billion square feet. [CBRE press release: CBRE Group to Acquire Industrious, Create New Business Segment]() #### Common mistakes - Running building systems to a fixed schedule when attendance varies by day. - Keeping building data and workplace booking data in separate silos. - Measuring comfort only through complaints. #### How Kadence helps Kadence does not control building systems. It supplies the occupancy side: check-in and presence data by building, floor and day in Workplace Insights, available through CSV export, the public REST API and outbound webhooks, so facilities and building teams can align services with real attendance. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Workplace API]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is BOE in real estate? BOE stands for building operations and experience. It joins building operations, workplace experience and property management into one approach, so a building is run as a service to the people in it rather than only as an asset to maintain. CBRE formed a business segment with this name when it agreed to acquire Industrious. ##### What is the difference between building operations and facilities management? Building operations focuses on the physical systems: heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, lifts, access control and their maintenance. Facilities management is broader and also covers soft services such as cleaning, catering, reception and security staffing, plus space and moves. ##### What does a building operations manager do? A building operations manager keeps the building's systems safe, compliant and efficient. The role schedules planned maintenance, responds to faults, manages contractors, watches energy use and building management system alerts, and works with tenants or workplace teams on comfort and service issues. ##### How does occupancy data help building operations? Occupancy data shows which floors and zones are used on which days and hours. Building teams use it to schedule heating, cooling, lighting and cleaning to match real use, close quiet floors on low days and plan maintenance for when areas are empty. #### Related terms - [Facilities management (FM)]() The function that keeps buildings and their services working: maintenance, cleaning, security, catering, energy, safety and space. - [Smart office]() A workplace that uses connected tools and data, from booking and room displays to presence and building controls, to fit real use. - [Workplace experience (WX)]() How employees experience the office and its services, from finding a desk and colleagues to hosting visitors and getting help. - [Workplace operations (WorkOps)]() The day-to-day running of an office for the people in it: space, bookings, visitors, services, policies and the data they produce. #### Sources 1. [CBRE Group to Acquire Industrious, Create New Business Segment](), CBRE Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a business case for consolidation? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/business-case-for-consolidation/ Description: A business case for consolidation weighs current office costs against a smaller estate and the cost of the move. What it contains and how to make it hold up. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is a business case for consolidation? Short answer A business case for consolidation is a document that compares the cost of the current office estate with the cost of a smaller one, including the one-off costs of getting there. Real estate and finance teams use it to win approval to close floors or buildings, keeping cash savings, avoided costs and softer benefits separate. Also called consolidation business case. #### How it works The case starts with a baseline: the annual occupancy cost of every building or floor in scope, and evidence of how much of it is used, taken from measured attendance and occupancy rather than headcount. It then describes the target estate and what it takes to get there. Recurring savings come from rent, service charges, taxes and operating costs that stop. One-off costs include moves, fit-out of the receiving space, reinstatement of the space given back, any break penalties, and the booking and coordination tools needed to run a shared office. Finance approves numbers it can trace, so good cases keep categories apart: cash savings with the lease dates that make them possible, cost avoidance such as a lease not taken, uncertain income such as sublease rent, and modeled benefits such as collaboration or retention. They also show the risk: whether the smaller estate still fits the busiest day. #### How to measure it 1. Baseline occupancy and peak-day attendance for every building in scope, over enough weeks to cover seasonal swings. 2. Annual occupancy cost per building, using the same cost lines everywhere. 3. Payback period: one-off costs divided by annual recurring savings. 4. Peak-day fit: seats needed on the busiest day in the target estate against seats available. #### Examples - A company with two half-used floors models consolidating onto one at a break date: savings come from rent and service charges, costs from a weekend move and reinstating the released floor. - A regional council compares closing one of three buildings with closing two, and finds the second option fails the peak-day test. #### Benchmarks - RCS England consolidated two floors into one and saved over £40,000 a year. [Kadence customer story: RCS England]() #### Common mistakes - Mixing hoped-for sublease income with contracted savings. - Leaving out one-off costs such as reinstatement, dilapidations and IT. - Sizing the target estate to average attendance, so the plan fails on the first busy day. - Using bookings or headcount as the evidence of use. #### How Kadence helps Kadence supplies the evidence and the options behind a consolidation case. Workplace Insights reports attendance, occupancy, no-shows and heatmaps from check-in and presence data, with custom dashboards in Insights Plus. SpaceOps scenario planning compares consolidation options side by side, guided workflows help consolidate floors, and plans export as PDFs for stakeholders. [Scenario planning]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [Denbighshire County Council story]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What should a business case for office consolidation include? The current annual occupancy cost, measured use of each building, the target estate, the one-off costs of moving, recurring savings with the lease dates that make them possible, and the risks, including whether the smaller estate fits the busiest day. Keep cash savings, cost avoidance and modeled benefits on separate lines. ##### How do you calculate the savings from office consolidation? Add the recurring costs that stop, such as rent, service charges, property taxes and operating costs for the space given back, then subtract any new recurring costs in the receiving space. Set the one-off costs of the move against that annual saving to find the payback period. ##### What evidence do finance teams expect in a consolidation case? Measured occupancy and attendance rather than headcount or bookings, costs that trace to leases and invoices, and a timeline tied to lease events. For example, RCS England consolidated two floors into one and saved over £40,000 a year on the strength of measured use. ##### Why do consolidation business cases fail? Most fail on credibility or capacity. Mixing uncertain sublease income with cash savings undermines trust, and planning to the average day leaves the smaller estate overcrowded when attendance peaks. #### Related terms - [Office consolidation]() Moving teams from several floors, buildings or sites into less space, then giving up or repurposing the space that is freed. - [Cost per seat]() The total annual occupancy cost of an office divided by the seats it provides, or by the seats actually used. - [Sublease]() Letting leased space you no longer need to another party, while staying responsible to the landlord under the original lease. - [Lease event]() A lease date that forces or allows a decision, such as an expiry, a break option, a renewal option or a rent review. - [Office right-sizing]() Matching the amount and type of office space to how people actually use it, based on measured demand rather than headcount. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What are CAD and DWG floor plans? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/cad-dwg-floor-plans/ Description: CAD and DWG floor plans are architectural drawing files that give interactive floor plans their accurate geometry. How they are used, kept current and imported. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What are CAD and DWG floor plans? Short answer CAD / DWG floor plans are architectural drawing files that provide the accurate geometry behind digital and interactive floor plans. Facilities and real estate teams collect them for each floor so that booking maps, space plans and area reports start from accurate walls, rooms and desk positions rather than sketches. Also called CAD floor plans, DWG floor plans, CAD drawings, DWG files. #### How it works CAD (computer-aided design) software produces precise, scaled drawings of a building. DWG is a common file format for them; Autodesk describes .dwg files as the native file format for its AutoCAD software. Architects and facilities teams usually hold a set of drawings for each floor, with layers for walls, doors, furniture and room labels. To build an interactive floor plan, the drawing is imported and turned into spaces: rooms, desks, zones and neighborhoods, each with an ID that the booking and reporting system can use. The geometry gives accurate areas and positions. Drawings go out of date when layouts change. If nobody updates them after a refit, the digital floor plan, area reports and seat counts all drift away from what is on the floor. #### How to measure it 1. Check that every floor has a current drawing, dated after the last layout change. 2. Confirm drawings are to scale and include furniture, so desks can be placed accurately. 3. Agree who updates drawings after a change and how the change reaches the digital floor plan. #### Examples - A facilities team sends the DWG file for each floor so the booking system can map every desk and room. - After a refit, the architect's updated drawing replaces the old one before the floor reopens for booking. #### Common mistakes - Tracing a scan or photo of a plan when an accurate drawing exists, which loses true scale and exact positions. A vector PDF exported from CAD can keep geometry and scale, but a scan cannot. - Importing drawings without furniture layers, so desks must be placed by hand. - Letting drawings fall behind the real layout after moves and refits. #### How Kadence helps Kadence SpaceOps imports floor plans and includes floor plan editing, so admins can keep layouts current in the browser after import. Employees then book desks, rooms and other spaces on the interactive floor plan and search it to find a person, desk or room. [SpaceOps]() · [Space management]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a DWG file? A DWG file is a computer-aided design drawing. Autodesk describes .dwg as the native file format for its AutoCAD software, and architects and facilities teams commonly use it for floor plans. ##### Do you need CAD files to create an interactive floor plan? They give the most accurate result, because they carry real dimensions and positions. A vector PDF exported from CAD can also keep geometry and scale. A scan or photo has to be traced, so areas and desk positions are less precise. Whatever the source, check it against the current layout and validate dimensions after import. ##### What is the difference between a CAD floor plan and an interactive floor plan? A CAD floor plan is a technical drawing for architects and facilities teams. An interactive floor plan is built from it for everyone else: a live map where people see free desks and rooms, find colleagues and book space. #### Related terms - [Interactive floor plan]() A live, clickable map of an office that shows desks, rooms and people, and lets employees book space and find colleagues. - [Editable floor plans]() Floor plans that workplace teams update themselves, without CAD skills or an architect, typically with a review step before changes go live. - [Workplace digital twin]() A live digital model of buildings, spaces and the people who use them, used to see how space performs and test changes first. - [CAFM (computer-aided facilities management)]() Software that links floor plans to a database of rooms and assets to run space, maintenance and service requests. - [BOMA standards]() The Building Owners and Managers Association methods for measuring office floor area, used in leases, benchmarks and space reporting. - [Floor plate]() The area and shape of one floor of a building, which sets how many people, rooms and teams fit on it. #### Sources 1. [What is DWG?](), Autodesk Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is CAFM, and how is it different from an IWMS? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/cafm/ Description: CAFM (computer-aided facilities management) links floor plans to room and asset data to run facilities work. How it differs from an IWMS and a CMMS. [Glossary]() · Platforms & integrations ### What is CAFM, and how is it different from an IWMS? Short answer CAFM, short for computer-aided facilities management, is software that facilities teams use to manage buildings day to day: floor plans and space inventory, maintenance and service requests, assets and moves. It links drawings to a database of rooms and equipment, so teams can plan work, track costs and keep building records current. Also called computer-aided facility management, CAFM system. #### How it works CAFM grew out of computer-aided design. Floor plans drawn in CAD were linked to a database, so every room, desk and asset on the drawing carried data such as area, department, occupant and condition. That link between drawing and data is still the core of most CAFM tools. On top of the space inventory sit operational modules: reactive and planned maintenance, help desk and service requests, asset registers, room booking and move requests. Facilities managers use them to schedule work, assign engineers and contractors, and report on cost and compliance. The line between CAFM and IWMS is scope. CAFM covers facilities operations for the buildings you have. An IWMS adds real estate and lease management, capital projects and portfolio finance on the same database. Many vendors sell both, and the labels overlap. #### How to measure it 1. Check how quickly floor plans and room data are updated after a change; stale drawings make every other module wrong. 2. Track work order volume, response time and completion time by building. 3. Compare the recorded use of rooms with observed occupancy to see whether the space inventory matches reality. #### Examples - A hospital estates team uses CAFM to schedule planned maintenance on ventilation plant and to log reactive repairs by ward. - A facilities manager updates the CAD-linked floor plan after a team moves, so departmental area charges reflect the new layout. #### Common mistakes - Letting drawings drift from the real building after fit-outs and moves. - Using the room database as a measure of occupancy when it only records assignments. - Buying an IWMS when the need is facilities operations only, or a CAFM when lease and portfolio data are the real gap. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between CAFM and IWMS? CAFM manages facilities operations: floor plans, space inventory, maintenance, assets and service requests. An IWMS includes those functions and adds real estate and lease administration, capital projects and portfolio finance on one database. CAFM suits teams running buildings; an IWMS suits organizations managing a real estate portfolio as well. ##### What does CAFM stand for? CAFM stands for computer-aided facilities management, sometimes written computer-aided facility management. The name comes from its roots in computer-aided design, where floor plans were first linked to data about rooms, occupants and equipment. ##### Is CAFM the same as CMMS? No, although they overlap. A CMMS focuses on maintenance: assets, work orders and preventive schedules. CAFM covers maintenance too, but it is built around space: floor plans, room data and occupancy. Organizations with large plant and engineering teams often run a dedicated CMMS alongside CAFM. ##### Who uses CAFM software? Facilities managers, estates teams, maintenance coordinators and space planners use it most. Finance teams use its space data for departmental chargebacks, and help desk staff use it to log and route service requests from occupants. #### Related terms - [Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS)]() Enterprise software that runs real estate, leases, space, maintenance and assets from one shared database. - [CMMS (computerized maintenance management system)]() Software that plans, assigns and records maintenance work on buildings and equipment, from asset register to work order. - [Facilities management (FM)]() The function that keeps buildings and their services working: maintenance, cleaning, security, catering, energy, safety and space. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [FAQ]() 6. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is two-way calendar sync for room booking? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/calendar-sync/ Description: Two-way calendar sync keeps room bookings in step between Outlook or Google Calendar and the booking system. How it works and how it prevents double bookings. [Glossary]() · Platforms & integrations ### What is two-way calendar sync for room booking? Short answer Two-way calendar sync is a connection between a room booking system and a calendar platform, such as Microsoft Outlook or Google Calendar, in which bookings and changes made in either place update the other. It lets people book rooms from the calendar they already use while the booking system keeps availability, check-in and room data accurate. Also called calendar integration, Outlook room booking, Google Calendar room booking, Exchange integration. #### How it works Each bookable room exists as a resource in the calendar platform, for example a room mailbox in Microsoft Exchange or a resource calendar in Google Workspace. The booking system connects to those resource calendars through the platform's API. When someone adds a room to a meeting in Outlook or Google Calendar, the booking system sees the event and shows the room as booked. When someone books in the booking app, at a room display or in a chat tool, the booking system writes the event to the room's calendar and the organizer's calendar. Time changes, cancellations and releases flow the same way, so both sides stay in step. One-way sync copies in one direction only, which is how double bookings and phantom meetings appear. Two-way sync also lets the booking system act where the calendar cannot, such as releasing a room when nobody checks in and removing that event from the calendar. #### How to measure it 1. Book, move and cancel a test meeting in each tool and confirm the change appears in the other. 2. Track double bookings reported by users; with working two-way sync they should be rare. 3. Compare booked hours in the calendar with checked-in hours to find ghost bookings. #### Examples - An organizer adds a six-person room to an Outlook invite, and the display at the room door shows the booking straight away. - Nobody checks in to a booked room, so it is released and shows as free again in Outlook and Google Calendar. #### Common mistakes - Letting rooms be booked in the calendar and in a separate tool with no sync between them. - Leaving room resource settings, such as auto-accept and booking windows, inconsistent across buildings. - Assuming a calendar booking means the meeting happened. #### How Kadence helps Kadence books rooms with two-way calendar sync with Outlook and Google Calendar. The Outlook add-in lets people find and book rooms from inside Outlook, and bookings made there, in the Kadence apps, in Teams or Slack, or at a Kadence Room Display stay in step. Unused bookings are released automatically when nobody checks in. [Outlook calendar]() · [Google Calendar room booking]() · [Room booking software]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### Can you book meeting rooms in Outlook with room booking software? Yes, if the software has an Outlook integration. With two-way sync, a room added to an Outlook invite shows as booked in the booking system, and a room booked elsewhere appears on the room's Outlook calendar. Some tools also add an Outlook add-in to search rooms by size, location and equipment. ##### What is the difference between one-way and two-way calendar sync? One-way sync copies bookings from one system to the other but not back, so a change made on the receiving side is lost or causes conflicts. Two-way sync sends every booking, change and cancellation in both directions, so the calendar and the booking system always show the same availability. ##### Does room booking software work with Google Calendar? Most enterprise room booking systems connect to Google Workspace resource calendars. Check that the sync is two-way, that it handles recurring meetings and edits, and that rooms released for no-shows are also freed in Google Calendar. ##### Why do meeting rooms show as booked but sit empty? Usually because meetings were cancelled or moved without releasing the room, or recurring series kept running after the meeting stopped. Check-in with auto-release fixes this: if nobody confirms they are there, the booking ends and the room becomes free in every synced calendar. #### Related terms - [Room booking system]() Software that lets people find, reserve and check in to meeting rooms, and frees rooms nobody uses. - [Microsoft Teams and Slack booking]() Booking desks and rooms, seeing who is in and checking in from inside Microsoft Teams or Slack. - [Ghost booking]() A desk or room that is booked but never used, so it shows as taken while it sits empty. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is churn rate in facilities management? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/churn-rate/ Description: Churn rate in facilities management is people moved in a year as a share of the population. The formula, a worked example, how to measure it and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Moves & change ### What is churn rate in facilities management? Short answer Churn rate in facilities management is the number of workplace moves in a year expressed as a percentage of the people in the organization or building. It shows how much physical change the workplace absorbs, and facilities and workplace teams use it to plan move budgets, staffing and processes, and to compare moving activity across sites and years. Also called workplace churn, move rate, MAC rate, churn. #### How it works Churn counts people moved, not move projects. If a team of twenty moves once, that is twenty moves. If the same person moves twice in a year, that counts twice. Dividing by average population turns the count into a rate that can be compared across sites of different sizes. Organizations decide which moves count, and the choice changes the number a lot. The usual split is by move type: box moves where only belongings move, furniture moves where workstations are reconfigured, and construction moves that need building work. Many teams report each type separately, because the cost of each differs widely. In HR and in software, churn means staff or customers leaving. In facilities management it means physical moves inside the workplace, which is why it is often called move churn. Shared, bookable seating changes the picture: people who book a different desk each day are not moving in this sense, so churn falls as fewer seats are permanently assigned. #### Formula Churn rate = (People moved in the year ÷ Average population) × 100 - **People moved in the year**: Individual relocations completed in the period, counting a person again each time they move. Include team moves person by person. - **Average population**: Average number of people with a seat or booking rights in the organization or building over the same period. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. A building has an average population of 800 people over the year. 2. Move records show team moves covering 260 people and 60 individual moves. 3. 260 + 60 = 320 people moved. 4. 320 ÷ 800 = 0.4. Annual churn rate: 40%. #### How to measure it 1. Count from move records or changes in seat assignments, not from memory; moves outside the formal process are common. 2. Split churn by move type (box, furniture, construction) and by site. 3. Use the same definition of population every year. 4. Pair churn with cost per move to see what moving activity costs in total. #### Common mistakes - Counting move projects rather than people. - Missing informal moves people make on their own, which understates churn. - Confusing move churn with employee turnover. - Comparing sites that count different move types. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Move Manager (WorkOps Pro) keeps new starters, leavers, ad-hoc assignments and team relocations in one place, so completed moves are on record instead of spread across emails and spreadsheets. With team neighborhoods and bookable desks, many seating changes become a booking or a neighborhood update rather than a formal move. [SpaceOps]() · [Desk booking software]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do you calculate churn rate in facilities management? Count the people moved during the year, counting each person every time they move, and divide by the average population of the building or organization over the same year. Multiply by one hundred to get a percentage. Report box, furniture and construction moves separately if you can. ##### What is a good churn rate for an office? There is no single target. Churn reflects how fast the organization reorganizes, hires and changes its space, so a growing company will run higher than a stable one. The useful questions are whether churn is rising or falling, which move types drive it, and what each move costs. ##### What is the difference between churn rate and employee turnover? Employee turnover counts people leaving the organization. Churn rate in facilities management counts people moving within the workplace, such as changing desks, floors or buildings. A company can have low turnover and high churn if it reorganizes often. ##### Does hot desking reduce churn? Usually, yes. When most people book shared desks instead of holding assigned seats, a reorganization often needs only a change to team neighborhoods or booking rules rather than physical moves. Churn then shifts from moving people to updating rules, which is faster and cheaper. #### Related terms - [MAC (moves, adds and changes)]() The routine work of relocating people, seating new occupants and updating workspaces as an organization changes. - [Cost per move]() The average cost of relocating one person inside the workplace: total move costs divided by people moved. - [Move management]() Planning, sequencing and carrying out workplace moves, from one desk change to a whole-team relocation. #### Sources 1. [Benchmarking your internal move costs (churn)](), FMLink Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is closure management? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/closure-management/ Description: Closure management blocks desks, rooms or floors for maintenance, events or emergencies and handles affected bookings. How it works and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is closure management? Short answer Closure management is blocking desks, rooms or floors for maintenance, events or emergencies, and automatically notifying or moving affected bookings. Facilities and workplace teams use it so that nobody is sent to space that is unavailable, and so that occupancy reports do not count closed space as empty space. Also called space closures, building closures, space blocking. #### How it works An admin chooses what to close (a building, floor, neighborhood, room or single desk), when and why. The system removes that space from booking for the period, so nobody can reserve it. Existing bookings in the closed space are handled next. The people affected are told, and depending on the setup their booking is cancelled or moved to similar space nearby. Recurring bookings need the same treatment, or the next one lands in a closed space. Closures also matter for reporting. A closed floor has no availability, so it should drop out of the denominator of occupancy rates for that period. Otherwise the data shows a quiet floor that was never open. #### How to measure it 1. Track how many bookings each closure affects and how many were moved rather than cancelled. 2. Remove closed space from available capacity when calculating occupancy for the period. 3. Review closures that repeat, such as planned maintenance, and schedule them on low-demand days. #### Examples - A floor closes over a weekend for new carpet and reopens on Monday. - A building closes for a public holiday, so nobody can book desks for that day. - A room is blocked for a company event, and people with bookings there are told to move. #### Common mistakes - Closing space without telling the people who already booked it. - Leaving closed space in occupancy denominators, which drags the rate down. - Forgetting recurring bookings, which keep landing in space that is closed. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Closure Management lets admins close buildings for holidays or events on every plan, and WorkOps Pro adds closures for floors, neighborhoods and individual spaces. Workplace announcements reach people through Slack, Microsoft Teams, email and the mobile app. [Space management]() · [Pricing]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What happens to bookings when a space is closed? In a good setup, the people affected are told straight away and their bookings are cancelled or moved to similar space. Recurring bookings need the same handling, so later bookings in the series do not land in the closed space. ##### Why should closed space be removed from occupancy reports? Occupancy rate divides space in use by space available. Closed space was not available, so counting it makes the rate look lower than it was and can make a busy floor look underused. ##### What kinds of closures do workplace teams plan? Planned maintenance and refurbishment, public holidays, events that take over a floor or room, deep cleaning, and emergencies such as a heating failure or a leak. Planned closures work best on low-demand days. #### Related terms - [Booking policy]() The rules for booking shared desks, rooms and other spaces: who can book, how far ahead, for how long and when bookings are released. - [Facilities management (FM)]() The function that keeps buildings and their services working: maintenance, cleaning, security, catering, energy, safety and space. - [Occupancy rate]() The share of available desks, rooms or floor area in use, at a point in time or on average over a period. - [Building operations]() The day-to-day running of a building's systems and services, such as heating, cooling, lighting, security, lifts and maintenance. - [Facility service request]() A request to the facilities team to fix, supply or change something in the workplace, logged and tracked until it is resolved. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a CMMS? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/cmms/ Description: A CMMS plans and records maintenance on buildings and equipment. How work orders and preventive plans work, and how a CMMS differs from CAFM and an IWMS. [Glossary]() · Platforms & integrations ### What is a CMMS? Short answer A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) is software that plans, assigns and records maintenance work on buildings and equipment. It holds the asset register, schedules preventive maintenance, turns fault reports into work orders and tracks labor, parts and cost. Facilities and engineering teams use it to keep assets running and to prove compliance. Also called maintenance management software, work order system. #### How it works A CMMS starts with an asset register: every boiler, air handler, elevator, fire door and piece of plant, with its location, make, service history and maintenance plan. Work arrives in two ways. Preventive maintenance is scheduled from the asset plan, by calendar or by meter readings such as run hours. Reactive maintenance starts with a fault report from an occupant, a help desk or a building system, which becomes a work order assigned to a technician or contractor. Each closed work order records who did the work, how long it took, which parts were used and what it cost. That history drives budgets, repair-or-replace decisions and compliance evidence for inspections. A CMMS is narrower than CAFM or an IWMS: it manages maintenance, not space or leases. #### How to measure it 1. Track the ratio of planned to reactive work orders; a rising reactive share usually means preventive plans are slipping. 2. Measure response and completion times by priority and by site. 3. Monitor the backlog of open work orders past their target date. 4. Review cost per asset over time to support repair-or-replace decisions. #### Examples - A technician receives a work order on a phone to replace a filter, scans the asset tag, logs the part and closes the job. - An occupant reports a broken screen in a meeting room, and the report becomes a ticket for the facilities team with the room and time attached. #### Common mistakes - Loading an incomplete asset register, so preventive plans miss equipment. - Accepting fault reports by email and chat instead of one intake point, which loses history. - Measuring only closed tickets rather than response time and repeat faults. #### How Kadence helps Kadence is not a CMMS. Employees can report facility issues through Kadence ticketing, and Kadence Room Displays (WorkOps Pro) can raise a ticket from the meeting room door. Outbound webhooks and the public REST API can pass events to the systems your maintenance team already runs. [Room booking software]() · [Integrations]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does a CMMS do? It keeps a register of assets, schedules preventive maintenance, turns fault reports into work orders, assigns them to technicians or contractors, and records the time, parts and cost of each job. Managers use the history to plan budgets, decide when to replace equipment and show inspectors that required checks were done. ##### What is the difference between a CMMS and CAFM? A CMMS is built around assets and maintenance work. CAFM is built around space: floor plans, rooms and occupancy, with maintenance as one module. Engineering-heavy sites such as plants and hospitals often run a dedicated CMMS, while office portfolios more often use CAFM or an IWMS. ##### What is the difference between a CMMS and an IWMS? A CMMS handles maintenance only. An IWMS covers maintenance plus real estate and leases, space management, capital projects and assets on one database. Some organizations use the maintenance module of their IWMS; others connect a specialist CMMS to it. ##### What is a work order? A work order is a record of a maintenance task: what needs doing, on which asset or location, by whom, by when and at what priority. It is created from a preventive schedule or a fault report and closed with the labor, parts and notes, which become the asset's service history. #### Related terms - [CAFM (computer-aided facilities management)]() Software that links floor plans to a database of rooms and assets to run space, maintenance and service requests. - [Facilities management (FM)]() The function that keeps buildings and their services working: maintenance, cleaning, security, catering, energy, safety and space. - [Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS)]() Enterprise software that runs real estate, leases, space, maintenance and assets from one shared database. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is coffee badging? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/coffee-badging/ Description: Coffee badging is badging into the office to register attendance, staying briefly, then leaving. Why it happens, how employers respond and what it says about policy. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is coffee badging? Short answer Coffee badging is the practice of swiping into the office to register attendance, staying only briefly, often long enough for a coffee and a chat, and then leaving to work elsewhere. It appears where attendance is measured by badge entries, and it is often read as a sign that employees see the office requirement as a box to tick rather than useful time. Also called badge and go. #### How it works Many return-to-office policies measure compliance with access control data: a badge swipe counts as a day in the office. Coffee badging uses that gap. The employee appears in the attendance report but spends most of the day working from home. Some employers have responded by measuring duration rather than entry, tracking hours in the building over a rolling period and flagging people who stay only a short time. That closes the loophole but makes time in the building the metric, which people can also satisfy without collaborating. Coffee badging is usually a symptom rather than the problem. People do it when they commute and find their team is not there, when the office is poorly suited to their work, or when the rule has no clear purpose. Coordinating team days and giving office time a reason tends to reduce it more than tighter tracking does. #### How to measure it 1. Compare badge entries with check-ins or network presence to see how long people actually stay. 2. Look at attendance by team and day; coffee badging is common where teammates rarely overlap. 3. Ask employees what would make a full office day worth it. #### Examples - An employee badges in early, joins a coffee catch-up and is back home working by late morning, while the report shows a full office day. - A company changes its dashboard from counting badge entries to counting hours on site, and short visits drop out of the compliance figure. #### Benchmarks - In Owl Labs' survey of hybrid workers, 44% admitted to coffee badging and another 11% said they would like to try it. [Owl Labs: State of Hybrid Work 2024]() - The same survey found that 70% of workers had been caught coffee badging by their bosses, and 16% of them were then required to be in the office for the full day. [Owl Labs: State of Hybrid Work 2024]() #### Common mistakes - Counting badge swipes as attendance and treating the number as proof the policy works. - Responding only with more monitoring, without asking why people leave. - Ignoring coffee badging among managers, which signals that the rule is optional. #### How Kadence helps Kadence measures presence rather than entries. The Kadence Agent checks people in automatically when it detects them on the office network, Enhanced Network Detection adds floor-level presence, and check-ins can also come from badge data, kiosks or room displays. Workplace Insights reports attendance and average weekly hours, while Team Kadence and smart suggestions help teams come in on the same days. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [Hybrid working coordination]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does coffee badging mean? Coffee badging means badging into the office so the visit is recorded, staying for a short time, often for a coffee and a chat with colleagues, and then leaving to work from home or elsewhere. The badge record shows attendance, but the employee spends little of the working day in the office. ##### Why do employees coffee badge? Usually because the attendance rule counts entries rather than useful time, and because the office day does not feel worth it. Common reasons include long commutes, teammates who are not in on the same day, and offices that are poorly suited to focused work. ##### How do companies stop coffee badging? Some measure time in the building instead of badge entries. That closes the loophole but can push people to stay without collaborating. A more lasting approach is to coordinate team days, give office time a clear purpose, and measure attendance by team so managers can see whether teams actually overlap. ##### Is coffee badging a problem? It is a warning sign more than a problem in itself. It often suggests that the attendance policy measures the wrong thing and that people may not see enough value in a full day in the office. Treat it as feedback on the policy and the office, not only as non-compliance. #### Related terms - [Return to office (RTO)]() An employer requirement that remote or hybrid staff spend more time in the office, either full time or on set days. - [Office attendance policy]() A rule that sets how often employees are expected in the office, such as a number of days per week or month. - [Badge data]() Access-control swipe records showing who entered a building or floor and when, often used to measure attendance. - [Hushed hybrid]() When managers quietly let employees come into the office less often than a formal return-to-office policy requires. - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. #### Sources 1. [State of Hybrid Work 2024 report announcement](), Owl Labs Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a compressed work week? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/compressed-work-week/ Description: A compressed work week fits full-time hours into fewer, longer days. The 4/10 and 9/80 schedules, pros and cons, legal checks and how to set one up. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is a compressed work week? Short answer A compressed work week is a schedule that fits an employee's full-time hours into fewer, longer working days, such as four ten-hour days instead of five eight-hour days. Total hours stay the same and the employee gains extra days off. Employers use it to offer flexibility and longer daily coverage without reducing hours or pay. Also called compressed hours, compressed schedule, 4x10 schedule, 9/80 schedule. #### How it works The two most common patterns are the 4/10 and the 9/80. On a 4/10 schedule, employees work four ten-hour days, often Monday to Thursday, and take a three-day weekend every week. On a 9/80 schedule, they work 80 hours over two weeks, mostly in nine-hour days, and take one extra day off every other week. Some roles that need round-the-clock cover, such as healthcare and emergency services, use three twelve-hour shifts a week. Whatever the pattern, it is a change to scheduling, not a reduction in hours, which is what separates a compressed week from a four-day week on reduced hours. Compressed schedules need planning. Managers must keep every role covered on the days people are off, overtime and working-time rules may apply to longer days depending on the country or state, and the pattern changes which days the office is busy. Workplace teams can use occupancy data to see how demand shifts and adjust desks, rooms and services. #### How to measure it 1. Track coverage: whether customer-facing and critical roles are staffed on every working day. 2. Watch fatigue signals such as errors, sickness absence and overtime on long days. 3. Compare office occupancy by weekday before and after the change. #### Examples - A marketing team moves to a 4/10 schedule with Fridays off, while the support team staggers its days off to keep five-day coverage. - An engineering firm adopts a 9/80 schedule and splits staff into two groups that take alternate Fridays off. #### Common mistakes - Rolling one schedule out to every team, including teams that must cover a five-day week. - Ignoring overtime rules that may apply to longer days. - Forgetting that partners, clients and childcare providers still run on a traditional week. #### How Kadence helps When compressed schedules change who is in on which days, Kadence shows it. Workplace Insights reports attendance and occupancy by weekday, recurring desk bookings let people book their regular office days in one go, and team coordination shows who is in, so teams can keep their shared days on days everyone works. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Hybrid working coordination]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a compressed work week? A compressed work week is a schedule that fits full-time hours into fewer than five days. Employees work longer days and receive extra time off in return. The most common versions are four ten-hour days each week, or eighty hours over two weeks with one extra day off every other week. ##### What is the difference between a 4/10 and a 9/80 schedule? A four-ten schedule means four ten-hour days every week, usually with Friday off. A nine-eighty schedule spreads eighty hours over two weeks, mostly in nine-hour days, and gives one extra day off every other week. The first gives a three-day weekend every week; the second, every other week. ##### What are the advantages and disadvantages of a compressed work week? Advantages include more personal time, fewer commutes, fewer absences for personal errands and the option of longer daily coverage. Disadvantages include fatigue on long days, friction with clients and partners on a standard week, overtime rules and childcare that runs on a traditional schedule. ##### Is a compressed work week the same as a four-day week? No. A compressed week keeps the same total hours and fits them into fewer days. A four-day week usually reduces total hours, typically with no cut in pay. Both give an extra day off, but only the four-day week reduces working time. #### Related terms - [Four-day work week]() A working pattern that cuts the standard week to four days, usually with fewer total hours and no cut in pay. - [Flexible working]() Any arrangement that changes when, where or how much someone works, such as flextime, hybrid work or part-time hours. - [Recharge day]() A company-wide paid day off, given to everyone at once, meant to help employees rest and prevent burnout. - [Hybrid work policy]() The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is corporate real estate? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/corporate-real-estate/ Description: Corporate real estate is the property a company occupies for its own operations, and the team that runs it. What CRE teams do and the data they rely on. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is corporate real estate? Short answer Corporate real estate (CRE) is the land, buildings and leased space an organization occupies to run its own business, and the internal function that plans and manages that property. CRE teams decide where the company has offices, how much space it holds and on what terms, balancing cost and flexibility against the needs of the people who use it. Also called CRE, corporate real estate management, CREM. #### How it works Unlike a property investor, who owns buildings to earn rent, a corporate real estate team treats property as a cost of doing business and a tool for the workforce. Its portfolio can include a headquarters, regional offices, labs, stores or warehouses, held through a mix of owned buildings, long leases, subleases and flexible agreements. The work runs on a cycle of lease events. Well before an expiry, break option or renewal, the team gathers demand data, models options such as renewing, relocating, consolidating or subleasing, negotiates with landlords through brokers, and then manages the fit-out and the move. Between events, it tracks occupancy, cost and building performance. CRE usually sits close to finance, because real estate is one of the largest costs a company can control. It works with facilities management, which runs the buildings day to day, and with workplace teams, which shape how the space supports people. Hybrid work has moved CRE decisions away from headcount ratios and toward measured attendance and peak demand. #### How to measure it 1. Total occupancy cost per square foot, per seat and per employee, by site, so buildings can be compared on the same basis. 2. Average and peak occupancy by building and floor, from check-ins or presence data rather than bookings alone. 3. Space per person and seats per employee, against the targets your workplace strategy sets. 4. Upcoming lease events by date, with the notice period each one needs, so no decision is made in a rush. #### Examples - A CRE team with a headquarters lease expiring in three years models three options: renew the same space, give back two floors, or move to a smaller building closer to transit. - A company with offices in several cities uses attendance data to close an underused regional office and give those employees on-demand coworking space instead. #### Common mistakes - Sizing the portfolio from headcount instead of measured attendance, which locks in space for people who rarely come in. - Starting too late: a lease event needs months of notice, and the data behind the decision needs time to collect. - Comparing buildings on rent alone, when service charges, utilities, fit-out and running costs can change the ranking. - Treating CRE as a finance exercise only and leaving out the teams who will use the space. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights reports attendance and occupancy by building, floor and team from check-ins, network presence detection by the Kadence Agent and other signals. SpaceOps, a Kadence add-on, uses that data for stack planning and side-by-side scenario planning, so a CRE team can compare consolidation or growth options before a lease event and publish the approved plan into live neighborhoods and desk assignments. [Corporate real estate]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Scenario planning]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does a corporate real estate team do? A corporate real estate team decides where the company has space, how much it holds and on what terms. It manages leases and owned buildings, plans renewals, relocations and consolidations, works with brokers and landlords, oversees fit-outs, and reports property cost and use to finance and leadership. ##### What is the difference between corporate real estate and commercial real estate? Commercial real estate is property owned or developed to earn income from tenants. Corporate real estate is property a company occupies for its own operations. The same office tower can be commercial real estate for its landlord and corporate real estate for each company that leases a floor in it. ##### How is corporate real estate different from facilities management? Corporate real estate is strategic and transactional: which buildings to hold, where, and on what lease terms. Facilities management is operational: keeping those buildings safe, clean, maintained and working every day. The two teams share data on occupancy and cost, and in smaller companies one person often covers both. ##### What workplace analytics do corporate real estate teams use? They combine lease data and total occupancy cost with headcount plans and measured occupancy by building, floor and team. In hybrid organizations, attendance and peak-day data matter most, because headcount no longer predicts how much space people use. The strongest signals are check-ins and presence data, not bookings alone. #### Related terms - [Real estate portfolio optimization]() Matching the buildings, floors and leases an organization holds to the space its people actually need. - [Workplace strategy]() The plan that links how an organization works to the space, policies and tools it provides for work. - [Lease event]() A lease date that forces or allows a decision, such as an expiry, a break option, a renewal option or a rent review. - [Total occupancy cost]() Everything an organization spends to occupy a workplace in a year: rent, operating costs, utilities, services and fit-out. - [Facilities management (FM)]() The function that keeps buildings and their services working: maintenance, cleaning, security, catering, energy, safety and space. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How do you calculate cost per move? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/cost-per-move/ Description: Cost per move is total move costs divided by the number of people moved. The formula, a worked example, what to include, and common mistakes in measuring it. [Glossary]() · Moves & change ### How do you calculate cost per move? Short answer Cost per move is the average cost of relocating one person within the workplace, found by dividing total move costs for a period by the number of people moved. Facilities and workplace teams use it to budget for moves, compare move types and sites, and judge whether changes to the move process or office layout actually save money. Also called move cost, cost per MAC. #### How it works The numerator includes every cost the move causes: movers and crates, furniture reconfiguration, IT and phone setup, access and signage changes, construction where needed, and internal staff time. Internal labor is the part most often left out, and it can be a large share of small moves. The denominator is people moved, the same count used for churn rate, so the two metrics combine: churn rate times population times cost per move gives an annual move budget. Averages hide big differences by type. A box move, where only belongings move, costs a fraction of a furniture move, and a construction move can cost many times more. Report cost per move by type, and track it over time as layouts shift toward shared, bookable space where people change seats without a formal move. #### Formula Cost per move = Total move costs in the period ÷ People moved in the period - **Total move costs**: External and internal costs caused by moves: movers, crates, furniture work, IT and phone setup, access changes, construction and logged staff time. - **People moved**: Individual relocations completed in the same period, counting a person each time they move. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. In a quarter, a site spends $18,000 on movers and crates, $12,000 on IT setup and $6,000 on furniture changes. 2. Internal staff time on moves is logged at $9,000. 3. $18,000 + $12,000 + $6,000 + $9,000 = $45,000 in total move costs. 4. 150 people moved in the quarter. 5. $45,000 ÷ 150 = $300. Cost per move: $300 per person moved. #### How to measure it 1. Collect costs by move type (box, furniture, construction) so averages compare like with like. 2. Log internal staff time from facilities, IT and workplace teams, not just vendor invoices. 3. Use the same people-moved count as your churn rate. 4. Track cost per move each quarter to see whether process or layout changes are working. #### Common mistakes - Leaving out internal labor and IT time. - Averaging box moves together with construction moves. - Counting move projects rather than people. - Ignoring the productivity cost of disruption, which never shows on an invoice. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Move Manager (WorkOps Pro) handles seat recommendations, bulk auto-assign, bulk move uploads, move emails and personal move sheets, which cuts the internal admin time that often goes uncounted in move costs. Where teams use bookable desks and neighborhoods instead of fixed seats, many changes become a rule update rather than a physical move. [SpaceOps]() · [Pricing]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is included in the cost of an office move? Movers, crates and transport; furniture disassembly and reconfiguration; IT, phone and network setup; badge and signage changes; any construction or electrical work; and the time internal staff spend planning and supporting the move. Include internal time, or small moves will look cheaper than they are. ##### How do you reduce cost per move? Standardize workstations so most moves are box moves, batch small moves into a regular schedule, keep floor plans and seat data accurate so planning is quick, and automate notifications and seat assignment. Shared, bookable seating removes many moves altogether. ##### What is the difference between a box move and a furniture move? In a box move only a person's belongings and equipment move to an existing workstation. In a furniture move the workstation itself is reconfigured or relocated. A construction move needs building work such as new walls or power. Each costs more than the one before. ##### How is cost per move different from total relocation cost? Cost per move is an average per person, used to compare and budget routine moves. Total relocation cost is the full budget for a project, such as moving to a new building, and includes fit-out, lease overlap and other costs that are not per-person moves. #### Related terms - [Churn rate (move churn)]() The number of people moved in a year as a percentage of the population, a measure of how much physical change a workplace absorbs. - [Move management]() Planning, sequencing and carrying out workplace moves, from one desk change to a whole-team relocation. - [Office relocation]() Moving an office or department to another building, planned around the lease date, real attendance and a clear move schedule. #### Sources 1. [Benchmarking your internal move costs (churn)](), FMLink Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is cost per seat? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/cost-per-seat/ Description: Cost per seat divides an office's annual occupancy cost by its seats. The formula, a worked example, cost per occupied seat, and the mistakes that skew it. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is cost per seat? Short answer Cost per seat is the total annual cost of occupying an office, including rent, service charges, taxes, fit-out and operating costs, divided by the number of seats or workstations it provides. Finance and real estate teams use it to compare buildings and, when divided by seats actually used, to show the cost of empty space. Also called cost per desk, cost per employee, cost per workstation. #### How it works Cost per seat puts the whole cost of occupying space into one unit a finance team recognizes. The numerator is the annual occupancy cost: rent, service charges, property taxes, fit-out and furniture amortized over their life, utilities, cleaning, security and maintenance. The denominator is the number of seats the space provides. The more revealing variant divides by seats actually used. Cost per occupied seat uses average or peak-day occupancy from check-in or presence data, and in a hybrid office it is usually far higher than cost per seat. The gap between the two is the cost of space that is paid for but idle. Teams use the metric to compare buildings in a portfolio, to test whether desk sharing or consolidation would pay off, and to set internal chargebacks. It is only comparable when every building uses the same cost lines and the same definition of a seat. #### Formula Cost per seat = Annual occupancy cost ÷ Seats - **Annual occupancy cost**: Rent, service charges, property taxes, amortized fit-out and furniture, utilities, cleaning, security and maintenance for one year. - **Seats**: Workstations provided. For cost per occupied seat, use the average number of seats in use per day from check-in or presence data instead. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. An office costs $2,400,000 a year to occupy and provides 400 seats. 2. Cost per seat: $2,400,000 ÷ 400 = $6,000. 3. Check-in data shows 160 seats in use on an average day: $2,400,000 ÷ 160 = $15,000. $6,000 per seat provided, and $15,000 per seat actually used on an average day. #### How to measure it 1. Agree the cost lines with finance and apply them the same way to every building. 2. Count seats from the current floor plan, excluding closed or out-of-service desks. 3. Calculate cost per occupied seat from check-ins or presence data, for both the average day and the peak day. 4. Recalculate after every change to space or attendance policy. #### Common mistakes - Leaving out fit-out amortization or operating costs, which understates the true cost of each seat. - Using bookings as the measure of use; booked but empty desks make the occupied-seat figure look better than it is. - Comparing buildings that count seats differently, such as including touchdown points in one and not the other. - Cutting seats to lower the cost without checking the peak day, which shifts the cost into lost time and frustration. #### How Kadence helps Kadence does not hold lease or cost data, but it supplies the seat side of the calculation. Workplace Insights reports occupancy, attendance and no-shows from check-ins and presence signals rather than bookings alone, and data export takes those figures into a finance model. SpaceOps scenario planning then compares options, such as consolidating floors, against real demand. [Workplace analytics]() · [Scenario planning]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between cost per seat and cost per occupied seat? Cost per seat divides occupancy cost by every seat provided. Cost per occupied seat divides it by the seats actually used, taken from check-in or presence data. In a hybrid office the second figure is usually much higher, and the difference shows the cost of idle space. ##### What costs are included in cost per seat? Typically rent, service charges, property taxes, fit-out and furniture amortized over their useful life, utilities, cleaning, security and maintenance. Some organizations add workplace technology and facilities staff. Whatever the list, apply it the same way to every building. ##### How do you reduce cost per occupied seat? Lower the cost or raise the use. Consolidating onto fewer floors, subletting or renegotiating at a lease event lowers cost. Desk sharing, team coordination and releasing unused bookings raise the number of seats in use each day. ##### Is cost per seat the same as cost per employee? No. Cost per employee divides occupancy cost by headcount, and cost per seat divides it by workstations. In an office with shared desks there are fewer seats than employees, so the two figures differ. Report the one that matches the decision and say which one you used. #### Related terms - [Space utilization]() How intensively buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their full capacity over time. - [Total occupancy cost]() Everything an organization spends to occupy a workplace in a year: rent, operating costs, utilities, services and fit-out. - [Business case for consolidation]() The financial case for moving into less space, with cash savings, one-off costs and softer benefits kept separate. - [Desk ratio (desk sharing ratio)]() The number of people assigned to a workplace for each desk, set from peak attendance and policy. - [Space per person]() Office floor area divided by the number of people it serves, in square feet or square meters per person. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is densification? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/densification/ Description: Densification means supporting more people per square foot of office. How desk sharing and desk ratios drive it, how to measure it, and where it goes wrong. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is densification? Short answer Densification is the deliberate increase in the number of people a workplace supports per unit of floor area, usually by sharing desks, tightening the desk ratio or converting underused space. Real estate teams use it to absorb growth or give back space without a new lease, while checking that the busiest days still work. Also called office densification, workspace density. #### How it works There are two ways to densify. Physical densification fits more workstations into the same area, for example with smaller desks or narrower aisles. Occupancy densification keeps the layout but supports more people per desk, by moving from assigned desks to shared or bookable ones and setting a desk ratio below one desk per person. Hybrid work has made occupancy densification the usual route. If a team's busiest day brings in 60 of its 100 people, a pool of desks sized to that peak plus a buffer can serve the whole team, and the remaining space can be released or repurposed. Densification has limits. Health and safety rules set minimum space per person, and too little space shows up as noise, no free desks on peak days and pressure on meeting rooms. Good densification is planned against measured peak demand and is often paired with more collaboration and focus space. #### How to measure it 1. Track the desk ratio and area per person before and after the change. 2. Watch peak-day occupancy and how often people cannot find a desk on the busiest days. 3. Measure meeting room demand at peak hours; densified floors often run short of small rooms first. #### Examples - A team of 120 on assigned desks moves to a bookable neighborhood of 80 desks, sized to its busiest day plus a buffer. - A company converts a row of rarely used private offices into a shared desk area to seat a new team without taking more space. #### Benchmarks - Wavex moved into a new London HQ with 18 desks for more than 80 employees. [Kadence customer story: Wavex]() - A healthcare technology company using Kadence reduced its office size by 68%. [Kadence customer story: US medical lab and diagnostic company]() #### Common mistakes - Densifying to the average day, which leaves people without desks on the peak day. - Cutting desks without adding bookable meeting and focus space, which pushes calls and deep work back onto the open floor. - Changing the desk ratio without a booking and check-in process, so people cannot tell in advance whether there will be a seat. #### How Kadence helps Kadence gives densification a measured baseline and the tools to run a shared floor. Workplace Insights shows attendance, occupancy, no-shows and heatmaps by building and floor. Desk booking, team neighborhoods and auto-release let a smaller pool of desks serve more people, and SpaceOps scenario planning tests how a policy or headcount change would affect space needs before it is rolled out. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Desk booking software]() · [Scenario planning]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is office densification? Office densification is increasing the number of people an office supports per unit of floor area. Today it usually means desk sharing and a lower desk ratio rather than smaller desks, so the same floor serves a larger hybrid workforce. ##### What is the difference between densification and consolidation? Densification supports more people in a given space. Consolidation reduces the space itself, for example by closing a floor or a building. Densification is often the step that makes a consolidation possible. ##### How much space per person is too little? There is no single threshold. Local health and safety rules set legal minimums, and the practical limit is reached when people regularly cannot find a desk, meeting rooms are always full or noise complaints rise. Measure peak-day occupancy and ask employees before and after any change. ##### Does desk sharing count as densification? Yes. Moving from assigned to shared desks raises the number of people each desk supports, which is occupancy densification. It works when booking, check-in and team coordination make it easy to find a seat on the days people come in. #### Related terms - [Desk ratio (desk sharing ratio)]() The number of people assigned to a workplace for each desk, set from peak attendance and policy. - [Space per person]() Office floor area divided by the number of people it serves, in square feet or square meters per person. - [Scenario planning]() Modeling several possible futures for space, cost and teams, and comparing them side by side before committing to one. - [Cost per seat]() The total annual occupancy cost of an office divided by the seats it provides, or by the seats actually used. - [Hot desking and hoteling]() Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a desk booking system? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/desk-booking-system/ Description: A desk booking system lets employees reserve a desk, check in and see who else is in. How it works, what to measure, common mistakes and what to look for. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is a desk booking system? Short answer A desk booking system is software that lets employees find and reserve a shared desk before they come to the office, check in when they arrive and see where colleagues are sitting. Workplace and facilities teams use it to run shared desks fairly, release unused bookings and learn how much desk space the organization needs. Also called desk booking, desk reservation, desk scheduling software, desk booking software. #### How it works Employees pick a date, building and floor, then choose a desk from an interactive floor plan or a list, filtered by neighborhood or equipment. Bookings can be made in advance, on repeat or on the day, from a web app, a mobile app, a calendar or chat tools such as Microsoft Teams and Slack. Rules keep shared desks fair: how far ahead people can book, how long a booking can last, which teams can use which neighborhoods and who gets priority. Assigned desks can sit alongside bookable ones in the same system. On arrival, a check-in confirms the booking, by tapping in the app, at a kiosk or automatically from the office network or badge data. Bookings with no check-in are released after a grace period. The booking and check-in data then shows attendance, occupancy and no-shows by floor and team. #### How to measure it 1. Adoption: the share of people in the office each day who booked or checked in. 2. No-show rate: bookings without a check-in. 3. Peak-day desk occupancy by floor and neighborhood. 4. Walk-ins: people present without a booking, which booking data alone misses. #### How to roll out desk booking 1. Agree the goal and the owner: fair access to shared desks, reliable occupancy data, or both. 2. Measure current attendance by team and weekday, and set desk numbers for the peak day you choose to support. 3. Connect identity first: single sign-on and directory sync, so people sign in once and leavers drop off. 4. Load accurate floor plans, then set neighborhoods, assigned desks and bookable desks. 5. Write a short booking policy: how far ahead, how long, the check-in window and what happens to no-shows. 6. Turn on check-in, ideally automatic, and auto-release before launch. 7. Pilot with a few teams in one building, fix the friction, then roll out building by building with a clear message on why booking matters and how the data is used. 8. Review no-shows, walk-ins and peak days monthly, and adjust rules and desk numbers. #### How to choose a desk booking system - **Booking from everyday tools.** Check booking from Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Slack and mobile apps as well as the web. The fewer steps, the higher the adoption. - **A floor plan people can use.** Employees should book from an interactive map, see where teammates sit and search for a person or desk. - **Check-in that does not rely on memory.** Look for automatic check-in from the office network or badge data, alongside app and kiosk check-in, so the data reflects who actually came. - **Auto-release and walk-in capture.** No-shows should be released after a grace period, and people who arrive without a booking should still be counted. - **Rules for fairness.** Check booking windows, maximum lengths, priority access for selected teams, booking limits and neighborhoods scheduled by date. - **Mixed seating.** Assigned desks, neighborhoods and bookable desks should sit on the same floor plan, because most enterprise floors mix them. - **Identity and HR data.** IT should confirm single sign-on, SCIM or directory sync, and an HR connection so joiners and leavers are handled automatically. - **Privacy controls.** Check that people can hide their location from colleagues, that retention can be set and that reports can be aggregated by team. - **Reporting.** Reports should show attendance, occupancy, no-shows and peak days by building, floor and team, with export for your own analysis. #### Examples - An employee sees that three teammates are in on Tuesday, books a desk next to them from Microsoft Teams and is checked in automatically when their laptop joins the office Wi-Fi. - A public-sector office with far fewer desks than staff requires a booking for every office day, then uses the data to forecast demand. #### Benchmarks - MOPAC reached 83% adoption of desk booking within weeks and now forecasts office demand from its usage data. [Kadence customer story: MOPAC]() #### Common mistakes - Launching booking without check-in, so booked-but-empty desks look occupied. - Making booking a chore: if it takes more effort than walking in, people stop using it. - Not explaining why booking matters; employees who suspect it tracks attendance avoid it. - Setting desk numbers to headcount or average attendance rather than to the peak day you choose to support. #### How Kadence helps Kadence desk booking, part of WorkOps, books desks in advance, on repeat, across several days or on the day from the web, the iOS and Android apps, Microsoft Teams, Slack and Kadence AI. It supports neighborhoods, assigned desks, preferred desks, priority access and booking rules, with check-in from the app, the Kadence Agent on the office network, badge data or the API, and auto-release of no-shows. [Desk booking software]() · [Microsoft Teams]() · [Slack]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is hot desk booking software? Hot desk booking software lets employees reserve a shared desk ahead of time instead of searching for a free one on arrival. It usually adds check-in, automatic release of unused bookings, a floor plan showing who sits where and reports on how desks are used. ##### How does a desk booking system work? Employees choose a date and a desk on a floor plan or list, book it from an app, calendar or chat tool, and check in when they arrive. Unused bookings are released after a grace period, and the booking and check-in data feeds attendance and occupancy reports. ##### Do you need sensors for desk booking? No. Check-in can come from the booking app, a kiosk, badge data or presence on the office network. Sensors add continuous detection at each desk but cost more to install and maintain, and many organizations start without them. ##### How do I get employees to actually use desk booking? Make booking quicker than not booking: let people book from the tools they already use, show which teammates are in and let them sit together. Explain what the data is used for, set a few clear rules and automate check-in where you can. ##### What are the benefits and challenges of desk booking? Benefits: people know a desk is waiting before they travel, teams can sit together, unused bookings return to the pool and leaders get attendance and occupancy data to size space. Challenges: adoption drops if booking is slow, booked-but-empty desks distort the data without check-in, and employees may suspect tracking. Booking from Teams or Slack, automatic check-in and a clear explanation of how data is used address most of them. #### Related terms - [Hot desking and hoteling]() Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in. - [Desk check-in]() Confirming that you are at the desk or room you booked, by app, QR code, badge or Wi-Fi presence, so unused bookings can be released. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. - [Booking policy]() The rules for booking shared desks, rooms and other spaces: who can book, how far ahead, for how long and when bookings are released. - [Microsoft Teams and Slack booking]() Booking desks and rooms, seeing who is in and checking in from inside Microsoft Teams or Slack. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Steps]() 4. [How to choose]() 5. [Examples]() 6. [Benchmarks]() 7. [Common mistakes]() 8. [How Kadence helps]() 9. [FAQ]() 10. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is desk check-in? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/desk-check-in/ Description: Desk check-in confirms that a booked desk is actually in use, by app, QR code, badge or Wi-Fi. How it works, why it matters for occupancy data and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is desk check-in? Short answer Desk check-in is the step that confirms a person is actually using the desk or room they booked, done by tapping in an app, scanning a QR code, badging in or being detected on the office network. Workplace teams rely on it to release unused bookings and to measure real occupancy rather than intentions. Also called check-in, booking check-in, automatic check-in, auto check-in. #### How it works A booking records intent; a check-in confirms use. Manual check-in asks the person to tap a button in the app, on a room display or on a kiosk, or to scan a QR code at the desk. Each booking has a check-in window, and a booking with no check-in in that window can be released automatically. Automatic check-in removes the step people forget. A desktop agent can detect when a laptop joins the office Wi-Fi or wired network, badge swipes can be passed in from access control, and other systems can check people in through an API. Some platforms also create a booking when someone turns up without one, so walk-ins are counted. Check-in data is the base of occupancy reporting: who was in, where and for how long. It separates no-shows from real use and gives the numbers behind desk ratios, cleaning schedules and space decisions. #### How to measure it 1. Check-in rate: the share of bookings with a check-in. 2. No-show rate and auto-release volume by floor, team and day. 3. Walk-ins recorded without a booking. 4. Time between booking start and check-in, to set a sensible grace period. #### Examples - An employee opens a laptop at their desk; the desktop agent detects the office network and checks them in to their booking. - A visiting colleague without a booking is detected on the network, and an automatic booking records their presence. #### Benchmarks - Wavex used automated check-in in place of a sensor deployment and saved £20K+. [Kadence customer story: Wavex]() #### Common mistakes - Relying on manual check-in alone; people forget, and the data undercounts real use. - Setting a grace period so short that people who are a few minutes late lose their desk. - Treating bookings as attendance when check-in is not required. - Not telling employees what check-in data is used for. #### How Kadence helps Kadence takes check-ins from the mobile app, room displays, visitor kiosks, badge data and the public API. The Kadence Agent checks people in automatically when it detects them on the office network, with floor-level, VPN-aware detection, and Automatic Bookings creates a booking when someone arrives without one. Bookings that are not checked in are auto-released. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Desk booking software]() · [Workplace API]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### Why do I need to check in to my desk? Check-in confirms you are using the desk you booked. Without it, the system cannot tell a used desk from an empty one, so unused bookings stay blocked and occupancy reports overstate how busy the office is. ##### What is automatic check-in? Automatic check-in confirms a booking without the person doing anything, using signals such as a laptop joining the office Wi-Fi, a badge swipe at the door or an occupancy sensor. It gives more complete data than manual check-in, because people often forget to tap in. ##### What is a check-in API? A check-in API lets other systems, such as access control, Wi-Fi or sensors, check people in and out of desks, rooms, lockers and parking. It keeps booking and occupancy records current without asking employees to open an app. ##### What happens if you forget to check in? Usually the booking is released after the grace period and the desk or room returns to the pool. With automatic check-in from network or badge data, forgetting matters less, because your presence is detected for you. ##### Do employees have to check in for desk booking to work? Some form of check-in is needed, but it does not have to be manual. People often forget to tap an app or scan a QR code, so many teams use automatic check-in: arriving on the office network or badging in confirms the booking. Without check-in, unused bookings usually stay blocked and reports count empty desks as used. #### Related terms - [Auto-release]() A booking rule that frees a desk or room automatically when nobody checks in within a set grace period. - [No-show rate]() The share of desk and room bookings nobody checks in to, which makes space look busier than it is. - [Ghost booking]() A desk or room that is booked but never used, so it shows as taken while it sits empty. - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Desk booking system]() Software that lets employees find and reserve a desk before they come in, check in on arrival and free desks nobody uses. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a desk ratio? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/desk-ratio/ Description: A desk ratio is the number of people assigned to each desk in a shared workplace. How to calculate and set it, a worked example, benchmarks and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### What is a desk ratio? Short answer A desk ratio, or desk sharing ratio, is the number of people assigned to a workplace for each available desk, such as one and a half people per desk. Real estate and workplace teams set it from measured peak attendance and policy, and use it to decide how many desks, and how much floor area, each team needs. Also called desk sharing ratio, desk-to-employee ratio, seat ratio. #### How it works The ratio divides people by desks. A team of 120 with 80 desks has a ratio of 1.5:1. Assigned seating is 1:1; any ratio above one means desks are shared through hot desking, hoteling or neighborhoods. The right ratio comes from the peak, not the average. If a team's busiest normal day brings in 70% of its people, it needs desks for 70% of them plus a buffer for growth and visitors. That ratio then sets desks per team and, through space per desk, the floor area. A ratio only holds if attendance is managed. Team days, neighborhoods and booking rules keep the peak predictable; without them, everyone picks the same midweek days and a ratio that works on paper fails on Tuesday. Teams often need different ratios: a sales team on the road can share more than a team with daily in-person routines. #### Formula Desk ratio = People assigned ÷ Desks available - **People assigned**: Employees and regular contractors allocated to the floor, team or building. - **Desks available**: Open, bookable desks in the same area, excluding closed or out-of-service desks. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. A team of 90 people shares a neighborhood. 2. On its busiest normal day, presence data shows 54 people in. With a 10% buffer, the team needs 54 × 1.1 ≈ 60 desks. 3. 90 ÷ 60 = 1.5. Desk ratio: 1.5:1, or one and a half people per desk. #### How to measure it 1. Measure each team's peak attendance from presence data over several normal weeks. 2. Add a buffer for growth, visitors and uneven days, and decide it explicitly. 3. Set ratios by team or function where work patterns differ. 4. Review after policy changes; a new office-days requirement moves the peak and the ratio. #### Examples - A consultancy with most staff at client sites runs 2:1 in its hub, while a finance team with fixed routines stays near 1.2:1. - A company moving from 1:1 to 1.4:1 releases a floor, then uses team days so the busiest day still fits. #### Benchmarks - Wavex runs its London HQ with 18 desks for more than 80 employees. [Kadence customer story: Wavex]() - In CBRE's benchmarking, 48% of respondents target a sharing ratio between 1.01 and 1.49 people per seat, and only 33% target more than 1.5:1. [CBRE, The Hybrid Reality (2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights)]() #### Common mistakes - Setting the ratio from average attendance instead of the peak. - Applying one ratio to every team. - Raising the ratio without team days or neighborhoods to manage the peak. - Measuring the peak from bookings rather than attendance. #### How Kadence helps Kadence measures attendance and occupancy from check-ins and automatic network presence, so each team's peak day is visible in Workplace Insights. Team neighborhoods, the Neighborhood Scheduler and assigned desks put a ratio into practice, and SpaceOps plans floors and compares scenarios against measured occupancy. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Space management]() · [Scenario planning]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a good desk sharing ratio? It depends on each team's peak attendance and how much buffer you want. In CBRE's benchmarking, 48% of respondents target a sharing ratio between 1.01 and 1.49 people per seat, and only 33% target more than 1.5:1. ##### How do you calculate a desk ratio? Divide the number of people assigned to an area by the number of desks available there. To set a target, start from the team's busiest normal day of measured attendance, add a buffer, and divide the team's headcount by the desks that result. ##### What is the difference between a desk ratio and desk utilization? The desk ratio is a planning setting: how many people share each desk. Desk utilization is the outcome: how much of the desk time is actually used. A higher ratio usually raises utilization, until the busiest day no longer fits. ##### Can different teams have different desk ratios? Yes, and they usually should. Teams that travel or work with remote clients can share more desks than teams with daily in-person routines. Neighborhoods make this practical, because each team's zone can be sized to its own peak. ##### How do I manage desks when more people come in than we have seats? Plan for measured peak days, not averages. On those days, ask people to book ahead instead of first come, first served, release desks nobody checks in to, and give teams set days so they do not all pick the same one. If peaks still exceed desks, change the ratio for the busiest teams or open overflow space. #### Related terms - [Peak occupancy]() The busiest level of use a floor or building reaches in a normal week, which sets the capacity you actually need. - [Hot desking and hoteling]() Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in. - [Densification]() Supporting more people in the same floor area, through desk sharing, a tighter desk ratio or reuse of underused space. - [Desk utilization]() The share of available desk-hours people actually use, measured desk by desk from check-ins or presence data. - [Space per person]() Office floor area divided by the number of people it serves, in square feet or square meters per person. #### Sources 1. [The Hybrid Reality: Why the Office Is More Important Than Ever](), CBRE Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is desk utilization, and how do you calculate it? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/desk-utilization/ Description: Desk utilization is the share of available desk-hours people actually use. The formula, a worked example, how it differs from desk occupancy and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### What is desk utilization, and how do you calculate it? Short answer Desk utilization is the share of available desk time that people actually use over a period, measured desk by desk from check-ins or presence data. Workplace teams use it to see how intensively desks work, to decide how many each floor, team or neighborhood needs, and to find desks that can be shared, moved or removed. Also called desk utilization rate, desk usage. #### How it works Desk utilization measures intensity over time. Each booking and check-in records which desk was used, by whom, from when and until when. Rolled up, the data shows how many of each desk's available hours were used, by desk, neighborhood, floor, team and day of the week. It is not the same as desk occupancy, which only asks whether a desk is in use at a point in time or on a given day. A desk used from nine to eleven and then left empty counts as occupied that day, but it is used for only a quarter of an eight-hour day. Because a desk seats one person, utilization reduces to the share of available desk-hours in use. The check-in separates use from intent. Without it, utilization counts reservations nobody turned up for. Ghost bookings (booked, not used), zombie bookings (booked and left empty week after week) and people who sit without booking all distort the figure until check-in or presence data corrects them. #### Formula Desk utilization = (Desk-hours used ÷ Desk-hours available) × 100 - **Desk-hours used**: The hours each desk was in use, from check-in to check-out, auto-release or the end of presence, summed over all desks in the period. - **Desk-hours available**: Open, bookable desks multiplied by the hours they were available in the period, excluding closed or out-of-service desks. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. A neighborhood has 20 desks, available 8 hours a day for a five-day week: 20 × 8 × 5 = 800 desk-hours available. 2. Check-in and presence data show 360 desk-hours used across the week. 3. 360 ÷ 800 = 0.45. 4. On the same data, an average of 16 of the 20 desks had someone at them at some point each day: 80% average daily occupancy. Weekly desk utilization: 45%. Most desks are occupied each day, but many are used for only part of it. #### How to measure it 1. Use check-ins or automatic presence detection with an end time (check-out, auto-release or presence ending); booking data alone overstates use. 2. Count hours, not only days: a desk used for an hour and a desk used all day are both occupied that day, but their utilization is very different. 3. Report by neighborhood and team, not only by building, so over- and under-supplied areas show up. 4. Track no-shows next to utilization. A high booking rate with low check-ins points to ghost bookings, not a shortage. #### Examples - A sales team books every desk in its neighborhood on Mondays but checks in to half of them; auto-release and a reminder return the rest to other teams. - Window desks run near full while an interior bank is rarely used; better lighting and monitors fix the imbalance before anyone adds desks. #### Benchmarks - Kadence booking data from over 1,100 buildings, published in June 2025, showed most offices running at 20 to 40% average desk utilization. It comes from booking data, so it likely overstates real use. [Kadence guide: Office space planning]() #### Common mistakes - Counting bookings as use. - Reporting one building-wide figure that hides crowded and empty neighborhoods. - Removing desks based on an average week without checking the peak day. - Ignoring people who sit without booking, which makes utilization look lower than it is unless presence data records them. #### How Kadence helps Kadence records desk bookings and check-ins from the web and mobile apps, Microsoft Teams and Slack, and auto-releases desks nobody checks in to. The Kadence Agent checks people in when it detects them on the office network, and Automatic Bookings records people who turn up without a booking. Workplace Insights reports occupancy, no-shows, heatmaps and average weekly hours, and CSV and bookings exports feed your own desk-hour calculations. [Desk booking software]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [Workplace occupancy]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do you calculate desk utilization? Divide the desk-hours actually used by the desk-hours available in the same period, then multiply by one hundred. Count use from check-ins or presence data with an end time, and count only desks that were open and bookable. Counting only whether each desk was used on a day gives desk occupancy instead. ##### What is a good desk utilization rate? Most offices run at 20–40% average desk utilization, according to Kadence booking data from over 1,100 buildings published in June 2025; because it comes from bookings, real use is likely lower. A good rate for you depends on your policy and your peak day: aim for a busy midweek that still leaves a small buffer. ##### What is the difference between desk utilization and desk occupancy? Desk occupancy asks whether a desk is in use: the share of desks in use at a point in time or on a given day. Desk utilization asks how intensively desks are used over time: the share of available desk-hours actually used. A desk used for one morning counts as occupied that day but is only partly utilized. ##### Can you measure desk utilization without sensors? Yes. Desk booking with check-in records use desk by desk, and automatic check-in from office network presence removes the need for people to remember. Badge data adds building arrivals, though it cannot say which desk someone used. ##### How do I find out how much of our office space is actually used? Measure use desk by desk and room by room over several weeks, from check-ins and office network presence, and compare it with what you have. Bookings and badge entries alone overstate use, because booked desks go empty and a badge-in does not show where someone sat. The gap is space you pay for but do not use. #### Related terms - [Space utilization]() How intensively buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their full capacity over time. - [Occupancy vs utilization]() Occupancy is the share of space in use; utilization is the share of capacity-time actually used. - [Desk ratio (desk sharing ratio)]() The number of people assigned to a workplace for each desk, set from peak attendance and policy. - [No-show rate]() The share of desk and room bookings nobody checks in to, which makes space look busier than it is. - [Desk check-in]() Confirming that you are at the desk or room you booked, by app, QR code, badge or Wi-Fi presence, so unused bookings can be released. - [Desk booking system]() Software that lets employees find and reserve a desk before they come in, check in on arrival and free desks nobody uses. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a desktop presence agent? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/desktop-presence-agent/ Description: A desktop presence agent is a laptop app that detects the office network and checks people in automatically. How it works, its limits and how to roll it out. [Glossary]() · AI & workplace data ### What is a desktop presence agent? Short answer Desktop presence agent is a lightweight app on employees' laptops that detects when they're on the office network and checks them in automatically. Workplace and IT teams use it to measure real office attendance without installing sensors, and so that accurate data no longer depends on people remembering to check in. Also called presence agent, desktop check-in agent, silent agent, auto check-in agent. #### How it works IT installs the agent on company laptops, usually through the same device management tools used for other software. The agent signs in with the employee's company identity and runs in the background. When the laptop joins a network the organization has registered as an office network, the agent records presence and checks the person in. If they have a desk booking, the booking is confirmed; if not, some systems create a booking so the visit still counts. More precise versions read internal network signals to place a person on a floor and can tell an office connection from a VPN session at home. Because it needs no hardware, a presence agent gives the same coverage at every site. Its limits are devices and consent: people without a company laptop, or with the laptop closed, are not detected, and in some countries employee representatives must be consulted before it is introduced. #### How to measure it 1. Track agent coverage: the share of office-based employees with the agent installed and signed in, by site. 2. Compare agent check-ins with badge entries for the same days to find coverage gaps. 3. Check how many check-ins come from the agent versus manual check-in, to see whether reports still depend on people remembering. #### Benchmarks - Wavex reported saving £20K+ by using automated check-in instead of a sensor deployment. [Kadence customer story: Wavex]() #### Common mistakes - Rolling out without telling employees what is collected and why. Trust is harder to rebuild than to keep. - Registering guest or public Wi-Fi as an office network, which checks in people who are only nearby. - Assuming full coverage. People in mobile-only roles or on shared devices need another way to check in. #### How Kadence helps The Kadence Agent is a desktop app that checks people in automatically when it detects them on the office network, with no sensors needed. Enhanced Network Detection adds floor-level, VPN-aware presence, Agent Auto Login signs the agent in with Entra or Okta (silently on Windows with Entra), and Automatic Bookings records people who arrive without a booking. Employees can use incognito mode to hide their location from colleagues. [Workplace occupancy]() · [WorkOps]() · [Wavex customer story]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How does a desktop presence agent detect office presence? It checks which network the laptop is connected to. When that network matches one the organization registered as an office network, the agent records presence and checks the person in. More precise versions use internal network signals to place people on a floor and to ignore VPN sessions from home. ##### Is a desktop presence agent employee monitoring? It records whether a person is in the office, not what they do on their laptop. A well-designed agent does not track keystrokes, screens or application activity. Organizations should still tell employees what is collected and why, set data retention limits and, where required, consult employee representatives. ##### Do you need sensors if you use a presence agent? Not for attendance and floor-level occupancy. The agent covers every site without hardware. Sensors still add detail where it matters, such as how many people are in a meeting room, and their data can be combined with agent data. ##### What happens if someone does not have the agent installed? The agent cannot detect them. Other check-in methods cover the gap: a kiosk or QR code, a room display, badge data or the mobile app. Tracking agent coverage by site shows where those gaps are. #### Related terms - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Desk check-in]() Confirming that you are at the desk or room you booked, by app, QR code, badge or Wi-Fi presence, so unused bookings can be released. - [Multi-source occupancy (unified occupancy model)]() One occupancy picture built by combining Wi-Fi, badge, sensor and booking data, so no single source has to be complete or perfect. - [Works council]() An elected employee body, common in Germany, the Netherlands and the Nordics, that must be consulted before attendance tracking starts. - [Office attendance rate]() The share of employees, or of expected office days, that people actually spend in the office, measured from presence data. - [Employee monitoring vs occupancy data]() Employee monitoring tracks what individuals do; occupancy data measures how spaces are used. Workplace planning needs only the second. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Benchmarks]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a destination office? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/destination-office/ Description: A destination office is designed to be worth the commute, drawing people in with space, amenities and events, not mandates. What it includes and how to measure it. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is a destination office? Short answer A destination office is a workplace designed to be worth the commute, so employees choose to come in rather than being required to. It puts the emphasis on collaboration and social space, good meeting rooms, amenities, events and a well-located building. Employers use the idea to raise voluntary attendance, often while reducing total floor area. Also called magnet office, commute-worthy office, earn the commute. #### How it works The starting point is what people cannot get at home: time with colleagues, space for group work, good equipment, learning and social connection. A destination office gives more of its floor to collaboration zones, meeting rooms with reliable video, social and hospitality areas and quiet rooms, and less to rows of assigned desks. Design is only part of it. What people find when they arrive matters as much as the fit-out: knowing their team will be there, finding a desk or room without friction, and having a reason to come in, such as a team day, an event or a lunch. Programming and coordination turn a well-designed floor into a place people seek out. The idea is closely linked to flight to quality, where occupiers move to fewer, better-located and better-equipped buildings. Organizations judge whether it works by voluntary attendance, peak-day occupancy, event participation and employee feedback, rather than by compliance with a mandate. #### How to measure it 1. Track voluntary attendance by team and weekday after changes to space or programming. 2. Measure use of each space type to see which parts of the office people actually seek out. 3. Track event RSVPs and attendance. 4. Ask employees what would make the commute worth it, and compare the answers with usage data. #### Examples - A bank keeps its hybrid policy and invests in a major refurbishment of its headquarters, with multi-level villages, open staircases and an indoor garden. - A company replaces two floors of assigned desks with a café, project rooms and bookable focus booths, and runs a weekly community lunch. #### Benchmarks - Citi is investing £1 billion in a full-scale revamp of its Canary Wharf headquarters in London, to make the office somewhere people want to be rather than enforcing strict attendance. [Kadence: Why Citi is sticking to hybrid work while rivals push for RTO]() #### Common mistakes - Spending on design without fixing basics such as booking, video in meeting rooms and knowing who will be in. - Building amenities nobody asked for instead of asking employees and checking usage data. - Calling the office a destination while enforcing attendance so strictly that people would come in anyway. #### How Kadence helps Kadence helps make each visit worth it. People see who is coming in and book desks and rooms from the Kadence apps, Microsoft Teams or Slack, Workplace Events with RSVP (WorkOps Pro) gives people reasons to gather, and Workplace Insights shows which spaces are used, so leaders can put investment where people actually go. [Workplace events]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [Hybrid working coordination]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What makes an office a destination? A destination office offers what people cannot get at home: colleagues to work with, space for group work and good meeting rooms, amenities and social areas, events, and an easy experience from booking to arrival. It is worth the commute because of who will be there and what people can do there. ##### What do employees want from the office? Employees most often come in to see and work with colleagues, so they want to know their team will be there. They also want reliable meeting rooms and technology, places for both focus and collaboration, good amenities, and an easy way to find a desk or room. ##### How do you entice employees back to the office? Give office days a purpose, coordinate team days so colleagues overlap, make booking and arrival easy, invest in the spaces people actually use, and run events and social moments. Measure voluntary attendance and ask employees what would make the trip worth it, then act on the answers. ##### Is a destination office the same as a smaller office? Not necessarily, but they often go together. Many organizations reduce total floor area while improving quality, moving to fewer, better buildings with more collaboration and social space. The aim is an office people choose to use, whatever its size. #### Related terms - [Workplace experience (WX)]() How employees experience the office and its services, from finding a desk and colleagues to hosting visitors and getting help. - [Flight to quality]() The shift of office demand toward the best-located, best-equipped buildings, while older, lower-quality space loses tenants. - [In-person collaboration]() Work people do together face to face, and the practice of measuring whether office time brings the right people together. - [Return to office (RTO)]() An employer requirement that remote or hybrid staff spend more time in the office, either full time or on set days. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a digital twin of the workplace? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/digital-twin/ Description: A workplace digital twin is a live model of buildings, spaces and the people using them. How it works, the data it needs and how teams test decisions first. [Glossary]() · AI & workplace data ### What is a digital twin of the workplace? Short answer A workplace digital twin is a live digital model of an organization's buildings, floors, spaces and the people who use them, kept current with data such as floor plans, occupancy, headcount and bookings. Real estate and workplace leaders use it to see how space performs now and to test decisions, such as consolidating floors, before making them. Also called office digital twin, digital twin. #### How it works A workplace digital twin has three layers. The physical layer is the digital floor plan: buildings, floors, desks, rooms and their attributes. The data layer keeps it current: occupancy and presence, bookings, headcount and team structure from HR, and sometimes building systems such as energy. The decision layer runs scenarios against the model and shows the result. In buildings and industry, digital twins often mean physics-based simulations of equipment and energy. A workplace digital twin focuses on people and space: which teams use which floors, how full each area is on each day, and what would happen if a team grew, moved or changed its office days. The value comes from the loop. The twin shows today's pattern, a planner models a change, leaders approve it, and the change is applied to the real floor plan and bookings, which then feed the twin again. Without current data, it is only a 3D drawing. #### How to measure it 1. Check how current the floor plan is and who can edit it. 2. Confirm the occupancy and headcount data are live, not one-off imports. 3. Test a real question, such as closing a floor, and see whether the twin shows the desks, teams and moves affected. 4. Check that approved changes flow back into the booking system. #### Examples - A real estate team models consolidating two floors into one, sees which teams would move and on which days the remaining floor would be full, and presents the options to finance. - After a reorganization, a planner edits the floor plan, checks the new neighborhoods against last quarter's occupancy and activates the change. #### Benchmarks - PwC and ULI report that physics-based digital twins of buildings and equipment have delivered energy cost savings as high as 30 percent. These are asset simulations, not workplace twins. [PwC and the Urban Land Institute, Emerging Trends in Real Estate: From Proptech to PropOS]() #### Common mistakes - Building a detailed 3D model with no live data behind it. - Modeling the building but not the organization: headcount, teams and attendance. - Letting the twin drift from reality because floor plan changes are not recorded. #### How Kadence helps Kadence keeps floor plans, bookings, occupancy and team data in one place. Editable Floor Plans (a WorkOps Pro add-on, included with SpaceOps) let admins edit plans in the browser, review the impact, activate changes and roll back versions. SpaceOps uses live attendance and occupancy data to build stack plans and compare scenarios, then publishes approved plans to WorkOps neighborhoods and assignments. [SpaceOps]() · [Scenario planning]() · [Space management]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a digital twin of the workplace? It is a digital model of an organization's offices, spaces and people that stays current with real data, such as floor plans, occupancy, bookings and headcount. Leaders use it to see how space is used and to test changes before they happen. ##### What is the difference between a digital twin and a floor plan? A floor plan is a drawing. A digital twin connects that drawing to live data about who uses each space and when, and lets you model changes against it. The data connection is what makes it a twin. ##### What is an organizational digital twin? It combines data about people, teams, spaces and costs into one model, so planners or AI can test questions such as consolidating two offices or changing attendance expectations, and see the effect on space, cost and how close teams sit. ##### Do you need sensors to build a workplace digital twin? No. Booking, check-in and network presence data can keep occupancy current, and HR data supplies headcount and teams. Sensors add detail for unbookable areas and building systems, but many workplace twins start without them. #### Related terms - [Interactive floor plan]() A live, clickable map of an office that shows desks, rooms and people, and lets employees book space and find colleagues. - [Smart office]() A workplace that uses connected tools and data, from booking and room displays to presence and building controls, to fit real use. - [Stack planning]() A floor-by-floor plan of which teams occupy which floors and buildings, used to test moves and consolidations first. - [Workplace analytics]() Analysis of bookings, check-ins, attendance and occupancy data to guide decisions about office space, policy and services. - [Scenario planning]() Modeling several possible futures for space, cost and teams, and comparing them side by side before committing to one. #### Sources 1. [From Proptech to PropOS: The Emergence of Real Estate’s Autonomous Future](), PwC and the Urban Land Institute, Emerging Trends in Real Estate Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What are editable floor plans? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/editable-floor-plans/ Description: Editable floor plans let workplace teams update floor plans themselves, without CAD skills or an architect, with a review step before changes go live. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What are editable floor plans? Short answer Editable floor plans are floor plans that workplace teams can update themselves, without CAD skills or an architect, typically with a review step before changes go live. Facilities and workplace teams use them to keep booking maps and seat counts accurate after everyday changes, such as moving desks or turning a room into focus space. Also called self-service floor plan editing, floor plan editor. #### How it works The floor plan is edited in the browser. A workplace admin can add, move or remove desks, split or merge rooms, change a space's type or capacity, and redraw zones and neighborhoods without opening a CAD tool. Changes are saved as a draft first. The admin reviews the impact, such as which bookings or assignments sit on desks being removed, then activates the change. A version history allows a rollback if something goes wrong. Major building work still needs an architect. Editable floor plans cover the small, frequent changes in between, which would otherwise wait weeks for a drawing update while the map and the floor disagree. #### How to measure it 1. Track the time between a physical change on the floor and the matching floor plan update. 2. Check how many bookings or assignments each change affects before activating it. 3. Compare the map with the floor at regular intervals. #### Examples - A team adds four desks to its neighborhood; the admin adds them to the plan, reviews the change and activates it the same day. - A meeting room becomes two phone booths; the admin splits the room on the plan and updates both spaces. #### Common mistakes - Letting anyone edit live plans without a review step. - Removing desks that have future bookings without moving those bookings first. - Editing the digital plan but not telling the architect, so the next official drawing overwrites the change. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Editable Floor Plans let admins edit floor plans in the browser, review the impact and activate changes, with version rollback. They are a WorkOps Pro add-on and are included with SpaceOps. The updated plan is what employees see when they book desks and rooms and search for colleagues. [Space management]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Pricing]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### Why use editable floor plans instead of updating CAD drawings? Most workplace changes are small and frequent. Waiting for an architect to update a drawing for each one leaves the booking map wrong for weeks. Editable floor plans let the workplace team make those changes directly and keep the map accurate. ##### Who should be allowed to edit floor plans? A small group of trained workplace or facilities admins, with a review step before changes go live. Team leads can request changes but usually should not edit live plans themselves. ##### Do editable floor plans replace architects? No. Building work, refits and anything structural still need professional drawings from an architect or designer. Editable floor plans handle the everyday layout changes between those projects, such as moving desks, renaming rooms or changing a neighborhood. #### Related terms - [Interactive floor plan]() A live, clickable map of an office that shows desks, rooms and people, and lets employees book space and find colleagues. - [CAD / DWG floor plans]() Architectural drawing files that provide the accurate geometry behind digital and interactive floor plans. - [Changes]() Updates to a workspace, team area or setting that do not relocate the people assigned to it. - [Space management]() The ongoing tracking, allocation and improvement of how an organization's buildings, floors, desks and rooms are used. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Is measuring office occupancy the same as employee monitoring? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/employee-monitoring/ Description: Employee monitoring tracks what individuals do; occupancy data measures how spaces are used. How they differ and how to measure office use without surveillance. [Glossary]() · AI & workplace data ### Is measuring office occupancy the same as employee monitoring? Short answer Employee monitoring is the tracking of what individual workers do, such as their activity, communications, location or productivity, while occupancy data measures how workplace spaces are used, usually in aggregate. Workplace teams need occupancy data to plan space and policy; they do not need to monitor individual work to get it, and mixing the two erodes trust. Also called employee monitoring, workplace surveillance, bossware, productivity monitoring. #### How it works The difference is the question being asked. Occupancy data asks how spaces are used: how many people are on a floor, which rooms go unused, which days peak. Employee monitoring asks what a person is doing: keystrokes, screenshots, application use, messages or location throughout the day. Some signals can serve both purposes, so design matters. A check-in or network presence record can feed an aggregate occupancy chart or an individual attendance report. What separates planning from monitoring is purpose, aggregation, who can see individual records, how long they are kept and whether employees were told. Data protection law in many countries expects monitoring of workers to be necessary, proportionate and transparent, often with an impact assessment before intrusive methods. Aggregate occupancy measurement for space planning sits at the low end of that scale; activity tracking and covert monitoring sit at the high end. #### How to measure it 1. Write down the purpose of each data source and the decisions it serves. 2. Report occupancy in aggregate by floor, team or building wherever possible. 3. Limit individual-level access to named roles and set a retention period. 4. Tell employees what is collected, why and who sees it, and let them hide their location from colleagues where the tool allows. #### Examples - Occupancy data: a floor averages well under half its desks on Fridays, so the team closes it on Fridays and saves on cleaning and heating. - Employee monitoring: software captures random screenshots of each employee's screen to rate productivity. #### Benchmarks - CBRE found 71% of organizations with hybrid programs requiring office presence actively monitor employee attendance. [CBRE, The Hybrid Reality (2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights)]() #### Common mistakes - Using attendance data to rank or discipline individuals without a clear, communicated policy. - Collecting individual data when an aggregate answers the question. - Keeping presence records indefinitely. - Rolling out tracking without telling employees what it records. #### How Kadence helps Kadence measures how spaces are used from bookings, check-ins and office network presence; it does not track keystrokes, screens or application activity. PII data retention controls set how long personal data is kept, building-scoped admins and custom roles limit who sees what, and employees can use incognito mode to hide their location from colleagues. [Security]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [Workplace occupancy]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### Is measuring office occupancy the same as employee monitoring? No. Occupancy measurement counts how spaces are used, usually in aggregate, to plan floors, rooms and services. Employee monitoring tracks what individuals do. The same presence signal can serve either, so purpose, aggregation, access and retention decide which one you are running. ##### Is it legal to monitor employee attendance? In many countries, yes, if it is necessary, proportionate and transparent. Rules vary: UK and EU data protection law expects a lawful basis and often an impact assessment, and some countries require works council agreement. Take legal advice for each country. ##### Does desk booking software track employees? It records bookings and check-ins, which show who used which space and when. Whether that becomes tracking depends on configuration and use: aggregated reporting, restricted access, short retention and employee privacy settings keep it focused on space. ##### How do you measure office use without surveillance? Measure spaces and teams, not individual activity. Use check-ins and network presence rather than screen or keystroke tracking, report in aggregate, restrict individual records, set retention periods and explain the purpose to employees before rollout. #### Related terms - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Working time recording]() The EU requirement that employers run an objective, reliable and accessible system to record each worker's daily working time. - [Occupancy monitoring]() Continuous measurement of how many people use each building, floor, room and desk, and when, from presence signals or sensors. - [Badge data]() Access-control swipe records showing who entered a building or floor and when, often used to measure attendance. - [Workplace analytics]() Analysis of bookings, check-ins, attendance and occupancy data to guide decisions about office space, policy and services. - [Works council]() An elected employee body, common in Germany, the Netherlands and the Nordics, that must be consulted before attendance tracking starts. #### Sources 1. [Employment practices and data protection: monitoring workers](), UK Information Commissioner's Office 2. [The Hybrid Reality: Why the Office Is More Important Than Ever](), CBRE Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is facilities management? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/facilities-management/ Description: Facilities management keeps buildings and their services running: maintenance, cleaning, security and space. What FM covers, how it is organized and what to measure. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is facilities management? Short answer Facilities management is the organizational function that keeps buildings and their services working for the people inside them, covering maintenance, cleaning, security, catering, energy, health and safety, and space. Organizations use it to keep buildings safe and compliant, protect their value and support the work that happens there. Also called FM, facility management, integrated facilities management. #### How it works Facilities management usually splits into hard services, which relate to the building fabric and systems (heating, ventilation and air conditioning, electrical, plumbing, fire safety, lifts), and soft services, which relate to people (cleaning, security, reception, catering, mail and waste). Many teams also own space allocation and moves. Work is either planned or reactive. Planned maintenance follows schedules set by equipment and regulation; reactive work starts from a service request or fault report. Larger organizations track both in a computer-aided facilities management (CAFM) or computerized maintenance management (CMMS) system, and often buy services from one or several providers, sometimes under a single integrated facilities management contract. In hybrid offices, facilities management depends on knowing how the building is used. Cleaning, catering, heating and security planned for full occupancy cost money on quiet days, so facilities teams increasingly schedule services from attendance and occupancy data. The international vocabulary for the discipline is set out in ISO 41011. #### How to measure it 1. Service request volume, response time and time to resolve, by category and building. 2. The balance of planned and reactive maintenance. 3. Cost per square foot or per seat for each service line. 4. Occupancy by day, so cleaning, catering and energy follow real attendance. #### Examples - A facilities team moves desk cleaning from a daily round to after-use cleaning, using check-in data to see which desks were occupied. - An employee reports a broken screen from the room display, and the request reaches on-site maintenance with the room already identified. #### Common mistakes - Planning services to headcount instead of to the people who are actually in the building. - Keeping service requests in email, which hides volume, repeat faults and response times. - Separating facilities data from booking and occupancy data, so neither team sees the full picture. #### How Kadence helps Kadence gives facilities teams the occupancy side: attendance, occupancy and no-shows from check-ins in Workplace Insights. Employees order catering with a room booking and raise tickets for equipment, amenity or space issues, including from Kadence Room Displays (WorkOps Pro). Kadence also integrates with ticketing systems, including ServiceNow, Jira and Zendesk. [Workplace analytics]() · [Integrations]() · [Room booking software]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What are hard and soft services in facilities management? Hard services relate to the building itself: heating, ventilation and air conditioning, electrical and plumbing systems, fire safety and lifts. Soft services relate to the people using it: cleaning, security, reception, catering, mail and waste. Most facilities teams and contracts are organized around this split. ##### What is integrated facilities management? Integrated facilities management brings many services, such as maintenance, cleaning, security and catering, under one contract or provider with one management layer. Organizations use it to simplify supplier management, keep service levels consistent across sites and get combined reporting. ##### What is the difference between facilities management and property management? Property management acts for the owner: leases, rent, tenant relations and the building as an investment. Facilities management acts for the occupier and the building's users: keeping the space safe, working and serviced. In a leased office, the landlord's property manager and the tenant's facilities team often work side by side. ##### What software do facilities managers use? Common tools are CAFM and CMMS systems for maintenance and assets, IWMS platforms for space, leases and projects, help desk tools for service requests, and workplace platforms for booking, visitors and occupancy data. Many organizations connect several of these rather than use one system for everything. #### Related terms - [CAFM (computer-aided facilities management)]() Software that links floor plans to a database of rooms and assets to run space, maintenance and service requests. - [CMMS (computerized maintenance management system)]() Software that plans, assigns and records maintenance work on buildings and equipment, from asset register to work order. - [Building operations]() The day-to-day running of a building's systems and services, such as heating, cooling, lighting, security, lifts and maintenance. - [Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS)]() Enterprise software that runs real estate, leases, space, maintenance and assets from one shared database. - [Workplace operations (WorkOps)]() The day-to-day running of an office for the people in it: space, bookings, visitors, services, policies and the data they produce. #### Sources 1. [ISO 41011:2024 Facility management — Vocabulary](), International Organization for Standardization Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is an office fit-out? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/fit-out/ Description: An office fit-out turns shell space into a working office. The types of fit-out, what drives cost, how improvement allowances work and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is an office fit-out? Short answer An office fit-out is the construction and installation work that makes a space ready to occupy: internal walls, ceilings, lighting, heating and cooling, power and data, finishes, furniture and meeting room technology. Occupiers and landlords plan fit-outs when a company moves in, expands or redesigns its space, and the choices made shape the layout for years. Also called fit-out, tenant improvements, TI allowance, office build-out. #### How it works Fit-outs are usually described by their starting point. Shell and core space has the structure, main services and common areas but little else. A Category A fit-out, a common UK term, adds raised floors, suspended ceilings, basic lighting and air distribution. A Category B fit-out, often called a build-out in the US, adds the occupier's own layout, rooms, finishes, furniture and technology. In the US, landlords often contribute through a tenant improvement allowance: a set amount per square foot the tenant can spend on the build-out, usually in return for a longer lease or higher rent. Costs beyond the allowance fall to the occupier. Cost is set mostly by early decisions: how much space, what mix of open areas, enclosed rooms and focus space, the quality of finishes, and how much mechanical, electrical and audiovisual work is needed. Because a fit-out lasts for the life of the lease, the brief should come from measured demand, not the old floor plan. #### How to measure it 1. Before the brief, measure average and peak occupancy by space type, so the fit-out adds the spaces people use and drops the ones they avoid. 2. Budget per square foot or square meter, split into construction, mechanical and electrical, furniture and technology. 3. After the move, compare use of each new space type with the brief, using occupancy data and a post-occupancy evaluation. #### Examples - A company moving to a smaller floor replaces rows of assigned desks with shared desks, more small video meeting rooms and a team area for anchor days. - A tenant negotiates a larger improvement allowance in return for a longer lease and spends it on meeting room technology. #### Benchmarks - JLL puts the global average fit-out cost for a moderate corporate office at $2,150 per square meter. [JLL, Global office fit-out costs guide 2026]() - JLL reports North America as the most expensive region for fit-out, at $3,200 per square meter on average. [JLL, Global office fit-out costs guide 2026]() - According to JLL, fit-out costs can vary 10% to 30% across office typologies and specifications. [JLL, Global office fit-out costs guide 2026]() #### Common mistakes - Designing from the old floor plan or from headcount instead of measured use. - Spending on large amenity areas before fixing basics such as enough small video rooms. - Forgetting exit obligations: many leases require the tenant to return the space to its original condition at the end. - Building fixed walls where demand is uncertain, when movable partitions would let the layout change later. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights shows how existing desks, rooms and floors are used, including heatmaps and no-shows, so the fit-out brief reflects measured demand. After the move, desk and room booking, check-ins and occupancy reports show whether the new spaces are used as planned. Admins can also edit floor plans in the browser, included with SpaceOps and available as a WorkOps Pro add-on. [Workplace analytics]() · [Office space planning guide]() · [Space management]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How much does an office fit-out cost? It depends on the city, the size of the space and the specification. JLL's global guide puts the average for a moderate corporate office at $2,150 per square meter, with wide variation by region. The biggest levers are how much space you fit out and the mix of open and enclosed areas. ##### What is the difference between Category A and Category B fit-out? Category A turns shell space into a basic, lettable office with raised floors, ceilings, lighting and air distribution. Category B adds everything specific to the occupier: the layout, meeting rooms, kitchens, finishes, furniture, branding and technology. The terms are most common in the UK. ##### What is a tenant improvement allowance? A tenant improvement allowance is money a landlord provides, usually per square foot, toward the tenant's build-out. It is negotiated as part of the lease, often in exchange for a longer term or higher rent. Anything the fit-out costs above the allowance is paid by the tenant. ##### How long does an office fit-out take? A light refresh of an existing office can take a few weeks. A full build-out of a large shell floor usually takes several months, plus time for design, approvals and procurement beforehand. Order long-lead items such as furniture and audiovisual equipment early to protect the move date. #### Related terms - [Space planning]() Deciding how office floor area is divided and allocated, from which teams go on which floors to where each desk and room sits. - [Workspace types]() The settings an office offers, such as desks, focus rooms, phone booths, huddle rooms and lounges, each suited to a kind of work. - [Activity-based working (ABW)]() A workplace model in which people move between settings designed for different tasks instead of working at one assigned desk. - [Lease event]() A lease date that forces or allows a decision, such as an expiry, a break option, a renewal option or a rent review. - [Test fit]() A quick draft layout that checks whether a space program fits a specific building before a lease is signed. - [Post-occupancy evaluation (POE)]() A structured review of how a building or workplace performs for the people using it, carried out after they move in. #### Sources 1. [Global office fit-out costs guide 2026](), JLL Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is the difference between a fixed and a rolling booking window? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/fixed-vs-rolling-booking-window/ Description: A rolling booking window opens one new day at a time; a fixed window opens a whole period at once. How each works, when to use it and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is the difference between a fixed and a rolling booking window? Short answer Fixed vs rolling booking window describes two ways to control how far ahead people can reserve desks and rooms. A rolling window always reaches the same distance ahead and opens one new day each day. A fixed window opens a whole period at once on a set day. Workplace teams choose one to keep access fair. Also called rolling booking window, fixed booking window, advance booking window, booking horizon. #### How it works A rolling window opens one new day at a time (e.g., always 14 days ahead). A fixed window opens a whole period at once, such as next week every Friday. With a rolling window, the bookable horizon moves forward every day. Demand for popular desks and rooms is spread across the days, and people who plan ahead get a small head start each day. It suits offices where demand is steady. With a fixed window, a whole block of days opens at one moment. Everyone starts at the same time, which feels fair when space is scarce, but it creates a rush when the window opens. It suits offices with anchor days or tight capacity, where teams plan the following week together. Windows sit alongside other booking rules: maximum booking length, limits on recurring bookings, booking credits and priority access for some teams. Recurring bookings need their own rule, because a series that runs for months is not limited by any window. #### How to measure it 1. Track how fast spaces fill after the window opens. If popular spaces go within minutes, the window is too tight or the space too scarce. 2. Compare no-show rates for bookings made far ahead with those made close to the day. Long horizons often raise no-shows. 3. Check how many bookings come from recurring series, which the window does not limit. #### Examples - Rolling: desks can be booked up to two weeks ahead, so each morning one more day opens. - Fixed: every Friday at noon, the whole of next week opens for booking. #### Common mistakes - Setting a long rolling window for scarce space, which lets early planners hold desks they may not use. - Opening a fixed window at a time when people in some time zones are asleep. - Forgetting that recurring bookings get around the window unless their end dates are capped. #### How Kadence helps Kadence booking rules let admins set how far ahead people can book, along with maximum and default booking durations. Recurring booking end-date controls cap how far a series can run, booking credits limit how much space each person or team can book, and priority booking access gives selected groups first access to spaces before general release. [Desk booking software]() · [Room booking software]() · [Desk booking policy template]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a rolling booking window? A rolling booking window lets people book a set distance ahead, counted from today. Each day the window moves forward and one more day opens. It spreads demand out and works well where demand is steady. ##### What is a fixed booking window? A fixed booking window opens a whole period at once, at a set time, such as the next week every Friday. Everyone starts at the same moment, which feels fair when space is scarce, but popular spaces can go quickly. ##### How far in advance should employees be able to book a desk? Far enough for people to plan their office days, and short enough that bookings stay accurate. Watch no-show rates: if bookings made far ahead go unused more often, shorten the window or require check-in with auto-release. #### Related terms - [Booking policy]() The rules for booking shared desks, rooms and other spaces: who can book, how far ahead, for how long and when bookings are released. - [Auto-release]() A booking rule that frees a desk or room automatically when nobody checks in within a set grace period. - [Desk booking system]() Software that lets employees find and reserve a desk before they come in, check in on arrival and free desks nobody uses. - [No-show rate]() The share of desk and room bookings nobody checks in to, which makes space look busier than it is. - [Anchor days]() Set days each week when a team or company agrees to be in the office together, with the other days flexible. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is flexible working? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/flexible-working/ Description: Flexible working covers arrangements that change when, where or how much people work, from flextime to hybrid. The main types, the UK right to request and planning. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is flexible working? Short answer Flexible working is any working arrangement that changes when, where or how much an employee works compared with a standard full-time schedule. Common forms include flexible start and finish times, hybrid or remote work, part-time hours, job sharing and compressed weeks. Employers offer it to attract and keep people; some countries give employees a legal right to request it. Also called flexible work arrangements, flextime, right to request flexible working. #### How it works Flexible working covers three kinds of change. Where: working from home, hybrid work or working from another site. When: flextime, core hours with flexible edges, or staggered shifts. How much: part-time hours, job sharing, annualized hours, or compressed weeks that fit full-time hours into fewer days. Arrangements can be formal or informal. Formal arrangements are agreed in writing and change the contract or the policy that applies. In the UK, for example, all employees have the legal right to request flexible working from their first day in a job; employers must deal with requests in a reasonable manner and can refuse only for a good business reason. For workplace teams, flexible working changes demand for space. Flexible hours spread arrivals across the day, hybrid and compressed weeks change which days are busy, and part-time patterns lower average attendance. Planning desks, rooms and services from measured attendance rather than headcount keeps the office matched to the way people actually work. #### How to measure it 1. Track attendance by weekday and time of day to see how flexible patterns change demand. 2. Record the types of arrangement in use by team, so space planning reflects them. 3. Monitor retention and engagement for people on flexible arrangements. #### Examples - An employee starts early and finishes mid-afternoon to fit school pickup, within the team's agreed core hours. - Two part-time employees share one role, each working part of the week, with an overlap day for handover. #### Common mistakes - Treating flexibility as a perk decided case by case, which leads to inconsistent and unfair outcomes. - Offering flexible hours but scheduling key meetings at the edges of the day. - Planning space from headcount when flexible patterns mean far fewer people are in on most days. #### How Kadence helps Kadence supports flexible patterns. People set an office or remote status, including several statuses in one day, and book desks and rooms in advance, on repeat or on the day. Booking rules and windows let admins set durations and how far ahead people can book, and Workplace Insights shows how attendance shifts across the week. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Desk booking software]() · [Workplace analytics]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What are examples of flexible working? Common examples are flexible start and finish times, core hours with flexible edges, hybrid and remote work, part-time hours, job sharing, compressed hours, annualized hours and staggered shifts. Each changes when, where or how much someone works, and many employees combine more than one. ##### Is flexible working a legal right? It depends on the country. In the UK, all employees have the legal right to request flexible working from their first day in a job; employers must handle requests in a reasonable manner and can refuse for a good business reason. Other countries have different rules, so check local law. ##### What is the difference between flexible working and hybrid working? Hybrid working is one type of flexible working: it changes where people work by splitting the week between the office and elsewhere. Flexible working is broader and also covers when people work, such as flextime, and how much they work, such as part-time or compressed hours. ##### What is a flexible hybrid work model? A flexible hybrid model lets each employee decide where and when to work, rather than following set office days. It gives the most individual choice but makes it harder for teams to overlap, so it works best with shared schedules and occasional team days. #### Related terms - [Hybrid work]() A way of working where employees split their time between the office and remote locations such as home. - [Compressed work week]() A schedule that fits full-time hours into fewer, longer days, such as four ten-hour days, in exchange for extra days off. - [Four-day work week]() A working pattern that cuts the standard week to four days, usually with fewer total hours and no cut in pay. - [Hybrid work policy]() The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured. - [Remote work]() Work done away from the employer's office, usually from home, for all or almost all of the working week. #### Sources 1. [Flexible working](), GOV.UK Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is flexible workspace? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/flexible-workspace/ Description: Flexible workspace is office space used on short or on-demand terms. The main types, how companies use it alongside their own offices, and what to measure. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is flexible workspace? Short answer Flexible workspace is office space an organization uses on short, flexible or on-demand terms instead of a long conventional lease, such as coworking desks, bookable meeting rooms, serviced offices and managed suites. Companies use it to give distributed teams a place to work near home, to cover growth or projects, and to avoid committing to space they may not need. Also called flex space, on-demand workspace, coworking, flexible office space. #### How it works Flexible workspace ranges from pay-as-you-go to multi-year. At one end, an employee books a coworking desk or a meeting room by the hour or day. In the middle are memberships with a set number of days or desks. At the other end, serviced and managed offices give a company private, furnished space run by an operator, on terms shorter and simpler than a standard lease. Large organizations typically use flex alongside their own buildings. The core portfolio covers steady demand, and flexible space absorbs the rest: teams in cities without an office, project teams, growth that may not last, or swing space during a move or refurbishment. The operational challenge is visibility. When people work across leased offices and several flex providers, workplace teams need one view of bookings, spend and use by location, to know which spaces earn their cost and whether a permanent office in a city would be cheaper. #### How to measure it 1. Spend per location per month, against the cost of a comparable leased office. 2. Use by location and team, to find where demand is steady enough to justify permanent space, or where it has faded. 3. Booking policy compliance: who can book what, where, and within which budget. #### Examples - A company with no office in a city lets its sales team book coworking desks and a meeting room near clients for a weekly team day. - During a refurbishment, one department works from a managed suite for six months instead of crowding another floor. #### Common mistakes - Letting each team buy flex space separately, so spend and use are invisible to the real estate team. - Comparing flex cost per desk with lease rent alone, ignoring the fit-out, services and commitment a lease also carries. - Using flex as a permanent answer for steady demand, where a lease may cost less. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Flex lets employees book on-demand desks and meeting rooms in coworking locations worldwide through the LiquidSpace network, from the same Kadence app they use for their own offices. People can see where teammates plan to work and set up team days at a flexible location, and booking data across leased and on-demand space sits in one place. [Flexible office space]() · [Bringing teams together guide]() · [Hybrid working coordination]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between flexible workspace and coworking? Coworking is one kind of flexible workspace: shared desks and rooms in a space used by many companies and independent workers. Flexible workspace is the wider category, which also includes bookable meeting rooms, serviced offices and managed suites taken on short or flexible terms. ##### What is a flex workplace app? A flex workplace app lets employees find and book desks, meeting rooms and other spaces from one place, in the company's own offices and in some cases in coworking locations. Workplace teams use the same app to see who is booking what and where, and to manage rules and budgets. ##### When does flexible workspace make sense for an enterprise? It fits demand that is small, uncertain or temporary: teams in cities without an office, short projects, growth that may not last, and swing space during moves. Where a team uses the same location most days for years, a lease is often cheaper. ##### Is flexible workspace cheaper than a traditional lease? Per desk, flex often costs more than rent alone, but it includes fit-out, furniture, services and no long commitment. It is usually cheaper for small, variable or short-term needs, and more expensive for large, steady demand. Compare total cost against actual use, not headline rates. #### Related terms - [Hub-and-spoke office model]() An office network with a central headquarters hub and smaller satellite offices or flexible spaces closer to where people live. - [Real estate footprint]() The total space an organization occupies, owned or leased, across all its offices, floors and sites. - [Workspace booking]() Reserving any bookable space at work, such as desks, rooms, lockers, pods, parking or coworking space, from one system. - [Hybrid work model]() The specific rules an organization uses to decide where and when people work, from flexible to office-first. - [Swing space]() Temporary workspace people use while their permanent space is refurbished, reconfigured or not yet ready. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What does flight to quality mean in office real estate? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/flight-to-quality/ Description: Flight to quality is the shift of office tenants toward prime buildings. What drives it, how it shows in rents and vacancy, and what it means for occupiers. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What does flight to quality mean in office real estate? Short answer Flight to quality is the tendency of office tenants to move toward the best buildings in a market, with strong locations, amenities, sustainability credentials and modern systems, while demand for older, lower-quality space weakens. Real estate teams track it because it shapes rents, vacancy and the options they have when a lease comes up. Also called prime office demand, flight-to-quality. #### How it works When companies need less space overall, many use the change to trade up: they take a smaller area in a better building rather than the same area in an older one. That moves demand to the top of the market, so prime buildings hold their rents and occupancy while commodity buildings see vacancy rise. What counts as quality has widened. Location and transit access still matter, but tenants also weigh energy performance and sustainability ratings, air quality, amenities, flexible floor plates and building technology. Older buildings that need major upgrades to meet those standards are the most exposed. For an occupier the trend has two sides. Prime space is in demand, so rents and competition are higher. Better space can also help draw people in and let a company hold less of it, but only if the space is used. That is why a move up in quality is usually paired with measured attendance and a clear plan for how teams will use the new space. #### How to measure it 1. Compare cost per occupied seat, not only rent per square foot, when weighing a smaller prime space against a larger older one. 2. Measure current peak occupancy before sizing the new space, so trading up does not also mean overbuying. 3. Check sustainability ratings and planned upgrades for every building you consider. #### Examples - A company leaving three floors of an older tower takes two floors in a newer building with better transit access and energy ratings. - A landlord refurbishes an older building with new systems and amenities to compete for tenants who are trading up. #### Benchmarks - In CBRE's study of five major U.S. downtowns, prime office buildings recorded cumulative rental growth of 13.4% from 2018 to 2021, against 2.5% for non-prime Class A buildings. [CBRE, The Flight to Quality Quantified (2022)]() - In the same study, the non-prime vacancy rate rose 8.2% from Q1 2020 to Q1 2022, while the prime group's rose 5.1%. [CBRE, The Flight to Quality Quantified (2022)]() #### Common mistakes - Trading up to prime space while keeping the old desk count, which makes every empty desk more expensive. - Judging a building on amenities alone, without checking whether it suits how your teams work. - Assuming older space is always the cheaper option, when upgrade needs and weak demand can raise its long-term cost. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights measures attendance, occupancy and peak days in the current space, so a team moving to a prime building can size it to real demand. SpaceOps scenario planning compares options side by side, such as fewer floors in a new building against the current footprint, before a lease is signed. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Scenario planning]() · [Office space planning guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is flight to quality in commercial real estate? It is the movement of tenants from older or lower-grade buildings into the best buildings in a market. Prime buildings keep their rents and occupancy, while demand for commodity space weakens, which widens the gap between the two. ##### Why are companies moving to prime office space? Many need less space than before, so they can afford a better building for a smaller area. Better locations, amenities and sustainability credentials help give people a reason to come in, support recruitment and meet corporate climate targets. ##### What makes an office building prime? Prime usually means the best-located space in a market, close to transit, built or refurbished to a high standard, with strong environmental and wellness credentials and good amenities. Definitions differ by market, and the bar rises as new buildings are completed. ##### Does flight to quality mean companies need more space? Not usually. Most companies trading up take less space in a better building. The risk is paying prime rent for desks nobody uses, so size the new space from measured peak attendance rather than headcount. #### Related terms - [Corporate real estate (CRE)]() The buildings and leases a company occupies for its own operations, and the team that plans and manages them. - [Destination office]() An office designed to be worth the commute, drawing people in with space, amenities and experiences rather than mandates. - [Real estate portfolio optimization]() Matching the buildings, floors and leases an organization holds to the space its people actually need. - [Office right-sizing]() Matching the amount and type of office space to how people actually use it, based on measured demand rather than headcount. #### Sources 1. [The Flight to Quality Quantified](), CBRE Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a floor plate? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/floor-plate/ Description: A floor plate is the area and shape of one floor of a building. How its size, depth and core position affect layouts, capacity and stack planning. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is a floor plate? Short answer A floor plate is the area and shape of a single floor in a building, including the position of its core, columns and windows. Architects, real estate teams and space planners use it to judge how many people, rooms and teams a floor can hold, how flexible its layout will be, and whether a building suits the organization. Also called floorplate, floor plate size. #### How it works Floor plate size is usually quoted as the rentable or gross area of one floor. Shape matters as much as size. The depth from the core to the windows controls how much space gets daylight, the position of the core decides whether the floor splits easily between teams or tenants, and the column grid limits where rooms can go. Large, regular floor plates let big departments sit together and make neighborhoods easy to reassign. Smaller or irregular plates suit smaller teams, and very deep plates can leave hard-to-use space in the middle, far from windows. In planning, the floor plate is the unit of the stack plan. Teams are placed floor by floor, and each floor's usable area, after the core and circulation, sets its capacity. Knowing the real capacity of each floor shows whether a team fits, whether two teams can share, and whether a floor can be released. #### How to measure it 1. Record usable area per floor after the core, circulation and fixed rooms, not just gross area. 2. Count capacity by space type on each floor: desks, meeting seats and team areas. 3. Track occupancy by floor, so the stack plan shows which floors are busy and which are quiet. #### Examples - A department close to the size of one floor fits on a large floor plate but would have to split across two smaller ones, which breaks team adjacency. - A building with a central core divides easily into two half-floor zones for two teams. #### Common mistakes - Comparing buildings on total area without checking whether their floor plates suit your team sizes. - Treating gross floor area as capacity, which counts cores, shafts and circulation. - Planning deep floor plates without enough daylight or quiet space in the middle. #### How Kadence helps Kadence floor plans show desks, rooms and neighborhoods floor by floor, and Workplace Insights reports occupancy by floor. In SpaceOps, auto-stack places teams on floors, planners can drag, lock or close floors, and plans go down to seat-level layouts on real floor plans that can be edited in the browser. [Space management]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Office space planning guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a good floor plate size for an office? There is no single best size. Larger floor plates keep big teams on one floor and allow more layout options, while smaller ones suit smaller companies and multi-tenant buildings. What matters is whether your largest teams fit on one floor and how much space sits far from windows. ##### What is the difference between a floor plate and a floor plan? The floor plate is the floor itself: its area, shape, core and columns. The floor plan is the drawing of how that floor is laid out, including walls, desks and rooms. The same floor plate can hold many different floor plans. ##### Why does floor plate size matter for stack planning? Stack planning assigns teams to floors, so each floor's usable capacity decides which teams fit where. Floor plates that are too small force large teams to split across floors, while very large ones may need several teams to share and work well together. #### Related terms - [Block plan]() A floor-level layout that assigns each team to a zone of one floor, between the stack plan and the seat-level plan. - [Stack planning]() A floor-by-floor plan of which teams occupy which floors and buildings, used to test moves and consolidations first. - [Rentable vs usable square feet]() Usable area is the space a tenant occupies; rentable area adds a share of common areas, and rent is charged on it. - [Space planning]() Deciding how office floor area is divided and allocated, from which teams go on which floors to where each desk and room sits. - [Team adjacency]() Placing teams that work closely together near each other, and keeping those links intact through every move. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a four-day work week? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/four-day-week/ Description: A four-day work week cuts the standard week to four days, usually with fewer hours and no cut in pay. How it works, what trials found and how it differs. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is a four-day work week? Short answer A four-day work week is a working pattern in which employees work four days instead of five, usually with fewer total hours and no reduction in pay. It differs from a compressed week, which keeps the same hours. Employers try it to improve wellbeing, recruitment and retention, often tying it to productivity goals. Also called 4-day week, 32-hour week, shorter working week, three-day work week. #### How it works The best-known model, sometimes called the 32-hour week, cuts weekly hours while keeping pay and output targets the same. The idea is that people can deliver the same results in less time when low-value meetings and tasks are removed. Implementations vary. Some companies close on the same day each week; others stagger days off so the business stays open five days. Some tie the extra day to productivity goals, such as adopting new tools, and some offer it every other week as a shorter working fortnight. For the workplace, a four-day week changes the weekly rhythm. With a shared day off, the office may close or run lightly on that day and fill more on the others; with staggered days, attendance spreads out. Workplace teams can use occupancy data to see the new pattern and adjust space and services. #### How to measure it 1. Agree output and service measures before a trial and compare them afterward. 2. Track wellbeing, sickness absence and retention alongside productivity. 3. Watch customer coverage on the day off, especially in staggered models. 4. Measure office occupancy by weekday to adjust space and services. #### Examples - A bank shortens its standard week by a few hours, spread over four days, with no cut in salary. - A consultancy staggers teams between Monday and Friday off so clients can reach someone every weekday. #### Benchmarks - Of the 61 companies in the UK four-day week pilot, 56 were continuing with the four-day week after the trial, and 18 confirmed it as a permanent change. [Autonomy: The results are in, the UK's four-day week pilot]() #### Common mistakes - Squeezing five days of work into four without removing any work, which raises stress. - Confusing a four-day week with a compressed week when explaining the change to staff. - Running a trial without agreed measures, so nobody can tell whether it worked. #### How Kadence helps Kadence shows how a shorter week changes office use. Workplace Insights reports attendance and occupancy by weekday, Closure Management closes buildings on days the office is shut, and team coordination helps teams keep their shared days on the days everyone works. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Workplace analytics]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How does a four-day work week work? Employees work four days instead of five. In most four-day week models, total hours fall and pay stays the same, on the expectation that output holds up through better focus and fewer low-value tasks. Some companies close one day a week; others stagger days off to stay open. ##### What is the difference between a four-day week and a compressed work week? A four-day week usually reduces total working hours with no cut in pay. A compressed work week keeps the same total hours and fits them into fewer, longer days. Both give employees an extra day off, but only the four-day week reduces working time. ##### Has the four-day week been tested? Yes. Large trials have run in several countries. In the UK pilot, 56 of the 61 participating companies were continuing with a four-day week after the trial, and 18 confirmed it as a permanent change. Results depend on how well work is redesigned, not just on removing a day. ##### Is a three-day work week possible? Some business leaders have predicted three-day weeks as automation takes on more routine work, but they remain rare. Most employers exploring shorter weeks start with four days or a shorter fortnight, and test the effect on output, service and wellbeing before going further. #### Related terms - [Compressed work week]() A schedule that fits full-time hours into fewer, longer days, such as four ten-hour days, in exchange for extra days off. - [Flexible working]() Any arrangement that changes when, where or how much someone works, such as flextime, hybrid work or part-time hours. - [Recharge day]() A company-wide paid day off, given to everyone at once, meant to help employees rest and prevent burnout. - [Hybrid work policy]() The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured. #### Sources 1. [The results are in: the UK's four-day week pilot](), Autonomy Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a ghost booking? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/ghost-booking/ Description: A ghost booking holds a desk or room that nobody uses. Why ghost bookings happen, how to measure them, how auto-release fixes them and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is a ghost booking? Short answer A ghost booking is a reservation for a desk, meeting room or other space that nobody turns up to use, so the space shows as taken while it sits empty. Workplace teams track ghost bookings because they block colleagues from available space, inflate occupancy figures and can lead organizations to add rooms or desks they do not need. Also called ghost meetings, phantom bookings, zombie meetings, abandoned bookings. #### How it works Ghost bookings come from plans that change: a meeting is cancelled but the room is kept, a recurring series outlives the project, someone books a desk and then works from home, or a manager books desks for teammates who do not come. The calendar still says busy. Related patterns have their own names. A zombie booking is a desk booked but left empty on an ongoing basis. A pirate booking is the reverse: someone uses a desk they did not book. The two distort booking data in opposite directions. The fix combines check-in and release. When a booking has no check-in within the grace period, auto-release frees it. Booking data alone cannot reveal ghost bookings; check-in, badge, network or sensor data is what shows them. #### How to measure it 1. Ghost booking rate: bookings with no check-in divided by all bookings, by space type, team and day. 2. Recurring series with repeated no-shows. 3. Rooms that show as fully booked but have low measured occupancy. #### Examples - A project team's weekly room booking runs for months after the project ended, blocking the room every Thursday afternoon. - A manager books five desks for the team each Monday; two teammates rarely come, which leaves two desks empty that others could have used. #### Common mistakes - Counting bookings as occupancy, which turns ghost bookings into fake demand. - Building more meeting rooms to solve a shortage caused by ghost bookings. - Relying on people to cancel; most never do. #### How Kadence helps Kadence releases desk and room bookings that are not checked in, and Kadence Room Displays (WorkOps Pro) enforce check-in at the door. Recurring booking end-date controls and booking credits stop people holding space they will not use, and Workplace Insights reports no-shows. [Room booking software]() · [Workplace analytics]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a ghost meeting? A ghost meeting is a calendar meeting that holds a room but never takes place, or takes place somewhere else. The room shows as busy all the same. It is the meeting-room form of a ghost booking. ##### How do you stop ghost bookings? Require check-in and release bookings that nobody checks in to, cap how far recurring bookings can run, limit how much space one person can hold, and make cancelling easy from the calendar or chat tools people already use. ##### What is the difference between ghost, zombie and pirate bookings? A ghost booking is a space booked but not used. A zombie booking is a space booked but left empty on an ongoing basis, often through a recurring booking. A pirate is someone using a space they did not book. ##### Why do ghost bookings matter for real estate decisions? Booking data full of ghost bookings makes the office look busier than it is. Decisions based on it, such as adding rooms or keeping a floor, can cost money that measured occupancy would have shown was unnecessary. ##### How do I stop people holding desks they don't use? Start with assigned desks: compare each one with check-in data and turn the ones that are rarely used into shared or bookable desks. For shared desks, limit how far ahead and how often people can repeat-book. Showing each team its own no-show rate also helps, because held desks are often habit rather than bad faith. #### Related terms - [No-show rate]() The share of desk and room bookings nobody checks in to, which makes space look busier than it is. - [Auto-release]() A booking rule that frees a desk or room automatically when nobody checks in within a set grace period. - [Meeting room utilization]() How often meeting rooms are used and how full they are when used, which shows whether you need more rooms or different ones. - [Meeting room display]() A screen at a meeting room that shows live availability and lets people book, check in and release the room at the door. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How does headcount planning affect office space needs? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/headcount-planning/ Description: Headcount planning forecasts how many people each team and site will have. How it drives office space needs, how to convert it to seats, and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### How does headcount planning affect office space needs? Short answer Headcount planning is the process of forecasting how many people an organization will employ, in which teams and locations, over a coming period. Real estate and workplace teams use it to anticipate how much office space each site will need, converting planned headcount into expected attendance and seats before hiring or reorganizations arrive. Also called headcount forecasting, workforce planning for real estate. #### How it works Headcount plans are usually built by HR and finance around roles and budgets. For space, the plan needs three extra details: where each person will be based, which team they will join, and when. That turns a staffing forecast into demand for specific buildings and floors. Headcount is not seats. In a hybrid organization, a team's space need is its expected attendance on the busiest day plus a buffer, not its total number of employees. Planners convert forecast headcount into seats using the observed attendance of each team, then compare the result with capacity floor by floor. The comparison shows when a site will run out of room, when space can be released and which teams need to move. Scenario planning then tests alternatives, such as slower hiring, a new attendance policy or an acquisition, before they happen. #### How to measure it 1. Forecast headcount by team, site and month, from the HR system and approved hiring plans. 2. Convert headcount to seats with each team's measured peak-day attendance rate plus a buffer. 3. Compare required seats with capacity per floor and flag the month each floor runs short. 4. Include leavers and internal transfers, which free space as hiring fills it. #### Examples - A team growing from 100 to 130 people, whose busiest day brings in 60% of the team, needs 78 seats plus a buffer, not 130 desks. - An acquisition adds 200 people in one city; the plan shows existing floors can absorb them if two teams share a neighborhood on different days. #### Common mistakes - Planning seats from total headcount, which builds in overcapacity. - Keeping headcount plans in HR and finance systems that the real estate team never sees. - Ignoring leavers and internal transfers. - Treating the forecast as certain instead of testing high and low hiring cases. #### How Kadence helps Kadence connects people data to space. HRIS integration in WorkOps Pro syncs new starters, leavers and leave dates from Workday, BambooHR or HiBob, and directory sync builds teams from directory attributes. Workplace Insights shows each team's real attendance, and SpaceOps scenario planning tests headcount changes against the space you have before hiring or a reorganization arrives. [Scenario planning]() · [Integrations]() · [SpaceOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How does headcount affect office space needs? Headcount sets the upper limit of demand, but attendance sets actual demand. A hybrid team needs space for the people who come in on its busiest day, plus a buffer, so space needs grow more slowly than headcount when attendance is well below full. ##### What is the difference between headcount planning and workforce planning? Headcount planning forecasts how many people will be employed, where and at what cost. Workforce planning is broader and covers skills, roles and capabilities. For space decisions, headcount by team and location, converted to expected attendance, is the input that matters. ##### How do you convert headcount into desks? Multiply each team's forecast headcount by its measured peak-day attendance rate, add a buffer, and compare the result with the desks available on its floor. Repeat for each month or quarter of the forecast to see when space runs short. ##### Who should be involved in headcount planning for space? HR and finance own the headcount forecast, and real estate and workplace teams convert it into space. Team leaders add location and attendance expectations. Sharing the forecast early gives real estate time to act before a lease event or a hiring wave. #### Related terms - [Scenario planning]() Modeling several possible futures for space, cost and teams, and comparing them side by side before committing to one. - [Occupancy planning]() Deciding where people and teams will work across floors and buildings, and how much space each needs, as the organization changes. - [Stack planning]() A floor-by-floor plan of which teams occupy which floors and buildings, used to test moves and consolidations first. - [HRIS integration]() A connection that syncs joiners, leavers, teams and leave dates from the HR system into workplace software automatically. - [Desk ratio (desk sharing ratio)]() The number of people assigned to a workplace for each desk, set from peak attendance and policy. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is hidden capacity? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/hidden-capacity/ Description: Hidden capacity is usable space that accurate utilization data reveals inside your current footprint. A simple formula, a worked example and how to find it. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is hidden capacity? Short answer Hidden capacity is usable space that accurate utilization data reveals inside the current footprint. It often removes the need to lease more. Real estate and workplace planners look for it before a lease event, a move or a growth plan, because space the organization already pays for usually costs less to use than new space. Also called latent capacity, spare capacity, unused capacity. #### How it works Hidden capacity is the gap between the space an organization has and the space it needs on its busiest normal days. It stays hidden when teams plan from headcount or assigned seats, which overstate how much space people use, or from booking data, which can miss walk-ins and no-shows and so misstate demand in either direction. Accurate utilization data shows it: check-ins, network presence, badge data or sensors, measured by floor and day of the week. A floor that looks full on paper may be well below capacity at its peak, and a team that asks for more desks may already have unused ones nearby. Teams then turn the gap into a plan, such as moving a growing team onto spare desks, consolidating two half-used floors or releasing a floor at a lease event. The test is the peak day you choose to support plus a buffer, not the average. The formula below is a simple planning estimate, not an industry standard. #### Formula Hidden capacity = Available units − (Peak units in use × (1 + Buffer)) - **Available units**: Desks, rooms or area the organization already holds and can use. - **Peak units in use**: Units in use on the busiest normal day you choose to support, from presence data rather than bookings. - **Buffer**: Headroom kept for growth and unusual days, as a share of peak use. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. A building has 600 desks. 2. Check-in and network data show 390 desks in use on the busiest normal day. 3. With a 10% buffer, the plan needs 390 × 1.1 = 429 desks. 4. 600 − 429 = 171. Hidden capacity: 171 desks. #### How to measure it 1. Measure use from presence data by floor and weekday over several normal weeks. 2. Find the peak normal day, not the single busiest outlier, and add an agreed buffer. 3. Compare the result with available desks, rooms and area on each floor. 4. Check that the spare space suits the team that needs it: adjacency, room types and access all matter. #### Examples - A team asks for a new floor, but data shows two existing floors never exceed half their desks, so the team moves onto one of them. - Ahead of a lease break, a company finds enough hidden capacity in its main building to absorb a smaller site. #### Common mistakes - Using bookings as the measure, which includes no-shows and misses walk-ins. - Planning to the average, which hides the peak days that set real demand. - Counting space as spare when the team that needs it cannot use it, such as single desks spread across many floors. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights shows attendance, occupancy, no-shows and heatmaps from check-in data, including automatic check-ins from the Kadence Agent. SpaceOps uses that occupancy data as a planning input: scenario planning compares options side by side, and guided workflows help consolidate floors or find space for a team. [Workplace analytics]() · [Scenario planning]() · [SpaceOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do you find hidden capacity in an office? Measure how space is actually used, by floor and by day, from presence data such as check-ins, badge entries or network presence. Compare the busiest normal day, plus a buffer, with the space you have. The difference is your hidden capacity. ##### Why does booking data hide capacity? Bookings include people who booked and did not come, so booked space looks busier than it is. They also miss walk-in use. Presence data corrects both, which is why it shows capacity that booking reports hide. ##### What can you do with hidden capacity? Absorb growth without leasing more, consolidate half-used floors, release space at a lease event, or create the room types people lack, such as meeting rooms or focus space. Each option starts with measuring peak demand by floor and space type. #### Related terms - [Office right-sizing]() Matching the amount and type of office space to how people actually use it, based on measured demand rather than headcount. - [Office consolidation]() Moving teams from several floors, buildings or sites into less space, then giving up or repurposing the space that is freed. - [Space utilization]() How intensively buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their full capacity over time. - [Peak occupancy]() The busiest level of use a floor or building reaches in a normal week, which sets the capacity you actually need. - [Lease event]() A lease date that forces or allows a decision, such as an expiry, a break option, a renewal option or a rent review. - [Stay vs go decision]() The choice, ahead of a lease event, between staying in a building (and possibly reconfiguring it) or relocating. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What are hot desking and hoteling? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/hot-desking-and-hoteling/ Description: Hot desking shares desks first come, first served; hoteling reserves them in advance with check-in. How each works, when to use it and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What are hot desking and hoteling? Short answer Hot desking and hoteling are two ways of sharing desks instead of assigning one to each person. Hot desking gives out desks on a first-come, first-served basis, while hoteling asks employees to reserve a desk in advance and check in when they arrive. Organizations use them to match desk numbers to real attendance. Also called hot desking, hoteling, desk hoteling, office hoteling, desk sharing, hotelling. #### How it works Both models remove the permanent desk and set fewer desks than people. With hot desking, people take any free desk when they arrive. With hoteling, they book a specific desk or area for a day, a few hours or a recurring slot, much like reserving a hotel room. Hoteling adds certainty: people know before they travel that a desk is waiting, in a place they chose, near the colleagues they want to sit with. Enterprise offices usually combine it with neighborhoods, so each team has a home zone, and keep a few drop-in desks for unplanned visits. The weak point of hoteling is the booking nobody uses. A check-in, by app, kiosk, badge or presence on the office network, confirms who actually came, and bookings without one are released back to the pool. Without that step, ghost bookings make the office look fuller than it is and hide space that could be released. Shared desks need some basics before the first day. Every desk should work for anyone, with the same dock, monitor and power, and a clear-desk rule at the end of the day. People need lockers for what used to live in a drawer, a booking system with check-in, and a way to find a free desk and their colleagues on arrival, such as an interactive floor plan. #### Hot desking vs hoteling vs neighborhoods vs assigned desks The four models differ in how a desk is claimed and how certain people can be of getting one. Most enterprise floors mix them: neighborhoods for teams, hoteling inside them, a few drop-in desks and assigned desks where a role needs one. | Model | How a desk is claimed | Certainty for the person | Best for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Hot desking | First come, first served on the day, with no booking | Low: no guarantee of a desk or a spot near the team | Offices with spare capacity and short, unplanned visits | | Hoteling | Booked in advance through a system, then checked in on arrival | High once booked; unused bookings are released | Shared seating where people plan office days | | Neighborhoods | A team gets a zone, often on set days, and books or takes desks inside it | Medium to high: a desk near the team, not a named desk | Teams that come in together and need to sit together | | Assigned desk | Owned by one person every day | Full, even on days the person is away | Roles that need fixed equipment or are in the office most days | #### How to measure it 1. Desk ratio: desks available per person assigned to the space. 2. Peak-day desk occupancy, by floor and neighborhood. 3. No-show rate, and how many released desks are rebooked. 4. Reports of people unable to find a desk on busy days. #### How to start hot desking or hoteling 1. Measure attendance by team and weekday for several weeks, from check-ins or presence data, and find the peak day. 2. Decide which roles keep assigned desks and which share, and whether shared desks are booked or first come, first served. 3. Set the number of shared desks to the peak day you choose to support, plus a buffer for visitors and unplanned days. 4. Group shared desks into neighborhoods so each team has a home zone, and keep some drop-in desks near the entrance. 5. Write the rules: how far ahead people can book, how long a booking lasts, the check-in window and what happens to no-shows. 6. Set up the basics before day one: lockers, the same equipment at every desk and a clear-desk routine. 7. Pilot on one floor, compare bookings with check-ins and listen to complaints, then roll out floor by floor. 8. Review the desk count and the zones each quarter as attendance changes. #### Examples - A team of forty shares twenty-eight desks in its neighborhood through hoteling, with a few drop-in desks near the entrance for unplanned visits. - A consultant books a desk near the project team for three days with one multi-day booking and checks in each morning. #### Benchmarks - A US medical lab and diagnostic company introduced desk hoteling with automatic desk release to run 150 desks for 200 employees returning to its headquarters. [Kadence customer story: US medical lab and diagnostic company]() - RSPB accommodated 2,500 employees on flexible desking without major portfolio changes. [Kadence customer story: RSPB]() #### Common mistakes - Introducing hot desking only to cut cost, without better space, which employees read as a downgrade. - Running hoteling without check-in and auto-release. - Setting the desk ratio from average attendance and running out of desks on peak days. - Removing all personal storage; people need lockers once they no longer have a drawer. #### How Kadence helps Kadence supports both models: on-demand booking for hot desks, and advance, recurring and multi-day booking for hoteling, with neighborhoods, assigned desks and priority access on the same floor plan. Check-in comes from the app, the Kadence Agent on the office network, badge data or the API. Unused bookings are auto-released, and Automatic Bookings records people who turn up without one. [Office hoteling software]() · [Desk booking software]() · [Workplace occupancy]() · [Guide: flexible office models]() · [Desk booking policy template]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between hot desking and hoteling? Hot desking gives out shared desks first come, first served, so people find out where they will sit when they arrive. Hoteling asks people to reserve a desk in advance and check in when they arrive. Both remove the permanent desk; hoteling adds certainty before the commute. ##### What is office hoteling and how does it work? Office hoteling is a way of sharing desks in which employees reserve a desk before they come in, rather than taking whichever one is free. They pick a date and a desk, check in when they arrive, and the desk is released if they do not. Hoteling software handles the booking, check-in and release, and reports how desks are used. ##### What are the pros and cons of hot desking? Hot desking frees space, mixes departments and flattens hierarchies because nobody owns the best desk. Its drawbacks are uncertainty, time lost searching for a desk and difficulty finding colleagues. Booking, neighborhoods and reinvesting freed space in better settings address most of them. ##### How many desks do you need for hot desking? Size to the busiest day you choose to support, not to the average. Measure peak-day attendance by team from check-in data, add a buffer for visitors and unplanned days, and review the ratio as attendance patterns change. ##### Does hot desking save money? It can, because shared desks let an organization hold fewer desks and, over time, less floor area. The saving depends on attendance: size the desk count to the busiest day you choose to support, not the average, or the office runs out of desks and the saving costs goodwill. Many organizations put part of the freed space back into meeting rooms and quiet areas. #### Related terms - [Desk booking system]() Software that lets employees find and reserve a desk before they come in, check in on arrival and free desks nobody uses. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. - [Desk ratio (desk sharing ratio)]() The number of people assigned to a workplace for each desk, set from peak attendance and policy. - [Assigned desk]() A desk reserved for one person, either permanently or on set days, instead of being shared through booking. - [Activity-based working (ABW)]() A workplace model in which people move between settings designed for different tasks instead of working at one assigned desk. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Steps]() 5. [Examples]() 6. [Benchmarks]() 7. [Common mistakes]() 8. [How Kadence helps]() 9. [FAQ]() 10. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is an HRIS integration in workplace software? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/hris-integration/ Description: An HRIS integration syncs joiners, leavers, teams and leave dates from the HR system into workplace software, so seating follows HR changes. [Glossary]() · Platforms & integrations ### What is an HRIS integration in workplace software? Short answer An HRIS integration is a connection between a human resources information system and other software, such as a workplace platform, that keeps employee records in sync automatically. In workplace software it passes joiners, leavers, teams, managers and leave dates, so seating, access and bookings follow HR changes without anyone re-entering the data by hand. Also called HRIS, HR system integration, Workday integration. #### How it works The HR information system (HRIS), such as Workday, BambooHR or HiBob, is the source of truth for who works at the organization, in which team, reporting to whom, from which start date and until when. The integration reads those records on a schedule or as they change, through the HR system's API, a secure file drop or an identity provider in between. Workplace software maps HR fields to its own objects: a person, a team, a building, a start date. A new hire appears as a joiner waiting for a seat before day one, a leaver's assigned desk is released on the leaving date, and a team change moves the person into the right neighborhood. It overlaps with directory sync. Directory sync through an identity provider or SCIM keeps the user list and sign-in current. An HRIS integration adds the employment facts identity systems often lack, such as future start dates, leave dates and cost centers, which are what seating and move planning need. #### How to measure it 1. Check how long it takes for a new hire in the HR system to appear in the workplace platform. 2. Audit assigned desks held by people who have left; the count should be zero. 3. Compare team membership in the workplace platform with the HR system for a sample of teams. 4. List which fields sync, in which direction, and who owns changes to the mapping. #### Examples - A new starter is added in the HR system weeks before day one; the workplace team sees them in the joiners queue and assigns a desk next to their team. - An employee's leaving date passes and their permanent desk returns to the bookable pool automatically. #### Common mistakes - Syncing only names and emails, so team, manager and start-date data still have to be kept by hand. - Taking the same field, such as team, from both the identity provider and the HR system without a rule for which wins. - Forgetting contractors and interns who are not in the HR system. #### How Kadence helps Kadence WorkOps Pro includes an HRIS integration with Workday, BambooHR and HiBob that syncs new starters, leavers and leave dates to drive seating. Leavers are removed from their seats automatically, and customers with other HR systems can push HR fields in through the API. Move Manager then seats new starters with recommendations and auto-assign. [Pricing]() · [Integrations]() · [WorkOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does HRIS stand for? HRIS stands for human resources information system: the software that holds employee records such as job, team, manager, location, start date and leaving date. Common examples include Workday, BambooHR and HiBob. Other systems, including workplace software, read from it to stay current. ##### What is the difference between an HRIS integration and directory sync? Directory sync, often through SCIM or an identity provider, creates and removes user accounts and keeps basic attributes current. An HRIS integration adds employment facts that directories often lack, such as future start dates, leave dates and cost centers. Workplace teams need both to seat people before they start and release desks when they leave. ##### What data does an HRIS integration share with workplace software? Typically name, email, team or department, manager, office location, start date and leaving date, and sometimes leave periods or cost center. The workplace platform uses them to create joiners, place people in team neighborhoods, release leavers' seats and keep reports grouped by the right team. ##### Why connect the HR system to desk booking? Without it, someone re-keys every new starter, team change and leaver by hand, and seating falls behind reality. With it, new hires can be seated before day one, leavers stop holding desks, and occupancy reports group people by their current team. #### Related terms - [Joiners, movers and leavers (JML)]() The process that keeps access, equipment, seating and records in step when people join, change role or leave. - [SCIM provisioning]() An open standard that creates, updates and deactivates user accounts in apps automatically from the company directory. - [Headcount planning (for space)]() Forecasting how many people will work in each team and location, and turning that into the office space they will need. - [Move management]() Planning, sequencing and carrying out workplace moves, from one desk change to a whole-team relocation. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a hub-and-spoke office model? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/hub-and-spoke/ Description: A hub-and-spoke office model pairs a central headquarters with smaller local offices or flexible spaces. How it works, when it fits and what to measure. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is a hub-and-spoke office model? Short answer A hub-and-spoke office model is a real estate approach in which a central headquarters, the hub, is supported by smaller satellite offices or flexible workspaces, the spokes, located closer to where employees live. Organizations use it to shorten commutes, reach talent beyond one city and keep the headquarters for collaboration, culture and client work. Also called satellite offices, hub and spoke, distributed office network. #### How it works The hub is usually the largest site. It hosts leadership, client-facing space, large meeting and event space, and the days when whole departments come together. Spokes are smaller and closer to home, in suburbs, regional cities or near transit, and they cover everyday work and local team meetings. Spokes can be leased offices, shared floors, or on-demand coworking space booked as needed. Many organizations mix these: a few leased spokes where demand is steady, and flexible space where it is not. The model only works with coordination. People need to know which location their team is using on which day, and the real estate team needs use data from every site to size each spoke and decide when one should grow, shrink or close. #### How to measure it 1. Attendance by site and team, to confirm each spoke is used by the people it was opened for. 2. Commute time before and after a spoke opens, using anonymized home location data where policy allows. 3. Total occupancy cost per occupied seat at the hub and at each spoke. #### Examples - A company keeps its city-center headquarters for anchor days and opens two small suburban offices for the rest of the week. - A firm without regional offices lets employees book coworking space near home, which act as its spokes. #### Common mistakes - Opening spokes without data on where employees live, so they end up as hard to reach as the hub. - Splitting teams across spokes so that colleagues who depend on each other are never in the same place. - Keeping the hub at its old size after everyday demand has moved to the spokes. #### How Kadence helps Kadence shows employees who is going into which location on which day and lets teams set up recurring team days, whether the site is the headquarters, a satellite office or a flexible workspace. Kadence Flex adds on-demand coworking desks and rooms through the LiquidSpace network, and Workplace Insights reports attendance and occupancy for each site. [Flexible office space]() · [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Hybrid work strategy guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a hub-and-spoke model in hybrid work? It is an office network in which a central headquarters handles collaboration, events and client work, while smaller local offices or coworking spaces near employees' homes handle everyday work. People choose the hub or a spoke depending on what they need to do and who they need to see that day. ##### What are the benefits of a hub-and-spoke office model? Shorter commutes, access to talent outside one city, and a headquarters that can be smaller and focused on the work that benefits from being together. Spokes can also be added or closed more easily than a large headquarters can be resized. ##### What are the drawbacks of a hub-and-spoke model? Teams can end up split across locations, more sites mean more cost and management, and small spokes can feel isolated. It needs clear rules on which work happens where and good visibility of who is in which location, or people lose the reason to come in. ##### Can coworking spaces work as spokes? Yes. Many organizations use on-demand coworking desks and meeting rooms as spokes, especially where demand is too small or uncertain for a lease. Usage data then shows whether a location is busy enough to justify a dedicated satellite office. #### Related terms - [Flexible workspace]() Workspace used on short or on-demand terms, such as coworking desks, bookable rooms and serviced offices, instead of a long lease. - [Real estate portfolio optimization]() Matching the buildings, floors and leases an organization holds to the space its people actually need. - [Hybrid work model]() The specific rules an organization uses to decide where and when people work, from flexible to office-first. - [Real estate footprint]() The total space an organization occupies, owned or leased, across all its offices, floors and sites. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is hushed hybrid? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/hushed-hybrid/ Description: Hushed hybrid is when managers quietly let staff come in less often than a formal office policy requires. Why it happens, what it costs and how to fix it. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is hushed hybrid? Short answer Hushed hybrid is a situation in which managers quietly allow their teams to come into the office less often than a formal return-to-office policy requires. On paper the policy holds, but in practice it is bypassed. It usually signals that the policy does not match how teams actually work, and it creates inconsistency and unfairness between teams. Also called quiet hybrid, secret hybrid. #### How it works Hushed hybrid starts when leadership sets an attendance rule, say three days a week, that frontline managers believe will cost them people or morale to enforce. Rather than push back openly, managers give a quiet nod to fewer days, often once or twice a week, and report compliance upward. The result is two policies: the written one and the real one. Employees in different teams live under different rules depending on their manager, which feels unfair. Leaders plan space, budgets and culture around attendance that is not happening, and trust erodes on both sides when the gap comes to light. Hushed hybrid shows up in data. Attendance measured from check-ins or network presence sits well below the policy in some teams and not in others, even though managers report compliance. The fix is not stricter enforcement alone but a policy built around team workflows, with visible schedules and a clear purpose for office time. #### How to measure it 1. Compare the written policy with measured attendance by team; large gaps in some teams and not others point to hushed hybrid. 2. Ask managers anonymously which parts of the policy they find hard to apply. 3. Check whether team days exist and are used, rather than counting individual days only. #### Examples - A company requires three days a week, but attendance data shows several teams averaging well below that while their managers sign off full compliance. - A team lead tells new starters informally that once a week is fine, contradicting the policy in their onboarding pack. #### Common mistakes - Responding with surveillance alone, which pushes the workaround further out of sight. - Ignoring the gap because manager reports say everything is fine. - Keeping a policy that managers will not enforce instead of redesigning it with them. #### How Kadence helps Kadence makes the real pattern visible. Employees share their work status and see who plans to be in, managers set team days with Team Kadence, and attendance comes from check-ins, including automatic check-in by the Kadence Agent on the office network. Workplace Insights reports attendance by team, and Insights Plus custom dashboards (WorkOps Pro or add-on) include policy compliance reporting. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [Hybrid work strategy guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does hushed hybrid mean? Hushed hybrid means employees and their managers quietly agree to spend fewer days in the office than the company's formal policy requires. Leadership believes the policy is followed; in practice, managers have made their own arrangement with their teams. The term describes the gap between the written rule and real behavior. ##### Why does hushed hybrid happen? It happens when a return-to-office rule does not match how teams work or what employees will accept. Managers want to keep good people and protect morale, so they avoid enforcing a rule they think is wrong. An unclear purpose for office days and inconsistent messages from leadership make it more likely. ##### How do you fix hushed hybrid? Rebuild the policy around team workflows rather than a flat day count. Involve managers in setting it, give office days a clear purpose, make team schedules visible, and measure attendance by team so gaps are discussed openly. Then apply the agreed rule consistently, so every team works to the same standard. ##### Is hushed hybrid the same as coffee badging? No. Coffee badging is when an individual badges in to register attendance and leaves soon after. Hushed hybrid is an unofficial agreement between managers and their teams to come in less often than the policy says. Both are signs that an attendance policy is not working as written. #### Related terms - [Return to office (RTO)]() An employer requirement that remote or hybrid staff spend more time in the office, either full time or on set days. - [Office attendance policy]() A rule that sets how often employees are expected in the office, such as a number of days per week or month. - [Coffee badging]() Badging into the office to register attendance, staying briefly, often for a coffee, then leaving to work elsewhere. - [Hybrid work policy]() The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured. - [Proximity bias]() The tendency to favor people who are physically present in the office over equally effective remote colleagues. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is hybrid coordination? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/hybrid-coordination/ Description: Hybrid coordination gets the right people into the office on the same days, with the right space ready. How it works, what it needs and how to measure it. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is hybrid coordination? Short answer Hybrid coordination is the practice of aligning when and where hybrid employees work, so that people who need each other are in the office on the same days with the right space ready. It relies on shared schedules, team days and booking tools, and it helps organizations turn office attendance into useful time together. Also called team coordination, people coordination, office coordination. #### How it works Coordination starts with visibility. People can only plan to meet if they can see each other's plans, so hybrid organizations publish weekly work patterns, show who is booked into which office, and let people follow the colleagues they work with most. The second layer is structure: managers set recurring team days, companies set anchor days, and booking prompts remind people when their team is in. The third layer is space: neighborhoods, desks and rooms assigned so that a team that comes in together can also sit together. Coordination can be measured. Workplace teams look at how often teammates overlap in the office, how often in-person meetings land on days when the attendees are present, and how attendance clusters by day and location. Rising overlap usually shows up before any change in surveys or retention. #### How to measure it 1. Team overlap: the share of a team present on the same day, tracked weekly. 2. Meeting alignment: how many in-person meetings happen on days when all attendees are in. 3. Wasted trips: people who come in on days when none of their team is present. 4. Adoption: the share of employees who publish their plans or book ahead. #### How to coordinate hybrid teams 1. Make plans visible: let everyone publish their office days and see who else is in. 2. Ask each team to agree recurring team days, and publish them. 3. Stagger team days across the week so the office does not overflow midweek. 4. Give each team space on its days: schedule neighborhoods by date and book rooms for team sessions. 5. Prompt people when their teammates book, so plans line up without chasing. 6. Let people hide their location when they need privacy. 7. Measure team overlap and wasted trips each month, and move days that clash. #### Examples - An employee sees that two teammates are in on Tuesday, gets a suggestion to book nearby and moves their office day to match. - A manager sets a monthly team day at the regional office nearest most of the team instead of at headquarters. #### Benchmarks - After implementing Kadence, MOPAC achieved 83 percent user adoption, driven by clearer visibility into attendance and easier coordination across teams. [Kadence: How to measure collaboration at work]() #### Common mistakes - Relying on a company-wide day count and hoping teams line up on their own. - Choosing a desk booking tool that does not show who is coming in. - Making schedules visible without letting people hide their location when they need to. #### How Kadence helps Kadence team coordination is available on all WorkOps tiers: starred colleagues, Team Kadence recurring team days, smart suggestions and notifications that prompt people to come in when their team does, and work statuses that show who is in the office or remote. Incognito mode lets people hide their location. Neighborhoods and the Neighborhood Scheduler give each team space on its days. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [People coordination]() · [Bringing teams together guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is team coordination software? Team coordination software shows hybrid employees when their colleagues plan to be in the office and helps them line up their days. Typical features are shared weekly schedules, recurring team days, notifications when key colleagues book, and desk and room booking, so a team that comes in together can also sit together. ##### Why is coordination important in hybrid work? Without coordination, people commute to find their team at home and spend the day on video calls, which makes the next office day harder to justify. Coordination makes sure the colleagues who need each other overlap, so office time produces the collaboration, learning and connection it is meant to. ##### How do you coordinate office days across teams? Give each team recurring team days and publish them, stagger days across teams so the office does not overflow midweek, assign neighborhoods by date, and let people see and follow the colleagues they work with. Review overlap and occupancy data regularly and move days that consistently clash. ##### Is hybrid coordination the same as desk booking? No. Desk booking reserves a place to sit. Coordination decides who should be in together and when. The two work best together: coordination sets the day, and booking makes sure the team has space in the right place when it arrives. #### Related terms - [Team days]() A recurring day when a hybrid team agrees to be in the office together, usually set by the team or its manager. - [Anchor days]() Set days each week when a team or company agrees to be in the office together, with the other days flexible. - [Hybrid work]() A way of working where employees split their time between the office and remote locations such as home. - [In-person collaboration]() Work people do together face to face, and the practice of measuring whether office time brings the right people together. - [Wayfinding]() Helping people find their way around an office, to a desk, room or colleague, through maps, search, signs and landmarks. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Steps]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a hybrid meeting? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/hybrid-meeting/ Description: A hybrid meeting brings together people in a room and people joining remotely. What it means, what makes one work, and the room and scheduling basics behind it. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is a hybrid meeting? Short answer A hybrid meeting is a meeting in which some participants are together in the same physical room while others join remotely by video or audio. It is the default meeting format in hybrid organizations, and it works when remote participants can see, hear and contribute as easily as the people in the room. Also called hybrid meetings. #### How it works The in-room group joins from a meeting room equipped with a camera, microphones and a screen, usually through Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Google Meet; remote participants join the same call from their own devices. What makes it hybrid is the mix, not the technology. The in-room group shares context the remote group does not, such as side conversations and the whiteboard, so good hybrid meetings put everything that matters into the shared channel: the video call, the shared document and the chat. Scheduling matters as much as equipment. Hybrid meetings need the right size of room with working video, and they work best on days when the people who benefit from being together are in the office at the same time. The technology has three layers. The meeting platform, such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Google Meet, carries the call. The room equipment, a camera that frames the room or the speaker, table or ceiling microphones, a display and a one-touch join controller, makes the in-room group visible and audible. The booking layer, room booking with calendar sync and door displays, makes sure the right room is free and ready when the meeting starts. #### How to measure it 1. Check how often rooms with video equipment are booked versus rooms without it. 2. Compare room size with in-room attendance for meetings that include remote joiners; hybrid meetings often need small video rooms, not large boardrooms. 3. Ask participants whether remote joiners could contribute equally; a short survey after meetings reveals equipment and etiquette gaps. #### How to run a hybrid meeting: before, during and after 1. Before: book a room sized for the people who will be in it, with a working camera, microphones and screen. 2. Before: put the agenda, the joining link and shared documents in the invite, so everyone has the same material. 3. Before: join the call from the room a few minutes early and test audio, video and screen sharing. 4. During: put everything in the shared channel. Share content on the call, not only on a whiteboard in the room. 5. During: name a facilitator who watches the remote side, brings remote people in first and reads the chat. 6. During: turn on captions, and ask people in the room to speak toward the microphones and avoid side conversations. 7. After: post notes, decisions and owners in the shared channel, so everyone gets the same record. 8. After: ask whether remote attendees could take part equally, and fix any room or equipment gaps. #### Examples - A weekly team meeting with five people in a video room and three joining from home over Microsoft Teams. - A client pitch where the account team is in the office and the client joins remotely. #### Common mistakes - Using a large room with a laptop camera, which leaves remote participants seeing a table and hearing an echo. - Letting the in-room group talk among themselves before and after the call, where decisions get made without the remote group. - Booking hybrid meetings on days when most of the team is remote, when a fully remote call would work better for everyone. #### How Kadence helps Kadence helps teams plan the in-person part: people see who is going in on which day, coordinate office days with their team, and book the right room with two-way calendar sync from the Kadence apps, Microsoft Teams or Slack. Kadence Room Displays show at the door whether a room is free and auto-release rooms nobody checks in to. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Room booking software]() · [Microsoft Teams]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between a hybrid meeting and a virtual meeting? In a virtual meeting everyone joins remotely. In a hybrid meeting some people share a physical room and others join remotely, which adds the challenge of making both groups equal participants. ##### What equipment does a hybrid meeting room need? At minimum a camera that shows the whole room, microphones that pick up everyone at the table, a screen for remote participants and shared content, and one-touch joining for the meeting platform the organization uses. ##### How do you run an effective hybrid meeting? Share the agenda and documents in advance, use the call and its chat as the single channel for everyone, ask remote participants to speak first on key points, and book a room sized for the people who will actually be in it. ##### What is good hybrid meeting etiquette? Treat the call as the meeting room. Start on time with the call already running, keep side conversations out, speak toward the microphones and name yourself when the camera cannot show who is talking. Give remote attendees the first word on key points, use the chat for questions and avoid decisions in the corridor afterward, where remote colleagues cannot take part. ##### How do you make hybrid meetings accessible? Turn on live captions and share a transcript afterward. Send documents and slides before the meeting, describe anything shown only in the room, and make sure faces are visible on camera for people who lip-read. Use microphones for every speaker, keep the agenda on screen and allow questions in the chat as well as out loud. #### Related terms - [Hot desking and hoteling]() Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. - [Occupancy rate]() The share of available desks, rooms or floor area in use, at a point in time or on average over a period. - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Room booking system]() Software that lets people find, reserve and check in to meeting rooms, and frees rooms nobody uses. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Steps]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is hybrid policy compliance? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/hybrid-policy-compliance/ Description: Hybrid policy compliance reports whether people and teams meet in-office expectations over time. The formula, a worked example, how to measure it and mistakes. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is hybrid policy compliance? Short answer Hybrid policy compliance is reporting on whether individuals and teams meet an organization's in-office expectations over time, measured across many weeks rather than single days. Leaders, HR and workplace teams use it to see whether an attendance policy is being followed, where it is not, and whether the policy itself needs to change. Also called attendance policy compliance, RTO compliance, in-office compliance. #### How it works Reporting on whether individuals and teams meet the organization's in-office expectations over time, such as 45 of 52 weeks. The report starts from the written policy, such as a set number of office days a week or anchor days for each team, and compares it with presence data for each person: check-ins, badge entries or office network presence. Leave, holidays, business travel and approved exceptions are removed first, so people are measured only against weeks they were expected in. Measuring over a long period, rather than week by week, allows for normal variation. Results roll up to teams, departments and sites. Many organizations show team-level results to senior leaders and keep individual results for direct managers, to limit how widely personal data is shared. #### Formula Compliance rate = (Weeks meeting the expectation ÷ Weeks expected in the office) × 100 - **Weeks meeting the expectation**: Weeks in which the person, or the team on average, met the in-office expectation, from presence data rather than bookings. - **Weeks expected in the office**: Weeks in the period minus leave, holidays and approved exceptions. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. An employee is expected in the office two days a week. 2. Over a year they had 52 weeks with no leave or exceptions, and presence data shows they met the expectation in 45 of them. 3. 45 ÷ 52 = 0.865. Compliance rate: 86.5% (45 of 52 weeks). #### How to measure it 1. Write the rule in measurable terms first: days per week, days per month or named anchor days. 2. Use presence data, not bookings, so a booked but unused desk does not count as a day in the office. 3. Remove leave, holidays and approved exceptions before calculating. 4. Report by team and site, and keep individual detail to the managers who need it. #### Examples - A company with a two-days-a-week policy reports, by department, the share of employees who met it in most weeks of the quarter. - A team with Tuesday as its anchor day reports how many members were in on each anchor day over the month. #### Common mistakes - Counting bookings as attendance, which credits people who booked and did not come. - Measuring week by week and flagging people for one missed week caused by travel or illness. - Treating a badge entry alone as a full office day, which counts very short visits. - Reporting on individuals before checking local rules on employee data and consultation. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights reports attendance from check-ins, including automatic check-ins from the Kadence Agent on the office network, with average weekly hours and CSV export. Admins choose whether lockers and parking count toward attendance. Insights Plus custom dashboards, part of WorkOps Pro or available as an add-on, include policy compliance reporting. [Workplace analytics]() · [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Pricing]() · [Hybrid work policy template]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do companies measure hybrid policy compliance? They compare presence data, such as check-ins, badge entries or office network presence, with the written policy for each person, after removing leave and approved exceptions. Results are usually reported over a long period and rolled up by team, so leaders see patterns rather than single missed days. ##### Is badge data enough to measure compliance? Badge data shows who entered the building, but not how long they stayed or which floor they used. Combining it with check-ins or network presence gives a fuller picture and avoids counting very short visits as full office days. ##### Should compliance be reported for individuals or teams? Many organizations report at team or department level for senior leaders and keep individual results for direct managers. That limits how widely personal data is shared and keeps attention on team patterns. Local law and employee representatives may also limit individual reporting. #### Related terms - [Office attendance policy]() A rule that sets how often employees are expected in the office, such as a number of days per week or month. - [Hybrid work policy]() The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured. - [Office attendance rate]() The share of employees, or of expected office days, that people actually spend in the office, measured from presence data. - [Coffee badging]() Badging into the office to register attendance, staying briefly, often for a coffee, then leaving to work elsewhere. - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Anchor days]() Set days each week when a team or company agrees to be in the office together, with the other days flexible. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What are the types of hybrid work models? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/hybrid-work-model/ Description: A hybrid work model sets who decides where and when people work. The main types (flexible, structured, office-first, remote-first) and how to choose one. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What are the types of hybrid work models? Short answer A hybrid work model is the set of rules an organization uses to decide where and when employees work across the office and remote locations. The common types are flexible, structured, office-first and remote-first hybrid. Leaders choose a model to balance collaboration, individual flexibility, hiring and the cost of office space. Also called types of hybrid work, office-first, remote-first hybrid, structured hybrid, flexible hybrid. #### How it works Every hybrid work model answers two questions: who decides where people work, and how much of the week is spent in the office. In flexible hybrid, each person chooses. In structured hybrid, the organization or the team sets specific office days. Office-first hybrid keeps most work in the office with some remote days, and remote-first hybrid makes remote work the default with occasional office time. Many organizations mix these. A common pattern sets shared anchor days for each team and leaves the rest of the week flexible. Others let managers decide team by team, use a hub-and-spoke network of smaller offices, or combine a block of permanent desks for people who want to be in every day with bookable desks for everyone else. The model drives the space plan. A structured model concentrates attendance on known days, so the office must be sized for those peaks. A flexible model spreads attendance more thinly but makes it harder for teams to overlap. Either way, attendance data by team and weekday shows whether the model works as intended. #### Hybrid work models compared Each model answers two questions, who decides and how often people come in, and each answer changes how much space you need. | Model | Who decides | Days in the office | Space implication | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Flexible hybrid | Each employee | Varies by person and week | Attendance spreads thinly; teams struggle to overlap, so visibility and booking matter most | | Structured hybrid | The company | Set days each week | Predictable peaks on the set days; size the office for those days | | Team-set anchor days | Each team or manager | Team days plus flexible days | Peaks by team; neighborhoods scheduled by day spread the demand | | Office-first hybrid | The company | Most of the week | Close to a desk per person; little room to share or cut space | | Remote-first hybrid | The company, with teams choosing when to gather | Occasional, for set purposes | Smaller hubs and bookable team space instead of a large headquarters | #### How to measure it 1. Map where each team sits on the spectrum today from actual attendance, not from the written policy. 2. Check how often members of the same team are in on the same day; low overlap suggests the model needs more structure. 3. Compare peak-day and average occupancy under the current model before you change desk ratios. #### Examples - Structured hybrid: a bank asks all corporate staff to be in on three set days and to work remotely on the other two. - Flexible hybrid with team anchors: a software company lets people choose their days but asks each team to meet in the office one day a week. - Remote-first hybrid: a company closes its large headquarters and keeps small hubs for team gatherings and planning sessions. #### Benchmarks - Flex Index data discussed by Kadence showed 43% of U.S. companies had adopted a structured hybrid model, requiring a set number of in-office days per week. [Kadence guide: Return to office (citing the Q2 2025 Flex Index Report)]() - In the same data, 70% of companies with fewer than 500 employees were fully flexible, while 70% of enterprises with over 25,000 employees had opted for structured hybrid. [Kadence guide: Return to office (citing the Q2 2025 Flex Index Report)]() #### Common mistakes - Choosing a model because peers use it rather than because it fits how your teams work. - Applying one model to every team, when sales, engineering and operations often need different rhythms. - Announcing a model without changing the office, so desks, rooms and booking rules still assume everyone is in every day. #### How Kadence helps Kadence supports each model. Employees set an office or remote status and book desks and rooms, managers set recurring team days with Team Kadence, and admins use neighborhoods, the Neighborhood Scheduler and booking rules to match space to the model. Workplace Insights shows attendance and occupancy by team and day, and SpaceOps scenario planning compares how a different model would change space needs. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Scenario planning]() · [Hybrid work strategy guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What are the four types of hybrid work model? The four common types are flexible hybrid, where employees choose their days; structured hybrid, with set office and remote days; office-first hybrid, where most work happens in the office; and remote-first hybrid, where remote work is the default and the office is used occasionally. Many organizations combine elements, such as flexible weeks with team anchor days. ##### Which hybrid work model is best? No model is best for every organization. Choose based on how much your teams depend on working together in person, where your people live, what your leaders will actually support and how much space you have. Pilot the model with a few teams, measure attendance and overlap, and adjust before rolling it out company-wide. ##### What is a structured hybrid model? A structured hybrid model sets specific days when employees are in the office and specific days when they work remotely. The days may be set company-wide or by team. It makes attendance predictable, which helps teams overlap and helps workplace teams plan space, but it gives less individual choice than flexible hybrid. ##### What is the difference between remote-first and office-first hybrid? In remote-first hybrid, remote work is the default and people come to the office for specific purposes such as workshops or team gatherings. In office-first hybrid, the office is the default and remote days are the exception. The difference shapes how much space you need and how meetings are run. #### Related terms - [Hybrid work]() A way of working where employees split their time between the office and remote locations such as home. - [Hybrid work policy]() The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured. - [Office attendance policy]() A rule that sets how often employees are expected in the office, such as a number of days per week or month. - [Anchor days]() Set days each week when a team or company agrees to be in the office together, with the other days flexible. - [Virtual-first (remote-first)]() An operating model where remote work is the default for individual work and offices are used for planned gatherings. - [Hub-and-spoke office model]() An office network with a central headquarters hub and smaller satellite offices or flexible spaces closer to where people live. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What should a hybrid work policy include? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/hybrid-work-policy/ Description: A hybrid work policy sets how hybrid work runs day to day. What it should include, how to write and launch one, how to measure it and the mistakes to avoid. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What should a hybrid work policy include? Short answer A hybrid work policy is the written set of rules that explains how an organization's hybrid model works day to day. It covers eligibility, expected office time, how teams coordinate, how desks and rooms are booked, what managers must do and how success is measured. HR and workplace teams use it to make flexibility consistent and fair. Also called hybrid policy, hybrid working policy, flexible work policy. #### How it works A good policy starts with purpose: why the organization works hybrid and what office time is for, such as collaboration, onboarding or client work. It then sets the rules that follow from that purpose: eligibility by role, expected office days or time, core hours, and how exceptions and accommodations are handled. The practical sections matter most to employees: how to see who is coming in, how to book a desk or room, what happens to unused bookings, how meetings include remote participants and which tools to use. Managers need their own guidance on setting team days, applying the rules consistently and handling requests. A policy is only as real as its follow-through. Organizations that write a rule and never measure it often end up with managers quietly applying their own version. Publishing the measures that matter, such as attendance by team, team overlap on office days and employee feedback, and reviewing them each quarter keeps the policy tied to how people actually work. #### How to measure it 1. Track attendance against the policy by team and weekday, and look for teams that are consistently above or below it. 2. Measure whether teammates overlap on office days, not only how many days each person attends. 3. Run a short survey each quarter on whether office days are useful and the rules are clear. 4. Watch retention and hiring data for roles affected by policy changes. #### Examples - A policy that asks each team to agree two anchor days, publish them in the booking tool and use the remaining days flexibly. - A meetings section that makes video the default for any meeting with at least one remote participant. #### Benchmarks - At RCS England, 85% of staff exceeded the minimum office policy without enforcement after desk booking and team coordination removed desk uncertainty. [Kadence customer story: RCS England]() #### Common mistakes - Writing a day count with no reason attached, which invites quiet non-compliance. - Leaving enforcement to managers without guidance, so the same rule means different things in different teams. - Launching the policy without the tools to follow it, such as shared schedules and desk booking. - Never reviewing the policy after launch, even when attendance data shows it is not working. #### How Kadence helps Kadence helps put a hybrid policy into practice. Employees set their work status and see who is going in, managers set recurring team days, and admins use booking rules, booking windows and auto-release to match the policy. Workplace Insights shows attendance and occupancy by team, and Insights Plus custom dashboards (WorkOps Pro or add-on) include policy compliance reporting. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [RCS England story]() · [Hybrid work policy template]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What should be included in a hybrid work policy? Include the purpose of office time, who is eligible, expected office days or time, how teams choose and share their days, how to book desks and rooms, meeting norms for remote participants, what managers are responsible for, how exceptions are handled, and how the policy will be measured and reviewed. ##### What are good hybrid working principles? Useful principles are that office time has a purpose, teams decide together when to meet, rules apply the same way across teams, remote participants take part equally in meetings, and decisions about the policy rest on attendance data and employee feedback rather than assumptions. ##### How often should a hybrid work policy be reviewed? Review the data every quarter and the policy itself at least once a year, or sooner after a major change such as an office move, a merger or a new attendance expectation. Use attendance, team overlap, occupancy and survey results to decide what to change, and explain every change to employees. ##### Who should own the hybrid work policy? HR usually owns the policy, but it works best when HR, workplace or real estate, IT and business leaders write it together. HR covers eligibility and fairness, workplace teams cover space and booking, IT covers tools, and leaders set the purpose and model the behavior they ask for. #### Related terms - [Office attendance policy]() A rule that sets how often employees are expected in the office, such as a number of days per week or month. - [Hybrid work model]() The specific rules an organization uses to decide where and when people work, from flexible to office-first. - [Anchor days]() Set days each week when a team or company agrees to be in the office together, with the other days flexible. - [Return to office (RTO)]() An employer requirement that remote or hybrid staff spend more time in the office, either full time or on set days. - [Hushed hybrid]() When managers quietly let employees come into the office less often than a formal return-to-office policy requires. - [Booking policy]() The rules for booking shared desks, rooms and other spaces: who can book, how far ahead, for how long and when bookings are released. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is hybrid work? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/hybrid-work/ Description: Hybrid work splits the working week between the office and remote locations such as home. What it means, how it works in practice and how to run it well. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is hybrid work? Short answer Hybrid work is a way of working in which employees split their time between the office and remote locations, usually home. Organizations use it to combine focused remote work with in-person collaboration, and workplace, HR and real estate teams plan desks, rooms and office days around the attendance pattern it creates. Also called hybrid working, hybrid workplace, hybrid work meaning, hybrid job. #### How it works In a hybrid setup, people do some work from the office and some from elsewhere. Focused, individual tasks often happen at home, while meetings, collaboration, onboarding and social time happen in the office. The organization decides how much structure to add: some let people choose freely, others set office days for teams or for the whole company. The attendance pattern that results is uneven. Attendance clusters on a few midweek days, and the office is quiet on Mondays and Fridays. That changes how space is planned: instead of one desk per person, many hybrid offices use shared, bookable desks and size the floor for the busiest day they choose to support. Hybrid work only pays off when people who need each other are in on the same days. Without coordination, people commute to find their team at home, and the office becomes a place to take video calls. That is why hybrid organizations add shared schedules, team days and booking tools, and track attendance and occupancy to see whether the pattern works. #### How to measure it 1. Track attendance by team and weekday, not only total headcount in the building, so you can see whether teams actually overlap. 2. Compare peak-day occupancy with average occupancy; the peak day sets how much space you need. 3. Survey people on whether their office days are useful, and read the answers next to the attendance data. 4. Review retention and engagement alongside space data: hybrid work is a people decision as well as a real estate one. #### Examples - A product team works from home on Monday and Friday and meets in the office Tuesday to Thursday for planning, design reviews and lunch. - A professional services firm lets each team agree its own office days and publishes them, so clients and colleagues know when people are in. #### Benchmarks - In Great Britain, 28% of working adults hybrid worked between January and March 2025, and the share of hybrid workers has gradually risen since March 2022. [Office for National Statistics: Who has access to hybrid work in Great Britain?]() #### Common mistakes - Setting a day count without saying what office time is for, so people commute to sit on video calls. - Keeping one assigned desk per person when most desks sit empty on most days. - Judging hybrid work by badge swipes alone, which shows presence but not whether the right people met. #### How Kadence helps Kadence gives hybrid teams one place to plan office time. People set their work status, see which colleagues are going in, and book desks and rooms from the Kadence apps, Microsoft Teams or Slack. Team coordination features such as Team Kadence and smart suggestions help people come in on the same days, and Workplace Insights reports attendance and occupancy from check-in data. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [Hybrid work strategy guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does hybrid work mean? Hybrid work means splitting the working week between the office and somewhere else, usually home. The exact split depends on the organization. Some let each person choose, some set office days for teams, and some require a fixed number of days. What they share is that the office is no longer the only place where work happens. ##### What is the difference between hybrid work and remote work? Remote workers work away from the office all or almost all of the time. Hybrid workers spend part of the week in the office and part elsewhere. Hybrid work keeps the office as a place for collaboration and connection, so it needs coordination and booking that fully remote setups do not. ##### What is a hybrid workplace? A hybrid workplace is an office designed for people who come in on some days and not others. It usually has fewer assigned desks, more bookable desks and meeting rooms, spaces for both collaboration and quiet work, and tools that show who is coming in so teams can plan their time together. ##### What are the benefits of hybrid work? For employees, hybrid work reduces commuting and gives more control over when and where to do focused work. For employers, it widens the hiring pool, supports retention and can reduce the office space needed. The benefits depend on coordination: office days only add value when the right people are there together. #### Related terms - [Hybrid work model]() The specific rules an organization uses to decide where and when people work, from flexible to office-first. - [Hybrid work policy]() The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured. - [Hybrid coordination]() The work of getting the right people into the office on the same days and giving them the right space when they arrive. - [Remote work]() Work done away from the employer's office, usually from home, for all or almost all of the working week. - [Return to office (RTO)]() An employer requirement that remote or hybrid staff spend more time in the office, either full time or on set days. - [Flexible working]() Any arrangement that changes when, where or how much someone works, such as flextime, hybrid work or part-time hours. #### Sources 1. [Who has access to hybrid work in Great Britain?](), Office for National Statistics Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How do you measure in-person collaboration at work? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/in-person-collaboration/ Description: In-person collaboration is work people do together face to face. How to measure it from attendance, booking and space data without monitoring individuals. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### How do you measure in-person collaboration at work? Short answer In-person collaboration is work that people do together face to face, such as planning, problem-solving, mentoring and building relationships. Organizations measure it through behavior rather than sentiment: how often teams overlap in the office, whether meetings happen when attendees are present, where collaboration clusters and whether the space supports it. Also called collaboration measurement, intentional collaboration, moments that matter. #### How it works Collaboration is one of the main reasons organizations ask people into the office, and one of the least measured. Surveys capture how collaborative people feel, but they are retrospective and subjective. Behavioral data from attendance, bookings and space use shows what actually happens, week by week. Four indicators do most of the work. In-person team overlap shows how often teams, and the teams they depend on, share office days. Meeting alignment shows whether in-person meetings land on days when attendees are in. Clustering shows when and where collaboration concentrates. Space fit shows whether rooms and floors support the way groups actually meet. These measures use aggregated patterns, not individual monitoring. Coordination tends to improve first: when people can see when colleagues will be in, overlap rises and collaboration follows. That makes coordination a leading indicator, a measure that moves before the outcome you care about. #### How to measure it 1. Team overlap: the share of a team present on the same days, tracked weekly. 2. Meeting alignment: in-person meetings held on days when all invitees are in, as a share of all in-person meetings. 3. Room fit: average attendees per meeting compared with the capacity of the rooms booked. 4. Cross-team overlap: how often teams that depend on each other are in on the same days. #### Examples - Attendance data shows that two teams that work closely never overlap; they agree a shared team day and their overlap rises within a month. - Room data shows most in-person meetings have a handful of attendees, so a large boardroom is split into two medium rooms. #### Benchmarks - Kadence Pulse booking data showed the average company holding around 40 meetings per month, with activity concentrated midweek. [Kadence: How to measure collaboration at work (Kadence Pulse)]() - Excluding single-person bookings, the average meeting size rose to around six people and had been increasing since mid-2024. [Kadence: How to measure collaboration at work (Kadence Pulse)]() #### Common mistakes - Measuring collaboration only with surveys and reading the results months later. - Using attendance counts as a proxy for collaboration; people can be in without meeting the right colleagues. - Tracking individuals rather than patterns, which damages trust. #### How Kadence helps Kadence connects the data behind these measures. Team coordination shows who is in and when, room booking with two-way calendar sync records in-person meetings, and Workplace Insights reports attendance, occupancy and heatmaps by team, day and space. Insights Plus custom dashboards (WorkOps Pro or add-on) track the patterns you choose. [Workplace analytics]() · [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Workplace analytics metrics guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do you measure collaboration in the workplace? Track behavior rather than sentiment. Measure how often teams overlap in the office, whether in-person meetings happen when attendees are present, how collaboration clusters by day and location, and whether rooms and floors fit how groups meet. Read these as patterns over time, not one-off snapshots. ##### What data do you need to measure team collaboration? You need aggregated attendance data, booking data for desks and meeting rooms, and space usage data. Connected, they show whether teams overlap, whether meetings happen when people are in and where space is misaligned. Survey data adds the why, but it should not be the only source. ##### Does measuring collaboration mean monitoring employees? No. Collaboration measurement relies on aggregated patterns across teams, days and locations, not on tracking what individuals do. The aim is to see whether the workplace supports collaboration and where coordination breaks down, not to score people. ##### What are moments that matter at work? Moments that matter are the in-person occasions that build connection and alignment, such as onboarding, team planning, celebrations, events and informal conversations. Hybrid organizations plan them on purpose, because people no longer run into each other by default. #### Related terms - [Team days]() A recurring day when a hybrid team agrees to be in the office together, usually set by the team or its manager. - [Hybrid coordination]() The work of getting the right people into the office on the same days and giving them the right space when they arrive. - [Team adjacency]() Placing teams that work closely together near each other, and keeping those links intact through every move. - [Destination office]() An office designed to be worth the commute, drawing people in with space, amenities and experiences rather than mandates. - [Workplace analytics]() Analysis of bookings, check-ins, attendance and occupancy data to guide decisions about office space, policy and services. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is an interactive floor plan? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/interactive-floor-plan/ Description: An interactive floor plan is a live office map where people find desks, rooms and colleagues and book space. How it works, what it needs and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is an interactive floor plan? Short answer An interactive floor plan is a live digital map of an office on which employees can see which desks and rooms are free, find colleagues and book space directly. Workplace and facilities teams use it to manage layouts, neighborhoods and desk assignments, and to see how each area of the floor is used. Also called digital floor plan, interactive office map, office map. #### How it works The floor plan starts from a CAD or PDF drawing that is turned into a map in which each desk, room, locker and parking space is a bookable object. Each object carries attributes such as capacity, equipment, neighborhood and owner. Employees open the plan for a date and see live status, such as free, booked, assigned or checked in, plus where teammates are sitting. They book by clicking a space and can search for a person, desk or room to see where it is. Admins use the same map to change neighborhoods, assign desks, close areas and plan moves. Heatmap layers show which zones are busy and which stay empty. When the building changes, editing the plan in the browser keeps the map in step with the real floor. #### Static vs interactive floor plans | Feature | Static floor plan (PDF or image) | Interactive floor plan | | --- | --- | --- | | What it shows | Walls, desks and rooms as drawn | Desks, rooms and other spaces as live, clickable objects | | Availability | None: it cannot show what is free | Free, booked, assigned or checked in, for any date | | Booking | Done elsewhere, by email or another tool | Click a desk or room to book it | | Finding people | Not possible | Search for a colleague, desk or room and see where it is | | Updates after a move | Redraw the file and send it round again | Edit once; everyone sees the change | | Data | None | Bookings, check-ins and heatmaps by zone | #### How to measure it 1. Share of bookings made from the floor plan rather than from lists. 2. A heatmap of bookings and check-ins by zone. 3. How quickly layout changes appear on the map after a move. #### Examples - An employee opens the map for Thursday, sees two teammates in the product neighborhood and books the free desk between them. - A facilities admin redraws a floor after turning desks into a project room, reviews the impact and activates the new plan. #### Common mistakes - Letting the map drift from the real floor after moves and refits. - Publishing a static PDF and calling it a floor plan tool; people cannot book or search it. - Showing everyone's location with no privacy option, which erodes trust. #### How Kadence helps In Kadence, employees book desks, rooms and other spaces on an interactive floor plan and search it to find a colleague, desk or room on the web and the iOS and Android apps. Admins set neighborhoods and assignments on the plan, and Editable Floor Plans (a WorkOps Pro add-on, included with SpaceOps) let them edit layouts in the browser, review the impact and roll back versions. [Space management]() · [Desk booking software]() · [SpaceOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do you create an interactive office floor plan? Start from an accurate CAD or PDF drawing, turn it into a map with every desk, room and bookable space as a clickable object, and add attributes such as neighborhood and equipment. Then connect it to your booking system and directory so status and people update live. ##### What is interactive office floor plan software? It is software that turns office drawings into a live map where employees book desks and rooms, see availability and find colleagues, and where admins manage layouts, neighborhoods and assignments. It is usually part of a desk booking or workplace management platform. ##### Can employees see where colleagues are sitting? In most systems, yes: the map shows who has booked or checked in to each desk on a given day. Good systems also let people hide their location when they need privacy. #### Related terms - [Wayfinding]() Helping people find their way around an office, to a desk, room or colleague, through maps, search, signs and landmarks. - [Office heat map]() A floor plan colored by how often each desk, room or zone is used, so busy and quiet areas stand out at a glance. - [Desk booking system]() Software that lets employees find and reserve a desk before they come in, check in on arrival and free desks nobody uses. - [Workplace digital twin]() A live digital model of buildings, spaces and the people who use them, used to see how space performs and test changes first. - [Editable floor plans]() Floor plans that workplace teams update themselves, without CAD skills or an architect, typically with a review step before changes go live. - [CAD / DWG floor plans]() Architectural drawing files that provide the accurate geometry behind digital and interactive floor plans. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is the joiners, movers and leavers (JML) process? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/joiners-movers-leavers/ Description: Joiners, movers and leavers (JML) keeps access, equipment, seating and records in step with each employee's lifecycle. How it works and how to automate it. [Glossary]() · Moves & change ### What is the joiners, movers and leavers (JML) process? Short answer Joiners, movers and leavers (JML) is the process that keeps access, equipment, seating and records in step with an employee's lifecycle: when someone joins, changes role or team, and leaves. HR, IT, security and workplace teams run it together, usually triggered by the HR system, so people get what they need and lose what they no longer should. Also called JML, starters and leavers, onboarding and offboarding seating. #### How it works The HR system is the trigger. A joiner is created with a start date, role, team and location; a mover gets a new team, role or site; a leaver gets an end date. Each event starts a set of tasks across teams. IT and security handle identity and access: accounts, groups, licenses, badges and the removal of rights that no longer fit. Workplace teams handle the physical side: a seat or neighborhood for joiners and movers, equipment and lockers, and releasing desks and lockers from leavers. Identity providers and SCIM usually automate the account part. The risk is in the gaps. A mover who keeps old access, a leaver who still holds a desk, or a joiner with no seat on day one are all JML failures. Triggering the tasks from the HR system, rather than relying on emails between teams, closes most of them. #### How to measure it 1. Track the share of joiners with account, equipment and seat ready on day one. 2. Measure the time from a leaver's end date to account deactivation and seat release. 3. Count assigned seats held by people who have left. 4. Check movers whose access still includes their old team's systems or areas. #### Examples - A joiner's record in the HR system creates their account through the identity provider and puts them in the workplace team's queue to seat before day one. - An engineer moves to the data team: their neighborhood changes, their old team's access is removed, and their desk follows the new team. #### Common mistakes - Handling JML by email between HR, IT and facilities, so tasks are missed. - Treating movers as low risk; they are where excess access builds up. - Removing a leaver's account but leaving their assigned desk and locker in place. #### How Kadence helps With the Kadence HRIS integration (WorkOps Pro), new starters, leavers and leave dates sync from Workday, BambooHR or HiBob. Move Manager seats joiners and relocates movers, and leavers are removed from their seats automatically. SCIM directory sync and SSO, available on all plans, keep accounts and sign-in current. [Move management software]() · [Pricing]() · [Integrations]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does JML stand for? JML stands for joiners, movers and leavers: the three lifecycle events that change what an employee needs. Joiners need accounts, equipment and a seat; movers need their access and location updated; leavers need access removed and their equipment and seat returned. ##### Who owns the JML process? HR owns the trigger, because the HR system records who joins, moves and leaves. IT and security own identity and access, and workplace or facilities teams own seating, lockers and equipment. The process works best when one team is accountable for the end-to-end result. ##### What is a mover in JML? A mover is an existing employee who changes role, team, manager or location. Movers need new access and often a new seat, and they need old access removed. Because the removal step is easy to miss, movers are a common source of excess access. ##### How do you automate joiners, movers and leavers? Make the HR system the single trigger and connect it to the identity provider and workplace platform. SCIM or directory sync creates and deactivates accounts, and an HRIS integration feeds start and leave dates so seats are assigned before day one and released on the leaving date. ##### How do I manage seating for new hires and reorgs without spreadsheets? Let the HR system drive it. When someone joins, changes team or leaves, the change reaches the workplace team with the person's team and start date, so a seat can be assigned before day one and released when they leave. That replaces email chains and keeps seating, access and records in step. #### Related terms - [HRIS integration]() A connection that syncs joiners, leavers, teams and leave dates from the HR system into workplace software automatically. - [Move management]() Planning, sequencing and carrying out workplace moves, from one desk change to a whole-team relocation. - [Additions]() Preparing a seat, equipment, access and records for a new occupant such as a new hire, contractor or team. - [SCIM provisioning]() An open standard that creates, updates and deactivates user accounts in apps automatically from the company directory. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a landing pad in an office? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/landing-pad/ Description: A landing pad is a small set of drop-in desks for short stays and visitors, with no booking required. How it works, how to size it and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is a landing pad in an office? Short answer Landing pad is a small set of drop-in desks for short stays, visiting colleagues or people between meetings, with no booking required. Workplace teams place landing pads near entrances or meeting areas so that people who are only in for a few hours, or visiting from another site, always have somewhere to work. Also called drop-in desks, touchdown desks, touchdown space, landing zone. #### How it works A landing pad is usually a cluster of desks, counters or high tables near an entrance, a reception area or a block of meeting rooms. The desks are not bookable and not assigned. People sit down, plug in and leave. It meets a need that bookable desks handle poorly: short, unplanned stays. A person with a gap between meetings, a colleague visiting from another office or someone in for one meeting would otherwise book a full-day desk, or sit at one that someone else has booked. Because nobody books a landing pad, its use does not show in booking data. Teams measure it with presence signals, such as network presence, QR code or kiosk check-ins or sensors, and size it from that walk-in demand. #### How to measure it 1. Count walk-in use from presence signals, since landing pads have no bookings. 2. Watch the busiest hours. Landing pads are often fullest around midday and between meeting blocks. 3. Check whether people use the landing pad for whole days. If they do, it is working as unbooked general seating. #### Examples - A regional office keeps a row of high desks next to reception for colleagues visiting from headquarters. - A floor with many meeting rooms places a few touchdown desks between them for people between calls. #### Common mistakes - Making landing pad desks bookable, which turns them into ordinary desks and removes the drop-in space. - Leaving landing pad use out of utilization reports because there are no bookings. - Putting landing pads far from entrances and meeting rooms, where short-stay visitors do not look. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Automatic Bookings records people who turn up without a booking, and the Kadence Agent checks people in when it detects them on the office network, so drop-in visits still count in attendance and occupancy reports. Floor plan search helps visiting colleagues find a person, desk or room on the web and in the mobile apps. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Desk booking software]() · [Desk booking policy template]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between a landing pad and hot desking? Hot desking lets anyone take any free shared desk, often for a whole day. A landing pad is a small, separate set of drop-in desks meant for short stays and visitors. Many offices use both: bookable or hot desks for full days and a landing pad for short visits. ##### How many landing pad desks does an office need? Size it from measured walk-in demand at the busiest times, not from headcount. Presence data shows how many people are in for short stays or visiting from other sites. Start small near entrances and meeting rooms and adjust as the data comes in. ##### Should landing pad desks be bookable? No. The point of a landing pad is that people can sit down without planning. If people need to plan a full day, give them bookable desks elsewhere and keep the landing pad for drop-in use. #### Related terms - [Hot desking and hoteling]() Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in. - [Walk-in usage]() Desks or rooms used without a booking. If it isn't captured, utilization reports undercount real demand. - [Workspace types]() The settings an office offers, such as desks, focus rooms, phone booths, huddle rooms and lounges, each suited to a kind of work. - [Bookable vs non-bookable space]() Separating spaces people can reserve from first-come, first-served ones (lockers, phone booths), while still showing both on the map. - [Activity-based working (ABW)]() A workplace model in which people move between settings designed for different tasks instead of working at one assigned desk. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a lease event? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/lease-event/ Description: A lease event is an expiry, break, renewal or rent review that opens a real estate decision. How to plan for one, what to model, and the usual mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is a lease event? Short answer A lease event is a date in a commercial lease when the tenant can or must make a decision, such as an expiry, a break option, a renewal option or a rent review. Real estate teams plan the portfolio around these dates, because they are the moments when space can be given back, extended or renegotiated. Also called lease expiry, break clause, lease renewal, lease break. #### How it works Most commercial leases contain several dated events. At expiry the lease ends unless it is renewed. A break option lets the tenant end the lease early, usually on notice and subject to conditions. A renewal or extension option lets the tenant stay on agreed terms, and a rent review resets the rent. Where they exist, expansion and contraction rights let the tenant take or give back space. Each event has a notice deadline that comes well before the event itself, and missing it usually means losing the option. Real estate teams keep a schedule of every event across the portfolio, with the notice deadline, the conditions and the space affected. The work happens before the notice deadline. Teams gather occupancy evidence, model scenarios such as renew, shrink, consolidate or relocate, and prepare the moves or restack each option would need. The decision then takes effect at the lease event, when the organization can actually act on it. #### Examples - A break option on one floor of a three-floor lease lets a company hand back that floor after a restack concentrates its teams on the other two. - Lease expiries at two city offices prompt a scenario that compares renewing both with consolidating into one. - A rent review becomes a stronger negotiation when occupancy data shows the tenant could credibly take less space. #### Common mistakes - Starting too late, so there is no time to collect evidence, model options or run a restack before the notice deadline. - Missing break conditions, such as vacant possession or reinstatement obligations, which can make the break invalid. - Deciding on headcount alone, without measured attendance and peak-day demand. - Counting on sublease income as a certain saving when the market may not take the space. #### How Kadence helps Kadence gives teams occupancy evidence ahead of a lease event and a way to test the options. Workplace Insights shows attendance, occupancy and heatmaps by building and floor. SpaceOps scenario planning compares options such as renewing, shrinking or consolidating, and guided workflows help consolidate floors or restack a building so the chosen option is ready before the notice deadline. [Scenario planning]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [Office space planning guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a break clause in a commercial lease? A break clause, or break option, lets a tenant or landlord end a lease early on a set date, usually after serving notice by a deadline and meeting conditions such as paying rent in full and giving vacant possession. Missing the notice deadline or a condition usually means the break cannot be used. ##### How far ahead should you plan for a lease event? Plan back from the notice deadline, not the event itself. Teams need time to collect several months of occupancy data, model scenarios, win approval and, if the decision is to shrink, carry out a restack or move. Large portfolios keep a rolling schedule of every event. ##### What is the difference between a lease expiry and a lease renewal? An expiry is the date the lease ends. A renewal extends the tenancy, either through an option in the existing lease or through a newly negotiated lease. Both are lease events, because each is a point where the organization decides how much space it needs. ##### What data supports a lease event decision? Measured attendance and occupancy by building and floor, peak-day demand, headcount forecasts, occupancy cost and the lease terms themselves. Together they show how much space the organization really needs and what each option would cost. #### Related terms - [Scenario planning]() Modeling several possible futures for space, cost and teams, and comparing them side by side before committing to one. - [Sublease]() Letting leased space you no longer need to another party, while staying responsible to the landlord under the original lease. - [Real estate portfolio optimization]() Matching the buildings, floors and leases an organization holds to the space its people actually need. - [Office right-sizing]() Matching the amount and type of office space to how people actually use it, based on measured demand rather than headcount. - [Office consolidation]() Moving teams from several floors, buildings or sites into less space, then giving up or repurposing the space that is freed. - [Stay vs go decision]() The choice, ahead of a lease event, between staying in a building (and possibly reconfiguring it) or relocating. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Examples]() 3. [Common mistakes]() 4. [How Kadence helps]() 5. [FAQ]() 6. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is lease management? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/lease-management/ Description: Lease management tracks lease terms, critical dates, costs and obligations across a portfolio and links them to how each site is used. How it works and mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is lease management? Short answer Lease management is tracking lease terms, critical dates, costs and obligations across a portfolio, and linking them to how each site is used. Corporate real estate and finance teams rely on it so that no option or deadline is missed and every renewal decision is made with evidence about how the space is used. Also called lease administration, lease tracking, real estate lease management. #### How it works A lease record holds the key facts of each lease: parties, premises, area, rent and increases, service charges, term, renewal and break options, notice periods, and obligations such as repairs and reinstatement at the end. Critical dates drive the work. The team tracks each notice deadline, rent review and expiry and acts early, because a missed break notice can lock the organization into years more rent. Finance also needs lease data for accounting: under IFRS 16 and the US standard, ASC Topic 842, lessees recognize most leases on the balance sheet. Linking leases to use turns a record into a decision tool. Setting each site's cost against its measured occupancy shows which buildings are worth renewing, which can shrink and which can go. #### How to measure it 1. Keep one record per lease with every critical date and its notice period. 2. Set each site's annual cost against its measured peak occupancy to get the cost per seat actually used. 3. Review each lease event early enough that relocating is still possible. #### Common mistakes - Tracking dates in a spreadsheet that one person owns, so deadlines slip when that person leaves. - Renewing on the same area by default without checking how the space is used. - Keeping lease data apart from occupancy data, so cost and use are never compared. #### How Kadence helps Kadence supplies the usage side of lease management. Workplace Insights reports attendance and occupancy from check-in data, with CSV export, and the public API lets teams bring that data into the systems that hold lease records. SpaceOps scenario planning then tests renewal options against measured use. [Workplace analytics]() · [Workplace API]() · [Scenario planning]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between lease management and lease administration? The terms overlap. Lease administration usually means the day-to-day record keeping: summarizing leases, paying rent and tracking dates. Lease management is broader and includes using that data, with occupancy and cost, to decide what to renew, shrink or exit. ##### What are critical dates in a lease? Dates when the tenant must act or loses a right: break option notice deadlines, renewal option deadlines, rent reviews and expiry. Missing one can mean paying for space the organization no longer needs. ##### Why link lease data to occupancy data? A lease shows what a site costs and occupancy shows how much of it is used. Together they show the cost per used seat at each site and which leases to renew, shrink or exit at their next event. #### Related terms - [Lease event]() A lease date that forces or allows a decision, such as an expiry, a break option, a renewal option or a rent review. - [Real estate portfolio optimization]() Matching the buildings, floors and leases an organization holds to the space its people actually need. - [Total occupancy cost]() Everything an organization spends to occupy a workplace in a year: rent, operating costs, utilities, services and fit-out. - [Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS)]() Enterprise software that runs real estate, leases, space, maintenance and assets from one shared database. - [Stay vs go decision]() The choice, ahead of a lease event, between staying in a building (and possibly reconfiguring it) or relocating. - [Sublease]() Letting leased space you no longer need to another party, while staying responsible to the landlord under the original lease. #### Sources 1. [IFRS 16 Leases](), IFRS Foundation 2. [Leases (Topic 842), post-implementation review](), Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Common mistakes]() 4. [How Kadence helps]() 5. [FAQ]() 6. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is mailroom and package management? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/mailroom-package-management/ Description: Mailroom and package management logs incoming deliveries, notifies recipients and tracks pickup. How it works, how hybrid work changes it and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is mailroom and package management? Short answer Mailroom and package management is logging incoming deliveries, notifying recipients and tracking pickup, often run through the same front-desk system as visitors. Facilities and front-desk teams use it to stop parcels going missing, keep reception space clear and record who collected what, which matters more when hybrid employees are not in every day. Also called package management, mailroom management, parcel management. #### How it works When a delivery arrives, front-desk or mailroom staff log it: recipient, carrier, tracking number and storage location, often by scanning the label. The system then notifies the recipient by email, chat or app. The recipient collects the item, and the system records who picked it up and when, sometimes with a signature or photo. Uncollected items trigger reminders, and items for people who are remote that week can be held, forwarded or returned under a set policy. Running packages through the visitor system means one front-desk tool, one directory for finding recipients and one log for audits. Hybrid working raises the stakes: when people are in only some days, parcels wait longer and storage fills up. #### How to measure it 1. Track the time from arrival to pickup and the number of items waiting at any time. 2. Count lost or misdelivered items, the core quality measure. 3. Watch storage use on the days after the busiest office days. #### Examples - A courier drops off a laptop for a new starter; reception scans it, the recipient gets a message, and the pickup is logged. - Personal parcels for a remote employee are held for a set time and then returned, under a published policy. #### Common mistakes - Logging deliveries in a paper book, which cannot notify anyone or prove who collected an item. - Not matching recipients to the company directory, so parcels for leavers or people with common names go astray. - Having no policy for personal parcels, which can take over reception storage. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a mailroom management system? Software that logs incoming mail and packages, notifies recipients and records pickup. Many organizations run it from the same front-desk system they use for visitors, so reception has one tool and one directory. ##### How do offices handle packages for hybrid employees? They notify recipients as soon as an item arrives, hold items for a set period and agree what happens to uncollected parcels: forwarding, returning or holding until the next office day. A clear policy on personal parcels keeps storage under control. ##### Why combine package management with visitor management? Both run at the front desk, both need the company directory to find the right person, and both send notifications. Using one system gives reception staff one place to work and one record for audits. #### Related terms - [Visitor management system (VMS)]() Software that registers and checks in visitors, notifies their hosts and keeps a record of who was on site and when. - [Virtual receptionist]() A self-service or remote alternative to a staffed front desk, such as a visitor kiosk with QR check-in or a receptionist working remotely. - [Facilities management (FM)]() The function that keeps buildings and their services working: maintenance, cleaning, security, catering, energy, safety and space. - [Workplace operations (WorkOps)]() The day-to-day running of an office for the people in it: space, bookings, visitors, services, policies and the data they produce. - [Facility service request]() A request to the facilities team to fix, supply or change something in the workplace, logged and tracked until it is resolved. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [FAQ]() 6. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is MCP (Model Context Protocol)? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/mcp/ Description: MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open standard that connects AI assistants to business systems. How MCP servers work and how to keep them secure. [Glossary]() · AI & workplace data ### What is MCP (Model Context Protocol)? Short answer MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open standard for connecting AI assistants to the systems where data and actions live, through servers that expose defined tools. Organizations use it so assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot can read data and complete tasks in business systems without a custom integration for each assistant. Also called Model Context Protocol, MCP server. #### How it works MCP has two sides. An MCP server, published by the owner of a system, describes the tools it offers, such as 'book a desk' or 'list available rooms', and the data it can return. An MCP client, built into an AI assistant, discovers those tools and calls them when a user's request needs them. Anthropic introduced MCP as an open standard in November 2024, and many AI assistants and business systems now support it. Because the protocol is shared, one server works with any compatible assistant, instead of one integration per assistant. Security depends on the server. Well-built servers use per-user sign-in, such as OAuth, so the assistant acts with the user's own permissions and never beyond them. Administrators decide whether the server is enabled and who may connect. For workplace systems, MCP lets people book a desk or a room, invite a visitor or check in from the assistant they already use, without opening another app. #### Examples - An employee asks Claude for a desk near the design team on Tuesday and a room for four at 2 pm; the assistant calls the workplace system's MCP tools and confirms both bookings. - A host asks Copilot to invite a visitor for tomorrow; the MCP server creates the invitation and the visitor system notifies the host when the visitor arrives. #### Common mistakes - Connecting servers that use a shared service account, so the assistant can do more than the user could. - Assuming every MCP server offers the same tools; each server defines its own. - Skipping admin review of which assistants and users may connect. #### How Kadence helps The Kadence MCP server is in early access and included in WorkOps Team, WorkOps Pro and SpaceOps; an admin must enable it. It lets people book desks, rooms, parking and visitors and check in from Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot, with per-user OAuth 2.1 sign-in and the same permissions they already have in Kadence. [Kadence MCP]() · [Integrations]() · [Security]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is an MCP server? An MCP server is the part of a system that speaks the Model Context Protocol. It lists the tools and data the system offers to AI assistants, such as booking a room, and handles the calls assistants make, checking the user's sign-in and permissions each time. ##### Who created the Model Context Protocol? Anthropic created MCP and released it as an open-source standard. It is maintained as an open project, and many AI assistants and software vendors now support it, so one server can work with several compatible assistants. ##### Is MCP secure? The protocol carries requests; security comes from how each server is built and configured. Look for per-user sign-in such as OAuth, actions limited to the user's existing permissions, admin control over enabling the server and a record of what assistants did. ##### What can MCP do for workplace teams? It lets employees book desks and rooms, invite visitors and check in from the AI assistant they already use, instead of a separate app. For workplace teams, it means fewer tools to roll out and one set of permissions governing every assistant. #### Related terms - [Agentic workplace]() A workplace where AI agents carry out tasks, such as booking space and drafting plans, with people approving decisions. - [AI workplace assistant]() A chat-based assistant that books desks and rooms and handles workplace tasks from a plain-language request. - [Workplace API]() A programming interface that lets other systems read and write workplace data such as spaces, bookings and check-ins. - [Microsoft Teams and Slack booking]() Booking desks and rooms, seeing who is in and checking in from inside Microsoft Teams or Slack. #### Sources 1. [Introducing the Model Context Protocol](), Anthropic Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Examples]() 3. [Common mistakes]() 4. [How Kadence helps]() 5. [FAQ]() 6. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How do you measure meeting room utilization? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/meeting-room-utilization/ Description: Meeting room utilization shows how often rooms are used and how full they are. The formula, a worked example, how to measure it and the mistakes that waste rooms. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### How do you measure meeting room utilization? Short answer Meeting room utilization is a measure of how much of a workplace's meeting-room capacity is used over time: how often each room is in use, and how many of its seats are filled when it is. Workplace teams use it to size, add, split or repurpose rooms, and to find rooms that are booked but empty. Also called room utilization, conference room utilization, room occupancy. #### How it works Room utilization has two parts. Frequency is the share of bookable hours a room is in use. Seat occupancy is the share of its seats filled while it is in use. Multiply them and you get utilization: how much of the room's full capacity the organization actually uses. The two parts point to different fixes. Low frequency means the room is in the wrong place, lacks the right equipment or is held by bookings nobody uses. High frequency with low seat occupancy means the room is the wrong size: large rooms booked by two or three people are the most common pattern in hybrid offices. Room data comes from the booking system, the calendar and a signal at the door. A check-in on a room display, or a room sensor, confirms the meeting happened. Auto-release frees rooms nobody checks in to, which is why no-show rate and utilization should be read together. #### Formula Room utilization = Frequency × Seat occupancy × 100 - **Frequency**: Hours the room was in use ÷ hours it was bookable in the period, using check-ins or sensor data rather than calendar bookings alone. - **Seat occupancy**: Average number of people in the room when in use ÷ the room's seats. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. A twelve-seat room is bookable 45 hours a week and in use for 27 hours: frequency = 27 ÷ 45 = 0.6. 2. Meetings in it average 3 people: seat occupancy = 3 ÷ 12 = 0.25. 3. 0.6 × 0.25 = 0.15. Room utilization: 15%. The room is busy, but mostly with small meetings that smaller rooms could hold. #### How to measure it 1. Track frequency and seat occupancy separately for each room and each room size. 2. Confirm use with check-ins at the door or room sensors; calendar bookings include meetings that never happen. 3. Compare attendee counts with room capacity to find size mismatches. 4. Look at peak hours: most room shortages last a few hours a week, not all day. #### Examples - A university compares room bookings with check-ins across buildings, moves teams into less-used space and staggers team days instead of adding rooms. - A recurring Monday meeting stopped months ago; room check-in and auto-release return the room to the pool each week. #### Benchmarks - At the University of Exeter, the average share of meeting rooms in use per day rose from 20% to 38%. [Kadence customer story: University of Exeter]() #### Common mistakes - Adding rooms before measuring no-shows and size mismatches. - Reporting frequency only, which hides large rooms used by small groups. - Letting recurring bookings run without checking that the meeting still happens. - Treating calendar invitations as attendance. #### How Kadence helps Kadence books rooms with two-way calendar sync from the Kadence apps, Outlook, Microsoft Teams and Slack. Kadence Room Displays (WorkOps Pro) show live availability at the door, take one-tap check-in and auto-release rooms nobody checks in to. Workplace Insights reports room occupancy and no-shows next to desk and attendance data. [Room booking software]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [University of Exeter story]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do you measure meeting room utilization? Measure how often each room is in use and how many of its seats are filled when it is, then multiply the two. Confirm use with a check-in at the door or a sensor, and compare the results by room size and hour of the day. ##### What is a good meeting room utilization rate? It depends on your room mix and how much short-notice availability people need. Rather than chase one number, look for rooms that are rarely used, rooms that are always booked by small groups, and hours when nothing is free. ##### Why do meeting rooms look fully booked but sit empty? Usually because of ghost bookings: meetings cancelled or moved without releasing the room, and recurring series nobody attends. Check-in with automatic release frees those rooms within minutes of the start time. ##### What is room utilization software? It is software that combines room bookings, calendar data and a presence signal, such as a check-in on a door display or a sensor, to show how often rooms are used and how full they are. Most room booking systems include it as reporting. #### Related terms - [Room booking system]() Software that lets people find, reserve and check in to meeting rooms, and frees rooms nobody uses. - [Ghost booking]() A desk or room that is booked but never used, so it shows as taken while it sits empty. - [Auto-release]() A booking rule that frees a desk or room automatically when nobody checks in within a set grace period. - [Space utilization]() How intensively buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their full capacity over time. - [No-show rate]() The share of desk and room bookings nobody checks in to, which makes space look busier than it is. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is multi-source occupancy? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/multi-source-occupancy/ Description: Multi-source occupancy combines Wi-Fi, badge, sensor and booking data into one occupancy picture. How it works, how to measure it and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### What is multi-source occupancy? Short answer Multi-source occupancy is one occupancy picture built by combining Wi-Fi, badge, sensor and booking data, so no single source has to be complete or perfect. Workplace and real estate teams use it to report attendance and occupancy they can defend to leadership, because each source on its own misses some people or counts others twice. Also called unified occupancy model, multi-source occupancy data, blended occupancy data. #### How it works Each signal sees part of the picture. Bookings show who planned to come in. Badge swipes show who entered the building, but not where they sat. Wi-Fi or office network presence shows who was on the office network, often down to the floor. Sensors show whether a desk, room or zone was in use, but not who used it. A multi-source model matches these signals by person, place and time, removes duplicates and fills gaps. A person who badged in, connected to the floor network and checked in to a desk counts once. A person with no booking who shows up on the network still counts, so walk-in use is not lost. The result is one figure per building, floor or team that does not depend on every employee booking, every door having a reader or every desk having a sensor. When sources disagree, the model can flag the reading as low confidence instead of hiding the conflict. #### How to measure it 1. List every source you have at each site: bookings, check-ins, badge data, Wi-Fi or network presence and sensors. Note what each one covers and what it misses. 2. Match records by person and day (badge, network, check-in) and by space and hour (sensors, bookings), so one visit counts once. 3. Compare each single-source figure with the combined figure for the same period. Large gaps show where a source is weak. 4. Report the combined figure with the sources behind it for each site, so readers know how much to trust it. #### Examples - Badge data shows who entered the building and network presence shows which floor they spent the day on; together they give floor-level attendance without desk sensors. - A site with sensors on one floor and none on the others uses network presence and check-ins for the rest, so every floor reports on the same basis. #### Common mistakes - Adding sources together without removing duplicates, so one person counts two or three times. - Treating bookings as presence. A booking shows intent; it should confirm or explain other signals, not stand in for them. - Ranking sites with different source coverage side by side without saying so. #### How Kadence helps Kadence records presence from several signals today. The Kadence Agent checks people in automatically when it detects them on the office network, Enhanced Network Detection adds floor-level, VPN-aware presence, Automatic Bookings records people who turn up without a booking, and check-ins can also come from kiosks, room displays, badge data or the API. Workplace Insights reports attendance and occupancy from those check-ins, not bookings alone. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [WorkOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### Why combine occupancy data sources? Every source has blind spots. Badges miss people who follow someone through the door, bookings miss walk-ins and include no-shows, sensors do not know who used a space, and network presence misses people whose laptops are off. Combining them gives one figure that holds up when one source is weak, which matters when that figure drives lease and consolidation decisions. ##### Do you need sensors for multi-source occupancy? No. Many organizations combine bookings, check-ins, badge data and office network presence without any sensors. Sensors add detail where they exist, such as how many people are in a room, but the model does not depend on them. That lets every site report on the same basis, even where installing hardware is not practical. ##### What is a unified occupancy model? It is another name for multi-source occupancy: a model that merges presence signals such as Wi-Fi, badge, sensor and booking data into one occupancy figure. The word unified stresses that leaders see one number per site rather than a separate report from each system. ##### How is multi-source occupancy different from badge data? Badge data is one source. It shows who entered a building and when, but not which floor or desk they used or how long they stayed. Multi-source occupancy uses badge data alongside network presence, check-ins and sensors to answer those questions. ##### How do I combine badge, Wi-Fi and booking data into one occupancy number? Match each source to the same person, place and day, remove duplicates, and count someone as present when a trusted source shows them on site. Keep each source visible so you can see where they disagree. The result is one figure you can defend to leadership, with the evidence behind it. #### Related terms - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Badge data]() Access-control swipe records showing who entered a building or floor and when, often used to measure attendance. - [Occupancy sensor]() A device that detects whether a desk, room or zone is in use, or counts the people in it, usually anonymously. - [Occupancy confidence score]() A rating of how reliable an occupancy reading is, based on how many independent data sources agree. - [Walk-in usage]() Desks or rooms used without a booking. If it isn't captured, utilization reports undercount real demand. - [Occupancy monitoring]() Continuous measurement of how many people use each building, floor, room and desk, and when, from presence signals or sensors. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a neighborhood manager? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/neighborhood-manager/ Description: A neighborhood manager owns a neighborhood's seating rules, capacity and changes, usually a team lead or site admin. What the role does and how to set it up. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is a neighborhood manager? Short answer Neighborhood manager is the person who owns a neighborhood's seating rules, capacity and changes, usually a team lead or site admin. Large organizations name one for each neighborhood so that daily questions about who sits where, which days the team is in and how much space it needs are settled close to the team. Also called neighborhood owner, zone manager. #### How it works A neighborhood is a zone of a floor set aside for a team or activity. The workplace or real estate team decides how much space each neighborhood gets. The neighborhood manager decides how it is used: which desks are assigned and which are shared, which days the team is in, who gets priority, and when to ask for more or less space. The role keeps the central team from becoming a bottleneck. In a building with dozens of neighborhoods, each one needs small changes every week, such as a joiner, a leaver or a team that has grown. A named owner handles them within agreed limits and passes bigger changes, such as moving the team, to the central team. Good setups give the manager permissions limited to their neighborhood, a clear capacity to work within and reports on how their space is used. #### How to measure it 1. Track neighborhood occupancy on the team's office days against its capacity. 2. Count how many seating changes each manager handles and how long they take. 3. Review each neighborhood's size every quarter against measured peak demand. #### Examples - A finance team lead runs two neighborhoods on one floor, assigning fixed desks to the people who need them and keeping the rest shared. - A site admin manages the neighborhoods of several small teams that share a floor on different days. #### Common mistakes - Giving managers rights across the whole building when they only need their own neighborhood. - Naming a manager without giving them usage data, so decisions rest on opinion. - Letting neighborhoods grow on local request without checking the building plan. #### How Kadence helps Kadence assigns teams to neighborhoods and people to permanent desks, and the Neighborhood Scheduler sets which team uses which neighborhood by date on rotating or shared floors. Building-scoped admins limit admins to specific buildings, and Custom Roles and Permissions (WorkOps Pro) let organizations build roles with exactly the permissions each admin needs. Spaces, neighborhoods and assignments can also be edited in bulk from a spreadsheet. [Space management]() · [Desk booking software]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does a neighborhood manager do? They run a neighborhood day to day: assigning or sharing desks, setting which days the team is in, handling joiners and leavers, and asking for more or less space when the team changes. They work within the capacity and rules set by the central workplace team. ##### Who should be a neighborhood manager? Usually a team lead, office manager or site admin who knows the team's working pattern. They need enough authority to make seating decisions and enough time to keep the neighborhood up to date. ##### How is a neighborhood manager different from a workplace manager? A workplace manager runs a whole office or site, including services, policy and space across all teams. A neighborhood manager owns one neighborhood within that site and makes local seating decisions inside limits the workplace team sets. #### Related terms - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. - [Space allocation]() Deciding which people, teams and activities get which desks, zones and rooms, and whether each is assigned, shared or bookable. - [Assigned desk]() A desk reserved for one person, either permanently or on set days, instead of being shared through booking. - [Team adjacency]() Placing teams that work closely together near each other, and keeping those links intact through every move. - [Booking policy]() The rules for booking shared desks, rooms and other spaces: who can book, how far ahead, for how long and when bookings are released. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a neighborhood? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/neighborhood/ Description: An office neighborhood is a zone set aside for a team or activity, often on set days. Types of neighborhoods, how to plan and schedule them and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is a neighborhood? Short answer A neighborhood is an area of an office floor assigned to a team, project or activity, often on a schedule, so that people who work together can sit together while the desks stay shared. Workplace teams use neighborhoods to give hybrid teams a home base and to plan space by team rather than by individual desk. Also called office neighborhoods, neighborhood seating, team zones, workplace neighborhoods. #### How it works A neighborhood groups desks and nearby settings into a zone with a clear owner and purpose. Common types are departmental (one team), project (a cross-functional group), activity (people who need the same conditions, such as quiet) and functional (people who need specific equipment or amenities). Neighborhoods are usually scheduled. A team gets its zone on its team days, and the zone opens to everyone else on other days, so a tighter desk ratio still feels like the team's own space. Priority access lets chosen teams book a neighborhood before it opens to everyone. Neighborhoods are also the working unit of space planning. Restacks, team adjacency plans and desk ratios are set per neighborhood, and occupancy by neighborhood shows which teams have outgrown their zone and which have spare desks. #### Types of office neighborhood Most floors mix several types. Neighborhoods differ from hot desking because desks stay shared but only within the team's zone, and from assigned seating because nobody owns a desk. | Type | Who shares it | How long it lasts | Example | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Departmental | One team or department | Ongoing, reviewed when the team changes | Finance sits together near its meeting rooms | | Project | A cross-functional group | The life of the project | A launch team sits next to design for a quarter | | Activity | People who need the same setting, such as quiet | Ongoing | A quiet zone for focused work, away from meeting rooms | | Functional | People who need specific equipment or amenities | Ongoing | Engineers near the lab, or staff who need extra monitors | | Scheduled | Different teams on different days | Set by a rotating schedule | Sales uses a zone early in the week, marketing later | #### How to measure it 1. Occupancy of each neighborhood on its scheduled days and on other days. 2. Share of a team's office days spent in its own neighborhood. 3. Overflow: team members booking outside the zone because it is full. #### Examples - Finance uses the 'Numbers Nook' neighborhood on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; on other days any employee can book it. - A product launch team gets a project neighborhood next to design for three months, and then the zone returns to the shared pool. #### Benchmarks - Kadence's guidance on office neighborhoods puts a typical neighborhood at 30 to 60 people. [Kadence: Office neighborhoods for a better workplace experience]() #### Common mistakes - Drawing neighborhoods once and never revisiting them as teams grow and attendance changes. - Sizing a zone to team headcount instead of peak-day attendance. - Locking neighborhoods every day, so empty zones sit next to crowded ones. - Placing teams that rely on each other far apart. #### How Kadence helps Kadence assigns teams to neighborhoods on chosen days, and the Neighborhood Scheduler plans which team uses which neighborhood by date on rotating or shared floors. Priority booking access gives selected teams first access, spaces and neighborhoods can be created and edited in bulk from a spreadsheet, and SpaceOps publishes approved plans into live neighborhoods. [Desk booking software]() · [Space management]() · [SpaceOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What are office neighborhoods? Office neighborhoods are zones of flexible desks for people who share a team, project, working style or equipment need. They give employees a home base without an assigned desk and make it easy to find colleagues on office days. ##### What is neighborhood seating? Neighborhood seating is a layout in which desks are grouped into zones for teams or activities rather than assigned to individuals. Within a zone, people either take a free desk or book one in advance. ##### How big should an office neighborhood be? Kadence guidance puts a typical neighborhood at 30 to 60 people. Size each one to the team's peak-day attendance plus a buffer, not to its full headcount, and use occupancy data to adjust. ##### How do you set up office neighborhoods? List your teams and how they work, rate which teams need to sit near each other, pick zones that suit each activity and give them names people remember. Then set which days each team uses its zone, measure occupancy and adjust. #### Related terms - [Hot desking and hoteling]() Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in. - [Team adjacency]() Placing teams that work closely together near each other, and keeping those links intact through every move. - [Desk ratio (desk sharing ratio)]() The number of people assigned to a workplace for each desk, set from peak attendance and policy. - [Assigned desk]() A desk reserved for one person, either permanently or on set days, instead of being shared through booking. - [Space allocation]() Deciding which people, teams and activities get which desks, zones and rooms, and whether each is assigned, shared or bookable. - [Neighborhood manager]() The person who owns a neighborhood's seating rules, capacity and changes, usually a team lead or site admin. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a no-show rate in desk and room booking? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/no-show-rate/ Description: No-show rate is the share of desk and room bookings nobody checks in to. The formula, a worked example, the causes of no-shows and how auto-release helps. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### What is a no-show rate in desk and room booking? Short answer No-show rate is the share of desk, room or other space bookings that nobody checks in to, usually expressed as a percentage of all bookings in a period. Workplace teams track it because no-shows make space look busier than it is, block colleagues from free space and inflate the demand behind real estate decisions. Also called booking no-shows, no-show, booking-to-check-in ratio. #### How it works A no-show is a booking with no confirmed use. The booking system knows a booking exists; a check-in in the app, at a room display or kiosk, or an automatic presence signal confirms someone used it. When the check-in window passes without one, the booking counts as a no-show. No-shows have three usual causes: plans change and people do not cancel, recurring bookings outlive the need, and people use the space but forget to check in. The last is a data problem rather than a behavior problem, which is why automatic check-in from network presence or badge data lowers apparent no-show rates. Auto-release is the operational fix: it frees a booking a few minutes after its start time if nobody checks in, so the space returns to the pool. The no-show rate is the planning signal: high rates on one floor, team or room type show where booked demand overstates real demand. #### Formula No-show rate = (Bookings with no check-in ÷ Total bookings) × 100 - **Bookings with no check-in**: Bookings in the period that passed their check-in window without a manual or automatic check-in. - **Total bookings**: All bookings in the same period that were still live at their start time, excluding bookings cancelled in advance. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. A floor records 600 desk bookings in a month, excluding bookings cancelled in advance. 2. 90 of them have no check-in. 3. 90 ÷ 600 = 0.15. No-show rate: 15%. #### How to measure it 1. Exclude bookings cancelled before the start time; count only bookings that were still live. 2. Split by space type, floor, team and weekday, because rooms and desks behave differently. 3. Separate forgotten check-ins from true no-shows by comparing bookings with presence data. 4. Watch recurring bookings separately; they are the most common source of repeat no-shows. #### Examples - A six-person room shows as booked all week, but half its bookings have no check-in: a recurring series that stopped meeting months ago. - After automatic check-in from the office network is switched on, a team's no-show rate falls sharply, because people had been coming in but not tapping to check in. #### Benchmarks - Denbighshire County Council reported fewer ghost bookings inflating its usage figures after moving to Kadence. [Kadence customer story: Denbighshire County Council]() #### Common mistakes - Counting cancelled bookings as no-shows. - Treating every no-show as absence when many are forgotten check-ins. - Setting auto-release so short that people arriving a few minutes late lose their space. - Planning capacity from bookings without taking out no-shows. #### How Kadence helps Kadence auto-releases desk and room bookings nobody checks in to, and Workplace Insights reports no-shows next to occupancy and attendance. Check-ins can happen in the apps, on Kadence Room Displays (WorkOps Pro), at kiosks or automatically through the Kadence Agent on the office network, which keeps forgotten check-ins out of the no-show count. Admins can also cap how far recurring bookings run. [Workplace analytics]() · [Room booking software]() · [Desk booking software]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a no-show in desk booking? A no-show is a desk booking that nobody checks in to before the check-in window closes. The desk sat reserved but unused, so a colleague could not book it and the booking data overstated demand for that day. ##### How do you reduce booking no-shows? Turn on auto-release so unused bookings return to the pool, cap how far recurring bookings can run, remind people before their booking and make cancelling easy. Automatic check-in from network presence stops people who did come in from being counted as no-shows. ##### What is the difference between a no-show and a ghost booking? They describe the same event from two sides. A no-show is the metric: bookings with no check-in. A ghost booking is what it leaves behind: a desk or room that shows as taken but sits empty. ##### Should no-shows count in occupancy reports? No. Occupancy should count confirmed use. Keep no-shows as a separate metric, because they tell you something different: where booked demand overstates real demand and where booking rules need to change. #### Related terms - [Ghost booking]() A desk or room that is booked but never used, so it shows as taken while it sits empty. - [Auto-release]() A booking rule that frees a desk or room automatically when nobody checks in within a set grace period. - [Desk check-in]() Confirming that you are at the desk or room you booked, by app, QR code, badge or Wi-Fi presence, so unused bookings can be released. - [Desk utilization]() The share of available desk-hours people actually use, measured desk by desk from check-ins or presence data. - [Meeting room utilization]() How often meeting rooms are used and how full they are when used, which shows whether you need more rooms or different ones. - [Walk-in usage]() Desks or rooms used without a booking. If it isn't captured, utilization reports undercount real demand. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is an occupancy confidence score? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/occupancy-confidence-score/ Description: An occupancy confidence score rates how reliable an occupancy reading is, from how many independent data sources agree. A simple formula and how to use it. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### What is an occupancy confidence score? Short answer Occupancy confidence score is a rating of how reliable an occupancy reading is, based on how many independent data sources agree. Workplace and real estate teams use it to decide which figures are solid enough to act on, such as releasing a floor or renewing a lease, and which need more data first. Also called occupancy confidence, occupancy data confidence. #### How it works An occupancy reading says a desk, room, floor or building was in use at a given time. A confidence score sits beside it and says how much evidence supports it. When a booking, a check-in, network presence and a badge swipe all point the same way, confidence is high. When only one source reports, or sources conflict, confidence is low. There is no industry-standard formula. A simple version, shown below, counts how many of the sources that cover a space agree with the reading. More advanced models weight each source by how reliable it has proven at that site, since a sensor on a desk is stronger evidence for that desk than a building badge swipe. The score is most useful in aggregate. A floor where most readings have high confidence can support decisions. A site where most readings rest on one source tells the team to add a signal, raise check-in adoption or fix a data feed before relying on it. #### Formula Confidence score = (Sources that agree with the reading ÷ Sources covering the space) × 100 - **Sources that agree with the reading**: Signals for the same space and time that report the same state, in use or empty. - **Sources covering the space**: Signals that report on that same space at the same level of detail and time, such as a booking, a check-in and a desk sensor for one desk. A building badge entry covers a building, not a desk. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. A desk on Tuesday morning is covered by three desk-level sources: a booking, a check-in and a desk sensor. 2. The check-in and the sensor both show the desk in use. There was no booking, so the booking disagrees. 3. 2 ÷ 3 = 0.67. Confidence score: 67%, because two of the three desk-level sources agree. The score measures agreement between sources; it is not the probability that the desk was in use. #### How to measure it 1. Decide which sources count for each type of space. A building badge reader covers a building, not a desk. 2. Score each reading, then report the share of readings at high, medium and low confidence by site and floor. 3. Track the score over time. A falling score usually means a broken data feed or falling check-in adoption. #### Common mistakes - Counting sources that are not independent, such as a booking and the automatic check-in it created, as two votes. - Reporting occupancy figures without their confidence, so a weak site looks as solid as a strong one. - Treating low confidence as low occupancy. It means the evidence is thin, not that the space is empty. #### Frequently asked questions ##### Why does occupancy data need a confidence score? Occupancy figures drive expensive decisions, such as releasing a floor or renewing a lease. A confidence score shows which figures rest on several independent signals and which rest on one, so teams act on solid data and fix weak data first. ##### How do you improve occupancy confidence? Add an independent signal where coverage is thin, such as office network presence where only badges exist. Raise check-in adoption and repair broken data feeds. Confidence rises when more sources cover each space and they agree. ##### Is there a standard occupancy confidence formula? No. A simple version divides the number of sources that agree with a reading by the number of sources covering that space. Some models also weight sources by how reliable they have been at each site. Whatever the method, write it down so every site is scored the same way. #### Related terms - [Multi-source occupancy (unified occupancy model)]() One occupancy picture built by combining Wi-Fi, badge, sensor and booking data, so no single source has to be complete or perfect. - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Occupancy rate]() The share of available desks, rooms or floor area in use, at a point in time or on average over a period. - [Occupancy monitoring]() Continuous measurement of how many people use each building, floor, room and desk, and when, from presence signals or sensors. - [Badge data]() Access-control swipe records showing who entered a building or floor and when, often used to measure attendance. - [Occupancy sensor]() A device that detects whether a desk, room or zone is in use, or counts the people in it, usually anonymously. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [FAQ]() 6. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is total occupancy cost, and how is it calculated? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/occupancy-cost/ Description: Total occupancy cost is the full yearly cost of occupying a workplace. The formula, a worked example, cost per seat and per person, and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is total occupancy cost, and how is it calculated? Short answer Total occupancy cost is the full yearly cost of occupying a workplace: rent or ownership costs plus operating expenses, utilities, taxes, insurance, maintenance, cleaning, security and the yearly share of fit-out. Real estate and finance teams express it per square foot, per seat or per employee to compare buildings and test whether to keep, change or release space. Also called occupancy cost, cost per square foot, real estate cost per employee, TOC. #### How it works Rent is only part of the bill. Total occupancy cost adds every recurring cost tied to the space: service charges or common area maintenance, utilities, property taxes, insurance, repairs, cleaning, security, reception, and the cost of fit-out and furniture spread over the years they last. Some organizations also include facilities staff and workplace technology. The total is then divided by a unit so buildings can be compared. Cost per square foot compares buildings with each other. Cost per seat shows what each workstation costs. Cost per employee, or per person who actually comes in, shows what the space costs for the way people use it. In hybrid workplaces the last view matters most. A building can look efficient per square foot and still be expensive per person present if most desks sit empty, which is why teams read occupancy cost alongside measured occupancy. #### Formula Total occupancy cost = Rent + Operating expenses + Utilities + Services + Annual fit-out cost - **Rent**: Base rent for the year, or the equivalent ownership cost for an owned building. - **Operating expenses**: Service charges or common area maintenance, property taxes and insurance. - **Utilities**: Electricity, heating, cooling and water paid by the occupier. - **Services**: Cleaning, security, reception, maintenance and repairs. - **Annual fit-out cost**: The cost of fit-out and furniture spread over the years it is expected to last, often the lease term. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. An office of 20,000 square feet has annual rent of $900,000. 2. Operating expenses are $200,000, utilities $60,000 and services $140,000 a year. 3. A $1,000,000 fit-out spread over a ten-year lease adds $100,000 a year. 4. $900,000 + $200,000 + $60,000 + $140,000 + $100,000 = $1,400,000. 5. $1,400,000 ÷ 20,000 sq ft = $70 per square foot; with 200 employees, $1,400,000 ÷ 200 = $7,000 per employee. Total occupancy cost: $1,400,000 a year, or $70 per square foot and $7,000 per employee. #### How to measure it 1. Collect every cost line for the same twelve months: lease, service charge statements, utility bills, facilities contracts and the fit-out depreciation schedule. 2. Use one area standard, rentable or usable, for every building before dividing by square feet. 3. Report cost per square foot, per seat and per occupied seat, where occupied seats come from check-in or presence data. 4. Track the trend each year and before each lease event, not just a single snapshot. #### Examples - In the worked example, if an average of 80 people use the office each day, the cost per person present is $1,400,000 ÷ 80 = $17,500 a year. - Two offices cost the same per square foot, but one is twice as busy, so its cost per occupied seat is half the other's. #### Benchmarks - Consolidating two floors into one saved RCS England over £40,000 a year. [Kadence customer story: RCS England]() #### Common mistakes - Counting rent only, which leaves out a large part of the real cost. - Mixing rentable and usable square feet across buildings, which makes per-square-foot comparisons meaningless. - Dividing by headcount in a hybrid workplace, which hides what each occupied seat really costs. - Leaving one-off move, fit-out and exit costs out when comparing a move with staying put. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights supplies the use side of the calculation: attendance, occupancy and no-shows by building and floor, with CSV export, so finance can divide total occupancy cost by the seats people actually use. The Kadence ROI calculator estimates the space and rent a desk-sharing ratio could release, and SpaceOps compares consolidation scenarios side by side. [Workplace analytics]() · [ROI calculator]() · [Scenario planning]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is included in total occupancy cost? Rent or the ownership equivalent, service charges or common area maintenance, property taxes, insurance, utilities, cleaning, security, reception, maintenance and repairs, plus the yearly share of fit-out and furniture. Some organizations add facilities staff and workplace technology. Whatever you include, use the same list for every building. ##### How do you calculate occupancy cost per employee? Add up the total occupancy cost for the year and divide it by the number of employees based at the site. In a hybrid office, also divide by the average number of people who actually come in, because that shows what each used seat costs. ##### What is the difference between rent and occupancy cost? Rent is what you pay the landlord for the space. Occupancy cost is everything it takes to use the space: rent plus operating expenses, utilities, services and the cost of fitting it out. Two buildings with the same rent can have very different occupancy costs. ##### Why does occupancy cost per person rise with hybrid work? The building costs the same whether people come in or not. When fewer people use it each day, the same total is spread across fewer occupied seats, so the cost per person present goes up. That is why hybrid organizations review space size against measured attendance. ##### How do I prove office utilization to my CFO? Show what the space costs next to how much of it is used, by building and floor, from measured presence rather than bookings or headcount. Multiplying total occupancy cost by the share of seats empty on a typical day puts a cost on empty space; treat it as an upper bound, because space can only be released down to peak demand. A figure tied to measured attendance is easier to defend when finance asks how it was worked out. #### Related terms - [Cost per seat]() The total annual occupancy cost of an office divided by the seats it provides, or by the seats actually used. - [Space per person]() Office floor area divided by the number of people it serves, in square feet or square meters per person. - [Corporate real estate (CRE)]() The buildings and leases a company occupies for its own operations, and the team that plans and manages them. - [Rentable vs usable square feet]() Usable area is the space a tenant occupies; rentable area adds a share of common areas, and rent is charged on it. - [3-30-300 rule]() A rule of thumb: per square foot each year, a company spends $3 on utilities, $30 on rent and $300 on its people. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is occupancy monitoring? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/occupancy-monitoring/ Description: Occupancy monitoring continuously measures how buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used. How it works, which signals to use and how to keep it about space. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### What is occupancy monitoring? Short answer Occupancy monitoring is the continuous measurement of how many people use a workplace's buildings, floors, rooms and desks, and when, using signals such as check-ins, network presence, badge swipes or sensors. Facilities and real estate teams use it to see how space performs, spot crowded and empty areas, and make lease and layout decisions on evidence. Also called occupancy tracking, space monitoring, occupancy analytics, occupancy management. #### How it works Occupancy monitoring turns everyday signals into a live and historical picture of space use. Each source sees part of the picture: badge systems record building entry, network presence shows who is on the office network and on which floor, check-ins confirm a specific desk or room, and sensors count people in a zone. The data is rolled up to the level each decision needs: live counts for today's operations, and daily and weekly patterns by floor, space type and team for planning. Strong programs combine two or more signals, because each has gaps: badges miss tailgating and floors, sensors cannot say who was there, and check-ins depend on people or automation. Monitoring space is different from monitoring people. A good program measures how spaces are used, reports in aggregate, limits who can see individual records and sets a retention period. That keeps the data useful for planning and acceptable to employees. #### Occupancy signals compared No single signal sees everything. Most programs combine two or more, for example network presence for people and sensors for unbooked zones. | Signal | What it measures | Accuracy | Cost | Privacy | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Sensors | Whether a desk, room or zone is in use, or how many people are in it | High for the space covered; cannot say who was there | Highest: hardware, installation, network and upkeep | Low if anonymous; higher with cameras | | Badge data | Who entered the building or floor, and when | Good for arrivals; misses tailgating, floors and departures | Low: access control already collects it | Identifies people; needs a clear purpose and access limits | | Office network presence (agent) | Who is in the office, and on which floor, from their device on the network | High for people with the agent; floor-level where supported | Low: software only, no hardware | Identifies people; report in aggregate and limit access | | Desk and room check-ins | Confirmed use of a specific desk or room | Good when automated; manual check-in depends on habit | Low: part of the booking system | Identifies people; tied to a booking | | Bookings | Who planned to use which desk or room | Overstates use: counts no-shows and misses walk-ins | Low: comes with the booking system | Identifies people; shows plans, not presence | | Manual counts | Head counts taken by observers at set times | A snapshot; misses everything between walk-throughs | High in staff time for each study | Low: counts people, not names | #### How to measure it 1. Write down the questions first (Which floors are underused? What is our real peak?) and choose signals that answer them. 2. Combine at least two signals, for example check-ins plus network presence or badge data. 3. Measure continuously; a one-week study misses seasons and policy changes. 4. Set privacy rules at the start: aggregation level, access and retention. #### Examples - A multi-site company compares weekly occupancy by building and finds two offices that never pass half their capacity; they become consolidation candidates. - Live occupancy by floor lets facilities open a second floor only on busy days and reduce cleaning and heating on quiet ones. #### Benchmarks - Denbighshire County Council replaced days of manual reporting with live occupancy dashboards and used them to right-size its estate and hybrid policy. [Kadence customer story: Denbighshire County Council]() #### Common mistakes - Relying on one signal and reading its gaps as real behavior. - Running a short study and treating it as the permanent answer. - Monitoring individuals when the question is about space. - Collecting data that never turns into a decision. #### How Kadence helps Kadence records occupancy from desk and room check-ins, kiosks, Kadence Room Displays (WorkOps Pro), badge data or the API. The Kadence Agent checks people in automatically when it detects them on the office network, and Enhanced Network Detection adds floor-level, VPN-aware presence. Workplace Insights turns this into occupancy, attendance, no-show and heatmap reporting without installing sensors. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [Denbighshire story]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is occupancy tracking software? It is software that collects presence signals, such as check-ins, network presence, badge swipes or sensor counts, and turns them into live and historical occupancy by building, floor, space and team. Workplace platforms often combine it with desk and room booking, so bookings and actual use sit in one view. ##### Do you need sensors to monitor office occupancy? Not necessarily. Check-ins, office network presence and badge data can show who is in and where, without new hardware. Sensors add anonymous counts for areas nobody books, such as lounges, and can be worth it where those areas drive decisions. ##### Is occupancy monitoring the same as employee monitoring? Not when it is set up well. Occupancy monitoring measures how spaces are used and reports in aggregate. Employee monitoring tracks what individuals do. Keep reports aggregated, limit access to individual records and set retention periods. ##### How is occupancy monitoring different from a utilization study? A utilization study is a one-off project, often a few weeks of counts. Occupancy monitoring runs continuously, so it captures seasonal patterns, policy changes and the effect of each decision you make. ##### What is the best way to get real-time office occupancy data? Start with signals you already have: office Wi-Fi or network presence, badge swipes, and desk and room check-ins. Combined, they show who is in and where through the day without new hardware. Add sensors only for spaces people do not book or connect in, such as huddle areas, and only where the extra detail would change a decision. #### Related terms - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Occupancy sensor]() A device that detects whether a desk, room or zone is in use, or counts the people in it, usually anonymously. - [Badge data]() Access-control swipe records showing who entered a building or floor and when, often used to measure attendance. - [Workplace analytics]() Analysis of bookings, check-ins, attendance and occupancy data to guide decisions about office space, policy and services. - [Occupancy rate]() The share of available desks, rooms or floor area in use, at a point in time or on average over a period. - [Employee monitoring vs occupancy data]() Employee monitoring tracks what individuals do; occupancy data measures how spaces are used. Workplace planning needs only the second. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is occupancy planning? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/occupancy-planning/ Description: Occupancy planning matches people and teams to space as the organization changes. How it works, how it differs from space planning, and what to measure. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is occupancy planning? Short answer Occupancy planning is the ongoing process of deciding where people and teams will work across an organization's floors and buildings, and how much space each needs, as headcount and attendance change. Workplace and real estate teams use it to match capacity to real demand, so they neither run out of seats nor pay for idle space. Also called capacity planning, office capacity planning, seat planning. #### How it works Occupancy planning sits between measurement and design. It takes utilization and attendance data, headcount forecasts and the current stack, then decides how much capacity each team needs and where it should go. Space planning then designs the layouts, and day-to-day occupancy management runs who sits where. Demand comes from behavior, not headcount. For each team, planners look at attendance on its busiest day, which days it comes in, and which teams it needs to be near. A team of 100 that peaks at 55 people needs a very different allocation from one that is fully in the office. The plan is a living one. Joiners, leavers, reorganizations and policy changes arrive continuously, so good occupancy planning tracks capacity against forecast demand floor by floor and flags where a team will outgrow its space, or where space can be released, before it happens. #### How to measure it 1. Capacity against peak-day demand, by floor and team. 2. Forecast demand from headcount plans and expected attendance. 3. Capacity variance between sites, often an early sign of a consolidation opportunity. 4. Booked versus used, so no-shows do not overstate demand. #### How to run occupancy planning 1. Record current capacity by floor and neighborhood from accurate floor plans. 2. Measure demand by team: peak-day attendance, usual office days and which teams need to sit together. 3. Add what is coming: hiring plans, reorganizations, policy changes and lease dates. 4. Compare capacity with peak-day demand by floor and team, and flag shortfalls and surplus. 5. Choose responses: rebalance neighborhoods, share zones on different days, restack or release space. 6. Hand approved changes to space planning and move management. 7. Review monthly, and after any change in headcount or policy. #### Examples - A planner sees that a growing team will outgrow its neighborhood next quarter and moves a smaller team to an adjoining zone ahead of time. - A company rotates two teams through one neighborhood on different days instead of giving each its own. #### 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 - Allocating space by headcount rather than attendance. - Planning once a year while demand moves week to week. - Treating occupancy planning and space planning as the same job, so no one owns matching capacity to demand. #### How Kadence helps Kadence connects occupancy data to planning. Workplace Insights measures attendance and occupancy from check-ins and presence signals. In WorkOps, team neighborhoods, assigned desks and the Neighborhood Scheduler set where teams sit and on which days. SpaceOps stack planning and seat-level space planning turn demand into floor allocations, and HRIS integration in WorkOps Pro brings in new starters and leavers. [Workplace occupancy]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Office space planning guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between occupancy planning and space planning? Space planning designs a specific layout. Occupancy planning is the ongoing work of matching the portfolio to real and expected demand over time. Space planning produces a floor plan; occupancy planning decides what that floor plan needs to hold. ##### What does occupancy planning software do? It combines floor plans, team and headcount data and measured occupancy, shows capacity against demand by floor and team, and lets planners test and publish changes to allocations. Some tools use AI to propose allocations from occupancy data. ##### What is office capacity planning? Office capacity planning works out how many people each floor or building must accommodate on its busiest days, now and in the future, and whether the current space can meet that demand. It is a core part of occupancy planning. ##### How do you plan office occupancy for hybrid work? Measure each team's attendance by day, size its space to its busiest day plus a buffer, coordinate teams' office days so peaks do not collide, and review the plan whenever headcount or policy changes. #### Related terms - [Space planning]() Deciding how office floor area is divided and allocated, from which teams go on which floors to where each desk and room sits. - [Headcount planning (for space)]() Forecasting how many people will work in each team and location, and turning that into the office space they will need. - [Desk ratio (desk sharing ratio)]() The number of people assigned to a workplace for each desk, set from peak attendance and policy. - [Peak occupancy]() The busiest level of use a floor or building reaches in a normal week, which sets the capacity you actually need. - [Stack planning]() A floor-by-floor plan of which teams occupy which floors and buildings, used to test moves and consolidations first. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Steps]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is occupancy rate? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/occupancy-rate/ Description: Occupancy rate is the share of available desks, rooms or floor area in use. The formula, a worked example, how it differs from utilization and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### What is occupancy rate? Short answer Occupancy rate is the share of a workplace's available desks, rooms or floor area that is in use, measured at a point in time or on average over a period. Real estate and workplace teams track it to see how much of the space they pay for is used, and to decide whether to consolidate, reconfigure or expand. Also called office occupancy, space occupancy rate. #### How it works Occupancy rate divides the units in use by the units available. A floor with 200 desks where 90 are in use at 11 am is 45% occupied at that moment. Averaged across the hours or days of a week or month, the same count shows how much of the space people turned up to use. Occupancy asks whether each desk, room or area is in use, not how intensively its capacity is used over time. That second question is utilization: a ten-person room with two people in it counts as occupied, but most of its seats are empty. Teams read occupancy alongside utilization and peak occupancy (the busiest point), because an average alone can hide the days that set the capacity you need. The word has a second industry meaning. Some benchmarking surveys, including CBRE's, report occupancy as people allocated per seat, a sharing ratio that passes 100% when more people are assigned to a building than it has seats. To tell them apart, check the denominator: occupancy of space divides units in use by units available and cannot exceed 100%; an allocation ratio divides assigned people by seats. Occupancy is only as good as the signal behind it. Bookings show intent, while check-ins, badge swipes, network presence and sensors show whether people turned up. The gap between the two, booked but empty desks, is where most planning errors start. #### Occupancy vs utilization vs peak occupancy The terms are often mixed up. Check which one a report uses before you compare figures. | Measure | Question it answers | How it is calculated | Use it to | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Occupancy rate | Is the space in use? | Units in use ÷ units available, at a point in time or on average | See how much of the space people use | | Space utilization | How intensively is capacity used over time? | Seat-hours used ÷ seat-hours available | Judge room sizes and how hard space works | | Peak occupancy | How full does it get on the busiest normal day or hour? | Highest units in use in a typical period ÷ units available | Size desks, rooms and neighborhoods | | Allocation ratio (sometimes called occupancy) | How many people are assigned per seat? | People assigned ÷ seats | Compare sharing levels; it can exceed the seats available | #### Formula Occupancy rate = (Occupied units ÷ Available units) × 100 - **Occupied units**: Desks, rooms or square feet in use during the period, from check-ins or presence data rather than bookings alone. - **Available units**: The same units that were open and bookable during that period, excluding closed or out-of-service space. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. A floor has 240 bookable desks, all open this week. 2. Check-in data shows an average of 102 desks in use per day. 3. 102 ÷ 240 = 0.425. Average daily occupancy rate: 42.5%. #### How to measure it 1. Decide the unit (desks, rooms or area) and the period (hourly, daily, weekly) before you compare anything. 2. Use a presence signal for 'occupied': check-ins, badge data, Wi-Fi presence or sensors. Bookings alone overstate occupancy when people book and do not come. 3. Count only available units, so closures and out-of-service desks do not drag the rate down. 4. Report the average and the peak day side by side, by floor and by team, so capacity decisions follow the busiest real day rather than the mean. #### Examples - A 60,000 sq ft office averages 38% desk occupancy but reaches 71% on Tuesdays and Wednesdays: the team keeps one floor for anchor days and releases another. - A meeting-room occupancy of 25% with frequent 'no rooms free' complaints usually points to ghost bookings, not too few rooms. #### Benchmarks - At the University of Exeter, the average share of meeting rooms in use per day rose from 20% to 38%. [Kadence customer story: University of Exeter]() - CBRE's benchmarking uses occupancy rate for people allocated per seat and reported a global figure of 111%, meaning more people are allocated than there are seats. [CBRE, The Hybrid Reality (2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights)]() #### Common mistakes - Treating bookings as occupancy. A booked desk that nobody uses still counts as occupied in booking data. - Planning to the average. A 40% average can sit on top of an 80% peak day; size to the peak you choose to support. - Mixing units: desk occupancy, room occupancy and floor-area occupancy are different numbers and should not be averaged together. - Comparing periods with different availability, for example a week with a closed floor against a normal week. - Comparing your share of desks in use with an external occupancy figure that means people allocated per seat. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights reports attendance, occupancy, no-shows and office heatmaps from check-in data, not bookings alone. The Kadence Agent checks people in automatically when it detects them on the office network, Automatic Bookings records people who turn up without a booking, and check-ins can also come from kiosks, room displays, badge data or the API. SpaceOps then uses that occupancy data to plan floors and scenarios. [Workplace analytics]() · [Workplace occupancy]() · [SpaceOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a good office occupancy rate? There is no single target. The right rate depends on your attendance policy, the peak days you choose to support and how much buffer you want. Many hybrid offices run well below their capacity on average, so the useful question is whether your peak day fits and how much space sits empty on the other days. ##### What is the difference between occupancy and utilization? Occupancy says whether space is in use: the share of available desks, rooms or area in use at a point in time or on average. Utilization says how intensively capacity is used over time: how often a space is used multiplied by how full it is when used. A six-person room used all afternoon by one person is occupied all afternoon but poorly utilized. ##### Why do some reports show occupancy above 100%? They use occupancy to mean people allocated per seat, not space in use. In shared-desk offices more people can be assigned to a building than it has seats; CBRE reported a global figure of 111% on that basis. An occupancy rate of space in use divides units in use by units available, so it can never exceed the space available. ##### How do you measure occupancy without sensors? Use signals you already have: desk and room check-ins, badge swipes, and presence on the office Wi-Fi or network. Combined, they show who was actually in the building and where, without installing hardware on every desk. #### Related terms - [Occupancy vs utilization]() Occupancy is the share of space in use; utilization is the share of capacity-time actually used. - [Space utilization]() How intensively buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their full capacity over time. - [Peak occupancy]() The busiest level of use a floor or building reaches in a normal week, which sets the capacity you actually need. - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Desk ratio (desk sharing ratio)]() The number of people assigned to a workplace for each desk, set from peak attendance and policy. - [Space per person]() Office floor area divided by the number of people it serves, in square feet or square meters per person. #### Sources 1. [The Hybrid Reality: Why the Office Is More Important Than Ever](), CBRE Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [Formula]() 4. [How to measure it]() 5. [Examples]() 6. [Benchmarks]() 7. [Common mistakes]() 8. [How Kadence helps]() 9. [FAQ]() 10. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How do occupancy sensors work, and do you need them? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/occupancy-sensor/ Description: Occupancy sensors detect whether desks, rooms or zones are in use, or count people. How they work, what they cost to run and when sensorless presence data is enough. [Glossary]() · AI & workplace data ### How do occupancy sensors work, and do you need them? Short answer An occupancy sensor is a device that detects whether a desk, room or zone is in use, or counts the people in it, using technologies such as passive infrared, thermal imaging, radar or cameras. Facilities teams use sensors to measure space use automatically, especially in areas nobody books, such as lounges, cafes and open collaboration zones. Also called desk sensor, people counter, IoT occupancy sensor, sensors vs sensorless. #### How it works Sensors come in three broad types. Under-desk or in-room presence sensors detect whether a desk or room is occupied. Ceiling people counters count how many people are in a zone. Door counters track people entering and leaving a floor or room. Most report anonymously: they count bodies, not identities. Readings travel over a wireless network to a gateway, then to software that turns them into occupancy by space, hour and day. Running them means power or battery management, network access, mapping each sensor to a space and re-mapping whenever the layout changes. Sensors and sensorless signals answer different questions. Sensors measure unbookable space precisely but cannot say who was there, so they cannot show team attendance or confirm a specific booking. Presence data from check-ins, network connections and badges covers people and bookings without new hardware. Many organizations use presence data broadly and add sensors only where unbookable space drives decisions. #### Occupancy sensor technologies and sensorless signals Sensor technologies count space; sensorless signals identify people. The right mix depends on the question. | Technology | What it detects | Strengths | Watch for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Passive infrared (PIR) | Body heat and movement at a desk or in a room | Cheap, low power and anonymous | Misses people sitting still; can read empty after a pause | | Thermal | Heat shapes, to count people in a zone | Counts people without identifying them | Higher cost; needs ceiling mounting and calibration | | Radar | Presence, including the small movements of people sitting still | Detects still occupants; anonymous | Higher cost; coverage depends on placement | | Camera-based | People counts and positions from images | Accurate counts in open areas | Highest privacy concern; prefer devices that keep counts, not images | | Door counters | People entering and leaving a room or floor | Simple totals by area | Small errors add up over the day | | Office network presence | Who is in, and on which floor, from devices on the network | No hardware; covers people and teams | Cannot see unbooked zones or people without the software | | Badge data | Who entered the building or floor, and when | Already collected by access control | Shows entry, not which desk or room was used | #### How to measure it 1. Start with the questions: team attendance and desk use need presence data; unbookable zones may need sensors. 2. Price the full cost: hardware, installation, network, maintenance and re-mapping after moves. 3. Pilot on one floor and compare sensor counts with check-ins and network presence. 4. Review privacy: prefer anonymous sensors and avoid image capture where you can. #### What to check before buying occupancy sensors - **The questions they must answer.** Team attendance and desk use need data that knows who was there; unbooked zones need anonymous counts. Choose the technology after the question. - **Total cost of ownership.** Price hardware, installation, gateways, batteries, network setup and re-mapping after every layout change, not only the device. - **Network and IT security.** IT should review how devices connect, whether they need their own gateway or network segment, how firmware is updated and who can reach the data. - **Privacy by design.** Prefer anonymous sensors that store counts, not images. Check what is processed on the device and what leaves it, and involve works councils or employee representatives where required. - **Accuracy in your space.** Pilot on one floor and compare readings with check-ins or manual counts before a wider rollout. - **Integration with booking and reporting.** Sensor data is most useful next to bookings and attendance. Check the API, and that readings map to the same spaces your booking system uses. - **Maintenance and ownership.** Agree who replaces batteries, fixes offline devices and updates the space mapping, and how quickly. - **Sensorless alternatives.** Check whether network presence, badge data or automatic check-in already answer the question at lower cost, and add sensors only where they add something. #### Examples - A company uses network presence and desk check-ins for attendance across its offices and adds ceiling counters only in a large collaboration area it plans to redesign. - A firm moving into a small new headquarters uses automated check-in instead of sensors and spends the savings on furniture. #### Benchmarks - Wavex reported saving £20K+ by using automated check-in instead of a sensor deployment in its new London HQ. [Kadence customer story: Wavex]() #### Common mistakes - Buying sensors before deciding which questions they must answer. - Treating sensor counts as attendance; sensors cannot tell who was there. - Forgetting maintenance and re-mapping after every layout change. - Choosing camera-based sensors without a privacy review. #### How Kadence helps Kadence measures occupancy without sensors: the Kadence Agent checks people in automatically when it detects them on the office network, and Automatic Bookings records people who turn up without a booking. Where other systems already hold presence signals, the public API can check people in to desks and rooms, alongside kiosk, room display and badge check-ins. [Workplace occupancy]() · [WorkOps]() · [Wavex story]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do occupancy sensors work? Most use passive infrared to detect body heat and movement, or thermal, radar or camera-based counting to count people in a zone. They send readings over a wireless network to software that turns them into occupancy by space and time. ##### Do you need occupancy sensors? Not always. If your questions are about attendance, team patterns and desk or room use, check-ins, office network presence and badge data answer them without hardware. Sensors earn their cost in unbookable spaces, or where you need precise counts for a redesign. ##### What is the difference between sensor and sensorless occupancy? Sensors measure space directly and anonymously. Sensorless occupancy uses signals that already exist, such as network connections, badge swipes and check-ins, which cover people and bookings but not areas where nobody books or checks in. ##### Are occupancy sensors a privacy risk? Anonymous presence and counting sensors carry low risk because they do not identify people. Camera-based sensors carry more, even when they process images on the device. Tell employees what is installed and why, and prefer devices that store counts, not images. #### Related terms - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Badge data]() Access-control swipe records showing who entered a building or floor and when, often used to measure attendance. - [Occupancy monitoring]() Continuous measurement of how many people use each building, floor, room and desk, and when, from presence signals or sensors. - [Smart office]() A workplace that uses connected tools and data, from booking and room displays to presence and building controls, to fit real use. - [Space utilization study]() A time-bound exercise that measures how desks, rooms and floors are actually used, before a lease, consolidation or redesign. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [How to choose]() 5. [Examples]() 6. [Benchmarks]() 7. [Common mistakes]() 8. [How Kadence helps]() 9. [FAQ]() 10. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is the difference between occupancy and utilization? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/occupancy-vs-utilization/ Description: Occupancy is the share of space in use; utilization is how intensively capacity is used over time. How they differ, why definitions vary and when each matters. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### What is the difference between occupancy and utilization? Short answer Occupancy vs utilization is the difference between whether space is in use and how intensively its capacity is used over time. Occupancy is the share of available desks, rooms or area in use; utilization is the share of available capacity-time actually used. Workplace teams track both because an occupied room can still be poorly utilized. Also called occupancy and utilization, utilization vs occupancy. #### How it works Occupancy answers 'is it in use?' It is the share of available units, such as desks, rooms or floor area, in use at a point in time or on average over a period: occupied ÷ available. A floor with 90 of 200 desks in use at 11 am is 45% occupied at that moment. Utilization answers 'how intensively is the capacity used over time?' It is the share of available capacity-time actually used: how often a space is used multiplied by how full it is when used. A ten-person room in use every afternoon by two people is occupied all afternoon but only 20% utilized during those hours. For single-person desks, utilization reduces to the share of available desk-hours in use. A third measure shares the name. Some benchmarking programs, including CBRE's, use occupancy rate for people allocated per seat, a sharing ratio that can pass 100% in shared-desk offices. Check the denominator before you compare figures: units available, capacity-time available, or seats per allocated person. #### How to measure it 1. Write the definition, unit and time period of each metric at the top of every report. 2. Use presence data for both; bookings measure intent, not use. 3. For meeting rooms, report frequency, seat occupancy and utilization side by side. 4. When you compare with an external benchmark, check whether its occupancy means people present or people allocated. #### Examples - Desks: occupancy and utilization are close but not equal. A desk used for one morning counts as occupied that day but is used for only part of it. - Meeting rooms: rooms are occupied most of the day, but eight-person rooms average three people. Occupancy says 'we need more rooms'; utilization says 'we need smaller ones'. - Portfolio: a building with 1.2 people allocated per seat is 120% occupied in allocation terms while only half its desks are in use on an average day. #### Benchmarks - CBRE's benchmarking uses occupancy rate for people allocated per seat and reported a global figure of 111%, meaning more people are allocated than there are seats. [CBRE, The Hybrid Reality (2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights)]() #### Common mistakes - Using the two words as synonyms in the same report. - Comparing an internal occupancy figure (people present) with an external one (people allocated). - Closing rooms because occupancy is low without checking seat use, or adding rooms because occupancy is high without checking room size. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights reports occupancy, attendance and no-shows from check-ins and presence data, with office heatmaps and CSV export, so teams can build both measures from one source. SpaceOps uses that occupancy data when it plans floors and compares scenarios. [Workplace analytics]() · [Workplace occupancy]() · [SpaceOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### Is occupancy the same as utilization? No. Occupancy is the share of available desks, rooms or area in use, at a point in time or on average. Utilization is the share of available capacity-time actually used, combining how often a space is used with how full it is. For desks the two are close; for meeting rooms and floors they can differ widely. ##### Which is more useful for real estate decisions? Both, for different decisions. Occupancy over time, and at the peak, tells you how much space people use. Utilization tells you whether the space you have is the right size and type. Lease and consolidation decisions need both, measured over several normal weeks. ##### Why can occupancy be over 100%? When occupancy means people allocated to a building per seat, shared-desk offices can allocate more people than seats. CBRE reported a global figure of 111%. That is an allocation ratio, not a measure of how many people were actually present. ##### How do you measure occupancy and utilization together? Use one presence source, such as check-ins or network presence, for both. Count spaces in use to get occupancy, then add the number of people per space and the hours used to get utilization, broken down by space type and day. #### Related terms - [Occupancy rate]() The share of available desks, rooms or floor area in use, at a point in time or on average over a period. - [Space utilization]() How intensively buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their full capacity over time. - [Desk utilization]() The share of available desk-hours people actually use, measured desk by desk from check-ins or presence data. - [Peak occupancy]() The busiest level of use a floor or building reaches in a normal week, which sets the capacity you actually need. - [Workplace analytics]() Analysis of bookings, check-ins, attendance and occupancy data to guide decisions about office space, policy and services. - [Meeting room utilization]() How often meeting rooms are used and how full they are when used, which shows whether you need more rooms or different ones. #### Sources 1. [The Hybrid Reality: Why the Office Is More Important Than Ever](), CBRE Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How do you measure office attendance? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/office-attendance/ Description: Office attendance rate shows how often employees actually come into the office. How to measure it from presence data, the formula and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### How do you measure office attendance? Short answer Office attendance rate is the share of employees who come into the office in a given period, or the share of expected office days they actually attend, measured from check-ins, network presence or badge data. HR and workplace teams use it to see whether hybrid policies work, to plan team days and to size space. Also called attendance rate, in-office attendance, attendance tracking, attendance reporting. #### How it works Attendance is a people measure, not a space measure. It counts who came in and how often, whereas occupancy counts how much of the space was used. Two versions are common: daily attendance (the share of employees who came in on a given day) and policy attendance (the days each person attended against the days the policy expects). The data comes from presence signals. Desk and room check-ins, automatic detection on the office network, badge swipes at the door and kiosk sign-ins each record an arrival. Bookings show intent, and people often plan more office days than they make, so attendance built on bookings runs high. Attendance is most useful by team and by weekday. Team-level views show which groups use the office together and which rarely do, and before-and-after comparisons show whether a policy change moved behavior. Used this way it informs team days and space; used to police individuals, it erodes trust. #### Ways to measure office attendance Attendance needs a signal that knows who came in. Combining two, such as network presence and badge data, closes most gaps. | Method | Counts a person as in when | Gaps | Effort for employees | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Badge swipes | They badge into the building or floor | Tailgating, shared entrances and sites without readers | None | | Office network presence | Their device is detected on the office network | People without the software, or who never connect | None once installed and signed in | | Desk or room check-in | They check in to a booked desk or room | Missed check-ins and people who do not book | A tap, unless check-in is automatic | | Bookings | They booked a desk or room | No-shows count as present; walk-ins are missed | Booking ahead | | Sensors | Never: anonymous sensors count people, not who they are | Cannot measure attendance by person or team | None | #### Formula Attendance rate = (Office days attended ÷ Office days expected) × 100 - **Office days attended**: Days on which each person had a check-in, network presence or badge arrival, summed across the group. - **Office days expected**: People in scope multiplied by the office days the policy asks for in the period, excluding leave, holidays and client-site days. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. A team of 25 has a policy of 2 office days a week: 25 × 2 = 50 days expected. 2. Presence data shows 38 office days attended that week. 3. 38 ÷ 50 = 0.76. Attendance against policy: 76%. #### How to measure it 1. Define attendance once: any presence during the day, a minimum stay, or a check-in. Apply it everywhere. 2. Use presence data, and decide whether lockers or parking count as being in the office. 3. Take leave, holidays and client-site days out of the expected days. 4. Report by team, location and weekday, and compare before and after policy changes. #### Examples - A firm expecting two days a week finds most teams at or above policy and one team at a third of it; that team works mostly with a remote client, so its expectation changes. - Attendance data shows most people come in on the same two midweek days, so the workplace team schedules catering and events on those days. #### Benchmarks - In CBRE's benchmarking, 70% of respondents said employees are in the office less than leaders require or expect, up from 61% in 2024. [CBRE, The Hybrid Reality (2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights)]() #### Common mistakes - Counting bookings as attendance. - Reporting one company-wide rate that hides differences between teams. - Using attendance data to discipline individuals rather than to plan space and team days. - Leaving leave, holidays and client-site days in the expected days, which makes attendance look low. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights reports attendance, occupancy and average weekly hours from check-ins and automatic presence, with a setting for whether lockers and parking count as being in the office. Insights Plus (WorkOps Pro or add-on) adds custom dashboards, including policy compliance reporting. Presence comes from the Kadence Agent on the office network, desk and room check-ins, kiosks, badge data or the API. [Workplace analytics]() · [Workplace occupancy]() · [Hybrid working coordination]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do you measure office attendance? Record arrivals from presence signals such as check-ins, office network detection or badge swipes, then compare the days attended with the days the policy expects, excluding leave. Report it by team and weekday rather than as one company-wide number. ##### What is the difference between office attendance and occupancy? Attendance measures people: who came in and how often. Occupancy measures space: how much of the desks, rooms or floors was in use. A team can meet its attendance policy while its floor stays lightly occupied, if it has more desks than it needs. ##### Is tracking office attendance legal? In most places, yes, with conditions. Data protection law generally expects a clear purpose, transparency with employees, proportionate data and limited retention. Measuring space use in aggregate carries less risk than monitoring individuals. Check local rules, such as works council requirements in parts of Europe, with legal advisers. ##### Why is office attendance lower than our policy? Common causes are a policy people see no reason to follow, teams that do not coordinate their days, and bookings mistaken for attendance. Team-level data usually shows the pattern, and coordinated team days tend to move attendance more than reminders do. ##### How do I see who is in the office today? Use a live view built from today's check-ins and office network presence, with bookings shown separately as the people who plan to come in. A good view shows who is in, who is out and whether they are in for the morning or the whole day, so you can find a colleague or message only the people on site. #### Related terms - [Office attendance policy]() A rule that sets how often employees are expected in the office, such as a number of days per week or month. - [Occupancy rate]() The share of available desks, rooms or floor area in use, at a point in time or on average over a period. - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Badge data]() Access-control swipe records showing who entered a building or floor and when, often used to measure attendance. - [Return to office (RTO)]() An employer requirement that remote or hybrid staff spend more time in the office, either full time or on set days. #### Sources 1. [The Hybrid Reality: Why the Office Is More Important Than Ever](), CBRE Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [Formula]() 4. [How to measure it]() 5. [Examples]() 6. [Benchmarks]() 7. [Common mistakes]() 8. [How Kadence helps]() 9. [FAQ]() 10. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is office consolidation? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/office-consolidation/ Description: Office consolidation brings teams into fewer floors or buildings. How it works, the evidence it needs, examples, and the mistakes that lead to overcrowding. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is office consolidation? Short answer Office consolidation is the process of bringing teams from several floors, buildings or sites into less space, then giving up or repurposing what is freed. Real estate and workplace teams use it to cut occupancy cost and bring people together when measured attendance shows the current footprint is larger than the organization needs. Also called portfolio consolidation, footprint reduction, office downsizing, floor consolidation. #### How it works Consolidation happens at three levels: floors within a building, buildings within a city, and sites within a region or country. In each case the organization decides what to keep, fits the teams from the space it is leaving into the space it keeps, and exits or repurposes the rest. The decision rests on measured use. Occupancy and attendance data by building, floor and day show how much space is idle and, more importantly, how much is needed on the busiest day. The receiving space is sized to that peak plus a buffer, often with desk sharing and team neighborhoods so fewer desks serve more people. Delivery follows the lease calendar. Consolidation usually lands on a lease event such as a break or expiry and is carried out as a restack or a series of moves, with the freed space returned to the landlord, sublet or turned into collaboration space. #### Examples - A company with two half-used floors restacks onto one and releases the other at its next break date. - A regional business closes a small satellite office and gives its staff access to a nearby hub plus on-demand coworking space. #### Benchmarks - RCS England consolidated two floors into one and saved over £40,000 a year. [Kadence customer story: RCS England]() - Karger used Kadence occupancy data to downsize from fixed desks to one and a half floors, without losing productivity. [Kadence customer story: Karger]() #### Common mistakes - Sizing the consolidated space to the average day, which leaves people without desks when attendance peaks. - Ignoring team adjacency, so teams that worked side by side end up apart. - Announcing the change before booking, neighborhoods and coordination tools are ready in the receiving space. - Treating consolidation as a one-time cut instead of monitoring occupancy afterward. #### How Kadence helps Kadence SpaceOps includes a guided workflow to consolidate floors, with scenario planning to compare options and stack planning to fit teams into the space that stays. Workplace Insights provides the occupancy evidence. In the consolidated office, desk booking, team neighborhoods, auto-release and team coordination help people find space on the days they come in. [SpaceOps]() · [Workplace occupancy]() · [RCS England story]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between office consolidation and downsizing? Downsizing reduces space, often as a cost measure. Consolidation brings people together into less space by design, based on how the space is used, and often reinvests part of the saving in better shared areas. The square feet removed can be the same; the planning behind them is very different. ##### How do you know if you should consolidate offices? Look at measured occupancy by building and floor over several months, especially on the busiest day. If peak demand fits comfortably into less space and a lease event is approaching, consolidation is worth modeling. ##### How do you consolidate office space without overcrowding? Size the receiving space to peak-day attendance plus a buffer, not the average. Give teams neighborhoods, make desks bookable, release no-shows automatically and help teams coordinate their office days so the busiest days are spread out. ##### What are the costs of office consolidation? One-off costs include moves, fit-out of the receiving space, reinstatement of space given back, possible break penalties and new tools. They are set against recurring savings in rent, service charges, taxes and operating costs to find the payback period. ##### How do I plan an office consolidation or move? Start with measured attendance by team at each site, then model a few scenarios: which teams move, which floors close and how desks are shared on the new floor. Check each scenario against busy days and which teams need to sit together before you commit, then plan the move in phases with a seat for everyone who needs one. #### Related terms - [Office right-sizing]() Matching the amount and type of office space to how people actually use it, based on measured demand rather than headcount. - [Business case for consolidation]() The financial case for moving into less space, with cash savings, one-off costs and softer benefits kept separate. - [Restack]() Reassigning teams across the floors of a building to free space, absorb growth or improve adjacency, done as a sequence of moves. - [Sublease]() Letting leased space you no longer need to another party, while staying responsible to the landlord under the original lease. - [Real estate footprint]() The total space an organization occupies, owned or leased, across all its offices, floors and sites. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Examples]() 3. [Benchmarks]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is an office heat map? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/office-heat-map/ Description: An office heat map colors a floor plan by how often each desk, room or zone is used. What data it needs, how to read it and how to act on what it shows. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### What is an office heat map? Short answer An office heat map is a floor plan colored by how intensively each desk, room or zone is used, so busy and quiet areas stand out at a glance. Workplace and facilities teams use it to spot crowded neighborhoods, unused corners and popular spaces, and to plan layouts, team placement and services around real demand. Also called occupancy heat map, floor heatmap, space heat map. #### How it works The heat map draws on occupancy data for a chosen period: bookings, check-ins, network presence or sensor counts. Each space gets a value, such as the share of days or hours it was used, and a color scale shows the range from rarely used to always full. Filters make it useful. A weekday view shows the midweek peak and the quiet Friday; a team view shows where each group actually sits; a space-type view separates desks, rooms and focus booths. Showing booked against used on the same map reveals where bookings run ahead of real use. A heat map is a starting point, not a verdict. A cold zone may be dark, noisy or far from the team that should use it; a hot one may be the only place with good monitors. Pair the map with a short survey or a walk-through before you move furniture or teams. #### How to measure it 1. Pick the metric behind the colors (days used, hours used or check-ins) and keep the scale fixed when you compare periods. 2. Build it from check-ins or presence data, not bookings alone. 3. Compare weekday views before drawing conclusions from a weekly total. 4. Run it again after each change to see whether behavior moved. #### Examples - A heat map shows window desks always full and an interior bank rarely used; better lighting and monitors bring the interior desks into use. - One neighborhood is hot every Tuesday and Wednesday; the team gets an overflow zone on those days instead of a bigger permanent area. #### Common mistakes - Reading a weekly total and missing that the pattern changes by day. - Coloring by bookings, which paints ghost bookings as demand. - Changing the color scale between periods, which makes comparisons meaningless. - Removing cold desks without asking why they are cold. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights includes office heatmaps built from bookings and check-ins, alongside attendance, occupancy and no-show reporting. Interactive floor plans show live availability, and SpaceOps uses the same occupancy data when it plans floors. [Workplace analytics]() · [Space management]() · [SpaceOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is an occupancy heat map? It is a floor plan shaded by how often each space is used over a period. Warm colors mark the busiest desks, rooms and zones; cool colors mark the quietest. It turns occupancy data into a picture people can read without a spreadsheet. ##### What data do you need for an office heat map? Space-level usage data: desk and room check-ins, bookings, network presence by floor or sensor counts by zone. The more precisely each signal is located, the more detailed the map. Building-level badge data alone is too coarse. ##### How do you use a heat map to improve an office? Look for patterns, then ask why. Crowded areas may need more space on peak days; empty ones may lack light, equipment or a reason to be there. Change one thing, then compare the next heat map with the last. #### Related terms - [Peak occupancy]() The busiest level of use a floor or building reaches in a normal week, which sets the capacity you actually need. - [Workplace analytics]() Analysis of bookings, check-ins, attendance and occupancy data to guide decisions about office space, policy and services. - [Interactive floor plan]() A live, clickable map of an office that shows desks, rooms and people, and lets employees book space and find colleagues. - [Occupancy monitoring]() Continuous measurement of how many people use each building, floor, room and desk, and when, from presence signals or sensors. - [Desk utilization]() The share of available desk-hours people actually use, measured desk by desk from check-ins or presence data. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is office move automation with AI? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/office-move-automation-with-ai/ Description: Office move automation with AI recommends seats, assigns people in bulk, notifies them and updates records while planners approve. What it automates. [Glossary]() · Moves & change ### What is office move automation with AI? Short answer Office move automation with AI is the use of software, including AI models, to plan and carry out workplace moves with less manual work. It recommends where people and teams should sit from occupancy and team data, assigns seats in bulk, tells employees where they are going and updates seating records, while planners review and approve the plan. Also called AI move management, agentic MAC. #### How it works The inputs are the ones a move planner uses by hand: who is moving, team structure, attendance patterns, floor capacity, adjacency needs and constraints such as locked zones or assigned desks. Automation reads them directly from booking, HR and floor plan data instead of a spreadsheet. AI helps in two places. In planning, it proposes a stack or seating layout, or answers questions in plain language, such as whether a growing team still fits on its floor. In execution, rules and recommendations assign many people at once, generate move sheets and notifications, and switch the new assignments live when the plan is published. What stays human is judgment: which trade-offs to accept, when to move and how to tell people. Good tools show their reasoning, let planners lock decisions and keep the final approval with the workplace team. #### How to measure it 1. Compare planning time for a restack or a batch of new starters before and after automation. 2. Track how many automated seat recommendations planners change by hand; a high rate means the inputs or rules are wrong. 3. Count post-move errors such as double-assigned desks or missed notifications. #### Examples - A planner asks an AI agent to fit a growing engineering team on two floors next to product, reviews the proposed stack, locks the finance floor and accepts the result. - A batch of new starters is seated in one bulk auto-assign run, and each receives a personal move sheet by email. #### Common mistakes - Letting an algorithm decide without planners reviewing the trade-offs. - Automating on stale data, such as out-of-date headcount or seat assignments. - Automating the seat assignment but not the notifications and record updates. #### How Kadence helps In Kadence, Move Manager (WorkOps Pro) recommends seats, auto-assigns people in bulk, takes bulk move uploads, and sends move emails and personal move sheets. SpaceOps adds an AI planning agent that builds or changes stack and space plans from plain-language requests, guided workflows for restacks and consolidations, and publishing of approved plans to live neighborhoods and assignments in WorkOps. [SpaceOps]() · [Kadence AI]() · [Pricing]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### Can AI plan an office move? AI can do much of the planning work: proposing which teams go on which floors, suggesting seats that keep teams together, and answering what-if questions from real occupancy data. People still set the goals, judge the trade-offs, approve the plan and decide how to tell employees. ##### What parts of an office move can be automated? Seat recommendations and bulk assignment, move lists from spreadsheets, employee notifications and move sheets, and switching seat assignments and neighborhoods live in the booking system. Physical work such as furniture, IT setup and badge changes still needs people, though software can track and schedule it. ##### Does move automation replace a move manager? No. It removes the repetitive work, such as matching people to seats, re-keying lists and sending notices, so the move manager spends time on sequencing, stakeholders and communication. The decisions and accountability stay with the workplace team. ##### What data does AI move planning need? Current seat assignments and floor plans, team membership from the HR system or directory, attendance and occupancy by team and day, and the constraints that matter, such as locked areas, adjacency requirements and dates. Poor or stale data produces confident but wrong plans. #### Related terms - [Move management]() Planning, sequencing and carrying out workplace moves, from one desk change to a whole-team relocation. - [MAC (moves, adds and changes)]() The routine work of relocating people, seating new occupants and updating workspaces as an organization changes. - [Agentic workplace]() A workplace where AI agents carry out tasks, such as booking space and drafting plans, with people approving decisions. - [AI space planning]() Using AI to draft and test stack plans, seating plans and scenarios from headcount, occupancy data and floor plans. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How do you plan an office relocation? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/office-relocation/ Description: An office relocation moves an office or department to a new building. How to plan one: scope, sizing from attendance, sequencing and communication. [Glossary]() · Moves & change ### How do you plan an office relocation? Short answer An office relocation is the move of an organization, office or department from one building to another, including people, furniture, IT, records and services. Planning one means setting scope and timeline against the lease, designing the new space around real attendance, sequencing the moves, telling employees early and confirming every system reflects the new location. Also called office move, corporate relocation, business relocation. #### How it works Relocations usually start from a lease event: an expiry, a break option, a consolidation, or growth the current building cannot hold. The first decisions are scope, budget, timeline and who signs off, and the timeline works back from the date the old space must be handed back. The new space is designed from evidence. Attendance and occupancy data show how many seats, rooms and neighborhoods each team needs on its busiest days, and team adjacency shows who should sit together. That informs the test fit, the fit-out and the seating plan. Execution is sequencing and communication: IT and network cutover, furniture, access control, visitor and mail routing, booking system setup for the new floors, and a move schedule by team. Each employee needs to know where they will sit and when. After move-in, the team checks that occupancy matches the plan and adjusts. #### How to measure it 1. Baseline occupancy and peak-day demand in the current office before sizing the new one. 2. Track the relocation budget, including cost per move and fit-out. 3. Measure day-one readiness: the share of people with a working seat, equipment and access. 4. Compare occupancy in the new space with the plan after the first few months. #### Examples - A company with a hybrid policy sizes its new office from peak-day attendance rather than headcount and takes one floor instead of two. - A department moves over a weekend in three waves, with a personal move sheet sent to each employee the week before. #### Common mistakes - Sizing the new office from headcount rather than attendance. - Starting IT and network work too late; it is often the longest lead item. - Telling employees only in the week of the move. - Leaving the booking system and floor plans set up for the old building. #### How Kadence helps Kadence gives relocation teams attendance and occupancy data from Workplace Insights and automatic check-in to size the new space. SpaceOps imports floor plans, builds stack and space plans for the new floors and compares scenarios, and Move Manager (WorkOps Pro) assigns seats in bulk and sends each employee a move email and a personal move sheet. [SpaceOps]() · [Scenario planning]() · [Wavex customer story]() · [Office move checklist]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How far in advance should you plan an office relocation? Start as soon as the lease event is known. Small internal moves need weeks; a whole-office relocation usually needs several months for space selection, fit-out, IT and network work and employee communication. Work backward from the date the old space must be handed back. ##### What should an office relocation checklist include? Scope, budget and sign-off; current occupancy and peak-day demand; the new layout and seating plan; IT, network and phone cutover; furniture and movers; access control, signage, mail and visitor routing; booking system setup; employee communication and move sheets; and a post-move review. ##### How do you size a new office for hybrid work? Use measured attendance, not headcount. Find each team's busiest regular day, add a buffer for growth and events, and plan neighborhoods and meeting rooms around that peak. Check the result with a test fit before committing to the lease. ##### Who should manage an office relocation? One accountable owner, usually in workplace, facilities or real estate, with a core team from IT, HR, finance and security. Larger relocations often add a project manager or an external move manager, and team representatives who carry information to their colleagues. #### Related terms - [Move management]() Planning, sequencing and carrying out workplace moves, from one desk change to a whole-team relocation. - [Swing space]() Temporary workspace people use while their permanent space is refurbished, reconfigured or not yet ready. - [Office consolidation]() Moving teams from several floors, buildings or sites into less space, then giving up or repurposing the space that is freed. - [Cost per move]() The average cost of relocating one person inside the workplace: total move costs divided by people moved. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is an office seating chart? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/office-seating-chart/ Description: An office seating chart shows who sits where. How to make one, keep it current through new hires and moves, and run it in a hybrid office. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is an office seating chart? Short answer An office seating chart is a map or list that shows who sits where in an office, including assigned desks, team areas and shared or bookable seats. Office managers and facilities teams use it to seat new hires, plan moves and help people find colleagues, and they keep it current as teams change. Also called seating chart, office seating plan, seating plan. #### How it works Most seating charts start as a spreadsheet, a slide or a document with text boxes laid over a floor plan. Each row or box holds a person's name, team and desk. That works for a small, stable office but breaks quickly: moving one name means redrawing the layout, and every change has to be sent around again. A seating chart tool puts the same information on the real floor plan. Each desk is marked as assigned to a person, reserved for a team or open to book, and searching for a name shows where that person sits. When someone joins, moves or leaves, the change is made once and everyone sees the current version. In a hybrid office the chart covers more than assigned desks. It shows team neighborhoods, which desks are shared and, on a given day, who has booked which seat. That lets teams sit together on their office days without giving every person a permanent desk. #### Spreadsheet vs seating chart software | Feature | Spreadsheet or document | Seating chart software | | --- | --- | --- | | Shows desks on the real floor plan | No, or only as a static image | Yes, on an interactive floor plan | | Updating after a move | Edit the file and send it around again | Change it once; everyone sees the current version | | Finding a colleague | Search the file, if you have the latest copy | Search by name and see the desk on the map | | Shared and bookable desks | Hard to show | Shown day by day, with bookings | | New hires and leavers | Added and removed by hand | Can be synced from the HR system | #### How to make an office seating chart 1. Start from an accurate floor plan with every desk, room and shared space labeled. 2. List people by team, and mark who needs an assigned desk and who can share. 3. Place teams that work together near each other, then assign desks or set a team area. 4. Mark the remaining desks as bookable and publish the chart where everyone can see it. 5. Update it with each new hire, leaver and move, before the change happens rather than after. #### Examples - An office manager seating a new hire opens the floor plan, finds a free desk in the hire's team area and assigns it before the start date. - A team grows past its area, so the facilities team moves a neighboring team one row over and the chart updates for both teams at once. #### Common mistakes - Keeping several copies of the chart, so nobody knows which one is current. - Giving everyone a permanent desk when many people come in only some days. - Seating by headcount rather than by which teams need to sit together. - Updating the chart after a move instead of before, so people arrive at the wrong desk. #### How Kadence helps In Kadence, the seating chart is the interactive floor plan. Admins assign people to permanent desks and teams to neighborhoods, and can create or change spaces and assignments in bulk from a spreadsheet. Employees search the plan to find a colleague, desk or room. On WorkOps Pro, Move Manager plans new starters, leavers and team moves, and the HRIS integration syncs joiners and leavers to drive seating. [Space management]() · [Move management software]() · [WorkOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do I make an office seating chart? Start from an accurate floor plan, list people by team and note who needs an assigned desk. Place teams that work together near each other, assign desks or team areas, and mark the rest as bookable. Then publish the chart where everyone can find it and update it with every move. ##### What is the best software for an office seating chart? Look for a tool that puts the chart on your real floor plan, lets people search for a colleague, handles assigned, team and bookable desks, and updates when people join, move or leave. Tools that also run desk booking and moves save you from keeping a separate chart in step by hand. ##### How do you keep a seating chart up to date? Make changes in one place that everyone views, rather than editing and emailing copies. Link the chart to the HR system so new hires and leavers appear automatically, plan moves on the chart before they happen, and check it against the floor after any renovation or layout change so the plan matches the real desks. ##### Do you need a seating chart in a hybrid office? Yes, though it looks different. Instead of one name per desk, a hybrid seating chart shows team areas, the desks that stay assigned and which shared desks are booked on each day. It lets teams sit together on their office days without a permanent desk for every person. #### Related terms - [Space allocation]() Deciding which people, teams and activities get which desks, zones and rooms, and whether each is assigned, shared or bookable. - [Interactive floor plan]() A live, clickable map of an office that shows desks, rooms and people, and lets employees book space and find colleagues. - [Assigned desk]() A desk reserved for one person, either permanently or on set days, instead of being shared through booking. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. - [Joiners, movers and leavers (JML)]() The process that keeps access, equipment, seating and records in step when people join, change role or leave. - [Move management]() Planning, sequencing and carrying out workplace moves, from one desk change to a whole-team relocation. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [Steps]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is an open-plan office? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/open-plan-office/ Description: An open-plan office puts most desks in shared areas with few walls. How it works, its trade-offs for focus and collaboration, and how hybrid offices adapt it. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is an open-plan office? Short answer An open-plan office is a workplace layout in which most people work at desks in large shared areas, with few internal walls, private offices or cubicles. Organizations use it to fit more people into less space and to keep colleagues visible and reachable, although noise and interruptions can make focused work harder. Also called open office, open floor plan, open-plan layout. #### How it works An open-plan floor groups desks into rows or clusters in one shared area, with meeting rooms, private rooms and support spaces around the edge or the core. Fewer walls means more desks per square foot, simpler reconfiguration and more daylight reaching the middle of the floor. The trade-off is acoustic and visual privacy. Conversations carry, people are seen and interrupted, and many respond by wearing headphones or moving conversations to chat and email. A peer-reviewed study of two corporate headquarters that moved to more open space found that face-to-face interaction fell rather than rose. Hybrid offices rarely run a pure open plan. They keep open desk areas but add enclosed settings for focus and calls, divide the floor into neighborhoods so teams sit together, and make desks bookable so people know where they will sit. #### How to measure it 1. Compare desk occupancy in open areas with booking demand for enclosed rooms and booths; full booths next to empty desks usually point to a noise problem. 2. Ask employees whether they can concentrate and whether they can find colleagues. 3. Track where teams actually sit on their office days to see whether the open floor supports the collaboration it was meant to. #### Examples - A company turns a floor of cubicles into an open desk area, with phone booths along one wall and two quiet rooms at the far end. - An open floor is split into named neighborhoods so each team has a home zone while the desks stay shared. #### Benchmarks - In a study of two corporate headquarters moving to more open offices, the volume of face-to-face interaction decreased significantly (approx. 70%) in both cases, while email and instant messaging increased. [Bernstein and Turban, The impact of the 'open' workspace on human collaboration, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B]() #### Common mistakes - Removing walls without adding enough enclosed space for calls and focused work. - Assuming visibility creates collaboration; people often withdraw to chat and email instead. - Planning an open floor to headcount rather than to the number of people in on a peak day. #### How Kadence helps Kadence lets workplace teams divide an open floor into team neighborhoods, change them by date with the Neighborhood Scheduler, and make desks, rooms and pods bookable on an interactive floor plan. Heatmaps in Workplace Insights show which parts of the floor people choose and which stay empty. [Desk booking software]() · [Space management]() · [Workplace analytics]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What are the pros and cons of an open-plan office? The main advantages are a lower cost per person, flexible layouts and easy visibility of colleagues. The main drawbacks are noise, frequent interruptions and little privacy for calls or concentrated work. Most organizations keep open areas but add enclosed rooms, booths and quiet zones to balance them. ##### Do open-plan offices increase collaboration? Not automatically. A peer-reviewed study of two headquarters that moved to more open space found that face-to-face interaction dropped and electronic messaging rose. Collaboration depends more on who sits near whom, and whether the right people are in on the same days, than on the absence of walls. ##### What are open office neighborhoods? Neighborhoods divide an open floor into zones for teams, projects or activities. Desks stay shared, but each team has a home area, so people can find colleagues and the right equipment without a permanently assigned desk. ##### What is the difference between an open-plan office and a cubicle office? A cubicle office divides the floor into individual workstations with partitions, which gives each person some privacy. An open-plan office removes most partitions so desks share one open area. Both usually assign desks; hybrid offices often replace both with shared, bookable desks. #### Related terms - [Activity-based working (ABW)]() A workplace model in which people move between settings designed for different tasks instead of working at one assigned desk. - [Workspace types]() The settings an office offers, such as desks, focus rooms, phone booths, huddle rooms and lounges, each suited to a kind of work. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. #### Sources 1. [The impact of the 'open' workspace on human collaboration](), Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is workplace parking management? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/parking-management/ Description: Workplace parking management lets employees book office parking, including accessible, EV and bike spaces. How it works, rules to set, measures and mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is workplace parking management? Short answer Workplace parking management is the process of allocating, booking and tracking the parking spaces an office provides, including accessible, electric vehicle, motorbike and bicycle spaces. Facilities teams use it to share limited spaces fairly in hybrid offices, so people who drive know a space is waiting and unused spaces are released for others. Also called parking booking, parking space reservation, workplace parking. #### How it works Parking spaces are set up like desks: each has a type, such as general, accessible, electric vehicle, motorbike or bicycle, a location and rules. Some are assigned permanently, for example to people with accessibility needs, and the rest are bookable. Employees add a parking space when they book their desk for the day, or book it separately. Rules control how far ahead people can book, how long they can hold a space and which groups get priority, such as car sharers. Check-in and release matter as much as for desks: a space booked but not used should go back to the pool. Parking data also tells facilities whether to lease more spaces, give some up or add electric vehicle charging. #### How to measure it 1. Peak-day parking occupancy by space type. 2. Unused bookings and released spaces. 3. Requests turned away because parking was full. 4. Whether parking bookings count toward office attendance in reports. #### Examples - An employee books a desk for Wednesday and adds an electric vehicle space in the same booking. - A site with fewer spaces than drivers keeps accessible spaces permanently assigned and lets people book the rest a week ahead. #### Common mistakes - First-come, first-served parking in a hybrid office, which rewards early arrivals and sends everyone else to find street parking. - Keeping parking on a separate spreadsheet, so it cannot be booked with a desk. - Counting a parking booking as office attendance without deciding whether it should. #### How Kadence helps Kadence makes parking spaces bookable alongside desks, rooms, lockers and pods, with priority booking access and booking rules such as maximum durations. Employees book from the web and mobile apps, and admins decide whether parking bookings count toward attendance in Workplace Insights. [Space management]() · [WorkOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do you manage office parking in a hybrid workplace? Make spaces bookable instead of first come, first served, keep assigned spaces for people who need them, let people add parking to their desk booking, release unused bookings and use occupancy data to decide how many spaces to keep. ##### What is parking booking software? Parking booking software lets employees reserve a parking space for a date and time, often together with a desk. Admins set space types, access rules and booking limits and see how parking is used. ##### How should accessible and electric vehicle spaces be handled? Assign accessible spaces to the people who need them, or limit booking to them. Make electric vehicle spaces bookable with shorter maximum durations, so more drivers can charge during the day. #### Related terms - [Workspace booking]() Reserving any bookable space at work, such as desks, rooms, lockers, pods, parking or coworking space, from one system. - [Booking policy]() The rules for booking shared desks, rooms and other spaces: who can book, how far ahead, for how long and when bookings are released. - [Desk booking system]() Software that lets employees find and reserve a desk before they come in, check in on arrival and free desks nobody uses. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is peak occupancy? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/peak-occupancy/ Description: Peak occupancy is the busiest level of use a floor or building reaches in a normal week. How to calculate it, why it beats the average, and how to plan for it. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### What is peak occupancy? Short answer Peak occupancy is the highest share of available desks, rooms or floor area in use during a normal period, usually on the busiest day or hour of a typical week. Workplace and real estate teams size capacity to it, because the busiest day, not the average, decides whether people can find a desk or a room. Also called peak occupancy rate, peak day, midweek peak. #### How it works Peak occupancy is the maximum of an occupancy series, where occupancy is the share of available units in use. Record it by day or by hour over several normal weeks, then take the highest value, or a high percentile such as the 90th, so one unusual event does not set your capacity. It counts how many units are in use at the busiest point, not how intensively they are used across the day; that is utilization. In hybrid offices the peak is concentrated. People come in when the colleagues they work with are in, so attendance clusters midweek, often on Tuesday and Wednesday, while Monday and Friday stay quiet. Space sized to the average fails on the busiest days; space sized to an unmanaged peak sits empty the rest of the week. Peak occupancy feeds the desk ratio and the footprint. A team whose busiest normal day brings in 60 of its 100 people needs about 60 desks plus a buffer, whatever its average. Policy moves the peak: spreading team days across the week lowers it, and a new office-days requirement raises it. #### Formula Peak occupancy rate = (Highest units in use on any day ÷ Available units) × 100 - **Highest units in use on any day**: The largest number of desks, seats or rooms in use on any single normal day (or hour) in the period, from check-ins or presence data. - **Available units**: The desks, seats or rooms that were open and bookable in the same area. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. A floor has 150 bookable desks. 2. Presence data for a normal week shows 60, 117, 105, 75 and 30 desks in use from Monday to Friday. 3. The busiest day is Tuesday: 117 ÷ 150 = 0.78. The average day is 77.4 ÷ 150 = 0.52. Peak occupancy: 78% on Tuesday, against an average of 52%. #### How to measure it 1. Use presence data (check-ins, network presence, badge data), not bookings; cancellations and no-shows make booked peaks look higher than real ones. 2. Track the peak by weekday and by hour for each floor and neighborhood, not only for the building. 3. Leave out one-off events such as all-hands days, or report them separately, and use a percentile if single spikes distort the figure. 4. Check again after every policy change, since anchor days and office-day requirements move the peak. #### Examples - An office averages 45% occupancy but reaches 90% every Wednesday. Planning to the average would leave people without desks one day a week. - A council assumed Wednesday was its busiest day. Presence data showed Thursday, so it moved team days and services to match. #### Benchmarks - CBRE's benchmarking reported average peak utilization (the share of seats in use at the busiest point) of 80%, above the 65% target most respondents set. [CBRE, The Hybrid Reality (2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights)]() - In the same benchmarking, about 73% of respondents said Tuesday has their highest attendance. [CBRE, The Hybrid Reality (2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights)]() - Denbighshire County Council found its real peak day was Thursday, not the Wednesday it had assumed. [Kadence customer story: Denbighshire County Council]() #### Common mistakes - Sizing space to the weekly average. - Treating a one-off event day as the normal peak. - Reading the peak from bookings; cancellations and no-shows make booked peaks higher than real ones. - Trying to flatten the peak by asking individuals to come in on quiet days, without changing when teams coordinate. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights shows attendance and occupancy by day, with office heatmaps that make the busiest days and areas visible, built from check-ins and presence rather than bookings alone. Team coordination features show people who else is going in, which helps teams choose their days, and SpaceOps plans floors against the occupancy data WorkOps records. [Workplace analytics]() · [Hybrid working coordination]() · [SpaceOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is peak occupancy in an office? It is the busiest level of use a floor or building reaches in a normal week, usually on one or two midweek days. It matters more than the average for capacity planning, because it decides whether the people who come in can find a desk or a room. ##### Why are offices busiest on Tuesdays and Wednesdays? People come in when the colleagues they work with are in, so in-person time clusters on the same midweek days. That is a rational response to hybrid work, not a policy failure. Plan the office to work well on those days, and decide separately what to do with the quiet ones. ##### Should you plan office space for peak or average occupancy? Plan to a chosen peak, not the average. Use the busiest day of a normal week, or a high percentile of daily occupancy, then decide how much buffer you want and whether team scheduling can lower the peak before you commit to space. ##### How do you reduce peak occupancy? Spread team days deliberately rather than asking individuals to pick quiet days. Assign neighborhoods or anchor days by team, show people who is going in, and release unused bookings so booked-but-empty desks do not make the peak look worse than it is. ##### What is the difference between peak occupancy and utilization? Peak occupancy is the highest share of desks, rooms or area in use at the busiest point of a normal week. Utilization is how intensively capacity is used over time, combining how often spaces are used with how full they are. A hybrid office can hit a high midweek peak while its utilization across the week stays low. #### Related terms - [Occupancy rate]() The share of available desks, rooms or floor area in use, at a point in time or on average over a period. - [Occupancy vs utilization]() Occupancy is the share of space in use; utilization is the share of capacity-time actually used. - [Space utilization]() How intensively buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their full capacity over time. - [Desk ratio (desk sharing ratio)]() The number of people assigned to a workplace for each desk, set from peak attendance and policy. - [Anchor days]() Set days each week when a team or company agrees to be in the office together, with the other days flexible. - [Office heat map]() A floor plan colored by how often each desk, room or zone is used, so busy and quiet areas stand out at a glance. #### Sources 1. [The Hybrid Reality: Why the Office Is More Important Than Ever](), CBRE Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a plan of record? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/plan-of-record/ Description: A plan of record is the approved, current version of a stack, block or move plan that every team works from. How it differs from a scenario and how to keep one. [Glossary]() · Moves & change ### What is a plan of record? Short answer Plan of record is the approved, current version of a stack, block or move plan that every team works from. Real estate, workplace, facilities and IT teams use it so that movers, furniture, network and access changes all follow the same plan, and so that draft scenarios are never mistaken for decisions. Also called approved plan, baseline plan, POR. #### How it works Planning produces many versions: scenarios, drafts and options for leadership. Once one is approved, it becomes the plan of record. Every other version stays a scenario until it is approved and replaces it. Everything downstream works from the plan of record: move schedules, furniture orders, network and access changes, signs, and seat assignments in the booking system. When the plan changes, the new approved version replaces the old one and everyone is told what changed. Keeping one plan of record avoids a common failure in large moves, where facilities, IT and the movers each work from a different spreadsheet. A version history shows what was approved, when and by whom. #### How to measure it 1. Keep one clearly labeled current version, with an approval date and an owner. 2. Record every change after approval and tell the teams that work from it. 3. Check after each move that live seat assignments match the plan of record. #### Examples - A restack has three scenarios. Leadership approves one, which becomes the plan of record that the movers and IT schedule from. - A late headcount change updates the block plan; the revised version is approved and replaces the earlier plan of record. #### Common mistakes - Sharing drafts that people mistake for the approved plan. - Changing the plan without telling the teams that carry it out. - Letting live seating drift from the plan after the move, so the next plan starts from bad data. #### How Kadence helps In Kadence SpaceOps, teams build stack and space plans, compare scenarios side by side and export share-ready PDFs for stakeholders. When a plan is approved, SpaceOps publishes it to WorkOps, pushing it into live neighborhoods and assignments, so the booking system matches the plan. [SpaceOps]() · [Scenario planning]() · [Space management]() · [Office move checklist]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between a plan of record and a scenario? A scenario is an option being tested. The plan of record is the one option that has been approved and that teams act on. A scenario becomes the plan of record only when it is approved. ##### Who owns the plan of record? Usually the real estate or workplace planning lead, who controls changes and approvals. Facilities, IT, movers and team leads work from it but do not change it directly. Every change goes through that owner, so there is only ever one current version. ##### Why does a move need a single plan of record? Because many teams act on it at the same time. If movers, IT and facilities each use a different version, people arrive at desks with no network, the wrong furniture or someone else already sitting there. #### Related terms - [Stack planning]() A floor-by-floor plan of which teams occupy which floors and buildings, used to test moves and consolidations first. - [Block plan]() A floor-level layout that assigns each team to a zone of one floor, between the stack plan and the seat-level plan. - [Move management]() Planning, sequencing and carrying out workplace moves, from one desk change to a whole-team relocation. - [Scenario planning]() Modeling several possible futures for space, cost and teams, and comparing them side by side before committing to one. - [Restack]() Reassigning teams across the floors of a building to free space, absorb growth or improve adjacency, done as a sequence of moves. - [Space roster]() The authoritative list of who is assigned to which seat, zone or space at a point in time. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a post-occupancy evaluation? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/post-occupancy-evaluation/ Description: A post-occupancy evaluation checks how a workplace performs once people use it. What a POE measures, when to run one, the methods used and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is a post-occupancy evaluation? Short answer A post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is a structured review of how a building or workplace performs once people are using it, comparing actual use and experience with what the design intended. Workplace, real estate and design teams run one after a move or fit-out to find what works, fix what does not and improve the next project. Also called POE, post occupancy survey. #### How it works A POE combines what people say with what they do. Surveys and interviews capture satisfaction with comfort, noise, rooms, technology and the ability to do focused and collaborative work. Occupancy and booking data, observation and building data such as temperature and energy use show how the space is actually used and how it performs. The findings are compared with the project brief. Did the new meeting rooms get used? Did neighborhoods fit their teams? Did people come in on the days the policy expected? Gaps become a list of fixes, such as reconfiguring rooms, moving teams or changing booking rules, and lessons for the next project. A POE is usually run once people have settled, often some months after the move, and repeated later to check whether the fixes worked. A baseline survey and occupancy study before the move makes the comparison much stronger. #### How to measure it 1. Occupancy and use by space type, compared with the capacity planned in the brief. 2. Employee satisfaction with the space, using the same questions before and after the move. 3. Room booking and no-show patterns, to see which new spaces are used as intended. 4. Building performance such as temperature, air quality and energy use, where data is available. #### Examples - After a refurbishment, a POE finds that phone rooms are always full while a large lounge sits empty, so part of the lounge becomes more phone rooms. - A POE shows a team's neighborhood overflows on its anchor days, and the team moves to a larger zone. #### Common mistakes - Relying on a survey alone; opinions without use data miss what people actually do. - Skipping the baseline before the move, which leaves nothing to compare against. - Running the POE too early, before people have settled into the space. - Collecting findings and never acting on them. #### How Kadence helps Kadence employee surveys (WorkOps Pro) collect pulse feedback inside the Kadence app, and Workplace Insights reports attendance, occupancy, no-shows and office heatmaps from check-in data. Together they show how people feel about a new space and how it is actually used, before and after a move. [Workplace analytics]() · [Workplace occupancy]() · [Workplace analytics metrics guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### When should a post-occupancy evaluation be done? Run it once people have settled into the space and new routines have formed, often a few months after the move, and repeat it later to see whether changes worked. Collect a baseline before the move too, so you can compare before and after. ##### What methods are used in a post-occupancy evaluation? Most POEs combine employee surveys and interviews with measured data: occupancy and booking records, observation walkthroughs, and building data such as temperature, air quality and energy use. Using both kinds of evidence shows how people feel about the space and how they actually use it. ##### What is the difference between a POE and a utilization study? A utilization study measures how much space is used and when. A POE is broader: it includes use data but also asks whether the space works for people and meets the goals of the project. A utilization study is often one input into a POE. ##### Who should carry out a post-occupancy evaluation? The workplace or real estate team usually owns it, often with the design team or an independent consultant. An independent party can make people more candid in surveys and interviews, while the internal team brings the occupancy data and acts on the findings. #### Related terms - [Space utilization study]() A time-bound exercise that measures how desks, rooms and floors are actually used, before a lease, consolidation or redesign. - [Workplace experience (WX)]() How employees experience the office and its services, from finding a desk and colleagues to hosting visitors and getting help. - [Office fit-out]() The work that turns shell or existing space into a usable office: walls, services, finishes, furniture and technology. - [Occupancy monitoring]() Continuous measurement of how many people use each building, floor, room and desk, and when, from presence signals or sensors. #### Sources 1. [Post Occupancy Evaluation Guidance](), RIBA Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is presence data? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/presence-data/ Description: Presence data records who was physically in the office, from Wi-Fi, badge and check-in signals rather than sensors. How it works, its limits and how to use it well. [Glossary]() · AI & workplace data ### What is presence data? Short answer Presence data is the record of who was physically in a workplace and when, drawn from signals such as office Wi-Fi or network connections, badge swipes, and desk, room or kiosk check-ins rather than dedicated sensors. Workplace teams use it to measure real attendance and occupancy, because bookings show who planned to come in, not who did. Also called sensorless occupancy, Wi-Fi presence, network presence data. #### How it works Presence data comes from systems that already exist. A laptop joining the office network, a badge at the door, a tap on a room display or kiosk, or a check-in in an app each records that a person was on site, and often where: building, floor or specific space. Each signal has limits. Network presence is automatic and can be floor-level, but it needs a known office network and a device. Badge data is reliable for building entry but says nothing about floors or desks and misses tailgating. Check-ins give desk-level precision but depend on people or automation. Layering signals fills the gaps. Presence data differs from sensor data in two ways: it is usually tied to a person, which makes team-level attendance possible, and it needs no new hardware. Because it is personal data, it needs clear purposes, aggregated reporting, access limits and a retention period. #### How to measure it 1. Map which signals you already have in each building before buying anything. 2. Decide the rule for 'present': any signal, a minimum duration, or a check-in. 3. Compare presence with bookings to find no-shows and people who come in without booking. 4. Report in aggregate by team, floor and day, and restrict access to individual records. #### Examples - An employee's laptop connects to the office network at 9:05, and the booking system checks them in to their desk without a tap. - Badge data shows 300 arrivals but desk check-ins show 220: some people used unbookable spaces or did not book, which automatic check-in and automatic bookings can record. #### Benchmarks - Wavex reported saving £20K+ by using automated check-in instead of a sensor deployment. [Kadence customer story: Wavex]() #### Common mistakes - Treating one signal as complete, for example badge data as desk occupancy. - Using presence data to monitor individuals rather than to plan space and policy. - Keeping personal presence records longer than the purpose requires. - Rolling out automatic check-in without telling employees what it records. #### How Kadence helps The Kadence Agent, a lightweight desktop app, checks people in automatically when it detects them on the office network. Enhanced Network Detection adds floor-level, VPN-aware presence, and the agent can sign in automatically with Entra or Okta (silently on Windows with Entra). Automatic Bookings records people who turn up without a booking, and check-ins can also come from kiosks, room displays, badge data or the API. PII data retention controls set how long personal data is kept. [WorkOps]() · [Workplace occupancy]() · [Wavex story]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is sensorless occupancy? Sensorless occupancy measures who is in the office using signals that already exist, such as office network connections, badge swipes and check-ins, instead of installing sensors on desks or ceilings. It is faster to roll out, and it adds team-level attendance that anonymous sensors cannot give. ##### How accurate is Wi-Fi presence data? It reliably shows that a device, and so usually its owner, was on the office network, and floor-level detection can place people on a floor. It cannot say which desk someone used, so combine it with desk check-ins where desk-level detail matters. ##### Is presence data the same as employee tracking? It records presence, not activity, and good programs keep it that way: clear purposes, aggregated reporting, restricted access to individual records and a set retention period. Used to plan space and team days, it answers workplace questions without monitoring how people work. ##### What is the difference between presence data and booking data? Booking data shows intent: who planned to come in and where. Presence data shows what happened: who actually arrived. The gap between them reveals no-shows, and people who come in without booking. ##### How do I know if booked desks and rooms are actually being used? Match each booking to a check-in or office network presence for the same person and day, and review the result every week. Desks and rooms with repeated no-shows can be released or turned into shared space, and people who come in without booking show up as walk-in use, which a booking report never counts. #### Related terms - [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. - [Badge data]() Access-control swipe records showing who entered a building or floor and when, often used to measure attendance. - [Desk check-in]() Confirming that you are at the desk or room you booked, by app, QR code, badge or Wi-Fi presence, so unused bookings can be released. - [Desktop presence agent]() A lightweight app on employees' laptops that detects when they're on the office network and checks them in automatically. - [Multi-source occupancy (unified occupancy model)]() One occupancy picture built by combining Wi-Fi, badge, sensor and booking data, so no single source has to be complete or perfect. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is PropTech? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/proptech/ Description: PropTech, or property technology, covers the software and devices used to invest in, build, run and occupy real estate. Its main categories and what PropOS means. [Glossary]() · AI & workplace data ### What is PropTech? Short answer PropTech, short for property technology, is the software and hardware used to invest in, build, lease, run and occupy real estate, from building sensors and energy systems to lease management, space planning and workplace booking. Landlords, investors and corporate occupiers adopt it to cut operating costs, understand how buildings are used and make property decisions on data. Also called property technology, CREtech, PropOS. #### How it works PropTech covers the whole property lifecycle. Investment and transaction tools help value and trade assets. Construction and design tools plan and build. Building operations tools, such as building management systems, energy platforms, access control and sensors, run the asset. Occupier tools, such as lease administration, space planning, desk and room booking and workplace analytics, manage how an organization uses its space. The industry is moving from point solutions to connected platforms. Industry research describes an emerging property operating system, or PropOS: AI agents, digital twins and data integrations layered over existing systems through APIs, rather than replacing them. A useful distinction is who generates the data. Building-side tools describe the asset: energy, equipment and counts of people on a floor. Occupier-side tools describe the organization: bookings, attendance, team patterns and headcount plans. Portfolio decisions, such as which floors to keep, need both. #### Examples - A landlord uses a building management system and occupancy sensors to tune heating and cleaning across a multi-tenant tower. - A corporate occupier uses workplace booking, presence data and space planning software to decide which of its leased floors to release. #### Benchmarks - JLL's Global Real Estate Technology Survey found 88% of investors, owners and landlords and 92% of occupiers piloting AI. [JLL, Global Real Estate Technology Survey news release]() #### Common mistakes - Buying point tools that do not share data through APIs. - Relying on building-side data alone to make occupier decisions. - Starting AI pilots without the data quality to support them. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does PropTech stand for? PropTech stands for property technology: the software, data and devices used across real estate, from investment and construction to building operations, leasing and the day-to-day use of workplaces. CREtech is a related term for commercial real estate technology. ##### What are examples of PropTech? Building management and energy platforms, access control, occupancy sensors, lease administration software, integrated workplace management systems, space and stack planning tools, desk and room booking, visitor management and tenant experience apps. ##### What is PropOS? PropOS, short for property operating system, is a term from industry research for an emerging layer of AI agents, digital twins and data integrations that sits above existing real estate systems and connects them through APIs rather than replacing them. ##### What is the difference between PropTech and workplace technology? Workplace technology is the occupier-facing part of PropTech. It manages how an organization uses its space: booking, presence, visitors, space planning and analytics. Much other PropTech serves the owners and operators of the building itself. #### Related terms - [Smart office]() A workplace that uses connected tools and data, from booking and room displays to presence and building controls, to fit real use. - [Corporate real estate (CRE)]() The buildings and leases a company occupies for its own operations, and the team that plans and manages them. - [Occupancy monitoring]() Continuous measurement of how many people use each building, floor, room and desk, and when, from presence signals or sensors. - [Workplace digital twin]() A live digital model of buildings, spaces and the people who use them, used to see how space performs and test changes first. - [Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS)]() Enterprise software that runs real estate, leases, space, maintenance and assets from one shared database. #### Sources 1. [From Proptech to PropOS: The Emergence of Real Estate’s Autonomous Future](), PwC and the Urban Land Institute, Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2. [Real estate’s AI reality check: 90% of companies piloting, only 5% achieved all AI goals](), JLL Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Examples]() 3. [Benchmarks]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [FAQ]() 6. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is proximity bias? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/proximity-bias/ Description: Proximity bias is the tendency to favor people seen in the office over remote colleagues with the same results. Why it happens and how hybrid employers reduce it. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is proximity bias? Short answer Proximity bias is the tendency of managers and colleagues to favor people they see in person over equally effective people who work remotely, for example in assignments, recognition and promotions. It is a risk in hybrid organizations because office presence can start to stand in for performance, so HR and team leaders design processes to counter it. Also called presence bias, visibility bias. #### How it works People notice and remember what they see. A manager who shares a floor with part of the team hears their updates, sees their effort and includes them in quick decisions. Remote colleagues with the same results are less visible, so they are more easily overlooked for stretch projects, praise and promotion. In hybrid work, the bias follows attendance patterns. People who can come in more often, often those without caregiving duties or long commutes, gain visibility, while others fall behind for reasons unrelated to their work. Over time that undermines fairness, diversity and retention. Organizations reduce proximity bias with structure rather than good intentions: outcome-based goals, regular one-to-ones for everyone, meetings where remote participants contribute on equal terms, decisions recorded in shared channels, and team days that bring whole teams together rather than only the people who happen to be in. #### How to measure it 1. Compare promotion, rating and project allocation outcomes between people who are mostly remote and mostly in the office. 2. Check whether one-to-ones and feedback happen as often for remote staff as for in-office staff. 3. Review who speaks and who is assigned actions in hybrid meetings. #### Examples - A manager notices that the last three stretch assignments went to people who sit near them and switches to an open call for volunteers. - A team moves its weekly decision meeting to its team day and records outcomes in a shared channel for anyone who is out. #### Common mistakes - Treating time in the office as a proxy for performance in reviews. - Making decisions in hallway conversations and announcing them later to remote colleagues. - Running hybrid meetings where the room dominates and remote participants cannot get a word in. #### How Kadence helps Kadence helps teams plan in-person time as a whole team rather than by chance. Managers set team days with Team Kadence so team members can plan to be in on the same days, and people can see who plans to be in. Room booking with two-way calendar sync lets people book rooms for hybrid meetings from their calendar, Teams or Slack. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Room booking software]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is an example of proximity bias? A manager gives a high-profile project to an employee they chat with in the office every week, overlooking a remote colleague with stronger results. The choice was not deliberate; the in-office employee was simply more visible when the opportunity came up. Repeated over time, small choices like this shape careers. ##### Why is proximity bias a problem in hybrid work? In hybrid work, some people are in the office more than others for reasons unrelated to performance, such as caregiving, disability or a long commute. If visibility drives rewards, those people fall behind unfairly. That damages trust, retention and diversity, and it weakens the case for flexibility. ##### How do you reduce proximity bias? Judge people on outcomes, not presence. Hold regular one-to-ones with everyone, run meetings so remote participants contribute equally, record decisions in shared channels, open stretch opportunities to all, and bring whole teams together on team days rather than relying on whoever happens to be in the office. ##### Is proximity bias the same as presenteeism? They are related but different. Presenteeism usually means being at work without being productive, for example when unwell or simply to be seen. Proximity bias is the observer's side: favoring people because they are seen. A culture with proximity bias tends to encourage presenteeism. #### Related terms - [Hybrid meeting]() A meeting where some people are in the same room and others join remotely by video. - [Hybrid work policy]() The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured. - [Return to office (RTO)]() An employer requirement that remote or hybrid staff spend more time in the office, either full time or on set days. - [Team days]() A recurring day when a hybrid team agrees to be in the office together, usually set by the team or its manager. - [Hybrid coordination]() The work of getting the right people into the office on the same days and giving them the right space when they arrive. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a company's real estate footprint? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/real-estate-footprint/ Description: A real estate footprint is the total space an organization occupies across its sites. How it is measured, how it links to cost and use, and how teams reduce it. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is a company's real estate footprint? Short answer A real estate footprint is the total amount of space an organization occupies, owned or leased, across all its offices, floors and sites, usually measured in square feet or square meters. Leaders track it to understand what they pay for and where, and how closely it matches the number of people who use it. Also called office footprint, portfolio footprint. #### How it works The footprint adds up every building, floor and suite the organization occupies, with its area, location, tenure (owned or leased), lease dates and cost. It is usually held in a lease administration system or portfolio register and summarized by region, building type and business unit. Size alone says little. The footprint becomes useful when set against demand: how many people each site serves, how many attend on the busiest day, and what each square foot costs. That comparison shows where space is idle, where it is tight, and which sites are candidates for consolidation or growth. Organizations change the footprint through consolidation, restacking, subleasing, relocation or new leases, usually timed to lease events. Because leases run for years, changes are planned well ahead, with scenario planning to test options against expected headcount and attendance. #### How to measure it 1. Total area by site, in one area standard (rentable or usable). 2. Space per person and cost per seat by site, per employee and per person present. 3. Occupancy and peak-day attendance by building and floor, from measured data rather than bookings. 4. Lease expiry and break dates, so the footprint is mapped against when it can change. #### Benchmarks - Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy. [Kadence customer story: Karger]() - Across the largest 58 U.S. markets, CBRE found 23.3 million sq. ft. of office space slated for demolition or conversion by the end of the year of its report, against 12.7 million sq. ft. of new construction. [CBRE press release, June 2, 2025]() #### Common mistakes - Measuring the footprint without measuring use, so there is no way to tell well-used space from idle space. - Mixing rentable and usable area across sites. - Cutting space where leases happen to end rather than where evidence shows it is idle. #### How Kadence helps Kadence shows how each part of the footprint is used. Workplace Insights reports attendance, occupancy and heatmaps by building and floor from check-ins and presence signals. SpaceOps scenario planning and stack planning then test how teams would fit into a smaller or different footprint before a lease decision. [Workplace occupancy]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Karger story]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do you measure a company's real estate footprint? Add the area of every building, floor and suite the company occupies, using one standard such as rentable or usable square feet, and record the location, tenure, lease dates and cost of each. Then compare it with headcount and measured attendance to see how well it is used. ##### How can a company reduce its office footprint? Measure occupancy by site and day, find space that is idle even on the busiest day, then consolidate, restack or sublet at the next lease events. Desk sharing, team neighborhoods and coordinated office days let fewer desks serve the same people. ##### Why are companies shrinking their office footprints? Hybrid work means fewer people are in the office on most days, so many portfolios hold more space than peak demand requires. Measured occupancy lets companies give back idle space and reinvest part of the saving in better space. ##### Is a smaller real estate footprint always better? No. The aim is a footprint that fits how people work. Cutting below peak-day demand leaves people without desks or rooms, and some organizations add or upgrade space where collaboration needs it. ##### How much office space do we actually need for a hybrid workforce? Size space for measured peak attendance, not headcount. Look at your busiest regular days over several months, allow for growth and visitors, then set desk ratios team by team. Check meeting rooms the same way, because hybrid teams can run short of rooms on busy days while desks sit empty. #### Related terms - [Office right-sizing]() Matching the amount and type of office space to how people actually use it, based on measured demand rather than headcount. - [Office consolidation]() Moving teams from several floors, buildings or sites into less space, then giving up or repurposing the space that is freed. - [Real estate portfolio optimization]() Matching the buildings, floors and leases an organization holds to the space its people actually need. - [Space per person]() Office floor area divided by the number of people it serves, in square feet or square meters per person. - [Corporate real estate (CRE)]() The buildings and leases a company occupies for its own operations, and the team that plans and manages them. #### Sources 1. [Office Conversions and Demolitions Will Exceed New Construction in 2025 For the First Time in Several Years, Aiding the Office Market Recovery](), CBRE Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Benchmarks]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is real estate portfolio optimization? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/real-estate-portfolio/ Description: Real estate portfolio optimization matches the buildings and leases an organization holds to measured demand. How it works, what to measure and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is real estate portfolio optimization? Short answer Real estate portfolio optimization is the ongoing process of matching the buildings, floors and leases an organization holds to the space its people actually need. Corporate real estate and finance teams use it to decide where to consolidate, expand, reconfigure or exit, so the portfolio costs less and fits the way teams work. Also called portfolio optimization, portfolio strategy, portfolio management. #### How it works It starts with an inventory of every site: size, lease terms and key dates, total occupancy cost, and measured use. Putting cost next to use shows which buildings are busy, which are half empty, and which cost the most per person who actually comes in. Next, the team forecasts demand site by site from headcount plans, hybrid policy and measured peak attendance. It then models options, such as closing a floor, merging two nearby offices, moving a growing team into space already under lease, or using flexible space in a city without an office, and compares each on cost, capacity and disruption. The chosen options are tied to lease events, because most savings can only be taken at an expiry, break or renewal. Optimization is not a one-off project: attendance, headcount and leases keep changing, so strong teams review the portfolio on a regular cycle. #### How to measure it 1. Cost per occupied seat by site: total occupancy cost divided by the average number of people who actually use the space. 2. Peak-day occupancy by building and floor, to see where consolidation is safe. 3. Time to each lease event, with the decision deadline for each. 4. Space released or avoided after each change, in square feet and annual cost. #### Examples - A company with two half-used offices in the same city merges them into one at the next lease expiry and keeps a small coworking allowance for overflow. - A growing team moves onto an underused floor of an existing building instead of the company taking new space. #### Benchmarks - RCS England consolidated two floors into one and saved over £40,000 a year. [Kadence customer story: RCS England]() #### Common mistakes - Sizing a site to average occupancy; the peak day is what breaks capacity. - Planning without the lease calendar, which produces savings that cannot be taken for years. - Consolidating without checking team adjacency, which moves overcrowding to another floor. - Treating optimization as a one-time cut rather than a regular review. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights reports attendance and occupancy by building and floor. SpaceOps uses that data as planning input for stack planning and scenario planning, with guided workflows to consolidate floors or find space for a team, and publishes the approved plan to live neighborhoods and desk assignments. Kadence Flex adds on-demand coworking desks and rooms through the LiquidSpace network for places where a lease no longer makes sense. [Scenario planning]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Corporate real estate]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is portfolio optimization in corporate real estate? It is the regular review of every building and lease an organization holds, to decide which to keep, grow, shrink, merge or exit. The goal is a portfolio sized to measured demand, in the right places, at a cost the business can justify. ##### How do you optimize an office portfolio for hybrid work? Measure peak attendance by site and floor rather than relying on headcount, then model options against it: consolidating floors, merging nearby offices, sharing space between teams on different days, or using flexible space where demand is thin. Time each change to a lease event so the savings are real. ##### What data do you need to optimize a real estate portfolio? For each site you need lease terms and dates, total occupancy cost, capacity by space type, and measured occupancy from check-ins or presence data. Add headcount forecasts and hybrid policy by team, so the plan reflects where demand is heading, not just where it is today. ##### How often should a real estate portfolio be reviewed? Review it at least once a year and before every lease event, and whenever headcount, policy or strategy changes sharply. With live occupancy data, many teams track the portfolio continuously and run a deeper review when a site's use moves outside the range they planned for. #### Related terms - [Corporate real estate (CRE)]() The buildings and leases a company occupies for its own operations, and the team that plans and manages them. - [Real estate footprint]() The total space an organization occupies, owned or leased, across all its offices, floors and sites. - [Lease event]() A lease date that forces or allows a decision, such as an expiry, a break option, a renewal option or a rent review. - [Office consolidation]() Moving teams from several floors, buildings or sites into less space, then giving up or repurposing the space that is freed. - [Office right-sizing]() Matching the amount and type of office space to how people actually use it, based on measured demand rather than headcount. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a recharge day? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/recharge-day/ Description: A recharge day is a company-wide paid day off meant to help people rest and avoid burnout. How it works, why companies use it and where it falls short. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is a recharge day? Short answer A recharge day is a paid day off that a company gives to all employees at the same time, on top of normal leave, so people can rest and recover from work. Employers use recharge days to reduce burnout, because when everyone is off at once nobody feels pressure to check messages or catch up while others keep working. Also called global recharge day, wellness day, company-wide day off, recharge week. #### How it works The company picks one or more dates, often next to a weekend or public holiday, and closes for the day. Some companies give a single day, others several a year, and some a full recharge week. Unlike individual leave, the whole organization stops together, so nobody returns to a backlog of messages from colleagues who kept working. Customer-facing teams complicate the model. Support, sales and operations may need cover, so companies either move those teams' recharge day to another date or schedule recharge days when customers are also likely to be offline, such as around major holidays. Critics argue that recharge days treat a symptom. If people need a company-wide day off to feel rested, the cause may be meeting-heavy calendars and little control over their time. Hybrid and flexible working give people more day-to-day control, which some employers prefer to scheduled days off. #### How to measure it 1. Check whether people actually disconnect: messages sent and meetings booked on recharge days. 2. Compare burnout and engagement survey results before and after introducing recharge days. #### Examples - A software company closes on the Friday before a long weekend each quarter and asks teams not to set deadlines around it. - A company gives extra days off around major holidays instead of standalone recharge days, when most customers and partners are offline anyway. #### Benchmarks - Fortune's coverage of its best companies to work for highlighted IHG, which offers three recharge days a year, ServiceNow, with six additional well-being days, and HP, which gives employees one 'me day' each year. [Kadence: Why recharge days miss the point of modern work (citing Fortune)]() #### Common mistakes - Scheduling a recharge day and then expecting work to be finished early, which just moves the pressure. - Forgetting customer-facing teams, who either work anyway or return to a backlog. - Using recharge days as a substitute for fixing workloads and meeting culture. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Closure Management closes buildings for holidays and company-wide days off, so nobody books space on a recharge day, and workplace announcements tell people about the closure through Slack, Microsoft Teams, email and the mobile app. [WorkOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does recharge day mean? A recharge day is an extra paid day off that the whole company takes at the same time. It is meant to let people rest without the usual pressure to keep up with messages, because colleagues are also offline. Some companies call it a wellness day, and some give a full recharge week. ##### What is a global recharge day? A global recharge day is a recharge day that a company takes across all its offices and time zones at once. The idea is the same as any recharge day: the whole organization stops together, so nobody returns to a pile of messages from colleagues elsewhere who kept working. ##### Do recharge days prevent burnout? They help people rest, but a single day does not fix the causes of burnout, such as heavy workloads, back-to-back meetings and little control over time. They work best alongside everyday flexibility and realistic workloads, and when companies make sure work is not simply squeezed into the days before. ##### How is a recharge day different from a four-day week? A recharge day is an occasional extra day off, taken by everyone at once. A four-day week changes the regular pattern so that every week has one fewer working day. One is a periodic break; the other is a permanent change to working time. #### Related terms - [Compressed work week]() A schedule that fits full-time hours into fewer, longer days, such as four ten-hour days, in exchange for extra days off. - [Four-day work week]() A working pattern that cuts the standard week to four days, usually with fewer total hours and no cut in pay. - [Flexible working]() Any arrangement that changes when, where or how much someone works, such as flextime, hybrid work or part-time hours. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is the difference between remote work and hybrid work? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/remote-work/ Description: Remote work is done away from the employer's office, usually from home. How it differs from hybrid work, what it needs to function and where it falls short. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is the difference between remote work and hybrid work? Short answer Remote work is work done away from the employer's office, most often from home, for all or almost all of the working week. It differs from hybrid work, where people split the week between the office and elsewhere. Employers use remote work to hire beyond one city and reduce office space, and rely on digital tools to collaborate. Also called telecommuting, work from home, WFH, remote vs hybrid. #### How it works A fully remote employee has no regular office days. Communication runs through video calls, chat, shared documents and project tools, and many remote organizations favor written, asynchronous updates so people in different time zones can contribute without meeting live. Remote work sits at one end of a spectrum. Hybrid work mixes office and remote days, remote-first organizations make remote work the default but keep some office space, and fully remote organizations may have no office at all. Many remote organizations still bring people together a few times a year for planning, onboarding and team building. Remote work changes the office question rather than removing it. Organizations need space for occasional gatherings, coworking access for people who want a desk away from home, and a way to decide where gatherings happen. Research also points to trade-offs, such as less feedback and mentoring for early-career staff when teams rarely meet. #### How to measure it 1. Track how often remote teams meet in person and where, to size hub or coworking needs. 2. Watch onboarding time and early-career progression for remote hires compared with hybrid or office-based hires. #### Examples - A software developer works from home in another state and joins the team in person for a planning week each quarter. - A support team works fully remotely across time zones and hands work over through a shared ticket queue. #### Benchmarks - In Great Britain in early 2025, 28% of working adults were hybrid workers and 14% worked fully remotely, while 44% still commuted to the office every day. [Kadence guide: Hybrid work strategy (citing the Office for National Statistics)]() #### Common mistakes - Treating remote work as office work at a distance, with the same meetings and hours, instead of changing how work is shared. - Leaving junior staff without structured mentoring and regular in-person time. - Keeping a large office for a workforce that rarely uses it, without measuring attendance. #### How Kadence helps For remote and distributed teams, Kadence Flex books coworking desks and meeting rooms worldwide through the LiquidSpace network, so teams can meet near where they live. People can set a remote working status so colleagues know where they are, and Team Kadence and Workplace Events help plan the days a remote team gets together. [Flexible office space]() · [Distributed teams]() · [Hybrid working coordination]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between remote work and hybrid work? Remote workers work away from the office all or almost all of the time. Hybrid workers split their week between the office and another location, usually home. Hybrid work keeps regular in-person time, so it needs coordination and shared space; remote work relies mostly on digital tools and occasional planned gatherings. ##### Is remote work the same as working from home? Mostly, but not always. Working from home describes where the work happens. Remote work describes any work done away from the employer's office, which can include coworking spaces, cafés or travel. A remote employee may work from home on most days and from a coworking space on others. ##### Is remote or hybrid work better? Neither is better for every role. Remote work suits focused, independent work and widens the hiring pool. Hybrid work keeps regular in-person time for collaboration, mentoring and culture. Many organizations offer both and decide by role and team rather than applying one rule to everyone. ##### What is telecommuting? Telecommuting is an older term for working away from the office and connecting to work by phone and internet. Today it means much the same as remote work or working from home, and it is still used in some government and legal contexts. #### Related terms - [Hybrid work]() A way of working where employees split their time between the office and remote locations such as home. - [Virtual-first (remote-first)]() An operating model where remote work is the default for individual work and offices are used for planned gatherings. - [Hybrid work model]() The specific rules an organization uses to decide where and when people work, from flexible to office-first. - [Flexible working]() Any arrangement that changes when, where or how much someone works, such as flextime, hybrid work or part-time hours. - [Flexible workspace]() Workspace used on short or on-demand terms, such as coworking desks, bookable rooms and serviced offices, instead of a long lease. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is the difference between rentable and usable square feet? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/rentable-vs-usable-square-feet/ Description: Rentable square feet include a share of common areas; usable square feet are the space you occupy. The load factor formula, a worked example and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is the difference between rentable and usable square feet? Short answer Rentable square feet (RSF) is the area a tenant pays rent on, while usable square feet (USF) is the area it actually occupies. Rentable area adds a share of the building's common spaces, such as lobbies and shared corridors, to the usable area. The ratio between them, the load factor, shows how much paid-for space a tenant cannot use. Also called RSF, USF, load factor, add-on factor, net internal area. #### How it works Usable area is the floor space inside a tenant's premises: the area for desks, rooms, kitchens and internal corridors. Rentable area adds the tenant's share of space that serves everyone, such as main lobbies, shared corridors and restrooms on a multi-tenant floor, and building service areas. Elevator shafts and stairwells are generally excluded from both. In the United States and Canada, office space is usually measured under BOMA standards, and leases quote rent per rentable square foot. The load factor, also called the R/U ratio, converts one figure into the other. A higher load factor means more of the rent pays for shared space. Other markets use their own measures, such as net internal area in the UK. The difference matters for planning. Desks, rooms and neighborhoods can only go in usable space, so capacity, space per person and test fits use usable area, while cost comparisons and lease budgets use rentable area. #### Formula Load factor = Rentable square feet ÷ Usable square feet - **Rentable square feet**: The area rent is charged on: the tenant's usable area plus its share of common areas. - **Usable square feet**: The area inside the tenant's premises that it can occupy and furnish. - **Add-on factor**: (Load factor − 1) × 100: the share added for common areas, as a percentage of usable area. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. A tenant's premises measure 10,000 usable square feet. 2. Its share of the floor and building common areas is 1,500 square feet, so rentable area is 11,500 square feet. 3. 11,500 ÷ 10,000 = 1.15. 4. At $50 per rentable square foot, annual rent is 11,500 × $50 = $575,000, which is $57.50 per usable square foot. Load factor 1.15, an add-on factor of 15%: the tenant pays rent on 15% more space than it can use. #### How to measure it 1. Ask for the landlord's measurement report, including the standard and version used; the answer can change the rentable figure. 2. Compare buildings on rent per usable square foot, not only the quoted rent per rentable square foot. 3. Plan capacity and space per person from usable area. 4. Check load factors against similar buildings in the same market before you sign. #### Examples - Two buildings quote the same rent per rentable square foot, but one has a higher load factor, so the tenant gets less usable space for the same rent. - A company comparing a move calculates space per person on usable area, so the rentable figure does not overstate how many desks will fit. #### Common mistakes - Planning desk counts from rentable area, which counts space you cannot use. - Comparing buildings on quoted rent alone without adjusting for load factor. - Mixing measurement standards or versions across a portfolio. - Assuming the load factor is fixed; it can change when a building is remeasured or a floor is split between tenants. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between rentable and usable square feet? Usable square feet is the space inside your premises that you can occupy and furnish. Rentable square feet adds your share of the building's common areas, such as lobbies and shared corridors. Rent is usually charged on rentable area, so you pay for more space than you can use. ##### What is a load factor in commercial real estate? The load factor is rentable area divided by usable area. It shows how much common area is added to your premises for rent purposes. A higher load factor means a larger share of your rent pays for shared space rather than space your people use. ##### How do you calculate rentable square feet from usable square feet? Multiply the usable area by the building's load factor. For example, if the landlord's load factor is one point one five, each usable square foot becomes one point one five rentable square feet. Ask the landlord for the measurement report to confirm the factor and the standard used. ##### Should space planning use rentable or usable area? Use usable area for anything about fitting people and rooms, such as capacity, space per person and test fits, because only usable space can be furnished. Use rentable area for lease cost and budgets, because that is what the rent is based on. #### Related terms - [Space per person]() Office floor area divided by the number of people it serves, in square feet or square meters per person. - [Total occupancy cost]() Everything an organization spends to occupy a workplace in a year: rent, operating costs, utilities, services and fit-out. - [Floor plate]() The area and shape of one floor of a building, which sets how many people, rooms and teams fit on it. - [Lease event]() A lease date that forces or allows a decision, such as an expiry, a break option, a renewal option or a rent review. - [Test fit]() A quick draft layout that checks whether a space program fits a specific building before a lease is signed. - [BOMA standards]() The Building Owners and Managers Association methods for measuring office floor area, used in leases, benchmarks and space reporting. #### Sources 1. [BOMA Standards](), BOMA International Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a restack? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/restack/ Description: A restack reassigns teams across a building's floors to free space or bring collaborators together. How restacks are planned, sequenced and carried out. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is a restack? Short answer A restack is a reorganization of which teams sit on which floors of a building, usually to free a floor, absorb growth or put teams that work together side by side. Real estate and workplace teams plan it on a stack plan and carry it out as a sequence of moves. Also called restacking, office restack. #### How it works A restack starts from the current stack plan and a target: release a floor, make room for a new team, or reunite teams that have drifted apart. Planners test alternative stacks until one meets the target with the fewest moves and the least damage to adjacency. The approved stack becomes a move plan. Moves are sequenced so each receiving area is empty before a team arrives, which often means using swing space or moving teams in a set order over several weekends. Each wave needs desks assigned, equipment ready, booking data updated and people told where they are going. A restack is where a consolidation saving is actually realized: the floor it frees is what goes back to the landlord, gets sublet or absorbs growth without a new lease. #### Examples - A company on six floors restacks onto five so it can hand one back at a lease break, moving three teams in two waves. - After a reorganization, product and engineering teams spread across three floors are restacked onto two adjoining floors. #### Common mistakes - Approving the target stack without a move sequence, so two teams need the same floor on the same weekend. - Forgetting to update desk assignments, neighborhoods and booking data, so people arrive to find their new desks already taken. - Telling employees too late; most restack problems are communication failures, not logistics failures. - Sizing the new stack to headcount rather than peak-day attendance, which either wastes the saving or overcrowds the busiest day. #### How Kadence helps Kadence SpaceOps includes a guided workflow to restack a building. Auto-stack proposes a new floor allocation from real occupancy data, planners adjust it, and the approved plan can be published to live neighborhoods and assignments in WorkOps. In WorkOps Pro, Move Manager handles team relocations with bulk moves, move notifications and personal move sheets that tell each employee where they are going. [SpaceOps]() · [Scenario planning]() · [Pricing]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does restacking mean in commercial real estate? Restacking means reallocating occupants across the floors of a building. For an occupier, it usually means moving its own teams between floors to release space, absorb growth or improve adjacency. For a landlord, it can mean reorganizing tenants to create larger continuous blocks of space. ##### What is the difference between a restack and a relocation? A restack moves teams within buildings the organization already occupies. A relocation moves people to a new building or site. Restacks happen more often and are smaller, but they still need planning, sequencing and clear communication. ##### How long does a restack take? It depends on the number of teams and whether swing space is available. A small restack of a few teams can be planned in weeks and carried out over a weekend, while a full-building restack is usually phased in waves over several months. ##### Why do companies restack their offices? To free a floor for sublease or return at a lease event, to fit new teams without taking more space, to bring collaborating teams together after a reorganization, or to adapt floors to hybrid attendance patterns. #### Related terms - [Stack planning]() A floor-by-floor plan of which teams occupy which floors and buildings, used to test moves and consolidations first. - [Move management]() Planning, sequencing and carrying out workplace moves, from one desk change to a whole-team relocation. - [Office consolidation]() Moving teams from several floors, buildings or sites into less space, then giving up or repurposing the space that is freed. - [Swing space]() Temporary workspace people use while their permanent space is refurbished, reconfigured or not yet ready. - [Sublease]() Letting leased space you no longer need to another party, while staying responsible to the landlord under the original lease. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Examples]() 3. [Common mistakes]() 4. [How Kadence helps]() 5. [FAQ]() 6. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a return-to-office (RTO) mandate? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/return-to-office/ Description: A return-to-office (RTO) mandate requires remote or hybrid staff to work from the office more often. Its forms, what the evidence shows and how to plan one. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is a return-to-office (RTO) mandate? Short answer A return-to-office mandate, often shortened to RTO, is an employer requirement that staff who have been working remotely or hybrid spend more time in the office, either full time or on a set number of days each week. Leaders use it to increase in-person collaboration, and workplace teams must make sure the office can absorb the extra attendance. Also called RTO, RTO mandate, return-to-office mandate, back to office. #### How it works RTO mandates usually take one of three forms: full time in the office, a fixed number of days per week, or rules about which days may be remote. They are often announced with a start date, a transition period and a way of tracking compliance, such as badge data or desk check-ins. Policy changes faster than behavior. Required days can rise while measured attendance barely moves, because managers quietly allow exceptions and people cluster their office time on the same midweek days. That clustering matters for space: average occupancy can stay low while the peak day runs out of desks, rooms or parking. The organizations that handled a return well planned the space before the policy. They defined what office time was for, measured how the office was actually used by team and day, sized for the peak day, piloted the change and communicated one consistent rule. Those that skipped these steps faced desk shortages, delayed deadlines and pushback. #### Types of return-to-office policy The type of mandate decides when the office fills up, which matters more for space than the number of days alone. | Type | What it asks | Effect on space | Watch for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Full-time office | Everyone in on every working day | Back to a desk per person, with little room to share | Attrition and pushback; the office must fit everyone at once | | Fixed days | Set office days for everyone, company-wide | Sharp peaks on the set days; size for the busiest one | Crowding on set days and an empty office on others | | Minimum days | A number of days per week or month, chosen by each person | Demand spreads, but peaks still cluster midweek | Coffee badging: short visits made to meet the count | | Team anchor days | Each team agrees its shared office days | Peaks by team; neighborhoods can be scheduled by day | Too many teams choosing the same days | | Role-based | Requirements differ by role or function | Assigned desks for some groups, shared desks for others | A sense of unfairness between groups | #### How to measure it 1. Measure current attendance by team and weekday before announcing a change, so you know the starting point. 2. Model the peak day under the new rule and check desks, rooms, parking and amenities against it. 3. Track compliance from check-ins or network presence rather than bookings alone. 4. Watch attrition, internal transfers and engagement scores in the months after the mandate. #### Examples - A company moves from optional attendance to three required days and gives each team a bookable neighborhood on its anchor days. - A manufacturer moves into an office half the size of its previous one and makes every desk, room and private office bookable as more people return. #### Benchmarks - The Q2 2025 Flex Index found that firms were increasing required office days while actual attendance had not changed. [Kadence guide: Return to office (citing the Q2 2025 Flex Index Report)]() - Research by Nick Bloom published in Harvard Business Review found no significant difference in productivity between hybrid and full-time office employees, with a 35% lower attrition rate among hybrid employees. [Kadence guide: Return to office (citing Harvard Business Review)]() - Axalta halved its office footprint and used Kadence to allocate desks, rooms and private offices as more people returned, with 30% fewer booking conflicts. [Kadence customer story: Axalta]() #### Common mistakes - Announcing a mandate before checking that the office has enough desks and rooms for the peak day. - Treating a policy change as a behavior change and not measuring what actually happens. - Using the mandate as the only lever, without giving people a reason to come in or visibility of who else will be there. - Cutting space and then raising attendance requirements, which forces costly re-expansion. #### How Kadence helps Kadence helps workplace teams prepare for a return. Workplace Insights shows current attendance and occupancy by team and day, SpaceOps scenario planning compares how different attendance rules would load each floor, and neighborhoods, the Neighborhood Scheduler and desk and room booking spread demand across the week. Attendance reporting then shows how the new rule plays out. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Scenario planning]() · [Return to office guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does RTO mean? RTO stands for return to office. It describes an employer's decision to bring remote or hybrid employees back to the office, either full time or for a set number of days each week. An RTO mandate is the formal requirement, usually with a start date and some way of tracking attendance. ##### Do return-to-office mandates work? Mandates change policy more reliably than behavior. Required days can rise while measured attendance barely moves, and research has found no significant productivity difference between hybrid and full-time office employees. Mandates tend to work better when office time has a clear purpose, teams coordinate their days and the office is ready for the peak. ##### Why do employees resist RTO mandates? Common reasons are commuting time and cost, caregiving responsibilities, a sense that hybrid work was already delivering results, and doubt that office days add value when colleagues are not there. Resistance shows up as petitions, quiet non-compliance, where managers allow fewer days than the policy, and resignations. ##### How do you plan a return to office? Start with the purpose of in-person time. Measure how the office is used today by team, day and space type. Model the peak day under the new rule and fix any shortfall in desks, rooms or parking. Pilot with a few teams, then communicate one clear rule and review attendance and feedback after launch. #### Related terms - [Office attendance policy]() A rule that sets how often employees are expected in the office, such as a number of days per week or month. - [Hybrid work policy]() The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured. - [Office attendance rate]() The share of employees, or of expected office days, that people actually spend in the office, measured from presence data. - [Coffee badging]() Badging into the office to register attendance, staying briefly, often for a coffee, then leaving to work elsewhere. - [Hushed hybrid]() When managers quietly let employees come into the office less often than a formal return-to-office policy requires. - [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 October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What does it mean to right-size an office? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/right-sizing/ Description: Office right-sizing matches space to how people use it. How it differs from downsizing, how to do it with data, examples and the mistakes to avoid. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What does it mean to right-size an office? Short answer Office right-sizing is the process of matching the amount and type of office space to how people actually use it, based on measured attendance and occupancy rather than headcount or best-case growth. Real estate and workplace leaders use it to cut wasted space, or add the right space, before a lease decision. Also called rightsizing, right-size the office, office rightsizing. #### How it works Right-sizing starts from demand, not supply. Teams measure how many people come in, on which days and to which spaces, then decide the working pattern they want to support: office-first, hybrid or remote-first. The footprint follows from that decision and from peak-day demand, plus a buffer. It can go either way. Most right-sizing today removes space by consolidating floors or sites, but it can also mean adding meeting and collaboration space, or moving to a better building, when the current office does not fit how people work. That is the difference from downsizing, which only ever cuts. The tools are consolidation, restacking, desk sharing and changes to the space mix, timed to lease events. Right-sizing is not a one-off project: attendance and headcount change, so the fit is checked regularly and adjusted. #### Examples - A firm finds its busiest day uses just over half its desks, restacks onto fewer floors and turns part of the remaining space into project rooms. - A company whose meeting rooms are always full while desks sit half empty keeps its footprint and converts desk areas into small meeting rooms. #### 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]() - Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy. [Kadence customer story: Karger]() #### Common mistakes - Right-sizing to average attendance and leaving no room for the peak day. - Using headcount or the required number of office days instead of observed attendance. - Cutting space without changing how it is booked and shared, which turns a saving into daily frustration. - Treating it as a one-off project instead of reviewing the fit as attendance changes. #### How Kadence helps Kadence measures demand and turns it into a plan. Workplace Insights reports attendance, occupancy, no-shows and heatmaps from check-in and presence data. SpaceOps scenario planning compares footprint options against that demand, guided workflows help consolidate floors or restack a building, and an approved plan can be published to live neighborhoods and assignments in WorkOps. [Scenario planning]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [Office space planning guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does it mean to right-size an office? It means matching the office's size and layout to how people actually use it. For most hybrid organizations that means less space overall, but it can also mean more meeting rooms, more collaboration space or a different location. ##### What is the difference between right-sizing and downsizing? Downsizing only reduces space, often as a cost cut. Right-sizing sets the footprint from measured demand and can reduce, reshape or add space. Its goal is a good fit between space and work, with cost savings as one result. ##### How do you right-size office space? Measure attendance and occupancy by day for several months, find the busiest day, decide the working pattern you want to support, then size space to that peak plus a buffer. Model options before a lease event and carry out the chosen one as a consolidation or restack. ##### How much can office right-sizing save? It depends on how far current space exceeds peak demand, lease terms and the one-off costs of moving. As one example, Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy. ##### How do I reduce real estate costs without cramping the office? Cut space where measured use stays low, not across the board, and protect busy days with booking rules, team days and overflow space. Test the new layout against your busiest days before you give space back, so the smaller office still works when everyone comes in. #### Related terms - [Office consolidation]() Moving teams from several floors, buildings or sites into less space, then giving up or repurposing the space that is freed. - [Space utilization]() How intensively buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their full capacity over time. - [Peak occupancy]() The busiest level of use a floor or building reaches in a normal week, which sets the capacity you actually need. - [Scenario planning]() Modeling several possible futures for space, cost and teams, and comparing them side by side before committing to one. - [Real estate footprint]() The total space an organization occupies, owned or leased, across all its offices, floors and sites. - [Hidden capacity]() Usable space that accurate utilization data reveals inside the current footprint. It often removes the need to lease more. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Examples]() 3. [Benchmarks]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a room booking system? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/room-booking-system/ Description: A room booking system lets people find, reserve and check in to meeting rooms. What it does, how it works with calendars and displays, and what to look for. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is a room booking system? Short answer A room booking system is software that lets employees find, reserve and check in to meeting rooms and other shared spaces. It syncs with calendars such as Outlook and Google Calendar, shows live availability, and releases rooms that are booked but not used, so the organization gets more meetings out of the rooms it already has. Also called meeting room booking system, conference room booking software, room scheduling system. #### How it works People search for a room by time, size, location and equipment, then book it from the booking app, their calendar, Teams or Slack. The system keeps the room's calendar and the organizer's calendar in sync, so a change in one place shows everywhere. At the door, a room display shows whether the room is free, who has it and until when. People confirm they are there by checking in; if nobody checks in within the grace period, the booking is released automatically and the room goes back into availability. Every booking and check-in becomes data: which rooms are used, how full they are when used, and how often bookings are abandoned. That is how workplace teams find the difference between 'we need more rooms' and 'our rooms are booked but empty'. Room booking systems are used wherever shared rooms run short at certain hours: meeting rooms, phone booths and focus rooms in offices, boardrooms and client suites, training rooms, and teaching and study rooms on campuses. Many systems also book other shared spaces, such as parking, lockers and event spaces, so one set of rules and one set of data cover them all. #### How to measure it 1. Track room occupancy (share of bookable hours in use) and no-show rate (bookings with no check-in) per room and per size. 2. Compare room size with attendance: a six-person room regularly used by two people is a sizing problem, not a shortage. 3. Watch peak hours separately; most room shortages are a few hours a week, not all day. #### How to set a meeting room booking policy 1. Decide who can book which rooms, and keep some rooms for specific uses such as client meetings or the boardroom. 2. Limit how far ahead people can book and how long a single booking can last. 3. Put an end date on recurring bookings and review long-running series regularly. 4. Require check-in within a short grace period and release rooms nobody claims. 5. Ask organizers to book the smallest room that fits the people who will be in it. 6. Make cancelling easy from the calendar, and ask people to cancel as soon as plans change. 7. Publish the rules where people book, and review no-shows and peak-hour demand each quarter. #### How to choose a room booking system - **Two-way calendar sync.** A booking made in Outlook or Google Calendar must appear in the booking system, and the reverse, or rooms get double-booked. - **Booking from Teams and Outlook.** In Microsoft environments, check native booking from Teams and an Outlook add-in, so people book where they schedule meetings. - **Check-in and auto-release.** Without them, abandoned bookings keep rooms looking busy. Check that the grace period can be set per room. - **Door displays.** Screens at the door show availability and let people check in or book on the spot. Check which hardware is supported and how it is managed. - **Rules that scale.** Booking windows, maximum lengths, recurring end dates and room restrictions should be set centrally, with local exceptions. - **Services with the booking.** Catering, equipment and issue reporting attached to a booking save follow-up emails. - **Room data you can trust.** Reports should separate booked from used, show how full rooms are when used and show peak hours by building. - **Identity, security and admin.** IT should confirm single sign-on, directory sync, admin roles limited by building and how calendar permissions are granted. #### Examples - An employee books a four-person room for 2 pm from Outlook; the door display shows it as booked and the organizer taps to check in on arrival. - A weekly recurring meeting stops happening; after repeated no-shows, auto-release frees the room each week without anyone deleting the series. #### Benchmarks - At the University of Exeter, the average share of meeting rooms in use per day rose from 20% to 38% on Kadence. [Kadence customer story: University of Exeter]() #### Common mistakes - Adding rooms before measuring no-shows: abandoned bookings often explain the shortage. - Letting recurring bookings run forever with nobody checking whether the meeting still happens. - Buying displays without check-in and auto-release, which leaves them as expensive signs. #### How Kadence helps Kadence books rooms with two-way calendar sync, from the Kadence apps, Microsoft Teams, Slack and Kadence AI. Kadence Room Displays (WorkOps Pro, including on Neat devices) show live availability at the door, allow one-tap booking and check-in, and auto-release no-shows. Room data flows into Workplace Insights alongside desk and attendance data. [Room booking software]() · [Microsoft Teams]() · [Pricing]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between a room booking system and a calendar? A calendar records the booking. A room booking system adds what the calendar cannot: live availability across buildings, door displays, check-in, automatic release of unused rooms and data on how rooms are really used. ##### Does a room booking system work with Outlook and Google Calendar? Most do. Look for two-way sync, so a room booked in Outlook or Google Calendar appears in the booking system and a change in either place updates the other. ##### What is auto-release in room booking? Auto-release frees a booked room when nobody checks in within a set grace period. It is the main tool against ghost bookings, where rooms show as busy but sit empty. ##### What are the benefits of a room booking system? It ends double bookings, shows which rooms are free across buildings and frees rooms nobody uses through check-in and auto-release. It also records how often rooms are used and how full they are, which shows whether you need more rooms, smaller rooms or simply fewer ghost bookings. ##### What are the common challenges with room booking? Ghost bookings from meetings that no longer happen, recurring series nobody reviews, large rooms booked by two people and calendars that fall out of sync. Check-in with auto-release, end dates on recurring bookings, door displays and reports that compare bookings with actual use fix most of them. #### Related terms - [Occupancy rate]() The share of available desks, rooms or floor area in use, at a point in time or on average over a period. - [Hot desking and hoteling]() Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in. - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. - [Workplace operating system]() One platform that connects daily office use (booking, check-in, visitors) with space planning, on one set of data. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Steps]() 4. [How to choose]() 5. [Examples]() 6. [Benchmarks]() 7. [Common mistakes]() 8. [How Kadence helps]() 9. [FAQ]() 10. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a meeting room display? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/room-display/ Description: A meeting room display shows live room availability at the door and handles booking, check-in and release. How it works, what to look for and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is a meeting room display? Short answer A meeting room display is a screen mounted outside or inside a meeting room that shows whether the room is free, who has booked it and until when, and lets people book, check in or end a meeting at the door. Workplace teams use room displays to enforce check-in and release rooms booked for meetings that never happen. Also called room booking display, room signage, door display, room panel. #### How it works The display is usually a tablet or dedicated panel running room booking software, connected to the room's calendar in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. It shows the current status, often with a colored light, and the day's schedule. Changes made at the door sync back to the calendar. At the start of a meeting, the organizer checks in on the display or a phone. If nobody checks in within the grace period, the booking is released and the display shows the room as free. People passing by can book a free room on the spot or look for another free room nearby. Every check-in and release becomes data. Room displays turn booking data, which shows intent, into occupancy data, which shows use. Some displays also let people report a problem in the room, such as a broken screen, so it reaches facilities with the location attached. #### How to measure it 1. Check-in rate and auto-release volume per room. 2. Ad hoc bookings made at the door. 3. Issues reported from displays, by room and category. #### Examples - A team walks past a room showing green, taps to book it for half an hour and starts their meeting. - A weekly meeting is cancelled but stays in calendars; the display releases the room each week when nobody checks in. #### Common mistakes - Buying displays that only mirror the calendar, with no check-in or release, which leaves them as signs. - Mounting displays where people cannot see the status from the corridor. - Setting one grace period for every room regardless of size or location. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Room Displays (WorkOps Pro) are door-side screens that show live availability, allow one-tap booking and check-in, auto-release no-shows and let people raise tickets for room issues. They also run on Neat devices. Room bookings sync both ways with Outlook and Google Calendar, and room display check-ins feed Workplace Insights. [Room booking software]() · [Kadence on Neat]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a meeting room display app? It is software that runs on a tablet or panel at a meeting room, showing live availability from the room's calendar and letting people book, check in, extend or end meetings. It usually syncs with Outlook or Google calendars. ##### Do room displays need special hardware? Not always. Many room display apps run on standard iOS or Android tablets in a wall mount. Dedicated panels, such as those from video-conferencing vendors, add built-in status lights and power over Ethernet. ##### How do room displays reduce ghost meetings? They require someone to check in at the start of the booking. When nobody does, the booking is released and the room shows as free, so rooms held by meetings that never happen go back into use. ##### What is a room occupancy display? A room occupancy display shows whether a room is in use right now, often with a green or red light, based on check-ins or sensors. It helps people find a free room without opening an app. #### Related terms - [Room booking system]() Software that lets people find, reserve and check in to meeting rooms, and frees rooms nobody uses. - [Auto-release]() A booking rule that frees a desk or room automatically when nobody checks in within a set grace period. - [Ghost booking]() A desk or room that is booked but never used, so it shows as taken while it sits empty. - [Desk check-in]() Confirming that you are at the desk or room you booked, by app, QR code, badge or Wi-Fi presence, so unused bookings can be released. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is SCIM provisioning? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/scim/ Description: SCIM provisioning creates, updates and deactivates user accounts in apps automatically from the identity provider. How it works and how it pairs with SSO. [Glossary]() · Platforms & integrations ### What is SCIM provisioning? Short answer SCIM provisioning uses the System for Cross-domain Identity Management, an open standard, to create, update and deactivate user accounts in applications automatically from a central identity provider or directory. IT teams use it so joiners get access on day one, changes to names and teams flow through, and leavers lose their accounts without manual cleanup. Also called SCIM, directory sync, user provisioning. #### How it works SCIM defines a common format for users and groups and a REST API for managing them. The identity provider, such as Okta or Microsoft Entra ID, acts as the SCIM client; each application exposes a SCIM endpoint and acts as the server. When IT assigns a person or group to an app, the identity provider sends a create request with the user's attributes, such as name, email, department and manager. Later changes are sent as updates, and when the person is unassigned or leaves, the identity provider deactivates or deletes the account. Group membership can be pushed the same way to drive teams or permissions. SCIM complements single sign-on. SSO decides how people sign in; SCIM decides which accounts exist and what they contain. Used together, one change in the directory controls both access and the account itself. #### How to measure it 1. Compare the number of active users in the app with the number assigned in the identity provider. 2. Time how long it takes for a new hire or a leaver to show up in the app. 3. Check which attributes are mapped, and that department or team values match what the app uses to build groups. #### Examples - A company assigns its all-staff group to the desk booking app in Okta; every employee gets an account with their department, and new hires appear automatically. - A leaver is deactivated in Microsoft Entra ID, and their booking account is disabled in the next sync. #### Common mistakes - Enabling SSO without provisioning, which leaves accounts to be created and removed by hand. - Mapping inconsistent department values, which creates duplicate or empty teams. - Deleting rather than deactivating users when history, such as past bookings, needs to stay in reports. #### How Kadence helps Kadence supports SCIM and directory sync on all plans, alongside SSO with Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google, OneLogin, JumpCloud and others. Teams can be built from directory attributes with custom attribute mapping, Google Workspace attributes and profile photos can sync, and SFTP directory sync covers cases where API sync is not an option. [Integrations]() · [Security and trust]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does SCIM stand for? SCIM stands for System for Cross-domain Identity Management. It is an open standard published by the IETF that defines a common schema for users and groups and a REST protocol for creating, reading, updating and deleting them across systems. ##### What is the difference between SCIM and SSO? SSO handles sign-in: one set of credentials checked by the identity provider. SCIM handles the account itself: creating it when someone joins, updating it when details change and deactivating it when they leave. SSO without SCIM still leaves account cleanup to someone by hand. ##### Is SCIM the same as directory sync? SCIM is one way to do directory sync. Directory sync is the general idea of keeping an app's user list in step with the company directory. Some apps sync through SCIM, others through a vendor API, an HR system connection or a scheduled file transfer. ##### Do you need SCIM if you have an HRIS integration? Often yes. SCIM, driven by the identity provider, controls accounts and access. An HRIS integration brings employment facts such as start dates and leave dates. Workplace teams use SCIM so everyone can sign in and book, and the HR connection to seat people before they start and release desks when they leave. #### Related terms - [Single sign-on (SSO)]() One set of company credentials to sign in to many apps, verified by the identity provider rather than each app. - [HRIS integration]() A connection that syncs joiners, leavers, teams and leave dates from the HR system into workplace software automatically. - [Joiners, movers and leavers (JML)]() The process that keeps access, equipment, seating and records in step when people join, change role or leave. #### Sources 1. [RFC 7643: System for Cross-domain Identity Management: Core Schema](), IETF 2. [RFC 7644: System for Cross-domain Identity Management: Protocol](), IETF Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a facility service request? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/service-request/ Description: A facility service request asks facilities to fix, supply or change something at work. How requests are raised, routed and tracked, what to measure and mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is a facility service request? Short answer A facility service request is a request from an employee or visitor asking the facilities team to fix, supply or change something in the workplace, such as a broken screen, a heating problem, a cleaning need or catering for a meeting. Facilities teams log, route and track each request so it gets resolved and patterns become visible. Also called facilities request, workplace ticketing, request management, help desk ticket. #### How it works Requests are raised through a portal, an app, email, a chat tool, a QR code or a room display. A good request captures the category, location, description and often a photo, so the team knows what and where without a follow-up call. Each request is routed by category to the right person or team: on-site maintenance, IT, cleaning, catering or an outside contractor. Many organizations send facility requests into a help desk or a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), where they are prioritized, assigned and tracked against service levels. Closed requests become data. Volume by category and location shows recurring faults, rooms that need upgrades and services that are over- or under-provided. #### How to measure it 1. Request volume by category, building and floor. 2. Time to first response and time to resolution, against service levels. 3. Repeat requests for the same asset or room. 4. Requester satisfaction after closure. #### Examples - An employee reports a broken display from the room panel, and the ticket reaches on-site maintenance with the room already identified. - An organizer adds catering to a meeting room booking, and the order reaches the catering team with the time and number of guests. #### Common mistakes - Accepting requests only by email, which hides volume and response times. - Asking people to describe locations in free text instead of capturing the room or desk. - Closing requests without telling the person who raised them. #### How Kadence helps Kadence lets employees raise tickets for equipment, amenity and space issues, including from Kadence Room Displays (WorkOps Pro) at the room door, and order catering with a room booking. Kadence also integrates with ticketing systems, including ServiceNow, Jira, Zendesk and Freshdesk. [Integrations]() · [Room booking software]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a facilities request? A facilities request asks the facilities team for a repair, a service or a change in the workplace, such as fixing equipment, adjusting the temperature, cleaning or moving furniture. It is logged so it can be assigned, tracked and closed. ##### What is the difference between a service request and a work order? A service request is what the employee raises to report a need. A work order is the instruction the facilities team creates to do the work, with the assignee, priority, parts and time. One request can lead to one or several work orders. ##### What is workplace ticketing? Workplace ticketing is the system for raising and tracking requests about the office: equipment faults, room issues, supplies and services. Each ticket has a category, location, owner and status, so nothing gets lost and response times can be measured. #### Related terms - [Facilities management (FM)]() The function that keeps buildings and their services working: maintenance, cleaning, security, catering, energy, safety and space. - [CMMS (computerized maintenance management system)]() Software that plans, assigns and records maintenance work on buildings and equipment, from asset register to work order. - [Meeting room display]() A screen at a meeting room that shows live availability and lets people book, check in and release the room at the door. - [Workplace operations (WorkOps)]() The day-to-day running of an office for the people in it: space, bookings, visitors, services, policies and the data they produce. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a smart office? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/smart-office/ Description: A smart office uses connected tools and data to adapt to how people use it. The layers of a smart office, what technology it needs and the mistakes to avoid. [Glossary]() · AI & workplace data ### What is a smart office? Short answer A smart office is a workplace that uses connected technology and data to adapt to how people use it, from booking and check-in to room displays, wayfinding, presence detection and building controls. Workplace, facilities and IT teams build one so people find the right space easily and the organization runs space, energy and services to real demand. Also called smart workplace, smart building, intelligent workplace. #### How it works A smart office has three layers. Experience tools help people plan and find space: booking apps, room displays, visitor kiosks and wayfinding. Sensing tools record how space is used: check-ins, network presence, badge access and sensors. Building systems act on that data: lighting, heating and ventilation, access and cleaning schedules. The early idea of a smart office centered on the building: motion-activated lights and energy automation. In hybrid work, the harder problem is coordination: making sure the right people are in on the same days, and that space matches that pattern. Smart offices now start with booking and presence data, then connect the building to it. Integration decides whether it works. Calendar sync, single sign-on, directory sync and APIs connect workplace tools to the systems people already use, so booking a room, checking in and receiving a visitor happen without extra steps, and every action feeds the same data. #### How to measure it 1. Start with employee friction: finding a desk or room, knowing who is in, receiving visitors. 2. Use the presence data you already have before adding hardware. 3. Connect booking and presence data to cleaning, catering and heating schedules. 4. Measure adoption and time saved, not devices installed. #### Examples - Room displays show live availability and release no-show bookings, and heating on a quiet floor drops to a lower setting on days presence data shows few people. - A visitor checks in at a kiosk, the host gets a Microsoft Teams message and the visitor's badge prints automatically. #### Common mistakes - Buying devices before defining the problems they solve. - Adding apps that do not connect to calendars, the directory or single sign-on. - Collecting sensor data that no system or person acts on. - Letting 'smart' become surveillance; people stop using tools they do not trust. #### How Kadence helps Kadence covers the experience and presence layers: desk and room booking with two-way calendar sync, Kadence Room Displays (WorkOps Pro) with check-in and auto-release, visitor kiosks with badge printing (WorkOps Pro), wayfinding on the floor plan, and automatic check-in through the Kadence Agent on the office network. The public API and outbound webhooks connect Kadence data to building and security systems. [WorkOps]() · [Room booking software]() · [Visitor management]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is smart office design? It is designing the office around how people actually use it, with technology that makes that easy: bookable spaces with displays, clear wayfinding, video-ready rooms, presence data to show demand and building systems that respond to it. Design choices follow the data rather than a fixed plan. ##### What technology does a smart office need? Most need desk and room booking with calendar sync, room displays, visitor management, a way to detect presence (check-ins, network presence or badge data), integration with single sign-on and chat tools, and reporting. Sensors and building controls come next, where they pay back. ##### Do smart offices need sensors? Not to start. Booking, check-in and network presence data show demand across most of the office without hardware. Sensors help in unbookable areas and for building controls, once you know which questions they must answer. ##### What is the ROI of a smart workplace? Returns usually come from space you no longer need once you measure demand, energy and service costs matched to real occupancy, and time employees save finding space and colleagues. Measure each against a baseline before and after rollout. #### Related terms - [Occupancy sensor]() A device that detects whether a desk, room or zone is in use, or counts the people in it, usually anonymously. - [Workplace digital twin]() A live digital model of buildings, spaces and the people who use them, used to see how space performs and test changes first. - [Building operations]() The day-to-day running of a building's systems and services, such as heating, cooling, lighting, security, lifts and maintenance. - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Meeting room display]() A screen at a meeting room that shows live availability and lets people book, check in and release the room at the door. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is SOC 2? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/soc-2/ Description: SOC 2 is an independent auditor's report on a vendor's security controls. How it works, Type I vs Type II, and what to check when you read one. [Glossary]() · Platforms & integrations ### What is SOC 2? Short answer SOC 2 is an independent auditor's report on whether a service provider's controls protect customer data, tested against the Trust Services Criteria for security and, optionally, availability, confidentiality, processing integrity and privacy. A Type II report shows the controls operated effectively over a review period. Security and procurement teams request it before trusting a software vendor with company data. Also called SOC 2 Type II, SOC 2 report, SOC 2 compliance, SOC2, SOC Type II report. #### How it works SOC 2 is an attestation framework from the AICPA, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. A licensed CPA firm examines a service organization, such as a software vendor, against the Trust Services Criteria. Security is always in scope; availability, confidentiality, processing integrity and privacy are added when they matter to customers. A Type I report looks at a single date and asks whether the controls are designed properly. A Type II report covers a period, commonly several months to a year, and the auditor tests samples of evidence across it, such as access reviews, change approvals, incident tickets and offboarding records, to confirm the controls actually operated. The report is private and usually shared with customers under a nondisclosure agreement. It contains the auditor's opinion, the vendor's description of its system, each control with the tests performed, any exceptions found, and complementary user entity controls: the things the customer must do, such as managing its own users, for the controls to hold. #### How to measure it 1. Check the report type and the review period, and that the period ended recently. 2. Read the auditor's opinion first; an unqualified opinion means no material problems were found. 3. Review every listed exception and the vendor's response. 4. Check which Trust Services Criteria are in scope, and whether sub-service providers such as hosting are covered by their own reports. 5. Note the complementary user entity controls your own team must run. #### Common mistakes - Treating a Type I report as proof that controls work over time. - Accepting a hosting provider's report or certificate as if it covered the vendor itself. - Reading only the opinion and skipping the exceptions. - Confusing SOC 2 with ISO 27001; they are different frameworks with different auditors and outputs. #### How Kadence helps Kadence is SOC 2 compliant and holds Cyber Essentials certification. Its infrastructure partners are SOC 2 compliant and ISO 27001 certified; Kadence does not claim that certification as its own. Controls are monitored continuously through Drata, systems are penetration-tested at least annually by third-party specialists, and the Kadence trust portal holds the evidence for a security review. [Security and trust]() · [For IT and security teams]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between SOC 2 Type I and Type II? A Type I report checks whether controls are designed properly at a single point in time. A Type II report tests whether those controls actually operated over a period, using samples of real evidence. Buyers usually ask for Type II because it shows how the vendor behaves day to day, not just on the audit date. ##### Is SOC 2 a certification? Not strictly. It is an attestation: an independent CPA firm examines the controls and issues a report with its opinion. Vendors often say they are certified or compliant, but what a buyer should ask for is the report itself, its type and its review period. ##### How long is a SOC 2 report valid? The report has no formal expiry, but it only describes the period it covers. Most buyers expect a new Type II report every year and ask the vendor for a bridge letter covering the gap between the end of the last review period and today. ##### What is the difference between SOC 2 and ISO 27001? The SOC report is an attestation under AICPA standards, common in North America, that tests specific controls over a period. The ISO information security standard is an international certification of a whole information security management system, issued by an accredited certification body. They answer related but different questions, and many vendors hold one or both. ##### Why do buyers ask software vendors for a SOC report? Because the vendor will hold or process the buyer's data. An independent report saves the buyer from auditing the vendor itself and gives security, IT and procurement teams tested evidence about access control, change management, incident response and monitoring before they sign. #### Related terms - [Single sign-on (SSO)]() One set of company credentials to sign in to many apps, verified by the identity provider rather than each app. - [SCIM provisioning]() An open standard that creates, updates and deactivates user accounts in apps automatically from the company directory. - [Employee monitoring vs occupancy data]() Employee monitoring tracks what individuals do; occupancy data measures how spaces are used. Workplace planning needs only the second. #### Sources 1. [System and Organization Controls: SOC Suite of Services](), AICPA & CIMA 2. [2017 Trust Services Criteria (With Revised Points of Focus – 2022)](), AICPA & CIMA Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Common mistakes]() 4. [How Kadence helps]() 5. [FAQ]() 6. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is space allocation? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/space-allocation/ Description: Space allocation decides which people and teams get which desks, zones and rooms. The allocation models, how software supports it, and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is space allocation? Short answer Space allocation is the process of deciding which people, teams and activities get which desks, zones and rooms, and whether each space is assigned, shared or bookable. Workplace and facilities teams use it to match space to real demand, keep teams that work together close, and avoid holding desks that sit empty most days. Also called seat allocation, desk allocation, space standards, seat assignment. #### How it works Allocation happens at several levels. The stack plan assigns departments to buildings and floors. Within a floor, the block or neighborhood plan gives each team a zone. At seat level, each desk is assigned to a person, reserved for a team, or left open to book. Most hybrid offices mix these models. People who come in most days, or need special equipment, keep an assigned desk. Teams that come in on set days get a neighborhood sized to their busiest day. Everyone else books from a shared pool, often with rules on how far ahead and how often they can book. Allocation is never finished. New starters, leavers, reorganizations and changing attendance shift demand every month. Allocation software keeps assignments, neighborhoods and booking rules in one place and uses occupancy data to show when a team has outgrown its zone or holds more space than it uses. #### How to measure it 1. Occupancy by team and neighborhood, against the capacity allocated to it. 2. Share of assigned desks used on a typical day and on the peak day. 3. Seats allocated per person by team, compared with each team's attendance. 4. Reports of no space available, which often point to a zone sized for the average day rather than the peak. #### Examples - A finance team that comes in Tuesday to Thursday gets a neighborhood on those days, which opens to others on Monday and Friday. - Frequent office users keep assigned desks, and when they are away the desks open for others to book. #### Benchmarks - A US medical lab and diagnostic company provided 150 desks for 200 employees returning to its headquarters. [Kadence customer story: US medical lab and diagnostic company]() #### Common mistakes - Allocating by headcount or org chart instead of measured attendance. - Sizing neighborhoods to the average day, so teams overflow on their busiest day. - Keeping assigned desks for people who rarely come in. - Changing allocations without telling people where they now sit. #### How Kadence helps In Kadence WorkOps, admins assign teams to neighborhoods and people to permanent desks, schedule neighborhoods by date for rotating teams, and set booking rules, booking credits and priority access. Bulk CSV upload updates spaces and assignments at scale, and Move Manager (WorkOps Pro) handles new starters, leavers and relocations with seat recommendations. SpaceOps plans allocation floor by floor and publishes approved plans into WorkOps. [Desk booking software]() · [Space management]() · [SpaceOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is desk allocation software? Desk allocation software keeps track of which desks belong to which people or teams, which are open to book, and the rules around them. It shows allocations on floor plans, handles changes when people join, leave or move, and uses occupancy data to show whether each allocation still matches demand. ##### What is the difference between space allocation and space planning? Space planning designs how space is laid out and how much of each type is needed. Space allocation decides who gets which of those spaces and on what terms. Planning changes the floor; allocation changes who uses it, and it happens far more often. ##### Should desks be assigned or shared in a hybrid office? Most hybrid offices use both. Assign desks to people who come in most days or need special equipment, give teams neighborhoods on their office days, and let everyone else book from a shared pool. Review the mix against attendance data regularly. ##### How do you allocate office space fairly between teams? Base allocations on measured attendance and the work each team comes in to do, not on seniority or headcount. Size each team's zone to its busiest regular day, publish the rules, and review allocations on a set cycle so teams can see changes are based on data. ##### What can I use instead of a spreadsheet to manage office seating? Decide the rules first: which desks are assigned to a person, which belong to a team area and which anyone can book. Then record them on your real floor plan rather than in a spreadsheet, so new hires, leavers and team changes update one record everyone sees. A seating chart tool shows the result on the plan and keeps it current as people move. #### Related terms - [Assigned desk]() A desk reserved for one person, either permanently or on set days, instead of being shared through booking. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. - [Occupancy planning]() Deciding where people and teams will work across floors and buildings, and how much space each needs, as the organization changes. - [Block plan]() A floor-level layout that assigns each team to a zone of one floor, between the stack plan and the seat-level plan. - [Hot desking and hoteling]() Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in. - [Office seating chart]() A map or list of who sits where in an office, showing assigned desks, team areas and shared seats. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is space management? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/space-management/ Description: Space management tracks and improves how office space is used. What it covers, how modern tools differ from an IWMS, what to measure, and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is space management? Short answer Space management is the ongoing work of tracking, allocating and improving how an organization's buildings, floors, desks and rooms are used. Facilities, workplace and real estate teams use it to keep an accurate record of space and who uses it, measure utilization, and adjust layouts and policies so the footprint matches real demand. Also called office space management, facility space management, space management software. #### How it works Space management keeps a live record of the space an organization has: buildings, floors, zones, desks, rooms and other bookable spaces, with who they are assigned to. Digital floor plans are the usual base, replacing static drawings and spreadsheets. On top of the record sit the day-to-day operations: assigning desks and neighborhoods, setting booking rules, releasing unused bookings, closing space for maintenance or holidays, and handling moves, adds and changes as people join, leave and reorganize. The third part is measurement. Bookings, check-ins, badge data and network presence show which spaces are used and when, at the level of building, floor, neighborhood and space type. Teams use that evidence to change layouts and policies and, over time, the size of the footprint. Common strategies follow from that evidence: sharing desks where attendance is part-time, grouping teams into neighborhoods, shifting the room mix toward the sizes people actually book, consolidating floors that stay quiet, and scheduling cleaning and services for the days people are in. Each one starts from measured use and is checked again after the change. #### Space management use cases | Use case | Question it answers | Data it needs | | --- | --- | --- | | Right-sizing the portfolio | Do we hold more space than we need, and where? | Occupancy and peak days by building, over months | | Restacking floors | Which teams should sit on which floors? | Peak-day attendance by team and which teams work together | | Room mix | Do we have the right sizes and types of room? | Room bookings, check-ins and people per meeting | | Desk sharing and neighborhoods | How many desks does each team need, and where? | Attendance by team and weekday, and desk occupancy | | Moves, adds and changes | Where do joiners, movers and leavers sit? | Current assignments, floor plans and HR changes | | Chargeback | Which department pays for which space? | Space allocated to, or used by, each department | #### How to measure it 1. Occupancy and utilization by building, floor, neighborhood and space type. 2. Peak-day attendance against capacity. 3. Booked versus used: no-show rate and the share of bookings auto-released. 4. Space per person and desk ratio. #### Examples - A facilities team sees one neighborhood at capacity every Wednesday while another sits half empty, and rebalances team assignments. - Room data shows six-person rooms mostly used by two people, so two of them are split into smaller rooms. #### Common mistakes - Keeping space records in drawings or spreadsheets that fall out of date after every move. - Measuring bookings rather than actual use. - Reporting only building-level averages that hide busy floors and quiet ones. - Collecting data without a decision it is meant to inform. #### How Kadence helps Kadence WorkOps runs space day to day: interactive floor plans, desk and room booking, team neighborhoods and assigned desks, auto-release of no-shows, closure management and wayfinding. Workplace Insights reports attendance, occupancy, no-shows and heatmaps, with presence from check-ins, the Kadence Agent, badge data and other signals. SpaceOps adds stack, scenario and seat-level planning on the same data. [Space management]() · [WorkOps]() · [Workplace analytics]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is space management software? Space management software keeps a digital record of an organization's buildings, floors, desks and rooms, runs how they are assigned and booked, and measures how they are used. Modern tools add live occupancy data and planning, so the same system that runs the space shows whether it fits demand. ##### What is the difference between space management and an IWMS? An IWMS (integrated workplace management system) is a broad platform for real estate, facilities, maintenance and space records, and space management is one part of it. Standalone space management tools tend to focus on live booking, occupancy and planning rather than leases and maintenance. ##### What are the main parts of office space management? Keeping an accurate record of space and who uses it, running day-to-day allocation and booking, and measuring use so layouts, policies and the footprint can be improved over time. ##### Who is responsible for space management? Usually the facilities or workplace team, with corporate real estate owning portfolio decisions. HR, IT and finance supply the people, systems and cost data it depends on. ##### What are the biggest challenges in space management? Keeping records current after every move, getting data that shows real use rather than bookings or assignments, comparing sites that measure differently, and turning reports into decisions someone owns. Hybrid work adds a moving target: attendance changes with policy and season, so space management has to run continuously rather than as an annual audit. #### Related terms - [Space planning]() Deciding how office floor area is divided and allocated, from which teams go on which floors to where each desk and room sits. - [Space utilization]() How intensively buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their full capacity over time. - [Space allocation]() Deciding which people, teams and activities get which desks, zones and rooms, and whether each is assigned, shared or bookable. - [Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS)]() Enterprise software that runs real estate, leases, space, maintenance and assets from one shared database. - [Interactive floor plan]() A live, clickable map of an office that shows desks, rooms and people, and lets employees book space and find colleagues. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is SpaceOps? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/space-operations/ Description: Space operations, or SpaceOps, is the practice of planning and carrying out workplace change from live data. What it covers and how it connects to WorkOps. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is SpaceOps? Short answer Space operations (SpaceOps) is the practice of planning, modeling and carrying out changes to how an organization uses its workplace, such as restacks, consolidations, team moves and growth, using live data on how space is actually used. Real estate and workplace teams use it to make change decisions faster and on evidence rather than static drawings and spreadsheets. Also called SpaceOps, space ops. #### How it works SpaceOps sits between daily workplace operations and long-term real estate strategy. Workplace operations, sometimes called WorkOps, runs the office every day: bookings, check-ins, visitors and floor plans. That activity produces data on attendance and occupancy, and SpaceOps uses the data when the workplace needs to change. The work follows a cycle. Teams model options with scenario planning, place the chosen option on floors with a stack plan, go down to seat-level layouts, and then carry out the moves. Each step uses the same data on headcount, attendance and capacity, so the plan is not rebuilt in a new tool at every stage. Because attendance, headcount and teams keep changing, SpaceOps treats planning as continuous rather than a project every few years. The approved plan feeds back into daily operations, where new neighborhoods and desk assignments go live, and new occupancy data starts the next cycle. #### How to measure it 1. Time from a change request, such as finding space for a team, to an approved plan. 2. Peak occupancy by floor after a change, compared with the plan. 3. Space released or absorbed by each change. 4. Moves completed without rework or complaints about where people ended up. #### Examples - A workplace team asked to release two floors models three options, chooses the one that keeps connected teams together, and publishes the new neighborhoods before the move. - A team adding new starters is placed on a floor with spare capacity instead of the company taking new space. #### Common mistakes - Planning in spreadsheets that are out of date by the time the plan is approved. - Separating planning from operations, so the approved plan never reaches the booking system. - Using bookings or headcount as the baseline instead of measured occupancy. #### How Kadence helps Kadence SpaceOps is an add-on to any Kadence plan. It includes stack planning with auto-stack, side-by-side scenario planning, seat-level space planning on real floor plans, guided workflows to restack a building, consolidate floors or find space for a team, and an AI planning agent that builds or changes plans from plain-language requests. Plans use WorkOps attendance and occupancy data, and approved plans publish back into WorkOps as live neighborhoods and assignments. [SpaceOps]() · [Kadence platform guide]() · [Scenario planning]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between SpaceOps and WorkOps? WorkOps runs the workplace day to day: desk and room booking, check-ins, visitors and floor plans. SpaceOps plans and carries out change to the workplace over time: restacks, consolidations, moves and growth. WorkOps produces the occupancy data that SpaceOps plans with, and SpaceOps sends approved plans back into WorkOps. ##### What does a SpaceOps platform do? It brings floor plans, headcount and occupancy data into one place so teams can model scenarios, build stack plans, assign seats and prepare moves without rebuilding the plan in separate tools. The best platforms connect the approved plan to the systems people use to book and find space. ##### Who uses SpaceOps? Corporate real estate, workplace and facilities teams responsible for how space changes: heads of real estate planning consolidations, workplace leads restacking floors, and space planners placing teams and new starters. Finance and HR leaders often review the scenarios before a decision. ##### How is SpaceOps different from an IWMS? An integrated workplace management system (IWMS) is a broad system of record for real estate, leases, maintenance and space. SpaceOps focuses on workplace change: modeling scenarios, building stack and seat plans from live occupancy data, and pushing approved plans into daily operations. #### Related terms - [Workplace operations (WorkOps)]() The day-to-day running of an office for the people in it: space, bookings, visitors, services, policies and the data they produce. - [AI space planning]() Using AI to draft and test stack plans, seating plans and scenarios from headcount, occupancy data and floor plans. - [Stack planning]() A floor-by-floor plan of which teams occupy which floors and buildings, used to test moves and consolidations first. - [Scenario planning]() Modeling several possible futures for space, cost and teams, and comparing them side by side before committing to one. - [Restack]() Reassigning teams across the floors of a building to free space, absorb growth or improve adjacency, done as a sequence of moves. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is space per person? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/space-per-person/ Description: Space per person divides office area by the people it serves. The formula, a worked example, how to measure it in a hybrid office, and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is space per person? Short answer Space per person is the floor area of an office divided by the number of people it serves, expressed in square feet or square meters. Real estate and workplace teams use it to compare buildings, test layouts and size future space, and in hybrid offices they often calculate it per attending person as well as per employee. Also called square feet per employee, space per employee, sq ft per person. #### How it works Space per person divides an area by a number of people. The area can be rentable, usable or net internal area, and the people can be employees assigned to the building, workstations, or people actually present. Each combination answers a different question, so the definition has to be stated whenever the figure is reported. Per employee, the figure shows how much space the organization provides on paper. Per person present on the busiest day, it shows how crowded the office actually feels. In a hybrid office the second number is often much higher than the first, which is why a portfolio can look tight by headcount and still feel empty most days. Planners use space per person to size new space, to compare buildings and floors, and to spot where a restack or densification would release the most area. Legal minimums set the lower limit; the work being done, comfort and the mix of shared spaces set the practical target. #### Formula Space per person = Floor area ÷ Number of people - **Floor area**: Usable or rentable area of the floor or building, in square feet or square meters. State which one you use and keep it the same across buildings. - **Number of people**: Employees assigned to the space, or people present on a chosen day, such as the average day or the peak day, from measured attendance. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. A floor has 24,000 usable square feet and 160 employees assigned to it. 2. Per employee: 24,000 ÷ 160 = 150 square feet. 3. Check-in data shows 100 people present on the busiest day: 24,000 ÷ 100 = 240 square feet. 150 square feet per employee, and 240 square feet per person present on the peak day. #### How to measure it 1. Pick one area standard (rentable, usable or net internal) and use it everywhere in the portfolio. 2. Report space per employee and space per person present side by side, using measured attendance rather than bookings. 3. Break the figure down by floor and team to find where a restack would release the most area. 4. Exclude floors that are closed or under fit-out from both the area and the headcount. #### Benchmarks - In Great Britain, the HSE Approved Code of Practice and guidance on the Workplace Regulations sets a minimum of 11 cubic meters of room volume per person normally working in a room. [Health and Safety Executive (HSE), How much space am I entitled to at work?]() #### Common mistakes - Mixing rentable and usable area across buildings, which makes comparisons meaningless. - Using headcount alone in a hybrid office, which hides how little of the space is used on most days. - Treating a low figure as a target rather than a result to check against peak-day crowding and employee feedback. #### How Kadence helps Kadence supplies the people side of the calculation. Workplace Insights reports attendance and occupancy by building and floor from desk check-ins, the Kadence Agent's network detection, badge data and other signals, so the count reflects who actually came in. Data export takes those counts into your own area figures, and SpaceOps scenario planning tests how a headcount or policy change would affect space needs. [Workplace analytics]() · [Scenario planning]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How many square feet per employee is standard? There is no single standard. Figures vary by country, sector, layout and whether the area is rentable or usable. Health and safety law and guidance set minimums, and most organizations plan well above them. In hybrid offices, sizing to peak-day attendance rather than total headcount usually matters more than any published average. ##### What is the minimum space per person in an office? It depends on the country. In Great Britain, HSE's Approved Code of Practice and guidance says the total volume of a room, when empty, divided by the number of people normally working in it should be at least 11 cubic meters. HSE guidance sets this as a minimum, not a planning target, and it does not apply to rooms used for lectures, meetings and similar purposes. Other countries set their own rules. ##### How do you calculate space per person? Divide the floor area by the number of people it serves. State whether the area is rentable or usable, and whether the people are employees, workstations or people actually present, because each choice gives a different figure. ##### Why does space per person matter in a hybrid office? Because headcount and attendance diverge. Space per employee can look tight while space per person present is generous on most days. Comparing the two shows how much space sits idle and how far densification or consolidation could go before the busiest day becomes crowded. #### Related terms - [Densification]() Supporting more people in the same floor area, through desk sharing, a tighter desk ratio or reuse of underused space. - [Cost per seat]() The total annual occupancy cost of an office divided by the seats it provides, or by the seats actually used. - [Total occupancy cost]() Everything an organization spends to occupy a workplace in a year: rent, operating costs, utilities, services and fit-out. - [Rentable vs usable square feet]() Usable area is the space a tenant occupies; rentable area adds a share of common areas, and rent is charged on it. - [Desk ratio (desk sharing ratio)]() The number of people assigned to a workplace for each desk, set from peak attendance and policy. #### Sources 1. [How much space am I entitled to at work?](), Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is office space planning? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/space-planning/ Description: Space planning decides how office space is divided and who uses it. The steps from stack plan to seat plan, the data it needs, and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is office space planning? Short answer Space planning is the process of deciding how an office's floor area is divided and allocated, from which teams go on which floors to where desks, meeting rooms and shared areas sit. Workplace, facilities and real estate teams use it so the layout supports how people work and fits real demand without wasting space. Also called office space planning, workplace space planning, office layout planning. #### How it works Space planning works from the building down. A stack plan assigns teams to floors, a block plan assigns them to zones on each floor, and a seat-level plan places desks, meeting rooms, focus rooms and amenities. Each level is the brief for the next. The inputs are demand and constraints. Demand is how many people each team needs to seat on its busiest day, what kinds of space it uses and which teams it works with. Constraints are the building's cores, windows and services, health and safety rules, and the budget. In hybrid offices the plan is revisited often. Attendance, team structure and headcount change, so plans built on live occupancy data and kept on digital floor plans can be adjusted without starting again, then turned into moves. #### How to measure it 1. Seats per team against each team's peak-day attendance. 2. The mix of space types (desks, small and large meeting rooms, focus space) against how each is booked and used. 3. Space per person and desk ratio by floor. 4. Meeting room demand at peak hours, which catches shortages that daily averages hide. #### Steps in office space planning 1. Gather demand: attendance by team and weekday, headcount forecasts and how each team works. 2. Set the working pattern and space standards: desk ratio, the mix of settings and space per person. 3. Map the constraints: building cores, windows, services, accessibility and safety rules, and the budget. 4. Create the stack plan: which teams go on which floors, with close collaborators near each other. 5. Create block plans: zones and neighborhoods on each floor. 6. Lay out desks, rooms and shared settings, and test the fit against peak-day demand. 7. Plan the moves, and update floor plans and booking records on move day. 8. Measure use once people have settled in, and adjust. #### Examples - A company moving to a hybrid policy replans a floor from 200 assigned desks to 130 bookable desks plus eight small meeting rooms. - A growing team is planned into a neighborhood next to the teams it works with most, with an adjoining flexible zone for growth. #### Common mistakes - Planning from the org chart instead of attendance data. - Designing for the average day rather than the busiest one. - Providing too few small meeting rooms and too many large ones. - Treating the plan as finished at move-in; without updates it drifts from reality within months. #### How Kadence helps Kadence SpaceOps goes from a stack plan down to seat-level layouts on real floor plans, using attendance and occupancy data from WorkOps. The AI planning agent builds or changes plans from plain-language requests, floor plans can be imported and edited in the browser, and approved plans are published to neighborhoods and desk assignments in WorkOps. [Space planning software]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Space management]() · [Office space planning guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does office space planning software do? It holds digital floor plans and the teams, desks and rooms on them, and helps planners allocate space from building to seat. Stronger tools use live attendance and occupancy data, test scenarios before changes are made, and push approved plans into booking and seating so they take effect. ##### What metrics are used in office space planning? Common ones are space per person, desk ratio, occupancy and utilization by floor and space type, peak-day attendance, meeting room demand at peak hours and cost per seat. Together they show whether the layout fits real demand. ##### What is the difference between space planning and space management? Space planning designs how space should be allocated. Space management runs the space day to day and measures how it is used. Data from space management feeds the next round of planning. ##### What are the steps in office space planning? Gather demand data, set the working pattern and space standards, create a stack plan by floor, a block plan within each floor and a seat-level layout, then plan the moves. Review the result against measured use after people move in. #### Related terms - [Stack planning]() A floor-by-floor plan of which teams occupy which floors and buildings, used to test moves and consolidations first. - [Block plan]() A floor-level layout that assigns each team to a zone of one floor, between the stack plan and the seat-level plan. - [Occupancy planning]() Deciding where people and teams will work across floors and buildings, and how much space each needs, as the organization changes. - [AI space planning]() Using AI to draft and test stack plans, seating plans and scenarios from headcount, occupancy data and floor plans. - [Space management]() The ongoing tracking, allocation and improvement of how an organization's buildings, floors, desks and rooms are used. - [Test fit]() A quick draft layout that checks whether a space program fits a specific building before a lease is signed. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Steps]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is space programming? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/space-programming/ Description: Space programming turns headcount, work patterns and growth into a list of the space an organization needs. How a space program is built and the common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is space programming? Short answer Space programming is the process of working out how much space an organization needs and of which types, such as desks, meeting rooms, focus rooms and support areas, before any layout is drawn. Real estate teams, architects and space planners use the resulting space program to size a property search, brief a test fit and budget a fit-out. Also called space program, space needs assessment. #### How it works A space program starts with demand: headcount by team today and over the planning period, how often each group comes in, and the activities they come in for. Interviews, surveys and occupancy data show how much focus, meeting and team space each group actually uses. Demand is then turned into a list of spaces, each with a count and a standard area: desks, meeting rooms by size, phone rooms, team areas, reception, kitchen, storage and technical rooms. Adding circulation gives the usable area needed, and applying the building's load factor gives the rentable area to search for. In hybrid workplaces the key input is peak attendance, not headcount. A program built on the busiest regular day, with a planned desk-sharing ratio, can be much smaller than one that gives every employee a desk, and it holds up better once the space opens. #### How to measure it 1. Peak and average attendance by team, measured from arrivals rather than bookings. 2. Use of each existing space type, to decide what to keep, add or cut. 3. Planned growth over the lease term, as a range rather than a single number. #### Examples - A company of 400 people with a measured peak of 220 on site programs 240 desks, more small video rooms and two team areas per floor. - A program shows the new office needs fewer large boardrooms and many more rooms for two to four people. #### Common mistakes - Programming from headcount, which gives every employee a desk they may use only some days. - Copying meeting room counts from the old office instead of measuring how rooms are used. - Forgetting support space such as storage, technical rooms and lockers, which then squeezes the work areas. - Using a single growth figure, so the program is either too tight or too loose. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights provides the measured inputs a space program needs: attendance, occupancy, peak days and no-shows by team, floor and space type. SpaceOps then tests the program in scenarios and goes from a stack plan down to seat-level layouts on real floor plans. [Space management]() · [Office space planning guide]() · [Scenario planning]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a space program in architecture? A space program is the list of spaces a building or office must contain, with the number and size of each: desks, meeting rooms, support areas and so on. Architects use it as the brief for layouts, and it is agreed with the client before design starts. ##### What is the difference between space programming and space planning? Space programming decides what space is needed and how much of it. Space planning decides where that space goes on a particular floor. Programming comes first and produces the brief; planning turns the brief into a layout. ##### How do you calculate how much office space you need? Start from peak attendance, not headcount. Count the people you need to seat on your busiest regular day, add the meeting, focus and support spaces they use, multiply each by a standard area, and add circulation. Then apply the building's load factor to reach the rentable area. ##### What should a space program include? Headcount and attendance assumptions, growth ranges, and a schedule of every space type with its count and area: desks, meeting rooms by size, focus rooms, team areas, reception, kitchen, storage and technical rooms. It should also state the desk-sharing ratio and space standards it assumes. #### Related terms - [Space planning]() Deciding how office floor area is divided and allocated, from which teams go on which floors to where each desk and room sits. - [Test fit]() A quick draft layout that checks whether a space program fits a specific building before a lease is signed. - [Headcount planning (for space)]() Forecasting how many people will work in each team and location, and turning that into the office space they will need. - [Workspace types]() The settings an office offers, such as desks, focus rooms, phone booths, huddle rooms and lounges, each suited to a kind of work. - [Desk ratio (desk sharing ratio)]() The number of people assigned to a workplace for each desk, set from peak attendance and policy. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a space roster? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/space-roster/ Description: A space roster is the authoritative list of who is assigned to which seat, zone or space at a point in time. How it is kept accurate and what depends on it. [Glossary]() · Moves & change ### What is a space roster? Short answer Space roster is the authoritative list of who is assigned to which seat, zone or space at a point in time. Workplace, facilities and HR teams rely on it to seat joiners, clear leavers, plan moves and report on how space is allocated, so it must stay in step with the HR system and the floor plan. Also called seating roster, seat assignment list, occupant list. #### How it works The roster links people to space: each assigned desk or office, each team's neighborhood and the shared areas a group can use. It is dated, because assignments change every week as people join, move and leave. It is fed from two directions. HR data supplies people, teams and start and leave dates. Move and seating decisions supply where each person or team goes. When the two are connected, a joiner can be seated before their first day and a leaver's desk is freed automatically. Because it is authoritative, other systems read from it: the booking system, wayfinding, mail delivery, emergency headcounts and space reports. A roster that drifts out of date spreads errors into all of them. #### How to measure it 1. Check the roster against the HR system regularly: every active employee placed, and no leavers still seated. 2. Track the share of assigned seats whose occupant still works there and still uses the seat. 3. Keep dated snapshots, so you can see who sat where before and after a move. #### Examples - A leaver's last day passes and their desk returns to the shared pool the next morning. - Before a restack, planners export the space roster to see which teams and people sit on each floor. #### Common mistakes - Keeping the roster in a spreadsheet that nobody updates after moves. - Leaving desks assigned to leavers, departed contractors or people who never come in. - Treating bookings as the roster. A booking is a reservation, not an assignment. #### How Kadence helps Kadence assigns people to permanent desks and teams to neighborhoods. The HRIS integration (WorkOps Pro) syncs new starters, leavers and leave dates from Workday, BambooHR or HiBob, and automatic leaver removal frees the seats of people who leave. Move Manager plans new starters, leavers and team relocations, and assignments can be uploaded in bulk from a spreadsheet. [Space management]() · [WorkOps]() · [Office move checklist]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between a space roster and a booking list? A booking list shows who reserved which shared space on a given day. A space roster shows who is assigned to which seat or zone over time. Many hybrid offices have both: assigned seats for some people and bookable desks for everyone else. ##### How do you keep a space roster accurate? Connect it to the HR system so joiners and leavers update it automatically, record every move as it happens, and check it against actual use regularly. A seat assigned to someone who never comes in is a candidate for the shared pool. ##### Who maintains the space roster? Usually the workplace or facilities team owns it. HR supplies people data, such as joiners and leavers, and neighborhood managers make local changes within their area. Changes should flow through one process so the roster stays the single source of truth. #### Related terms - [Assigned desk]() A desk reserved for one person, either permanently or on set days, instead of being shared through booking. - [Joiners, movers and leavers (JML)]() The process that keeps access, equipment, seating and records in step when people join, change role or leave. - [HRIS integration]() A connection that syncs joiners, leavers, teams and leave dates from the HR system into workplace software automatically. - [Space allocation]() Deciding which people, teams and activities get which desks, zones and rooms, and whether each is assigned, shared or bookable. - [Plan of record]() The approved, current version of a stack, block or move plan that every team works from. - [Neighborhood manager]() The person who owns a neighborhood's seating rules, capacity and changes, usually a team lead or site admin. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is single sign-on (SSO)? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/sso/ Description: Single sign-on (SSO) lets people use one company login for many apps through an identity provider. How SAML and OpenID Connect work, and how SSO differs from SCIM. [Glossary]() · Platforms & integrations ### What is single sign-on (SSO)? Short answer Single sign-on (SSO) is an authentication method that lets people use one set of company credentials to sign in to many applications. An identity provider, such as Okta or Microsoft Entra ID, verifies the user and vouches for them to each app. IT teams use it to cut passwords, enforce security policy and remove access in one place. Also called SSO, SAML, Okta, Microsoft Entra ID. #### How it works The organization's identity provider holds user accounts, passwords, multi-factor authentication and access policies. Each application, called the service provider, is set up to trust that identity provider instead of keeping its own passwords. When someone opens the app, it sends them to the identity provider. Once they are signed in there, the identity provider returns a signed assertion or token saying who they are, using a standard protocol such as SAML or OpenID Connect. The app checks the signature and lets them in. Because access runs through one place, disabling a person in the identity provider stops them signing in to every connected app. SSO handles sign-in only; creating, updating and removing the accounts themselves is provisioning, usually done with SCIM or directory sync. #### How to measure it 1. List which applications still accept a local password alongside SSO. 2. Confirm that multi-factor and conditional access policies apply to each connected app. 3. Test offboarding: disable a test user in the identity provider and confirm access ends everywhere, including mobile apps. #### Examples - An employee opens the desk booking app on a phone, chooses to sign in with the company account, completes a multi-factor prompt and is in without a separate password. - IT disables a leaver in the identity provider, and the person can no longer sign in to any connected workplace tool. #### Common mistakes - Turning on SSO but leaving local passwords active, so a second way in remains. - Assuming SSO removes accounts when people leave; without provisioning, the account still exists. - Not testing sign-in on every surface people use: web, mobile, Teams, Slack and kiosks. #### How Kadence helps Kadence supports SSO on all plans with Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google, OneLogin, JumpCloud and other SAML or OpenID Connect providers. Admins can make SSO mandatory or let people sign in with passkeys, and SCIM directory sync provisions users automatically. The Kadence Agent can also sign in automatically with Entra or Okta. [Security and trust]() · [Integrations]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between SSO and SAML? SSO is the outcome: one sign-in that works across many apps. SAML is one of the standard protocols used to achieve it, passing a signed assertion from the identity provider to the app. OpenID Connect is the other common protocol, often preferred for mobile and modern web apps. ##### Is SSO secure? Yes, when set up well. It cuts the number of passwords people reuse, puts multi-factor authentication and access rules in one place, and lets IT remove access everywhere at once. The trade-off is that the identity provider becomes critical, so protect it with strong authentication and monitoring. ##### What is the difference between SSO and SCIM? SSO controls how people sign in. SCIM controls which accounts exist in each app and what they contain, creating, updating and deactivating them from the directory. Most organizations use both, so joiners get access automatically and leavers lose both sign-in and account. ##### Does SSO replace multi-factor authentication? No. SSO decides where people sign in; multi-factor authentication strengthens that sign-in. The usual setup applies multi-factor checks once at the identity provider, which then covers every connected app. #### Related terms - [SCIM provisioning]() An open standard that creates, updates and deactivates user accounts in apps automatically from the company directory. - [HRIS integration]() A connection that syncs joiners, leavers, teams and leave dates from the HR system into workplace software automatically. - [SOC 2]() An independent auditor's report on a service provider's security controls; Type II tests that they worked over a period. #### Sources 1. [Glossary: single sign-on](), NIST Computer Security Resource Center 2. [Assertions and Protocols for the OASIS Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) V2.0](), OASIS 3. [OpenID Connect Core 1.0](), OpenID Foundation Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a stay vs go decision? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/stay-vs-go-decision/ Description: A stay vs go decision is the choice, ahead of a lease event, between staying in a building or relocating. How teams make it, the data it needs and mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is a stay vs go decision? Short answer Stay vs go decision is the choice, ahead of a lease event, between staying in a building (and possibly reconfiguring it) or relocating. Real estate leaders, finance and workplace teams make it together, weighing the cost and disruption of each option against how much space the organization really needs. Also called stay or go decision, stay versus go analysis, renew or relocate decision. #### How it works The decision usually starts well before a lease expiry or break option, because relocating takes time to find a building, negotiate and fit it out, and the notice deadline comes before the lease ends. Teams compare at least two options. Staying can mean renewing as is, renewing on less space, or restacking and refitting the building. Going means a new building, with fit-out, moving and overlap costs, but a chance to get the size, location and quality right. Both options rest on the same question: how much space does the organization need? Measured occupancy, peak days, headcount plans and the attendance policy answer it. Teams then model the cost, timeline and risk of each option, and test layouts with stack plans or test fits before committing. #### How to measure it 1. Start from measured peak occupancy, not headcount or assigned seats. 2. Compare the total cost of each option over the same period: rent, fit-out, moving, overlap, end-of-lease repairs and landlord incentives. 3. Map the critical dates backward from the notice deadline, so there is time to carry out either option. #### Examples - A company with a lease expiring finds it uses well under half its floors on peak days, renews on fewer floors and restacks teams onto them. - A firm whose building no longer fits its needs moves to a smaller, better-located space and uses the move to change its seating model. #### Common mistakes - Starting too late, so relocating is no longer possible and the landlord knows it. - Sizing either option from headcount instead of measured use. - Comparing rent only and ignoring fit-out, moving and disruption costs. #### How Kadence helps Kadence gives teams occupancy evidence and a way to test options before a lease event. Workplace Insights shows attendance, occupancy and heatmaps from check-in data. SpaceOps scenario planning compares options side by side, such as renewing on fewer floors or consolidating, stack planning places teams on floors, and share-ready PDF exports help present the options to leadership. [Scenario planning]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Workplace analytics]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### When should a stay vs go analysis start? Well before the lease notice deadline, because relocating takes time to find space, negotiate and fit out. Work back from the notice deadline and allow enough time to carry out whichever option wins. ##### What data do you need for a stay vs go decision? Measured occupancy and peak days, headcount forecasts, the attendance policy, the lease terms and critical dates, and full costs for each option, including fit-out, moving and overlap. Occupancy data is often the missing piece. ##### Can you stay and still reduce space? Often, yes. Many organizations renew on fewer floors, sublease part of their space or restack teams to free whole floors. Measured occupancy shows how much space can go while still supporting peak days. #### Related terms - [Lease event]() A lease date that forces or allows a decision, such as an expiry, a break option, a renewal option or a rent review. - [Office relocation]() Moving an office or department to another building, planned around the lease date, real attendance and a clear move schedule. - [Office consolidation]() Moving teams from several floors, buildings or sites into less space, then giving up or repurposing the space that is freed. - [Scenario planning]() Modeling several possible futures for space, cost and teams, and comparing them side by side before committing to one. - [Office right-sizing]() Matching the amount and type of office space to how people actually use it, based on measured demand rather than headcount. - [Hidden capacity]() Usable space that accurate utilization data reveals inside the current footprint. It often removes the need to lease more. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a sublease? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/sublease/ Description: A sublease lets a tenant rent unneeded space to a subtenant. How subleasing works, what makes space easy to sublet, and the risks to weigh before relying on it. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is a sublease? Short answer A sublease is an agreement in which a tenant lets all or part of the space it leases to another party, the subtenant, for part of the remaining lease term. Occupiers use subleasing to recover cost on space they no longer need, while remaining responsible to the landlord under the original lease. Also called sublet, subletting, subleasing. #### How it works In a sublease the original tenant becomes the sublandlord. It signs a new agreement with the subtenant for all or part of its space, for a term shorter than its own lease. The original lease stays in force, so the tenant still owes rent and must meet its obligations to the landlord even if the subtenant does not pay. Most commercial leases require the landlord's consent to sublet and set conditions on who can take the space and on what terms; some forbid subleasing outright. The rent a subtenant will pay depends on the market, the remaining term and the space itself, and it is often below the tenant's own rent. Space sublets most easily when it is self-contained: a whole floor or a clearly separated area with its own access. That is why a sublease usually follows a restack that brings the tenant's teams together and frees a continuous block of space. #### Examples - A company restacks onto three floors of a four-floor lease and sublets the fourth for the rest of the term. - A tenant with a long lease and no break option sublets one wing to a smaller firm to offset part of its rent. #### Common mistakes - Counting expected sublease income as a certain saving in the business case; show it separately from cash savings. - Offering space that cannot be separated from your own, which few subtenants will take. - Overlooking landlord consent, the cost of making the space lettable, and agent fees. - Forgetting that the tenant remains liable to the landlord if the subtenant defaults. #### How Kadence helps Kadence helps free space that can be sublet. Workplace Insights shows which floors and areas sit empty, and SpaceOps stack planning and guided workflows consolidate teams onto fewer floors using real occupancy data, so a whole floor or block becomes available. [SpaceOps]() · [Workplace analytics]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between a sublease and an assignment? In a sublease the original tenant keeps its lease and lets space to a subtenant under a new agreement. In an assignment the tenant transfers the lease itself to a new tenant, who then deals with the landlord directly. Depending on the lease, the original tenant may remain liable after an assignment. ##### Do you need landlord permission to sublease office space? Usually yes. Most commercial leases require the landlord's consent, often on terms that it cannot be unreasonably withheld, and some leases prohibit subletting. Check the lease and local law before marketing the space. ##### Who is responsible if a subtenant stops paying? The original tenant. A sublease does not release the tenant from its own lease, so it must keep paying the landlord and meeting its obligations, then pursue the subtenant under the sublease agreement. ##### Is subleasing a good way to cut office costs? It can recover part of the cost of space you no longer need, especially when a lease has no break option. Income is uncertain and often below the rent you pay, so treat it as a possible benefit in a business case rather than a guaranteed saving. #### Related terms - [Lease event]() A lease date that forces or allows a decision, such as an expiry, a break option, a renewal option or a rent review. - [Restack]() Reassigning teams across the floors of a building to free space, absorb growth or improve adjacency, done as a sequence of moves. - [Office consolidation]() Moving teams from several floors, buildings or sites into less space, then giving up or repurposing the space that is freed. - [Business case for consolidation]() The financial case for moving into less space, with cash savings, one-off costs and softer benefits kept separate. - [Real estate portfolio optimization]() Matching the buildings, floors and leases an organization holds to the space its people actually need. #### Sources 1. [sublease](), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Examples]() 3. [Common mistakes]() 4. [How Kadence helps]() 5. [FAQ]() 6. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is swing space? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/swing-space/ Description: Swing space is temporary workspace used while permanent space is refurbished or not yet ready. How decanting works, how to size swing space, and hybrid options. [Glossary]() · Moves & change ### What is swing space? Short answer Swing space is temporary workspace that people use while their permanent space is refurbished, reconfigured or not yet ready. Facilities and real estate teams use it to keep teams working during fit-outs, restacks and phased relocations, moving people out to the swing space and then back, or on to their new location, in planned waves. Also called decant space, temporary space, decanting. #### How it works Swing space can be a spare floor in the same building, a vacant area in another building, short-term leased space or flexible coworking. Its size depends on how many people need to be out at the same time, which depends on how the project is phased. Moving people into swing space is often called decanting. In a phased refurbishment, one floor is emptied into swing space, rebuilt and reoccupied, then the next floor follows, so a small amount of swing space can support a whole building program. Hybrid attendance changes the math. Because not everyone is in on the same day, a team can often share a smaller swing area through desk booking, or temporarily use bookable space in another neighborhood, rather than needing one seat per person. #### How to measure it 1. Size swing space from peak-day attendance for the teams being moved, not total headcount. 2. Track how long each group spends in swing space against the plan. 3. Include swing space costs, including the extra moves, in the project budget. #### Examples - During a two-floor refurbishment, the tenant decants one floor at a time into a spare floor in the same building. - A team whose area is closed for several weeks books desks in another neighborhood instead of moving to leased swing space. #### Common mistakes - Sizing swing space for everyone when attendance data shows a smaller peak. - Forgetting that swing space doubles the number of moves for each person. - Leaving closed areas bookable during the works. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Closure Management closes buildings, and on WorkOps Pro floors, neighborhoods or individual spaces, for the dates of the works, so nobody books space that is out of use. The Neighborhood Scheduler assigns a team to a different neighborhood by date, and Workplace Insights shows how much temporary space the team really needs on its busiest days. [WorkOps]() · [Workplace occupancy]() · [Office move checklist]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is decanting in facilities management? Decanting is moving people out of an area into swing space so the area can be refurbished, reconfigured or handed back. Once the work is done they move back, or on to a new location. Large projects decant in phases, one floor or zone at a time. ##### How much swing space do you need? Enough for the largest group that will be out of its space at the same time, sized to their peak-day attendance rather than headcount. Phasing the project so fewer people are displaced at once reduces the amount needed. ##### What is the difference between swing space and flexible workspace? Swing space is defined by its purpose: temporary space during works or a move. Flexible workspace is a type of space, such as coworking or short-term offices, that can serve as swing space or as a permanent part of a portfolio. ##### Can hybrid teams avoid swing space? Often, for part of a project. If attendance data shows a team's peak fits in bookable space elsewhere in the building, the team can book desks in another neighborhood for the duration instead of moving into leased swing space. #### Related terms - [Restack]() Reassigning teams across the floors of a building to free space, absorb growth or improve adjacency, done as a sequence of moves. - [Office relocation]() Moving an office or department to another building, planned around the lease date, real attendance and a clear move schedule. - [Office fit-out]() The work that turns shell or existing space into a usable office: walls, services, finishes, furniture and technology. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is team adjacency in office planning? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/team-adjacency/ Description: Team adjacency means placing teams that depend on each other close together. How an adjacency matrix works, how it shapes stack plans and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is team adjacency in office planning? Short answer Team adjacency is the practice of placing teams that depend on each other physically close together, on the same floor or side by side in a building. Space planners and workplace leaders use adjacency requirements to shape stack and block plans, so collaboration, handoffs and quick questions do not have to cross floors or buildings. Also called adjacency planning, adjacency matrix, adjacent teams. #### How it works Planning starts with an adjacency matrix: a grid that lists every team on both axes and scores how closely each pair needs to sit. A common approach rates each relationship on a simple scale and marks it as must, should or cannot sit close. The inputs come from leaders, collaboration patterns such as shared meetings, and which teams come in on the same days. Planners then place teams on floors so the strongest links sit together, within each floor's capacity. When everything cannot fit, the matrix shows which links to protect first and which can span a floor. In hybrid offices adjacency also has a time element: two teams gain most from sitting together when they are in on the same days. Adjacency drifts as the organization changes. Reorganizations, growth and new projects create new links and weaken old ones, so the matrix and the stack plan need regular review, especially before a restack or a move. #### How to measure it 1. Share of must-sit-close pairs that are on the same floor in the current plan. 2. Co-attendance: how often connected teams are in the office on the same days. 3. Feedback from teams on whether the people they depend on are nearby. #### Examples - Product and engineering share a floor with design next door, while finance and legal share a quieter floor. - Before a restack, a planner finds that two teams created by a reorganization sit three floors apart and moves them together. #### Common mistakes - Using the org chart as the adjacency matrix; reporting lines and working relationships often differ. - Protecting every link equally, which makes the plan impossible to fit. - Ignoring attendance patterns: teams that are never in on the same days gain little from sitting together. - Setting adjacencies once and never revisiting them after reorganizations. #### How Kadence helps Kadence SpaceOps places teams on floors with auto-stack, and planners can drag teams, lock them in place or close floors to keep connected teams together. Scenario planning compares layouts side by side, and the AI planning agent builds or changes stack and space plans from plain-language requests. Approved plans are published into live neighborhoods in WorkOps. [SpaceOps]() · [Flexible office models guide]() · [Scenario planning]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does adjacent team mean? An adjacent team is a team that works closely with yours and benefits from sitting nearby, for example because you hand work to each other or meet often. In office planning, adjacent teams are placed on the same floor or next to each other so that working together takes less effort. ##### What is an adjacency matrix in space planning? An adjacency matrix is a grid with every team listed along both sides. Each cell records how closely that pair needs to sit, often as a score and a label such as must, should or cannot sit close. Planners use it to decide which teams share a floor. ##### Why does team adjacency matter in a hybrid office? Office days are limited, so the time people spend together matters more. When teams that depend on each other sit close and come in on the same days, questions get answered in person and decisions move faster. When they are floors apart, people may as well have stayed home. ##### How do you decide which teams should sit together? Ask leaders which teams they rely on, then check the answers against evidence such as shared meetings, handoffs and which teams come in on the same days. Rank the links, protect the strongest ones first, and review the choices after every reorganization. #### Related terms - [Block plan]() A floor-level layout that assigns each team to a zone of one floor, between the stack plan and the seat-level plan. - [Stack planning]() A floor-by-floor plan of which teams occupy which floors and buildings, used to test moves and consolidations first. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. - [In-person collaboration]() Work people do together face to face, and the practice of measuring whether office time brings the right people together. - [Restack]() Reassigning teams across the floors of a building to free space, absorb growth or improve adjacency, done as a sequence of moves. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a team day in hybrid work? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/team-days/ Description: A team day is a recurring day when a hybrid team meets in the office together. How to set team days, what to use them for and how to tell whether they work. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is a team day in hybrid work? Short answer A team day is a recurring day when members of a hybrid team agree to work from the office together, usually set weekly or monthly by the team or its manager. Teams use it for planning, collaboration, mentoring and social time, and workplace teams use it to reserve enough desks and rooms in the right place. Also called team day, in-person team days, collaboration days. #### How it works The team or its manager picks a day based on when people are available and what the team needs to do together. The day repeats on a set pattern, such as every Tuesday or the first Thursday of each month, and is published where people plan their week so nobody has to guess. On the day, the team sits together, often in its neighborhood, and holds the meetings that benefit from being in one room: planning, reviews, workshops, onboarding and one-to-ones. Focus work that can be done anywhere is left for other days. Team days give workplace teams a predictable demand signal. Knowing which teams are in on which days lets them assign neighborhoods by date, spread teams across the week and size rooms for the meetings that happen. Attendance on team days shows whether the arrangement is working. #### How to measure it 1. Track the share of team members present on each team day, not just total attendance. 2. Check whether the team's key meetings are booked on its team days. 3. Watch occupancy on days when several teams' team days coincide. #### Examples - A sales team meets every Monday to review the pipeline, with mentors and new starters sitting together. - A distributed product team books a coworking space near most of its members for a monthly team day instead of traveling to headquarters. #### Benchmarks - Axalta runs team days on Tuesdays and Thursdays and recorded 40% occupancy on those days. [Kadence customer story: Axalta]() #### Common mistakes - Letting the team day fill up with calls to people outside the office, which defeats its purpose. - Moving team days often, so people cannot plan childcare or travel around them. - Not reserving space, so the team arrives and cannot sit together. #### How Kadence helps Team Kadence lets managers schedule recurring team days every week or month, choose when they start, and pick a location and neighborhood for the team. Members get smart suggestions on their schedule to book for the team day, and Workplace Events with RSVP (WorkOps Pro) can add a lunch or social. Kadence Flex lets distributed teams book coworking space for their team days. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Workplace events]() · [Flexible office space]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a team day? A team day is a recurring day when a hybrid team works from the office together. It is usually set by the team or its manager, repeats weekly or monthly, and is used for the work that benefits most from being in the same room, such as planning, reviews, mentoring and social time. ##### How often should a hybrid team have a team day? Many teams start with one team day a week, or a monthly day if members are widely spread. The right rhythm depends on how much of the work needs people together. Review attendance and ask the team after a few months whether the day is worth the commute. ##### What should you do on a team day? Use the day for activities that are harder remotely: planning sessions, design or code reviews, workshops, onboarding, mentoring, one-to-ones and a shared lunch or social. Keep heads-down work and large video calls for other days, so the time together is spent together. ##### How do you get people to come in on team days? Give the day a clear purpose, set it far enough ahead that people can plan, make sure there is space for the team to sit together, and show who else is coming. People are more likely to commute when they know the colleagues they need will be there. #### Related terms - [Anchor days]() Set days each week when a team or company agrees to be in the office together, with the other days flexible. - [Hybrid coordination]() The work of getting the right people into the office on the same days and giving them the right space when they arrive. - [In-person collaboration]() Work people do together face to face, and the practice of measuring whether office time brings the right people together. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. - [Team dynamics]() The patterns of behavior and interaction that shape how a team works together and how well it performs. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What are examples of effective team dynamics? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/team-dynamics/ Description: Team dynamics are the patterns of behavior that shape how a team works and performs. Examples of effective team dynamics and how to build them in hybrid teams. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What are examples of effective team dynamics? Short answer Team dynamics are the patterns of behavior, communication and relationships that shape how a team works together and how well it performs. Effective team dynamics include open communication, shared information, clear goals and expectations, fair recognition and trust. Managers pay attention to them because the same people can perform very differently depending on how they interact. Also called group dynamics, effective team dynamics. #### How it works Every team develops habits: who speaks and who stays quiet, how information travels, how disagreements are handled and how decisions are made. Positive dynamics show up when people act for the good of the team rather than only for themselves, which produces better ideas, decisions and results. Hybrid work adds a split. People in the office reach managers faster, pick up information informally and may take on tasks that remote colleagues cannot, while remote members can miss updates and recognition. Unless the team designs around this, the in-office group and the remote group drift apart. Effective hybrid teams make the invisible parts explicit. They share information in common channels, set clear goals and expectations, reward people equally wherever they work, plan regular in-person time, watch for stress and burnout, and explain how decisions are made. #### How to measure it 1. Run short, regular team health checks on communication, clarity and trust. 2. Compare participation in meetings and channels between in-office and remote members. #### Examples - Open communication: the team uses one chat channel and one weekly call for updates, whether members are in the office or at home. - Consistent information: meeting notes and decisions are posted in a shared space on the same day. - Clear goals: each member can explain how their work connects to the team's objectives. - Occasional in-person time: the team meets in the office on a set day each month for planning and a shared lunch. - Transparency: the manager shares results, good or bad, and explains why decisions were made. #### Common mistakes - Letting informal office conversations become the place where decisions are made. - Rewarding visible effort over results, which disadvantages remote members. - Never meeting in person, so relationships stay transactional. #### How Kadence helps Kadence does not measure team dynamics. It helps with one practical part: getting a team in the office on the same days. Team members can see who is coming in and get suggestions to book on the same days, and Workplace Events with RSVP (WorkOps Pro) can organize team lunches and socials. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Bringing teams together guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What are examples of effective team dynamics? Effective team dynamics include open communication, sharing information with everyone, clear common goals, clear expectations, equal recognition for remote and in-office members, meeting in person from time to time, actively managing stress and burnout, and being transparent about how decisions are made. ##### What does team dynamics mean? Team dynamics are the often unconscious forces that shape how a team behaves and performs: how members communicate, collaborate, handle conflict and make decisions. They explain why teams with similar skills can produce very different results. ##### How do you improve team dynamics in a hybrid team? Assess the team against common signs of healthy dynamics and fix the weakest area first. For most hybrid teams that means using shared channels for all communication, publishing decisions, giving remote members equal access to information and recognition, and planning regular in-person time with a clear purpose. ##### What are signs of poor team dynamics? Warning signs include information reaching some members and not others, decisions made in side conversations, a few voices dominating meetings, unresolved conflict, low participation from remote members, and people protecting their own work rather than helping the team succeed. #### Related terms - [In-person collaboration]() Work people do together face to face, and the practice of measuring whether office time brings the right people together. - [Team days]() A recurring day when a hybrid team agrees to be in the office together, usually set by the team or its manager. - [Hybrid coordination]() The work of getting the right people into the office on the same days and giving them the right space when they arrive. - [Virtual water cooler]() An informal online space, such as a chat channel or open video call, where remote and hybrid colleagues talk about non-work topics. - [Proximity bias]() The tendency to favor people who are physically present in the office over equally effective remote colleagues. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Can you book desks and rooms inside Microsoft Teams or Slack? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/teams-slack-integration/ Description: Microsoft Teams and Slack booking lets employees book desks and rooms and see who is in without leaving chat. How it works and what to check before rollout. [Glossary]() · Platforms & integrations ### Can you book desks and rooms inside Microsoft Teams or Slack? Short answer Microsoft Teams and Slack booking lets employees reserve desks and meeting rooms, see which colleagues are going to the office and check in without leaving the chat tool they already use. Workplace teams use it to raise adoption of desk and room booking, because booking happens where people already plan their working day. Also called Microsoft Teams desk booking, Slack desk booking, chat-based booking. #### How it works The workplace platform publishes an app in the Microsoft Teams app store or the Slack app directory. IT approves it once for the organization, and employees add it like any other app, signing in with their company account. Inside Teams or Slack, people open a tab, use buttons and forms, or type a request in plain language, such as book me a desk near my team on Tuesday or find a room for five this afternoon. The app calls the booking platform, which applies the same rules, neighborhoods and availability as the web and mobile apps. Notifications travel the other way: check-in reminders, notices that a teammate has booked, announcements and weekly schedules arrive in chat. Because the booking platform stays the system of record, a booking made in Teams shows in the mobile app, on the floor plan and in reports. #### How to measure it 1. Track the share of bookings made from Teams or Slack against other channels after launch. 2. Compare adoption by team before and after the chat app is rolled out. 3. Watch check-in rates after turning on chat reminders. #### Examples - An employee types book me a desk near my team on Thursday in Teams and gets a confirmed desk on the right floor. - A Slack message each Monday shows which teammates plan to be in the office that week. #### Benchmarks - Wavex got 100% adoption through Microsoft Teams. [Kadence customer story: Wavex]() #### Common mistakes - Rolling out the chat app without telling people it is the default place to book. - Allowing booking in chat under different rules from the main app. - Sending so many notifications that people mute the app. #### How Kadence helps Kadence has apps for Microsoft Teams and Slack on all WorkOps plans. People book desks and rooms, see when teammates are going in, check in, and get reminders and announcements inside the chat tool. Kadence AI in Teams and Slack takes plain-language requests, such as booking a desk near a teammate, and Kadence also works in Outlook and Google Calendar. [Microsoft Teams]() · [Slack]() · [Kadence AI]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### Can you book a desk in Microsoft Teams? Yes, through a workplace app installed in Teams. Employees can find and book desks and rooms, see teammates' office days on a floor plan and check in from Teams. Some apps also accept plain-language requests to a bot, such as asking for a desk near a named colleague. ##### Can you book desks in Slack? Yes. Workplace platforms with a Slack app let people book and change desks, see who is heading to the office and get check-in reminders in Slack. Bookings made in Slack follow the same rules and appear in the same reports as bookings made anywhere else. ##### Do bookings made in Teams or Slack show in the main booking app? They should. In a well-built integration the booking platform is the single system of record, and Teams or Slack is just another way in. Test this before rollout: book in chat and confirm the booking appears in the mobile app, on the floor plan and in reports. ##### Is booking in Teams or Slack secure? It uses the same controls as the rest of the platform. IT approves the app centrally, people sign in with their company account through single sign-on, and permissions and booking rules still apply. Check which data the app can read in chat before approving it. #### Related terms - [Desk booking system]() Software that lets employees find and reserve a desk before they come in, check in on arrival and free desks nobody uses. - [AI workplace assistant]() A chat-based assistant that books desks and rooms and handles workplace tasks from a plain-language request. - [Two-way calendar sync]() A link in which room bookings and changes made in Outlook, Google Calendar or the booking system update the others. - [Hybrid coordination]() The work of getting the right people into the office on the same days and giving them the right space when they arrive. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a test fit in office real estate? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/test-fit/ Description: A test fit is a draft layout that checks whether your space needs fit a specific building before you sign. What it shows, how it is used and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is a test fit in office real estate? Short answer A test fit is a preliminary floor layout that shows whether an organization's space requirements fit within a specific building or floor before a lease is signed. Tenants, brokers and architects use test fits to compare candidate buildings, check capacity and estimate fit-out scope, so the decision rests on a drawn plan rather than an area figure alone. Also called test-fit plan, space test fit. #### How it works The input is a space program: how many desks, meeting rooms, focus rooms and support areas the organization needs. An architect or designer places these on the candidate floor plate, working around the core, columns, windows and exits, and produces a quick block or furniture layout. The result shows what really fits: the number of seats, the rooms that can be built, and any compromises forced by the building's shape. It also gives a density figure, such as usable area per seat, which lets tenants compare buildings that quote similar areas but perform differently. Test fits are drawn quickly, often for several buildings at once during a search. The chosen test fit then becomes the starting point for detailed design and the fit-out budget. #### How to measure it 1. Seats and rooms achieved against the space program, by type. 2. Usable area per seat, compared across candidate buildings. 3. Seats or rooms lost to the building's shape, such as deep areas far from windows. #### Examples - A tenant tests the same program in three shortlisted buildings and finds one holds it on fewer floors because of its larger floor plate. - A test fit shows a floor holds the desks needed but only half the meeting rooms, which sends the search back to other buildings. #### Common mistakes - Testing an inflated program based on headcount rather than peak attendance. - Treating the test fit as the final design; it is a feasibility check. - Comparing test fits drawn to different standards, such as desk sizes or corridor widths. - Ignoring building services, such as where power, heating and cooling can reach, until detailed design. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights shows current attendance, peak days and room use, so the program behind a test fit reflects measured demand. For floors already in the portfolio, SpaceOps goes from a stack plan down to seat-level layouts on real floor plans, and planners can compare options side by side before a move. [Space management]() · [Scenario planning]() · [Office space planning guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the purpose of a test fit? A test fit checks, before you commit, that a building can hold what you need. It shows how many desks and rooms fit, what compromises the floor forces, and roughly how much fit-out work is involved, so you can compare shortlisted buildings on the same basis. ##### Who pays for a test fit? Practice varies by market. Landlords often pay for test fits of their own space to win a tenant. Tenants also commission their own architect to test several buildings to the same standards, so the results can be compared fairly. ##### What is the difference between a test fit and a space plan? A test fit is a quick feasibility layout used to choose a building. A space plan is the detailed layout drawn once the building is chosen, with exact desk positions, rooms and circulation, and it becomes the basis for construction drawings. ##### What do you need before commissioning a test fit? A space program listing the desks, rooms and support areas you need, the space standards you use, and the floor plans of the candidate buildings. The program should come from measured attendance and room use, not headcount, or every test fit will overstate what you need. ##### How do I know if a team will fit on a floor? Compare the team's measured peak attendance with the desks and rooms on the floor, not its headcount, and allow for people who need assigned seats. Then lay the team out on the floor plan to check it sits together and has the rooms it needs. #### Related terms - [Space programming]() Working out how much space an organization needs, and of which types, before anyone draws a floor plan. - [Block plan]() A floor-level layout that assigns each team to a zone of one floor, between the stack plan and the seat-level plan. - [Lease event]() A lease date that forces or allows a decision, such as an expiry, a break option, a renewal option or a rent review. - [Office fit-out]() The work that turns shell or existing space into a usable office: walls, services, finishes, furniture and technology. - [Floor plate]() The area and shape of one floor of a building, which sets how many people, rooms and teams fit on it. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is space utilization? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/utilisation/ Description: Space utilization measures how intensively buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their capacity over time. The formula, an example and how to measure it. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### What is space utilization? Short answer Space utilization is a measure of how intensively a workplace's buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their full capacity over time: how often each space is used, and how full it is when it is. Real estate and workplace teams use it to judge how hard their space works and what to keep, consolidate or redesign. Also called utilisation, utilization rate, office utilization, workspace utilization, building utilization. #### How it works Space utilization multiplies two things. Frequency is the share of available time a space is in use. Fullness is the share of its capacity filled while it is in use. A ten-person room in use half the working week, usually by four people, has a frequency of 50%, a fullness of 40% and a utilization of 20%. It applies at every level, and each level answers a different question. Building and floor utilization compare the people present over time with the seats available, and drive lease, consolidation and restacking decisions. Room utilization shows whether rooms are the right size. Desk utilization, where capacity is one person, reduces to the share of desk-hours in use and drives desk ratios and neighborhood sizing. It is not the same as occupancy. Occupancy asks whether a space is in use: the share of desks, rooms or area in use at a point in time or on average. Utilization asks how much of the capacity-time is used. A building can have someone on every floor and in every meeting room while most of its seats sit empty. Utilization is a pattern, not a snapshot. Measure it over several weeks, by day and by hour, from presence signals such as check-ins, network presence, badge swipes or sensors rather than bookings, and report it alongside peak occupancy, since the busiest normal day sets the capacity you need. #### Formula Space utilization = (Seat-hours used ÷ Seat-hours available) × 100 - **Seat-hours used**: For each space, the hours it was in use multiplied by the number of people using it, summed over the period. For a desk this is simply the hours it was used. - **Seat-hours available**: Each space's seats multiplied by the hours it was open and bookable in the same period, excluding closed or out-of-service space. Worked example · illustrative figures 1. A ten-person meeting room is bookable 40 hours a week: 10 × 40 = 400 seat-hours available. 2. It is in use for 20 hours, with an average of 4 people each time: 20 × 4 = 80 seat-hours used. 3. 80 ÷ 400 = 0.20. Utilization: 20%. The room is in use half the week (frequency 50%) but only 40% full when it is. #### How to measure it 1. Choose the level (building, floor, space type) to match the decision, and the time grain (hour, day, week) before you compare sites. 2. Use presence signals for use: check-ins, network presence, badge or sensor data. Keep bookings as a separate measure of intent. 3. For rooms, report frequency and fullness separately, so you can tell 'rarely used' from 'used by too few people'. 4. Break results down by weekday, floor and team, and show the peak day next to the average. #### Examples - A building with 1,000 seats open 50 hours a week has 50,000 seat-hours available. Presence data shows 17,500 used: 35% building utilization, with two floors far below the rest that become consolidation candidates. - An eight-person boardroom used most afternoons by two or three people scores well on frequency but poorly on utilization; two smaller rooms would fit the demand better. #### Benchmarks - CBRE's Workplace & Occupancy Benchmarking Program reported a global average building utilization rate of 53%, up from 38% in 2024. [CBRE, The Hybrid Reality (2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights)]() - 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 - Using occupancy and utilization as synonyms, then comparing figures built on different definitions. - Measuring one 'representative' day or week. Utilization changes with policy, season and headcount. - Averaging desks, rooms and floor area into one building figure, which hides desks sitting empty while rooms are overbooked. - Building utilization on bookings instead of check-ins or other presence data. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights reports occupancy, attendance, no-shows and office heatmaps from check-ins, with CSV export for your own utilization models. Check-ins come from the apps, kiosks, room displays, badge data, the API or the Kadence Agent, which checks people in when it detects them on the office network. Automatic Bookings records people who arrive without a booking. SpaceOps uses the same data as the input for stack and scenario plans. [Workplace analytics]() · [Workplace occupancy]() · [Office space planning guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a good office utilization rate? There is no universal target. The right rate depends on your attendance policy, how much headroom you want on the busiest day and your mix of desks and rooms. Look at the peak day as well as the average: a building can average well below capacity and still run out of desks midweek. ##### How do you calculate space utilization? Divide the seat-hours used by the seat-hours available over the same period, then multiply by one hundred. For desks, that is the share of available desk time actually used. For rooms, it combines how often the room is used with how many of its seats are filled when it is. ##### What is the difference between utilization and occupancy? Occupancy is the share of available desks, rooms or area in use, at a point in time or on average. Utilization is the share of available capacity-time actually used: how often spaces are used multiplied by how full they are. A six-person room booked by one person every afternoon is occupied every afternoon but poorly utilized. ##### Why is office utilization data often unreliable? Most unreliable figures come from bookings or one-off counts. Bookings include reservations nobody used, and a single audit day rarely represents a hybrid week. Reliable utilization uses presence signals such as check-ins, network presence or badge data, measured continuously and broken down by day and space type. ##### Is utilisation the same as utilization? Yes. Utilisation is the British spelling and utilization the American one; both mean how intensively space is used against its capacity over time. Check how a report defines the measure, though, because some use utilization loosely for what is really occupancy, the share of space in use. #### Related terms - [Occupancy vs utilization]() Occupancy is the share of space in use; utilization is the share of capacity-time actually used. - [Occupancy rate]() The share of available desks, rooms or floor area in use, at a point in time or on average over a period. - [Desk utilization]() The share of available desk-hours people actually use, measured desk by desk from check-ins or presence data. - [Meeting room utilization]() How often meeting rooms are used and how full they are when used, which shows whether you need more rooms or different ones. - [Peak occupancy]() The busiest level of use a floor or building reaches in a normal week, which sets the capacity you actually need. - [Cost per seat]() The total annual occupancy cost of an office divided by the seats it provides, or by the seats actually used. #### Sources 1. [The Hybrid Reality: Why the Office Is More Important Than Ever](), CBRE Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Formula]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a space utilization study? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/utilization-study/ Description: A space utilization study measures how desks, rooms and floors are actually used before a lease, consolidation or redesign. Methods, outputs and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### What is a space utilization study? Short answer A space utilization study is a structured, time-bound exercise that measures how an organization's desks, rooms and floors are actually used, usually over several weeks, and compares the results with the space available. Real estate and facilities teams run one before lease events, consolidations or redesigns to replace assumptions with evidence. Also called occupancy study, workplace utilization study, space audit, utilization survey. #### 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 1. Cover several normal weeks, avoiding holidays and one-off events. 2. Measure at the level of the decision: desks and rooms for a redesign, floors and buildings for a lease. 3. Combine observed use with a short survey on needs and reasons for coming in. 4. 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 September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a virtual-first company? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/virtual-first/ Description: A virtual-first or remote-first company makes remote work the default and uses offices for gatherings. How it works, how it differs from hybrid, and examples. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is a virtual-first company? Short answer A virtual-first company, also called remote-first, makes remote work the default for individual work and uses physical space mainly for planned gatherings such as team events, planning and onboarding. It differs from hybrid work, where regular office days are expected. Organizations choose it to hire widely and cut office costs while keeping purposeful in-person time. Also called remote-first, virtual first, distributed work, work from anywhere. #### How it works In a virtual-first organization, nobody is expected in an office on a regular schedule. Processes are designed for people working apart: written and asynchronous communication, documents open by default, meetings kept for decisions and discussion, and overlapping hours arranged across time zones. Offices do not disappear; their role changes. Large headquarters give way to smaller hubs, studios or coworking access used for collaboration and connection. Teams meet in person on purpose, for example at quarterly planning, onboarding weeks or company gatherings, rather than by habit. The term is closely associated with Dropbox, which made remote work the primary experience for all employees and the day-to-day default for individual work, and turned its offices into spaces for collaboration. Other companies run similar models under names such as distributed work or work from anywhere, usually with rules on time zones and where people may legally work. #### How to measure it 1. Track how often and where teams gather in person, to size hubs and coworking budgets. 2. Measure use of each hub or flexible space before renewing it. #### Examples - A software company lets employees work from any country where it has a legal entity, provided their time zone suits their role, and brings teams together for planned gatherings several times a year. - A company closes its headquarters and replaces it with a few small hubs that teams book for workshops and planning sessions. #### Benchmarks - Atlassian's Team Anywhere policy allows its 12,000 employees to work from anywhere the company has a legal entity, provided their time zone aligns with their role, their team lead approves and they have the legal right to work there. [Kadence: Why Atlassian is sticking with distributed work]() #### Common mistakes - Declaring virtual-first but keeping office-era habits, such as meeting-heavy days and decisions made in person. - Keeping a large lease sized for daily attendance that never returns. - Cutting in-person gatherings to save money, which weakens relationships and onboarding. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Flex lets virtual-first teams book coworking desks and meeting rooms worldwide through the LiquidSpace network, alongside any company-owned space, so teams can gather near where they live. Workplace Events with RSVP (WorkOps Pro) helps plan gatherings, and Workplace Insights shows which spaces teams actually use. [Flexible office space]() · [Distributed teams]() · [Workplace events]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does virtual-first mean? Virtual-first means remote work is the default way of working for individual tasks, and offices or meeting spaces are used for planned in-person time such as team gatherings, planning and onboarding. The company designs its processes, meetings and communication around people working apart, rather than treating remote work as an exception. ##### What is the difference between virtual-first and hybrid? Hybrid organizations expect regular office time, such as set days each week. Virtual-first organizations expect remote work by default and bring people together occasionally and on purpose. Hybrid work needs desks and rooms for regular attendance; virtual-first work needs flexible space for gatherings. ##### What is the Dropbox Virtual First model? Dropbox made remote work the primary experience for all employees and the day-to-day default for individual work, while keeping physical spaces for collaboration and connection. It also published a Virtual First Toolkit on how to work this way. It is one of the best-known examples of a virtual-first company. ##### Is remote-first the same as fully remote? Not quite. A fully remote company has no offices. A remote-first company makes remote work the default but may keep hubs or coworking access for people who want them and for team gatherings. Virtual-first is usually used in the second sense. #### Related terms - [Hybrid work model]() The specific rules an organization uses to decide where and when people work, from flexible to office-first. - [Remote work]() Work done away from the employer's office, usually from home, for all or almost all of the working week. - [Flexible workspace]() Workspace used on short or on-demand terms, such as coworking desks, bookable rooms and serviced offices, instead of a long lease. - [Hub-and-spoke office model]() An office network with a central headquarters hub and smaller satellite offices or flexible spaces closer to where people live. - [Hybrid work]() A way of working where employees split their time between the office and remote locations such as home. #### Sources 1. [Dropbox goes Virtual First](), Dropbox Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How do you run an office without a receptionist? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/virtual-receptionist/ Description: A virtual receptionist replaces a staffed front desk with kiosks, QR check-in and host alerts, or a remote person. How to run reception without one, and mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### How do you run an office without a receptionist? Short answer A virtual receptionist is a way of handling office arrivals without a staffed front desk, usually a self-service kiosk or QR check-in that registers visitors, prints badges and notifies hosts, sometimes backed by a remote receptionist on video or phone. Smaller and hybrid offices use it to welcome visitors reliably when nobody is at reception. Also called receptionless front desk, self-service reception, unmanned reception, visitor kiosk. #### How it works The term covers two things. A digital receptionist is software, usually a visitor management kiosk on a tablet at the entrance. A remote receptionist is a person who answers calls and greets visitors over video or phone from somewhere else. Many offices combine the two. Running reception without staff starts before arrival. Hosts pre-register visitors, who receive a QR code and can complete documents in advance. At the entrance, the kiosk checks the visitor in, takes a photo, prints a badge and notifies the host by email or chat, and the host comes to collect them. Walk-ins, deliveries and exceptions still need a route: a kiosk option for unexpected visitors, a named person to call and clear signs. Employees can use the same kiosk to check in, which keeps one record of who is in the building. #### How to measure it 1. Time from arrival to host pickup. 2. Share of visitors pre-registered. 3. Walk-in and delivery volume by time of day, to see whether staffed cover is needed at peaks. 4. Missed host notifications and visitors left waiting. #### Examples - A satellite office of sixty people puts a kiosk in the lobby; pre-registered guests scan a QR code and their hosts get a message in Microsoft Teams. - A headquarters staffs reception during the morning peak and switches to kiosk-only check-in in the afternoon. #### Common mistakes - Removing the receptionist without a plan for walk-ins, deliveries and emergencies. - Placing a kiosk where visitors cannot find it, or with no sign explaining what to do. - Relying on hosts to remember to register guests instead of making the invite part of booking the meeting. #### How Kadence helps Kadence visitor kiosks (WorkOps Pro) let visitors check themselves in on an iPad, Android tablet or Neat device, or by QR code, with badge printing and visitor photos. Hosts are notified by email, Microsoft Teams or Slack, walk-ins can register at the kiosk, and employees can check in there too. Digital NDA signing is available as a paid add-on. [Visitor management system]() · [Kadence on Neat]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do you run an office without a receptionist? Pre-register visitors so they get a QR code in advance, put a self-service kiosk at the entrance to check them in, print badges and notify hosts automatically. Plan for walk-ins, deliveries and emergencies with a clear sign and a named contact. ##### What are the alternatives to hiring a receptionist? The main alternatives are a visitor management kiosk, a remote receptionist service that handles calls and video, a receptionist shared with other companies in the same building, or rotating front-desk duty among office staff. Many offices combine a kiosk with a remote service. ##### What is the difference between a virtual receptionist and a digital receptionist? A virtual receptionist is often a real person who handles calls and greetings remotely. A digital receptionist is software, such as a check-in kiosk, that registers visitors, prints badges and alerts hosts. People often use the two terms interchangeably. ##### What does a front desk receptionist do? A front desk receptionist greets visitors, signs them in, issues badges, contacts hosts, answers phones, handles deliveries and helps with directions and questions. Visitor software can take over the repeatable tasks and leave people for welcome, security and exceptions. #### Related terms - [Visitor management system (VMS)]() Software that registers and checks in visitors, notifies their hosts and keeps a record of who was on site and when. - [Desk check-in]() Confirming that you are at the desk or room you booked, by app, QR code, badge or Wi-Fi presence, so unused bookings can be released. - [Workplace experience (WX)]() How employees experience the office and its services, from finding a desk and colleagues to hosting visitors and getting help. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a virtual water cooler? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/virtual-water-cooler/ Description: A virtual water cooler is an informal online space where remote and hybrid colleagues chat outside work tasks. How it works, ideas that help and the common pitfalls. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is a virtual water cooler? Short answer A virtual water cooler is an informal online space, such as a chat channel or an open video call, where remote and hybrid employees talk about things other than work tasks. It tries to recreate the unplanned conversations that happen around an office kitchen or coffee machine, helping people build relationships, share ideas and feel connected to the organization. Also called virtual watercooler, online water cooler. #### How it works The format is simple: a social chat channel, a standing video room people can drop into, random pairings for short coffee chats, or interest groups for topics such as books, pets or sport. Taking part is optional, and there is no agenda. What makes it work is informality. Water cooler conversations matter because they are unplanned and not controlled by managers. When leaders push attendance or turn the space into another meeting, people stop using it and find their own channels instead. A virtual water cooler complements in-person time rather than replacing it. Online spaces keep connections alive between office days, while planned gatherings such as team days, lunches and events give people the face-to-face moments that online chat cannot fully recreate. #### Examples - A company runs a social channel for weekend photos and pet pictures, plus a monthly random coffee pairing across departments. - A distributed team keeps a video room open for the first few minutes of each morning for anyone who wants to chat. #### Common mistakes - Making attendance mandatory or tracking it, which removes the informality. - Letting managers dominate the conversation. - Relying on online chat alone and never bringing people together in person. #### How Kadence helps Kadence is not a virtual water cooler tool. It covers the in-person side: team coordination shows who is coming in so people can meet face to face, and Workplace Events with RSVP (WorkOps Pro) can plan lunches and socials. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Workplace events]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a virtual water cooler? A virtual water cooler is an online space where colleagues chat informally, much as they would by the office kitchen. It can be a chat channel, a drop-in video call or random coffee pairings. Its purpose is connection rather than productivity, and it works best when joining is optional. ##### What are good virtual water cooler ideas? Popular ideas include social chat channels for hobbies or pets, random coffee pairings across teams, a drop-in video room at the start or end of the day, shared playlists, photo challenges and short quizzes. Keep them optional, low effort and free of work topics. ##### Why are water cooler conversations important? Informal conversations build relationships and trust, help people learn from colleagues outside their own team, and let them raise problems and ideas early. In remote and hybrid work those moments do not happen by chance, so organizations make room for them online and in person. ##### Do virtual water coolers work? They work when they stay informal and voluntary, and when people also meet in person from time to time. They struggle when managers control them, attendance is tracked, or they turn into another meeting. Treat them as one part of how people connect, not the whole answer. #### Related terms - [Team dynamics]() The patterns of behavior and interaction that shape how a team works together and how well it performs. - [In-person collaboration]() Work people do together face to face, and the practice of measuring whether office time brings the right people together. - [Hybrid meeting]() A meeting where some people are in the same room and others join remotely by video. - [Team days]() A recurring day when a hybrid team agrees to be in the office together, usually set by the team or its manager. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Examples]() 3. [Common mistakes]() 4. [How Kadence helps]() 5. [FAQ]() 6. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a visitor management system? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/visitor-management-system/ Description: A visitor management system registers visitors, checks them in, notifies hosts and keeps records of who was on site. How it works, what to measure and mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is a visitor management system? Short answer A visitor management system is software that registers guests before they arrive, checks them in at reception or a self-service kiosk, notifies their host and keeps a record of who was on site and when. Security, facilities and workplace teams use it to control access, meet compliance requirements and give visitors a consistent arrival. Also called VMS, visitor management, visitor registration, visitor check-in. #### How it works A host invites a visitor from the system, a calendar or a chat tool, which sends the guest the details and often a QR code. Pre-registration can collect names, the purpose of the visit and documents such as a non-disclosure agreement before the guest arrives. On arrival, the visitor checks in at a staffed desk, at a tablet kiosk or by scanning the QR code. The system can take a photo, print a badge, collect signatures and notify the host by email, Microsoft Teams or Slack. Walk-in visitors are registered on the spot, and check-out records when they leave. Every visit is logged centrally with times, host and signed documents, so security can answer who was in the building during an incident or audit. Visitor data also counts toward occupancy, which matters for room demand, catering and capacity on busy days. Any site where it matters who is in the building needs one. Regulated sectors such as financial services and healthcare keep visit records for audits. Technology and life sciences companies ask visitors to sign NDAs at check-in to protect unreleased work. Labs, plants and public buildings use it to brief visitors on safety rules and to account for everyone in an evacuation, and multi-site organizations use it to run one process everywhere. #### Types of visitor management Many organizations run more than one type: a staffed desk at headquarters and kiosks at regional offices, all writing to the same log. | Type | How it works | Suits | Watch for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Paper logbook | Visitors sign a book at reception | Very small sites with few visitors | No privacy, no host alerts and no reliable record | | Reception desk with software | Receptionists register guests in a system and print badges | Busy headquarters and client-facing sites | Needs staff at every entrance, at every hour | | Self-service kiosk | Guests check in on a tablet or by QR code and print a badge | Offices without reception and busy lobbies | Needs device management and a fallback when a kiosk fails | | Connected to access control | Check-in triggers access rights and alerts in security systems | Sites with gates, regulated areas or strict security | Needs integration work between IT, security and the vendor | #### How to measure it 1. Visitor volume by site, day and hour, including peak arrival times. 2. Time from arrival to host pickup. 3. Share of visitors pre-registered versus walk-in. 4. Completeness of records: signed documents and check-out times captured. #### How to choose a visitor management system - **Pre-registration.** Hosts should invite guests from the tools they already use, with details and a QR code sent ahead. - **Check-in options.** Check staffed, kiosk and QR check-in, walk-in handling and check-out, so the log shows who is still on site. - **Badges and photos.** If security needs visible identification, check badge printing, photo capture and badge layouts for different visitor types. - **Documents and compliance.** Confirm digital signing of NDAs and site rules, and that signed copies are stored with the visit record. - **Host notifications.** Hosts should hear about arrivals by email, Microsoft Teams or Slack, with more than one host per guest where needed. - **Security integration.** Ask how visitor events reach access control, badge or security tools, through an API or webhooks, and what the security team sees. - **Data protection.** Check retention controls, who can see visitor records, where data is hosted and how deletion requests are handled. - **Multi-site consistency.** Look for one policy across sites with local exceptions, and central logs for audits and emergencies. - **Kiosk hardware.** Confirm which tablets and devices are supported, how kiosks are managed remotely and what happens when one goes offline. - **Link to occupancy.** Visitor counts should feed occupancy and room demand, so busy days are planned with guests included. #### Examples - A host books a room and registers a client in advance; the client scans a QR code at the kiosk, signs an NDA, gets a printed badge and the host is notified. - A regional office with no receptionist runs all visitor check-in from a kiosk in the lobby. #### Common mistakes - Letting each office run its own process, which leaves gaps in records and uneven security. - Forgetting check-out, so the log cannot say who is still in the building. - Keeping visitor data apart from occupancy data, which understates demand for rooms and desks. - Collecting more personal data than needed, or keeping it longer than policy allows. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Visitor Management, part of WorkOps, lets hosts invite and register visitors, notifies one or more hosts on arrival, handles walk-ins and check-out, and keeps central visitor logs across locations. WorkOps Pro adds self-service kiosks with QR check-in, badge printing and visitor photos, and digital NDA signing is a paid add-on. Visitor activity feeds SpaceOps as a planning signal. [Visitor management system]() · [WorkOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is visitor management? Visitor management is the process of inviting, registering, checking in, hosting and recording the people who visit a workplace. It covers security, compliance, the arrival experience and the records needed for audits and emergencies. ##### What features should a visitor management system have? Look for pre-registration, QR or kiosk check-in, badge printing, host notifications by email and chat tools, digital document signing, walk-in handling, check-out, central logs across sites and data retention controls. A link to room booking and occupancy data helps with planning. ##### Why use a visitor management system? It replaces paper logs and ad hoc sign-in with one consistent process. Security knows who is on site, hosts are told when guests arrive, compliance documents are signed and stored, and every site follows the same rules with room for local needs. ##### Can a visitor management system replace a receptionist? It can take over the repetitive tasks: sign-in, badges, document signing and host notifications. Many offices keep people at reception for welcome, security and exceptions, and use kiosks for pre-registered guests and quieter periods. ##### How does a visitor management system support security? It tells security who is expected, who has arrived and who is still on site. Pre-registration lets teams check guests before they come, badges and photos make visitors easy to recognize, and central logs answer who was in the building during an incident. Many organizations connect it to access control or security tools, so visitor events trigger the right access and alerts. #### Related terms - [Virtual receptionist]() A self-service or remote alternative to a staffed front desk, such as a visitor kiosk with QR check-in or a receptionist working remotely. - [Badge data]() Access-control swipe records showing who entered a building or floor and when, often used to measure attendance. - [Workplace experience (WX)]() How employees experience the office and its services, from finding a desk and colleagues to hosting visitors and getting help. - [Desk check-in]() Confirming that you are at the desk or room you booked, by app, QR code, badge or Wi-Fi presence, so unused bookings can be released. - [Mailroom and package management]() Logging incoming deliveries, notifying recipients and tracking pickup, often run through the same front-desk system as visitors. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [How to choose]() 5. [Examples]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is walk-in usage? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/walk-in-usage/ Description: Walk-in usage is desks or rooms used without a booking. Why it matters for utilization reports, how to capture it without sensors and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### What is walk-in usage? Short answer Walk-in usage is desks or rooms used without a booking. If it isn't captured, utilization reports undercount real demand. Workplace and facilities teams track it so that space plans reflect everyone who came in, including people who sit at a free desk or take an empty room on the spot. Also called unbooked usage, drop-in usage, ad hoc space use. #### How it works Booking data records intent. When someone sits at a free desk or takes an empty room without booking, booking data shows that space as unused. In offices with landing pads, first-come desks or informal meeting spaces, the gap can be large. Walk-in use is captured from presence signals rather than bookings: office network presence, desk or room sensors, kiosk or room display check-ins and badge data. Some systems create a booking automatically when a person turns up without one, so the visit appears in the same reports as booked use. With walk-ins captured, teams can compare booked use, walk-in use and no-shows for each floor. That shows the real demand for each type of space and whether the booking policy fits how people work. #### How to measure it 1. Compare check-ins or presence with bookings for the same space and day. Presence without a booking is walk-in use. 2. Report walk-in use as a share of all use, by floor and by space type. 3. Look for spaces with high walk-in use and low booked use. They often work as landing pads in practice. #### Examples - A floor shows a low booked rate, but network presence shows it busy every Wednesday: most people sit wherever is free. - Small rooms near the kitchen show little booked time but steady sensor use, because people take them for short calls. #### Common mistakes - Sizing space from booking data alone, which undercounts demand and can lead to cutting space people use. - Counting a walk-in twice when an automatic booking and a presence record describe the same visit. - Treating walk-in use as a policy breach rather than as evidence of how people prefer to work. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Automatic Bookings creates a booking when someone turns up without one, so walk-in use appears in occupancy reports. The Kadence Agent checks people in automatically when it detects them on the office network, and check-ins can also come from kiosks, room displays, badge data or the API. Workplace Insights then reports attendance, occupancy and no-shows side by side. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [Desk booking software]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### Why does walk-in usage matter for utilization reports? Utilization reports built on bookings count only planned use. Every desk or room used without a booking looks empty, so the report undercounts demand. Teams that cut space on those figures can end up short of space on busy days. ##### How do you track walk-in desk use without sensors? Use signals you already have: office network presence from a desktop app, kiosk or QR code check-ins, and badge data. A system that creates a booking when someone checks in without one records the walk-in in the same reports as booked use. ##### Should offices allow walk-in desk use? Many do, for short visits and people between meetings, often in a landing pad area. The key is to capture it so space plans include it. Organizations that require bookings everywhere still see some walk-in use, and capturing it shows where the rule does not fit. #### Related terms - [No-show rate]() The share of desk and room bookings nobody checks in to, which makes space look busier than it is. - [Desk check-in]() Confirming that you are at the desk or room you booked, by app, QR code, badge or Wi-Fi presence, so unused bookings can be released. - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Landing pad]() A small set of drop-in desks for short stays, visiting colleagues or people between meetings, with no booking required. - [Desk utilization]() The share of available desk-hours people actually use, measured desk by desk from check-ins or presence data. - [Ghost booking]() A desk or room that is booked but never used, so it shows as taken while it sits empty. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is workplace wayfinding? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/wayfinding/ Description: Workplace wayfinding helps people find desks, rooms and colleagues in an office, through floor plan search, signs and landmarks. How it works and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is workplace wayfinding? Short answer Workplace wayfinding is how an office helps people find their way to a desk, meeting room, amenity or colleague, using signs, landmarks, zone names and digital floor plans with search. Workplace and facilities teams invest in it because shared desks and changing layouts mean people no longer know by habit where everything is. Also called indoor wayfinding, office wayfinding, find a colleague, workplace wayfinding. #### How it works Physical wayfinding uses signs, zone names, colors, landmarks and desk labels so people can orient themselves on the floor. Clear building, floor, neighborhood and desk identifiers turn a large, anonymous floor into places people can remember. Digital wayfinding adds search. From a phone, a laptop or a kiosk, a person searches for a colleague, desk, room or parking space and sees it highlighted on the floor plan, often with who is sitting nearby. In hybrid offices, the question people ask most is not where a desk number is but where their team is today. Showing teammates' locations before people arrive, and letting them book near each other, does more for wayfinding than labels alone. #### How to measure it 1. Floor plan searches per office day, and what people search for. 2. Time to find a booked desk or room, from short surveys. 3. Late starts to meetings held in unfamiliar buildings. #### Examples - A visiting employee searches for a colleague's name in the mobile app, and the floor plan highlights their desk three rows from the lifts. - An office names its zones after local landmarks and uses the same names on signs and in the booking app. #### Common mistakes - Numbering every desk and assuming that solves adoption; people navigate by team and landmark. - Letting digital maps fall out of date after layout changes. - Forgetting visitors, who know the building least. #### How Kadence helps Kadence wayfinding and floor plan search let people find any colleague, desk, room or parking space on the floor plan in the web app and the iOS and Android apps. Employees see where teammates are sitting before they arrive, desk QR codes and deep links open a specific space to book, and incognito mode lets people hide their location. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Desk booking software]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is wayfinding in an office? Office wayfinding is the mix of signs, landmarks, naming and digital maps that helps people find desks, rooms, amenities and colleagues. It matters more in shared-desk offices, because people no longer sit in the same place every day. ##### How do employees find teammates in the office? They check who is booked in and where on a live floor plan, search for a colleague by name, or book a desk near teammates before they arrive. Some tools also suggest days when teammates plan to be in. ##### Do desks need numbers for wayfinding? Numbers help people confirm they are in the right spot, but they are rarely the main problem. Clear zone names, landmarks, a searchable floor plan and visibility of where the team sits do more to help people find their way. #### Related terms - [Interactive floor plan]() A live, clickable map of an office that shows desks, rooms and people, and lets employees book space and find colleagues. - [Hybrid coordination]() The work of getting the right people into the office on the same days and giving them the right space when they arrive. - [Neighborhood]() A zone of an office set aside for a team, project or activity, often on set days, so people who work together sit together. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What are additions in workplace management? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/what-are-additions-in-workplace-management/ Description: In workplace management, additions prepare space for a new occupant: a seat, equipment, access and records ready for day one. How additions work and what to measure. [Glossary]() · Moves & change ### What are additions in workplace management? Short answer In workplace management, additions are the work of preparing space for a new occupant, such as a new hire, contractor or incoming team. They are the adds in moves, adds and changes, and cover assigning a desk or neighborhood, setting up equipment and building access, and updating workplace systems so the person can work from day one. Also called new starters, seat additions. #### How it works An addition usually starts in the HR system when a new hire is confirmed with a start date, team and location. Contractors and interns may come from a different source, such as a manager's request. The workplace team decides where the person will sit: an assigned desk, a place in the team's neighborhood, or booking rights for shared desks. Facilities and IT then line up furniture, a laptop and peripherals, a locker and a badge. The directory and booking system need the person's account before day one. Additions in bulk, such as a new team or an acquisition, become capacity questions: does the neighborhood still fit on the team's busiest day, or does the team need more space? That is where addition planning meets headcount planning. Additions differ from the other two kinds of MAC (moves, adds and changes) work. A move relocates someone who already has a seat, and a change alters a space while its people stay put; an addition creates a place for someone who has none. Leavers are the mirror image, releasing a seat, equipment and access, which is why many teams track additions alongside moves and leavers as joiners, movers and leavers. #### How to measure it 1. Track the share of new starters who have a seat, equipment and access ready on day one. 2. Measure lead time between the HR record and the seat assignment. 3. Check neighborhood capacity against peak attendance after each wave of additions. 4. Count additions per month by team and floor, so capacity planning sees growth before it arrives. #### Examples - A new hire is added in the HR system weeks ahead; the workplace team assigns a desk in the team's neighborhood and IT prepares a laptop for day one. - A graduate intake joins in September; the planner checks peak-day demand for the team's floor and adds a row of bookable desks. - An acquired company of forty people joins in one month; the workplace team checks peak attendance, extends the acquiring team's neighborhood and seats everyone in bulk before day one. #### Common mistakes - Learning about a new starter on their first morning. - Seating a new hire far from the team because the neighborhood was full on paper, when attendance data shows room. - Forgetting to create the booking account before day one. - Giving every new hire an assigned desk by default, which grows the footprint faster than attendance. #### How Kadence helps With the Kadence HRIS integration (WorkOps Pro), new starters sync from Workday, BambooHR or HiBob, and Move Manager plans seating for new starters before they start, with recommendations and bulk auto-assign. Leavers are removed from seats automatically. Team neighborhoods, assigned desks and SCIM directory sync mean the new person can find their team and book from their first day. [WorkOps]() · [Space management]() · [Pricing]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does add mean in moves, adds and changes? An add is preparing the workplace for a new occupant: a new employee, contractor or team. It covers where they will sit, the equipment and access they need, and the records that must exist in workplace systems before they arrive. ##### How do you prepare a workspace for a new employee? Confirm the start date and team from HR, choose a seat or neighborhood near the team, arrange equipment, a locker and a badge, and create their accounts in the directory and booking system. Send them a note on where to go and who to meet on the first morning. ##### Should new hires get an assigned desk? It depends on the seating model and the role. In a hybrid office, many new hires do well with a place in their team's neighborhood and booking rights, which keeps them near colleagues without holding a desk that sits empty on remote days. Roles in the office every day may still need an assigned desk. ##### How far in advance should additions be planned? As soon as HR confirms the hire. Seating and access are quick, but equipment, badges and any furniture changes take longer, and bulk additions may need a capacity check or a layout change. An automatic feed from the HR system removes most of the lead-time problem. ##### How are additions different from moves and changes? An addition gives a place to someone who does not have one yet, such as a new hire or contractor. A move relocates someone who already has a seat, and a change updates a space or its rules without relocating anyone. Together they make up MAC, the moves, adds and changes that keep a workplace matched to the organization. #### Related terms - [MAC (moves, adds and changes)]() The routine work of relocating people, seating new occupants and updating workspaces as an organization changes. - [Joiners, movers and leavers (JML)]() The process that keeps access, equipment, seating and records in step when people join, change role or leave. - [Moves]() Planned relocations of a person, team or department to a different seat, neighborhood, floor or building. - [Changes]() Updates to a workspace, team area or setting that do not relocate the people assigned to it. - [HRIS integration]() A connection that syncs joiners, leavers, teams and leave dates from the HR system into workplace software automatically. - [Headcount planning (for space)]() Forecasting how many people will work in each team and location, and turning that into the office space they will need. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What are changes in workplace management? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/what-are-changes-in-workplace-management/ Description: In workplace management, changes update a workspace, team area or setting without relocating anyone. Common examples and how to keep floor plans and data accurate. [Glossary]() · Moves & change ### What are changes in workplace management? Short answer In workplace management, changes are updates to a workspace, team area or workplace setting that do not relocate the people assigned to it. They are the changes in moves, adds and changes, such as converting assigned desks to bookable ones, resizing a neighborhood, closing a room or adding equipment, and each needs floor plans and booking rules updated. Also called workplace changes, reconfiguration. #### How it works Changes come from facilities work, policy decisions and data. A room is refurbished, a desk gets a second monitor, a neighborhood grows by one row, a floor switches to shared desks, or a zone closes on Fridays. Each change touches records other people rely on. The floor plan shows the new layout, booking rules reflect the new capacity and permissions, and reports know the new baseline so use before and after can be compared fairly. Changes are frequent and small, so they are easy to skip. When they go unrecorded, the booking system offers desks that no longer exist, and occupancy reports divide by the wrong capacity. Changes are the part of MAC (moves, adds and changes) that leaves people where they are. A move relocates people and an addition seats someone new; a change alters the space, its capacity or its rules. Many projects combine all three: converting a floor to shared desks is a change, the team that moves onto it makes moves, and new hires seated there are additions. #### How to measure it 1. Log every change with a date so reports can compare like with like. 2. Audit the floor plan against the real floor at least once a year and after each fit-out. 3. Track how long a change takes from decision to live in the booking system. 4. Count changes per month by type, such as layout, equipment, booking rules and closures, to see where facilities and admin effort goes. #### Examples - A team converts a block of assigned desks to bookable desks after attendance data shows most sit empty. - A meeting room is closed for refurbishment and removed from availability for those dates. - A neighborhood grows by one row of desks for a growing team, and the floor plan, booking permissions and capacity baseline are updated the same day. #### Common mistakes - Changing the floor and not the floor plan. - Changing capacity partway through a period and comparing utilization without adjusting the baseline. - Making changes without telling the people who use the space. - Closing a floor for a day without closing it in the booking system, so people book desks they cannot use. #### How Kadence helps Kadence admins make changes in one place: edit floor plans in the browser (included with SpaceOps, or a paid add-on for WorkOps Pro), bulk-edit spaces and neighborhoods from a spreadsheet, schedule neighborhoods by date, and close buildings, or on WorkOps Pro floors and spaces, with Closure Management. Workplace Insights then shows how use shifted after the change. [WorkOps]() · [Space management]() · [Workplace analytics]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What counts as a change in MAC? Any update to a workspace or assignment that does not relocate anyone: new furniture or equipment, a room converted to another use, desks switched between assigned and bookable, a neighborhood resized, or new booking rules for an area. If people stay put but the space or its rules change, it is a change. ##### What is the difference between a change, a move and an addition? A move relocates people, and an addition seats someone new. A change alters the space or its settings while the people stay where they are. All three are part of MAC (moves, adds and changes) and need records updated, but changes are the easiest to forget because nobody carries a box. ##### How do you keep floor plans up to date? Make updating the floor plan part of closing every move and change, not a separate task. Give one team ownership, use tools that let admins edit plans directly, and walk each floor against the plan after fit-outs and at least once a year. ##### Do changes affect occupancy reporting? Yes. Occupancy and utilization divide use by available capacity, so adding, removing or closing desks and rooms changes the denominator. Record the date of each change and compare periods with the same capacity, or the numbers will look better or worse than reality. ##### Who approves workplace changes? Usually the workplace or facilities team that owns the space, with input from the teams that use it. Changes to capacity or rules, such as converting assigned desks to bookable ones, often need sign-off from the team's manager, and changes to rooms or equipment may involve IT. Tell the people affected before the change goes live. #### Related terms - [MAC (moves, adds and changes)]() The routine work of relocating people, seating new occupants and updating workspaces as an organization changes. - [Moves]() Planned relocations of a person, team or department to a different seat, neighborhood, floor or building. - [Additions]() Preparing a seat, equipment, access and records for a new occupant such as a new hire, contractor or team. - [Workplace change management]() A structured approach to helping people adopt a new layout, policy, system or location so the change lasts. - [Interactive floor plan]() A live, clickable map of an office that shows desks, rooms and people, and lets employees book space and find colleagues. - [Space management]() The ongoing tracking, allocation and improvement of how an organization's buildings, floors, desks and rooms are used. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What are moves in workplace management? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/what-are-moves-in-workplace-management/ Description: In workplace management, moves are planned relocations of a person, team or department. What a move involves, how to sequence moves, and the records to update. [Glossary]() · Moves & change ### What are moves in workplace management? Short answer In workplace management, moves are planned relocations of an employee, team or department from one seat, neighborhood, floor or building to another. They are the first part of moves, adds and changes, and each one needs matching updates to seat assignments, floor plans, equipment, access and booking systems, coordinated by workplace, facilities and IT teams. Also called employee moves, team relocation. #### How it works A move starts with a trigger: a reorganization, a restack, a consolidation, team growth or a person changing roles. The move team checks where the person or team sits today, finds space that fits, and agrees the date with the people involved. Most moves have a physical part and a data part. The physical part is furniture, belongings, IT equipment, lockers and access badges. The data part is seat assignments, neighborhoods, floor plans, directory location and any booking rules tied to the old space. Moves are usually grouped and sequenced. When one team must vacate a zone before another can arrive, the order matters, and some moves need temporary swing space. A move is finished only when the records match where people now sit. Moves are one of the three kinds of MAC (moves, adds and changes) work. An add seats someone new and a change alters a space while its people stay put; a move takes people who already have a place and gives them a different one, so the old seat must be released as well as the new one assigned. Larger programs, such as a restack or an office relocation, are planned as projects, but they still break down into individual moves. #### How to measure it 1. Count people moved per period and divide by population to get churn rate. 2. Track cost per move by type: box move, furniture move or construction move. 3. Measure how long records take to catch up after a move. 4. Track the share of moves completed on the planned date, and how many are reversed or redone within a few weeks. #### Examples - One person changes teams and moves from the finance neighborhood to the product neighborhood on another floor. - A department moves from the third floor to the fifth as part of a restack, in one weekend. - A restack moves three teams in sequence over two weekends: legal moves into swing space so sales can take its floor, then legal moves into its final area. #### Common mistakes - Moving people without updating their assigned seat, so colleagues cannot find them and reports are wrong. - Moving a team before the receiving area is cleared. - Telling people where they are going the day before. - Assigning the new seat but leaving the old one marked as taken, so the space looks full when it is not. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Move Manager (WorkOps Pro) plans individual and team relocations, recommends seats, and can auto-assign in bulk or take a move list from a spreadsheet. Employees get a move email and a personal move sheet with their new location, and wayfinding on the floor plan helps colleagues find where people now sit. For a restack planned in SpaceOps, the approved plan can be published into live neighborhoods and assignments. [WorkOps]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Space management]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is an employee move in facilities management? It is the planned relocation of an employee from one workspace to another, with everything that goes with them: belongings, equipment, access and records. Facilities or workplace teams schedule it, coordinate IT and security, and update the seat assignment and floor plan. ##### What is the difference between a move and a relocation? In workplace management, a move usually means relocating people within the existing portfolio, such as a new desk, floor or building the organization already occupies. A relocation more often means moving an office or organization to new premises, which adds leasing, fit-out and larger IT work. ##### What is a box move? A box move relocates only a person's belongings and equipment to an existing workstation, with no change to furniture or walls. It is the simplest and cheapest type of move. Furniture moves reconfigure workstations, and construction moves need building work. ##### Who is responsible for employee moves? Workplace operations or facilities usually owns the move, working with IT for devices and network, security for badge access, HR for team changes, and managers who agree the date with their people. ##### How do moves fit into MAC (moves, adds and changes)? Moves are one of the three types of MAC work. A move relocates someone who already has a place; an add prepares space for someone new; a change updates a space or its rules while people stay where they are. Many requests mix them, so teams log each part by type to see where the effort goes. #### Related terms - [MAC (moves, adds and changes)]() The routine work of relocating people, seating new occupants and updating workspaces as an organization changes. - [Move management]() Planning, sequencing and carrying out workplace moves, from one desk change to a whole-team relocation. - [Churn rate (move churn)]() The number of people moved in a year as a percentage of the population, a measure of how much physical change a workplace absorbs. - [Cost per move]() The average cost of relocating one person inside the workplace: total move costs divided by people moved. - [Swing space]() Temporary workspace people use while their permanent space is refurbished, reconfigured or not yet ready. - [Restack]() Reassigning teams across the floors of a building to free space, absorb growth or improve adjacency, done as a sequence of moves. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a workplace operating system? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/what-is-a-workplace-operating-system/ Description: A workplace operating system connects booking, check-in and attendance with stack plans, scenarios and moves on one set of data. How it differs from an IWMS. [Glossary]() · Platforms & integrations ### What is a workplace operating system? Short answer A workplace operating system is a platform that connects the daily running of an office, such as booking, check-in, visitors and attendance, with the planning of space, such as stack plans, scenarios and moves, on one set of data. Workplace and real estate teams use it so decisions about space rest on how people actually use it. Also called workplace OS, hybrid OS, work operating system. #### How it works The idea borrows from computing: an operating system is the layer other tasks run on. In the workplace, that layer holds the records every tool needs: people and teams from the directory, buildings, floors and spaces, bookings, check-ins, and the plans that change them. It runs as a loop. The operational side captures demand as a byproduct of people coordinating their week: bookings, check-ins, presence and visitors. The planning side turns that demand into stack plans, space plans and scenarios. When a plan is approved, the new neighborhoods and assignments go live in the same system people book from, and the next round of data measures the result. Compared with a set of separate tools, nothing needs to be exported and re-keyed between steps. Compared with a traditional IWMS, the starting point differs: a workplace operating system starts from observed employee demand rather than from leases and drawings, and it connects to the IWMS, HR system and identity provider rather than replacing them. #### Point solutions vs IWMS vs workplace operating system vs Work OS The label is used loosely. These are the four things people usually mean, and how they differ. | Approach | What it covers | Where the data lives | Watch for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Point solutions | One tool per job: desk booking, visitors, sensors, floor plans | In each tool, joined by exports | Data does not flow, so planning starts from spreadsheets | | IWMS | Leases, space records, maintenance and assets | One system of record for supply | Weak on daily demand: who comes in, and when | | Workplace operating system | Daily operations and space planning on shared people, space and presence data | One set of workplace data | Check that data really flows between modules, not just a shared login | | Work OS | Project, task and workflow management for teams | Tasks, projects and workflows | A different category: it shares the name, not the purpose | #### How to measure it 1. Map each workplace decision (a restack, a lease renewal, a new team) to the data it needs, and check whether that data lives in one place. 2. Count the manual handoffs between booking, analytics, planning and move execution. 3. Check how long it takes for an approved plan to appear in the booking system people use every day. #### Examples - A company plans to merge two floors: it reads several weeks of attendance, models the stack in the same platform, and publishes the new neighborhoods to the booking app for the move date. - A new team joins: HR data creates the people, the planner finds adjacent seats, and the employees book those seats on their first day. #### Common mistakes - Calling a bundle of separate apps an operating system when the data does not flow between them. - Planning from headcount and org charts while booking and check-in data sits unused in another tool. - Treating the platform as a replacement for the IWMS or HR system instead of connecting to them. #### How Kadence helps Kadence runs as two connected products. WorkOps runs the day to day: desk and room booking, visitors, team coordination, automatic check-in through Kadence Sense, and Workplace Insights. SpaceOps plans change on that data with stack planning, scenario planning, space planning to seat level and an AI planning agent. Approved plans are published back to WorkOps as live neighborhoods and assignments. [Workplace management software]() · [WorkOps]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Kadence platform guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a workplace OS? Workplace OS is short for workplace operating system: one platform that holds the shared data of the workplace (people, spaces, bookings, presence and plans) and runs both daily operations and space planning on it. The term signals that the tools are connected, not a set of separate apps. ##### What is the difference between a workplace operating system and an IWMS? An IWMS is the system of record for leases, space, maintenance and assets. A workplace operating system starts from how people use the space, through bookings, check-ins and attendance, and uses that demand to plan and carry out change. Many enterprises run both and connect them. ##### Is a workplace operating system the same as hybrid work software? Hybrid work software usually means booking and coordination tools for employees. A workplace operating system includes those and connects them to the planning side, so attendance and booking data feed stack plans, scenarios and moves, and approved plans flow back into the booking system. ##### Who uses a workplace operating system? Employees use it to plan office days and book space. Workplace and facilities teams use it to run buildings and handle moves. Real estate and finance leaders use its data to decide which floors to keep, consolidate or change. IT connects it to identity, HR and calendar systems. #### Related terms - [Workplace management system (WMS)]() Software that runs daily office use (desk and room booking, visitors, check-in, attendance) and reports how space is used. - [Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS)]() Enterprise software that runs real estate, leases, space, maintenance and assets from one shared database. - [Agentic workplace]() A workplace where AI agents carry out tasks, such as booking space and drafting plans, with people approving decisions. - [Workplace operations (WorkOps)]() The day-to-day running of an office for the people in it: space, bookings, visitors, services, policies and the data they produce. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS)? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/what-is-an-integrated-workplace-management-system-iwms/ Description: An IWMS manages real estate, leases, space, maintenance and assets in one system. How it works, how it differs from CAFM, and where it fits in a hybrid office. [Glossary]() · Platforms & integrations ### What is an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS)? Short answer An integrated workplace management system (IWMS) is enterprise software that manages an organization's real estate, leases, space, maintenance, assets and capital projects from one shared database. Corporate real estate and facilities teams use it as the system of record for their portfolio, so cost, space and building data agree across functions and support long-term decisions. Also called IWMS, integrated workplace management, integrated workplace management software. #### How it works An IWMS is built from modules that share one data model: real estate and lease administration, space and occupancy management, maintenance and work orders, asset management, capital projects, and often energy and sustainability reporting. Because a floor, a lease and an asset are the same record in every module, a change in one shows up in the others. Most deployments center on the system of record: which buildings the organization holds, what each lease costs and when it ends, how floors divide into rooms and seats, and which department is charged for them. That is why IWMS rollouts tend to be long, configuration-heavy projects that begin with drawings and data cleanup. What an IWMS usually does not capture well is day-to-day demand: who actually comes in, on which days, and which teams need to sit together. Many organizations keep the IWMS as the record of supply and connect a workplace management system for booking, check-in and attendance data, then use that demand signal for planning. #### What each IWMS module manages The modules share one database, so a building, a floor or a lease is the same record everywhere. Few organizations deploy every module at once. | Module | What it manages | Main owner | Decisions it supports | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Real estate and lease management | Leases, rent, critical dates, options and portfolio costs | Corporate real estate and finance | Renew, exit or renegotiate a lease | | Space management | Floors, rooms, seats, assignments and chargeback by department | Space planners and facilities | Where teams sit and who pays for space | | Maintenance and work orders | Planned and reactive maintenance, service requests and technicians | Facilities and maintenance teams | Maintenance budgets and service levels | | Asset management | Equipment and building assets through their life | Facilities and finance | Repair or replace, and capital budgets | | Capital projects | Budgets, schedules and vendors for fit-outs and refurbishments | Project managers and real estate | Which projects go ahead, and when | | Sustainability and energy | Energy, emissions and building performance data | Sustainability and facilities leads | Where to cut energy use and how to report it | #### How to measure it 1. List the decisions the IWMS must support (lease renewals, chargebacks, maintenance budgets, space plans) before comparing modules. 2. Check data freshness: how often floor plans, seat assignments and headcount are updated, and by whom. 3. Count the manual exports between the IWMS and other systems; each one is a place where records drift apart. 4. Confirm whether occupancy in the IWMS comes from observed presence or from assigned seats, because the two give different answers in a hybrid office. #### How to choose an IWMS - **The decisions it must support.** List the decisions first, such as lease renewals, chargeback, maintenance budgets and space plans. Buy the modules those decisions need, not the full suite. - **Data migration.** Ask how leases, drawings, space records and assets are loaded, who cleans them and how long it takes before teams trust the system. - **Floor plan handling.** Check how CAD drawings are imported, how plans are updated after moves and who can edit them. - **Where occupancy comes from.** Confirm whether occupancy means assigned seats or observed presence. In hybrid offices only observed data shows real demand. - **Integration with workplace tools.** Check the API and connectors to booking, presence, HR and finance systems, so supply and demand data stay in step. - **Configuration over customization.** Heavy customization slows upgrades. Ask which of your needs the product meets through configuration alone. - **Identity, security and hosting.** IT should confirm single sign-on, user provisioning, role-based access, independent security certifications and where data is hosted. - **Total cost and time to value.** Compare licenses, implementation partner fees, data work and internal staff time, and ask how long the first working module usually takes. #### Examples - A bank tracks its leases, critical dates and departmental chargebacks in its IWMS, while a desk booking platform supplies daily attendance for the same floors. - A university runs planned maintenance and capital projects in its IWMS and imports room-level space data each term. #### Common mistakes - Buying every module at once, which turns the rollout into a multi-year data project before anyone sees value. - Treating assigned seats in the IWMS as occupancy. In hybrid offices, assignment and attendance diverge. - Updating floor plans and seat records by hand after moves, so the system of record falls behind the building. - Expecting an IWMS to handle employee-facing booking and team coordination it was not designed for. #### How Kadence helps Kadence is designed to sit alongside an installed IWMS as the planning and execution layer. WorkOps captures demand (desk and room bookings, check-ins and attendance) and reports it in Workplace Insights. SpaceOps uses that occupancy data for stack plans, scenario planning and space plans, and the public REST API, outbound webhooks and data export pass the results to other systems. [Workplace management software]() · [SpaceOps]() · [WorkOps]() · [Integrations]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between IWMS and CAFM? CAFM focuses on facilities operations: space inventory, floor plans, maintenance and service requests. An IWMS includes those and adds real estate and lease management, capital projects, asset lifecycle and often sustainability reporting on one shared database. Many IWMS products began as CAFM tools and grew outward, so the labels overlap. ##### Is an IWMS the same as a workplace management system? No. A workplace management system runs the daily use of the office: desk and room booking, visitors, check-in and attendance reporting. An IWMS manages the portfolio behind it: leases, space records, maintenance and assets. Many organizations use both and connect them, so the IWMS holds supply and the workplace system measures demand. ##### What is the best IWMS software? The best fit depends on the decisions you need to support. Organizations with large leased portfolios and in-house maintenance teams need strong lease and work order modules. Hybrid offices also need reliable attendance and booking data, which many IWMS products do not collect, so check how the system connects to booking and presence tools before you choose. ##### Does an IWMS work for hybrid offices? It works as the record of buildings, leases and space, but most IWMS products were built for assigned seating. In a hybrid office the key planning input is who actually comes in and when. That data comes from bookings, check-ins and presence signals, so hybrid organizations usually pair the IWMS with a workplace management system. ##### What should I look for when replacing a legacy IWMS? Separate the two jobs an IWMS does. Leases, assets, maintenance and capital projects need a system of record, and many teams keep the IWMS for those. Daily workplace tasks such as desks, rooms, visitors and moves often move to a simpler platform that imports your floor plans and that employees use without training. Ask how long setup takes per office and who maintains it after go-live. #### Related terms - [Workplace management system (WMS)]() Software that runs daily office use (desk and room booking, visitors, check-in, attendance) and reports how space is used. - [CAFM (computer-aided facilities management)]() Software that links floor plans to a database of rooms and assets to run space, maintenance and service requests. - [CMMS (computerized maintenance management system)]() Software that plans, assigns and records maintenance work on buildings and equipment, from asset register to work order. - [Workplace operating system]() One platform that connects daily office use (booking, check-in, visitors) with space planning, on one set of data. - [Facilities management (FM)]() The function that keeps buildings and their services working: maintenance, cleaning, security, catering, energy, safety and space. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [How to choose]() 5. [Examples]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is MAC (Moves, Adds, and Changes)? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/what-is-mac-moves-adds-and-changes/ Description: MAC (moves, adds and changes) is the routine work of relocating people, seating new occupants and updating workspaces. What each covers and how to run it well. [Glossary]() · Moves & change ### What is MAC (Moves, Adds, and Changes)? Short answer MAC, short for moves, adds and changes, is the routine work of relocating people and teams, preparing space for new occupants and updating existing workspaces or assignments. Workplace and facilities teams manage MAC requests as a continuous process so seating, equipment, access and records stay aligned as the organization hires, reorganizes and changes how it uses space. Also called MACs, moves adds and changes, IMAC. #### How it works The term comes from telecoms and IT, where it described moving, adding and changing phone lines and network ports. Workplace teams use it for the same kind of steady, small-scale change to seats and spaces. Some IT teams add an I for installs, giving IMAC. Each type has its own trigger. A move relocates a person or team. An add brings a new occupant, usually a new hire or contractor, into a seat. A change updates a space or assignment without anyone relocating, such as turning assigned desks into bookable ones or resizing a neighborhood. Requests come from managers, HR and facilities, are checked against the floor plan and capacity, then scheduled with IT, facilities and security. MAC work is complete only when every system of record reflects it: seat assignments, floor plans, booking rules, badge access and directory data. #### How to measure it 1. Count MAC requests per month by type to see where effort goes. 2. Track churn rate and cost per move. 3. Measure turnaround from request to completion. 4. Audit a sample of desks against the floor plan to find records that were never updated. #### Examples - A team reorganizes into two squads: eight people move to a new neighborhood (moves), five new hires join (adds), and a row of assigned desks becomes bookable (a change). - IT handles the laptop and phone part of a MAC ticket while facilities handles the furniture and the seat. #### Common mistakes - Handling each request by email with no shared queue. - Closing tickets before the floor plan and booking system are updated. - Treating MAC as occasional when in most organizations it is weekly work. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Move Manager (WorkOps Pro) handles new starters, leavers, ad-hoc seat assignments and team relocations, with recommendations, auto-assign and bulk uploads. With the HRIS integration, joiners and leavers arrive from Workday, BambooHR or HiBob, and editable floor plans (included with SpaceOps) let admins change layouts in the browser. [Move management software]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Pricing]() · [For facilities teams]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does MAC stand for in facilities management? MAC stands for moves, adds and changes. Moves relocate people or teams, adds prepare space for new occupants, and changes update a workspace or assignment without relocating anyone. Together they describe the everyday change that keeps a workplace matched to the organization. ##### What is IMAC? IMAC adds installs to moves, adds and changes. It is common in IT service management, where installing new hardware or software is tracked alongside moving and changing it. Workplace teams more often use MAC, and handle installs as part of adds. ##### Who handles moves, adds and changes? Workplace operations or facilities usually owns the queue and the seating decisions. IT handles devices, phones and network access, security handles badges, and HR supplies joiners, leavers and team changes. Clear ownership of each step matters more than which team leads. ##### How do you track MAC work? Use one queue for all requests, with a type, requester, date and status for each. Link each request to the seat or space it affects, and close it only when the floor plan, seat assignment and booking system are updated. Report volume and turnaround by type each month. #### Related terms - [Moves]() Planned relocations of a person, team or department to a different seat, neighborhood, floor or building. - [Additions]() Preparing a seat, equipment, access and records for a new occupant such as a new hire, contractor or team. - [Changes]() Updates to a workspace, team area or setting that do not relocate the people assigned to it. - [Churn rate (move churn)]() The number of people moved in a year as a percentage of the population, a measure of how much physical change a workplace absorbs. - [Move management]() Planning, sequencing and carrying out workplace moves, from one desk change to a whole-team relocation. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is move management? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/what-is-move-management/ Description: Move management plans, sequences and carries out workplace moves, from one desk change to a team relocation. How it works, what to measure and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Moves & change ### What is move management? Short answer Move management is the planning, coordination and execution of workplace moves, from one person changing desks to whole teams relocating across floors, buildings or cities. Workplace, facilities, IT and HR teams use it to decide who moves where and when, sequence the work, tell people in advance and keep floor plans and systems accurate afterward. Also called office move management, move coordination, corporate move management. #### How it works A move starts with a reason: a restack, a consolidation, a lease event, a reorganization or new hires. The move team sets the scope, records where everyone sits today, and designs the target layout against real attendance and team needs rather than headcount alone. The plan becomes a schedule. Moves are grouped into phases so one team clears a zone before another arrives, with dependencies lined up: furniture, IT and phones, access badges, lockers, signage and any swing space. Each person gets a move sheet with their new location and date. On move day the physical work happens and the records change: seat assignments, neighborhoods, floor plans and booking rules. The last step is review: confirm that systems match the building, gather feedback and note what to change next time. Most organizations run large moves as projects and small moves as a weekly routine. #### How to measure it 1. Track churn rate: people moved in a year as a share of the population. 2. Track cost per move by move type, including IT and internal labor, not only movers. 3. Count post-move issues such as missing equipment, wrong desks and access problems. 4. Measure how long systems take to reflect a completed move. #### Steps to manage an office move 1. Define the reason, scope and deadline, such as a lease date or a restack. 2. Record where everyone sits today and check it against the floor plan. 3. Design the target layout from attendance and team adjacency, not headcount alone. 4. Group moves into phases so each zone is cleared before the next team arrives. 5. Line up dependencies: furniture, IT, phones, access badges, lockers, signage and any swing space. 6. Tell each person where and when they are moving, with a personal move sheet, well before move day. 7. Move, then update seat assignments, neighborhoods, floor plans and booking rules the same day. 8. Review: confirm the records match the building, log issues and note what to change next time. #### Examples - A consolidation onto fewer floors run in three phases over consecutive weekends, with move sheets sent a week ahead. - A weekly routine that seats new starters, relocates people who changed teams and releases leavers' desks. #### Common mistakes - Planning from headcount instead of attendance, which lands teams on floors that are too full or too empty. - Updating seat and floor plan records by hand after the move, days late. - Telling employees at the last minute. - Running each move as a one-off with no shared plan across facilities, IT and HR. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Move Manager (WorkOps Pro) plans and executes new starters, leavers, ad-hoc assignments and team relocations, with seat recommendations, bulk auto-assign and bulk move uploads. Employees get move emails and a personal move sheet. In SpaceOps, stack and space plans built on real occupancy data are published to WorkOps as live neighborhoods and assignments. [Move management software]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Space management]() · [Pricing]() · [Office move checklist]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does a move manager do? A move manager plans and runs workplace moves: agreeing scope and dates, designing where people will sit, sequencing the moves, coordinating movers, IT, facilities and security, telling employees where and when they are going, and checking afterward that records match the building. In smaller organizations this is part of the workplace or facilities role. ##### What is the difference between move management and MAC? MAC, for moves, adds and changes, names the routine stream of small workplace changes. Move management is the discipline that plans and runs moves of any size, from a single MAC request to a full office relocation. MAC work is one part of what move management covers. ##### How long does it take to plan an office move? It depends on scale. A single desk change can be done within days. A team restack needs a few weeks for design, sequencing and communication. A whole-office relocation takes months, driven by the lease date, fit-out and IT work. Start from the date space must be vacated and plan backward. ##### What is move management software? Software that holds the move plan in one place: who is moving, from where to where, on which date, with which dependencies. Good tools recommend seats from floor plan and occupancy data, assign in bulk, notify employees and update seat assignments and floor plans when the move goes live. #### Related terms - [MAC (moves, adds and changes)]() The routine work of relocating people, seating new occupants and updating workspaces as an organization changes. - [Office relocation]() Moving an office or department to another building, planned around the lease date, real attendance and a clear move schedule. - [Churn rate (move churn)]() The number of people moved in a year as a percentage of the population, a measure of how much physical change a workplace absorbs. - [Joiners, movers and leavers (JML)]() The process that keeps access, equipment, seating and records in step when people join, change role or leave. - [Office move automation with AI]() Software and AI that recommend seats, assign people in bulk, notify them and update records for workplace moves. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Steps]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is scenario planning? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/what-is-scenario-planning/ Description: Scenario planning compares possible futures for your workplace before you commit. How it works for lease, consolidation and policy decisions, with examples. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is scenario planning? Short answer Scenario planning is the practice of modeling several possible futures, such as headcount growth, a new attendance policy or a lease exit, and comparing how each would affect space, cost and teams before committing to one. Real estate, workplace and finance leaders use it to make lease, consolidation and restack decisions on evidence rather than a single forecast. Also called workplace scenario planning, real estate scenario planning. #### How it works Scenario planning starts with a decision that is actually on the table, such as whether to renew a lease, consolidate two sites or move from two to three office days. It sets a baseline from real attendance, occupancy and capacity data, then names the few uncertainties that would change the answer: headcount, attendance policy, demand on the busiest day and lease timing. Each scenario varies those inputs and shows the result in the same terms: seats needed on the peak day, floors or buildings required, cost, and which teams would move. Keeping the output identical is what makes the options comparable side by side. Scenario planning is different from forecasting. A forecast predicts one likely future; scenarios prepare a response to several. The chosen scenario then feeds stack planning, space planning and move management, and the set is re-run when conditions change, typically before each lease event or policy change. #### Renew vs consolidate vs relocate: what each scenario changes Compare every scenario in the same terms: seats needed on the peak day, floors, cost and which teams move. | Scenario | What changes | What to model | Main risk | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Renew as is | Nothing physical; the lease term and cost reset | Peak-day demand against current capacity over the new term | Locking in space the organization no longer needs | | Renew smaller | Floors are released and teams restack into the rest | Which teams fit on the remaining floors on their peak days | Too little space if attendance rises | | Consolidate | Sites or floors merge into fewer | Combined peak-day demand, team adjacency and move phases | Longer commutes for some and a crowded peak day | | Relocate | The organization moves to a new building | Layout for observed demand, fit-out and move sequence | Move cost and paying rent on both buildings during the overlap | | Expand | Space is added in the current building or nearby | Hiring forecasts against capacity, and lease timing | Taking space for headcount that does not arrive | #### Steps in workplace scenario planning 1. Name the decision and its deadline, such as a lease break date or a policy change. 2. Build the baseline from several weeks of observed attendance and occupancy by team, floor and weekday. 3. List the few inputs that would change the answer: headcount, attendance policy, peak-day demand and lease timing. 4. Build a small number of scenarios, including doing nothing, and vary only those inputs. 5. Express every scenario in the same terms: peak-day seats, floors, cost and the teams that move. 6. Review them side by side with real estate, finance and HR, and agree the choice and what would make you revisit it. 7. Turn the chosen scenario into a stack plan, a seat plan and a move schedule. 8. Re-run the scenarios when an input changes, and before each lease event. #### Examples - A firm weighing a move from two to three office days models peak-day demand under each policy to see whether its current floors can absorb the change. - A real estate team facing a lease break compares three paths: renew as is, renew one floor smaller, or consolidate into another building. - After an acquisition, planners test whether the incoming teams fit into existing space or need a short-term lease. #### Common mistakes - Modeling only one scenario, which removes the comparison that gives the exercise its value. - Using nominal headcount instead of observed attendance, which builds overcapacity in from the start. - Planning to the average day; capacity breaks on the peak day. - Treating the output as final; attendance and headcount keep moving, so the models go stale. - Bringing finance and HR in only at the end, so a sound plan stalls in approval. #### How Kadence helps Kadence SpaceOps runs scenario planning on live attendance and occupancy data from WorkOps. Planners test changes in headcount or workplace policy, compare several scenarios side by side, and use guided workflows to restack a building, consolidate floors or find space for a team. The chosen scenario becomes a stack plan and seat-level plan that can be published to WorkOps. [Scenario planning]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Office space planning guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between scenario planning and forecasting? Forecasting predicts one likely future. Scenario planning models several plausible futures, tests how each would play out and prepares a response to each. For workplace decisions, that means comparing paths such as renewing, downsizing or restacking before committing to one. ##### Why does scenario planning matter for real estate decisions? Real estate decisions are hard to reverse. A lease locks in cost for years, and a restack moves people who will not want to move again soon. Scenario planning shows the space and cost impact of each option before the commitment, so the decision rests on evidence rather than one assumption about the future. ##### What data do you need for workplace scenario planning? Attendance patterns by day, current capacity and occupancy by floor, headcount forecasts by team, and lease dates and costs. Observed attendance matters more than nominal seat counts, because it shows the demand each scenario actually has to meet. ##### Who is responsible for workplace scenario planning? It usually spans corporate real estate, finance and the workplace or people team. The strongest processes give one owner accountability while pulling data and sign-off from all three. ##### How often should workplace scenarios be updated? Re-run them whenever an input changes materially: a new attendance policy, a reorganization, a hiring plan or an approaching lease event. A regular review, for example each quarter, keeps the models close to reality between those events. #### Related terms - [Stack planning]() A floor-by-floor plan of which teams occupy which floors and buildings, used to test moves and consolidations first. - [Headcount planning (for space)]() Forecasting how many people will work in each team and location, and turning that into the office space they will need. - [Lease event]() A lease date that forces or allows a decision, such as an expiry, a break option, a renewal option or a rent review. - [Office right-sizing]() Matching the amount and type of office space to how people actually use it, based on measured demand rather than headcount. - [AI space planning]() Using AI to draft and test stack plans, seating plans and scenarios from headcount, occupancy data and floor plans. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [Steps]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is stack planning? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/what-is-stack-planning/ Description: Stack planning shows which teams occupy which floors and buildings. What a stack plan contains, how it is built from occupancy data, and how it drives moves. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is stack planning? Short answer Stack planning is the process of allocating teams, departments and functions to the floors of a building or portfolio, shown as a floor-by-floor diagram called a stack plan. Real estate and workplace teams use it to see how space is distributed and to test growth, restacks and consolidations before anyone moves. Also called stacking plan, stack plan, office stack planning. #### How it works A stack plan shows each floor of a building as a horizontal bar and fills it with the teams that sit there, sized by the seats or area each team needs. Read top to bottom, it shows every floor's capacity, how much of it is allocated and where there is spare room. Across a portfolio, one stack per building makes the whole footprint readable at a glance. The inputs are floor capacity, team demand and the rules that limit placement. Demand should come from how many people actually attend on the busiest day, not from the org chart, because a hybrid team of 100 rarely needs 100 desks. Rules cover adjacency (teams that need to sit near each other), teams that must stay on a particular floor, and floors that are closing or reserved. Planners then move teams between floors to test options: absorb a new team, empty a floor for sublease or merge two departments. The chosen stack becomes the brief for the block plan and seat-level plan on each floor, and for the moves that put it into effect. #### How to measure it 1. For each floor, compare allocated seats with capacity; the difference is the room left for growth or consolidation. 2. Size each team to its peak-day attendance plus a stated buffer, and write the buffer down so others can challenge it. 3. Count how many requested adjacencies each option keeps, so options are compared on collaboration as well as space. 4. Refresh the stack whenever headcount, attendance policy or team structure changes. #### Examples - A company on four floors finds that two teams on the top floor use half their seats even on their busiest day; the stack plan moves them down and frees the floor. - Ahead of an acquisition, a real estate team stacks the incoming teams onto existing floors to see whether they fit without a new lease. #### Common mistakes - Stacking by headcount instead of attendance, which fills floors on paper that sit half empty in practice. - Treating the stack plan as a one-off drawing; it goes stale after the next reorganization. - Ignoring adjacency, so a plan that saves a floor splits teams that work together every day. - Stopping at the stack: without a block plan and a move plan, the decision never reaches the floor. #### How Kadence helps Kadence SpaceOps builds stack plans from real attendance and occupancy data in WorkOps. Auto-stack places teams on floors automatically, and planners then drag teams, lock placements or close floors. The SpaceOps AI planning agent can build or change a stack from a plain-language request, scenario planning compares options side by side, and an approved plan can be published to live neighborhoods and assignments in WorkOps or exported as a PDF. [SpaceOps]() · [Scenario planning]() · [Office space planning guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a stacking plan in real estate? A stacking plan is a floor-by-floor diagram of a building that shows which tenant or team occupies each floor and how much space each uses. Landlords use it to show occupancy and lease expiries by floor. Occupiers use it to plan where their own teams sit and where there is room to grow or consolidate. ##### What is the difference between stack planning and block planning? Stack planning decides which floor each team goes on. Block planning works inside one floor and decides which zone each team occupies. The stack comes first, the block plan follows, and a seat-level plan then places individual desks and rooms. ##### What is the difference between stack planning and move management? Stack planning models where teams should sit before anything changes. Move management carries out the approved plan by coordinating the people, desks, equipment and communication needed to put it in place. ##### How often should a stack plan be updated? Whenever headcount, attendance policy or team structure changes, and always before a lease decision. A stack plan connected to live attendance data can be refreshed as conditions change instead of being redrawn once a year. ##### What data do you need for office stack planning? Floor capacities, a list of teams with their headcount and peak-day attendance, the adjacencies that matter, and fixed constraints such as labs, secure areas or floors that are closing. Headcount forecasts let the plan look ahead as well as describe today. #### Related terms - [Block plan]() A floor-level layout that assigns each team to a zone of one floor, between the stack plan and the seat-level plan. - [Scenario planning]() Modeling several possible futures for space, cost and teams, and comparing them side by side before committing to one. - [Restack]() Reassigning teams across the floors of a building to free space, absorb growth or improve adjacency, done as a sequence of moves. - [Occupancy planning]() Deciding where people and teams will work across floors and buildings, and how much space each needs, as the organization changes. - [AI space planning]() Using AI to draft and test stack plans, seating plans and scenarios from headcount, occupancy data and floor plans. - [Team adjacency]() Placing teams that work closely together near each other, and keeping those links intact through every move. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is the EU working time recording requirement? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/working-time-recording/ Description: Working time recording is the EU rule that employers record each worker's daily hours objectively. What the ruling says, how countries apply it and what counts. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is the EU working time recording requirement? Short answer Working time recording is the obligation for employers to measure and record how long each worker works each day. In the European Union, the Court of Justice ruled that Member States must require employers to set up an objective, reliable and accessible recording system, so that compliance with maximum working hours, rest periods and overtime rules can be checked. Also called EU time tracking law, time recording obligation, time tracking compliance. #### How it works The requirement comes from a May 2019 judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in a Spanish case, CCOO v Deutsche Bank (C-55/18). The Court held that, to make the rights in the Working Time Directive and the EU Charter effective, Member States must require employers to set up an objective, reliable and accessible system enabling the duration of time worked each day by each worker to be measured. The Court left the details to Member States, including the form the system must take, with room for the characteristics of each sector and the size of employers. As a result, national rules differ: some countries already expect detailed daily records in digital or tamper-resistant form, while others are still updating national law. Employers need to check the rules in each country where they operate. In practice a record captures start and finish times, breaks and total hours, including overtime, and should be accurate and hard to change after the fact. Office presence data, such as badge swipes or desk check-ins, can inform the record an employer keeps, but it is not a working time record: it does not capture remote hours, breaks or work done away from the building. #### How to measure it 1. Map the countries you operate in and what each requires for format, retention and access. 2. Check that records capture remote and hybrid working time, not only office presence. 3. Test whether records can be changed after the fact, and whether changes are logged. #### Examples - A company with offices in Spain and Germany uses a digital system for daily start, finish and break times, and keeps office presence data separately for space planning. - A hybrid employee records working hours the same way on home and office days, rather than relying on badge data for office days. #### Common mistakes - Assuming badge data equals working time; it shows building entry and exit, not hours worked or breaks. - Keeping records in editable spreadsheets with no audit trail. - Applying one country's rules to every EU location. - Confusing working time recording with employee monitoring: the obligation is to record hours worked, not to track activity. #### How Kadence helps Kadence is not a working time recording system and does not record hours worked. It records office presence and bookings: check-ins from the apps, the Kadence Agent on the office network, kiosks, badge data or the API, with booking exports that show who booked and who checked in. That presence and booking data can inform the records an employer keeps in its own time-recording or HR systems. [Workplace occupancy]() · [Security]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the EU time tracking law? It is the requirement, set by a Court of Justice of the European Union ruling, that Member States make employers record each worker's daily working time with an objective, reliable and accessible system. Each country sets the details, so the exact format and enforcement differ across the EU. ##### Does the EU working time recording rule apply to remote workers? The ruling refers to the time worked each day by each worker and makes no exception for remote work. Employers therefore need a way to record hours on remote and hybrid days as well as office days. National rules set the details, so check the requirements in each country. ##### Is badge data enough for working time recording? Usually not. Badge data shows when someone entered or left a building, not when they started or stopped working, took breaks or worked from home. It can inform the record an employer keeps in its own time-recording system, but that system must capture daily hours in every place people work. ##### What must a working time record include? At minimum it must allow the length of each worker's working day to be measured. In practice, records capture start and finish times, breaks and total hours, including overtime. National laws may add requirements on format, how long records are kept and who can access them. #### Related terms - [Employee monitoring vs occupancy data]() Employee monitoring tracks what individuals do; occupancy data measures how spaces are used. Workplace planning needs only the second. - [Office attendance rate]() The share of employees, or of expected office days, that people actually spend in the office, measured from presence data. - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Badge data]() Access-control swipe records showing who entered a building or floor and when, often used to measure attendance. #### Sources 1. [Press release No 61/19: Judgment in Case C-55/18 CCOO v Deutsche Bank SAE](), Court of Justice of the European Union Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is workplace analytics? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/workplace-analytics/ Description: Workplace analytics turns bookings, check-ins and occupancy data into decisions about space, policy and services. What it measures and how to use it well. [Glossary]() · AI & workplace data ### What is workplace analytics? Short answer Workplace analytics is the collection and analysis of data on how offices are used, such as bookings, check-ins, attendance, occupancy and room use, to guide decisions about space, policy and services. Workplace, real estate, HR and facilities teams use it to size the portfolio, test hybrid policies and plan layouts on evidence rather than assumption. Also called workplace insights, space analytics, office analytics, occupancy analytics. #### How it works The data comes from operational systems: desk and room bookings, check-ins, office network presence, badge access, visitor sign-ins and sometimes sensors. Analytics joins them into shared measures, such as occupancy, peak day, no-show rate, attendance against policy and room seat use, by building, floor, team and day. Reporting runs at three levels. Operational views help facilities run this week, for example crowded floors or rooms with repeated no-shows. Policy views show HR how attendance and team overlap respond to changes. Portfolio views give real estate and finance the trends behind lease, consolidation and fit-out decisions. Good workplace analytics measures spaces, not individual productivity. It reports in aggregate where possible, limits access to personal records and keeps data only as long as needed. That keeps the data trusted, which keeps the signals flowing. #### How to measure it 1. Start from the decisions due in the next year and the few metrics that inform them. 2. Use presence data for use; keep bookings as a measure of intent and compare the two. 3. Break every metric down by weekday, floor and team. 4. Automate recurring leadership reports, so the analysis is current when a decision comes up. #### Examples - A council replaces days of manual reporting with live dashboards and uses them to decide which buildings to consolidate. - An HR team compares attendance by department before and after a policy change, then adjusts the policy for teams that work mostly with remote clients. #### Benchmarks - Denbighshire County Council replaced days of manual reporting with live occupancy dashboards and used them to right-size its estate and hybrid policy. [Kadence customer story: Denbighshire County Council]() #### Common mistakes - Building dashboards from bookings alone. - Reporting building averages that hide weekday peaks and team differences. - Using analytics to watch individuals, which erodes trust and data quality. - Producing reports that no decision depends on. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights reports attendance, occupancy, no-shows, office heatmaps and average weekly hours from check-ins and automatic presence, with CSV and bookings exports. Insights Plus (WorkOps Pro or add-on) adds custom dashboards, including policy compliance reporting. SpaceOps uses the same data to plan floors and compare scenarios. [Workplace analytics]() · [Workplace analytics metrics guide]() · [Karger story]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a workplace analytics dashboard? It is a set of charts that shows how the office is used: occupancy and attendance by day, peak days, no-shows, room use and trends by building and team. Good dashboards are built for a decision, such as sizing a floor or reviewing a policy. ##### What data sources does workplace analytics use? Desk and room bookings, check-ins, office network presence, badge access, visitor sign-ins, sensors where installed, and HR data for teams and headcount. Combining an intent source (bookings) with a presence source shows the gap between planned and actual use. ##### How is workplace analytics different from people analytics? People analytics studies the workforce: hiring, retention, engagement and performance. Workplace analytics studies the physical workplace: how spaces are used, when and by which teams. They meet on questions such as whether office time helps collaboration. ##### How do you use workplace analytics without surveillance? Measure spaces and teams rather than individuals, report in aggregate, limit access to personal records, set retention periods and tell employees what is collected and why. Use the data to improve space and policy, not to judge individual performance. #### Related terms - [Occupancy monitoring]() Continuous measurement of how many people use each building, floor, room and desk, and when, from presence signals or sensors. - [Workplace KPIs]() The measures that show how well offices serve people and budget: occupancy, utilization, attendance, no-shows, cost per seat and more. - [Space utilization]() How intensively buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their full capacity over time. - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Office heat map]() A floor plan colored by how often each desk, room or zone is used, so busy and quiet areas stand out at a glance. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a workplace API? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/workplace-api/ Description: A workplace API lets other systems read and write workplace data such as bookings and check-ins. Common uses, webhooks, and what to check before you build on one. [Glossary]() · Platforms & integrations ### What is a workplace API? Short answer A workplace API is a programming interface that lets other systems read and write workplace data, such as buildings, spaces, people, bookings and check-ins, without using the app's screens. IT and data teams use it to connect badge, security, HR and analytics tools, automate check-ins and move occupancy data into their own reports. Also called REST API, webhooks, data API, open API. #### How it works Most workplace APIs are REST APIs. Each type of record, such as a booking or a check-in, has an address, and a system sends an authenticated request to list, create, update or cancel it. Access is controlled with API keys or OAuth tokens limited to what each integration needs. Webhooks cover the other direction. Instead of polling for changes, the external system registers an address, and the workplace platform sends it an event as soon as something happens: a booking is created, a person checks in, a visitor arrives. The common uses are presence and data. A badge system can call the check-in endpoint when someone swipes, so bookings reflect who is actually in. A data team can pull bookings and check-ins into a warehouse each night and combine them with HR, finance and lease data. Agent protocols such as MCP build on the same records for AI assistants. #### How to measure it 1. List the records the API exposes and whether each is read-only or read-write. 2. Check authentication, rate limits and whether keys can be scoped, rotated and revoked. 3. Confirm webhook delivery: retries, signatures and an event log. 4. Compare an API export with the app's own report for the same period to test completeness. #### Examples - A badge system sends a check-in to the workplace platform each time an employee swipes into the building. - A nightly job exports bookings and check-ins to a data warehouse for a finance dashboard on cost per occupied desk. - A webhook tells a security system when a visitor checks in. #### Common mistakes - Building reports on bookings alone when check-in data is available; bookings overstate use. - Sharing one broad API key across several integrations, which makes access hard to audit or revoke. - Polling constantly when webhooks exist for the same events. #### How Kadence helps Kadence has a public REST API with API keys on all plans, covering buildings, users, bookings and check-ins, so badge or sign-in systems can check people in and data teams can pull bookings. Outbound webhooks send real-time events to other systems, such as security or badge tools, and an Audit Export API streams audit logs to a SIEM. [Kadence API]() · [Integrations]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a check-in API? A check-in API lets another system confirm that a person has arrived for their booking, for example when they swipe a badge, sign in to a work computer or join the office network. It turns bookings into verified attendance without asking people to tap a button, which makes occupancy data more accurate. ##### What is the difference between an API and a webhook? With an API, your system asks for data or sends a change when it chooses. With a webhook, the workplace platform tells your system the moment something happens. Most integrations use both: webhooks to react to events and the API to fetch details or make changes. ##### What can you build with a workplace API? Common builds are automatic check-in from badge or network systems, bookings shown inside an intranet or kiosk, alerts when key safety roles are not on site, and nightly exports of bookings and check-ins to a data warehouse for finance and real estate reporting. ##### Is a workplace API secure? It can be, if access is controlled well. Look for encrypted connections, keys or tokens that can be limited in scope and revoked, audit logs of API activity, and signed webhooks. Give each integration its own key so you can see and cut off access separately. #### Related terms - [MCP (Model Context Protocol)]() An open standard that lets AI assistants use tools and data in other systems, such as booking a desk, without custom integrations. - [HRIS integration]() A connection that syncs joiners, leavers, teams and leave dates from the HR system into workplace software automatically. - [Badge data]() Access-control swipe records showing who entered a building or floor and when, often used to measure attendance. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is workplace change management? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/workplace-change-management/ Description: Workplace change management helps people adopt a new layout, hybrid policy, booking system or office. How it works, what to measure and why workplace changes stall. [Glossary]() · Moves & change ### What is workplace change management? Short answer Workplace change management is the structured approach to helping people adopt a change in where and how they work, such as a new office layout, hybrid policy, desk booking system or relocation. Workplace, HR and communications teams use it to explain why, involve employees early, train them, and measure adoption so the change lasts. Also called change management, workplace implementation. #### How it works It starts with the reason and the measure. Leaders agree what the change is meant to achieve, such as releasing a floor or making office days more useful, and which numbers will show it worked: adoption, attendance, occupancy and satisfaction. People are involved before the change lands. A pilot with one team or floor tests the new setup, champions in each team answer questions, and employees see the evidence behind the decision. Communication explains what changes for each person, when, and where to get help. After launch, the team watches adoption and behavior rather than assuming them. Booking and check-in data show whether people use the new neighborhoods, surveys show how they feel, and the plan adjusts. Change management ends when the new way is the normal way, not on go-live day. #### How to measure it 1. Adoption: the share of people booking or checking in through the new system. 2. Behavior: attendance and occupancy against the policy or plan. 3. Sentiment: pulse surveys before and after the change. 4. Support load: questions and tickets in the weeks after launch. #### Examples - Before introducing neighborhoods, a company pilots them on one floor, adjusts sizes from booking data and then rolls them out building by building. - A new hybrid policy is launched with team days agreed by each team, weekly reminders in chat and a survey after the first month. #### Benchmarks - MOPAC reached 83% adoption within weeks of introducing desk booking. [Kadence customer story: MOPAC]() - At RCS England, 85% of staff exceeded the minimum office policy without enforcement. [Kadence customer story: RCS England]() #### Common mistakes - Announcing the change without explaining the reason and the evidence. - Treating go-live as the end, with no follow-up on adoption. - Training everyone the same way, when admins, managers and employees need different guidance. - Relying on mandates when making the new way easier would change behavior faster. #### How Kadence helps Kadence supports the people side of workplace change. SpaceOps publishes an approved plan to live neighborhoods and assignments in WorkOps, and Move Manager sends move emails and personal move sheets (WorkOps Pro). Workplace announcements reach people in Slack, Teams, email and the mobile app, and employee surveys (WorkOps Pro) and Workplace Insights show whether behavior changed. [Implementation]() · [SpaceOps]() · [MOPAC customer story]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do you implement a hybrid working model? Agree the goal and the policy, then let teams choose their shared office days within it. Give people a simple way to see who is in and book space, pilot with a few teams, and measure attendance and satisfaction. Adjust the policy and the space from what the data shows. ##### How do you get employees to adopt desk booking? Make booking easy where people already work, such as their calendar, Teams or Slack, with single sign-on. Explain why the change is happening, name a champion in each team, and show people who else is coming in. Track adoption weekly and follow up with teams that lag. ##### How do you implement office neighborhoods? Use attendance data to size each team's area to its busiest regular day, pilot on one floor, and explain the rules: who can book where and when. Review bookings after a few weeks and resize neighborhoods that run full or empty before rolling out further. ##### Why do workplace changes fail? Most fail on people, not design: the reason is not explained, employees are not involved, training is generic, and nobody checks adoption after launch. Changes also stall when the new way is harder than the old one, such as a booking step that adds friction. #### Related terms - [Changes]() Updates to a workspace, team area or setting that do not relocate the people assigned to it. - [Activity-based working (ABW)]() A workplace model in which people move between settings designed for different tasks instead of working at one assigned desk. - [Workplace strategy]() The plan that links how an organization works to the space, policies and tools it provides for work. - [Move management]() Planning, sequencing and carrying out workplace moves, from one desk change to a whole-team relocation. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is workplace experience? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/workplace-experience/ Description: Workplace experience is how employees experience the office, from booking a desk to finding colleagues and getting help. What shapes it and how to measure it. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is workplace experience? Short answer Workplace experience is how employees experience the physical workplace and the services around it, from deciding to come in and finding a desk to meeting colleagues, hosting visitors and getting help. Workplace, facilities and HR teams manage it because it shapes whether people choose to use the office and how well they work there. Also called employee experience, workplace experience management, WX. #### How it works Workplace experience covers the whole office day: planning whether to come in, commuting, arriving, finding a place to work, finding colleagues, meeting, eating, getting problems fixed and leaving. The space, the services and the tools people use to coordinate each shape a part of it. In hybrid organizations the biggest factor is usually other people. Employees come in to see their team, so knowing who will be in, and sitting near them, matters more than amenities alone. Events, team days and neighborhoods give people a reason and a place to meet. Teams manage workplace experience with both data and feedback. Attendance and booking data show behavior; short surveys and event feedback explain the reasons. Workplace experience overlaps with employee experience, which covers the whole employee lifecycle, but it focuses on the office and its services. #### How to measure it 1. Short pulse surveys after office days: did people get what they came in for? 2. Attendance trends and repeat visits by team, compared with policy. 3. Booking conflicts and time spent finding a desk or room. 4. Service request resolution times and event attendance. #### Examples - A workplace team runs a monthly breakfast with RSVP on a team day and sees attendance rise on that day. - A visitor checks in at a kiosk, receives a badge and the host is notified, without waiting at a staffed desk. #### Common mistakes - Adding amenities without fixing basics such as finding a desk near your team. - Measuring experience only through an annual engagement survey. - Treating attendance as the goal rather than as a signal of whether the office is worth the trip. #### How Kadence helps Kadence shows employees who is coming in and suggests days to join teammates, books desks and rooms from Microsoft Teams, Slack or the mobile app, and sends workplace announcements. WorkOps Pro adds Workplace Events with RSVP, employee surveys and self-service visitor kiosks, and Workplace Insights shows attendance alongside those signals. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [WorkOps]() · [Visitor management]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between workplace experience and employee experience? Employee experience covers everything an employee goes through at work, from hiring and onboarding to development and leaving. Workplace experience is the part tied to the physical workplace and its services: the office, finding space, coordinating with colleagues, visitors, events and support. ##### What do employees want from the office? Most people come to the office for other people: time with their team, learning from colleagues and meetings that work better in person. They also want certainty that there is a place for them, quiet space for focused work, working technology and a reason to make the commute worthwhile. ##### How do you measure workplace experience? Combine behavior and feedback. Track attendance, repeat visits, booking conflicts and service request times, then add short surveys that ask whether people got what they came in for. Together they show both what people do and why. ##### What does a workplace experience manager do? A workplace experience manager shapes the office day for employees and visitors: running events, working with facilities on services and space, gathering feedback, managing workplace tools and communicating changes. The role sits between facilities, HR and real estate. #### Related terms - [Destination office]() An office designed to be worth the commute, drawing people in with space, amenities and experiences rather than mandates. - [Workplace operations (WorkOps)]() The day-to-day running of an office for the people in it: space, bookings, visitors, services, policies and the data they produce. - [Hybrid coordination]() The work of getting the right people into the office on the same days and giving them the right space when they arrive. - [Building operations]() The day-to-day running of a building's systems and services, such as heating, cooling, lighting, security, lifts and maintenance. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Which KPIs should a workplace operations manager track? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/workplace-kpis/ Description: Workplace KPIs show how well offices serve people and budget. Which KPIs a workplace operations manager should track, how to report them and the mistakes to avoid. [Glossary]() · Occupancy & utilization ### Which KPIs should a workplace operations manager track? Short answer Workplace KPIs are the key performance indicators that show how well an organization's offices serve its people and its budget, such as occupancy, utilization, attendance, no-show rate, cost per seat and employee satisfaction. Workplace operations, facilities and real estate teams track them to manage space, policy and services, and to report results to leadership. Also called workplace metrics, workplace operations KPIs, facilities KPIs, space metrics. #### How it works A useful KPI set covers four areas. Space: average and peak occupancy, desk and room utilization, and no-show rate. People: attendance against policy, how often teams overlap in the office, and satisfaction with the office. Cost: cost per seat, cost per person and space per person. Operations: service request response times, room and desk readiness, and vendor performance. Each KPI should point to a decision. Peak occupancy sets desk numbers; no-show rate sets booking rules; room seat use sets room sizes; cost per seat frames the real estate case. A KPI nobody would act on belongs in an appendix, not on the dashboard. KPIs are read in pairs and over time. Occupancy without attendance hides whether low use is a space problem or a policy problem; cost without utilization hides whether space is expensive or simply empty. Before-and-after comparisons around a redesign or policy change show whether it worked. #### Workplace KPIs: formula, meaning and data source Express ratios as percentages where it helps. Keep one definition per metric across every site. | Metric | Formula | What it tells you | Data source | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Occupancy rate | Units in use ÷ units available | How much of the space is in use | Check-ins, network presence or badge data | | Peak occupancy | Highest units in use on a typical day ÷ units available | Whether the busiest day fits | The same presence data, by day and hour | | Space utilization | Seat-hours used ÷ seat-hours available | How intensively capacity is used | Presence data with people counts per space | | No-show rate | Bookings with no check-in ÷ total bookings | Whether booking rules and auto-release work | Bookings and check-ins | | Attendance against policy | Office days attended ÷ office days expected | Whether the hybrid policy works, team by team | Presence data plus leave data from HR | | Desk ratio | People assigned ÷ desks available | How much desks are shared | HR headcount and floor plans | | Cost per seat | Annual occupancy cost ÷ seats | What each seat costs to provide | Lease, service and facilities costs | | Space per person | Floor area ÷ number of people | How generous or tight the space is | Floor plans and HR headcount | | Service request resolution time | Median time from request to close | How well workplace services respond | Ticketing or work order system | #### How to measure it 1. Choose five to eight KPIs tied to current decisions, each with an owner and a target range. 2. Use one data source per KPI and document its definition. 3. Report by building, floor and team: weekly for operations, monthly or quarterly for leadership. 4. Show trends and before-and-after comparisons, not just this month's number. #### Examples - Space: average and peak desk occupancy, room frequency and seat use, no-show rate. - People: attendance against policy by team, share of team days with most of the team present, office satisfaction score. - Cost and operations: cost per seat, square feet per person, median response time for service requests. #### Benchmarks - In CBRE's benchmarking, utilization rate was the most tracked workplace metric (83%), and increasing utilization was a top goal for 81% of corporate real estate teams. [CBRE, The Hybrid Reality (2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights)]() #### Common mistakes - Tracking everything the tool can report instead of the few KPIs that drive decisions. - Mixing definitions across sites, so buildings cannot be compared. - Reporting averages only, when peaks drive capacity and complaints. - Measuring space without asking people, which hides why use is high or low. #### How Kadence helps Kadence Workplace Insights reports attendance, occupancy, no-shows, heatmaps and average weekly hours, with CSV export. Insights Plus (WorkOps Pro or add-on) adds custom dashboards for leadership, including policy compliance reporting. Employee surveys (WorkOps Pro) add the people side next to the space data. [Workplace analytics]() · [Workplace analytics metrics guide]() · [Denbighshire story]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What KPIs should a workplace operations manager track? Start with average and peak occupancy, desk and room utilization, no-show rate and attendance against policy. Add cost per seat for real estate conversations, service request response times for operations, and an office satisfaction score for the people side. ##### What are the most important space utilization metrics? Average and peak occupancy, desk and room utilization measured separately, the gap between space booked and space used, and the spread between locations. Together they show how much space you need, of which type and where. ##### How often should workplace KPIs be reported? Weekly for operational KPIs such as occupancy, no-shows and service requests, so teams can act quickly. Monthly or quarterly for leadership KPIs such as utilization trends, cost per seat and attendance against policy, where the trend matters more than a single week. ##### What is the most tracked workplace metric? In CBRE's benchmarking, utilization rate was the most tracked workplace metric, at 83%, and increasing office utilization was a top goal for 81% of corporate real estate teams. ##### What office occupancy metrics should I report to leadership? Keep it short: peak and average occupancy by site, desk and room use on busy days, cost per seat, and the trend over time. Leaders want to know whether the space is used, what empty space costs and whether that is changing. Name the data source behind each figure so the numbers can be defended. #### Related terms - [Occupancy rate]() The share of available desks, rooms or floor area in use, at a point in time or on average over a period. - [Space utilization]() How intensively buildings, floors, rooms and desks are used against their full capacity over time. - [Cost per seat]() The total annual occupancy cost of an office divided by the seats it provides, or by the seats actually used. - [No-show rate]() The share of desk and room bookings nobody checks in to, which makes space look busier than it is. - [Workplace analytics]() Analysis of bookings, check-ins, attendance and occupancy data to guide decisions about office space, policy and services. #### Sources 1. [The Hybrid Reality: Why the Office Is More Important Than Ever](), CBRE Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Benchmarks]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a workplace management system? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/workplace-management-system/ Description: A workplace management system runs desk and room booking, visitors, check-in and attendance, and reports how space is used. How it differs from an IWMS. [Glossary]() · Platforms & integrations ### What is a workplace management system? Short answer A workplace management system is software that runs the day-to-day use of an office, including desk and room booking, visitor management, check-in and attendance, and reports how the space is actually used. Workplace, facilities and HR teams use it to coordinate hybrid office days and to give real estate decisions data on real demand. Also called workplace management software, workplace management platform, hybrid workplace software. #### How it works Employees use it to plan office days: they see who is going in, book a desk or room from the app, their calendar, Teams or Slack, and check in when they arrive. Hosts register visitors, and admins set booking rules, neighborhoods and closures. Every one of those actions is a record. Bookings show intent, check-ins and presence signals show who actually came, and visitor logs show who else was in the building. The system turns them into attendance, occupancy, no-show and utilization reports by building, floor, team and day. It connects to the systems around it: the identity provider for sign-in and user provisioning, the HR system for joiners and leavers, calendars for rooms, and an API for badge, security and data tools. Its narrower scope is the main difference from an IWMS, which focuses on leases, maintenance and assets. Enterprise rollouts usually follow the same order. IT connects single sign-on and directory sync first, so every employee has access on day one and leavers drop off automatically. Floor plans are imported and set up with neighborhoods, assigned desks and booking rules. One building pilots the system before the rest follow, with the calendar and chat apps switched on. Presence data and reports are checked against reality before leaders rely on them. #### WMS vs IWMS vs CAFM vs workplace operating system Search results and vendors often blur these labels. The difference is the job each system does and the data it starts from. | Type | Main job | Who uses it daily | Data it is built on | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Workplace management system (WMS) | Runs daily office use: booking, visitors, check-in and attendance | Employees, workplace and facilities teams | Bookings, check-ins, presence and visitor records | | IWMS | System of record for real estate, leases, space, maintenance and assets | Real estate, facilities and finance teams | Leases, buildings, space inventory, assets and work orders | | CAFM | Runs facilities work: space inventory, floor plans, maintenance and service requests | Facilities managers and technicians | Drawings, space records, assets and maintenance history | | Workplace operating system | Connects daily operations with space planning on one set of data | Employees, workplace, real estate and planning teams | Demand data from daily operations, feeding stack plans, scenarios and moves | #### How to measure it 1. Track adoption: the share of people who come in who also booked or checked in. 2. Compare bookings with check-ins to find the no-show rate before trusting occupancy reports. 3. Check that directory sync keeps the user list current, so leavers do not hold desks. 4. Time how long it takes to answer a routine space question, such as whether a team fits on its busiest day. #### How to choose a workplace management system - **Presence data, not just bookings.** Ask how the system knows who actually came in: check-ins, office network presence, badge data or sensors. Occupancy built on bookings alone overstates use and will not hold up in front of finance. - **Automatic check-in.** Manual check-in depends on habit. Automatic detection, for example from the office network, keeps the data complete without asking employees to do anything. - **Booking where people already work.** Check native apps for Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Slack and Google Calendar as well as web and mobile. Adoption falls when booking means opening another tool. - **Identity and provisioning.** IT should confirm single sign-on with your identity provider, such as Entra ID or Okta, and SCIM or directory sync, so joiners get access and leavers lose it without manual work. - **HR system connection.** Seating that follows joiners, movers and leavers needs a link to the HR system, or a way to push HR fields in. - **Security and data residency.** Ask for independent security certifications, the regions where data is hosted, retention controls and an audit log you can send to your security tools. - **Open data.** A documented API, webhooks and exports let you feed badge, security and reporting tools, and keep your options open if needs change. - **Reporting leaders will accept.** Reports should cover attendance, occupancy, no-shows and peak days by building, floor and team, without naming individuals where policy forbids it. - **A path to planning.** If a move, restack or lease event is coming, check whether the same data can drive stack plans and scenarios, or whether you will export it to another tool. - **Multi-site administration.** Confirm that admin roles can be limited to specific buildings and that rules can be set globally with local exceptions. #### Examples - An employee sees that three teammates are in on Wednesday, books a desk in the team's neighborhood from Microsoft Teams and is checked in automatically on arrival. - A facilities manager compares room bookings with check-ins, finds that large rooms are booked by two people, and converts one into two smaller rooms. #### Common mistakes - Measuring success by bookings made rather than by check-ins and attendance. - Rolling out booking without single sign-on, calendar sync or chat apps, which adds friction and lowers adoption. - Buying a platform for its feature list without deciding which space decisions its data must support. #### How Kadence helps Kadence WorkOps is a workplace management system: desk and room booking with two-way calendar sync, visitor management, team coordination, automatic check-in through the Kadence Agent, and Workplace Insights for attendance, occupancy and no-shows. It connects to Microsoft Teams, Slack, Outlook, Google Calendar, SSO and SCIM directory sync, and SpaceOps adds planning on the same data. [Workplace management software]() · [WorkOps]() · [Desk booking software]() · [Room booking software]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does a workplace management system do? It lets employees book desks and rooms, see when colleagues are in and check in, lets hosts manage visitors, and lets admins set rules for how space is used. It then reports attendance, occupancy and no-shows, so workplace and real estate teams can match space to real demand. ##### What is the difference between a workplace management system and an IWMS? A workplace management system runs the daily use of the office and measures demand. An IWMS manages the portfolio: leases, space records, maintenance, assets and capital projects. The first is quicker to deploy and employee-facing; the second is the system of record for real estate and facilities. ##### What features should workplace management software have? Look for desk and room booking with calendar sync, check-in and auto-release, visitor management, team coordination, and analytics built on check-ins rather than bookings alone. For enterprise use, add single sign-on, directory sync, an HR system connection, an API and apps inside the chat and calendar tools people already use. ##### Can one platform handle desk booking, room booking and visitor management? Yes. A workplace management system runs desk and room booking, visitor management, check-in and attendance from one place, with one set of floor plans and one login. That replaces separate tools for each job, so people book and check in the same way everywhere and reports draw on one set of data. ##### How do you build a business case for a workplace management system? Start from a decision with a date, such as a lease renewal, a consolidation or the end of an existing contract. Compare the cost of the platform and setup with what better data changes: space released or not renewed, fewer ghost bookings, hours of manual reporting saved and sensors you may not need. Use measured attendance and occupancy from a pilot rather than estimates, and show the peak day as well as the average. #### Related terms - [Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS)]() Enterprise software that runs real estate, leases, space, maintenance and assets from one shared database. - [Workplace operating system]() One platform that connects daily office use (booking, check-in, visitors) with space planning, on one set of data. - [Desk booking system]() Software that lets employees find and reserve a desk before they come in, check in on arrival and free desks nobody uses. - [Room booking system]() Software that lets people find, reserve and check in to meeting rooms, and frees rooms nobody uses. - [Workplace operations (WorkOps)]() The day-to-day running of an office for the people in it: space, bookings, visitors, services, policies and the data they produce. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 6, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Comparison]() 3. [How to measure it]() 4. [How to choose]() 5. [Examples]() 6. [Common mistakes]() 7. [How Kadence helps]() 8. [FAQ]() 9. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is workplace operations? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/workplace-operations/ Description: Workplace operations is the day-to-day running of the office: space, bookings, visitors, services and data. What it covers, who owns it and how to measure it. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is workplace operations? Short answer Workplace operations is the day-to-day work of running an office so it supports the people who use it, covering desk and room booking, visitors, workplace services, policies and the usage data they produce. Workplace, facilities and real estate teams own it, and use its data to decide how the office should change. Also called WorkOps, workplace ops, workplace operations management. #### How it works Workplace operations sits between facilities management, which keeps the building running, and real estate strategy, which decides how much space the organization holds. It covers what employees experience on an office day: finding and booking a desk or room, knowing who else is in, hosting visitors, reporting problems and joining events. The work runs on rules and systems. Booking rules, neighborhoods, check-in, visitor policies and service requests are set up once and applied across buildings, so each office does not invent its own process. Integrations with calendars, chat tools, HR systems and identity providers keep people and bookings in sync. Every booking, check-in and visit also becomes data. Workplace operations teams use attendance, occupancy and no-show data to adjust policies and layouts week to week, and hand the same evidence to real estate teams for longer-term decisions about floors, leases and moves. #### How to measure it 1. Attendance and occupancy by building, floor and day of the week, from check-ins rather than bookings alone. 2. No-show rate for desks and rooms, and how many unused bookings are released. 3. Adoption: the share of people in the office who booked or checked in through the system. 4. Service request volume and time to resolve, by category and building. #### How to set up workplace operations 1. Agree what the office is for and which outcomes the team owns, such as attendance, experience and cost. 2. Standardize the core processes across buildings: booking rules, neighborhoods, check-in, visitors and service requests. 3. Connect the systems: identity, HR, calendars, chat tools and access control. 4. Choose a small set of KPIs, each with a definition, an owner and a reporting rhythm. 5. Review attendance, occupancy and no-shows weekly, and adjust rules and layouts. 6. Give real estate and finance the evidence for floor, lease and move decisions. 7. Ask employees regularly what works, and tell them what changed as a result. #### Examples - A workplace team sets team days for each department, schedules neighborhoods for those days and checks attendance against the plan each month. - A global company applies one visitor policy, with local exceptions, across offices in several countries. #### Common mistakes - Treating workplace operations as a facilities help desk rather than a function that shapes how the office is used. - Running each office with different tools and rules, which makes data impossible to compare across sites. - Relying on bookings as evidence of use without check-in or presence data. #### How Kadence helps Kadence WorkOps is the operational side of the Kadence platform. It covers desk and room booking with two-way calendar sync, neighborhoods and assigned desks, visitor management, check-in from the office network, kiosks, room displays and badge data, and Workplace Insights reporting. It works inside Microsoft Teams and Slack, and its data feeds SpaceOps for planning. [WorkOps]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Workplace analytics]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does a workplace operations manager do? A workplace operations manager runs the office day to day: tracking how space is used, setting booking rules and neighborhoods, coordinating vendors and facilities, handling visitors and service requests, and using data to adjust layouts and policies. The role mixes operations, employee experience and analysis. ##### What is a workplace operations platform? A workplace operations platform is software that brings desk and room booking, visitor management, check-in, workplace policies and usage data into one system. It replaces separate tools for each office, so teams run every building the same way and see comparable data across the portfolio. ##### What is the difference between workplace operations and facilities management? Facilities management keeps the building and its services running: maintenance, cleaning, security and building systems. Workplace operations focuses on how people use the office: booking, coordination, visitors, policies and usage data. The two overlap on services and often report to the same leader. ##### What is WorkOps? WorkOps is shorthand for workplace operations: the daily running of desks, rooms, visitors and workplace services, and the data that comes from them. It is often paired with space operations, which uses that data to plan and change the workplace over time. #### Related terms - [Space operations (SpaceOps)]() The practice of planning, modeling and carrying out changes to how an organization uses its space, using live workplace data. - [Workplace management system (WMS)]() Software that runs daily office use (desk and room booking, visitors, check-in, attendance) and reports how space is used. - [Facilities management (FM)]() The function that keeps buildings and their services working: maintenance, cleaning, security, catering, energy, safety and space. - [Workplace KPIs]() The measures that show how well offices serve people and budget: occupancy, utilization, attendance, no-shows, cost per seat and more. - [Workplace operating system]() One platform that connects daily office use (booking, check-in, visitors) with space planning, on one set of data. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Steps]() 4. [Examples]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What are workplace personas? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/workplace-personas/ Description: Workplace personas are profiles of typical work styles used to design hybrid policies, offices and tools. How to build them, examples and how to use them well. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What are workplace personas? Short answer Workplace personas are short profiles of typical employee work styles that describe how different groups prefer to work, where they do their best work and what they need from the office. Workplace, HR and real estate teams use them to design hybrid policies, space and tools for the whole workforce rather than an imagined average employee. Also called hybrid work personas, employee personas, work style personas. #### How it works Personas are built from data and conversation: attendance and booking patterns, surveys, interviews and focus groups. Each persona groups people with similar needs, for example how often they want to come in, what work they do in the office, whether they need quiet or collaboration, and what gets in their way. Kadence has described four common hybrid personas. The Soloist is independent, highly productive and happiest working remotely, with a risk of isolation. The Traditionalist prefers the office every day and is likely to resist hybrid most. The series also named the Adapter and the Culturalist. Many organizations define their own, such as frequent collaborators, focused specialists, mobile workers and on-site roles. Personas turn into design decisions. A workforce with many Traditionalists may need a block of permanent desks or recurring bookings; one with many Soloists needs strong digital channels and well-planned team days. Revisiting personas as attendance data changes keeps them from hardening into stereotypes. #### How to measure it 1. Check personas against attendance and booking data, not just survey answers. 2. Make sure each persona's needs map to specific space types, policies or tools. 3. Revisit personas each year, or after major policy or office changes. #### Examples - A firm finds a large group who want to be in every day and sets aside a permanent-desk zone for them, with bookable desks for everyone else. - Survey results show a group of remote-leaning specialists, so the company makes big announcements on video and sets team-day dates well in advance. #### Common mistakes - Building personas from assumptions or job titles rather than data. - Designing for one persona, often the leadership's own work style. - Treating personas as labels for individuals rather than patterns for planning. #### How Kadence helps Kadence data helps ground personas in behavior. Workplace Insights shows attendance, booking patterns and average weekly hours, and employee surveys (WorkOps Pro) collect preferences. Assigned desks, recurring bookings and team neighborhoods then serve different personas in the same office. [Workplace analytics]() · [Desk booking software]() · [Hybrid work strategy guide]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What are hybrid work personas? Hybrid work personas are profiles of how different groups of employees prefer to split their time between home and office, and what they need in each place. They help organizations design hybrid policies, office space and tools for the real mix of people rather than for one average worker. ##### What are the four hybrid personas? Kadence described four common hybrid personas: the Soloist, who is independent and happiest working remotely; the Traditionalist, who prefers the office every day; the Adapter; and the Culturalist. Organizations often create their own versions from their attendance and survey data. ##### How do you create workplace personas? Start with data: attendance, booking patterns and the types of space people use. Add surveys, interviews and focus groups across departments to learn what people do in the office and what gets in their way. Group people with similar needs, name each group, and link each persona to specific design decisions. ##### What is a solo worker in a hybrid workplace? A solo worker, sometimes called a Soloist, does their best work independently and is happiest working remotely. They are often highly productive but can become isolated. Keeping them connected means shared digital channels, announcements everyone hears at the same time, regular check-ins and clear notice of in-person days. #### Related terms - [Hybrid work model]() The specific rules an organization uses to decide where and when people work, from flexible to office-first. - [Activity-based working (ABW)]() A workplace model in which people move between settings designed for different tasks instead of working at one assigned desk. - [Workspace types]() The settings an office offers, such as desks, focus rooms, phone booths, huddle rooms and lounges, each suited to a kind of work. - [Hybrid work policy]() The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is workplace strategy? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/workplace-strategy/ Description: Workplace strategy links how an organization works to the space, policies and tools it provides. What it covers, how it is built and how data keeps it current. [Glossary]() · Space planning & real estate ### What is workplace strategy? Short answer Workplace strategy is the plan that aligns an organization's physical space, work policies and technology with how its people actually work and what the business needs. Real estate, HR and workplace leaders use it to decide how much space to hold, what kind of space to provide, and how hybrid attendance should work. Also called workplace strategist. #### How it works A workplace strategy starts with how work gets done: which teams collaborate, which need focus, how often people need to be together, and which roles depend on being on site. That picture comes from attendance and occupancy data, surveys, observation and interviews with leaders. It then sets choices in three areas. Space: how much, where, and in what mix of desks, meeting rooms and team areas. Policy: attendance expectations, anchor days and booking rules. Technology: the tools people use to find space, coordinate with teammates and join hybrid meetings. Because headcount, attendance and business priorities keep moving, the strategy is checked against measured use. The gap between policy and actual attendance, or between planned and actual occupancy, tells leaders when it needs to change. #### How to measure it 1. Attendance against policy, by team and day of the week. 2. Average and peak occupancy by space type, to check that the space mix matches demand. 3. Employee feedback on whether the office supports the work people come in to do. 4. Cost per occupied seat, to see whether the space earns what it costs. #### Examples - A company sets two anchor days per team, sizes each floor to its busiest anchor day, and turns unused assigned desks into project rooms. - After data shows that most focus work happens at home, a firm swaps rows of desks for meeting rooms and team tables. #### Benchmarks - At RCS England, 85% of staff exceeded the minimum office policy without enforcement. [Kadence customer story: RCS England]() #### Common mistakes - Writing the attendance policy first and checking the space later, so the office cannot hold the busiest policy day. - Copying another company's model without looking at how your own teams work. - Treating the strategy as a one-off document instead of reviewing it against attendance and occupancy data. - Measuring bookings instead of arrivals, which overstates demand. #### How Kadence helps Kadence gives workplace teams the operating data a strategy depends on. Workplace Insights reports attendance, occupancy and no-shows by building, floor and team, and employee surveys (WorkOps Pro) collect feedback. Team coordination features help people come in on the same days. When the strategy calls for change, SpaceOps models stack and scenario options against that data before anything moves. [Workplace analytics]() · [Hybrid working coordination]() · [SpaceOps]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a hybrid workplace strategy? A hybrid workplace strategy sets how space, policy and technology support people who split their time between the office and elsewhere. It covers which days teams come in, how much and what kind of space to provide for those days, and the tools people use to coordinate and book. ##### What does a workplace strategist do? A workplace strategist studies how an organization works, then recommends the space, policies and tools to support it. The role gathers data and feedback, shapes the brief for new or changed space, advises on attendance policy and checks results after changes are made. ##### What is the difference between workplace strategy and real estate strategy? Real estate strategy decides which buildings and leases to hold, where, and at what cost. Workplace strategy decides how the space inside them supports people and work. The two depend on each other: the workplace strategy sets demand, and the real estate strategy supplies space to meet it. ##### How do you know if a workplace strategy is working? Compare what the strategy intended with what happens: attendance against policy, occupancy against capacity on the busiest days, use of each space type, and what employees say about the office. If people avoid spaces built for them, or teams miss each other on office days, the strategy needs adjusting. #### Related terms - [Corporate real estate (CRE)]() The buildings and leases a company occupies for its own operations, and the team that plans and manages them. - [Hybrid work policy]() The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured. - [Activity-based working (ABW)]() A workplace model in which people move between settings designed for different tasks instead of working at one assigned desk. - [Workplace analytics]() Analysis of bookings, check-ins, attendance and occupancy data to guide decisions about office space, policy and services. - [Anchor days]() Set days each week when a team or company agrees to be in the office together, with the other days flexible. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is a works council? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/works-council/ Description: A works council is an elected employee body that must be consulted before attendance or presence tools are introduced. Its rights, how they vary and how to engage. [Glossary]() · Hybrid work & policy ### What is a works council? Short answer Works council is an elected employee body, common in Germany, the Netherlands and the Nordics, that must be consulted before tools measuring attendance or presence are introduced. Employers planning desk booking, check-in or presence tools in these countries involve it early, because its rights over such systems can delay or stop a rollout. Also called Betriebsrat, ondernemingsraad, employee representative body. #### How it works A works council represents the employees of an establishment or company. Its rights come from national law and collective agreements and differ by country: some topics need only information, some need consultation and some need the council's agreement. At EU level, Directive 2002/14/EC sets a general framework of minimum requirements for informing and consulting employees. Tools that measure attendance or presence often fall in the strongest category. In Germany, the Works Constitution Act gives the works council a right of co-determination over the introduction and use of technical devices designed to monitor the behavior or performance of employees. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Data Protection Authority says an employer may use a staff tracking system only with the approval of the works council, and lists a pass or badge system that registers attendance or location in a building as an example. In practice, the employer presents the tool, the data it collects, who can see it, how long it is kept and what it will not be used for, often in a written agreement. Multinationals often roll out first in countries without these requirements and add others once an agreement is in place. Because rules vary by country and sector, employers should take local legal advice. #### Examples - An employer introducing desk booking with automatic check-in in Germany agrees with the works council that reports show team-level attendance only and that personal data is deleted after a set period. - A Dutch employer asks the works council for approval before turning on badge-based attendance reporting. #### Common mistakes - Treating the works council as a final sign-off instead of involving it while the rollout is being designed. - Assuming an agreement in one country covers another. Rights differ by country. - Collecting more presence data than the stated purpose needs, which makes agreement harder. #### How Kadence helps Kadence has privacy settings an employer can set out for a works council. PII data retention controls set how long personal data is kept, and regional data hosting keeps customer data in the chosen region, US or EU. Building-scoped admins and Custom Roles and Permissions limit which admins see what, and employees can use incognito mode to hide their location from colleagues. [Security]() · [Workplace occupancy]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### Does a works council have to approve desk booking software? It depends on the country and on what the software records. Where a tool can record attendance or presence, works councils often have strong rights. In Germany and the Netherlands, the council's agreement is generally needed for systems that can monitor employees. Take local legal advice early. ##### Which countries have works councils? Works councils or similar employee bodies are common across much of Europe, including Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, France and the Nordic countries, where national law or collective agreements give employees a say in workplace changes. Their powers differ by country. ##### How do you get works council approval for presence tracking? Involve the council early. Explain what data is collected, why, who can see it, how long it is kept and what it will not be used for, such as individual performance reviews. Many employers record these terms in a written agreement before rollout. ##### Is a works council the same as a trade union? No. A works council is elected by the employees of a workplace or company, whether or not they belong to a union, and its rights come from national law. A trade union is a membership organization that negotiates pay and conditions, often across many employers. In some countries the two work closely together. #### Related terms - [Employee monitoring vs occupancy data]() Employee monitoring tracks what individuals do; occupancy data measures how spaces are used. Workplace planning needs only the second. - [Presence data (sensorless occupancy)]() The record of who was actually in the building and when, from signals you already have: network, badges and check-ins. - [Working time recording]() The EU requirement that employers run an objective, reliable and accessible system to record each worker's daily working time. - [Desktop presence agent]() A lightweight app on employees' laptops that detects when they're on the office network and checks them in automatically. - [Hybrid policy compliance]() Reporting on whether individuals and teams meet the organization's in-office expectations over time, such as 45 of 52 weeks. - [Badge data]() Access-control swipe records showing who entered a building or floor and when, often used to measure attendance. #### Sources 1. [Works Constitution Act (Betriebsverfassungsgesetz), English translation](), German Federal Ministry of Justice 2. [The works council and staff tracking systems](), Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (Dutch Data Protection Authority) 3. [Directive 2002/14/EC establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees](), EUR-Lex Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [Examples]() 3. [Common mistakes]() 4. [How Kadence helps]() 5. [FAQ]() 6. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What is workspace booking? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/workspace-booking/ Description: Workspace booking lets people reserve desks, rooms, lockers, parking and other spaces from one system. How it works, what to measure and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What is workspace booking? Short answer Workspace booking is the reservation of any bookable space in the workplace, such as desks, meeting rooms, private offices, pods, lockers and parking, through one system rather than separate tools. Workplace teams use it so employees can plan a whole office day in one place, and so every type of space produces comparable usage data. Also called space booking, resource booking, locker booking, space reservation. #### How it works Each space type is set up with its own rules: capacity, who can book it, how far ahead, for how long and whether check-in is required. Employees search by date, location and type, then book from a floor plan, a list, their calendar, a chat tool or an AI assistant. One booking flow can combine resources, such as a desk near the team, a locker and a parking space for the day. Some organizations add on-demand coworking space in other cities to the same system for people who do not live near an office. Because every space runs through the same system, check-ins, no-shows and occupancy can be compared across types. That shows whether the shortage is desks, small rooms, parking or lockers, and where space can be converted. #### How to measure it 1. Occupancy and no-show rate by space type. 2. Booking conflicts or refused requests by type. 3. Channel mix: bookings from the web, mobile, calendar, chat tools and AI assistants. #### Examples - An employee books a desk near the team, a locker and a parking space for Thursday in one go. - A company with staff in a city without an office lets them book coworking desks through the same app. #### Benchmarks - Axalta halved its office footprint and used Kadence to allocate desks, rooms and private offices fairly, with 30% fewer booking conflicts. [Kadence customer story: Axalta]() #### Common mistakes - Running rooms, desks and parking in separate tools, which splits both the data and the employee experience. - Applying the same rules to every space type. - Not requiring check-in for high-demand spaces. #### How Kadence helps Kadence books desks, rooms, lockers, pods, parking and private offices from the web, the mobile apps, Microsoft Teams, Slack and Kadence AI, and rooms from Outlook, with booking rules for maximum and default durations and how far ahead people can book. Kadence Flex adds on-demand coworking desks and rooms worldwide through the LiquidSpace network, and all bookings feed Workplace Insights. [Space management]() · [Microsoft Teams]() · [Kadence AI]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is space booking software? Space booking software lets employees reserve desks, meeting rooms and other workplace resources such as lockers, pods and parking, and gives admins rules and data on how each space is used. It is also called workspace or resource booking software. ##### Can you book desks and rooms in Microsoft Teams? Yes, with a workplace booking app installed in Teams. Employees can book desks and rooms, see who is coming in and get booking notifications without leaving Teams, and some apps let people book by chatting with an assistant. ##### What is the difference between workspace booking and room booking? Room booking covers meeting rooms and is usually tied to calendar invites. Workspace booking is broader: it includes rooms plus desks, pods, lockers, parking and other spaces, often booked together for a whole office day. #### Related terms - [Desk booking system]() Software that lets employees find and reserve a desk before they come in, check in on arrival and free desks nobody uses. - [Room booking system]() Software that lets people find, reserve and check in to meeting rooms, and frees rooms nobody uses. - [Parking management]() Allocating and booking office parking, including accessible, electric vehicle and bike spaces, so drivers know a space is waiting. - [Booking policy]() The rules for booking shared desks, rooms and other spaces: who can book, how far ahead, for how long and when bookings are released. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Benchmarks]() 5. [Common mistakes]() 6. [How Kadence helps]() 7. [FAQ]() 8. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What types of workspace does a hybrid office need? | Kadence glossary Canonical: https://kadence.co/glossary/workspace-types/ Description: Workspace types are the settings an office offers for different kinds of work. The main types a hybrid office needs, how to size the mix and common mistakes. [Glossary]() · Workplace operations ### What types of workspace does a hybrid office need? Short answer Workspace types are the distinct settings an office provides for different kinds of work, such as open desks, focus rooms, phone booths, huddle rooms, meeting rooms, lounges and lockers. Workplace and real estate teams define the mix so the office supports what people come in to do, rather than offering rows of identical desks. Also called focus room, phone booth, huddle room, collaboration zone, space types. #### How it works A hybrid office usually combines individual settings (bookable desks, focus rooms, phone booths), group settings (huddle rooms, project rooms and meeting rooms of several sizes), social settings (cafe areas, lounges) and support spaces (lockers, parking, storage). Each type is defined by its capacity, equipment, noise level and whether it is bookable or drop-in. The right mix follows the work people come in to do. If most office days are for team collaboration, the office needs more group and social space and fewer rows of desks. If people come in for quiet work they cannot do at home, focus rooms and quiet zones matter more. In a booking system, each space type gets its own rules: who can book it, how far ahead, for how long and whether it needs a check-in. Booking and check-in data by type then shows which settings are in demand and which sit empty, which is how teams adjust the mix over time. #### How to measure it 1. Track occupancy and no-shows by space type, not only in total, so a shortage of phone booths is not hidden by empty desks. 2. Compare the size of meetings with the size of the rooms they use; many meetings of two or three people end up in rooms built for eight. 3. Ask employees what they came in to do and whether they found the right setting, and read the answers next to the booking data. 4. Look at peak days separately, because a mix that works midweek can fail on the busiest day. #### Examples - A floor replaces a block of twenty desks with four phone booths, two huddle rooms and a project room after booking data shows the desks rarely fill while small rooms are always taken. - An office makes lockers and parking bookable alongside desks, so people who come in for one day can reserve everything they need in one flow. #### Common mistakes - Copying another company's mix instead of starting from what your own people do in the office. - Building large meeting rooms for small meetings, which leaves big rooms occupied by two people. - Giving every space type the same booking rules, for example letting focus rooms be booked all day. - Measuring desks only and missing demand for rooms, booths and support spaces. #### How Kadence helps Kadence books desks, meeting rooms and additional space types such as lockers, pods, parking and private offices from one interactive floor plan, with booking rules and durations set per space type. Workplace Insights reports how each type is used, and admins choose whether lockers and parking count toward office attendance. [Space management]() · [Desk booking software]() · [Room booking software]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a huddle room? A huddle room is a small meeting room for a few people, usually with a screen and a camera for quick meetings and video calls. Hybrid offices use them heavily, because many meetings have two or three people in the room and others joining remotely. ##### What is the difference between a focus room and a phone booth? A focus room is a small enclosed room for one person doing concentrated work, often bookable for a few hours. A phone booth is a smaller acoustic pod for a call or a short video meeting, usually used on a drop-in basis or booked for short slots. ##### How do you decide the right mix of workspace types? Start with what people come in to do, then check the data: booking and check-in rates by space type, meeting sizes against room sizes, and employee feedback. Change the mix in small steps, such as turning a block of desks into booths or small rooms, and measure again. ##### Should every workspace type be bookable? Not always. Desks, meeting rooms, parking and lockers usually work best when bookable, because demand is predictable. Phone booths and lounges often work better as drop-in space, because people need them for short, unplanned moments. #### Related terms - [Activity-based working (ABW)]() A workplace model in which people move between settings designed for different tasks instead of working at one assigned desk. - [Office fit-out]() The work that turns shell or existing space into a usable office: walls, services, finishes, furniture and technology. - [Workspace booking]() Reserving any bookable space at work, such as desks, rooms, lockers, pods, parking or coworking space, from one system. - [Meeting room utilization]() How often meeting rooms are used and how full they are when used, which shows whether you need more rooms or different ones. Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed September 30, 2026 On this page 1. [How it works]() 2. [How to measure it]() 3. [Examples]() 4. [Common mistakes]() 5. [How Kadence helps]() 6. [FAQ]() 7. [Related terms]() Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Google Calendar Room Booking for Google Workspace | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/google-calendar-room-booking/ Description: Book meeting rooms in Google Calendar with Kadence. Two-way sync with Google Workspace rooms, SSO with Google, and directory, team and photo sync. Google Calendar Room Booking ### Book the right room in Google Calendar. Find available rooms across your offices, invite colleagues, and keep meeting plans in the calendar your teams already use. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative calendar booking adds a Tuesday team meeting, attaches Room 4 with six seats and confirms check-in. [Explore WorkOps]() [Explore SpaceOps]() [Explore integrations]() Google Calendar Calendar Integration #### Find and book the perfect space Kadence conference room booking software integrates seamlessly with your Google calendar for faster rollout and adoption. Search for available spaces across different office locations easily directly from the Google calendar, book rooms and invite colleagues with just a few clicks. Kadence Kadence: Find and book the perfect space Room Availability #### All your room bookings in one place Get a complete view of all meetings and conference room availability in a single dashboard, with controls on who has access to specific spaces and when. Get a clear view of who is in or out of the office with real-time booking data. Easily view all your occupied meeting spaces and know what’s available at a glance. Kadence Kadence: All your room bookings in one place #### Built for Google Workspace Kadence connects to Google Workspace once, then keeps rooms, people and teams in step. IT decides which rooms Kadence can see. - Two-way sync with Google Calendar room resources. - Single sign-on with Google, and directory sync that adds and removes users as your directory changes. - Teams built from Google Groups or a custom attribute, so Kadence teams match your departments. - Profile photos synced from Google Workspace. - An optional limit to chosen room mailboxes, for pilots or building-by-building rollouts. #### How Google Calendar room booking works with Kadence Each meeting room exists as a resource in Google Workspace and as a room in Kadence. When someone adds a room to an event in Google Calendar, the booking appears in Kadence shortly after. When someone books a room in Kadence, in Slack or at a Kadence Room Display, Google Calendar creates the event and invites the room. Google Calendar stays the source of truth, and [two-way calendar sync]() prevents double bookings. Kadence adds room availability on an interactive floor plan, check-in and [auto-release]() of rooms nobody uses. Desks, parking and other spaces are booked in the Kadence web and mobile apps or in Slack, so one tool covers the whole office. #### Set up in Google Workspace 1. In the Google Admin console, open Security, then API controls, and add Kadence under domain-wide delegation with the calendar and directory scopes from the setup guide. 2. Copy your Google Workspace customer ID from Account settings. 3. In Kadence, go to Settings, Integrations, Calendar Integration, and connect Google with the customer ID and an admin email. 4. Create rooms in Google Workspace under Buildings and resources, then match each one to a room in Kadence. Full steps: [Google Calendar integration guide](). Sign-in and user provisioning are covered by [single sign-on]() and [directory sync](). FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **Can you book meeting rooms in Google Calendar with Kadence?** Yes. People add a room to an event in Google Calendar as usual, and Kadence picks up the booking through two-way sync. Rooms booked in Kadence, in Slack or at a Kadence Room Display appear in Google Calendar too. Kadence adds floor plans, check-in and auto-release, so booked rooms that sit empty are freed for others. **How do I see room availability in Google Calendar?** Rooms set up as Google Workspace resources show their availability in Google Calendar when you add a room to an event. Kadence keeps that availability accurate by syncing bookings made in Kadence and releasing no-shows. People can also see free rooms on the Kadence floor plan, in the mobile app and on Kadence Room Displays. **Does Kadence support single sign-on with Google?** Yes. People sign in to Kadence with their Google account, and admins can make single sign-on mandatory. Directory sync with Google Workspace adds new users and removes people who leave, so access stays current without manual work. **Can Kadence sync teams and profile photos from Google Workspace?** Yes. Kadence can create teams from your Google Groups, or from a custom attribute if your groups do not match your departments. It also copies each person's Google Workspace profile photo, so colleagues are easy to recognize in Kadence. A Kadence Global Admin sets up the mapping once. **Can we limit which rooms Kadence syncs from Google Calendar?** Yes. By default, the integration can see all room resources in your Google Workspace. Admins can limit it to chosen room mailboxes with a custom access group in the Google Admin console. This suits pilots and large estates that roll out building by building. #### Explore more - [Room booking software]() - [Two-way calendar sync, explained]() - [Single sign-on (SSO)]() - [Slack desk booking]() - [Outlook room booking]() - [All integrations]() Next step #### Start working smarter with Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Management for Government Organizations | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/government/ Description: Workplace management software for government organizations: manage desks, rooms and workspaces securely, with the evidence to back every real estate decision. Government ### Workplace Management for Government Organizations Designed for the public sector, our platform helps councils, trusts and government agencies manage desks, rooms and workspaces securely and efficiently, with the evidence to stand behind every real estate decision. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative: County Hall occupancy by weekday, Mon 48%, Tue 64%, Wed 58%, Thu 41%, Fri 22%, summarized as an occupancy report with a 47% average, peak on Tue and the quietest day on Fri. Trusted in government - MOPAC - Denbighshire County Council - Oxfordshire County Council - Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman - Scottish Canals - West of England Combined Authority End-to-End Platform #### One Consistent Workplace System Desk booking, room booking and workplace analytics in one platform, no more manual spreadsheets. Policies, capacity rules and approvals enforced automatically rather than by hand, with a complete audit trail of every booking and change. Every booking becomes usable data so the same system that runs the day-to-day also builds your evidence base. Kadence Kadence WorkOps dashboard showing unified desk booking, room management, visitor tracking, and workplace occupancy data in one platform. Occupancy Analytics #### Turn Occupancy Data into Space Intelligence Ditch manual spreadsheets and hallway guesswork. Actual presence often doesn’t match planned attendance, Kadence closes the gap. Kadence captures presence analytics across your buildings, helping you enforce policies and know which teams are showing up and which aren’t. Utilization reports exported in minutes. Real-time occupancy dashboards across every site, floor and team — no manual stitching. Kadence Kadence Sense occupancy analytics dashboard showing real-time building utilization data captured from Wi-Fi, badge, and kiosk signals User Adoption #### Purpose-Built System Your Staff Will Actually Use Kadence is desk and room booking designed for shared workplaces, synced with Outlook, Microsoft Teams and Slack. No-show bookings are released automatically so space goes back into circulation, and a user-friendly app experience drives the adoption that keeps your data complete and trustworthy. Kadence A stylized design of the Kadence and Outlook plug-in. AI Space Planning #### Track the Metrics That Matter You can’t optimize real estate, headcount, or compliance without the data. Kadence gives you real-time metrics on attendance, room recovery, desk usage by floor, team or location. Kadence turns everyday bookings into utilization evidence that stands up to scrutiny from leadership or auditors. Model consolidation and restack scenarios against real usage before you commit, and track progress against occupancy targets with confidence. Kadence Kadence: Track the Metrics That Matter #### Built for Regulatory & Governance Requirements - ##### SOC 2 Type II Certified for security, availability, and confidentiality controls required by financial institutions. - ##### Cyber Essentials Certified under the UK government-backed scheme — the baseline assurance expected across the public sector. - ##### End-to-End Encryption All data encrypted in transit and at rest. Your sensitive workplace data stays private. - ##### GDPR compliant Data protection by design, with data minimization — we only store what the service needs. - ##### Data Residency Choose where your data lives. GDPR, CCPA, and regional compliance handled automatically. - ##### SSO Integrations Connect securely with Active Directory, Okta, and major enterprise SSO providers. #### Kadence for the UK public sector Customer story · Government ##### Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence. **Minutes** for reports that took days [Read the story]() Customer story · Public Services ##### MOPAC reached 83% adoption within weeks and now forecasts office demand from usage data. **83%** user adoption within weeks [Read the story]() Reviews on G2 · Government #### In their own words. [All Kadence reviews on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “The reporting and insights are powerful, and easy to create. We're receiving excellent feedback on the system, and looking to extend across our estates in the short-term.” **Gordon M.** Head Of Digital and IT Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) · G2 review, January 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “Really professional implementation of product, the team were helpful and communicative throughout the process, and the hybrid working tool is incredibly easy to use.” **Alex H.** Head of People and Assets Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) · G2 review, April 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() By industry - [Financial services →]() - [Technology →]() - [Legal →]() - [Business services →]() - [Commercial real estate →]() - [Consumer goods →]() - [Energy and utilities →]() - [Healthcare and pharma →]() - [Higher education →]() - [Manufacturing →]() - [Media and entertainment →]() - [Non-profits →]() - [Retail →]() Next step #### Discover Kadence through G-Cloud Join leading government institutions using Kadence to deliver secure and compliant workplace operations at scale. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Guides for Real Estate and Workplace Leaders | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/guides/ Description: In-depth guides to office space utilization, workplace analytics, flexible office models, hybrid work strategy, return to office and AI at work. Guides ### Workplace guides for real estate and workplace leaders. 8 in-depth guides built from 95 Kadence articles: how to measure and plan space, which office models fit which teams, and what the evidence says about hybrid work, return to office and AI. 1. 01 · 15 articles #### [Hybrid work strategy: policy, models and people]() A hybrid work model succeeds when policy, space and people pull in the same direction. This guide covers the main models, how to write a policy, how to include every working style and how to keep improving with data. Read the guide → 2. 02 · 14 articles #### [Return to office: mandates, pushback and what the evidence shows]() A return to office mandate is easy to announce and hard to deliver. Here is what the 2024 and 2025 mandates looked like, how employees responded, what the evidence shows, and how to plan a return that works. Read the guide → 3. 03 · 14 articles #### [The Kadence platform: from desk booking to WorkOps and SpaceOps]() Kadence's hybrid work platform launched in 2021 as a desk booking tool and grew into a workplace management system. WorkOps runs the office day to day. SpaceOps plans and changes it. Here is how the platform got there. Read the guide → 4. 04 · 12 articles #### [Flexible office models: hot desking, hoteling, activity-based working and neighborhoods]() Hoteling office space, activity-based working, hot desking and neighborhoods each assign space in a different way. Here is how they compare, which teams each one suits, where each one fails and what makes flexible seating work. Read the guide → 5. 05 · 12 articles #### [Office space planning: right-sizing, utilization and fit-out]() Office space utilization in most buildings sits far below what the space was planned for. Here is how to measure real use, right-size the portfolio and invest in the space you keep. Read the guide → 6. 06 · 11 articles #### [AI and the future of work: strategy, capacity and the workplace]() AI and the future of work are now one conversation. Here is what AI means for the length of the week, for adoption, for human focus and for the office itself. Read the guide → 7. 07 · 10 articles #### [Bringing teams together: coordination, events and flexible space]() Team coordination in hybrid work means four things: show people who is coming in, set shared team days, give them a reason to gather, and give them the right space when they arrive. Read the guide → 8. 08 · 7 articles #### [Workplace analytics: the metrics that matter]() The space utilization metrics and workplace KPIs that show who uses your office, when and how, plus how to collect the data responsibly and report it so leaders can act on it. Read the guide → Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## AI and the Future of Work: The Workweek and Workplace | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/guides/ai-and-the-future-of-work/ Description: AI and the future of work: how AI changes the workweek, AI adoption, focus and office space, and what workplace, HR and real estate leaders should do. [Home]() / [Guides]() ### AI and the future of work: strategy, capacity and the workplace AI and the future of work are now one conversation. Here is what AI means for the length of the week, for adoption, for human focus and for the office itself. Updated September 29, 2026 · Drawn from 11 Kadence articles by [Dan Bladen](), [Omar Ramirez](), [Gillian Brookes](), [Jamie Addis](), [Perry Timms](), [Helen Attia]() and [Dave Cairns]() On this page 1. [AI and the future of work: what is actually changing?]() 2. [Will AI make the five-day workweek obsolete?]() 3. [What is a compressed work week, and how does it relate to AI adoption?]() 4. [How do you protect focus when AI speeds up work?]() 5. [Is hybrid work the right foundation for AI?]() 6. [Will AI replace the office?]() 7. [Who owns the workplace demand signal?]() 8. [How should leaders manage change as AI reshapes work?]() #### Key takeaways - Research cited by Gillian Brookes shows 80% of employees use AI tools, but adoption stays shallow because people fear optimizing themselves out of a job. - Atom Bank cut working hours from 37 to 34 a week with no salary reduction and saw no drop in performance; CEO Mark Mullen calls the four-day week logical in the AI era. - The 2026 State of the Workplace report found average focus sessions have fallen to just over thirteen minutes, so Omar Ramirez argues for screen-free analog spaces. - Brian Elliott says hybrid has stabilized at about three days a week, and that alignment on goals, not office days, is the real work. - Dan Bladen argues static space plans no longer hold: in one Kadence scenario model, a floor thought to need 100 additional desks needed two. AI and the future of work are now the same conversation. Enterprise AI adoption sits around 80 percent, according to the [2026 State of the Workplace report](), and time spent inside AI tools grew eightfold in two years. Yet the practical questions are still open. How long should the workweek be? Why do AI investments go unused? What happens to focus? And what does it all mean for office space? Corporate real estate, HR and workplace leaders face these questions from different sides. The answers below draw on practitioners, researchers and Kadence conversations from 2024 to 2026, organized around the decisions leaders actually have to make. #### AI and the future of work: what is actually changing? AI is changing three things at once: which tasks people do, who does the work, and how fast the business expects answers. It automates routine work, makes AI skill a basic job expectation and raises pressure on planning. On the current evidence, it is not removing the need for a workplace. Start with tasks. In March 2025, Kadence’s Jamie Addis, arguing that AI is making the five-day workweek obsolete, cited a McKinsey & Company report finding that AI could automate up to 60-70% of employee tasks in data processing and administrative roles. He also cited Accenture research that organizations integrating AI into their operations report 2.5 times higher revenue growth and 2.4 times greater productivity. Then who does the work. In April 2025, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke told staff that using AI effectively was a fundamental expectation of everyone at the company and that hiring would be “AI-first.” As Kadence co-founder Dan Bladen explained in why Shopify proves AI-first is the new remote-first, this repeated a pattern. In May 2020, Shopify declared that “office centricity is over” and rebuilt around async work and intentional in-person gatherings. Bladen’s view is that the real risk is bolting AI onto rigid, presence-based ways of working: “You can’t be AI-first if your operating model is 2013.” By 2026 the picture was more nuanced. At IFMA in April 2026, Brian Elliott and Dan Bladen discussed [why workplace strategy can’t stay static in the age of AI](). They agreed that new tools raise what organizations expect from their teams, and that in practice this often creates more complexity before it creates simplicity. #### Will AI make the five-day workweek obsolete? Some leaders think so. Atom Bank CEO Mark Mullen argues that as AI takes on repetitive and administrative work, a five-day week will stop making sense. His bank introduced a [four-day work week]() in 2021, cutting hours from 37 to 34 with no salary reduction and no drop in performance. Jamie Addis made the case in March 2025 that AI is making the traditional five-day workweek obsolete. At Atom Bank, employees reported feeling more engaged and recruitment became easier after the change. Mullen put it bluntly: “I think a four-day week isn’t progressive, it’s bloody logical.” He expects the trend to continue, and says he cannot understand how “a five-day week, which is a pre-Victorian invention, still works in the digital age.” Addis’s broader argument is that the real productivity gains come from companies that trust their teams, give them autonomy and use AI to create smarter ways of working, not from forcing people back into offices. The shorter week, in this view, is a strategic response to AI rather than an employee perk. #### What is a compressed work week, and how does it relate to AI adoption? A compressed or shorter work week gives people back working days. Workforce strategist Gillian Brookes uses it as an incentive for AI adoption: teams that find at least 10 percent productivity gains through AI earn a day off every two weeks. The reward gives people a personal stake in using AI well. In June 2026, Brookes set out the AI incentive playbook for using shorter work weeks to accelerate AI adoption. She calls the core problem the kitchen appliance problem: a new gadget sits on the bench looking impressive while everyone keeps cooking the way they always have. Research she cites shows 80% of employees now use AI tools, but adoption remains shallow. People avoid deeper use because they sense that mastery might make their role redundant. Her evidence comes from a five-month pilot of a shorter work schedule, with one day off every two weeks. People started with personal habits such as time-blocking, then aligned focus hours with colleagues. Three months in, teams began working with [adjacent teams]() and a culture of continuous improvement took root. Brookes says she saw a workforce mature faster than anything she had witnessed in 15 years of organizational development. Her three-step framework: 1. **Set clear expectations.** Make AI adoption a stated priority and track AI usage alongside traditional productivity metrics. 2. **Remove fear through commitment.** State that the purpose is not redundancies, and prove it by sharing the productivity benefits through flexible work. 3. **Run a structured pilot.** Set a six-month pilot with a clear value exchange: at least 10 percent productivity gains in return for a day off every two weeks. The capacity math matters to business leaders. If employees receive a 10 percent productivity gift while the organization gains 25 percent overall through AI, there is 15 percent additional capacity to deploy. One of her manufacturing clients used it to reimagine quality control. Brookes is also running pilots in manufacturing and construction, where the reward becomes flexible scheduling, shift pattern optimization or additional rest periods. Incentives are one condition. Understanding the work is the other. In a November 2025 conversation, [riding into 2026 with Dan Bladen](), Brian Elliott described Zapier’s code red moment in 2023, when it realized it had to map its processes before AI could improve anything. AI creates value when companies understand what good looks like, where human judgment adds value and where automation removes unnecessary friction. #### How do you protect focus when AI speeds up work? Design for human capacity, not just throughput. Workplace strategist Omar Ramirez points to data showing average focus sessions have fallen to just over thirteen minutes as AI use grows. His answer is screen-free analog spaces, deliberate positive friction and measures of human outcomes alongside utilization. In June 2026, Ramirez described the analog advantage of designing for human capacity in an AI-saturated workplace. The 2026 State of the Workplace report he cites analyzed more than 443 million hours of work activity. Collaboration activity is up 34 percent. Research from UC Berkeley and Harvard Business Review points the same way: when AI accelerates work without a counterbalance, people produce more while thinking less clearly. Ramirez calls this the AI productivity paradox. His observation is counterintuitive. The most technologically advanced organizations are investing in analog spaces: rooms with no screens and no devices, just whiteboards, paper and conversation. These rooms quickly become the most-booked spaces in the building. Ramirez says organizations using Kadence to track occupancy often see analog spaces fill faster than screen-heavy conference rooms that cost far more to build. He also argues for positive friction. A coffee station with a three-minute natural wait gives a real conversation time to start. Some firms are reintroducing slower elevators in specific zones, because the extra thirty seconds turn into cross-floor collaboration. The practical rule is to match the mode to the work: strategic planning, creative exploration and trust-building in analog settings; status updates and task tracking in digital ones; data analysis digital, with AI in the loop. Ramirez recommends four steps. Audit the floor plate and score every zone by tech intensity. Design space typologies from what the audit shows. Prototype one space for ninety days before scaling. Then measure human outcomes such as belonging scores, unplanned-to-planned interaction ratios, dwell time and retention signals. Utilization tells you how often a space is used. It cannot tell you what was created there. #### Is hybrid work the right foundation for AI? Yes, according to several Kadence conversations. Hybrid already runs on outcomes, async collaboration and team agreements, which are the foundations AI needs. Brian Elliott reports that hybrid has stabilized at around three days a week, and that clear alignment on goals matters far more than the number of office days. In September 2024, Kadence’s Future of Work Strategist Dave Cairns launched Beyond Hybrid, Kadence’s series on the next chapter of work. Back from the Running Remote conference in Lisbon, he told a panel: “This is a hybrid moment. Period.” He noted that the stock performance of in-office companies lagged their fully flexible peers by 16% between 2020-22. His advice to large enterprises was incremental change, moving from top-down mandates to team-led agreements. The return-to-office push that opened 2025 tested that view. Speaking with Dan Bladen in November 2025, Elliott said attendance had increased, but not to the level leaders commanded: > “Three days a week seems to be the average now. The number of people moving to five is less and less every month. What we are seeing is stabilization rather than escalation.” Companies like OpenAI, which set a clear Monday through Wednesday cadence years earlier, saw the smoothest adoption. The conversation’s deeper point is that hybrid struggles are very often alignment struggles. In [a conversation looking ahead to 2026](), Elliott described a CEO running six business units across twelve countries who pushed back on a simple office-day mandate because the real challenge was clarity: > “It was not the process. It was getting senior leadership aligned on how to clearly articulate the most important five goals for the company for the next six months. Alignment is the actual work. Office days are just the surface layer.” That lesson carries straight into AI adoption. Organizations that measure presence struggle to absorb new tools. Organizations structured around outcomes can change how work gets done without changing what success means. #### Will AI replace the office? No. In an April 2026 conversation at IFMA, Brian Elliott and Kadence co-founder Dan Bladen noted that AI companies such as OpenAI keep growing and taking office space. AI is instead raising scrutiny on cost and making static space planning hard to defend. The leaders handling it well compare scenarios before they commit. The economics are sharper than before. In November 2025, Elliott described a company paying forty thousand dollars per desk per year for premium office space. Companies are dividing floors into premium client-facing space, flexible collaboration areas and efficient working zones, and right-sizing rather than cutting at random: > “If your max number of people in seats over the last ninety days was thirty, you are getting thirty seats. There is no point in keeping sixty when the data shows you only need half.” Workplace teams now carry that pressure. Their remit has grown from leases, layouts and facilities to space strategy, utilization analytics, hybrid coordination and reconfiguration planning, at the intersection of real estate, people operations, IT and finance. Static planning breaks down under these conditions. Headcount shifts faster, attendance stays uneven and business units use space differently. A plan based on average attendance can miss where demand peaks, and a space model can overlook the adjacencies a team needs. For [AI space planning](), the inputs matter as much as the model. Seat counts, contracts, attendance signals and growth forecasts often sit in different systems, and AI can help bring that picture together, but it cannot compensate for weak inputs. Bladen shared two examples at IFMA. One customer believed a new floor needed 100 additional desks. After modeling team adjacencies, likely peak demand and overcapacity risk, the real answer was two. Another needed to find 15 desks on a floor in Sydney and used Kadence to identify where that capacity could come from. In his words: “Static planning gives you a snapshot. Scenario planning shows you consequences.” That is the case for [scenario planning]() as a core workplace capability. The market backdrop raises the stakes. Writing in August 2026, Bladen cited the PwC and Urban Land Institute Emerging Trends in Real Estate report: 49 percent of office leases in place in March 2020, at ten thousand square feet and above, still have not rolled over, and net absorption has been flat or negative for fourteen straight quarters. His conclusion: you cannot lease your way out of that market. You have to optimize what you already hold. #### Who owns the workplace demand signal? The occupier does. Dan Bladen argues that sensors and [digital twins]() describe the building, while the demand signal describes the workforce: bookings, attendance, team patterns and headcount plans. Employees generate that data, so it sits with the occupier and the workplace leaders closest to it, not with the building. The 2026 PwC and ULI report, in its 47th year, ran a spotlight titled [From Proptech to PropOS](). It describes a property operating system: AI agents, digital twins and data integrations on top of existing building platforms, connected rather than replaced. In from PropTech to PropOS: who owns the demand signal, Bladen agreed with that shape but challenged where the intelligence comes from. A sensor can count how many people sat on the third floor on Tuesday. It cannot tell you that two teams should sit together on Tuesdays, or that a business unit is about to add forty people. The report itself shows why behavior matters more than policy: only 72 percent of organizations hit their attendance goals, and just 37 percent took any action to enforce their return-to-office policies. His summary line: “Supply data without demand data is a dashboard. Demand data with an optimization layer is an operating system.” Consolidation, co-location and [lease renewal]() decisions all need the demand signal plus an engine that turns it into comparable scenarios. The first step is unglamorous: audit whether your demand data is captured anywhere structured. For most organizations it lives in calendar invites and a hand-updated spreadsheet named FINAL\_v7. In Kadence’s approach, [WorkOps]() captures the demand signal as employees coordinate their week, and [SpaceOps]() turns it into portfolio scenarios using constraint-based optimization rather than a generic language model, so every scenario traces back to the organization’s own workforce data. #### How should leaders manage change as AI reshapes work? Involve people early, test ideas in context and facilitate rather than police. Culture change consultant Tara Birch, PTHR founder Perry Timms and smart working expert Andy Lake each argue that lasting change comes from involvement, evidence and trust. The same applies to AI adoption, where fear is the main barrier. In October 2024, Kadence’s Helen Attia spoke with Tara Birch about her Change Together Cycle for navigating change together. Birch treats change as an ongoing cycle, not a one-off project. Involve employees from the start instead of handing down decisions. Build strong internal communities; she once built a Culture Ambassador Network of 500 volunteers across the globe. Stay flexible, gather feedback and be ready to pivot. She also creates safe spaces where leaders can admit their own fear of change. Later that month, Perry Timms wrote about [moving from thought leadership to sense-making](). His example is a CEO who reads that rescue teams perform better when they eat lunch together, then orders everyone back to the office, although the company is full of designers and software developers. The better move is to ask what your own version of that cohesion looks like, then test and learn. As Timms puts it: “Does thought leadership help you make a business-critical decision? Probably not; the data and evidence should do that.” He also reminds leaders that, using estimates that 30-40% of work is office-based, the office debate affects at most 1.36 billion people in a 3.4 billion global workforce. In April 2024, Attia discussed [transforming the public sector with Andy Lake](). Their conversation framed smart flexibility as something woven into how an organization operates, built on trust. It starts with leadership, needs buy-in from the executive team to frontline staff, and requires managers to shift from overseeing to facilitating. ##### Where to start 1. **Make the deal explicit.** Name AI adoption as a priority, rule out redundancy as the goal and share the gains. 2. **Map workflows before adding tools.** Define what good looks like and where human judgment matters. 3. **Pilot and measure.** Track productivity, engagement, retention and how space use changes week by week. 4. **Protect focus.** Give deep work and trust-building a physical home. 5. **Plan in scenarios.** Capture the demand signal and model growth, capacity and policy before committing to space. AI will keep changing the pace and shape of work. The organizations that benefit will not be the ones with the most tools. They will be the ones that give people a reason to use them, protect the human work that tools cannot do, and base space decisions on evidence. #### The articles behind this guide 1. From Proptech to PropOS: Who Owns the Demand Signal? August 20, 2026 The most widely read forecast in real estate just gave a name to something the rest of us have been circling for two years. In its 2026 edition, now in its 47th year, PwC… 2. The Analog Advantage: Designing for Human Capacity in an AI-Saturated Workplace June 4, 2026 There’s a pattern I’ve watched unfold across every high-tech organization I’ve worked with, from Silicon Valley campuses to offices in Sydney and São Paulo. The more… 3. The AI Incentive Playbook: Using Shorter Work Weeks to Accelerate AI Adoption June 1, 2026 Here’s what I learned from running a five-month pilot for a shorter work fortnight: people will move mountains to protect their day off. Give a team one extra day off… 4. [Brian Elliott on Why Workplace Strategy Can’t Stay Static in the Age of AI]() April 16, 2026 At IFMA, Brian Elliott and I kept coming back to the same tension. AI is accelerating the speed of business, but workplace strategy is still too often built on… 5. [Riding Into 2026: Talking Workplace With Brian Elliott]() November 26, 2025 There is something fitting about talking about the future of work while sitting in the back of a Waymo gliding through San Francisco. An autonomous car is a real-time… 6. Shopify Proves AI-First Is The New Remote-First April 9, 2025 In 2020, Shopify was one of the first major companies to go remote-first, famously declaring “office centricity is over.” Now, CEO Tobi Lütke has dropped another… 7. Will AI Make The Five-Day Workweek Obsolete? March 13, 2025 AI is rewriting the rules of work, automating routine tasks and making rigid office schedules look increasingly outdated. The smartest companies aren’t resisting this… 8. [From Thought Leadership To Sense Making With Perry Timms]() October 24, 2024 Thought Leadership has been a “thing” for some three decades now. It is often provocative, ideological, and agitative, sometimes research-led and evidence-based on… 9. Tara Birch’s Approach To Navigating Change Together October 7, 2024 Change is a fact of life, especially in today’s fast-paced work environment. But how we handle that change? Well, that’s where things get interesting. I recently had an… 10. Welcome To Beyond Hybrid September 1, 2024 My name is Dave, and welcome to Beyond Hybrid. Each month I’ll be “peeking around the corner” in a humble attempt to deliver the latest insights about the next chapter of… 11. [Transforming The Public Sector With Andy Lake]() April 5, 2024 As we step into a future where the lines between our professional and personal lives are increasingly blurred. The need for smarter, more flexible workspaces has never… [All guides]() FAQ #### Common questions **Will AI make the office obsolete?** The evidence points the other way. In an April 2026 conversation at IFMA, future of work expert Brian Elliott and Kadence co-founder Dan Bladen noted that many companies building the AI economy, including OpenAI, continue to grow and take significant office space. What AI is changing is the role of the workplace, which is becoming more dynamic, more scrutinized and more tightly tied to business performance. **Does a four-day work week work with AI?** Atom Bank offers one test case. The UK bank introduced a four-day work week in 2021 and cut hours from 37 to 34 per week with no reduction in salary. Employees reported feeling more engaged, recruitment became easier and the business saw no drop in performance. CEO Mark Mullen argues that as AI takes on routine work, a five-day week will make less and less sense. **How do you increase AI adoption in the workplace?** Align employee incentives with business outcomes. Workforce strategist Gillian Brookes recommends three steps: make AI adoption a stated priority, commit that the goal is not redundancies, and run a structured six-month pilot. In her model, teams that find at least 10 percent productivity gains through AI earn a day off every two weeks, which gives people a personal stake in success. **What is the workplace demand signal?** The workplace demand signal is the picture of how an organization uses space and intends to use it: bookings, attendance patterns, which teams cluster and when, whether people follow hybrid policies, and headcount plans. Kadence co-founder Dan Bladen argues it is workforce data, so it belongs to the occupier rather than to the building or its sensors. **How is AI used in workplace space planning?** AI can help bring fragmented workplace data together, but it cannot compensate for weak inputs. Brian Elliott and Dan Bladen argue that static plans based on average attendance miss peaks and team needs. Scenario planning models growth, capacity, adjacencies and policy before a decision is made. In one Kadence example, a floor thought to need 100 additional desks needed two. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Bringing Hybrid Teams Together: Team Days and Events | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/guides/bringing-teams-together/ Description: Team coordination in hybrid work: how to see who is in, set team days, run workplace events and use flexible workspace to bring the right people together. [Home]() / [Guides]() ### Bringing teams together: coordination, events and flexible space Team coordination in hybrid work means four things: show people who is coming in, set shared team days, give them a reason to gather, and give them the right space when they arrive. Updated September 29, 2026 · Drawn from 10 Kadence articles by Luke Christian-Farman, [Dave Cairns](), [Jamie Addis]() and [Dan Bladen]() On this page 1. [What is team coordination in hybrid work?]() 2. [How do people see who is coming in?]() 3. [How do you get teams in on the same days?]() 4. [What makes an in-office day worth the commute?]() 5. [How can distributed teams meet without a nearby office?]() 6. [How do you remove friction in meeting rooms and across regions?]() 7. [Where should leaders start?]() #### Key takeaways - In January 2022, Kadence introduced Personal Kadence so each person could plot a weekly working pattern that colleagues could see before booking. - Team Kadences, introduced in September 2023, let managers set recurring team days every week or month at a chosen location and neighborhood. - Kadence Events, introduced in July 2024, combined invitations through Slack, Microsoft Teams, email or the Kadence app with feedback polls and Events Analytics. - Kadence Flex, announced with LiquidSpace in February 2024, described booking hot desks and meeting rooms in thousands of flexible work locations worldwide. - In June 2025, Kadence announced native-language support in 38 languages, set at the user level with no additional setup. [Team coordination]() in hybrid work comes down to one practical question: how do you get the right people in on the same days, and give them the right space when they arrive? People no longer come in because they must be at a desk before the day starts. They come in to see the people they work with. When they arrive and those people are not there, the commute feels wasted and the next visit gets harder to justify. Kadence has approached this problem from several angles since 2021, including shared schedules, recurring [team days](), workplace events, [flexible workspace](), meeting-room hardware and language support. The dated examples below show what each approach adds and where it fits. #### What is team coordination in hybrid work? Team coordination in hybrid work is the job of getting the right people in the same place at the same time when nobody has a fixed desk or a fixed schedule. It covers who needs to meet, how often, and where. Without it, people come in on different days and in-office time loses its value. Kadence’s co-founder Dan Bladen, framed the problem this way when Kadence and LiquidSpace announced their partnership in 2023: “In the past people were predictable, and spaces were static. Now, spaces are flexible, and people are unpredictable.” (Kadence and LiquidSpace partnership announcement) When Kadence introduced Team Kadences for team coordination in 2023, it made the same point. With each person getting their best work done on their own terms, wider teams can struggle for rhythm, and the performance of a company depends on the productivity of its teams. Jeff Gwinnett, Senior Director, Workplace Experience & Sustainability at Softchoice, described the challenge in the 2023 LiquidSpace announcement: “The future of work is one where people have the agency to choose where and how they work so they can be the most productive in what they deliver. This means work can happen anywhere, and with the right people. The challenge then comes down to coordination – the coordination of schedules, spaces, and experiences.” Before choosing any tool, answer three questions: - **Who needs to be together?** A project team, a department, a cross-functional group or the whole company. - **How often?** Every week, every month or around specific moments such as a launch or a town hall. - **Where?** Headquarters, a regional office or a space near where people live. #### How do people see who is coming in? People see who is coming in when colleagues’ plans are visible where they book. That means profiles with faces, a shared weekly working pattern, and alerts when key teammates book. Visibility is the first layer of coordination, because people cannot plan to meet if they cannot see each other’s plans. In September 2021, Kadence added headshots, recurring booking and web profiles. Headshots let employees upload a profile picture and see colleagues’ faces on the floor plan while booking. The stated aim was community building, visibility and transparency, especially for teammates who had never met. The web profile carried a user’s notification preferences and preferred office and floor across devices, so available space options were filled in for each new booking. In January 2022, Kadence introduced Personal Kadence, a way for each person to plot their weekly working pattern and share it with colleagues. The launch walked users through six steps: 1. Set up a profile with a bio, city, time zone and workspace preferences. 2. Plot a weekly Kadence so colleagues know where you will work. 3. [Find a colleague]() from the Teams tab. 4. View their profile, including workplace preferences, bookings and weekly Kadence. 5. Pick a day they are in and book a space near them on the [interactive floor plan](). 6. Set a weekly rhythm by aligning your Kadence with theirs and repeating bookings. The announcement named three benefits: collaborating at the right time by coordinating schedules, better performance by letting employees choose where and when they work best, and better advance planning from understanding employee habits and space utilization. At launch it was free to everyone who used Kadence. Visibility also works in the other direction. In February 2024, Kadence described letting people follow favorite teammates, get alerts when those teammates booked or canceled, and receive smart booking suggestions so they did not miss a chance to meet face to face. These capabilities sit under Kadence’s approach to [people coordination](). #### How do you get teams in on the same days? You get teams in on the same days by agreeing recurring team days, anchoring them to a place, and prompting people to book when those days come round. Individual schedules rarely line up on their own. A manager-owned, recurring in-office day gives the whole team one clear answer to the question of when to come in. The first step was recurring booking, added in September 2021. A person could book specific days of the week on a recurring basis, for themselves or on behalf of others in the team. The example given was bringing a team in on a Tuesday and Thursday every week for 2 months to work on a project. Users set a start and end date, Kadence found available desks to choose from, any conflicts were displayed, and parking could be added to the booking. In September 2023, Team Kadences moved the decision to the team manager. Managers could: - Schedule in-office days for the team based on colleagues’ availability and preferences. - Set recurring team days every week or month, and choose when they would begin. - Choose a location and neighborhood suited to the team. Once team days were set, team members received Smart Suggestions on their User Homepage Schedule telling them it was a team day, so they could book their space for that week and day. The announcement also argued that fixed days for team office attendance help space planning, because the physical workspace is not used inefficiently. Three practical lessons follow from these examples: - **Let managers own team days.** Individual rhythms rarely line up on their own. - **Anchor the day to a place.** A neighborhood gives the team somewhere to sit together, not just the same building. - **Put the prompt where people plan.** A suggestion in the booking flow is harder to miss than a calendar note. #### What makes an in-office day worth the commute? An in-office day is worth the commute when the time together is intentional: the right people are there, and there is a reason to gather beyond desk work. Workplace events, town halls and social moments supply that reason. They also build the connection that company culture in hybrid work depends on. Dave Cairns, Kadence’s Future of Work Strategist, wrote about this in October 2024 after hosting a customer and partner dinner in London, in a piece on creating moments that matter. His view: “In an increasingly distributed world of work, in-person events and live, unstructured conversations are vital to a degree that I can’t quantify with words.” He argued that people do not need to be together every day, but they do need to be more intentional. For him, the value of meeting was less about whiteboarding, water cooler chats or working shoulder to shoulder. It was more about sharing who we are as people and getting aligned on the future we want to create. At the dinner he used conversation cards with a simple rule: if you draw a blank, or are not comfortable answering, pick another card. In July 2024, Kadence introduced Kadence Events to unify teams and company culture. The launch described four main uses: - **One place to plan.** Create an event with details such as dietary requirements and a Google Maps location, invite team members and external guests, and collect accepted invites in one place instead of spreadsheets, docs and long email threads. - **Reach people where they read.** Send invitations and announcements through Slack, Microsoft Teams, email or the Kadence app. - **Connection outside work.** Browse a catalog of what is happening near a location, from 5-a-side soccer to a chess club or a wellness seminar. - **Measure what worked.** Run feedback polls after each event and use Events Analytics to see how many people attended in person or online. The announcement gave everyday examples: a charity donut sale, a weekly team check-in with drinks and a poll on the best nearby spots, or a company offsite with seminars, updates and presentations. It also made the case that cohesive, aligned teams collaborate more effectively, share knowledge and support each other, which it linked to higher employee satisfaction and retention. More on [workplace events](). The lesson for leaders: treat events as part of the coordination plan, not an extra. A team day with a town hall or a lunch club attached is easier to justify than a day of video calls from a different desk. #### How can distributed teams meet without a nearby office? Distributed teams can meet without a nearby office by booking flexible workspace on demand, close to where team members live. Coworking desks and meeting rooms booked alongside company-owned space let a team gather locally. Usage data then shows which locations earn their cost and which permanent space the company may no longer need. In May 2023, Kadence and LiquidSpace announced a partnership. The announcement described LiquidSpace as the largest global on-demand office marketplace and set out three aims: - Instantly book on-demand desks, meeting rooms and offices at coworking spaces and flexible office providers around the world. - Help teams coordinate and meet up in person, at the office or in coworking spaces. - Reduce cost per employee by optimizing the mix of traditional and on-demand real estate spend. It said the full integration would launch in Q3. It spoke to two groups: “officeless” companies coordinating employee schedules across thousands of flexible work spaces, and companies with their own offices that wanted to give employees access to locations beyond their own four walls. In February 2024, Kadence announced Kadence Flex for booking flexible workspace, built with [LiquidSpace](). The launch described: - Booking hot desks and meeting rooms in thousands of flexible work locations worldwide, by the hour, short term or long term, as one-off or recurring bookings. - Choosing between company-owned and on-demand flex spaces in the same booking flow. - Controlling flex-space budgets across departments and choosing locations by cost and proximity to central offices. - Seeing where teammates planned to work, in the office or a flexible workspace, and setting team days at either. - Data on which offices and flex spaces teams used most, to inform decisions on whether to cut real estate or invest more in certain locations. A companion piece the same month, Kadence x LiquidSpace: a new era of flexible working, framed the integration for distributed teams. Teams spread around the globe could meet locally, and managers could use metrics on how often office and flexible spaces were used and how well they were attended to downsize permanent space and cut unnecessary office leases. More on [flexible office space](). The practical point: flexible workspace is a coordination tool, not only a real estate one. If team days can happen in a space near the team, the reason to meet stays and the long commute goes. #### How do you remove friction in meeting rooms and across regions? Remove friction by making meeting rooms easy to check and book from the room itself, and by giving every employee the software in their own language. Both problems are small on their own. Left unsolved, they undo good planning: meetings collide, and regional teams stop using the shared tools. ##### Meeting rooms that show their status In September 2024, Kadence announced a partnership with Neat that integrated Kadence room booking with [Neat’s App Hub](). The announcement described checking meeting room availability, amenities and capacity in one place without switching between calendar systems, booking rooms instantly, starting or ending meetings from the room, and making room status visible to prevent booking conflicts. Dan Bladen said the goal was “an integrated solution that makes collaboration easier, smarter, and more intuitive.” ##### Language that matches the workforce In June 2025, Kadence expanded support for global teams to 38 languages. The announcement explained why this matters for coordination at scale. Language friction slows adoption. Employees delay onboarding, support tickets spike from simple issues, regional teams turn to spreadsheets or legacy tools, and critical data becomes fragmented across offices. When that happens, shared schedules and team days only work for part of the company. The announcement described language preferences set at the user level with no additional setup, localization across desktop, mobile, notifications and in-app messages, and AI-powered updates so new features reached every language at the same time. More on [multi-language support](). #### Where should leaders start? Leaders should start by defining who needs to meet and how often, then build up in layers: visible schedules, recurring team days, a purpose for each day, flexible space where there is no office, and fewer barriers on the day. Each layer depends on the one before it, so the order matters more than any single tool. 1. **Define who needs to meet and how often.** Start from teams and projects, not from desks. 2. **Make plans visible.** Profiles, faces on the floor plan and shared weekly schedules let people find each other. 3. **Set team days.** Let managers fix a recurring day, place and neighborhood, and prompt people when they book. 4. **Give the day a purpose.** Attach workplace events, town halls or social moments, and ask for feedback afterward. 5. **Meet where people are.** Where there is no office nearby, use flexible workspace and track which locations get used. 6. **Remove friction.** Make meeting rooms easy to book on the spot, and make sure every region can use the tools in its own language. Each step answers the same question from a different angle: are the right people in the same place at the same time, with space that works for them? When the answer is yes, coming in is worth the commute. #### The articles behind this guide 1. Work Without Borders: One Platform Connecting Teams Globally June 3, 2025 Most businesses no longer operate in a single language, time zone, or region and their workplace tools shouldn’t either. That’s why we’re excited to announce a major step… 2. For The Moments That Matter October 1, 2024 Last month, I had the privilege to fly across the pond to the UK for a special reason… To host a customer/partner dinner for Kadence and record some content with the team… 3. Kadence Partners With Neat To Revolutionize Workplace Collaboration September 25, 2024 We are thrilled to announce an exciting new partnership with leading hardware innovator Neat, bringing seamless room booking and collaboration technology to workplaces… 4. Unify Your Teams, And Company Culture With Kadence Events July 17, 2024 Efficiently managing and coordinating events is key to successful team and culture cohesion. Introducing our new feature Kadence Events, designed to help companies and… 5. How To Instantly Book Flexible Workspace With Kadence Flex February 16, 2024 The world of work demands flexibility. Whether you’re a scaling start-up looking for flexible workspace options, or you’re an established company with a distributed… 6. Kadence x LiquidSpace: A New Era Of Flexible Working February 16, 2024 What do you get if you combine Kadence with a global network of on-demand office spaces for flexible working? You get the world’s most exciting hybrid work integration —… 7. Transform Team Coordination And Scheduling For Hybrid Workplaces With Team Kadences September 12, 2023 Hybrid workplaces are difficult to organize especially when it comes to team coordination and scheduling. In the past, people were predictable and spaces were static. In… 8. LiquidSpace And Kadence Team Up To Revolutionize Hybrid Work May 12, 2023 LiquidSpace, the largest global on-demand office marketplace and hybrid workplace management platform for flexible work, and Kadence, the leading hybrid workplace… 9. Introducing Personal Kadence: Finding The Right Time And Place To Collaborate Easily January 20, 2022 Remember before the pandemic when everyone would work at the same time and in the same place? Remember how easy it was to connect with the right people for the right… 10. 3 New Features To Bring Your Team Together Regularly September 9, 2021 The traditional office served its purpose in the old era of workplace. Employees would commute to work and plan to be at their desk before their official start time to… [All guides]() FAQ #### Common questions **How do you get hybrid teams in the office on the same days?** Make schedules visible first, so people can see who plans to be in and where. Then let managers set recurring team days with a fixed location and neighborhood, and prompt team members to book on those days. Kadence introduced Personal Kadence in January 2022 and Team Kadences in September 2023 as examples of each step. **What are team days in hybrid work?** Team days are recurring in-office days when a team is expected to be together. When Kadence introduced Team Kadences in September 2023, managers could set team days every week or month, choose a location and neighborhood, and base the plan on colleagues' availability and preferences. Team members then received a Smart Suggestion prompting them to book their space. **How do workplace events support company culture in hybrid work?** Workplace events give people a reason to come in beyond desk work and build connection outside day-to-day tasks. Kadence Events, introduced in July 2024, let organizers plan events in one place, invite people through Slack, Microsoft Teams, email or the Kadence app, run feedback polls and review in-person and online attendance in Events Analytics. **How can distributed teams meet without a nearby office?** On-demand flexible workspace lets a team meet close to where its members live. In February 2024, Kadence announced Kadence Flex with LiquidSpace. The launch described booking hot desks and meeting rooms in thousands of flexible work locations worldwide alongside company-owned space, with budget controls by department and data on which locations teams used most. **Why does language support matter for workplace software?** If employees cannot use a tool in their own language, adoption slows, support tickets rise and regional teams fall back on spreadsheets. In June 2025, Kadence announced native-language support in 38 languages, set at the user level and covering desktop, mobile, notifications and in-app messages, so coordination tools can work for every region. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Flexible Office Models: Hot Desking to Hoteling | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/guides/flexible-office-models/ Description: Compare hoteling office space, activity-based working, hot desking and office neighborhoods: how each assigns desks, which teams it suits, what drives use. [Home]() / [Guides]() ### Flexible office models: hot desking, hoteling, activity-based working and neighborhoods Hoteling office space, activity-based working, hot desking and neighborhoods each assign space in a different way. Here is how they compare, which teams each one suits, where each one fails and what makes flexible seating work. Updated September 29, 2026 · Drawn from 12 Kadence articles by [Dan Bladen](), Luke Christian-Farman and [Jamie Addis]() On this page 1. [What are the main flexible office models?]() 2. [What are the pros and cons of hot desking?]() 3. [What is hoteling office space?]() 4. [What is activity-based working?]() 5. [How do office neighborhoods and team adjacency work?]() 6. [Which flexible office model fits which team?]() 7. [How do you make a flexible office work?]() 8. [How do you get employees to adopt flexible seating?]() #### Key takeaways - A 2012 survey found 9 in 10 workers considered hot desking morale-sapping, and booking, neighborhoods and reinvested space address the causes. - Hoteling office space asks employees to reserve a desk in advance and check in, and auto-release returns no-show bookings to the pool. - Activity-based working began with architect Robert Luchetti, and Interpolis, its first adopter in 1990, reduced its office space from two buildings to one. - Team adjacency places connected teams close together, and MIT research found teams seated closer were far more likely to co-author papers or file patents. - Kadence customer success managers report that adoption stalls because employees worry booking tracks attendance, not because desks lack numbers. Most enterprise workplaces no longer run one seating model. They run a mix: [hoteling office space]() for people who want a guaranteed desk, [activity-based working]() settings for different kinds of tasks, some first-come shared desks, and neighborhoods where teams can find each other. The labels get used loosely, so it pays to be precise about what each model asks of employees and of the workplace team. The pattern across all of them is consistent. The model matters less than the operating system around it. Hot desking earned its reputation from uncertainty, not from desk sharing as such. Hoteling, activity-based working and neighborhoods each remove part of that uncertainty, and they work best when the layout comes with [booking rules](), live visibility and a clear reason for people to come in. #### What are the main flexible office models? The main flexible office models are hot desking, hoteling, activity-based working and office neighborhoods, with assigned desks and outside coworking space at either end. They differ in how space is assigned: first come, first served, reserved in advance, chosen by task, or grouped by team. Most workplaces combine several models across one building. - **Assigned desks** give each person a permanent workstation. - **Hot desking** is desk sharing where desks are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. - **Hoteling** is desk sharing where employees reserve a desk in advance and check in when they arrive. - **Activity-based working** replaces the single desk with a range of settings built for different tasks. - **Office neighborhoods** group flexible desks into zones for a team, a project, a working style or a shared need. - **Flexible and coworking space** gives employees access to workspaces outside the organization’s own buildings. | Model | How space is assigned | Where it fits | Main risk | What makes it work | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Assigned desks | One permanent desk per person | Sensitive work or people who need a consistent structure | Desks sit empty when people are not in | Keep for the teams that genuinely need it | | Hot desking | First-come, first-served, clear desk policy | Freeing space and mixing departments | Time lost searching for desks and colleagues | Booking, neighborhoods, reinvested space | | Hoteling | Reserved in advance, checked in on arrival | People who want certainty before they commute | Booked desks that go unused | Check-in and release back to the pool | | Activity-based working | Settings chosen by task, on demand | Days that mix focus, collaboration and calls | Settings used for the wrong purpose | Design, cues, awareness and trust | | Office neighborhoods | Zones for teams, projects, activities or functions | Teams that come in to work together | Layout drifting away from how teams work | Adjacency planning and scheduled zones | | Flexible and coworking space | Access to spaces outside the headquarters | Distributed employees who want space closer to home | Coordination across many locations | Shared visibility of who is working where | #### What are the pros and cons of hot desking? Hot desking is a desk sharing model where desks are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Its pros are freed-up space, departments mixing, an uncluttered office and flatter hierarchies. Its cons are uncertainty, time lost searching for a desk and difficulty finding colleagues. A booking system, office neighborhoods and reinvested space address most of the cons. A 2012 survey, cited in Kadence’s December 2021 look at the pros and cons of hot desking, reported that 9 in 10 workers found it morale-sapping. Weighing hot desking pros and cons still shows a real case for it. Because you do not need one desk per employee, it frees space to cut your real estate footprint or to give back as breakout areas and meeting rooms. People sit with other departments, which breaks down silos. And when managers no longer get first pick of the best desks, hierarchies flatten. The complaints come down to uncertainty and wasted time. Late arrivals get the seats nobody else wants. Finding colleagues is just as hard: in a building spread over several floors, a quick 2-minute chat with a colleague could turn into a 20-minute hunt around the entire building. Writing about the future of hot desking in August 2024, Kadence pointed to Ryan Anderson’s description of unassigned desking as a “hot mess” when it is not implemented thoughtfully, because it erodes a sense of belonging and assumes one model suits everyone. The better answer is a variety of spaces and a sense that each employee has a home base, even without an assigned desk. The same piece cited industry figures that 27% of employees prefer permanent workstations, and advised a private and consistent solution for people who handle extremely sensitive information or need a consistent structure. Three fixes make hot desking acceptable: - **Add booking.** A desk booking system removes the number one complaint, uncertainty, and long-term bookings let people who like consistency keep a regular desk. - **Add neighborhoods.** Team-based, activity-based and project-based zones put people near the colleagues or amenities they need. - **Reinvest the space.** Hot desking done only to cut costs can feel like a downgrade. Giving freed space to wellbeing areas changes how the move is received. #### What is hoteling office space? Hoteling office space is a flexible setup where employees reserve a desk in advance and check in when they arrive, similar to booking a hotel room. Nobody has a permanent desk, so fewer desks are needed. Unlike hot desking, people know a desk is waiting before they travel, and unused bookings can be released back to the pool. Kadence described hoteling office space in April 2021 as the gold standard of flexible workplace setups. The same piece cited a Steelcase study that found a strong link between employee engagement and workplace satisfaction, with the employees who had the most control over their workplace reporting the highest engagement. Hoteling gives people that control. It also supports team rhythms: teams can book regular space for a weekly planning session, and a project team can reserve space in one neighborhood for the life of the project. Hoteling has one built-in weakness. A reserved desk that nobody uses looks taken. The answer is release. In May 2023, Kadence set out five ways to automate flexible workspaces, starting with auto-release: when an employee does not show up for a booking, the desk goes back into the pool. The same announcement covered releasing canceled or unassigned desks from assigned-desk schedules, and automated check-ins with the tap of a badge or a connection to the company Wi-Fi. Automatic check-in produces accurate usage data instead of a record of intentions, and that data shows which areas are underused and whether the layout works. #### What is activity-based working? Activity-based working is a workplace design that replaces the single assigned desk with a range of settings built for different tasks, such as quiet focus rooms, collaborative lounges, project rooms, cafe areas and phone booths. Employees move to the setting that suits the work at hand. It depends on trust and autonomy as much as on furniture. Activity-based working starts from a different question than desk sharing. Instead of asking where each person sits, it asks what each person is doing at that moment, such as an hour of brainstorming on a couch followed by library silence. The concept started in the 1980s with Robert Luchetti, an American architect who concluded that an office with different environments for different workday activities would increase productivity. In 1990 he worked with Interpolis, the Dutch insurance company, to create the first activity-based working space. Interpolis gave up assigned desks, let employees choose when, where and for how long they worked, and adopted the motto “As long as the work gets done.” It reduced its office space from two buildings to one. Typical settings include: - **Individual workspaces**, such as shared desks, individual carrels or a single focus room. - **Open lounges and collaborative spaces**, from an enclosed room with a whiteboard and movable furniture to open seating in a circle. - **Project rooms**, small rooms with video conferencing and a whiteboard. - **Cafe areas** with lounge seating, tall tables for quick meetings or banquettes. - **Private rooms and phone booths** for confidential meetings and calls. Furniture is only half the work. Kadence’s December 2024 guide named four elements every activity-based environment needs: the right design, the right stimulation (cues that tell people where to go), awareness (nobody makes noise in the silent room), and learning and development as the organization adjusts. Signage sets expectations, and monitoring how each setting is used shows where to change the mix. The hardest part is leadership mindset: it will not be easy to watch employees chatting in the lounge at 10 am when you are worried about targets. #### How do office neighborhoods and team adjacency work? An office neighborhood is a zone of flexible desks for people who share a team, project, working style or equipment need. Neighborhoods give employees a home base without an assigned desk. [Team adjacency]() decides which neighborhoods sit near each other, placing teams that rely on each other close together so decisions and handoffs move faster. Kadence’s March 2023 piece on dynamic office neighborhoods defined a neighborhood as a micro-community within the office, designed to bring people together based on shared interests, projects or goals. It described four types: - **Departmental neighborhoods** put marketing, sales or engineering together, which suits smaller teams that have not yet moved to cross-functional work. - **Project neighborhoods** group people by project, which suits larger companies with a lot of cross-functional work. - **Activity neighborhoods** gather people who need the same working conditions, such as deep focus, even if they work on different things. - **Functional neighborhoods** serve people who need particular amenities, such as printers, meeting rooms or double monitors. A group of new hires going through onboarding together is another example. To set them up, identify zones that suit different activities, label areas by their social and functional value, and survey employees about where they feel they belong. Names help too, such as “Numbers Nook” for finance or “Focus Forum” for deep work. Neighborhoods also need a schedule. In May 2023, Kadence described a weekly scheduler that assigns teams to neighborhoods on set days and releases the zone to anyone on other days. In November 2023, Kadence introduced priority access booking for teams that need space the most. A workplace team chooses a neighborhood, sets how far in advance chosen teams can book, and selects which teams get early access. The announcement cited [Slack research]() finding that 71% of professionals believe working the same hours as their teammates boosts their productivity. The harder question is which teams should sit near which. Kadence’s October 2025 piece on team adjacency called the cost of separation a hallway tax: teams that rely on each other end up on different floors or in different buildings, and decisions slow down. It cited [research at MIT]() showing that physical proximity boosts collaboration, with teams seated closer together far more likely to co-author papers or file patents. It also pointed to workplaces built around adjacency, including Google’s Bay View campus organized around team neighborhoods, Microsoft’s Redmond campus with adjacent “buddy” zones for teams to expand into, and Airbnb’s 999 Brannan office with sixteen identical neighborhoods of around fifty people each. The practical starting point is an adjacency matrix: 1. List every team or role. 2. Rate the strength of each relationship on a scale of one to five. 3. Mark whether each pair must, should or cannot sit close. 4. Define neighborhood sizes and plan for overflow. 5. Simulate how those relationships play out across the week. The same piece set out a 30-day playbook: gather data and rules in week one, model three scenarios in week two (the current layout, an optimized configuration and a project-based co-location setup), pilot one or two neighborhoods in week three, then execute the move and measure the results in week four. Kadence described using SpaceOps to encode these adjacency rules, simulate layouts and generate move plans. #### Which flexible office model fits which team? Match the model to how each group works rather than choosing one for the whole building. Keep assigned space for sensitive or highly structured work, use booked shared desks for variable attendance, activity-based settings for mixed days, and neighborhoods for teams that come in to collaborate. Some organizations also add coworking space outside the headquarters. - **Sensitive work or fixed routines:** keep assigned desks or private space, as a deliberate exception rather than the default. - **Variable attendance and independent work:** use hoteling, so people have certainty before they travel and auto-release keeps the pool honest. - **Days that mix focus and collaboration:** use activity-based settings with clear cues, so each setting is used for its purpose. - **Teams that come in to work together:** use office neighborhoods, scheduled team days and priority access, with project neighborhoods for cross-functional work and functional neighborhoods for groups such as new hires. ##### Distributed employees Some organizations are rethinking the headquarters itself. In November 2024, Kadence covered how Allstate is breaking free from the cubicle. Allstate, founded in 1931, sold its corporate campus and gave employees access to coworking spaces closer to home. Kadence noted its partnership with LiquidSpace, which gives employees access to thousands of coworking spaces and meeting rooms worldwide, as one way to support [flexible office space]() alongside a core office. #### How do you make a flexible office work? Flexible models work when three things are in place: accurate data on how space is used, rules that automate routine coordination, and enough of the right space on peak days. [Smart office]() design now focuses on coordination between people, not only on building systems, so usage data, employee feedback and booking rules work together. Kadence’s May 2025 guide on how to design a smart office for hybrid work argued that the challenge is coordination, not only utilization. It described [occupancy data]() drawn from systems organizations already run, such as Wi-Fi, Ethernet, badge access and video conferencing tools, to show how usage varies by day, time and location and to spot underused spaces and overbooked zones. It paired that data with short employee surveys, such as “Why did you choose to come in this week?” and “Did you get what you needed from the office?”, so the numbers come with the reasons behind them. The same data can recommend anchor days based on natural team overlap. Rules turn that data into behavior. The May 2023 automations included a cap on how many people can book to come on site. In March 2024, Kadence described AI desk booking that responds to conversational requests, suggests when to come in based on when teammates are heading in, and books a desk close to those colleagues. The less coordination people do by hand, the more consistently they use the model. Then check that supply matches demand. Kadence’s June 2026 piece on why desk numbering won’t fix an adoption problem made the point directly: when peak-day demand outstrips available desks, employees stop trusting the booking system regardless of how well it guides them. Right-sizing means knowing which floors are consistently underused, which space types are in demand, and which [desk-to-employee ratios]() reflect attendance patterns rather than inherited assumptions. [Scenario planning]() lets you model those configurations before committing. The same piece noted that Karger used this approach to reduce its real estate footprint by 80%. #### How do you get employees to adopt flexible seating? Employees adopt flexible seating when they trust why they are asked to book and when the system reduces decisions instead of adding them. Kadence’s customer success team finds that stalled adoption is rarely about desk numbers. Clear neighborhoods, memorable area names and live visibility of where teammates sit matter more than labels. Many organizations respond to stalled adoption by numbering every desk. The June 2026 piece argued that this solves a small, late problem, because the failure happens earlier, in the employee’s mind. Kelly, a Customer Success Manager at Kadence, put it this way: “Employees worry it’s a way to track office attendance rather than manage space.” That is a trust problem, and no sticker resolves it. Tell people plainly what booking data is for. The second barrier is cognitive load. Gina, who works with Kadence’s enterprise accounts, said: “Employees are human. They navigate their workplace emotionally, not logistically.” They navigate by where their team sits, where they feel comfortable and where the coffee machine is. The goal is to reduce the number of decisions an employee makes before they sit down. Identifiers still help, like checking your row and seat at a cinema after booking online. But Kadence’s Utah office runs with no physical desk numbers, and employees find their desks with the app and a clear floor plan. Across large deployments, the highest long-term value comes from live visibility of which spaces are free and where colleagues are sitting. Build the hierarchy so the desk-level question becomes a small one: - **Give every level a clear identifier:** building, floor, neighborhood and desk. When teams have consistent zones, employees are not navigating 200 anonymous desks. - **Use names people remember.** An area called “Sunshine” is easier to hold on to than desk 36 in zone C, and a landmark like the large plant by the stairs beats a number. - **Make on-the-spot booking fast.** A QR code per desk lets people who book on the fly claim a space in seconds. - **Show teammates before people leave home**, so they arrive knowing where their team is. Get the trust, the interface, the neighborhoods and the space configuration right, and whichever model you choose has a fair chance. #### The articles behind this guide 1. Desk Numbering Won’t Fix Your Adoption Problem June 9, 2026 When desk booking adoption stalls, the advice I keep seeing circulate goes something like this: label your desks. Number them to match the floor plan. Make sure employees… 2. Team Adjacency: The Secret Of High-Performing Teams October 31, 2025 If your teams still find each other by Slacking across floors, you’re paying a hallway tax. Collaboration breaks down not because people stop communicating but because… 3. How To Design A Smart Office For Hybrid Work May 16, 2025 Forget motion sensors and lights that switch on when you walk by. The smartest offices in the hybrid era aren’t just reactive—they’re responsive. Responsive to how teams… 4. Activity-Based Working 101: A Complete Guide To Set Up People For Success December 2, 2024 Have you heard of activity-based working? When employees prepare to get back to the office in person, Nancy no longer wants to spend the entire day alone at the front… 5. How Allstate Is Breaking Free From The Cubicle —And What It Means For Hybrid Work November 21, 2024 Here’s a headline you don’t see every day: Allstate is ditching the traditional office. Yep, one of the biggest insurers in the U.S. just shook things up by selling its… 6. The Future Of Hot Desking In The New Workplace August 19, 2024 When hot desking first came on the scene in the 1980s, it was fresh, modern – a faster, more efficient way of doing things. Many saw it as the antidote to the tired,… 7. AI Desk Booking Is Maximizing Flexibility In Hybrid Work March 13, 2024 Hybrid work has become the norm across companies worldwide. As such, organizations are looking to innovative ways to enhance hybrid flexibility. One of the key solutions… 8. New Priority Access Booking For Teams That Need Spaces The Most November 2, 2023 The realm of hybrid work has expanded the borders of the traditional workspace, but it also comes with its unique set of challenges. One of them? Ensuring top team… 9. 5 Ways To Automate Your Flexible Workspaces May 18, 2023 As more and more companies adopt hybrid work policies, the need for flexible workspaces has become increasingly important. However, managing these spaces can be a… 10. Dynamic Office Neighborhoods: Hybrid Work’s Best Kept Secret March 30, 2023 In this article you’ll find information about: Let’s imagine you’re a business owner looking for ways to optimize your company’s operations in a challenging year. (Maybe… 11. The Pros And Cons Of Hot Desking December 7, 2021 The 1990s has a lot to answer for. The beginning of the decade saw the internet open to the public; by the end we had Google, eBay, and Amazon. Apple launched the iMac,… 12. How Can Your Employees Benefit From A Hoteling Office Space? April 30, 2021 Hoteling office space is the gold standard of flexible workplace setups, with employee experience taking centre stage. It gives people control over their time in the… [All guides]() FAQ #### Common questions **What is hoteling office space?** Hoteling office space is a flexible workplace setup where employees reserve a desk in advance and check in when they arrive, similar to booking a hotel room. Nobody has a permanent desk, so fewer desks are needed. Because the desk is reserved before people travel, hoteling removes the uncertainty of first-come, first-served seating, and desks that are booked but unused can be released back into the pool. **What is activity-based working?** Activity-based working is a workplace design that replaces the single assigned desk with settings built for different tasks, such as focus rooms, collaborative lounges, project rooms, cafe areas and phone booths. Employees move to the setting that suits the work. The concept started in the 1980s with American architect Robert Luchetti, and the Dutch insurer Interpolis created the first activity-based working space with him in 1990. **What is the difference between hot desking and hoteling?** Hot desking allocates shared desks on a first-come, first-served basis, so people find out where they will sit when they arrive. Hoteling asks employees to reserve a desk in advance and check in on arrival. Both remove the permanent desk, but hoteling tells people before they commute that a desk is waiting for them, in a location they have chosen. **What are the pros and cons of hot desking?** The pros of hot desking are freed-up office space, colleagues from different departments sitting together, an uncluttered office under a clear desk policy and flatter hierarchies. The cons are uncertainty, time spent searching for a desk and difficulty finding colleagues, which can turn a quick 2-minute chat into a 20-minute hunt around the building. A desk booking system and office neighborhoods address most of the cons. **What are office neighborhoods?** Office neighborhoods are zones of flexible desks for people who share a team, project, working style or equipment need. The four common types are departmental, project, activity and functional neighborhoods. They give employees a home base without a permanently assigned desk and make in-person time more intentional. Teams can be scheduled into a neighborhood on set days, with the zone released for others on the remaining days. **What is team adjacency?** Team adjacency is the practice of deliberately placing connected teams near each other to shorten the distance between decisions. Teams that rely on each other coordinate faster when they sit close, and research at MIT found that teams seated closer together were far more likely to co-author papers or file patents. Planning usually starts with an adjacency matrix that rates how strongly each pair of teams needs to sit together. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Hybrid Work Strategy: Models, Policy and Meetings | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/guides/hybrid-work-strategy/ Description: How to choose a hybrid work model, write a hybrid work policy, run inclusive hybrid meetings and design an office that works for every working style. [Home]() / [Guides]() ### Hybrid work strategy: policy, models and people A hybrid work model succeeds when policy, space and people pull in the same direction. This guide covers the main models, how to write a policy, how to include every working style and how to keep improving with data. Updated September 29, 2026 · Drawn from 15 Kadence articles by [Jamie Addis](), [Dan Bladen](), [Helen Attia]() and Luke Christian-Farman On this page 1. [What is hybrid work?]() 2. [Why does a hybrid work model pay off?]() 3. [What are the main hybrid work models?]() 4. [How do you write a hybrid work policy?]() 5. [How do you design for different working styles?]() 6. [How do you run inclusive hybrid meetings?]() 7. [How do you make the office worth the trip?]() 8. [How do you know if your hybrid strategy is working?]() #### Key takeaways - Hybrid work is widespread but uneven: in early 2025, 28% of working adults in Great Britain were hybrid workers, while 44% still commuted to the office every day. - Coordination matters: one common hybrid work model sets 2–3 anchor days per week, and Kadence data showed US and UK employees coming into the office 2-3 days per week in 2024. - Hybrid can pay off: a 2024 Stanford University study by Nicholas Bloom found hybrid workers who work from home two days a week are just as productive as office staff, with about a third fewer resignations. - Inconsistency is costly: in a Gartner survey, 77% of hybrid workers reported that inconsistent messaging from leadership increased stress and reduced morale. - Data drives space decisions: Karger found occupancy consistently remained at 30-40% and, with Kadence, reduced office space by 80%. A hybrid work model splits the working week between the office and remote settings such as home. Getting it right takes more than an attendance rule. It shapes how teams coordinate, how leaders use space and how people with very different working styles and lives do their best work. This guide brings together Kadence research, customer examples, webinars and practical playbooks published between 2021 and 2025. The hybrid debate has moved quickly in that time, so findings below are dated where the timing matters. #### What is hybrid work? Hybrid work is a model where employees split their time between remote settings, such as home, and the office or other locations. A hybrid work model gives people flexibility about where and when they work: focused tasks often happen remotely, while collaboration, brainstorming and connection happen in the office. As Kadence’s explainer on whether hybrid working makes a difference put it in March 2024, hybrid does not force a choice between office and remote. Employees choose based on the task at hand. A fixed location can be demotivating, and working only from home can be isolating. Hybrid balances autonomy with collaboration. The scale is significant, but access is uneven. Figures gathered in Kadence’s September 2025 overview of what hybrid work is and why it matters show the pattern: - In the US, 43.6% of workers aged 25+ with advanced degrees teleworked in early 2024, compared with only 3.5% of those without a high school diploma. - Around 31% of new senior-level postings offered hybrid options in 2025. - In Great Britain, [28% of working adults]() were hybrid workers in early 2025. 14% worked fully remotely, while 44% still commuted to the office every day. - Workers with a degree were around ten times more likely to work hybrid than those with no qualifications, and around 45% of those earning £50,000 or more were hybrid. That unevenness creates real problems. Planned office days are wasted when colleagues miss each other. Frontline and part-time staff risk being left behind. Offices sit empty on some days and overcrowded on others, and leaders lose sight of how space is used. Mandating days in the office does not address alignment, equity or efficiency. #### Why does a hybrid work model pay off? A well-run hybrid work model supports productivity, lowers real estate costs and helps attract and retain talent. A 2024 Stanford University study by Nicholas Bloom found that hybrid workers who work from home two days a week are just as productive as full-time office staff, with about a third fewer resignations. By 2025, the argument had shifted from employee perk to business performance. In May 2025, Kadence co-founder Dan Bladen argued that hybrid work is every CEO’s best friend because it works for productivity, cost control and long-term resilience. In February 2025, his piece on how companies were optimizing hybrid for performance in 2025 named three levers: collaboration that moves the needle, because random [in-office attendance]() is a drain rather than a strategy; cost efficiency at scale, through right-sized offices and intelligent scheduling; and retention, through balancing autonomy with structured in-office time. **Productivity.** The [Stanford study by Nicholas Bloom]() also found higher job satisfaction among hybrid workers. Among those polled on the effectiveness of hybrid work, 61% cited improved productivity, and a Checkr Inc. study cited in what hybrid working is and whether it makes a difference found that 68% of American managers wanted remote work to continue because of its impact on productivity and engagement. **Real estate.** Hybrid turns office space into a variable cost. According to CBRE’s 2024 Occupier Sentiment Survey, 60% of enterprise leaders were expecting to reduce their real estate footprint, redesigning space to reflect how work actually happens. With Kadence, Karger reduced office space by 80% after discovering occupancy consistently remained at 30-40%, enabling a move down to 1.5 floors. Five Good Friends cut office costs by 15%. More examples sit in Kadence’s [customer case studies](). **Talent.** A McKinsey report found that 87% of employees offered flexible work take advantage of it. Data cited in December 2024 in crafting a hybrid policy showed that 82% of employees prefer roles with hybrid options and 51% would consider leaving their job if hybrid flexibility was taken away. Hybrid roles also reach people who would not relocate, such as those with established roots or family responsibilities. #### What are the main hybrid work models? Most hybrid work models sit on a spectrum from office-first to remote-first. Common examples include coordinated [anchor days](), where teams share 2–3 set office days per week; manager-led flexibility with no global mandate; hub-and-spoke offices; and remote-first setups built on bookable shared desks. The right model depends on your goals and your people. For a plain definition, see [what a hybrid work model is](). These hybrid work model examples come from organizations and frameworks Kadence has covered: - **Coordinated anchor days.** Anchor days are set days when a team comes into the office together. Kadence’s December 2024 policy framework recommends 2–3 anchor days per week for collaboration and team-building, with flexible days for the rest of the week. - **Manager-led flexibility.** At a January 2025 Kadence Connect webinar on whether hybrid strategies would work in 2025, David Music and Nick Mann of Willis Towers Watson (WTW) explained that WTW has no global mandate on office attendance. Team leaders decide when presence is needed based on project needs, and each office adapts to local norms. WTW introduced Kadence as an optional tool for employees to show when they will be in, chosen for its simplicity and its Microsoft Teams integration. - **Hub and spoke.** In August 2021, Kadence noted that companies such as Fujitsu were setting up [hub and spoke]() models, with a slimmed down HQ and satellite offices in urban areas or close to train stations. - **Remote-first with desk hoteling.** [Desk hoteling]() means booking a shared desk for the days you are in rather than owning one. In 2021, Kadence expected many remote-first companies to adopt it and repurpose office space for collaboration and meetings. - **A mix of shared and permanent desks.** Offices can combine bookable desks with a set-aside area of permanent desks for people who want to be in full time. - **Fixed attendance mandates.** Leadership sets a number of days, such as three a week. As the next section shows, mandates that managers will not enforce tend to break down. #### How do you write a hybrid work policy? Write a hybrid work policy as a living strategy, not a list of rules. Start with the business goals it serves, ask employees what they need, coordinate in-office time, give people the right tools and launch it clearly. Then make sure managers apply it consistently, or it will quietly break down. Kadence’s guide to crafting a hybrid policy for 2025, published in December 2024, describes a good policy as a company-wide strategy that aligns with business objectives, supports collaboration, flexibility and wellbeing, and evolves with data and feedback. ##### Start with the why and ask your people Common objectives are talent retention and attraction, better in-person collaboration and cost efficiency. Then ask employees through surveys, cross-functional focus groups and one-on-one conversations with team leaders. Summarize the feedback into themes, such as “employees want flexibility on Mondays and Fridays”, and let those themes shape the policy. ##### Coordinate office time Economist Nick Bloom emphasizes the importance of coordination. Hybrid often fails through misalignment: people come to the office and find half their team working remotely. Pair anchor days with flexible days, and make sure everyone understands the purpose of anchor days and what is expected. ##### Give people tools they will use Back the policy with scheduling for desks, rooms and teams, collaboration software, project management platforms and workplace analytics. Adoption is often the biggest hurdle, so bring booking into the tools people already use, such as Microsoft Teams and Slack, through [workplace integrations](). Support it with onboarding sessions, video tutorials and ongoing help. ##### Launch it like a product Hold an all-hands meeting that explains why the policy exists, what employees can expect and how success will be measured. Create a central hub for FAQs, tool guides and updates. Train managers to lead the transition, and build in two-way feedback through quarterly surveys, listening sessions and anonymized suggestion boxes. ##### Avoid hushed hybrid [Hushed hybrid]() is a quiet agreement between employees and managers to ignore a formal return-to-office mandate. In April 2025, Kadence explained how hushed hybrid hurts businesses. Leadership demands, say, three days a week. Frontline managers know enforcing it is more trouble than it is worth, so they give a quiet nod to once or twice. On paper, the company enforces a mandate. In practice, it is bypassed. Managers do this to retain talent and protect morale. The cost is a fragmented experience that lacks clarity and fairness. According to a Gartner survey, 77% of hybrid workers reported that inconsistent messaging from leadership increased stress and reduced morale. A 2025 survey found that nearly half of UK hybrid workers would quit if forced back to the office full-time, unless they received a significant pay increase. The fix is intentional flexibility. Build the policy around team workflows, give employees and managers visibility into who plans to be in, focus office time on collaboration, onboarding and high-impact work, and adapt to how space is actually used. As the March 2024 explainer argued, trust matters more than mandates: offices with good resources, breakout spaces and equipped meeting rooms give people their own reasons to come in. #### How do you design for different working styles? Design for different working styles by matching the office to the work people do there and by planning for different personas. Focused work often suits home, so the office should serve meetings, collaboration and connection. A healthy hybrid workplace culture keeps remote-leaning people connected and gives office-loving people the stability they want. ##### Match the place to the work mode The Five Gears model and hybrid working, explored by Kadence in January 2022, defines five work modes. Fifth gear is intense focus. Fourth gear is the busy, multitasking day of meetings. Third gear is social. Second gear is connect mode, where colleagues build relational depth. First gear is recharge mode, with reverse as a final gear. People showed they could work in fifth gear remotely with a reasonable home setup. As the model puts it, you’re not going to commute 1.5 hours to an office to sit and work in fifth gear. They come into the office for gears four, three and two. So the office needs less space for focused work and more for informal meetings and socializing. ##### Plan for hybrid personas In 2021, Kadence described four common hybrid personas: the Soloist, the Adapter, the Culturalist and the Traditionalist. Two sit at opposite ends of the spectrum. The Soloist, profiled in August 2021, is independent, highly productive and happiest working remotely. The risk is isolation and losing touch with company culture. Keep Soloists engaged by using shared channels such as Slack and Asana for everyone, making big announcements over a virtual call so everyone hears at the same time, scheduling a biweekly check-in with day-to-day work off the agenda, and communicating in-person meeting dates in good time. Let them book a desk in advance to remove hot desk anxiety. The Traditionalist, profiled in October 2021, prefers the office every day, Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, and is likely to resist hybrid most. Offer permanent workstations where space allows, or recurring desk bookings with a system that flags unfulfilled bookings. Give visibility into team schedules so the office feels busy again, and tailor office neighborhoods to teams, such as breakout spaces for marketing and quieter zones for finance. ##### Include parents, caregivers and people on the move In June 2023, Dan Bladen wrote about how hybrid work supports happy teams and families. Hybrid recognizes that employees are also parents, partners and caregivers, and lets them handle a school drop-off or a sick child without choosing between family and work. He cited research linking higher family-to-work conflict to lower satisfaction in both professional and personal life. In February 2022, Kadence shared how workplace flexibility and mobility give people the freedom they want, citing an EY survey that found more than half of employees globally would quit their jobs if not provided with significant flexibility. It told the story of Information Security Manager Josiah Haddleton, who kept his role when he and his wife moved from London back to the US. The best model puts people in the driver’s seat. #### How do you run inclusive hybrid meetings? Run inclusive [hybrid meetings]() by treating remote attendees as equal participants. A hybrid meeting brings together in-person and remote attendees, often over Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Question whether each meeting is needed, share a clear agenda, start on time, structure contributions and use technology that lets everyone take part the same way. Meeting rooms are far from obsolete. They are becoming hubs that connect remote and in-office colleagues. Kadence’s October 2024 guide to making hybrid meetings more inclusive sets out five practices: 1. **Consider asynchronous options.** Before you schedule, ask whether a few well-timed messages in Slack or Microsoft Teams would do the job. 2. **Plan with intent.** Outline the purpose, the decisions to be made and any pre-reading. Share the agenda in advance and book a room with the right technology for remote attendees. 3. **Be mindful of timing.** Set firm start and end times, add breaks to long sessions and avoid starting late, which leaves remote attendees staring at a screen. 4. **Create an equal platform.** Build structured points where everyone contributes, go around the virtual table and rotate roles such as facilitator and timekeeper. 5. **Level the field with technology.** Use shared digital whiteboards such as Miro instead of a physical whiteboard, and invest in quality microphones and video. #### How do you make the office worth the trip? Make the office worth the trip by designing it for collaboration and connection, and by removing friction from each visit. That means a mix of collaboration, focus and social spaces, easy desk and room booking, and visibility into when colleagues will be in, so fewer people commute to an empty floor. The idea is not new. In a May 2021 webinar on three steps to a successful hybrid workplace, Dan Bladen, Shaun Ritchie (Co-Founder of Teem) and Neal Piliavin (former Director of Collaboration at HubSpot) discussed Kadence’s return-to-work research. Social interaction with colleagues was the top reason people wanted to return. The panel described the workplace manager’s new job as organizing coincidences, and making each office visit a real occasion with lots of value and minimal friction. The December 2024 policy guide suggests hot desks for occasional visitors, collaboration zones, focus areas, social spaces and wellness rooms. Support them with desk booking, meeting rooms with reliable video and audio, bookable phone booths, pods and lockers, and automatic check-in through office wifi or badging to show how space is used. Social events count too: WTW used Kadence to coordinate after-work events, because social interaction remained a key driver of attendance. Much of this work lands with office managers. An office manager’s companion guide for hybrid work, published in March 2024, describes a role that now tailors the office for in-office and remote workers, specifies desk and room booking requirements and champions adoption. Before choosing tools, it recommends assessing how the space is used day to day, gathering input from across departments, including which hybrid personas are present, and setting clear objectives. When selecting [desk booking software](), work with IT on integration and security, especially how bookings fit into Slack, Microsoft Teams or Google Workspace. Look for usable design on desktop and mobile, full data on space use, support for regular team bookings and neighborhoods, and a platform that can change as teams grow. #### How do you know if your hybrid strategy is working? You know a hybrid strategy is working when it meets the goals you set for it. Track retention and engagement for talent, space utilization and team day attendance for collaboration, and occupancy against capacity for cost. Combine that data with employee feedback and review it quarterly or biannually. | Goal | What to track | | --- | --- | | Talent retention and attraction | Retention rates and employee engagement scores (eNPS) | | Collaboration | Space utilization patterns and team day attendance | | Cost efficiency | Occupancy against capacity, and operational savings such as energy and cleaning | [Workplace analytics]() that track office usage and meeting attendance show what is happening. Surveys and conversations explain why. Make short-term fixes, such as addressing low attendance on anchor days, and use long-term measures to confirm the policy still meets its original goals. Treat changes as improvements based on data and employee input, not failures of the original plan, and explain what is changing and why. WTW’s David Music offered similar advice in January 2025: there are no easy answers, so understand how people actually work, keep measuring and adjusting, and balance business needs with what makes people most productive. Hybrid work done well is not self-managing. It needs coordination, clarity and a clear purpose for time together. #### The articles behind this guide 1. What Is Hybrid Work And Why Does It Matter September 16, 2025 Hybrid work is no longer just a buzzword. It is the modern reality for millions of people. It means employees split their time between remote settings such as home and… 2. Hybrid Work – Every CEO’s Best Friend May 9, 2025 In a world where performance matters more than ever, hybrid work is proving to be the smartest move in a CEO’s playbook. Not because it’s trendy. Not because it’s nice.… 3. Hushed Hybrid Is Hurting Your Business — Here’s How To Fix It April 8, 2025 There’s a silent shift happening in workplaces around the world. It’s called hushed hybrid — a growing trend where employees and their managers quietly agree to ignore… 4. The Hybrid Advantage: How Companies Are Optimizing For Performance In 2025 February 17, 2025 Two years ago, CEOs were convinced that remote work and employee flexibility were the future—an inevitable shift in how businesses would operate. But here we are in 2025,… 5. Kadence Connect Webinar Series: Is Your Hybrid Strategy Going To Work In 2025? January 15, 2025 In our latest Kadence Connect webinar, we explored the intricacies of building a successful hybrid work strategy. Our guest speakers from Willis Towers Watson (WTW)… 6. Hybrid Policy: Crafting A Workplace Strategy For 2025 December 6, 2024 Hybrid work is no longer just a perk—it’s the backbone of how innovative, forward-thinking companies operate. But transitioning to hybrid isn’t as simple as saying, “Work… 7. 5 Ways To Make Hybrid Meetings More Inclusive October 31, 2024 Long live the meeting room. In a world where remote work has reshaped our offices and hybrid workplaces are the new norm, it’s easy to wonder if the traditional meeting… 8. What Is Hybrid Working And Does It Make A Difference? March 26, 2024 Hybrid Working has been making waves across workplaces. During the COVID-19 pandemic, companies found employees could work remotely and still achieve results. But how… 9. An Office Manager’s Companion Guide For Hybrid Work March 8, 2024 As Office Managers, you’re likely navigating the complexities of transitioning your workplace to a hybrid model. It’s a shift that demands reimagining your space to… 10. 4 Ways Hybrid Work Supports Happy Teams And Families June 26, 2023 One of the foundational pillars of Hybrid Work support is human flourishing. It sounds grandiose and impressive: but what does it mean in practice? Much is written about… 11. Workplace And Mobility: Giving People The Flexibility And Freedom They Want February 11, 2022 It’s never been easier to work from anywhere. In fact, one of the largest surveys by EY found that more than half of employees globally would quit their jobs if not… 12. The Five Gears Model And Hybrid Working January 5, 2022 The pre-pandemic office was a one size fits all setup. From head-down, focused work to a team brainstorming session, people came in every day, no matter what type of work… 13. Hybrid Workplace Persona #4: The Traditionalist October 29, 2021 A diverse workplace brings many benefits to an organization, but it can also present challenges – particularly in times of change. The shift to hybrid, for example, is… 14. Hybrid Persona #1: The Soloist August 10, 2021 In a new mini-series of blogs, we take a light-hearted look at different types of employees, their personas and how the transition to hybrid might affect them, and more… 15. 3 Steps To A Successful Hybrid Work Model May 5, 2021 In this webinar, our Co-Founder & CEO, Dan Bladen, is joined by Shaun Ritchie (Co-Founder of Teem and Former Chief Workplace Experience Officer of WeWork) and Neal… [All guides]() FAQ #### Common questions **Which hybrid work model should we choose?** A hybrid work model is a way of working where employees split their time between remote environments, such as home, and the office or other work locations. It combines the flexibility of remote work with the connection of in-person collaboration. People typically do focused, individual work remotely and come into the office to collaborate, brainstorm and connect with colleagues. **How many days a week should hybrid employees be in the office?** There is no single answer. One coordinated hybrid framework sets 2–3 anchor days per week for collaboration and leaves the other days flexible. Kadence data shared in January 2025 showed employees in the US and UK consistently coming into the office 2-3 days per week in 2024, up from 1-2 days in 2022, with Tuesdays and Wednesdays the most popular days. **What should a hybrid work policy include?** A hybrid work policy should state why the organization works hybrid, such as talent retention, collaboration or cost efficiency. It should explain how in-office time is coordinated, for example through anchor days, which tools employees use to book desks and rooms, what managers are expected to do, and how success will be measured, with regular reviews based on data and employee feedback. **What is hushed hybrid?** Hushed hybrid describes a workplace where employees and their managers quietly agree to ignore a formal return-to-office mandate. Leadership may require three days a week while frontline managers accept once or twice. On paper the policy holds; in practice it is bypassed. The result is inconsistency, unfairness and eroding trust. The fix is a clear policy built around real team workflows. **Is hybrid work as productive as office work?** A 2024 study by Nicholas Bloom of Stanford University found that hybrid workers who work from home two days a week are just as productive as their full-time office counterparts. They also showed higher job satisfaction and about a third fewer resignations. Productivity depends on structure, though: coordinated office days make in-person time purposeful rather than performative. **How do you make hybrid meetings more inclusive?** First ask whether the meeting is needed at all, since asynchronous tools can often do the job. When you do meet, share a clear agenda in advance, start on time and build in structured points where everyone contributes. Rotate roles such as facilitator and timekeeper. Use shared digital whiteboards and good room audio and video so remote attendees take part equally. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Kadence Platform: From Desk Booking to WorkOps and SpaceOps Canonical: https://kadence.co/guides/kadence-platform/ Description: How the Kadence workplace management system grew from hybrid desk booking in 2021 into WorkOps, which runs the office, and SpaceOps, which plans and changes it. [Home]() / [Guides]() ### The Kadence platform: from desk booking to WorkOps and SpaceOps Kadence's hybrid work platform launched in 2021 as a desk booking tool and grew into a workplace management system. WorkOps runs the office day to day. SpaceOps plans and changes it. Here is how the platform got there. Updated September 29, 2026 · Drawn from 14 Kadence articles by [Jamie Addis](), [Dan Bladen](), [Helen Attia]() and Luke Christian-Farman On this page 1. [How does Kadence define a workplace management system?]() 2. [How did the Kadence platform start in 2021?]() 3. [How did Kadence bring booking into Teams, Slack and mobile in 2022?]() 4. [What did Kadence add beyond desk booking by 2024?]() 5. [What is WorkOps?]() 6. [What is SpaceOps?]() 7. [How do WorkOps and SpaceOps work together?]() 8. [How do enterprises use a workplace management system?]() #### Key takeaways - Kadence launched its hybrid work platform in 2021 with single sign-on, auto desk release and a Building insights dashboard comparing bookings with actual check-ins. - In 2022 Kadence brought desk and room booking into Microsoft Teams in May, meeting room booking to its mobile app in August and desk booking to Slack in November. - In September 2025 Kadence introduced WorkOps, integrating people, space and time into a single system of record. - SpaceOps, built on Kadence AI, can generate a static plan in minutes and put the approved plan live by canceling outdated bookings and freezing affected spaces. - Enterprises measure a workplace management system through outcomes such as cost per employee and occupancy rates across the portfolio. A workplace management system gives an organization one place to run its offices and decide how they should change. Kadence reached that point in stages. In 2021 it helped companies bring people back to the office with desk booking, check-ins and occupancy data. By 2026 it described two connected layers: WorkOps, which runs the office day to day, and SpaceOps, which plans and changes it. This guide follows that path in order. Each stage added something the previous one needed: first booking, then booking inside the tools people already use, then a single system for workplace operations, then planning built on what those operations reveal. The sequence explains how the parts of the platform fit together. #### How does Kadence define a workplace management system? For a full introduction to the category, see [what a workplace management system is](). In Kadence’s own terms, an enterprise grade workplace management system is a platform that integrates space, facilities, real estate and people data into a single operational environment. It gives large organizations the visibility and control they need to manage complex, multi-location workplaces, and it gives different functions a shared view of how the workplace is performing. That definition comes from Kadence’s May 2026 account of how enterprise organizations use workplace management systems. Beyond basic functionality, the key enterprise requirement is scalability: handling large datasets, supporting multiple locations and business units, and integrating with existing tools including HR systems, calendars and access control. The features that matter most support the decisions enterprises make most often: where to allocate space, how to coordinate teams and how to justify real estate investment. The rest of this guide shows how Kadence built toward that definition, one layer at a time. #### How did the Kadence platform start in 2021? Kadence’s hybrid work software dates to 2021, built for the return to the office. Its product, then called Kadence Wx, was positioned as “the new operating system for flexible work.” The first releases focused on adoption and data: single sign-on, [directory sync](), delegate booking, auto desk release and dashboards comparing what people booked with what they actually did. In April 2021, Kadence described itself as “the hybrid workplace specialist,” based in San Francisco and London. That month, former WeWork executive Shaun Ritchie joined Kadence as a board advisor to help drive adoption of its new hybrid-working software platform. Ritchie had co-founded the workplace experience platform Teem in 2013, which WeWork acquired in 2018, and had served as WeWork’s Chief Workplace Experience Officer. He said Kadence took “an employee-first, rather than space-first, perspective.” In the same announcement, co-founder and CEO Dan Bladen said recent data suggested nearly 70% of companies were considering changes within the office to accommodate the shift in demand for hybrid work. In June 2021, Kadence released five features for return-to-work plans: - **Single sign-on**, so people could log in without a separate registration, lowering friction and helping adoption. - **Directory sync**, so workplace managers could provision users automatically instead of inviting them one by one. - **Delegate booking**, so team managers, personal assistants and admins could book spaces on behalf of others. - **Auto desk release**, which freed a desk after a set time if nobody checked in, to eliminate recurring [ghost bookings](). - **Building insights**, a dashboard comparing future bookings, actual check-ins, wasted bookings (no-shows or early check-outs) and daily capacity. In July 2021, four more features followed for a smooth return to the office. Self-certification let employers set a health screening message that employees confirmed before checking in. Web booking matched everything the mobile app could do. Admins could add parking spaces to a building so employees could attach one to their booking. Floor insights showed which parts of a floor and which office neighborhoods were busier than others. Two ideas from this first year run through everything that follows. Adoption comes first. And the gap between what people book and what they actually do is where the useful data lives. #### How did Kadence bring booking into Teams, Slack and mobile in 2022? In 2022, Kadence moved booking to where people already worked. It launched Kadence 2.0 in March, integrations with Microsoft Teams, Outlook and Google in May, meeting room booking on mobile in August, space management enhancements in September and a [Slack desk booking]() integration in November. The aim was fewer app switches and cleaner check-in data. ##### Kadence 2.0 (March 2022) In March 2022, Dan Bladen introduced Kadence 2.0 as the next phase of hybrid working. It opened with a phrase the team often returned to: “You can’t put people in a box.” The release grouped the platform into three solution areas: team collaboration and visibility, space booking and management, and employee and workplace safety. ##### Microsoft Teams, Outlook and Google (May 2022) In May 2022, Kadence announced integrations with Microsoft Teams and Google. Inside the [Microsoft Teams app](), people could book desks and rooms and see when teammates were in the office without leaving Teams. Room booking also ran through Outlook and Google, with search by amenities, an interactive office floor map, automatic release of room bookings after unplanned cancellations, and at-a-glance analytics on how rooms were used. ##### Meeting room booking on mobile (August 2022) In August 2022, Kadence brought conference room booking to mobile, following desk booking for mobile. In the [Kadence mobile app](), people could check the team schedule, find an available room on the office floor map, filter by amenities and room capacity, and invite colleagues or external guests using just an email address. Check-in reminders prompted people when a booking started, and any participant could check in. Kadence said the whole booking could be done in under 10 seconds. ##### Smarter space management (September 2022) In September 2022, new space management enhancements focused on administrators. Office neighborhoods could already be public or private and assigned to teams on scheduled days of the week. A new setting made a neighborhood public automatically on days with no team assigned, so anyone could book there without manual intervention. Admins could also search bookings by a person’s name or email, and filter guest bookings separately from employee bookings. ##### Slack (November 2022) In November 2022, Kadence launched a Slack desk booking integration. For Slack users, Slack is the first application they open, and the launch cited research that [300,000 Slack messages are sent each second](). With the [Slack integration](), people received check-in reminders when a booking began, saw an overview of their bookings for the week, and could check in and self-certify without leaving Slack. Kadence said it needed zero setup, passwords or training. Its reasoning on check-ins held across the year: when more people remember to check in, the booking data gets cleaner. #### What did Kadence add beyond desk booking by 2024? By June 2024, Kadence had added features that took it “far beyond simple desk booking and allocation.” They included AI-driven Smart Suggestions, Team Kadences for planned in-office days, Kadence Flex for on-demand flexible workspaces through Liquidspace, Announcements, and Space Management Insights on occupancy rates, peak usage times and underutilized areas. In June 2024, Kadence summarized the evolution of the platform over the previous year and a half: - **Smart Suggestions:** desk booking recommendations based on each person’s preferences and starred colleagues, to help people decide why, and with whom, to come in. - **Team Kadences:** a booking flow for teams to set one-off or recurring in-person days, with administrators able to set suggested days for each department. - **Kadence Flex:** a partnership with Liquidspace giving customers access to a global network of on-demand flexible workspaces, with thousands of spaces bookable from within Kadence. - **Announcements:** a central place to manage outgoing company announcements. - **Space Management Insights:** detailed analytics to optimize the workspace and plan for future workspace needs. Two shifts stand out. The employee question moved from where to sit to who will be there and whether the trip is worth it. And insights began to serve decisions beyond the day, including reducing real estate overheads. #### What is WorkOps? WorkOps is the operational layer that helps companies run the workplace day to day. In September 2025, Kadence described it as the orchestration of the modern workplace as a whole, integrating people, space and time into a single system of record. In September 2025, Kadence introduced WorkOps and compared it to DevOps and RevOps. The comparison was deliberate. Fifteen years earlier, most enterprises had never heard of DevOps. Ten years earlier, few could define RevOps. Kadence argued WorkOps is the next such discipline. The case rested on two forces. The first is cost: real estate and people are the largest line items on the balance sheet. The second is complexity: employees are overwhelmed by too many apps, and leaders struggle to build a complete view of workplace performance from fragmented systems. Facilities tools maintain buildings, HR systems manage people and scheduling tools coordinate calendars, but none gives leaders unified visibility and control. Kadence set out a WorkOps playbook that reads like a map of its own history: 1. **Foundations.** Desk booking, room scheduling and visitor management remove friction and create order. 2. **Daily touchpoints.** Announcements, surveys, events and ticketing give employees a single platform for the workday. 3. **Prediction and planning.** Scenario planning, space management and workplace analytics let leaders predict, model and optimize. The business case was framed by role. For CFOs, WorkOps turns one of their biggest costs into a measurable return. For CHROs, it connects workplace experience to culture, engagement and retention. For COOs, it provides a framework for operational readiness. Kadence described the platform as “fusing IWMS-grade power with modern coordination and AI-driven intelligence.” #### What is SpaceOps? SpaceOps is the strategic layer that helps companies plan, model and change their workplace over time. Kadence’s SpaceOps is built on Kadence AI and connects planning and execution in one platform. Teams can test scenarios, understand trade-offs, export a board-ready plan and then put the approved plan live in the same system. In January 2026, Kadence wrote about what it was learning as SpaceOps took shape. Much of that learning came from watching Rory, then Kadence’s Machine Learning Lead, demo the platform live with customers, modeling real portfolios and testing scenarios in real time. The technology was rarely the constraint. The hard part was deciding where intelligence adds value and where it introduces risk. Cost efficiency, collaboration, disruption, fairness and speed all matter, but rarely equally at the same time. In demos, leaders stopped asking for “the best plan” and started asking what happens if they act earlier or sequence moves differently. As Rory put it to one team: “If you move them from the baseline to what we showed you, you’re saving over 90 percent of the movement. Doing the move now prepares you for growth instead of reacting later.” The data also challenged common assumptions: - Org charts describe reporting lines but rarely capture how work actually flows day to day. - Proximity often matters more for small, highly interactive groups than for larger teams. In one scenario, Rory described over a thousand additional connections between teams from optimizing proximity where it mattered. - Hybrid attendance often stabilizes over time, but not always in line with written policy. - Not all underutilized space is wasted. Some slack works as a buffer for growth and change. Kadence also kept humans in the loop. SpaceOps supports scenarios, stack planning and move management as connected steps, so leaders can test ideas without committing to them. The system structures the problem; the decision stays with the people accountable for it. In April 2026, Kadence explained why SpaceOps is the future of workplace planning. For most companies, the office is the second largest cost after people, yet planning still runs on spreadsheets, static floor plans and exported PDFs. After approval, operations teams translate the plan into real changes by hand. SpaceOps is designed to answer questions such as: Can we consolidate two floors? How do we keep engineering next to product? What happens if headcount grows next year? It can generate a static plan in minutes, support re-optimization if the situation changes mid-process, and export a plan for leadership review. Then it helps put the approved configuration into effect by canceling outdated bookings, freezing affected spaces and activating the new setup. In Kadence’s words, “The plan that gets approved becomes the plan that goes live.” #### How do WorkOps and SpaceOps work together? WorkOps runs the office and SpaceOps changes it. WorkOps creates the day-to-day system of record for how the workplace functions, capturing occupancy, attendance and behavior. SpaceOps uses those signals to model changes such as growth, consolidation, policy shifts or a redesign, so strategy rests on actual behavior rather than a spreadsheet or a snapshot. In May 2026, Kadence set out how WorkOps and SpaceOps connect workplace operations and strategy. This is the current direction of the platform. [WorkOps]() is what employees touch: booking a desk, finding a meeting room, checking in a visitor, knowing where to go. For workplace teams, it captures the signals traditional systems miss. A spreadsheet gives a snapshot. A policy says what leadership wanted to happen. A survey gives a point of view. None of them shows what is actually happening in the building. [SpaceOps]() starts when the workplace needs to change, whether the trigger is growth, cost pressure, a new hybrid strategy, a [portfolio consolidation]() or a redesign of how teams sit together. It helps teams model change before committing to it, from planning and stack decisions through to floor plans and operational rollout. The connection is the point. “Without WorkOps, SpaceOps risks becoming theoretical. Without SpaceOps, WorkOps risks staying purely operational.” It also explains the platform’s history: the check-ins, bookings and occupancy insights Kadence built for the return to the office are the operational record that planning now depends on. For workplace leaders, often working without dedicated data scientists or engineers, a connected view makes workplace strategy more defensible. #### How do enterprises use a workplace management system? Enterprises use a workplace management system to centralize data across real estate, facilities, space and people. Real estate teams manage leases and model portfolio decisions. Workplace and operations teams coordinate space and track utilization. HR teams see how hybrid policies play out. Leadership aligns workplace strategy with broader organizational goals. The May 2026 guide on enterprise workplace management systems names the problems standalone tools struggle to solve. Data sits in separate systems across departments. Office space is often underutilized, but without reliable occupancy data it is hard to decide what to reduce. Hybrid work makes team presence and space demand hard to coordinate. The result is that significant decisions about space and real estate are often made on incomplete information. Enterprise workplace management software addresses this in three ways: - **Portfolio decisions.** Consistent behavioral data, rather than periodic headcounts, helps teams find persistently underutilized floors or buildings and model consolidation or restacking. - **Hybrid coordination at scale.** Scheduling, booking and attendance data in a single view helps teams align presence with collaboration needs, instead of crowded [midweek peaks]() and underused quieter days. - **Shared strategy.** A common data layer lets finance, HR, operations and leadership model how scenarios affect cost, performance and employee experience before committing. The outcomes enterprises track are concrete: cost per employee, occupancy rates across the portfolio, and reductions in underperforming or persistently empty space. Kadence’s path from desk booking in 2021 to WorkOps and SpaceOps in 2026 follows the same logic: run the office well, learn from how it is used, then change it with confidence. #### The articles behind this guide 1. How Enterprise Organizations Use Workplace Management Systems May 26, 2026 Enterprise workplaces have become significantly more complex over the last several years. Managing multiple locations, enforcing hybrid policies at scale, and controlling… 2. WorkOps Runs the Office. SpaceOps Changes It. May 19, 2026 Workplace operations has become one of the most important functions inside modern organizations. Companies are under pressure to make better use of their offices, support… 3. Why SpaceOps Is the Future of Workplace Planning April 30, 2026 Workplace planning is overdue for a reset. For most companies, the office is the second largest cost after people. Yet the decisions that shape that investment are still… 4. What We’re Learning as SpaceOps Takes Shape January 29, 2026 When people hear that we’re building an AI-powered platform for space planning, the assumption is often that the hardest part is the technology itself. What we’ve found… 5. Kadence: The First WorkOps Platform Defining The Future Of Workplace Operations September 29, 2025 Fifteen years ago most enterprises had never heard the term DevOps. Ten years ago, few could define RevOps. Today both are indispensable disciplines that unify fragmented… 6. The Evolution Of The Kadence Platform June 21, 2024 It’s been a busy few years for us at Kadence! Since first embarking on our mission to support companies navigating the complexity of hybrid work, we are proud to say… 7. Say Hello To Our New Slack Desk Booking Integration November 30, 2022 300,000. That is the number of Slack messages sent each second of every day. It’s powerful, and for Slack users, it’s the first application you open up to check your DMs,… 8. 4 New Space Management System Enhancements You Need To Know September 9, 2022 The summertime is more often than not a quieter month in the office for most workplaces making it a great opportunity to discover how you can benefit from a Space… 9. Say Hello To Kadence Conference Room Booking For Mobile August 16, 2022 Flexible working isn’t just turning up to the office whenever it suits us. How do we know who’ll be there, or what spaces will be available before we decide to commute?… 10. Microsoft Teams & Conference Room Booking Integrations May 19, 2022 Today, we’re proud to announce that we’re bridging the gap between you and your favorite tools by integrating with Microsoft Teams and Google. By combining all of these… 11. Kadence 2.0: The Next Phase Of Hybrid Working March 2, 2022 ‘You can’t put people in a box’ – it’s one of the resounding phrases we often think about at Kadence. A gentle yet constant reminder to ourselves to build products that… 12. 4 New Product Features To Help Empower Your Team For A Smooth Return To Office July 5, 2021 As workplace leaders, managers of teams and employers are slowly discovering ways and methods to pull in their troops from remote working comforts, we can all agree that… 13. 5 New Product Features To Boost Your Return-To-Workplace Plan June 4, 2021 While workplace leaders may be eager for their people to return to the office, some employees are still feeling unsure, and enjoyed the comforts of working from home. The… 14. Former WeWork Executive Shaun Ritchie Joins Kadence April 22, 2021 Heavyweight ‘Workplace Experience’ Pioneer To Boost Tech Firm’s Growth Trajectory San Francisco and London, April 22, 2021 Kadence, the hybrid workplace specialist, today… [All guides]() FAQ #### Common questions **What does the Kadence platform do?** Kadence brings space, facilities, real estate and people data into one operational environment, in two connected layers. WorkOps runs the workplace day to day: desk booking, room booking, visitor check-in and the occupancy data they produce. SpaceOps uses that data to plan and change the workplace, from scenarios and stack plans to move management, with people keeping the final say on every change. **What is WorkOps?** WorkOps is the operational layer that helps companies run the workplace day to day. Kadence describes it as the orchestration of the modern workplace as a whole, integrating people, space and time into a single system of record. It covers what employees touch, such as desk booking, room booking and visitor check-in, and it captures occupancy data, attendance patterns and behavioral trends for workplace teams. **What is SpaceOps?** SpaceOps is the strategic layer that helps companies plan, model and change their workplace over time. Kadence's SpaceOps is built on Kadence AI and connects planning and execution in one platform. Teams test scenarios and understand trade-offs, export a plan for leadership review, and then activate the approved configuration by canceling outdated bookings, freezing affected spaces and turning on the new setup. **What is the difference between WorkOps and SpaceOps?** WorkOps helps companies run the workplace day to day. SpaceOps helps companies plan and change the workplace based on how it is actually being used. WorkOps captures the day-to-day signals of how space is used, and SpaceOps uses those signals to guide planning, redesign and optimization decisions. Kadence's view is that the real value appears when the two layers are connected. **How do enterprise organizations use workplace management systems?** Enterprise organizations use workplace management systems to centralize data across real estate, facilities, space and people. Real estate teams manage leases and model portfolio decisions. Workplace and operations teams coordinate space and track utilization. HR teams see how hybrid policies play out in practice. Leadership aligns workplace strategy with broader organizational goals, tracking outcomes such as cost per employee and occupancy rates. **Does SpaceOps make space decisions automatically?** No. Kadence deliberately keeps people involved in SpaceOps decisions. Moves affect trust, seating changes reshape working relationships, and space decisions send cultural signals a model cannot fully capture. SpaceOps supports scenarios, stack planning and move management as connected steps, so leaders can test ideas without committing to them. The system structures the problem and surfaces the implications, and the decision stays with the accountable people. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Office Space Planning: Right-Sizing and Fit-Out Guide | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/guides/office-space-planning/ Description: A guide to office space utilization and planning: benchmark real use, right-size for hybrid attendance, budget the fit-out and plan for change. [Home]() / [Guides]() ### Office space planning: right-sizing, utilization and fit-out Office space utilization in most buildings sits far below what the space was planned for. Here is how to measure real use, right-size the portfolio and invest in the space you keep. Updated September 29, 2026 · Drawn from 12 Kadence articles by [Neal Pilaivin](), [Dan Bladen](), [Jamie Addis](), [Ali Carson]() and Luke Christian-Farman On this page 1. [Why does office space planning need a reset?]() 2. [What is a good office space utilization rate?]() 3. [How do you measure office space utilization accurately?]() 4. [What is office space monitoring, and do you need sensors?]() 5. [How do you approach right-sizing office space?]() 6. [How do you design an office people choose to use?]() 7. [How much does an office fit-out cost?]() 8. [How do you plan occupancy for continuous change?]() 9. [What does a good office space plan include?]() #### Key takeaways - Average desk utilization in most offices sits in the 20–40% range, and CBRE's 2024-25 study put the cross-sector average at 38%. - Bookings overstate attendance: two is the most common number of office days people book each week, and once canceled bookings are removed the weekly average falls closer to two. - Mondays and Fridays are the least popular office days in every region, so size space for the Tuesday to Thursday peak, not the weekly average. - Right-sizing works when it follows data: Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80%, and MOO raised office utilization to 70% without adding desks. - Fit-out costs rose in every region in JLL's 2025 guide, with North America averaging about $3,070 per square meter. Office space utilization is the share of your office that people actually use, and in most portfolios it is far lower than the space was planned for. Leases were signed for best-case growth, floors were laid out for a fixed org chart, and desks were assigned as if everyone came in every day. Hybrid work did not create that gap. It made the gap impossible to ignore. Good office space planning closes it with evidence. That means measuring how space is really used, sizing the portfolio for actual demand, spending [fit-out]() budgets where they change behavior, and keeping enough flexibility to absorb the next reorganization. #### Why does office space planning need a reset? Office space planning needs a reset because most portfolios were built for attendance that never arrived. Real estate teams have historically over-provisioned office space by 40 to 50 percent, offices reached maybe 60 percent occupancy at most even before hybrid work, and in 2025 the U.S. was set to remove more office space than it added. In June 2025, CBRE data reported by [CNBC]() showed 23.3 million square feet of office space across 58 U.S. markets set to be demolished or converted that year, against only 12.7 million square feet of new construction. It had not happened in at least 25 years. As Kadence argued in office right-sizing, not downsizing, this is a correction, not a crash. Hybrid policy is part of the picture. The Q2 2025 Flex Index Report found 43% of U.S. companies on a structured hybrid model with a set number of office days. Just 33% required full-time attendance, barely up from 31% a year earlier. Among enterprises with over 25,000 employees, 70% had adopted structured hybrid. In the Fortune 500, the average number of required office days rose only from 2.3 to 2.9 days per week. The overbuilding started earlier. Writing in June 2026, Neal Pilaivin, who headed IT operations at HP, Microsoft, Sonos and HubSpot, explained in why companies are right-sizing the overbuilt office that teams planned for best-case growth, such as going from 1,000 to 2,000 employees in a year, because real estate takes time. Today he sees 10 to 15 people on a normal weekday in offices designed for 1,000 to 2,000. He puts real estate and facilities at 5 to 6 percent of a company’s budget, the same as IT. For an organization with 5,000 to 10,000 people, the potential savings run into millions of dollars annually. #### What is a good office space utilization rate? For a full introduction to measuring it, see [the workplace leader’s guide to office space utilization]() and [the guide to desk utilization rates](). Most offices run at 20–40% average [desk utilization](), according to Kadence booking data from over 1,100 buildings published in June 2025. CBRE’s 2024-25 study put the cross-sector average at 38%. A good rate depends on your sector and your peak days: midweek, some legal, finance and life sciences buildings pass 70%. Space utilization is the share of available space, such as desks, rooms or floors, that people actually use over a period. It differs from occupancy, which counts how many people are in a space at a given moment. [Kadence Pulse’s sector analysis]() covered January 2024 to May 2025. Few buildings pushed beyond the 20–40% range. Kadence’s November 2025 look at space monitoring reported the same pattern: utilization still fluctuates between 20 and 40 percent in many global offices. CBRE’s 2024-25 workplace study shows the spread by sector: | Sector (CBRE 2024-25) | Average utilization | | --- | --- | | Life Sciences | 48% | | Financial & Professional Services | 40% | | Industrial & Logistics | 39% | | Technology, Media & Telecommunications | 35% | | Other | 26% | The averages hide a splintering distribution. Since November 2024, Kadence observed more buildings hitting or exceeding 80% monthly utilization. In Professional & Personal Services, some buildings hit 90%+ utilization from February to April 2025. In Tech & Software, 50% of buildings sat between 15–42%. The upper quartile of legal buildings hit 50%+. One portfolio can contain all of these patterns at once, so benchmark each site against its own sector. #### How do you measure office space utilization accurately? Measure arrivals, not reservations, and measure by day of the week. Kadence data published in February 2025 shows the weekly average drops closer to 2 days once canceled bookings are removed, and Mondays and Fridays are the least popular days in every region. Size for the [midweek peak](), not the weekly average or the policy. In February 2025, [Kadence Pulse found that the magic number is 2](). Across Kadence’s customer base, the most common number of days employees book to come in each week is two. Including cancellations, the weekly average fluctuates between 2 and 3 days; once canceled bookings are removed, it falls closer to two. People plan for three visits and make it in twice. If you size on bookings or policy, you size for attendance that does not happen. The Fortune 500’s 2.9 required days, reported in the case for office right-sizing, and the observed two-day norm show that policy and behavior are separate numbers. Region and industry shift the baseline. Without cancellations, Australia averaged closer to 2.5 days per week and Europe 1.5. Legal and Consulting had the most office bookings, with Medical and Health close behind. Timing matters as much as volume. Hybrid workers reserve Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for collaboration. Back in 2022, Kadence was already tracking this pattern in when people choose to come to the office and why. The [June 2025 sector data]() showed its effect: filtered to those three anchor days, utilization was noticeably higher than the all-days average, with more buildings in the 40–60% range and above. Legal, finance and life sciences peaked sharply midweek. Tech and media showed gentler curves. That analysis also flagged March–April 2025 as an inflection point, with every industry climbing, so refresh your numbers regularly. #### What is office space monitoring, and do you need sensors? Office space monitoring is the practice of understanding how workplace areas are used in real time, across offices, floors and zones. Sensors are one way to do it, but they are costly and slow to scale. Digital signals your workplace already produces, plus reliable check-ins, can show real-time occupancy without new hardware. Monitoring answers the questions facilities teams already ask. Why is this floor always empty? Why is that meeting room always full? Why does one neighborhood feel overcrowded while another stays quiet? At enterprise scale, the answers shape lease renewals, hub strategies and capital allocation. Kadence’s November 2025 guide to space monitoring and occupancy describes the limits of hardware-heavy approaches. Sensors, infrared counters, Bluetooth beacons and badge systems were built for static environments. They are difficult to maintain across regions, and they reveal what happened last week, not what is likely to happen next Wednesday in your busiest hub. As Kadence described it then, Kadence Sense instead uses Wi-Fi, Ethernet, badge systems and collaboration tools to show [workplace occupancy]() across a portfolio. Data quality also breaks down at the human level. Kadence’s tips on making the most of your office space name three common problems: - **Ghost desks:** people book a desk and do not show up. - **Invisible workers:** people work from home without telling anyone, so teams cannot plan collaboration. - **Inaccurate data:** people do not check in properly, so no one knows how the office is used. The fixes are operational. In October 2024, Kadence suggested practical ways to make the most of your office: automatic check-ins through an API to improve utilization data, checking out of booked lockers, pods and parking spaces to see how those resources are used, and a heat map of popular areas to point to space you could reduce. Whatever method you choose, measure how spaces are used, not who is using them. Trust in the data depends on trust in its purpose. #### How do you approach right-sizing office space? Right-sizing office space means matching your footprint to how people actually work, using data rather than headcount or best-case growth. Decide your working culture first, then design for actual usage rather than theoretical peak capacity. Neal Pilaivin argues that realistic occupancy assumptions can reduce space needs by 40 to 50 percent. Pilaivin’s June 2026 framework has three steps: - **Decide your culture.** Choose office-first, hybrid or remote-first based on your mission and working patterns, not executive gut feeling or competitors. Occupancy analytics give the only honest baseline for that decision. - **Right-size your space.** Ask whether you are meeting-heavy or focused on individual work. Even office-first cultures rarely exceed 60 percent daily utilization. Know which rooms are overbooked and which floors are chronically underused. - **Train for distributed management.** [Proximity bias]() is real: people who show up get noticed, promoted and retained at higher rates, even when remote colleagues’ work is objectively stronger. He frames the payoff as three savings. Financial: returned to employees, right-sized provisioning could mean $5,000 to $10,000 more per person per year. Relational: in-person time builds working relationships, especially with the people you collaborate with 80 percent of the time. Temporal: fewer long commutes, and in-person time reserved for onboarding, quarterly planning and all-hands meetings. Real cases show the range. As Kadence reported in 2025, Karger, a global medical and scientific publisher, moved from fixed desks to hot desking, occupancy tracking and team coordination tools. It consolidated office space across three locations and cut its real estate footprint by 80%. “On a regular basis, we know how many people are coming into the building,” said Adrian Harper, Head of Digital Landscape at Karger. MOO, the design and print company, brought structure to its hybrid policy and boosted office utilization to 70% without adding more desks. Both stories are in Kadence’s [case studies](). Right-sizing can mean fewer square feet, better-used square feet, or both. #### How do you design an office people choose to use? Design for collaboration and reliability first. In 2022 WFH Research data, face-to-face collaboration was the most popular reason to go into the office. Mitie’s 2025 survey found UK workers lose 68 minutes each week to preventable friction such as poor internet and hard-to-find rooms. Amenities help, but only 29 percent said they contributed to satisfaction. In July 2025, Kadence covered Mitie research on how poorly designed workplaces cost the UK billions. [Mitie]() surveyed 3,000 UK employees. Scaled across the workforce, their lost time equals a weekly salary cost of 485.2 million pounds and 71.4 billion pounds a year. Fifty-one percent said a poorly maintained workplace was a major factor in their dissatisfaction, and 88 percent said a safe environment contributed to their job satisfaction. Of employees satisfied with their workplace, 89 percent were also satisfied with their employer, against only 23 percent of those unhappy with their environment. Reliability beats novelty. At the top of the market, landlords compete on experience. In May 2025, Kadence looked at how prime office real estate is competing for survival. London’s 40 Leadenhall, a 34-story tower, offers a wood-paneled library, rooftop dining terraces, a cinema, a Peloton studio and a spa. At 22 Bishopsgate, the top floor let for £122 per square foot, a record for the City. Ben Cullen, Head of UK Offices at Cushman & Wakefield, described the shift: “After Covid, it was just about taking less space. Then occupiers started taking less space, but better space. But what’s happening in the last year or so is that not only are they taking more space, they are taking better space.” Design can also reflect place. In November 2024, Kadence’s look at the state of the workplace in San Francisco highlighted Okta’s “Commons” project, which turned its 13th floor into a tribute to the city’s neighborhoods, with space ranging from collaborative meeting rooms to quiet zones for deep focus. Design alone is not enough. A floor that sits half empty on a Wednesday and overcrowded on a Thursday still fails. Space earns its keep when people know when their team is in and can plan their time together. #### How much does an office fit-out cost? JLL’s 2025 global cost guide found office fit-out costs rose in all regions. North America averaged about $3,070 per square meter, against a global average of roughly $1,830/m². Labor and materials inflation, hybrid-ready technology and sustainable building systems drive the increase, which makes it more important to spend where occupancy data shows demand. Kadence’s April 2025 analysis of the office fit-out as a strategic asset set out the numbers from [JLL’s global cost guide](). EMEA averaged around $1,970/m², and Asia-Pacific about $1,460/m². In the U.S. and Canada, cost growth slowed to 2.7% in 2023 from 10.1% in 2022, but build-out expenses in 2023 were about 33% above 2019 levels. Three forces drive the increase: - **Labor and materials.** EMEA labor costs rose over 12% in the last 12 months. Half of markets worldwide had labor shortages, and about 75% saw raw material price hikes. - **Hybrid-ready design.** More than three-quarters of corporate real estate leaders are investing in better office tech, and 39% have upgraded conference room AV. Movable furniture, modular partitions and operable walls cost more than fixed drywall, but let space convert from solo work to team huddles on demand. - **Sustainability.** Upgraded mechanical and electrical (M&E) systems can cut long-term operating costs by 10–40% through energy savings. Where green retrofits are popular, M&E averages 29% of fit-out costs, and up to 50% in some cases. Companies are still investing: 59% of organizations globally plan to increase spending on office design and fit-outs in the next five years. The pattern is fewer, better offices. In the same April 2025 analysis, Kadence pointed to TravelPerk’s Barcelona headquarters, which deliberately included fewer traditional desks and more collaboration space, plus a café, gym, outdoor terraces on every floor and a wellbeing room. Data keeps that investment honest: occupancy and booking patterns show which space types people use, so you avoid unnecessary fit-out costs elsewhere. #### How do you plan occupancy for continuous change? [Occupancy planning]() is deciding where people and teams will work across floors and buildings as the organization changes. Org decisions take weeks or months, while space decisions last years. The answer is to keep layouts reassignable and to test scenarios before committing. Airbnb’s headquarters and stack planning software show two ways to do this. Pilaivin notes, in the case against the overbuilt office, that building physical space takes five to ten years in major markets, and developers want five and ten year leases. Ben Cullen put the risk plainly in the race for prime office space: “You need to start thinking about commitment, because you cannot deliver an office building into a market at speed.” In January 2026, Kadence examined how Airbnb designs offices for continuous change. Airbnb’s headquarters at 999 Brannan Street in San Francisco, designed by its in-house Environments Team with WRNS Studio, does not mirror a fixed org chart. It uses repeatable zones of open work areas, enclosed rooms, communal tables and shared amenities, which WRNS Studio calls a “kit of parts.” Floorplates break into adaptable areas that can be reassigned without major rework. Teams can move without triggering a redesign, and change stops cascading into disruption. Architecture can only absorb so much change. Across multiple floors, buildings and leases, flexibility depends on how decisions are governed. In that January 2026 piece, Kadence framed this as the role of SpaceOps: dynamic stack planning to see how people and functions are distributed, [scenario planning]() to compare growth, contraction or reorganization as parallel futures, and coordinated move management to execute cleanly. The principle matches Airbnb’s floors: keep decisions provisional until uncertainty resolves. #### What does a good office space plan include? A good office space plan links evidence to commitment. It benchmarks utilization, counts real attendance, fixes data quality, sets policy before footprint, puts fit-out money where demand is proven and keeps layouts flexible. Each step lowers the risk of locking a changing organization into a long lease built on assumptions. - **Measure first.** Benchmark against the 20–40% range and your sector, count arrivals rather than bookings, and find your midweek peak. - **Fix the data.** Remove ghost desks and missed check-ins, use signals you already have, and measure spaces, not people. - **Decide the culture, then the footprint.** Design for actual usage, not theoretical peak, and prepare managers for hybrid teams. - **Invest in fewer, better spaces.** Fix reliability before perks, and put fit-out money where occupancy data shows demand. - **Stay flexible.** Favor reassignable layouts, and test scenarios before signing the next long lease. #### The articles behind this guide 1. The Overbuilt Office: Why Smart Companies Are Right-Sizing Their Real Estate June 11, 2026 Here’s what I learned from heading IT Operations at companies like HP, Microsoft, Sonos, and HubSpot: real estate and facilities managers have historically… 2. How Airbnb Designs Offices for Continuous Change January 8, 2026 What do you do when your org chart never settles? In many organizations, teams no longer align neatly to long-term structures. Groups form around initiatives, expand… 3. Space Monitoring And The Role Of Occupancy In The 2026 Office November 20, 2025 Every enterprise portfolio has a rhythm. Some hub locations pulse with activity. Others sit unexpectedly quiet. Certain floors are under constant pressure while others… 4. Poorly Designed Workplaces Are Costing The UK Billions July 22, 2025 Poorly designed workplaces are quietly undermining the UK economy. According to new research from Mitie, workplace inefficiencies could be costing businesses as much as… 5. [Kadence Pulse: Unpacking Office Utilization Trends By Sector]() June 15, 2025 Welcome to Kadence Pulse, our deep dive into how hybrid work is evolving—powered by real-time desk booking data from our customers using Kadence. After a year of settling… 6. This Isn’t Office Downsizing. It’s Office Right-Sizing. June 3, 2025 In 2025, something happened in the U.S. office market that hasn’t happened in at least 25 years: more office space is being removed than added. According to CBRE data… 7. Prime Office Real Estate Is Competing For Survival May 7, 2025 Last weekend, The Times ran a feature on 40 Leadenhall — London’s latest billion-pound prime office tower — and from the opening paragraph, it was clear: the office is… 8. Rethinking The Office Fit-Out As A Strategic Asset In The Hybrid Era April 28, 2025 Office fit-out costs have been climbing across the globe in recent years. Rising prices for materials, labor, and the push for higher-quality, more technology-rich… 9. [Kadence Pulse: The Magic Number Is 2]() February 14, 2025 Kadence Pulse is our new data-driven series where we uncover key trends in hybrid work, using insights straight from Kadence’s platform. Our goal is to help businesses… 10. The State Of The Workplace In San Francisco: Navigating The New Normal November 11, 2024 San Francisco—a city synonymous with innovation, diversity, and iconic landscapes—has long been a hub for some of the world’s most influential companies. But as we move… 11. 8 Tips To Making The Most Of Your Office Space October 24, 2024 Ever wondered why it’s so important to understand how your office space is used? It’s not about being nosy – it’s actually pretty important for making sure everyone has a… 12. When Do People Choose To Come To The Office And Why? August 26, 2022 When people choose to come into the office has fast become the hot topic of the last 18 months. During national lockdowns, the global workforce had unintentionally been… [All guides]() FAQ #### Common questions **What is a good office space utilization rate?** There is no single target, but benchmarks help. Kadence data from over 1,100 office buildings, published in June 2025, showed average desk utilization concentrated in the 20–40% range. CBRE's 2024-25 study put the cross-sector average at 38%, with Life Sciences highest at 48%. On midweek anchor days, some legal, finance and life sciences buildings pushed past 70% average utilization. **How do you measure office space utilization?** Measure actual use, not reservations. Kadence data shows two is the most common number of days people book each week, and the weekly average falls closer to 2 days once canceled bookings are stripped out. Break results down by day, floor and space type, since Mondays and Fridays run quiet while Tuesdays to Thursdays peak. Automatic check-ins or existing signals such as Wi-Fi and badge data improve accuracy. **Do you need sensors for office space monitoring?** Not necessarily. Sensors, infrared counters and Bluetooth beacons were built for static environments and are costly to scale and maintain across regions. An alternative is to use the digital signals a workplace already produces, such as Wi-Fi, Ethernet, badge systems and collaboration tools. Whichever method you use, measure how spaces are used, not who is using them. **How much office space can right-sizing save?** Neal Pilaivin, who headed IT operations at HP, Microsoft, Sonos and HubSpot, argues that real estate teams have historically over-provisioned office space by 40 to 50 percent, and that realistic occupancy assumptions can reduce space needs by 40 to 50 percent. Karger, a global medical and scientific publisher, cut its real estate footprint by 80% after moving to a flexible, data-driven model. **How much does an office fit-out cost per square meter?** JLL's 2025 global cost guide found fit-out costs rose in all regions. North America averaged about $3,070 per square meter, against a global average of roughly $1,830/m². EMEA averaged around $1,970/m² and Asia-Pacific about $1,460/m². Labor shortages, raw material price hikes, hybrid-ready technology and sustainable building systems are the main drivers. **What is occupancy planning?** Occupancy planning is deciding where people and teams will work across floors and buildings, and how much space each needs, as the organization changes. It combines attendance and utilization data with stack plans and scenarios for growth, contraction or reorganization, so leaders can compare options before committing to moves, fit-outs or leases. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Return to Office Mandates: What the Evidence Shows | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/guides/return-to-office/ Description: What a return to office mandate looks like, why employees resist, what the data shows on attendance and retention, and how to plan a return that works. [Home]() / [Guides]() ### Return to office: mandates, pushback and what the evidence shows A return to office mandate is easy to announce and hard to deliver. Here is what the 2024 and 2025 mandates looked like, how employees responded, what the evidence shows, and how to plan a return that works. Updated September 29, 2026 · Drawn from 14 Kadence articles by [Dan Bladen](), [Helen Attia]() and Luke Christian-Farman On this page 1. [What does a return to office mandate look like?]() 2. [Why do employees resist return to office mandates?]() 3. [Do return to office mandates work?]() 4. [What happens when the office is not ready for a return to office mandate?]() 5. [What does an underused office cost?]() 6. [What did companies that made hybrid work do differently?]() 7. [How do you plan a return to office that works?]() #### Key takeaways - Structured hybrid is the most common model: the Q2 2025 Flex Index found 43% of U.S. companies require a set number of office days, while 33% require full-time attendance. - Policy is not compliance: required office days rose from 2.3 to 2.9 on average at the Fortune 500, yet Stanford and Census Bureau surveys showed people working from home about as much as the year before. - Mandates without a space plan fail in public: in December 2024 Amazon delayed five-day attendance in several cities because offices were not ready, and in June 2025 HSBC faced a potential shortage of 7,700 desks. - In the Trip.com hybrid experiment reported in October 2024, managers expected a 2.6% productivity drop, saw a 1% boost after six months, and recorded a 35% drop in attrition. - Zillow reported four times the applicants per job opening after adopting its CloudHQ model, with 84% of its nearly 7,000 employees fully remote as of March 2025. A return to office mandate was one of the most reported workplace stories of 2024 and 2025. Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, the Washington Post, Asda and Walmart all moved to require more days in the office. Employees petitioned, a union objected, and a senior technology executive left rather than relocate. At the same time, several large organizations found their offices were not ready for the people they had called back. For [corporate real estate](), HR and workplace leaders, the useful question is not whether mandates are right or wrong. It is what the evidence shows about attendance, performance, retention and space, and what that means for your own plan. #### What does a return to office mandate look like? A return to office mandate usually takes one of three forms: five days a week, a fixed number of office days, or rules about which days people may work remotely. Full-time mandates draw the headlines, but structured hybrid is the most common return to office policy, especially at large enterprises. The clearest picture comes from the Q2 2025 [Flex Index Report](), which Kadence co-founder Dan Bladen discussed with Work Forward CEO Brian Elliott in May 2025 in why the data says hybrid has won the RTO debate: - 43% of U.S. companies had adopted a structured hybrid model, requiring a set number of [in-office days]() per week. - Just 33% required employees in the office full-time, up only slightly from 31% a year earlier. - 70% of companies with fewer than 500 employees were fully flexible, while 70% of enterprises with over 25,000 employees had opted for structured hybrid. - Full-time requirements among Fortune 500 companies jumped from 13% to 24% in two quarters, and required office days rose from 2.3 to 2.9 on average. Leadership sentiment ran ahead of that data. In September 2024, a KPMG survey found that 79% of CEOs believed their employees would be back in the office full-time within the next three years, a prediction examined in why 79% of CEOs expect full-time office work to return. ZipRecruiter’s 2024 Employer Survey, cited that December in coverage of Amazon’s delayed return, found 40% of companies had embraced hybrid as their primary work model, while only 7% allowed fully remote work. ##### Asda (November 2024) In November 2024, Asda rolled out a policy requiring corporate staff to be in the office at least three days a week. The move drew attention because of Asda’s flexible working policy, which said: “We know our colleagues want more flexibility to balance their work and home life. That’s why we offer hybrid working to support them.” The analysis of Asda’s three-day RTO mandate argued that the mandate risked contradicting those stated values and recommended measuring outcomes rather than attendance. ##### PwC (September 2024) Some organizations added monitoring rather than a day count. In September 2024, PwC introduced measures to track where its UK employees were working. The case against PwC’s location tracking cited data published by Forbes Advisor: 18% of employees report stress and anxiety from being monitored by their employer, 16% report taking fewer breaks, 39% say monitoring of their online activity harms their relationship with their employer, and 43% say it negatively affects company morale. #### Why do employees resist return to office mandates? Return to office resistance centers on autonomy, commuting costs, caregiving and work-life balance, and on a sense that hybrid work was already delivering. Resistance has taken the form of petitions, union statements and resignations. Surveys suggest the retention risk is real, with roughly half of workers saying they would consider leaving over a full-time return. ##### JPMorgan (February 2025) In February 2025, JPMorgan Chase employees launched a petition against JPMorgan’s five-day return to office mandate. As described in the JPMorgan employee petition against the RTO mandate, it asked JPMorgan to keep the flexible hybrid model for roles that had already used it, expand hybrid eligibility to more job categories, and allow remote-capable workers to work from any JPMC corporate office in their region. The petition stated: “The recent mandate for 100% in-office work is a great leap backward: It hurts employees, customers, shareholders, and the firm’s reputation.” It argued the mandate disproportionately pushes out “women, caregivers, senior employees, and individuals with disabilities,” and pointed to the bank’s own results: “During the years since COVID lockdowns began, JPMC employees’ work has continuously produced record profits for the bank.” One signatory wrote: “My team is spread out through two continents and three time zones. JPMC is a global company–why can’t that include my home office?” ##### Washington Post (November 2024) In November 2024, the Washington Post announced a plan to bring all employees back to the office five days a week by June 2025, ending a four-year run of hybrid work. The Washington Post Guild, which represents the editorial team, called the policy “inflexible and outdated.” Its statement read: “Guild leadership sees this for what it is: a change that stands to further disrupt our work rather than to improve our productivity or collaboration.” The coverage of the Washington Post Guild’s pushback noted that for a media company, where talent is everything, losing key staff is a direct business risk. ##### Sam’s Club and Walmart (October 2024) Relocation mandates carry a sharper cost. In October 2024, Cheryl Ainoa, Sam’s Club’s Chief Technology Officer for nearly five years, stepped down instead of relocating to Bentonville, Arkansas, after Walmart enforced a strict return-to-office policy. The lessons drawn from the Sam’s Club CTO’s departure focus on what relocation asks of senior people: uprooting families, finding new schools and often facing higher living costs. ##### What the surveys say Several surveys, cited at the time, put numbers on the risk: - Owl Labs: 47% of workers would consider quitting if forced to return to the office full-time (cited November 2024). - Gallup: 61% of employees would explore new opportunities if forced into full-time, on-site work (cited October 2024). - PwC: 50% of workers surveyed would consider leaving their job if they lost the option to work remotely (cited September 2024). - Gallup: 6 in 10 employees with remote-capable jobs want a hybrid work arrangement (cited September 2024). These are statements of intent, not measured departures. Taken together, they show that a mandate is a retention decision as well as a workplace one. #### Do return to office mandates work? The evidence shows mandates change policy more than behavior. Required office days rose in the Q2 2025 Flex Index, but actual attendance did not move much. Meanwhile, in a controlled trial at Trip.com, hybrid work showed no productivity loss and substantially lower attrition. If the goal is performance or retention, a mandate on its own is a weak lever. ##### Policy is not compliance The Q2 2025 Flex Index found that while firms were increasing required office days, actual attendance had not changed. People still worked from home about the same amount as the year before, according to Stanford and Census Bureau surveys. That does not mean offices sit empty every day. In June 2025, British Land CEO Simon Carter said: “Return to the office is in full swing, with mid-week occupancy back to pre-pandemic levels.” Both findings can be true. Attendance clusters mid-week, so average utilization stays low while peak days fill up. For planners, the peak matters as much as the average. ##### Productivity and retention Research by Stanford economist Nick Bloom, cited in the JPMorgan petition and published in [Harvard Business Review](), found no significant difference in productivity between hybrid and full-time office employees. Hybrid employees reported higher satisfaction and a 35% lower attrition rate. Other research points the same way: - Engagement: a Gallup study found 35% of hybrid workers are engaged, compared to 30% of on-site workers. A 2023 Gallup study found employees with flexibility in where and when they work are 57% more likely to feel engaged. - Stress: Owl Labs reported that 47% of in-office workers stated increased stress levels, compared with 39% of hybrid workers. - Turnover: organizations with rigid RTO mandates report higher turnover rates than those embracing hybrid models, according to research cited in December 2024. - Hiring: McKinsey data showed [flexible working]() arrangements were a top three reason people took a new job in 2022, and McKinsey research found 87% of employees would choose a company offering flexible work options. #### What happens when the office is not ready for a return to office mandate? When people come back faster than space is recalibrated, the result is delay, overcrowding and a credibility gap. Amazon postponed its full-time requirement in some cities, NASA staff worked without desks, and London’s banks found they had cut too much space. The common thread is a policy set without data on how space is used. ##### Amazon (December 2024) In December 2024, Amazon’s return to office plan hit a snag. Employees in cities including Atlanta, Houston, Nashville and New York would not be required to return five days a week until May, because office spaces were not ready. As covered in Amazon’s delayed full-time return, this was not a new problem: in 2023 the company faced similar challenges enforcing a three-day policy. CEO Andy Jassy argued that full-time RTO fosters better collaboration and cultural alignment. The delay raised a practical question for any leadership team: how can full-time attendance be necessary if the organization is not prepared to support it? ##### NASA and federal agencies (March 2025) In March 2025, reports described a chaotic return at NASA. Employees arriving in February were met with cockroaches on the floor and bugs coming out of faucets, according to a Reuters report. NASA spokesperson Cheryl Warner said: “Our team took immediate action to address those concerns, including talking to our regularly scheduled exterminator.” The larger problem was space. Some staff had no desks. At the Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, noise drove employees to take meetings in their cars using personal hotspots. Matt Biggs, President of the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, which represents over 8,000 federal NASA workers, said: “It’s complete chaos,” and “If you don’t have a desk or a computer you cannot do your job. People are much more unproductive.” The same pattern appeared elsewhere. The FDA told staff it could not guarantee desks or parking spots for the approximately 18,000 employees expected to report to the office, and employees at HUD and DHS raised similar concerns. The full account is in lessons from NASA on RTO planning. ##### HSBC, JPMorgan and London’s banks (June 2025) By June 2025, London’s banking sector faced the opposite of the problem it had planned for. As detailed in how JPMorgan and HSBC returned to office without a space strategy: - HSBC, once aiming to shrink its office space by 40%, faced a potential shortage of 7,700 desks. Its new headquarters, meant to be leaner, needed a second building nearby. - Deutsche Bank, which had consolidated from 21 buildings to four, was exploring an additional 250,000 square feet. It now allowed just two days a week from home, and no Mondays or Fridays. - JPMorgan was taking over a portion of the former Credit Suisse headquarters in Canary Wharf, and was adding space without increasing staff. - Across Europe, Bank of America doubled its Zurich banking team and expanded its footprint, ING cut 30% of global office space but kept a 50/50 [hybrid policy](), and BNP Paribas cut 120,000 square meters in Paris since 2023. Headcount was not the whole story. Hybrid work changed how space is used: fewer densely packed desks, more collaboration zones and meeting spaces, and social and wellness areas. Ben Cullen, Head of UK Offices at Cushman & Wakefield, explained: “If you bring those two factors together, you effectively end up with more space per person than you would’ve had pre-Covid.” The conclusion is direct: the desk shortage was not a symptom of too much RTO but of not enough insight. #### What does an underused office cost? An underused office is a financial issue as much as a cultural one. Premium floors that sit empty half the time still carry leases, utilities and maintenance. The published figures put the cost of a desk in the thousands of dollars per person per year, which is why CFOs now ask about desk ROI and seating ratios. In May 2025, Brian Elliott shared that global law firms were seeing desk costs top $16,000 per person annually. With utilization rates still well below 50% in many sectors, that leads to hard questions: what is the ROI of a desk, and does the organization really need a 1:1 seating ratio? An earlier estimate from Global Workplace Analytics, cited in September 2024, found businesses can save up to $11,000 per employee annually by letting them work remotely half the time. The London banks show the other side of the ledger. Cutting space without understanding how it is used can mean buying it back later. Before changing your footprint in either direction, measure [workplace occupancy]() by team, day and space type, so the decision rests on actual use rather than headcount. #### What did companies that made hybrid work do differently? Organizations that made hybrid work treated it as a deliberate operating model, not a compromise. They tested before scaling, invested in tools, planned in-person time with a clear purpose, and used fewer, better offices. Zillow, Trip.com and WTW took different routes, but each was intentional about when and why people gather. ##### Zillow (March 2025) In 2020, Zillow decided there would be no mandatory return to the office. By March 2025, as described in how Zillow makes hybrid work a competitive edge, 84% of its nearly 7,000 employees were fully remote, with the other 16% in compliance-heavy roles or region-based sales positions. Zillow cut its physical footprint from 11 offices to 6, in hubs including Seattle, San Francisco, Irvine and New York, and uses them for collaboration, connection and “Z-retreats,” centrally planned in-person gatherings. Chief People Officer Dan Spaulding described the intent: “Our CloudHQ strategy is that we want employees to have the ability to choose where they live and work \[based on\] what is most effective for them on a daily basis. And then we want to be hyper-intentional about when we are together in person.” He reported the results: “We’re in our ninth quarter of outperforming residential real estate,” “I have four times the applicants for every job opening that I had pre-Cloud HQ,” and “94% of our workforce are proud to work at Zillow and 84% believe they have the resources to do their job effectively.” The share of women in the workforce rose from 41% pre-pandemic to 46%. Spaulding did not claim it was easy. The model demands discipline around async workflows, structured collaboration and planning. ##### Trip.com (October 2024) In a Trip.com experiment run with Harvard Business School and reported in October 2024, one group kept a five-day office week while the other worked from home two days a week. As covered in how Trip.com made millions with hybrid work, managers expected hybrid work to cut productivity by 2.6%, but after six months they saw a 1% productivity boost. Attrition dropped 35%, hybrid employees reported higher satisfaction, and fewer people in the office each day saved millions in operating costs such as utilities and upkeep. Trip.com also invested in collaboration and communication tools so hybrid employees could stay connected. ##### WTW (September 2024) WTW took a less prescriptive route. In a September 2024 conversation, navigating hybrid workspaces with WTW, David Music explained that WTW avoids a one-size-fits-all model and allows flexibility across markets and regions. Rather than forcing in-person interaction, WTW lets patterns emerge and observes which days are busiest and what work is best done in the office. It uses Kadence without relying on desk booking, focusing instead on helping teams connect on timings so people know who will be present and when. The office has become a hub for connection, creativity and shared experiences. Music named three factors behind WTW’s progress: senior leadership alignment, [change management]() that guides people with empathy and anticipates resistance, and continuous, transparent communication that listens as well as informs. #### How do you plan a return to office that works? Plan the space before you set the policy. Start with the purpose of in-person time, measure how the office is really used, size for peak days, pilot and measure, then communicate a clear and consistent rule. The failures above came from skipping these steps. The successes came from following them. ##### 1. Define the purpose of time together Brian Elliott put it this way: “The best CEOs aren’t the ones issuing top-down mandates. They’re the ones asking: what’s the purpose of our time together?” Zillow’s Z-retreats and WTW’s focus on connection are two answers to that question. ##### 2. Measure how space is used today NASA’s experience suggests four questions to answer before any return: - How much space do we really need? Does the current layout support collaboration, focus work and flexibility? - Which spaces are underused? Are we maintaining large areas that sit empty most of the week? - What do employees expect? Dedicated desks, more meeting rooms or quiet zones for deep work? - Do we provide the right tools for hybrid teams, so moving between home and office is seamless? [Workplace analytics]() that show who comes in, when, and which spaces are overloaded or underused turn these questions into data rather than guesses. ##### 3. Size for peaks, not averages Collaboration surges mid-week. If a policy concentrates attendance on the same days, average utilization can stay low while desks run out. Model the busiest day before you commit, and check [space management]() plans against it. ##### 4. Pilot, measure and adjust Trip.com’s approach offers a template: start with a pilot group, track the effect on productivity and satisfaction, and keep reviewing. ##### 5. Make the policy clear and build trust The Q2 2025 Flex Index discussion concluded that structured hybrid works best when it is clear, consistent and rooted in trust, because employees want clarity about when and why to come in. The PwC case shows the alternative: tracking signals that presence matters more than performance. Clear team-level expectations and outcome-based measures build accountability without surveillance. ##### 6. Align leaders and keep communicating WTW’s three factors apply to any return. One JPMorgan petition signatory described the rollout as “so messy and demeaning to employees,” a reminder that how a policy lands matters as much as what it says. ##### 7. Keep the plan adaptable Return planning has always changed with circumstances. In September 2021, the challenge was a new U.S. vaccine mandate for employers with more than 100 workers, affecting 80 million U.S. workers, and employers used tools such as self-certification before office check-in to manage it. That requirement belongs to its period, but the lesson from it still holds: there was no gold standard, and a return plan had to be agile enough to work for the company and its people. #### The articles behind this guide 1. Banks JPMorgan, HSBC Return To Office Without A Space Strategy June 9, 2025 London’s banking sector is in the middle of a real estate reckoning. After years of remote work and footprint reductions, the return to office is firmly underway. But for… 2. The RTO Debate Is Over. The Data Says Hybrid Has Won. May 21, 2025 If you’ve been tracking the headlines, you might think the world is returning to 2019. Big-name CEOs issuing return-to-office mandates. Commercial landlords cheering on… 3. How Zillow Makes Hybrid Work A Competitive Edge March 27, 2025 The debate around return-to-office (RTO) mandates isn’t cooling down. In fact, it’s heating up—with CEOs and employees often pulling in opposite directions. But while… 4. Lessons From NASA: The Importance Of RTO Planning March 18, 2025 Return to office (RTO) at NASA hasn’t exactly been a smooth lift-off. Reports from HR Grapevine reveal a chaotic scene—cockroach infestations, overcrowded workspaces, and… 5. JPMorgan Employees Push Back With Petition Against RTO Mandate February 12, 2025 JPMorgan Chase employees are fighting back, launching a petition to stop the company’s strict five-day return-to-office (RTO) mandate. The petition calls for JPMorgan to… 6. Amazon Sticks With Hybrid And Delays Return-To-Office Mandate December 19, 2024 Amazon’s full-time return-to-office (RTO) mandate has hit another snag. Recent reports reveal that employees in cities like Atlanta, Houston, Nashville, and New York… 7. Washington Post Guild Pushes Back Against ‘Outdated’ Office-Only Policy November 11, 2024 The Washington Post is making headlines with its plan to bring all employees back to the office five days a week by June 2025, ending a four-year run of hybrid work… 8. Why Asda’s 3-Day RTO Mandate Could Undermine Its Flexible Work Values November 7, 2024 The recent move by Asda to mandate a three-day return to office (RTO) policy is raising eyebrows, especially considering the retailer’s earlier commitment to workplace… 9. How Trip.com Made Millions With Hybrid Work October 30, 2024 As we’ve all come to realize, the workplace isn’t what it used to be. While many companies have clung to the idea that everyone needs to be back in the office full-time,… 10. What Sam’s Club CTO’s Departure Says About The Future Of Work October 25, 2024 The departure of Cheryl Ainoa, Sam’s Club’s Chief Technology Officer, hit home for me and underscores a critical truth: flexibility isn’t just a nice-to-have anymore —… 11. 79% Of CEOs Think Full-Time Office Work Is Coming Back. The Data Says Otherwise September 30, 2024 It feels like we’ve been debating the future of work for ages, doesn’t it? Since the pandemic hit, many companies were forced to embrace remote and hybrid work… 12. Navigating Hybrid Workspaces With WTW September 17, 2024 When I sat down with David Music from WTW, a company known for its innovative approach to workplace, it quickly became evident that navigating the hybrid workspace is… 13. Why PWC’s Distrust Of Their Workforce Could Hurt Their Business September 10, 2024 PwC recently introduced measures to track where their UK employees are working, tipping the balance further toward a model of surveillance rather than trust. This… 14. How To Set Up Self-Certification To Meet The New U.S. Mandate Requirements September 13, 2021 As cases of the Delta coronavirus variant have risen and vaccination rates slowed, a new vaccine mandate will soon come into place for all U.S. employers with more than… [All guides]() FAQ #### Common questions **Are return to office mandates increasing?** At the top end, yes. The Q2 2025 Flex Index, published in May 2025, found full-time office requirements at Fortune 500 companies jumped from 13% to 24% in two quarters. Across all U.S. companies, though, only 33% required full-time attendance, up from 31% a year earlier, while 43% used structured hybrid with a set number of office days. **Do return to office mandates increase office attendance?** Not reliably. The Q2 2025 Flex Index reported that while firms increased required office days, actual attendance had not changed, and people still worked from home about as much as the year before, according to Stanford and Census Bureau surveys. Attendance can still peak: in June 2025, British Land's CEO said mid-week occupancy in London was back to pre-pandemic levels. **Is hybrid work less productive than full-time office work?** Not according to the best-known trial. In the Trip.com experiment reported in October 2024, one group worked five office days and another worked from home two days a week. Managers expected hybrid to cut productivity by 2.6%, but after six months they saw a 1% boost. Attrition dropped 35% and hybrid employees reported higher satisfaction. **Why do employees resist return to office mandates?** Employees cite commuting costs, work-life balance and caregiving. The JPMorgan petition of February 2025 said a 100% in-office rule disproportionately pushes out women, caregivers, senior employees and individuals with disabilities. Surveys point to retention risk: Owl Labs found 47% of workers would consider quitting if forced back full-time, and Gallup found 61% would explore new opportunities. **What should we check before calling employees back to the office?** Check capacity and usage before you set the policy. Ask how much space you really need, which spaces sit underused, what employees expect from the office, and whether hybrid tools work. NASA's March 2025 return showed the cost of skipping this: staff without desks, overcrowded buildings and meetings taken in cars. **How much does an underused office desk cost?** In May 2025, Work Forward CEO Brian Elliott said global law firms were seeing desk costs top $16,000 per person annually, while utilization rates remained well below 50% in many sectors. Earlier estimates from Global Workplace Analytics put the saving at up to $11,000 per employee annually when people work remotely half the time. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Analytics: Metrics and KPIs to Track | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/guides/workplace-analytics-metrics/ Description: The space utilization metrics and workplace KPIs to track, how to collect occupancy data without surveillance, and how to report it so leaders act. [Home]() / [Guides]() ### Workplace analytics: the metrics that matter The space utilization metrics and workplace KPIs that show who uses your office, when and how, plus how to collect the data responsibly and report it so leaders can act on it. Updated September 29, 2026 · Drawn from 7 Kadence articles by [Dan Bladen](), [Jamie Addis](), Luke Christian-Farman and [Helen Attia]() On this page 1. [What are space utilization metrics?]() 2. [Which workplace KPIs should operations teams track?]() 3. [How do you measure collaboration in the workplace?]() 4. [How do you measure office utilization and desk occupancy?]() 5. [What did the EU time tracking law require as of November 2025?]() 6. [How do you use workplace data without surveillance?]() 7. [How should you report workplace analytics to leadership?]() 8. [Why does decision memory matter for workplace AI?]() #### Key takeaways - Occupancy rate compares booked spaces with checked-in spaces, and the no-show rate counts booked spaces that go unused. - Team-level metrics such as team clustering and remote vs. on-site ratios show how each department actually uses the office. - A Pew Research study cited by Kadence in February 2025 found that nearly half of employed adults who could work remotely would consider leaving if forced to return full-time. - As of November 2025, Kadence reported that EU employers must be able to record daily start and finish times, breaks, overtime and total hours worked. - JLL's 2025 Global Real Estate Technology Survey found 92 percent of corporate occupiers piloting AI but only 5 percent achieving all of their program goals. Space utilization metrics tell you who uses your office, when, how often and which spaces people prefer. Without them, workplace teams are flying blind. Real estate commitments, hybrid policies and layout changes end up resting on assumption rather than evidence. Measured well, workplace analytics shows where space is wasted, where it is crowded and whether your policies work. Measured badly, it becomes surveillance that erodes trust. This guide covers what to measure, how to collect it, how to use it responsibly and how to report it. #### What are space utilization metrics? Space utilization metrics measure how much of your office is actually used, by whom and when. The core set is occupancy rate, no-show rate, peak usage times and utilization by space type. They compare what people booked with what they used, so you can see which areas are underused, which are crowded and where to change the layout. Kadence’s February 2025 guide to using check-in data for office utilization reports frames the job as four questions. Who is using my spaces? When are they using them? How often? Which spaces are more popular than others? A check-in is the step where an employee confirms they are physically in the space they booked. Check-ins turn bookings into evidence. These office utilization metrics answer those questions: | Metric | What it measures | Why it matters | | --- | --- | --- | | Occupancy rate | The percentage of booked spaces versus checked-in spaces across different times | Shows the gap between planned and actual use | | No-show rate | Booked spaces that go unused | Points to employee no-shows, over-booking or forgotten check-ins | | Peak usage times | The time frames when space demand is highest | Reveals booking patterns and behavior | | Space type utilization | Check-in rates for desks, meeting rooms and collaboration areas | Shows which areas are underused and which are crowded | | Office attendance per day | Employees who booked and checked into a space | Shows how policies are adopted day to day | | Remote vs. on-site ratio | Booked on-site days versus total working days | Gauges hybrid participation | | Team clustering | The areas of the office with the most bookings | Indicates where teams collaborate | Each metric points to an action. Meeting room booking patterns tell you whether to adjust room sizes and technology. Peak usage data supports capacity limits based on actual use, and [maximum booking durations]() for spaces in high demand, such as parking spaces, private pods or sit-stand desks. Where you have more employees than spaces, office neighborhoods can assign spaces to teams on set days, and utilization data shows whether that schedule works. #### Which workplace KPIs should operations teams track? [Workplace operations KPIs]() cover more than space. Kadence’s September 2025 list of the KPIs every workplace operations manager should track groups them into space utilization, employee experience, operational efficiency, collaboration and hybrid compliance, and continuous improvement. Tracking all of them shows how spaces are used and how policies affect performance. **Space utilization.** Desk and meeting room occupancy rates, underused or overused collaboration spaces, and peak office hours with average time spent in the office. **Employee experience.** Employee satisfaction scores and feedback trends, usage of collaboration and quiet spaces, and how often people work hybrid versus in the office. Utilization shows what people do. Surveys show what they need. **Operational efficiency.** Response times for maintenance requests, vendor performance and service reliability, and meeting room and desk readiness for scheduled use. These operations KPIs help you catch bottlenecks before small issues affect productivity. **Continuous improvement.** Change in space utilization after an office redesign, employee engagement before and after policy updates, and reduction in operational issues over time. A redesign or new policy is a hypothesis. These before-and-after measures test it. Behavior metrics add a layer. Popular workdays show which days employees most often check into their bookings. Booking frequency shows how often employees book a space or book to come on-site on particular days. Kadence’s [workplace analytics]() brings these measures into one view, but the principle holds with any tool. #### How do you measure collaboration in the workplace? Measure collaboration through the patterns it leaves in bookings and space use. Useful metrics include the frequency and patterns of team collaboration, cross-departmental meeting trends, team clustering in particular areas of the office, and adherence to hybrid work policies. Break results down by team, because each department uses the office differently. Team-level reporting matters most here. As Kadence’s April 2025 piece on the workplace analytics dashboards HR leaders need points out, sales may be on calls all day, while engineering may need quiet focus zones. Team-level data shows how often each department comes in, whether it prefers meeting rooms or solo desks, and how its needs change over time. Use that view to place collaboration zones based on foot traffic and check-in patterns. Allocate seating so high-demand areas are not overbooked and underused spaces can be repurposed. The goal is an office that supports how teams actually work, not how you think they work. Customers describe the same need. In a November 2024 Kadence Connect webinar on how employees really use workspaces, Maud Santamaria of GWI said: > “We had no idea if we were over or under-utilizing our space. We needed a way to accurately track and analyze how our employees were using the office in this new hybrid model.” GWI used Kadence to gain insight into its workspace usage and make data-driven decisions about its office layout and capacity. The webinar’s recommendations pair measurement with design: make spaces easy to find and book, use flexible seating, create multi-purpose spaces, use data to inform office design, and regularly survey employees about their workspace preferences. #### How do you measure office utilization and desk occupancy? To measure office utilization, combine bookings with verified presence. Bookings show intent. Check-ins confirm that someone used the space. Comparing the two gives occupancy and no-show rates. To measure desk occupancy, apply the same method to desks and break results down by day, time and team. Automatic capture produces more reliable occupancy data than manual logs. Three sources of occupancy data recur, often combined. **Bookings and check-ins.** Modern attendance tracking goes beyond simple clock-ins. Apps with [automatic check-ins]() verify on-site presence, which gives you the desk and [room occupancy]() data behind the metrics above. **Signals from systems you already run.** You do not always need new hardware. In February 2025 Kadence argued that scalable tools can track office occupancy without deploying and maintaining expensive sensors that infringe on employee privacy. Kadence Sense takes this approach. That month Kadence described it as drawing on existing systems such as Wi-Fi, Ethernet, badge access and video conferencing tools. In November 2025 Kadence described it as verifying presence through office Wi-Fi connectivity, calendar signals and lightweight check-ins, without additional hardware or invasive tracking. See [workplace occupancy]() for how [presence data]() feeds reporting. **Automatic capture over manual entry.** Spreadsheets, paper visitor books and editable logs are hard to trust, because nobody can prove how or when the data was captured. Data that is a byproduct of normal activity is more reliable than data that depends on someone remembering to enter it. #### What did the EU time tracking law require as of November 2025? As of November 2025, Kadence reported that a Court of Justice of the European Union ruling requires every EU employer to run a system that records daily working time objectively and verifiably. The system must capture daily start and finish times, breaks and rest periods, overtime and total hours worked, and it must demonstrate accuracy during inspections. Kadence’s November 2025 briefing on the EU time tracking law and what workplace leaders need to know said logs must be generated through systematic processes, not retroactively updated or manually adjusted. It grouped Member States into three categories: 1. **Strict enforcement countries,** where regulators already expect daily time records and prefer digital or tamper-proof systems. Examples given were Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal and several Central and Eastern European nations. 2. **Countries tightening their approach,** which require records but may offer more flexibility in format. Examples given were the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Ireland and the Baltic states. 3. **Countries still aligning local legislation,** where national law has been slower to update but the EU-level requirement still applies. The briefing also noted that EU fire safety and evacuation requirements expect real-time visibility of everyone in the building, including visitors and contractors. That means a real-time list of who is onsite, timestamped arrivals and departures, reliable visitor registration and evacuation rolls that match actual presence. It added that badge systems only show building entry and exit, not working hours or breaks, and cannot track remote or hybrid patterns. Its recommended steps apply to any analytics program. Review how working time is tracked. Identify manual or unverifiable processes. Evaluate presence and visitor records. Digitize and standardize workflows across sites. Automate data capture. Keep records auditable and exportable. Align HR, IT and Workplace teams around a shared solution. This summary reflects the position as Kadence described it in November 2025. It is not legal advice, so confirm current obligations in each country with your legal advisers. #### How do you use workplace data without surveillance? Use workplace data to improve spaces and policies, not to monitor individuals. Utilization and attendance patterns answer workplace questions. Keystroke tracking and random screenshots do not, and they damage trust. Judge employee performance by output, not office presence, and use space data to change the environment when it is not working. As of February 2025, Kadence co-founder Dan Bladen wrote about why using surveillance to measure performance might be a big mistake. He described employers moving from badge swipes to keystroke monitoring and automated screenshots of work computers. He cited examples of attendance data shaping careers: PwC sending monthly reports on office attendance to employees and their career coaches, and Lloyds Banking Group tying in-office presence to executive bonuses. When WPP told its 100,000+ employees they had to be in the office four days a week, some staff saw it as micromanagement rather than a strategy for productivity. The risk is attrition. A [Pew Research study]() cited in that piece found that nearly half of employed adults who could work remotely would consider leaving their jobs if forced to return full-time. The piece also reported that Apple, Microsoft and SpaceX saw increased attrition when they imposed stricter in-office mandates. Other firms took a different path. Deloitte and KPMG kept flexible hybrid policies focused on outcomes. Mobile ad company Kargo adopted a tiered approach, with senior leadership in the office daily and more flexibility for junior employees. Its founder, Harry Kargman, put it plainly: > “If goals are achieved and \[staff\] don’t come in, fine. How can I say ‘come into the office more’? But if they don’t hit their goals, we will ask what they need to do differently.” None of this makes utilization data the problem. Used correctly, it helps companies optimize real estate costs, improve collaboration spaces and create a more efficient workplace. If people come in only to sit in back-to-back video calls, the policy or the space may need to change. #### How should you report workplace analytics to leadership? Report workplace analytics through dashboards that lead to decisions. Kadence’s April 2025 guidance described three: team-level reporting on space usage, return-to-office compliance monitoring and executive-ready reporting. Each serves a different audience, but all share one test. A leader should be able to read the report and decide something about space, budget or policy. **Team-level reporting on space usage.** Monitor attendance patterns by department, compare usage of collaboration zones and focus areas, and allocate seating and resources to match. This is the operational view for workplace and HR teams. **Return-to-office compliance monitoring.** Many companies ask employees to spend a minimum number of days in the office. Without visibility into attendance, you cannot know whether a policy works or needs to change. A useful RTO dashboard tracks attendance weekly or monthly by employee or department, shows which teams are consistently in-office versus those that rarely show up, and compares attendance before and after a policy rollout. Treat it as input to a conversation about collaboration, not a disciplinary tool. **Executive-ready reporting.** Executives want to know how space is used, whether office investments are justified and how policies affect behavior. They do not want to wait a week for a manual report from facilities. Give them real-time snapshots of key KPIs such as occupancy rates and peak days, and automate recurring reports to save hours of manual work each month. Good reporting connects workplace strategy to business outcomes, from cost savings to employee satisfaction. #### Why does decision memory matter for workplace AI? Metrics describe what happened. Decisions depend on why. Workplace AI can only reason over the history it can see, so a team that keeps its analytics but loses the reasoning behind each stack plan, move and policy change gets generic answers. Record each decision alongside its data, and the next team and any AI can build on it. In June 2026, Dan Bladen argued that workplace AI is only as good as your decision memory. He cited [JLL’s 2025 Global Real Estate Technology Survey](), which found that 92 percent of corporate occupiers are piloting AI while only 5 percent report achieving all of their program goals. His view: the barrier is rarely the model. It is the lack of decision history for the model to reason over. He also noted that the average workplace leader holds the seat for two to three years, and the reasoning often leaves with them. He described four elements of a workplace that remembers: - **The building remembers.** Every stack plan, every scenario modeled, every option rejected and why, and what happened to utilization afterward. In Kadence, this is the role of [SpaceOps](). - **Teams carry their own history.** Where a team has sat, how it uses space compared with the plan, and what happened when it last moved. - **Policies carry their evidence.** Every version of your hybrid strategy, the reasoning behind each change and its measured effect on attendance and utilization. - **Standards know their exceptions.** The ratios and norms you set, and where real behavior diverges from them. Keep capture light. Record the decision at the moment it is made, with at most one line explaining why. Pair that record with your continuous improvement metrics, and your analytics become a history rather than a snapshot. The building industry learned this the hard way: a 2004 NIST study cited in the same piece put the cost of inadequate information continuity across the US capital facilities industry at roughly sixteen billion dollars a year. You can organize what you kept. You cannot recover what you never wrote down. #### The articles behind this guide 1. Workplace AI Is Only as Good as Your Decision Memory June 16, 2026 Every workplace team is hearing the same instruction right now. Do more with less, move faster, and deliver at a level the function has never been held to before. Most… 2. EU Time Tracking Law: What Workplace Leaders Across Europe Need To Know November 25, 2025 Across Europe, the conversation around employee time tracking is shifting from a best practice to a legal requirement. The EU time tracking law has become one of the most… 3. The KPIs Every Workplace Operations Manager Should Track September 9, 2025 Workplace operations management is all about using data to create productive, engaging, and efficient office environments. The right metrics help managers understand how… 4. 3 Workplace Analytics Dashboards Every HR Leader Needs April 16, 2025 Hybrid work has introduced both flexibility and complexity to workplace management. HR leaders now face the challenge of ensuring fair desk assignments, reduce real… 5. Why Using Surveillance To Measure Performance Might Be A Big Mistake February 18, 2025 Over the past few years, the power dynamic between employees and employers has shifted dramatically. Workplace surveillance has become a key tool in enforcing… 6. Key Metrics To Harness Check-In Data For Workplace Operations Success February 11, 2025 Harnessing check-in data is crucial for optimizing workplace efficiency, enhancing employee experience, and driving business performance with office utilization reports.… 7. Kadence Connect Webinar Series: How Are Employees Really Using Your Workspaces? November 8, 2024 In our recent Kadence Connect webinar, we had the pleasure of diving into the crucial topic of understanding how employees are really using workspaces in the era of… [All guides]() FAQ #### Common questions **What are space utilization metrics?** Space utilization metrics measure how an office is actually used. The core set is occupancy rate (booked spaces versus checked-in spaces), no-show rate (booked spaces that go unused), peak usage times (when demand is highest) and space type utilization (check-in rates for desks, meeting rooms and collaboration areas). Together they show which areas are underused and which are crowded. **How do you measure office utilization?** Combine bookings with check-ins. Bookings show intent and check-ins verify on-site presence, so comparing them gives occupancy and no-show rates. Add peak usage times and utilization by space type. Presence signals from systems you already run, such as office Wi-Fi, can supplement check-ins without deploying expensive sensors that infringe on employee privacy. **How do you measure desk occupancy?** Track desk bookings and check-ins over time. Desk occupancy rate is the share of booked desks where someone actually checked in. Watch no-shows, which can indicate employee no-shows, over-booking or people forgetting to check in. Break the results down by day, time and team to find peak demand and underused areas. **What KPIs should a workplace operations manager track?** Track space utilization (desk and meeting room occupancy, peak hours), employee experience (satisfaction scores, use of collaboration and quiet spaces), operational efficiency (maintenance response times, vendor performance, desk and room readiness), collaboration and hybrid compliance, and continuous improvement, such as change in space utilization after an office redesign. **What does the EU time tracking law require?** As of November 2025, Kadence reported that a Court of Justice of the European Union ruling requires employers to run a system that records daily start and finish times, breaks and rest periods, overtime and total hours worked. Records must be objective and verifiable, not manually adjusted. Enforcement varies by country, so confirm current rules with legal advisers. **Is tracking office attendance the same as employee surveillance?** No. Office utilization data shows how space is used and can help companies optimize real estate costs and improve collaboration spaces. Surveillance monitors individuals, for example through keystroke tracking or random screenshots of work computers. The better approach uses space data to improve the environment and measures employee success by output, not office presence. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Management for Healthcare and Pharma | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/healthcare/ Description: Workplace management software for healthcare and pharma: one way to book offices, labs and shared rooms, plus governed arrivals and clear building usage data. Healthcare and pharma ### Workplace Management for Healthcare and Pharma Shared space you can see, with every arrival accounted for. Healthcare and pharma organizations run offices, labs and shared rooms under tight space and security constraints. Kadence gives every team one way to book them, governs who arrives, and shows how each building is really used. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative: the admin building is at 58% of 240 desks, three shared rooms show their status, and a supplier visit is screened and badged on arrival. Trusted in healthcare and pharma - NHS - Karger - Ellie Mental Health Shared space #### Rooms and desks shared across teams, without the double-booking. Assign teams to neighborhoods on chosen days, enforce closure and capacity controls automatically, and let room displays release no-shows instantly. - Unified booking for desks, rooms and car parking - Closure and capacity rules applied automatically - Room displays that auto-release no-shows WorkOps · Space management Room occupancy on Floor 3 with auto-release on and a live team view. Arrivals #### Every visitor accounted for. Pre-registration, kiosk check-in and badge printing on arrival, with visitor health screening and a complete, timestamped log exportable for any audit. - Pre-registration and kiosk check-in - Visitor health screening - Exportable audit log WorkOps · Visitor management Visitor check-in today: pre-registration sent via Teams, kiosk check-in, NDA signed, badge printed. Occupancy you can defend #### See how each building is really used. Bookings, badge data, Wi-Fi presence and check-ins in one dataset, per floor, per building, per team, on peak days and on average. - Occupancy and utilization by floor and building - Peak-day analysis, not averages - Reports in minutes for leadership and finance WorkOps · Presence data Floor 4 actual presence: Wi-Fi detection, badge, kiosk and meeting-room check-ins against booking data. #### Kadence in healthcare and pharma Customer story · Healthcare ##### Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy. **80%** smaller real estate footprint [Read the story]() Customer story · Healthcare ##### A healthcare technology company reduced its office size by 68%. **68%** reduction in office size [Read the story]() Reviews on G2 · Healthcare and pharma #### In their own words. [All Kadence reviews on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “Kadence has allowed us to expand the size of our company without having to rent more office space.” **Verified User in Mental Health Care** Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) · G2 review, January 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() By industry - [Financial services →]() - [Technology →]() - [Legal →]() - [Business services →]() - [Commercial real estate →]() - [Consumer goods →]() - [Energy and utilities →]() - [Government →]() - [Higher education →]() - [Manufacturing →]() - [Media and entertainment →]() - [Non-profits →]() - [Retail →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Management for Higher Education | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/higher-education/ Description: Workplace management software for higher education: desk booking, room booking and space analytics that give estates teams evidence for every space decision. Higher Education ### Workplace Management for Higher Education Kadence provides trusted desk booking, room booking and workplace analytics, designed for universities and colleges. Our platform helps estates and facilities teams manage desks and shared workspaces efficiently, with the evidence to back every space decision. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative: a campus map with the Library, Research wing and Estates buildings, showing a study room booked in the Library, six lab desks in the Research wing and an estates team day on Thursday. Trusted in higher education - University of Cambridge - Emory University - University of Exeter - University of Greenwich - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - RCS England - Arden University - Imagine Learning End-to-End Platform #### One Consistent Workplace System Desk booking, room booking and visitor management live in one platform across every faculty and facility services team. Policies, capacity rules and approvals are enforced automatically rather than by hand, and every booking is captured in a complete, exportable audit trail. Every booking becomes usable data so the same system that runs the day-to-day also builds your evidence base. Kadence Kadence WorkOps dashboard showing unified desk booking, room management, visitor tracking, and workplace occupancy data in one platform. Occupancy Analytics #### Turn Occupancy Data into Space Intelligence Ditch manual spreadsheets and hallway guesswork. Kadence gives estates teams real-time occupancy and presence dashboards across faculty spaces and offices, no manual stitching required. Utilization reports export in minutes rather than days, built on check-in data rather than assumptions from the timetable. Kadence Kadence Sense occupancy analytics dashboard showing real-time building utilization data captured from Wi-Fi, badge, and kiosk signals User Adoption #### Purpose-Built System Your Staff Will Actually Use Kadence is desk and room booking designed for how people actually want to work, synced with Outlook and Teams rather than fighting them. A user friendly app experience makes booking a desk or room the easy option, so attendance data reflects real behavior rather than what a policy says should happen. Kadence A stylized design of the Kadence and Outlook plug-in. AI Space Planning #### Track the Metrics That Matter You can’t optimize real estate, headcount, or compliance without the data. Kadence gives you real-time metrics on attendance, room recovery, desk usage by floor, team or location. Kadence turns everyday bookings into utilization evidence that stands up to scrutiny from leadership or auditors. Model consolidation and restack scenarios against real usage before you commit, and track progress against occupancy targets with confidence. Kadence Kadence: Track the Metrics That Matter #### Built for Regulatory & Governance Requirements - ##### SOC 2 Type II Certified for security, availability, and confidentiality controls required by financial institutions. - ##### Cyber Essentials Certified under the UK government-backed scheme — the baseline assurance expected across the public sector. - ##### End-to-End Encryption All data encrypted in transit and at rest. Your sensitive workplace data stays private. - ##### GDPR compliant Data protection by design, with data minimization — we only store what the service needs. - ##### Data Residency Choose where your data lives. GDPR, CCPA, and regional compliance handled automatically. - ##### SSO Integrations Connect securely with Active Directory, Okta, and major enterprise SSO providers. #### Kadence for Higher Education Customer story · Higher Education ##### The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter. **38%** of meeting rooms in use on an average day, up from 20% [Read the story]() Customer story · Higher Education ##### RCS England consolidated two floors into one and saved over £40,000 a year. **50%** fewer floors, two into one [Read the story]() Reviews on G2 · Higher education #### In their own words. [All Kadence reviews on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “This is a fantastic tool to help our hybrid team return to Campus. Kadence design is intuitive and makes desk bookings easy, and it's straight forward to use as an admin on the backend.” **Verified User in Higher Education** Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) · G2 review, November 2023 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() By industry - [Financial services →]() - [Technology →]() - [Legal →]() - [Business services →]() - [Commercial real estate →]() - [Consumer goods →]() - [Energy and utilities →]() - [Government →]() - [Healthcare and pharma →]() - [Manufacturing →]() - [Media and entertainment →]() - [Non-profits →]() - [Retail →]() Next step #### See Kadence in Action Join leading academic institutions using Kadence to deliver efficient workplace operations at scale. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Management for HR and People Teams | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/hr-professionals/ Description: Workplace management software for HR and people teams: track hybrid attendance in real time, plan team days and see if your office policy is working. For people and HR teams ### Workplace Management for HR and People Teams Measure the hybrid policy, and give teams a reason to be in together. Attendance, capacity and booking behavior in real time; team days that bring the right people in together; and a workplace employees choose rather than one they are told to attend. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative people and hr occupancy: People partners 76%, Recruiting 63%, Learning 48%. A floor plate shows the three team neighborhoods on People hub · Level 3. Hybrid policy #### See whether the policy is working, by team and by location. Monitor office attendance, space capacity and booking habits as they happen. Plan for what teams need by looking at real trends, not anecdotes. - Attendance and capacity in real time - Booking and cancellation patterns by team - Policy compliance reporting WorkOps · Attendance Office attendance with the most popular day and recent check-ins. Team days #### The right teams in together, every week. AI recommendations for in-person team days, live view of who is in and where they sit, and neighborhoods so teams find each other. HRIS keeps the roster current and cancels bookings on leave. - Team-day recommendations - Who is in, where, before the day starts - HRIS-driven roster and desk assignment WorkOps · Team coordination Team today: four of seven teammates in on Thursday, the highest overlap this week. Engagement #### Events, announcements and surveys in the same place people book. Workplace events, employee surveys and announcements run in the platform employees already use every day, so engagement measures land where attendance is measured. - Workplace events and announcements - Employee surveys - Visitor health screening and easy check-in WorkOps · Today's office Today's office: occupancy by desks, rooms and parking with a live map. Customer story · Higher Education #### RCS England consolidated two floors into one and saved over £40,000 a year. **50%** fewer floors, two into one [Read the story]() By team - [Facilities →]() - [IT and security →]() - [Real estate →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Speak with a hybrid expert today | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/hybrid-expert/ Description: Let us help you turn chaos to order and tackle the most common hybrid pain points for businesses like yours. Hybrid Expert ### Book a free consultation [Let’s talk]() Illustrative plan the right next step at Workplace planning session: Your team scheduled for Mon and Wed; Workplace scheduled for Tue and Wed; Expert scheduled for Wed and Fri. Wednesday · Review your plan. #### Let us turn your office chaos into hybrid productivity It’s no secret that your people now want more flexibility to choose how they work – 63% of employees now want to work in a hybrid setup. A productive hybrid workforce combined with an effective real estate strategy could generate savings without slowing your business down. **Schedule a 30-min free consultation to speak with an expert today.** Let us help you turn chaos to order and tackle the most common hybrid pain points for businesses like yours: Spending money on an office that’s not getting used Keeping people productive and coordinated with a hybrid work model Needing a scalable tool that can flex with your agile workplace needs Contact Kadence #### Let's Talk Tell us what you need and the right person will get back to you. Loading the form… By submitting this form you agree to Kadence contacting you about your inquiry. Read our [privacy policy](). ## Speak with a hybrid expert | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/hybrid-winners/ Description: Start a conversation with an expert today to find out what the real winners have done to make hybrid work for their people Hybrid Winners ### Speak with a Hybrid Work Expert [Let’s talk]() Illustrative make a team day count at Team collaboration space: Design scheduled for Tue and Thu; Product scheduled for Tue and Wed and Thu; Engineering scheduled for Mon and Tue and Thu. Tuesday + Thursday · In together. #### Reduce office space by 63% and boost employee retention by 35% There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to “the best hybrid working strategy”. Every company will have its own approach that works best for its people. The key takeaway? Companies that embrace hybrid will outperform their competitors. **Speak with an expert today to gain invaluable insights from real winners who have make hybrid work for their people.** Discover the best practices that have allowed Kadence customers to: - **People:** Boost retention by 35% when flexible work is given as an option - **Profit:** Reduce spaces by 63% while maintaining a productive hybrid workforce - **Planet:** 30% Reduction in carbon emission with a reduced real estate portfolio Contact Kadence #### Let's Talk Tell us what you need and the right person will get back to you. Loading the form… By submitting this form you agree to Kadence contacting you about your inquiry. Read our [privacy policy](). ## Hybrid Work Software for Team Coordination | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/hybrid-working-coordination/ Description: Kadence hybrid work software helps people plan office days with their teams, and gives leaders attendance and policy compliance reporting for every office. Hybrid work software ### Coordinate flexible work across your offices. Bring bookings, team schedules, and workplace data together so people can plan their office days and leaders can see how space is used. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative team days for Product team · Manhattan office: Alex (Manhattan) joins Tue and Wed; Jamie (Manhattan) joins Tue and Thu; Taylor (Brooklyn) joins Tue and Fri. Kadence suggests Taylor: Alex and Jamie are in Manhattan on Tuesday. Join them there instead of Brooklyn? Book a desk in Manhattan. Tuesday · The team is together in Manhattan. #### An experience your employees will love, in the tools they already use Desk Booking #### Maximize Productivity With Easy Booking Process Facilitate the needs of your flexible teams by enabling them to book desks or conference rooms they require that day. See what spaces are available, and which teammates are working nearby and reserve your space for the times you need. Kadence Kadence desk booking: available, blocked and assigned desks on an office floor plan Team Scheduling #### A Simple Way To Find Time Together Thinking of heading to the office last minute? Get a clear view in advance of who is booked to come into the office at each location or who is working remotely. Improve team coordination by knowing the best time to meet by location or time zone preferences. Kadence Use Slack or Microsoft Teams to reschedule bookings Office Neighborhoods #### Boost Office Occupancy Boost office occupancy by determining when and which teams should be in the office. Assign team neighborhoods for specific team days to load-balance your office space. Know the required resources for a given day based on booking data. Kadence Kadence: Boost Office Occupancy Space Analytics #### Measure The Success Of Your Workplace Policies Understand how well your working model is performing, and keep track of attendance data to guide decisions for your company-wide policies. Kadence · Insights Plus Kadence Insights Plus: policy compliance per department against a goal of three days a week, with weekly average attendance of 2.25 On-Demand Flex Space #### Flex Spaces For Your Distributed Teams Get access to the largest global market of flexible spaces for your distributed teams. Book desks or rooms, and make huge savings on your office rent by only paying for the flex space you need. Kadence A Kadence Flex illustration that shows you where you can find a space to work. #### Kadence comes with - **Data Export** Export employee and booking data, including who booked and who checked in. - **Floor Plans** Know which spaces are booked, or block out spaces when you need to. - **Building Closure Announcements** Get important announcements, such as an office closure, by email. - **Dedicated Customer Support** Our customer experience team is always ready to help you. Customer stories #### Teams that plan their office days together Customer story · MOO ##### MOO saw office occupancy often exceed 70% after six months with Kadence. - **70%**: occupancy often exceeded on individual days, after six months - **20,860**: space bookings made over six months - **296**: Personal Kadences created > “We want our employees to use Kadence to support our in-person culture. To have a tool that would help boost creativity, collaboration, conversation, and connection!” > > > > **Bryony Gilhooly** Head of People Operations, MOO [Read the MOO story]() Customer story · Softchoice ##### Softchoice made hybrid work simple across its organization with shared team schedules. > “Kadence is a critical layer between people and place, it's the tool that supports and simplifies our spaces to bring our people together.” > > > > **Jeff Gwinett** Workplace Experience Lead, Softchoice [Read the Softchoice story]() Peapack-Gladstone Bank Customer voice > “Kadence has helped our company return to work with ease. We are in the office three days a week and our employees love how easy Kadence is to use!” > > > > **Heather Rae Stafford** Assistant Vice President, Peapack-Gladstone Bank FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is hybrid work software?** Hybrid work software helps people plan when to come into the office and helps leaders see how that plan works out. Kadence combines desk and room booking, team scheduling and office neighborhoods with attendance reporting, so employees know who will be in and workplace teams can see how each office is used. **What is Hybrid Work?** Hybrid work is a model that mixes in-office work and remote work. It lets employees divide their time between home and office. This approach provides a balance between the flexibility of remote work and the face-to-face connection with your teammates when you’re in the office. **What is the difference between Remote and Hybrid Work?** Remote and hybrid work differ mainly in [flexibility](). Remote work provides more freedom, letting employees work from anywhere. Hybrid work means alternating between home and office work. Remote work isn’t geographically bound, so companies can hire worldwide. In contrast, hybrid work requires regular office attendance. **What is a Hybrid Work Schedule?** A [hybrid work schedule]() helps to let your teammates know when you’re going to be in the office so they can plan to come in when you’re there. When you multiply this at scale, companies will find that their teams are far more productive. By allowing their teams to seamlessly coordinate hybrid schedules, employee retention and well-being will vastly improve due to not having to waste a commute to the office. **What is a Hybrid Workplace Policy?** A [hybrid workplace policy]() sets the rules, values and expectations for employees in a hybrid work model. It details how remote and in-office work will be combined, including when to be present, how to communicate, and office space arrangements. **How does Kadence help teams coordinate office days?** Employees star the colleagues they work with most and see when they plan to be in. Team Kadence shows when your team is coming in, and notifications suggest days when starred colleagues or your team will be there. People can set more than one work status in a day, including remote, so plans stay accurate. See [team day planning](). **Can Kadence report on hybrid policy compliance?** Yes. Workplace Insights shows attendance by team, department and location. Insights Plus adds custom dashboards, including policy compliance reporting against an in-office goal such as three days a week. Attendance comes from check-ins, including automatic check-in through the Kadence Agent, so reports reflect who came in. See [workplace occupancy](). **Does Kadence work in Microsoft Teams and Slack?** Yes. Employees can book desks and rooms from Microsoft Teams, Slack, the web and the Kadence mobile app, and room bookings sync both ways with Outlook and Google Calendar. Kadence AI lets people book by chatting with Kadence in Teams or Slack. Admins can sign everyone in with SSO and sync the directory, so teams stay up to date. **Do we need a hybrid work policy before we start?** No, but a clear policy makes coordination easier. Kadence supports anything from flexible days to fixed team days and office neighborhoods, and attendance reporting shows how the policy works in practice. If you are writing or updating a policy, see what a [hybrid work policy]() should cover. #### Explore more - [Desk Booking]() - [Plan Your Team Day]() - [Space management]() - [Workplace occupancy]() - [Workplace analytics]() - [Kadence Flex]() - [Hybrid workplace policy]() - [What is hybrid work?]() - [Hybrid coordination]() - [Team days]() - [Hybrid policy compliance]() Next step #### Start Working Smarter With Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Make hybrid work for your teams | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/hybrid-working/ Description: To many people, hybrid work as a concept is simple – employees split their time between remote and in-office work. But there are variations in the execution, each involving different degrees of flexibility and coordination. These useful resources will help you discover how to build, and empower flourishing teams while seamlessly managing your spaces. Hybrid Working ### Make hybrid work for your teams To many people, hybrid work as a concept is simple – employees split their time between remote and in-office work. But there are variations in the execution, each involving different degrees of flexibility and coordination. These useful resources will help you discover how to build, and empower flourishing teams while seamlessly managing your spaces. The Hybrid Manifesto Creating a people-centric hybrid workplace is more than just offering perks and benefits in the new era of work. Businesses need to address the challenges that comes with new work patterns and how people now want to work – teams that get hybrid right will outperform those that don’t. [Discover how]() May 19, 2026 · Human Flourishing #### [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] July 25, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] July 23, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] June 30, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Hybrid Is The New Normal—But Not Yet For Everyone]() The UK has quietly reached a milestone: hybrid working is now the most common way to work among professionals. According to new data from the Office for National Statistics, 28% of workers in Britain split their time between home and the office. This is a structural shift in how the country works. But the data \[…\] June 5, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Gen Z Isn't Rejecting the Office. They're Rejecting Mandates.]() Gen Z workers want offices with a clear purpose, not attendance rules. What 2025 survey data says about RTO mandates, turnover and flexibility. May 22, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [The Smart Office Of The Future Is Designed For Human Flourishing]() Most conversations about smart offices start with sensors. But the smartest offices of the future won’t just track movement. They’ll understand momentum. They won’t just optimize square footage. They’ll cultivate belonging. At Kadence, we believe smart offices are about human flourishing. They won’t ask how many people showed up. They’ll ask—did anyone flourish here? The hybrid revolution gave the \[…\] May 20, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Kadence Connect: Building High-Performing Hybrid Teams with Brian Elliott]() Brian Elliott has seen inside hundreds of hybrid organizations. As a former Slack SVP and Executive Leader of Future Forum, he’s helped shape what great hybrid work looks like. In a recent conversation, Brian shared what separates thriving hybrid teams from the rest — and it’s not policies or tech. It’s leadership. Kadence Connect is our live \[…\] April 7, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [The Hybrid Training Your Company Should’ve Started Yesterday]() At Kadence, we’re talking to hybrid teams every day. And while the headlines keep circling around office mandates and badge swipes, the reality on the ground is far more nuanced — and far more urgent. We’re watching companies struggle with hybrid not because the model is broken — but because their managers are unprepared, their systems \[…\] March 31, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Hybrid Isn’t Failing. Leadership Is.]() I had one of those conversations recently that stays with you. You know the kind — the call you hop onto thinking it’ll be a quick exchange of ideas, and you leave feeling like someone just reframed everything you thought you knew. That someone, in this case, was Camilla Miehs. Camilla is a powerhouse. A \[…\] March 26, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Why Spring Might Be The Season Hybrid Work Proves Itself]() In San Francisco this week, the sun came out — and so did the laptops. Powerpoint presentations in parks. Zoom calls on the beach. Slack pings sent under picnic umbrellas. According to The San Francisco Standard, it wasn’t just a nice day; it was a quiet act of rebellion. And here’s the thing: companies trying to \[…\] February 12, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [40% Would Take A Pay Cut To Work From Home: Why Offices Must Earn Their Place]() A new Harvard study has found that 40% of people surveyed would willingly take a pay cut of 5% or more to continue working from more. Even more striking, 9% said they’d accept a 20% reduction in salary just to avoid returning to the office. These figures aren’t just data points; they tell a powerful \[…\] February 6, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [How To Build A Hybrid Workplace People Actually Want To Work In]() Hybrid has become a defining feature of the modern workplace, offering flexibility to hybrid teams while presenting new challenges—particularly in fostering connection, engagement, and satisfaction, regardless of where employees are working. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Anitta Krishan from Hoogly AI, a leader in people and workplace strategy, to explore what’s truly working in the \[…\] Page 1 of 3 [Older posts →]() Next step #### Talk to a Hybrid Expert Let Kadence take the hassle out of hybrid working. Book a customized demo today. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Make hybrid work for your teams — page 2 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/hybrid-working/page/2/ Description: To many people, hybrid work as a concept is simple – employees split their time between remote and in-office work. But there are variations in the execution, each involving different degrees of flexibility and coordination. These useful resources will help you discover how to build, and empower flourishing teams while seamlessly managing your spaces. Page 2 of 3. Hybrid Working ### Make hybrid work for your teams To many people, hybrid work as a concept is simple – employees split their time between remote and in-office work. But there are variations in the execution, each involving different degrees of flexibility and coordination. These useful resources will help you discover how to build, and empower flourishing teams while seamlessly managing your spaces. December 2, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [NextRetreat’s Top Tips For Planning An Offsite For Hybrid Companies]() If you work in a hybrid office environment, chances are that your daily interactions are dominated by Zoom meetings and Slack channels. And while these tools have undoubtedly made our day-to-day working lives easier, a high-quality in-person offsite is now more valuable than ever. Offsites serve as crucial touchpoints for hybrid working teams. They create connections that \[…\] November 13, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Compressed Work Week: Pros, Cons and How to Set One Up]() A compressed work week fits a 40-hour workload into fewer than five days. Learn the common schedules, the pros and cons, and how to set one up. October 17, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Kadence Connect Webinar Series: Decoding The Hybrid Work Paradigm]() In a recent webinar, the team at Kadence shared valuable insights with their customers on the evolving landscape of hybrid work. As organizations navigate the complexities of balancing office and remote work, learning from others as well as utilizing innovative solutions all help to optimize the hybrid work paradigm. Here’s what happened. The traditional 9-to-5 \[…\] September 4, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Embracing Flexible Work And The Right To Disconnect]() The U.K. government is making a push to embed flexible work and the right to disconnect into the workplace culture. These initiatives reflect a significant shift in how we as a society have been thinking about work-life balance, employee well-being, and productivity. Flexible work is no longer just a trend—it’s the future of work. The \[…\] August 19, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [8 Examples of Effective Team Dynamics in Hybrid Teams]() Eight examples of effective team dynamics for hybrid teams, from clear communication and shared goals to fair rewards, burnout prevention and transparency. July 9, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [The Benefits Of Asynchronous Work With Paige Goldstein]() As we navigate the modern work landscape, the traditional 9-to-5 model is rapidly losing its relevance. Enter asynchronous work—a transformative approach that transcends time zones and fixed schedules. I recently chatted with Paige Goldstein, a self-proclaimed digital nomad and co-host of the Fill Your Sol podcast. We chatted about her flexible style of working and \[…\] July 5, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [10 Proven Strategies To Supercharge Internal Communication With Jo Coxhill]() Effective internal communication is the lifeblood of any thriving organization. It ensures that everyone is aligned, informed, and engaged, driving productivity and job satisfaction. However, many companies struggle with fostering clear and open communication among employees. If you’re looking to improve your internal communications, you’re in the right place. I recently spoke to Internal Communications \[…\] June 19, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Five Strategies To Adapt Your Office Space For Hybrid Work With Bex Moorhouse]() As the world continues to embrace the hybrid work model, companies must rethink and redesign their office space to cater to both in-office and remote employees. I spoke to Bex Moorhouse, Founder and Director of Invigorate Spaces Ltd – a corporate wellbeing consultancy that helps companies curate its built environments, people experiences and culture. This \[…\] June 10, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Nine Micro Moments to Build Team Culture, With Michelle Hartley]() HR expert Michelle Hartley on the small, frequent gestures that build team culture in hybrid work, and nine micro moments any manager can start using. May 21, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [The Need For Wellbeing Resources Like Forte]() What comes to mind when you think of the “workplace”? For myself, it used to bring up images of bustling offices, morning commutes, and deskside chats. But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of the workplace has changed, giving rise to the era of the modern hybrid and dynamic workforce. As we \[…\] May 2, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [How To Cultivate A Company Culture With Tonille Miller]() In today’s competitive landscape, attracting, retaining, and unlocking top talent has become a top priority for organizations. With the emergence of hybrid work reshaping the very fabric of organizational dynamics, it’s more important than ever to create a generative company culture that enables people to do their best work in this new environment. But how \[…\] April 29, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [How To Stay Connected To Your Hybrid Team With Steve Cockram]() As Head of People and Partnerships at Kadence, one of the things I ask myself most regularly is “how do we better communicate as a team?”. Operating as a distributed team, we are spread all over the world. For that reason, it’s really important for us to feel like we don’t sacrifice on connection and \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 2 of 3 [Older posts →]() Next step #### Talk to a Hybrid Expert Let Kadence take the hassle out of hybrid working. Book a customized demo today. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Make hybrid work for your teams — page 3 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/hybrid-working/page/3/ Description: To many people, hybrid work as a concept is simple – employees split their time between remote and in-office work. But there are variations in the execution, each involving different degrees of flexibility and coordination. These useful resources will help you discover how to build, and empower flourishing teams while seamlessly managing your spaces. Page 3 of 3. Hybrid Working ### Make hybrid work for your teams To many people, hybrid work as a concept is simple – employees split their time between remote and in-office work. But there are variations in the execution, each involving different degrees of flexibility and coordination. These useful resources will help you discover how to build, and empower flourishing teams while seamlessly managing your spaces. April 22, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Listening And The Power Of Team-Level Agreements]() Gallup recently found that only 12% of hybrid workers benefit from hybrid policies decided by their individual team. Crucially — they also found that this small group is also the most engaged. It seems that when employees are given the trust and autonomy to make their own decisions — and be really heard by their team members — \[…\] April 12, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Mental Health At Work: What You Need To Know]() The world of work is going through a mental health challenge. The rise of remote working — with all of its great benefits – has meant employees are more socially isolated than they ever have been. Our work schedules are now flexible and adaptable, and that’s great — but not when it comes at the \[…\] April 5, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Transforming The Public Sector With Andy Lake]() As we step into a future where the lines between our professional and personal lives are increasingly blurred. The need for smarter, more flexible workspaces has never been more apparent. The public sector, traditionally seen as a bastion of the ‘old ways’ of working, is now at the forefront of this transformation. I recently sat \[…\] March 4, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Rethinking Productivity: Embracing Outcomes In Hybrid Work]() Is your company moving towards a hybrid model of work? Are you worried how you can ensure employee productivity when they are not in the office? HR managers find themselves at the forefront of delivering success when companies move to the hybrid model. There are natural concerns about: These can feel daunting as companies embrace \[…\] February 16, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Embracing Third Spaces: The Evolution Of Modern Workplaces]() In the move towards more flexible ways of working, modern organizations are having to get smarter about how they use space. That means integrating a hybrid operating platform and making sure existing office space is used effectively. For others, it means giving their employees access to flexible workspaces near them. Through my experiences with WorkFLEX, \[…\] January 17, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Flexible Working: A Personal Journey To Empowerment]() As the founder of wmpeople, I’ve witnessed firsthand the evolution of flexible working and its impact on countless lives. Over the years, my platforms have become a haven for parents and caregivers seeking work that accommodates their unique life circumstances. In its early days, flexible working was often equated with part-time roles or job-sharing arrangements. There \[…\] January 11, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Modernize Your Work Practices With Smart Working]() For over three decades, I’ve been exploring and advocating for smarter, more flexible ways of working. As the founding editor of Flexibility and author of the Smart Working Handbook, I help organizations embrace a more strategic approach to modernizing their working practices. Smart Working isn’t just about choosing where to work. It’s a holistic method \[…\] December 6, 2021 · Human Flourishing #### [The Human-Centric Workplace]() Before we discuss what a human-centric workplace is, we must define what it is to be human. From poets, philosophers, anthropologists, religious bodies, scientists, politicians, and artists. Despite the efforts, the answers are diverse and inconclusive, because believing in a single answer would create silos between the brain, emotion, the body and so forth; we \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 3 of 3 Next step #### Talk to a Hybrid Expert Let Kadence take the hassle out of hybrid working. Book a customized demo today. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence AI | Your Workplace AI Assistant Canonical: https://kadence.co/hybrid-workplace-ai/ Description: Kadence AI is your workplace AI assistant to book desks, reserve rooms, invite visitors, and coordinate schedules using natural language — simplifying daily workspace management. Kadence AI ### Your workplace concierge. Just ask Kadence AI. Give every employee an assistant for the working day. Kadence AI, part of WorkOps, helps people book desks and rooms, invite visitors, and coordinate with teammates through natural conversation. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative Kadence AI conversations in the Kadence iOS app: book a desk near your team, find a room for six people at ten, invite a visitor, and see which teammates are in tomorrow. #### Works where your people already are In the Kadence iOS and Android apps, Slack and Microsoft Teams. AI assistants connect through [Kadence MCP](). [Explore WorkOps]() Seamless Integrations #### Integrates Straight Into Your Existing Workflow Meet employees in the tools they already use. Kadence AI works in Microsoft Teams and Slack; Kadence MCP connects workplace tasks to supported AI assistants with the permissions people already have in Kadence. [Discover Integrations]() WorkOps · Kadence AI Kadence AI inside Microsoft Teams: booking three desks in the Sales neighborhood by chat Kadence in Slack: a check-in reminder for a desk booking with Check in and View booking buttons Works inside - Microsoft Teams - Slack Visitor Management #### Automate Visitor Management with Kadence AI Give hosts less to coordinate before a visit. Use Kadence AI to prepare invitations, notify hosts, and manage documents before arrival. Kadence enables AI-assisted invitations, automatic host notifications, and pre-arrival management of NDAs and document signing, ensuring every visit is seamless, compliant, and fully prepared in advance. [Learn more]() WorkOps · Kadence AI Automate Visitor Management with Kadence AI Discover Team Availability #### Discover When Your Teammates Are Going To The Office Help people choose a day when their teammates will be in. See team booking schedules before making the trip. [Discover More]() WorkOps · Kadence AI An example of asking Kadence AI to book an available desk near your teammate. Schedule And Book #### Schedule Meetings And Book Desks In Seconds Get the space your team needs without booking everyone separately. Ask Kadence AI to reserve desks or an available meeting room in a single prompt. [Discover More]() WorkOps · Kadence AI An example of how you can book a room for multiple guests using the Kadence AI chat bot FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is Hybrid Workplace AI?** Hybrid Workplace AI is a revolutionary step to helping teams within hybrid organizations be more productive in their work. By streamlining long and lengthy tasks and processes, Kadence AI allows teams to coordinate with one another, book the spaces they need and manage their booking schedule just by asking Kadence. **Is any data used for training purposes of the LLM?** No, we do not use any customer data for training our AI models. We take your privacy and data security very seriously. Our AI models, including the Large Language Models we use, are trained on a vast corpus of publicly available data, and we ensure that your personal or business data is never included in the training process. We follow strict data protection protocols to ensure that all customer data remains confidential and is used only for the specific purposes for which it was collected. Our commitment to your privacy is backed by comprehensive security measures and compliance with all relevant data protection regulations. **Can I opt out of Kadence AI?** Absolutely. If you do not wish to fully utilize Kadence AI you can opt out at any time you like. If you have any concerns or questions about the security of your data, please refer to our privacy policy or get in touch here – we’re happy to help. #### Explore more - [privacy policy]() - [Contact Kadence]() - [Explore Kadence MCP]() Next step #### Say Hello To A Smarter Way Of Working Don’t just manage work – transform it with Kadence AI. Book your demo to see it in action. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Flexible Workplace API - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/hybrid-workplace-api/ Description: Transform your flexible workplace into a thriving ecosystem with an API that allows you to connect Kadence to your existing tools. Hybrid Workplace Api ### Connect workplace data to your existing systems. Use the Kadence API to connect bookings, check-ins, and space usage with the tools and workflows your workplace already runs on. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative API request sends a desk booking, receives a booked response and adds booking-created and presence-updated entries to an events feed. [Explore WorkOps]() [Explore SpaceOps]() [Explore integrations]() Space usage insights #### Accurate data every time Understanding how your flexible workplace is used is fundamental to reporting, and decision-making. Gain valuable insights into office utilization through granular reporting, enabling you to make data-driven decisions to maximize the efficiency of your workspace. - Inform future space planning decisions by understanding how they’re used in the past - Keep your employees safe by knowing who’s in the building in case of emergencies, and alert office managers if there are no designated fire marshals or first aiders on site Kadence A graph of office use trends Integrations #### Powerful flexibility A connected workplace is powerful, and the same goes for your software applications. With the ability to create, check in/out, and cancel bookings, you have full control over your space reservations, allowing for easy adjustments to accommodate changing needs and optimizing resource allocation. - Greater flexibility with how you want to run your spaces with more integration possibilities - Save time by eliminating manual booking processes Kadence An illustration of an employee who has checked into their booking Optimized spaces #### Maximize your spaces Get a comprehensive view of space utilization across your office by knowing who has checked into them. By integrating with your existing building management systems, you can understand which spaces are used the least to enable cost savings. - Maximize space utilization by having a clear view of how much space you need - Better resource management by knowing which spaces are in demand Kadence Hybrid Workplace office layout Workplace automation #### A frictionless team experience Automating check-ins creates a frictionless experience for your employees, enabling them to be productive. By making check-ins simple, and easy your people can access the spaces they need for any task. - Better space management by knowing which areas are in demand - Authenticate users, and check them into their bookings when they log into a computer, book to come onsite, or when they access the wifi Kadence Hybrid Workplace FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **Why is a ‘Check-in’ API useful?** It’s vital you know how your spaces are used, and the way you get the space utilization data you need is by making sure your people check into their bookings. That’s where the data is, and that’s where you are able to optimize your real-estate footprint to cut costs. When you get accurate usage data you can meet future space needs, and demands, decide if you want to rent out empty rooms on off days, cut back on resources, and deliver a great space that facilitates great work from your employees. **What can I do with a ‘Check-in API’?** As with any API, the sky is your limit. You can choose how best to integrate with your various software in any way you choose. To help ignite your creativity, here is a list of options to easily help automate your check-in flow: 1. Automatically check users into their bookings through a badging integration system of your choice 2. Show information on bookings, users, and buildings within your applications 3. Display who has booked a desk to use as a waypoint tool so you know who should be sitting where, but also to warn users not to sit at that desk 4. Authenticate users and check them into their bookings when they log into a computer, book to come onsite, or when you access WiFi 5. Alert office managers if there are no designated fire marshals or first aiders onsite **How do I integrate with an API?** The exact process for integrating with an API may vary depending on the specific API and your programming language or framework. You typically need to obtain an API key or authentication token, understand the available endpoints, parameters, and expected responses, and finally choose your integration method. You then write the code that sends requests to the various endpoints, test the integration, and monitor for any errors that may arise. **Can I use the Check-in API to check people out of their bookings?** We currently provide access to buildings, users, bookings, and check-ins for your hybrid workplace. At this stage, our Check-in API is limited to booking check-ins only. #### Explore more - [View Pricing]() Next step #### Start working smarter with Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Integrations for Desk and Room Booking | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/hybrid-workplace-integrations/ Description: Connect Kadence desk and room booking to Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Slack, Google Calendar, Okta, Entra ID and Workday, or build your own with the API and MCP. Integrations ### Connect the tools your teams already use. Save time. Stay secure. Everything in sync. From Slack and Microsoft Teams to Google Calendar, Okta and Workday, Kadence integrations slot into your workflow, and an open MCP server lets your own agents act on the workplace. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Featured - #### Microsoft Teams Book desks and rooms, chat with Kadence AI, get check-in reminders and see who is in, all inside Teams. [Discover the Microsoft Teams integration →]() - #### Microsoft Outlook Book rooms from a meeting invite with the Outlook add-in, with two-way sync to Microsoft 365 room calendars. [Discover the Microsoft Outlook integration →]() - #### Slack See when teammates are going in, book desks and rooms with Kadence AI and get weekly schedules in Slack. [Discover the Slack integration →]() - #### Kadence MCP Book desks, rooms, parking and visitors from ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot, with each person's own permissions. Early access; an admin turns it on. [Discover the Kadence MCP integration →]() All integrations #### Filter by category. - ##### [Microsoft Teams]() Book desks and rooms, chat with Kadence AI, get check-in reminders and see who is in, all inside Teams. Workplace communication - ##### [Slack]() See when teammates are going in, book desks and rooms with Kadence AI and get weekly schedules in Slack. Workplace communication - ##### [Kadence MCP]() Book desks, rooms, parking and visitors from ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot, with each person's own permissions. Early access; an admin turns it on. Build your own - ##### [Public API]() A REST API with API keys for buildings, users, bookings and check-ins. Build your own - ##### [Google Calendar]() Book rooms in Google Calendar, with two-way sync to Google Workspace room resources. Calendar synchronization - ##### [Microsoft Outlook]() Book rooms from a meeting invite with the Outlook add-in, with two-way sync to Microsoft 365 room calendars. Calendar synchronization - ##### [Google Workspace setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() SSO with Google, directory sync, and teams and profile photos from Google Workspace. Directory sync · Single sign-on - ##### [Microsoft Azure setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Single sign-on and directory sync with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD). Directory sync · Single sign-on - ##### [Okta setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Employee directory sync and SSO from Okta. Directory sync · Single sign-on - ##### [Workday setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Employee directory sync and SSO from Workday, plus the HR integration for starters, leavers and leave dates. Directory sync · Single sign-on · HR systems - ##### [BambooHR setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Directory sync from BambooHR, plus the HR integration for starters, leavers and leave dates. Directory sync · HR systems - ##### [HiBob]() HR integration that syncs starters, leavers and leave dates to drive seating. HR systems - ##### [Gusto setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Employee directory sync from Gusto to Kadence. Directory sync - ##### [Rippling setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Employee directory sync from Rippling to Kadence. Directory sync - ##### [SCIM setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Employee directory sync over SCIM. Directory sync - ##### [JumpCloud setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Single sign-on with JumpCloud. Single sign-on - ##### [OneLogin setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Single sign-on with OneLogin. Single sign-on - ##### [OpenID setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Single sign-on with OpenID. Single sign-on - ##### [Ping Identity setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Single sign-on with Ping Identity. Single sign-on - ##### [SAML setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Single sign-on with SAML. Single sign-on - ##### [VMware setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Single sign-on with VMware. Single sign-on - ##### [Zendesk setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Send Kadence workplace tickets to Zendesk by email. Ticketing - ##### [Freshdesk setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Send Kadence workplace tickets to Freshdesk by email. Ticketing - ##### [Jira setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Send Kadence workplace tickets to Jira by email. Ticketing - ##### [ServiceNow setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Send Kadence workplace tickets to ServiceNow by email. Ticketing - ##### [SysAid setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Send Kadence workplace tickets to SysAid by email. Ticketing - ##### [Spiceworks setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Send Kadence workplace tickets to Spiceworks by email. Ticketing - ##### [Kayako setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Send Kadence workplace tickets to Kayako by email. Ticketing - ##### [HappyFox setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Send Kadence workplace tickets to HappyFox by email. Ticketing - ##### [Zoho Desk setup guide (opens in a new tab)]() Send Kadence workplace tickets to Zoho Desk by email. Ticketing - ##### [Neat]() Kadence Room Displays and visitor kiosks on Neat devices. Room booking - ##### [LiquidSpace]() Kadence Flex books coworking desks and rooms worldwide through the LiquidSpace network. Flexible workspace - ##### [Webhooks]() Send real-time Kadence events to other systems, such as security or badge tools. Build your own - ##### [Audit Export API]() Stream Kadence audit logs to your SIEM, with 180 days of history. Build your own Live integrations, October 2026. #### How Kadence works with the tools you already run ##### Microsoft 365 The Kadence app and Kadence AI work inside [Microsoft Teams](). The [Outlook add-in]() books rooms from a meeting invite, and [two-way calendar sync]() keeps Microsoft 365 room calendars and Kadence in step. People sign in with Microsoft Entra ID, and the Kadence Agent signs in silently on Windows. ##### Slack and Google Workspace The [Slack app]() and Kadence AI book desks and rooms in chat, as [booking in Teams and Slack]() explains. [Google Calendar]() room resources sync both ways, and Google Workspace can supply sign-in, directory sync, teams and profile photos. ##### Identity and HR [Single sign-on]() works with Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google, OneLogin, JumpCloud and other SAML or OpenID Connect providers, and admins can make it mandatory. [SCIM and directory sync]() provision users. The [HR integration]() in WorkOps Pro syncs starters, leavers and leave dates from Workday, BambooHR or HiBob to drive seating. ##### Rooms and flexible space [Kadence Room Displays]() and visitor kiosks run on [Neat devices](). [Kadence Flex]() books coworking desks and rooms worldwide through LiquidSpace. ##### Build your own The [public REST API]() covers buildings, users, bookings and check-ins. Outbound webhooks send real-time events to security or badge tools, the Audit Export API streams audit logs to your SIEM, and [Kadence MCP]() lets AI assistants act for each person within their own permissions. See [workplace APIs]() and [MCP](). FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **Which tools does Kadence integrate with?** Kadence works with Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Slack and Google Calendar for booking; Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google, OneLogin and JumpCloud for sign-in; Workday, BambooHR and HiBob for HR data; Neat for room displays and kiosks; and LiquidSpace for coworking space. A REST API, webhooks, an Audit Export API and an MCP server cover the rest. **Does Kadence integrate with Microsoft 365?** Yes. Kadence has an app and Kadence AI in Microsoft Teams, an Outlook add-in for room booking, and two-way sync with Exchange Online room calendars. People sign in with Microsoft Entra ID, directory sync keeps users current, and the Kadence Agent signs in silently on Windows with Entra. **Can room bookings sync with Outlook and Google Calendar?** Yes. Kadence syncs both ways with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace room calendars. A room booked in Outlook or Google Calendar shows in Kadence, and a room booked in Kadence, Teams, Slack or at a Kadence Room Display shows in the calendar. Rooms nobody checks in to are released for others. **How do desk booking integrations help adoption?** People book where they already work. With Kadence, employees book desks in Microsoft Teams or Slack, by chatting with Kadence AI, or from an AI assistant through Kadence MCP, as well as in the Kadence web and mobile apps. Every booking follows the same rules and shows on the same floor plans and reports. **Can we connect Kadence to our own systems?** Yes. The public REST API, on all plans, covers buildings, users, bookings and check-ins, so badge or sign-in systems can check people in and data teams can pull bookings. Outbound webhooks send real-time events to other systems, and the Audit Export API streams audit logs to a SIEM. Next step #### Connect Kadence to your workflow. Book a demo and we walk through the integrations your estate runs on. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Implementation: how a Kadence rollout works | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/implementation/ Description: The stages of a Kadence rollout, who owns each, what we need from your team, and how adoption is measured from day one. Implementation ### How a Kadence rollout works. A phased rollout: agree the goals, connect identity and data, pilot one office, then scale with adoption measured from day one. Every stage has an owner and a check, and Kadence works through each one with your team. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() The six stages of a Kadence rollout and who owns each: Goals and metrics, Workplace, IT, HR, finance; Identity and integrations, Your IT team; Floor plans and data, Workplace team; Pilot one office, Pilot team and champions; Scale and adopt, Champions in every team; Measure and improve, Workplace and finance. The stages #### Six stages, each with an owner. 1. 01 ##### Agree goals and success metrics Owner · Workplace, IT, HR and finance leads Decide what the rollout is for before anything is configured: right-sizing floors, better hybrid coordination, or the data to model a lease decision. Agree the metrics you will track, so the result can be judged against the goal. **Done when:** Agreed objectives and the measures that prove them 2. 02 ##### Connect identity and integrations Owner · Your IT team Single sign-on with Okta, Azure AD, Google, JumpCloud, OneLogin, Ping, SAML or OpenID. Directory sync from Workday, BambooHR, Rippling, Gusto or SCIM keeps every roster current. Calendar sync with Outlook and Google Calendar, and booking inside Microsoft Teams and Slack. **Done when:** People sign in with the credentials they already have 3. 03 ##### Prepare floor plans and workplace data Owner · Workplace and facilities team Audit and clean floor plans, space assignments, employee records and booking history before they move across. A workplace system is only as useful as the data it runs on, so test the import before full rollout. **Done when:** Floor plans, neighborhoods and rules ready to book 4. 04 ##### Pilot one team, office or function Owner · Pilot team and internal champions Start small. Test the configuration in real working conditions, find the friction, and refine before scaling. Representative employees confirm the system behaves as expected. **Done when:** A tested configuration and a list of fixes 5. 05 ##### Scale with training and champions Owner · Champions in every team Name an internal champion in each affected team. Train by role: administrators managing space and reporting need different guidance from employees booking desks. Explain what the system does and why it is being introduced. **Done when:** Every office live, every role trained 6. 06 ##### Measure and improve Owner · Workplace and finance Track the metrics agreed in stage one: utilization and occupancy by location, booking adoption, attendance patterns and cost per employee. Use the data to adjust policies and space, then extend into scenario planning and portfolio decisions. **Done when:** Evidence for the next space decision What we need from you #### The dependencies, named up front. Most rollouts that stall do so on something that could have been asked for in week one. These are the things to line up. - ##### Identity An administrator for your SSO provider and directory, so sign-in and roster sync can be connected. - ##### Calendars and chat Consent for the Outlook or Google Calendar connection, and for Teams or Slack if people will book there. - ##### Floor plans Current plans for each building and floor, with the desks, rooms and neighborhoods you want bookable. - ##### Presence data (optional) Badge or Wi-Fi sources, if you want occupancy measured from actual presence and not only from bookings. - ##### Security review Your questionnaire and review process. Our SOC 2, penetration testing and data-handling evidence is on the security page and trust portal. Adoption and results #### Measured against the goals you set. Success is judged against the objectives agreed in stage one, not on whether the system is switched on. Adoption is tracked as a metric from the first day. [See workplace analytics →]() - Space utilization and occupancy trends across locations - Booking adoption and check-in rates, by team and office - Attendance against your hybrid policy - Cost savings from more efficient space allocation - Less manual coordination, and feedback from employees For your security review #### The evidence, in one place. SOC 2 and Cyber Essentials, single sign-on and directory sync, encryption in transit and at rest, and annual third-party penetration tests. [Security and trust]() [Buyer's scorecard]() [All integrations]() FAQ #### Implementation questions **What is the best way to implement a workplace management system?** Start with clearly defined objectives and success metrics, choose a platform that fits your organization’s specific needs, and deploy in phases rather than all at once to allow for testing and iteration before full rollout. **What teams should be involved in implementation?** Workplace and facilities teams, IT, HR, and finance should all be involved from the planning stage to ensure the system is configured to support cross-functional needs and integrates with existing tools. **What are the most common challenges during implementation?** The most common challenges are unclear goals, poor data quality entering the system, low user adoption, overly complex rollout strategies, and gaps in integration with existing enterprise systems. **How do you ensure successful adoption after implementation?** Designate internal champions, provide role-based training, communicate clearly about the purpose and benefits of the system, and track adoption as a metric from day one rather than assuming it will happen naturally. Next step #### Plan your rollout with us. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist: your goals, your integrations and the office to pilot first. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Industries | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/industries/ Description: Kadence for financial services, government, higher education, healthcare, manufacturing, technology and more: workplace operations and space decisions for every industry. Industries ### Workplace operations, shaped to your industry. The same platform runs offices, campuses, plants and head offices. Each page shows how it fits the way your industry works, with the customers already running on it. - #### [Financial services]() From global banks to branch networks: attendance compliance, multi-office consistency, real estate metrics and the governance controls a regulated estate requires. - Revolut - TrueLayer - BMW Financial Services See the page → - #### [Technology]() Deploy in days, adopt from day one, and coordinate teams across hubs and time zones with AI that knows when people need to be in together. - Intel - Softchoice - MOO 3 customer stories · See the page → - #### [Legal]() From boutique practices to AmLaw 100 firms: rooms that work when partners need them, client arrivals that run like clockwork, and one experience across every office. - The District of Columbia Bar See the page → - #### [Business services]() Consultancies and professional firms need people in the right office on the right days, check-ins that reflect what happened, and reports leaders trust. - Ankura - O5 Group - Personal Care Products Council 1 customer story · See the page → - #### [Commercial real estate]() Real estate firms need to see how space is used across a portfolio, plan without spreadsheets and bring one tool to scattered sites. - GID - BSC Group See the page → - #### [Consumer goods]() Consumer brands work in launch cycles, with teams that need to be in the same room at the same time. - Chelsea Football Club - MOO - Iconic London 1 customer story · See the page → - #### [Energy and utilities]() Energy and utility teams split their time between sites, the field and the office. See the page → - #### [Government]() Designed for the public sector, our platform helps councils, trusts and government agencies manage desks, rooms and workspaces securely and efficiently, with the evidence to stand behind every real estate decision. - MOPAC - Denbighshire County Council - Oxfordshire County Council 2 customer stories · See the page → - #### [Healthcare and pharma]() Healthcare and pharma organizations run offices, labs and shared rooms under tight space and security constraints. - NHS - Karger - Ellie Mental Health 2 customer stories · See the page → - #### [Higher education]() Kadence provides trusted desk booking, room booking and workplace analytics, designed for universities and colleges. - University of Cambridge - Emory University - University of Exeter 2 customer stories · See the page → - #### [Manufacturing]() Manufacturing sites juggle offices, plant floors, shifts and car parks, often across disconnected tools and manual plans. - Axalta - Casio - Hyster-Yale 1 customer story · See the page → - #### [Media and entertainment]() Studios, agencies and media groups plan around projects, not fixed desks. - GWI - Vizrt 1 customer story · See the page → - #### [Non-profits]() Non-profits often have fewer desks than people and little time to manage them. - RSPB - Five Good Friends - California Alliance of Child and Family Services 3 customer stories · See the page → - #### [Retail]() Retail head offices and regional support teams share space across sites and seasons. - Trainline - Motorway See the page → ## Workplace Management for IT and Security Teams | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/it-managers/ Description: Workplace management software for IT and security teams: SSO and SCIM with Okta or Entra ID, a desktop presence agent, Teams and SOC 2 evidence. For IT and security teams ### Workplace Management for IT and Security Teams One credential, the integrations you already run, and evidence for the review. SSO and SCIM with Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google and JumpCloud; a desktop agent that checks people in on the office network; Teams and Outlook booking; SOC 2 and Cyber Essentials. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative it and security occupancy: IT support 82%, Security 65%, Infrastructure 57%. A floor plate shows the three team neighborhoods on Technology hub · Level 2. Identity #### Set up in minutes with the directory you already have. Single sign-on with Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google, OneLogin, JumpCloud and other SAML or OpenID Connect providers. SCIM directory sync creates, updates and removes accounts as your directory changes, and teams can be built from directory attributes. Make SSO mandatory, or let people sign in with passkeys. - SSO with every major identity provider - SCIM provisioning and directory sync - Mandatory SSO or passkey sign-in Integrations · Identity Single sign-on and directory sync integrations. Kadence Agent #### Attendance data from the laptops you already manage. The Kadence Agent is a light desktop app for Windows, Mac, ChromeOS and Linux. When a laptop joins a registered office network, the agent checks the person in, with no sensors to install. Enhanced Network Detection places people on a floor and tells an office connection from a VPN session. Automatic Bookings records people who arrive without a booking. - Windows, Mac, ChromeOS and Linux - Auto Login with Entra ID or Okta, silent on Windows with Entra - Floor-level, VPN-aware detection Kadence Agent · Check-in Today's booking for Desk 2 on Floor 6, marked Checked In. Microsoft 365 #### Booking inside Teams and Outlook, where people already work. Employees book desks and rooms in the Microsoft Teams app or by chatting with Kadence AI in Teams. The Outlook add-in finds and books rooms, and room bookings sync both ways with Outlook and Google Calendar. Slack works the same way. For your own systems there is a public REST API, outbound webhooks and an MCP server that an admin turns on. - Teams app and Kadence AI in Teams - Outlook add-in and two-way calendar sync - REST API, webhooks and MCP server Integrations · Microsoft Teams Kadence in Microsoft Teams: manage bookings, team schedules and the employee directory. Security #### Secure, tested and controlled, with the documents to prove it. Kadence is SOC 2 compliant and Cyber Essentials certified. Controls are monitored continuously through Drata, third-party specialists run penetration tests at least annually, and mobile apps are tested to OWASP MASVS. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and handling is GDPR and CCPA aligned. - SOC 2, Cyber Essentials - Encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest - Annual third-party penetration testing Security SOC 2 certification. #### Data and privacy controls you set - ##### US or EU data hosting Keep customer data in the region you choose. Regional hosting is available on all plans. - ##### Personal data retention A Global Admin sets how many days personal data is kept, counted from the day of each booking. - ##### Incognito mode Employees can hide their location from colleagues while still booking and checking in. - ##### Roles and scoped admins Build custom roles with exactly the permissions each admin needs, and limit Building Admins to their own buildings. - ##### Audit export and webhooks Stream audit logs to your SIEM with 180 days of history, and send real-time events to security or badge tools. - ##### Works councils Where a works council must be consulted, these settings give you concrete terms to agree: retention, hosting region, who sees what and incognito mode. Customer story · Technology #### Wavex reached 4x desk efficiency in its new London HQ and saved over £20,000. **4×** desk efficiency [Read the story]() FAQ #### Questions from IT and security teams **Does Kadence work with Okta?** Yes. Kadence supports single sign-on with Okta, and SCIM provisioning creates, updates and removes Kadence accounts from Okta automatically. Admins can make SSO mandatory so nobody signs in with a separate password. The Kadence Agent can also sign in with Okta through Agent Auto Login on Windows and Mac. Read more on [SSO]() and [SCIM]() in the glossary. **Does Kadence work with Microsoft Entra ID?** Yes. Kadence supports SSO and SCIM directory sync with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD). On Windows, Agent Auto Login with Entra signs the Kadence Agent in silently, so employees see no sign-in prompt. People then book desks and rooms in [Microsoft Teams](), and rooms in [Outlook](), with the same account. **Does Kadence support SCIM provisioning?** Yes, on all plans. SCIM directory sync provisions users automatically and keeps every roster current, and teams can be built from directory attributes with custom attribute mapping. Google Workspace can also sync custom attributes and profile photos. Where an API sync is not an option, people data can arrive by secure SFTP file drop. **How does the Kadence Agent detect office presence?** The agent checks which network the laptop is on. When it matches a network you registered as an office network, it checks the person in. Enhanced Network Detection reads internal network signals to place people on a floor and to ignore VPN sessions from home. It records office presence without intrusive device tracking. See [desktop presence agent]() and [presence data]() in the glossary. **Which platforms does the Kadence Agent run on, and how does IT deploy it?** The agent runs on Windows, Mac, ChromeOS and Linux. IT provisions it centrally: a global admin downloads it from the Kadence web app and distributes it to company laptops. Agent Auto Login with Entra ID or Okta works on Windows and Mac. The [setup guide in the Kadence help center (opens in a new tab)]() covers installation and distribution step by step. **Where is our data hosted, and how long is personal data kept?** You choose US or EU hosting, and customer data stays in that region. A Global Admin sets the retention period for personal data in days. Data is encrypted in transit with TLS 1.2 or later and at rest. The [sub-processor list]() shows who processes data and where, and the [security whitepaper]() covers the details. **What security evidence can our review team read?** Kadence is SOC 2 compliant and Cyber Essentials certified. The [security page]() covers controls, penetration testing and data handling; the [security whitepaper]() covers architecture and incident response; and the [trust portal at trust.kadence.co (opens in a new tab)]() holds the documents a security questionnaire usually asks for. [Contact the team]() for anything your review needs that is not there. **Can we roll out the Kadence Agent where a works council must be consulted?** Rules differ by country, so take local legal advice. Employers usually present the tool, the data it collects, who can see it and how long it is kept. Kadence gives you settings to describe: personal data retention, US or EU hosting, scoped admin roles and incognito mode. Some organizations start where no agreement is needed and add other countries later. More on the [works council](). By team - [Facilities →]() - [People and HR →]() - [Real estate →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Management for Law Firms | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/legal/ Description: Workplace management software for law firms: rooms that work when partners need them, smooth client arrivals and one experience across every office. Legal services ### Workplace Management for Law Firms A compliant, coordinated workplace that protects billable time. From boutique practices to AmLaw 100 firms: rooms that work when partners need them, client arrivals that run like clockwork, and one experience across every office. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative: a recurring hold on Boardroom 3 that nobody checked in to is released at 09:10, the room is booked for a 10:00 client meeting, and the client's arrival is pre-registered, the NDA signed, the badge printed and the host notified. Trusted in legal - The District of Columbia Bar Room chaos #### Room chaos is billable time lost. Recurring holds, Teams calendar conflicts and front-desk overrides break setups. Kadence releases unused space, syncs with Microsoft tools and prevents device failure in high-stakes meetings. - Auto-release of ghost bookings - Microsoft Teams and Outlook sync - Device conflict prevention WorkOps · Room booking Room booking detail with a Microsoft Teams confirmation. Client arrival #### The front desk is the first impression. Pre-register guests, automate NDA signing, badge printing and host notification, and route visitors to the right floor. - Digital NDA signing - Badge printing and host alerts - Branded check-in WorkOps · Visitor management Visitor check-in with NDA signed digitally and badge printed. Multi-office #### London and New York, the same experience. Room reservations, visitor check-in and space policies follow one playbook across cities and time zones, with cross-site metrics on utilization, attendance by department and meeting failure rate. - One playbook across offices - Cross-site facilities metrics - Attendance compliance via Wi-Fi presence WorkOps · Multi-office Room booking across multiple cities. Reviews on G2 · Legal #### In their own words. [All Kadence reviews on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “Kadence has helped with our transition to hybrid working in an organized way that does not ask a lot of our employees.” **Verified User in Legal Services** Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) · G2 review, April 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() By industry - [Financial services →]() - [Technology →]() - [Business services →]() - [Commercial real estate →]() - [Consumer goods →]() - [Energy and utilities →]() - [Government →]() - [Healthcare and pharma →]() - [Higher education →]() - [Manufacturing →]() - [Media and entertainment →]() - [Non-profits →]() - [Retail →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Management for Manufacturing | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/manufacturing/ Description: Workplace management software for manufacturing: desks, rooms, parking and visitors across offices and plant sites in one system, releasing what goes unused. Manufacturing and industrial ### Workplace Management for Manufacturing One system for offices, plant sites and parking. Manufacturing sites juggle offices, plant floors, shifts and car parks, often across disconnected tools and manual plans. Kadence brings desks, rooms, parking and visitors into one system and releases what goes unused. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative: car park A at the plant headquarters with 10 of 16 bays booked after one no-show is released, and 34 of 48 office desks booked. Trusted in manufacturing - Axalta - Casio - Hyster-Yale Shared space #### Desks, rooms and car parking in one booking. Assign teams to neighborhoods on chosen days, enforce closure and capacity controls automatically, and let room displays release no-shows instantly. - Unified booking for desks, rooms and car parking - Closure and capacity rules applied automatically - Room displays that auto-release no-shows WorkOps · Space management Room occupancy on Floor 3 with auto-release on and a live team view. No-shows #### Release the rooms nobody uses. Recurring holds and calendar conflicts tie up rooms. Kadence releases unused space, syncs with calendars and flags device conflicts ahead of time. - Auto-release of unused rooms - Calendar sync with Outlook and Google - Device conflict detection WorkOps · Room booking Room booking detail with a Microsoft Teams confirmation. Planning #### Replace manual plans with a live floor plan. HRIS triggers desk assignment workflows before day one. Floor-plan-driven moves, additions and changes in one step, with move sheets generated automatically. - HRIS-triggered desk assignment - Floorplan-driven moves, adds and changes in one step - Auto-generated move sheets, no email chain WorkOps · Moves, adds and changes New starters pulled from Workday with desks assigned and a floorplan update pending. #### Kadence in manufacturing Customer story · Manufacturing ##### Axalta moved into an office half the size and made all of it bookable. **½** the previous office footprint [Read the story]() Reviews on G2 · Manufacturing #### In their own words. [All Kadence reviews on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “It's so simple to gain full user adoption, and Kadence handles this core requirement effortlessly.” **Verified User in Manufacturing** Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) · G2 review, July 2023 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() By industry - [Financial services →]() - [Technology →]() - [Legal →]() - [Business services →]() - [Commercial real estate →]() - [Consumer goods →]() - [Energy and utilities →]() - [Government →]() - [Healthcare and pharma →]() - [Higher education →]() - [Media and entertainment →]() - [Non-profits →]() - [Retail →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Workplace AI Maturity Model | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/maturity-model/ Description: Four levels of AI in workplace software, from reporting to autonomous. Locate yourself, and test the next vendor briefing: what level are you, and what is your evidence? The Workplace AI Maturity Model ### Four levels. Most of the market is on the second. A framework you can locate yourself on, and a test for the next vendor briefing: what level are you, and what is your evidence? [See the four levels]() [See Level 3 in a demo]() 01 Reporting 02 Copilot 03 Decision Kadence is here 04 Autonomous 1. Level 01 #### Reporting AI describes what happened. Dashboards, badge data, utilization charts. - **The test**: Can it tell you Tuesday was busy? Yes. Can it tell you what to do about it? No. - **Who is here**: Analytics modules and utilization reporting tools. 2. Level 02 #### Copilot AI answers questions in natural language. Chat over your workplace data, drafted comms. - **The test**: A chatbot next to a floor plan has not left Level 2, whatever the homepage calls it. - **Who is here**: Most vendors marketing AI or agents in workplace today. 3. Level 03 Kadence is here #### Decision AI solves the problem and executes the change. A stack plan, a neighborhood allocation, a move list, written back into the system that runs the building. - **The test**: Can you take its output to your CFO, defend it line by line, and have the building change on Monday? - **Who is here**: Kadence. 4. Level 04 #### Autonomous AI runs the portfolio continuously, within policy. Standing objectives instead of tickets. - **The test**: Would you let it sign a lease decision unattended? If the answer is no, it is not Level 4. - **Who is here**: Nobody. We are not claiming it. For your next vendor briefing #### Four questions that find the level. Ask every vendor the same questions. The answers place them on the model faster than any demo script. [Use the full buyer's scorecard →]() 1. 01 Show me a decision your AI made last month, and the change it wrote back. 2. 02 What does it do when the answer needs a move, not a message? 3. 03 Can finance audit the output line by line? 4. 04 Which of these four levels are you, and what is the evidence? Next step #### See Level 3 on your own floors. A workplace strategist walks you through a real decision: the stack plan, the move list and the change written back. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence MCP: Book Desks From ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot Canonical: https://kadence.co/mcp/ Description: Book desks, rooms, parking and visitors from ChatGPT, Claude or Microsoft Copilot with the Kadence MCP server, using each person's own Kadence permissions. Mcp ### Bring workplace actions into your AI workflow. Connect Kadence to the AI assistants your organization already uses. Book desks and rooms, invite visitors, and see who's in, just by asking. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Works with Claude ChatGPT Microsoft Copilot Gemini Grok For Employees #### Just Ask Kadence. From Wherever You Already Work Book spaces, invite visitors, and coordinate your team’s movements just by asking. No maps to scan, no new app to learn. - Book a desk, room, or parking in a single sentence - See who’s in before you commit - Invite visitors and handle NDAs before they arrive - No new app, no training, no rollout Kadence Illustrative Claude chat: an employee asks for a desk near the design team on Tuesday and a room for four at 2 pm; Claude books both through Kadence. For Workplace & Facilities Teams #### Stop Pulling Reports. Just Ask The answers you need come back the moment you ask. Every data point comes from your workplace data. - Occupancy and attendance on demand - Underused space surfaced without hunting Kadence Illustrative ChatGPT chat: a workplace leader asks which floors are empty on Fridays and gets the answer from Kadence. For Workplace Leaders #### Model Your Move Before You Make It A team lands Monday. Another grows 15%. Ask where they go before you move a desk. - What desks should new joiners be assigned? - What happens if teams grow, should we renew our lease based on headcount projections? - One plan. Not a move sheet in one place and a stack in another. Kadence Illustrative Gemini chat: a workplace leader asks where Sales could fit if the team grows by 12 people; Gemini answers from Kadence's floor setup. The key difference · For IT & Security #### Role-Based Access You Control Your people get the same permissions they already have in Kadence. End users can't see insights and analytics, and can't change settings. - OAuth 2.1 and SSO. No shared passwords. - Access never exceeds a user’s permissions Kadence Kadence: Role-Based Access You Control #### Bring Kadence into the AI Platform Your People Already Work In Set it up once, and it keeps working as you add new ones. #### Book a desk from ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot Kadence MCP gives AI assistants a set of workplace tools. People ask in plain language, and the assistant uses Kadence to do the job. Try prompts like these: - “Book me a desk near the design team on Tuesday.” - “Book a meeting room for six at 2 pm tomorrow.” - “Book me a parking space for Thursday.” - “Invite my guest Sam Patel to the London office on Friday at 10 am.” - “Check me in to my desk.” - “Which meeting rooms on floor 3 are free now?” #### How the Kadence MCP Works 1. ##### Connect your AI agent Connect Kadence to Claude, Copilot, or any MCP-compatible agent. Sign-in uses your existing SSO, so there's nothing new to provision. 2. ##### Ask in plain language Your people ask for what they need in the agent they already use. Book a room, invite a guest, check who's in. 3. ##### Kadence acts, within your rules Requests run against workplace data, scoped to each user's permissions, with every answer citing its source. FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **Does Kadence MCP work alongside a legacy IWMS like Archibus or Eptura?** Yes. Kadence is a modern IWMS, and it can also work alongside a legacy IWMS. MCP lets your AI assistants book space, read occupancy using Kadence data while facilities systems of record (work orders, assets, leases, EH&S) stay where they are. **Is Kadence an IWMS?** Yes. Kadence is a modern IWMS: desk and room booking, visitor management, analytics and AI-powered scenario planning ([SpaceOps]()) in one platform. Many organizations also run Kadence alongside an existing facilities system for maintenance, assets and lease admin. **How is Kadence MCP different from IWMS AI assistants?** Most IWMS AI tools are chat inside the vendor’s product, they answer questions about occupancy or maintenance. Kadence MCP connects the AI assistants your company already uses (Claude, Copilot) so people can take workplace and portfolio actions in those tools. **Can AI agents help with space planning and portfolio decisions?** Yes. Through Kadence MCP, leaders can ask about underused space in plain language, then act in [Kadence SpaceOps]() instead of exporting IWMS reports into spreadsheets. **Kadence vs legacy IWMS software — where does MCP fit?** Workplace experience tools optimize booking and hybrid schedules. Legacy IWMS platforms run facilities operations. Kadence is a modern IWMS, and Kadence MCP is where those worlds meet action: your agents use live workplace data to book and coordinate without opening another app. **Can I book a desk from ChatGPT?** Yes, with Kadence MCP. Once your Kadence admin turns it on, you connect ChatGPT to Kadence and sign in with your own account. Then ask in plain language, such as “book me a desk near my team on Tuesday”, and ChatGPT books it through Kadence within your normal booking rules. **Can I book a desk with Claude?** Yes. Claude connects to the Kadence MCP server the same way. You can book desks, rooms and parking, invite visitors and check in by asking Claude, and every action uses your own Kadence permissions. Claude cannot change anything in Kadence that you could not change yourself. **Does Kadence work with Microsoft Copilot for room booking?** Yes. Microsoft Copilot can connect to Kadence MCP, so people can book meeting rooms and desks or invite visitors by asking Copilot. Microsoft 365 organizations can also use the Kadence app and Kadence AI inside Microsoft Teams, and the Kadence add-in for Outlook. See [Kadence for Microsoft Teams](). **What is a workplace MCP server?** An MCP server is how a business system offers tools to AI assistants through the Model Context Protocol, an open standard. A workplace MCP server like Kadence's offers tools such as booking a desk, booking a room, inviting a visitor or checking in, so any compatible assistant can use them without a custom integration. Read [what MCP is](). **Is Kadence MCP secure?** Each person signs in with their own account using OAuth 2.1 and your SSO, so there are no shared credentials. The assistant acts with that person's existing Kadence permissions and never beyond them. End users can't see insights and analytics, and can't change settings. An admin decides whether MCP is turned on. See [security and trust](). **Which AI assistants work with Kadence MCP?** Kadence MCP works with Claude, ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, and with other AI assistants that can connect to remote MCP servers. It is in early access and included in WorkOps Team, WorkOps Pro and SpaceOps. An admin turns it on for your organization. #### Explore more - [SpaceOps]() - [Kadence SpaceOps]() - [Kadence AI]() - [Microsoft Teams]() - [What is MCP?]() - [AI workplace assistants, explained]() - [Security and trust]() - [All integrations]() Next step #### Bring Kadence into Your Team’s AI Workflow Book a demo to see the Kadence MCP connected to your own workplace data, or get a quote tailored to your portfolio. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Management for Media and Entertainment | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/media-and-entertainment/ Description: Workplace management software for media and entertainment: see which team is in each day and keep edit suites and project rooms for the people using them. Entertainment and media ### Workplace Management for Media and Entertainment Know who is coming in, and keep project rooms for the teams using them. Studios, agencies and media groups plan around projects, not fixed desks. Kadence shows which team is in on which day, keeps edit suites and project rooms booked by the people who need them, and brings everyone in for the moments that matter. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative: the studio floor today, with edit suites and a project room booked through the day by the post-production, color and creative teams. Trusted in media and entertainment - GWI - Vizrt Team days #### The right teams in together, project by project. AI recommendations for in-person team days, a live view of who is in and where they sit, and neighborhoods so teams find each other. HRIS keeps the roster current and cancels bookings on leave. - Team-day recommendations - Who is in, where, before the day starts - HRIS-driven roster and desk assignment WorkOps · Team coordination Team today: four of seven teammates in on Thursday, the highest overlap this week. No-shows #### Project rooms free when the booking lapses. Recurring holds and calendar conflicts tie up rooms. Kadence releases unused space, syncs with calendars and flags device conflicts ahead of time. - Auto-release of unused rooms - Calendar sync with Outlook and Google - Device conflict detection WorkOps · Room booking Room booking detail with a Microsoft Teams confirmation. Events #### Screenings, launches and all-hands where people already book. Workplace events, employee surveys and announcements run in the platform employees already use every day, so engagement lands where attendance is measured. - Workplace events and announcements - Employee surveys - Easy check-in WorkOps · Today's office Today's office: occupancy by desks, rooms and parking with a live map. #### Kadence in media Customer story · Market Research ##### GWI runs London, New York and Athens from one workplace system. **3** cities, one system [Read the story]() Reviews on G2 · Media and entertainment #### In their own words. [All Kadence reviews on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “Kadance allowed us to halve our active office space and move to a post covid, fully hybrid work model with a shared desk office space.” **Verified User in Publishing** Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) · G2 review, August 2023 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() By industry - [Financial services →]() - [Technology →]() - [Legal →]() - [Business services →]() - [Commercial real estate →]() - [Consumer goods →]() - [Energy and utilities →]() - [Government →]() - [Healthcare and pharma →]() - [Higher education →]() - [Manufacturing →]() - [Non-profits →]() - [Retail →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Meeting Room Booking Software for Outlook | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/microsoft-outlook-calendar/ Description: Book meeting rooms in Outlook with the Kadence add-in. Find free rooms across offices, keep two-way sync with Microsoft 365 and release rooms nobody uses. Microsoft Outlook Calendar ### Book meeting rooms in Outlook. Find available rooms across office locations and invite colleagues from Outlook. Keep check-in notifications connected through Microsoft Teams. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative Outlook event suggests three meeting rooms, selects Room 4 for six people and adds it to the invite. [Explore WorkOps]() [Explore SpaceOps]() [Explore integrations]() Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Teams Outlook Calendar Integration #### Find and book rooms easily Kadence room booking software integrates seamlessly with your Outlook calendar for faster adoption. Search for available spaces across different office locations easily directly from the Outlook calendar. Book rooms and invite colleagues with just a few click. Kadence Booking rooms for your meetings with Outlook MS Teams Notifications #### Check-in notifications and space booking through MS Teams All of your team communications and space booking tools in one place. Check in via Kadence mobile app or MS Teams with just a tap, find the right meeting room fast with capacity and amenities filters. Kadence Check into your spaces easily within Microsoft Teams Desk Booking Integration #### Book rooms from inside an Outlook meeting invite The Kadence Room Booking add-in puts room search in the Outlook toolbar. Open a meeting, open the Kadence panel and pick a room. The room goes into the Location field, and the booking syncs to Kadence. - See available rooms in real time, with capacity, location and amenities. - Search rooms across your offices, not just the building you sit in. - Add or remove a room with one click, or copy a room's address to forward a meeting. - Works in Outlook desktop on Windows and Mac, with partial support in Outlook on the web. #### Two-way sync with Microsoft 365 room calendars Kadence connects to your room mailboxes in Exchange Online. When someone books a room in Outlook, the booking appears in Kadence shortly after. When someone books a room in Kadence, in Microsoft Teams or at a Kadence Room Display, Outlook creates the event and invites the room. Outlook stays the source of truth, and [two-way calendar sync]() prevents double bookings. #### Check-in and auto-release for meeting rooms Booked rooms often sit empty. Kadence asks people to check in from the Kadence apps, Microsoft Teams or a [Kadence Room Display]() at the door, and [auto-release]() frees rooms nobody checks in to. Room displays also run on [Neat devices](). Check-ins and no-shows feed Workplace Insights, so you see how meeting rooms are really used, not just how they are booked. #### Set up for Microsoft 365 admins 1. Copy your tenant ID from the Microsoft Entra admin center. 2. In Kadence, go to Settings, Integrations, Calendar Integration, and connect Outlook with the tenant ID. 3. Grant consent in Microsoft Entra ID. Kadence asks for Place.Read.All, User.Read.All and Calendars.ReadWrite. 4. Link each Kadence room to its Microsoft 365 room mailbox. 5. Deploy the add-in from the Microsoft 365 admin center, under Settings, Integrated apps: to everyone, to chosen groups or as optional. Full steps: [Outlook rooms setup guide]() and [Outlook add-in setup guide](). #### Permissions and security A Microsoft admin with the Entra roles listed in the setup guide grants consent. Kadence connects to one Microsoft tenant per account, and multi-tenant setups use a service account. Room settings in Microsoft 365 take priority over Kadence settings, and delegates can still approve room requests. People sign in with Microsoft Entra ID [single sign-on](). See [security and trust]() for certifications. FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **Is there a meeting room booking system integrated with Outlook?** Yes. Kadence is meeting room booking software that works inside Outlook. The Kadence add-in lets people find and book rooms from a meeting invite, and two-way sync keeps Outlook and Kadence in step. Rooms can also be booked in the Kadence apps, in Microsoft Teams or at a room display, and those bookings show in Outlook too. **Does Kadence work with Exchange Online?** Yes. Kadence syncs with room mailboxes in Exchange Online, part of Microsoft 365. Rooms must be cloud-based: Kadence does not sync room mailboxes hosted on Exchange on-premises. Rooms also need to be on one Microsoft tenant and visible in the Global Address List. **How do I book a meeting room in Outlook with Kadence?** Create or open a meeting in Outlook and click Kadence Room Booking in the toolbar. A side panel shows available rooms with their capacity, location and amenities. Click Add to put the room in the Location field. The booking then syncs to Kadence, so the room shows as booked everywhere. **What Microsoft 365 permissions does Kadence need?** For room sync, an Entra admin grants Kadence Place.Read.All, User.Read.All and Calendars.ReadWrite. The Teams app needs admin consent for the Kadence Bot so it can message users. Admins deploy the Outlook add-in from the Microsoft 365 admin center and choose who gets it. Teams setup is on the [Microsoft Teams page](). **What happens if nobody checks in to a booked room?** Kadence releases the room after the check-in window your admins set, so someone else can book it. People check in from the Kadence apps, Microsoft Teams or a Kadence Room Display at the door. No-shows appear in Workplace Insights, so you can see which rooms are booked but not used. **Which versions of Outlook does the Kadence add-in support?** The Kadence add-in works in Outlook desktop on Windows and Mac. Outlook on the web has partial support. People can install it themselves from Get Add-ins in Outlook, or IT can deploy it to everyone, to chosen groups, or as an optional add-in. #### Explore more - [Desk booking in Microsoft Teams]() - [Room booking software]() - [Two-way calendar sync, explained]() - [Meeting room displays]() - [Kadence on Neat]() - [Google Calendar room booking]() Next step #### Start working smarter with Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Microsoft Teams Desk Booking Integration | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/microsoft-teams/ Description: Book desks and rooms in Microsoft Teams with Kadence. Chat with Kadence AI, get check-in reminders and see who is in, without leaving Teams. Microsoft Teams ### Book desks and rooms in Microsoft Teams. Bring desk booking, room booking, and team schedules into the Microsoft Teams workspace your people already use. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative Teams conversation books Desk 14 for Tuesday and shows its location beside teammates on a desk map. [Explore WorkOps]() [Explore SpaceOps]() [Explore integrations]() Microsoft Teams Microsoft Outlook Zero setup #### Do Everything In Microsoft Teams Microsoft Teams’ desk booking integration connects directly with Kadence, so your people can easily find, and book available spaces all within one place. - Make Kadence available to your entire organization all within MS Teams - Zero setup, passwords, or training required. Everyone can start booking spaces using the familiar MS Teams interface, making it effortless for your teams to adopt Kadence Microsoft Teams Desk Booking Integration lets you manage bookings, your team schedules and your employee directory Kadence AI #### Experience The Power Of Kadence AI Inside Microsoft Teams Want to make a desk booking? Just ask Kadence. Want to see when your teammate is heading to the office? Just ask Kadence. Want to book a meeting room for your weekly sync? Just ask Kadence, all within the tools your team already use. [See How It Works]() Kadence Kadence AI Desk booking integration with Microsoft teams Check-In Notifications #### Prompt Your Teams To Check Into Spaces Prompting your teams to check into spaces is a valuable practice for fostering collaboration, communication, and accountability within your organization, especially in a digital workplace like Microsoft Teams - Set up notifications via MS Teams to ensure your teams are checking into their reserved spaces, so unused spaces can be released automatically for others to book Kadence Check into your spaces easily within Microsoft Teams Desk Booking Integration Microsoft Teams #### Find Teammates And Available Spaces All Within Microsoft Teams Microsoft Teams Desk Booking Integration is an essential tool for efficient collaboration and communication in a digital workplace. A powerful platform that brings teams together, whether they are working remotely or in the same physical location. - Coordinate your people, and your office space, all in one platform - Find teammates using the interactive office floor map, book a desk nearby in the same neighborhood, and check in to reserved spaces without ever leaving Microsoft Teams Kadence Find your teammates and book spaces with the Microsoft Teams Desk Booking Integration Outlook Calendar #### Improve Meeting Efficiency With Outlook Calendar Outlook calendar is a key strategy for optimizing your workday and ensuring that your time is well-spent. Microsoft Outlook offers a robust calendar feature that can help you streamline your meetings and make the most of your valuable time - No more wasting time coordinating meetings and searching for available rooms with the right amenities - Our Microsoft Outlook calendar integration enables meeting room booking all in one place, within the MS Teams app or directly in the calendar Kadence Booking rooms for your meetings with Outlook Workplace Announcements #### Effortless Internal Communication Schedule and send workplace announcements to your employees directly through Microsoft Teams. - Let your teams know that a message is important by labeling it as a high-priority - Schedule announcements about team get-togethers and building closures to go out in advance - Segment your announcement by team, booking, or office location Kadence Kadence: Effortless Internal Communication #### Teams bookable desks or Kadence in Teams? Microsoft 365 includes room booking in Teams and Outlook, and Microsoft's bookable desks in Teams reserve a desk when someone plugs in to its monitor or dock. If simple booking inside Microsoft 365 is all you need, that can be enough. Workplace teams add Kadence when they also need to plan, measure and run the office. Kadence works inside Teams and Outlook, so people keep the tools they know. - Team neighborhoods, assigned desks and the Neighborhood Scheduler for shared or rotating floors. - Automatic check-in over office Wi-Fi with the Kadence Agent, and auto-release of desks and rooms nobody uses. - Workplace Insights for attendance, occupancy and no-shows, with custom dashboards in Insights Plus. - Visitor management with kiosk check-in and badge printing. - Move Manager for new starters, leavers and team moves, and SpaceOps for stack and scenario planning. - One platform across Teams, Outlook, Slack, Google Calendar and the Kadence iOS and Android apps. #### Set up desk booking in Microsoft Teams IT sets up the Teams app once. A Global Admin in Kadence and an admin for Microsoft Entra ID do it together in three steps. 1. Copy your tenant ID from the Microsoft Entra admin center. 2. In Kadence, go to Settings, then Integrations, and paste the tenant ID under Microsoft Teams. 3. In Microsoft Entra ID, grant admin consent to the Kadence Bot app, so Kadence can send check-in reminders and messages in Teams. People then add Kadence from Apps in Teams. To give it to everyone at once, a Teams admin adds Kadence to an app setup policy in the Teams admin center. Step-by-step help: [Microsoft Teams integration setup guide](). #### Built for Microsoft 365 organizations Kadence fits the rest of your Microsoft stack. People sign in with Microsoft Entra ID [single sign-on](), and [SCIM directory sync]() keeps users and teams current. The Kadence Agent signs in silently on Windows with Entra and checks people in when they join the office network. Room bookings sync both ways with Outlook, and the [Kadence Outlook add-in]() books rooms from inside a meeting invite. Wavex, a London technology firm, ran desk booking and team scheduling inside Microsoft Teams and reached 100% adoption in one week. [Read the Wavex story](). FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is Microsoft Teams desk booking integration?** A Microsoft Teams desk booking integration is a platform that enables employees to see when their teammates are going into the office, where they’re sitting, and book a space nearby with all the right amenities they need. Companies that already use Microsoft Teams can continue to communicate and fully utilize their hybrid desk booking software in the app their employees are already using. [Download here directly to get started]() **Does Microsoft Teams help with team productivity?** Yes. Since Microsoft Teams is commonly used as a communication, and collaboration tool, it makes sense for users to integrate a hybrid workplace software inside the tool their teams are already using. Users can find their teammates, book spaces to collaborate in person, check into their spaces, and get prompt notifications if their teammates have canceled their booking for that day. [Read more here]() **What can Microsoft Teams integrate with?** If enabled, Microsoft Teams can integrate seamlessly with your hybrid desk booking software. With Kadence, users can get set up within seconds. Simply search for Kadence in the Microsoft Teams App Directory to download, and add it to your taskbar within Microsoft Teams for easy access. From there, you can use Kadence in all the ways you could before all inside one application. **Can desk booking software integrate with other systems?** Kadence desk booking software can integrate with popular systems like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and more. By integrating with the tools your team uses, you can fully leverage the benefits of desk booking in your hybrid workplace. **Can you book desks in Microsoft Teams?** Yes. With the Kadence app for Microsoft Teams, people book desks and meeting rooms, see when teammates are going in, find them on the floor plan and check in, all inside Teams. Bookings follow the same rules, neighborhoods and availability as the Kadence web and mobile apps, so a desk booked in Teams shows everywhere. Learn more about [booking in Microsoft Teams and Slack](). **Why use Kadence instead of Teams bookable desks?** Microsoft's bookable desks and room booking cover booking inside Microsoft 365. Kadence runs inside Teams too, and adds team neighborhoods, automatic Wi-Fi check-in, auto-release, attendance and occupancy analytics, visitor management, move management and SpaceOps planning. It also works in Slack and Google Calendar, which helps when not every office or team runs on Microsoft. **Can I book a desk by chatting with Kadence AI in Teams?** Yes. Kadence AI works in Teams chat. Ask it to book a desk near a teammate, find a free room for your weekly sync or check you in, and it books within your company's rules. Admins can turn Kadence AI on or off. With it off, the Teams app still handles check-in. See [Kadence AI](). **How do I set up desk booking in Microsoft Teams?** A Kadence Global Admin pastes your Microsoft tenant ID into Settings, then Integrations. An Entra admin grants consent to the Kadence Bot app so Kadence can message users. People add Kadence from Apps in Teams, or a Teams admin pins it for everyone with an app setup policy. Full steps: [Teams setup guide](). **Is there a room booking system for Microsoft Teams?** Yes. With Kadence, people book meeting rooms from the Kadence app in Teams, by chatting with Kadence AI, or from Outlook with the Kadence add-in. Room bookings sync both ways with your Microsoft 365 room calendars, and rooms nobody checks in to are released for others to book. See [room booking software](). #### Explore more - [See How It Works]() - [Download here directly to get started]() - [Read more here]() - [Outlook room booking]() - [Wavex: 100% adoption through Teams]() - [Booking in Teams and Slack, explained]() - [Desk booking software]() - [All integrations]() Next step #### Start Working Smarter With Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Mobile App | Space Booking System for Flexible Working - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/mobile-app/ Description: A mobile app space booking system that helps you reserve, find, and safely check into clean and available desks. Mobile App ### Book your workspace on the go. Find, reserve, and check in to available spaces from your phone. Kadence makes it easy to plan your workday wherever you are. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative mobile booking shows today's schedule, suggests Desk 14 near the team and produces a confirmed desk pass after one tap. [Explore WorkOps]() [Explore SpaceOps]() [Explore integrations]() #### Easy Space Booking System For Flexible Working Kadence is the best way to reserve, find, and safely check in to available spaces on the go. Give people the freedom of how, when, and where they work, making it easy to plan the day straight from their pocket. #### Get the Kadence mobile app - [Download on the Apple App store]() - [Get it on Google Play]() Next step #### Kadence Mobile App Kadence is the best way to reserve, find, and safely check in to available spaces on the go. Give people the freedom of how, when, and where they work, making it easy to plan the day straight from their pocket. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Move Management Software for Office Moves | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/move-management-software/ Description: Move management software for joiners, leavers and team moves. Kadence Move Manager seats people on your floor plan from your HRIS and tells them where to go. Move Manager ### Move management software for every desk change. Move management software plans and carries out workplace moves, from one new starter's desk to a whole team changing floors. Kadence Move Manager seats joiners, clears leavers and relocates teams on your live floor plan, then tells each employee where they are going. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() WorkOps · Move Manager New starters Move Manager: new starters pulled from Workday and assigned desks, with the floor plan updated and HRIS sync switched on. [Explore WorkOps]() How it works #### From HR change to seated employee in three steps 1. ##### Bring in who is moving New starters, leavers and leave dates arrive from Workday, BambooHR or HiBob. Other HR systems push fields through the API, or you upload a move list from a spreadsheet. 2. ##### Seat them on the floor plan Move Manager recommends desks and auto-assigns people, one at a time or in bulk, on the floor plan employees already book from. 3. ##### Tell every employee Each person gets a move email and a personal move sheet that shows where they are moving. Nobody builds move sheets by hand. Recommendations and auto-assign #### Seat people in seconds, not spreadsheets. Move Manager recommends desks and assigns people to them for you. Seat one new starter, or a whole team with bulk auto-assign. - Desk recommendations for each person - Bulk auto-assign for teams and floors - Bulk move uploads from a spreadsheet WorkOps · Auto-assign Floor plan with AI-assisted seating: auto-assign places people on desks, with counts of unassigned people and spaces. Team relocations #### Move teams as teams. Neighborhoods keep each team together on the floor plan. When a team moves floors, relocate it in one pass and give it a neighborhood on the new floor. - Team neighborhoods and assigned desks - Neighborhood Scheduler for shared or rotating floors - Employees book next to their team from Slack or Teams [Desk booking and neighborhoods]() WorkOps · Neighborhoods Kadence floor plan with team neighborhoods on the 2nd floor and a weekly team schedule Moves, adds and changes #### Every kind of move, in one place Workplace teams handle a steady flow of small moves and a few big ones. Move Manager runs both on the same floor plan. [What MAC means]() - **New starters** Seat joiners before day one, from desk recommendations or auto-assign. - **Leavers** Free seats when people leave. With the HRIS integration, leavers are removed from their seats automatically. - **Ad-hoc moves** Move one person to a new desk without a spreadsheet or an email chain. - **Team relocations** Move a whole team to a new floor or neighborhood in one pass, with bulk auto-assign or a bulk move upload. When moves happen #### Built for the moves that come with real estate change Consolidations, lease events and reorganizations each end in hundreds of desk changes. Move Manager turns the plan into seated people. - ##### Consolidating floors or buildings Plan the target layout, then seat every affected person in bulk and send each one a move sheet. - ##### A lease ends or a new office opens Load the people moving from a spreadsheet and auto-assign them on the new floor plan. Each person gets a move email and a move sheet. - ##### Reorganizations and mergers When teams change, reseat them as teams. Neighborhoods keep each team together on the floor plan. - ##### Steady hiring and attrition HR system sync turns every joiner and leaver into a desk change, so seating stays accurate between big moves. Plan first with SpaceOps #### Plan big moves before you make them For a restack or a consolidation, plan the target state first. In SpaceOps, the AI planning agent builds stack and seat-level plans from your occupancy data, and you compare scenarios side by side. When you approve a plan, SpaceOps publishes it to WorkOps as live neighborhoods and desk assignments. Editable floor plans let you change layouts in the browser, review the impact and roll back if needed. [Space planning software]() [Scenario planning]() Customer story · Higher Education #### RCS England consolidated two floors into one and saved over £40,000 a year. **50%** fewer floors, two into one > “Kadence has become second nature, like getting a coffee. It’s woven into how we work.” > > Mahsa Mohseni, Project Manager, RCS England [Read the RCS England story]() FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is move management software?** Move management software plans and carries out workplace moves, from one desk change to a team relocating across floors or buildings. It records who moves where and when, seats people on the floor plan, tells employees in advance and keeps seating records accurate afterward. The glossary covers [move management]() in more depth. **What are moves, adds and changes (MAC)?** [Moves, adds and changes]() is the routine work of relocating people and teams, preparing space for new occupants and updating desks or assignments. Workplace teams run it all the time as people join, leave and reorganize. Move Manager handles each type: new starters, leavers, ad-hoc moves and team relocations. **How does Kadence handle new starters and leavers?** The HRIS integration syncs new starters, leavers and leave dates from Workday, BambooHR or HiBob. Move Manager seats new starters with desk recommendations and auto-assign, and leavers are removed from their seats automatically. Customers on other HR systems can push the same fields through the API. **Can I move many people at once?** Yes. Bulk auto-assign seats a group from Move Manager's recommendations, and a bulk move upload takes a spreadsheet of people and destinations. Both work on the live floor plan, so a team relocation or a floor consolidation is one change instead of hundreds of edits. **How do employees find out about their move?** Each employee gets a move email and a personal move sheet that shows where they are moving. Move Manager creates both, so the workplace team does not write move notices or build move sheets by hand, and nobody turns up on moving day without knowing their new desk. **Which Kadence plan includes Move Manager?** Move Manager, bulk auto-assign, move notifications and the HRIS integration are part of WorkOps Pro. Editable floor plans are a WorkOps Pro add-on and come included with SpaceOps. See [pricing]() for the full list by plan. #### Explore more ##### In the glossary - [Move management]() - [MAC: moves, adds and changes]() - [Joiners, movers and leavers]() - [HRIS integration]() - [Cost per move]() - [Office relocation]() - [Restack]() - [Swing space]() - [Editable floor plans]() ##### Products, templates and stories - [WorkOps]() - [Space planning software]() - [Scenario planning]() - [Office move checklist]() - [What is move management and why it matters]() - [How the University of Exeter restacked its space]() - [Pricing]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Multi Language Support - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/multi-language/ Description: Kadence delivers a native, seamless experience in 38 languages that is trusted by businesses globally. Multi Language ### One workplace platform for teams in 38 languages. Give teams across EMEA, APAC, and North America a localized Kadence experience for everyday workplace operations. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative booking card crossfades between English, French and German while retaining the same confirmed Desk 14 booking. [Explore WorkOps]() [Explore SpaceOps]() [Explore integrations]() Multi Language #### One Consistent Experience For Everyone When every team speaks the same operational language, work just flows. Kadence ensures every interaction feels familiar, no matter the location or language, from onboarding to space booking to reporting, no matter where they are. Kadence Kadence: One Consistent Experience For Everyone Multi Language #### Reliable At Scale. Designed For Global Rollouts. Your teams collaborate faster, communicate clearly, and stay productive without barriers or confusion. Kadence designed the platform to be fast, accurate, and specialized for global enterprises that demand reliability 24/7. Kadence Kadence: Reliable At Scale. Designed For Global Rollouts. Multi Language #### One Platform For All Multiple offices often means multiple tools, which equals higher costs and disparate employee experiences. Kadence brings everything together, from built-in translations to workplace operations in one unified platform, helping you: - Cut costs - Reduce redundancies - Simplify operations management Kadence Kadence: One Platform For All #### Faster Adoption, Proven ROI. You’ve invested in great technology, now make sure everyone uses it. Kadence enables localized onboarding that help employees adopt faster, and eliminate the cost of unused tools. - 3x faster adoption in non-English speaking offices - Up to 30% fewer support tickets - 25% faster onboarding for international new hires FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is Kadence Global Language Support?** Kadence Multi-Language Support enables teams to access the platform in 38 languages (view [full list here]()), providing a fully localized, intuitive experience that drives adoption and reduces operational friction across global teams. **Who benefits most from this feature?** Enterprise organizations with distributed teams, international offices, or non-English-speaking users. It’s especially valuable for HR, IT, and Workplace teams responsible for driving adoption, onboarding, and regional support. **Will this help us scale Kadence into new markets faster?** Yes. Removing language barriers accelerates adoption, enabling smooth rollouts in new countries and regions while improving employee experience from day one. **How do we enable Global Language Support?** Multi-Language Support is included in all Kadence plans and can be activated within the user’s settings, no additional setup is required. **How does it work?** Our localization process leverages AI-based translation workflows. Once translated, each language variant is stored and delivered natively through Kadence’s infrastructure, eliminating latency and ensuring consistent functionality across all supported locales. #### Explore more - [Product Tour]() - [full list here]() Next step #### The Global Connected Workplace Kadence aligns your people, spaces, and decisions without forcing cultural sameness. See how Kadence empowers your global teams to work as one. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Room Display Integration with Neat Canonical: https://kadence.co/neat/ Description: Kadence's room booking software seamlessly integrates with Neat, offering a sleek and efficient solution for managing your meeting spaces. Neat ### Room booking and visitor arrivals, powered by Neat. Give employees room booking at the door and visitors a consistent check-in experience with Kadence on Neat devices. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative Neat room panel changes from available to booked, counts down the check-in window and confirms check-in before auto-release. [Explore WorkOps]() [Explore SpaceOps]() [Explore integrations]() Room Display #### Beautiful display that just works Kadence’s room booking software seamlessly integrates with Neat . The Neat Pad complements any workplace environment, whether mounted on a wall, glass or table. With its sleek design, there’s no need for cluttered cables and integrates LED indicators provide instant visibility into room availability, making scheduling effortless and intuitive. [Neat]() Kadence Room Displays That Run On Hardware You Already Own Room Booking Software #### See room availability at a glance Streamline room access and resource management with our room booking display software. Effortlessly check meeting room availability, amenities, and capacity all in one place. You can instantly book the room without having to go through your other calendar systems, start or end a meeting from right outside the room. Increase visibility on room status to avoid booking conflicts. Kadence Kadence Room Display tablet mounted outside a meeting room showing live availability, time remaining, and a one-tap Book button, powered by Kadence. Seamless Visitor Management #### Visitor Kiosks That Remove Front-Desk Bottlenecks Keep arrivals moving smoothly, even during peak periods, without adding staff or compromising security. With self-serve QR check-in, our seamless integration supports high-volume, unattended entry while reducing front-desk bottlenecks and minimizing queues for a faster, more secure visitor experience. Kadence Kiosk screen showing visitor booking details with identity capture and digital document signing for audit-ready visitor records. #### Key Features Find the right room, at the right time. FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is Neat Pad?** Neat Pad is a simple and elegant touch screen you can configure as a controller inside any meeting room or use as a scheduling display outside any meeting room. Neat Pad is included with Neat Bar but can be paired with any Zoom Rooms or Microsoft Teams Room system, eliminating the need for an iPad, or other consumer-grade tablets. Thanks to just one Power over Ethernet cable, Neat Pad never runs out of battery either. It’s always on, ready for you to leap into action. **Where can I find product specification about Neat Pad?** Detailed specifications for Neat Pad can be found on our website on [Neat Pad Specifications](). **How do you set up a Neat Pad?** Neat Pad includes a wall-mount and side mount, so it’s easy for anyone to install and set up. Use the wall mount to fix Neat Pad to the wall as a controller in your meeting room or scheduling display outside your meeting room. Apply the side mount to attach Neat Pad to your doorframe or mullion. #### Explore more - [Neat]() - [Neat Pad Specifications]() Next step #### Start working smarter with Kadence Book a demo, and see our Neat integration in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() September 24, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] September 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] September 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] September 15, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [23% Is Not an Adoption Story]() CBRE says AI is already influencing space-planning decisions for 23% of occupiers. The workplace leaders I talk to are watching the rest of the company get lost, with tools that do not help them keep up. CBRE’s 2026 Americas Office Occupier Sentiment Survey put a number on a feeling a lot of workplace leaders already had. In \[…\] September 8, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] August 25, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Chief Places Officer Is Coming]() The most influential forecast in commercial real estate just floated a new job title, and I think it is the most important idea in the entire report. In this year’s PwC and ULI outlook, in a passage about how occupiers are reorganizing their floors, is the suggestion that coordinating where teams sit may soon become \[…\] August 12, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Workplace Leader’s Playbook for When a Reorg Hits]() Our team at Kadence was recently in a conversation with a large enterprise, and one thing a workplace leader on their side said has stuck with me. This particular company has publicly, very publicly, re-auged multiple times already this year and the Workplace team are feeling it. When a reorg hits and you have to \[…\] August 12, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. August 11, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Offices Were Repriced. Your Space Decisions Should Be Too.]() The market has already repriced your real estate. It did not ask whether you wanted to participate. Values have corrected, leases are getting shorter and smaller, and new supply has effectively stopped. What has not changed, in most enterprises, is how the lease decision itself gets made. That is the gap I want to close \[…\] August 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. August 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [Office Space Planning: A Workplace Leader’s Guide to Strategic Workplace Design]() Office space planning was once a one-time exercise: lay out the floor, assign the desks, and revisit it in a few years. That model no longer fits how organizations operate. Office space planning has become an ongoing strategic discipline that touches real estate, headcount, hybrid policy, and employee experience at the same time. This guide \[…\] August 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Move Management? A Practical Guide to Office Moves, Adds, and Changes]() Move management is the practice of planning and executing workplace changes so people, space and resources stay aligned, from desk changes to full relocations. Page 1 of 15 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## 10 Proven Strategies To Supercharge Internal Communication With Jo Coxhill - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/10-proven-strategies-to-supercharge-internal-communication-with-jo-coxhill/ Description: Learn how to improve your internal communication and empower your team with the tools and training they need to communicate effectively. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · July 5, 2024 · [Helen Attia]() ### 10 Proven Strategies To Supercharge Internal Communication With Jo Coxhill A woman smiles into camera. Effective internal communication is the lifeblood of any thriving organization. It ensures that everyone is aligned, informed, and engaged, driving productivity and job satisfaction. However, many companies struggle with fostering clear and open communication among employees. If you’re looking to improve your internal communications, you’re in the right place. I recently spoke to Internal Communications Consultant and Founder of Vision 29, Jo Coxhill. We discussed the importance of listening to your teams and what effective communication looks like. Watch our full conversation here. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() And to help further, here are ten proven strategies to help you transform your internal communication efforts. #### 1. Embrace Open-Channel Communication Creating an open-channel communication environment encourages transparency and trust within your team. Use tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams to facilitate real-time conversations. These platforms break down hierarchical barriers and enable employees to communicate openly, share ideas, and resolve issues swiftly. #### 2. Leverage The Power Of Video Communication Video communication can bridge the gap between remote and in-office employees, fostering a more connected workforce. Regular video updates from leadership, video conferencing, and even short video messages can personalize communication and make it more engaging. Tools like Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams are perfect for this purpose. #### 3. Implement Regular All-Hands Meetings All-hands meetings are essential for ensuring everyone is on the same page. They provide a platform for leadership to share company updates, celebrate achievements, and address concerns. Make these meetings interactive by including Q&A sessions, polls, and shout-outs to encourage participation and keep employees engaged. #### 4. Adopt Announcement Features Platforms like Kadence enhance team collaboration and communication. [Send Announcements]() with key updates to select teams or to the company as a whole. They reduce the clutter of emails and ensure that important information is easily accessible within your homepage dashboard. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### 5. Encourage Feedback And Open Dialogue Fostering a culture where feedback is valued and acted upon can significantly improve internal communications. Use anonymous surveys, suggestion boxes, and regular one-on-one meetings to gather employee feedback. Show that you value their input by implementing changes based on their suggestions and acknowledging their contributions. #### 6. Promote A Culture Of Inclusivity And Diversity Inclusive communication practices ensure that everyone feels heard and respected. This includes being mindful of language, cultural differences, and accessibility needs. Providing training on inclusive communication and ensuring all materials are accessible to everyone will foster a more inclusive workplace. #### 7. Utilize Internal Newsletters Internal newsletters are an excellent way to keep employees informed about company updates, upcoming events, and key achievements. They can also feature employee spotlights, team accomplishments, and fun facts to keep the content engaging. Ensure that the newsletters are concise, visually appealing, and sent out on a regular schedule. #### 8. Invest In Communication Training Effective communication is a skill that can be developed. Provide training and workshops on communication skills, active listening, and emotional intelligence. Equipping your team with these skills will enhance their ability to communicate effectively and resolve conflicts amicably. #### 9. Foster Informal Communication Not all communication has to be formal. Encourage informal communication through team-building activities, coffee chats, or virtual watercooler sessions. These informal interactions can strengthen relationships and improve overall communication within the team. #### 10. Measure And Analyze Communication Effectiveness Regularly measuring and analyzing the effectiveness of your internal communication strategies is crucial. Use tools like employee engagement surveys, feedback forms, and analytics from your communication platforms to assess what’s working and what’s not. Use this data to make informed decisions and continuously improve your communication efforts. #### Why Internal Communication Matters Imagine a symphony orchestra where each musician plays their own tune without regard for others. The result would be chaos, not harmony. Similarly, in an organization, if departments and employees work in silos without effective communication, the result is confusion, inefficiency, and frustration. Effective internal communication aligns everyone towards common goals, fosters a positive work environment, and drives organizational success. It ensures that employees are well-informed, motivated, and feel valued, which in turn boosts productivity and reduces turnover. #### Addressing Common Pain Points Many companies face common internal communication challenges such as information overload, lack of engagement, and miscommunication. Addressing these pain points requires a strategic approach and a commitment to continuous improvement. **Information Overload:** Streamline communication by using centralized platforms and ensuring that messages are concise and relevant. Avoid bombarding employees with unnecessary information. **Lack of Engagement:** Foster engagement through interactive meetings, encouraging feedback, and recognizing contributions. Make communication a two-way street where employees feel heard and valued. Communicate through platforms like Kadence that your teams are already using. **Miscommunication:** Enhance clarity by using visual aids, providing communication training, and ensuring that messages are clear and concise. Regularly check in with employees to ensure that they understand and are aligned with the information shared. #### Actionable Insights For Immediate Improvement Start by assessing your current internal communication practices. Identify the gaps and pain points through surveys and feedback sessions. Then, implement the strategies outlined above, prioritizing those that address your most pressing issues. Remember, effective internal communication is an ongoing process that requires regular evaluation and adjustment. Improving internal communications is not just about implementing tools and strategies; it’s about fostering a culture where communication is valued and prioritized. When employees feel informed, heard, and valued, they are more likely to be engaged and productive. Take the time to understand the unique communication needs of your team. Tailor your strategies to fit those needs, and be open to feedback and continuous improvement. By doing so, you will create a more connected, motivated, and successful organization. #### Final Thoughts [Effective internal communication]() is the cornerstone of a thriving organization. By implementing these ten strategies, you can create a more transparent, engaging, and productive workplace. Remember, the key to successful communication is consistency, openness, and a genuine commitment to understanding and meeting the needs of your employees. Empower your team with the tools, training, and environment they need to communicate effectively. As you do, you’ll not only improve your internal communication but also drive your organization towards greater success. If you would like to hear about how Kadence can help you, [book a demo]() with one of our team. --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## 23% Is Not an Adoption Story - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/23-is-not-an-adoption-story/ Description: CBRE found 23% of occupiers say AI already influences their space. Learn what optimal AI space planning takes before your next lease. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · September 15, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### 23% Is Not an Adoption Story AI Space Planning CBRE says AI is already influencing space-planning decisions for 23% of occupiers. The workplace leaders I talk to are watching the rest of the company get lost, with tools that do not help them keep up. CBRE’s [2026 Americas Office Occupier Sentiment Survey]() put a number on a feeling a lot of workplace leaders already had. In it, 23% of organizations report that artificial intelligence is already influencing their space-planning decisions. It is being repeated as an adoption story. What CBRE measured was a force on the portfolio. #### What CBRE Actually Asked CBRE asked whether AI, as a pressure on the business, is already showing up in how leaders think about space. Whether occupiers have an AI that can produce a floor plan is a separate question entirely. Another 30% expect a meaningful impact within two years, which leaves close to half who do not expect AI to affect their space planning any time soon. So the honest read is narrower than the headline. A minority of Americas occupiers already feel AI in the plan, a larger group is waiting, and the rest are not convinced it will matter. It helps to know who is answering. That is 97 companies, senior occupiers with real portfolios behind them. A considered read from people close to the decision, which is exactly why it is worth reading properly rather than flattening into a statistic. #### Reconfigurable Space Is a Stack-Plan Decision Half of those same occupiers expect AI to push them toward more multipurpose, reconfigurable space. That sounds like a furniture decision. It lands on the stack plan, because reconfigurable space only works if you can model what moves where, and under what rules. Meanwhile 37% expect AI to lead to reduced headcount and less total space, and yet [CBRE’s own read]() is that just 4% of that group are planning significant space cuts in the next three years. Premium, adaptable space is the more likely outcome. The survey is a signal without certainty, and nobody can hand it to a design team and call it a brief. #### Finance Is Already Moving Finance is not waiting for the workplace team to get comfortable. In a separate [Censuswide survey of 1,000 U.S. and U.K. CEOs and CFOs]() commissioned by IWG, 73% said technological change, including AI, has made their organization less willing to commit to long-term leases or traditional real estate. Another 60% said AI has made it harder to predict how much office space they will need over the next two years. Two different questions, describing the same pressure. The office is still the second-largest cost after people, and the people who sign the lease are asking for something they can underwrite. A vibe does not clear that bar. #### What I Am Seeing What I am seeing in conversations with workplace leaders is more specific than a survey cut. They look across their own companies and see that the rest of the organization is lost. Engineering has agents, marketing has a copilot, and finance has a forecast it does not fully trust. Nobody can tell the Head of Real Estate what any of that means for the floor, the stack, or the lease that is up in 14 months. The tools are already there. Most workplace teams have booking software, an occupancy dashboard, and a copilot that will draft a paragraph about last month’s utilization. Using them does not help those leaders keep up. Access to tools is not the same as transformation. That was Brian Elliott’s point when we [talked at the end of last year](), and it is more true now. JLL’s [2025 Global Real Estate Technology Survey]() found that 92% of occupiers are running corporate real estate AI pilots, a higher rate than investors, owners and landlords. Just 5% report having achieved all of their program goals. The barrier is rarely the model. What those leaders need is a plan they can defend in front of the people who sign the lease. A chatbot bolted onto another dashboard will not produce one. #### The Question Tracy Is Asking Tracy Hawkins sits in a useful seat for this. She is VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, and she [joined Kadence as a strategic advisor]() last November. Writing [earlier this year](), she argued that the question in front of workplace teams has already changed. It is no longer what the workplace strategy should be. It is how fast teams can learn, adapt, and operate differently. Then she named the thing standing in the way. > Most organizations are still expecting transformation without investing in learning. > > > > > > Tracy Hawkins > > > > VP of Real Estate and Workplace, OpenAI In the same post she listed where AI is already changing the work on a real estate team: how quickly you analyze portfolios and make decisions, how you plan space and model scenarios, how much capacity you can unlock without adding headcount. Every item on that list is a planning function, which is precisely the part of the job that has no tooling behind it. She had made the stakes concrete [a few days earlier](). > The role of the office didn’t get reimagined in a workshop. It’s being redefined in every lease, every policy, every team decision we make. > > > > > > Tracy Hawkins > > > > VP of Real Estate and Workplace, OpenAI That is the sentence to sit with, because it locates the work. Every lease is a decision, and every decision needs a plan behind it. That is the part workplace leaders recognize. Traditional planning cycles are already too slow for the business sitting on the other side of the table, and the speed of change is outpacing the cycle. The question for a leader is whether the team is building a method that keeps up. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### A Floor Plan Is Not a Paragraph Most people hear “AI for workplace planning” and picture a language model. You ask a question, it gives you a plausible-sounding answer, and the answer reads well enough that nobody checks it. A floor plan is not a paragraph. A seating plan has to be feasible, which means it has to survive contact with the actual building. You cannot put two people on one desk. You cannot put a team where there are not enough seats. I have watched talented people try to solve that by hand. A reorg hits, someone has to work out who sits next to whom, and there is no late-night spreadsheet that does that well. One plan is also a hostage. You cannot compare it to anything, so every objection lands as an attack rather than a trade-off. The questions a workplace leader actually needs answered are practical. Can we consolidate two floors? How do we keep engineering next to product? What happens if headcount grows next year? What fits, under our rules, and what has to move? A dashboard can tell you what happened and a utilization report shows part of the picture. Neither helps you test different futures before you make an expensive decision. An AI that knows nothing about your history is an articulate intern on a permanent first day. It will talk fluently about your portfolio. It has never seen the building. #### What SpaceOps Is For [SpaceOps]() is the half of our workplace operating system that answers how the portfolio should evolve. It handles scenario modeling, stack planning, restack and consolidation. You give it your teams, your floors, your desks, and the rules you actually care about, and it produces portfolio scenarios you can compare and defend before you commit to a lease. It runs on constraint-based optimization. Every scenario has to satisfy your rules before you ever see it, which is what lets you take the output into a boardroom and stand behind it. It generates a stack plan in minutes. You adjust, you re-optimize, and the plan that gets approved becomes the plan that goes live. The intelligence underneath it is a live demand signal rather than a survey or a one-off study. [WorkOps]() captures that signal as a byproduct of employees coordinating their week, so the scenarios are built on how the buildings are actually being used rather than on a planning assumption from two years ago. The value of AI here is speed, clarity, and a decision you can explain. #### Twenty-Three Percent Is the Start of a Question CBRE’s 23% is useful if you refuse to let it become a slogan. It marks the point where AI entered the space-planning conversation. Producing the next plan is a different capability, and far fewer occupiers have it. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() The leaders I talk to can see the rest of the company wandering. They have the tools, and using those tools does not close the gap. The job is still the one they were hired for: produce a plan the business can run, before the business has already moved. If you are building that plan now and want to pressure-test it against your own portfolio, [book a demo]() with our workplace operations team. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## 3 Ways to Integrate a Desk Booking System | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/3-ways-of-integrating-desk-booking-systems-with-workplace-technology/ Description: How single sign-on, Microsoft 365 and Google calendar sync, and directory sync help a desk booking system fit your workplace technology and drive adoption. [News]() · [Product News]() · August 27, 2021 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### 3 Ways to Integrate a Desk Booking System With Workplace Technology A desk booking system should integrate with three things first: [single sign-on](), calendars and your employee directory. Together they remove extra passwords, put bookings where people already plan their day, and keep user lists current without manual data entry. Each one lowers the effort of booking a desk, which is what decides whether employees keep using the tool. Kadence first set out these priorities in August 2021, when many organizations were moving away from one desk per person. The reasoning below still applies to any rollout. The Kadence product details describe the platform at that time; for current integrations, see [Kadence integrations](). #### Why does a desk booking system need to integrate with other tools? A desk booking system is software that lets employees reserve a desk before they come in. Like any workplace tool, it only works if people use it. When it runs in isolation, every booking creates extra steps in other systems. Integrations remove those steps, so the tool feels like part of the working day rather than one more chore. Consider how one meeting can ripple across disconnected tools: - You arrange a project meeting by email. - You open your calendar to create the meeting, invite others and book a room in your room booking software, or set up a Zoom link if it is virtual. - You log in to your Monday.com workspace and update the task on the relevant board. - If a client is involved, you open your CRM and update the record with the meeting details. Each tool has a role. Get a few of them talking to each other and people save time, effort and frustration. Teams find the technology easier to use, engagement improves, and the organization becomes a more productive and satisfying place to work. #### What is the case for desk booking in a hybrid office? When employees spend part of their time working remotely, there is no longer a need for one desk per person. Organizations need a simple way for people to reserve a desk and to make sure desks and amenities are available when and where they are needed. A [desk booking system]() does that job. User experience decides whether the system succeeds. Part of that experience is how smoothly it works with the tools employees already use. If integration is not near the top of your desk booking requirements, it should be. The three integrations below do the most to reduce effort for employees and admins. #### How does single sign-on make desk booking easier and more secure? Single sign-on (SSO) is a service that lets people sign in to many systems with one set of credentials. For desk booking, it means employees do not need another password to reserve a desk or change a booking. It also reduces two common problems: reused passwords, which are a security risk, and frequent resets, which waste time. The password burden is real. One estimate says the average person has to keep track of 100 passwords, and many of those are for work: email, CRM, intranet, LinkedIn, finance systems, project management software and HR systems. When people juggle that many logins, they either reuse the same password across systems or reset passwords often to get back in. SSO removes both problems by cutting the number of passwords employees need and how often they have to log in. In August 2021, Kadence desk booking worked with a number of third-party SSO services for this reason. #### Why sync desk bookings with Microsoft 365 or Google calendars? [Calendar integration]() adds each desk booking to the employee’s own calendar as soon as it is made. People see the time, duration and desk next to their meetings, so a desk booking becomes as familiar as a meeting invite. That visibility also helps reduce desk no-shows, because a booking people can see is a booking they remember. Booking in advance gives employees new details to track around each office day. They can no longer sleepwalk to the same desk they have used for five years at 8.59am. They need to know when they booked, for how long and which desk. The desk booking system holds that information, and calendar integration puts it where people already look, which smooths the move between remote and office days. The same applies to rooms. Microsoft and Google calendars can sync with [room booking systems](), so meeting spaces appear in the same place as the meetings themselves. #### What does directory sync do for workplace admins? [Directory sync]() connects the desk booking system to your employee directory. [New starters]() are added and leavers are removed automatically, so admins do not re-enter names, emails, teams and phone numbers by hand. It is helpful when adding a handful of employees and a major time saver when setting up a team of 100. The admin side of workplace technology is often where the effort hides. Behind a clean interface sits data, and less sophisticated systems expect someone to type it in. Directory sync makes onboarding and offboarding quick and keeps the booking system’s user list accurate, which also keeps the usage data it produces trustworthy. #### How do integrations affect adoption across the organization? Integrations decide how much effort each booking takes, and effort decides adoption. By August 2021, organizations had spent some 18 months mastering remote work, from conferences on Hopin to tea breaks on Slack. The office side needed to catch up, and for organizations leaving one desk per person behind, a desk booking system became essential. Office managers and workplace planners act as conductors, making sure each tool plays in time with the others. Technology that integrates with the rest of the stack helps them do that: employees are less frustrated and more engaged, and the workplace runs more smoothly. For a real rollout, read [how one organization implemented desk booking](). For how integrations fit a wider platform choice, see the [Kadence platform guide](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### Which integrations should a desk booking system have first? Start with single sign-on, calendar sync and directory sync. SSO removes an extra password, calendar sync puts bookings next to meetings, and directory sync keeps the user list current without manual entry. Together they cover access, daily use and administration. ##### Does single sign-on make desk booking less secure? No. Single sign-on is a secure way to reduce the number of passwords employees must remember. It also discourages password reuse across systems, which is one of the security risks it is designed to address. ##### Can calendar integration work for meeting rooms as well as desks? Yes. Microsoft and Google calendars can sync with [room booking systems](), so rooms can be booked and seen in the same calendar as the meetings they host. ##### What does directory sync keep up to date? It keeps employee records such as name, email, team and telephone number in step with your directory, so people can be onboarded and offboarded without manual data entry. #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Announcements for Hybrid Teams | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/3-ways-workplace-announcements-can-transform-internal-communication/ Description: How workplace announcements keep hybrid teams informed, reach the right people by team, office or booking, and streamline internal communication at work. [News]() · [Product News]() · April 9, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Workplace Announcements: 3 Ways They Improve Internal Communication The Kadence dashboard with the Workplace Announcements feature Workplace announcements are short, targeted messages that reach employees inside the tool they use to plan their work, instead of in a crowded inbox or chat channel. For a hybrid workforce split between the office, co-working spaces and home, they help everyone get the same information at the right time, and they let admins aim updates at a team, an office or the people booked into a building. In April 2024, Kadence introduced Workplace Announcements, which let admins create, schedule and send updates that employees saw in their Kadence dashboard. The feature is a useful example of how internal communication can sit alongside the tools people use to decide where and when they work. The details below describe the feature at launch. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What are workplace announcements? A workplace announcement is a message sent to employees inside the workplace platform they already use, such as a building closure notice or a social event invitation. Rather than a mass email or a Slack message that is easy to miss, it appears where people book desks and plan office days, so it is seen at the moment it is most relevant. At launch in April 2024, admins could create, schedule and send announcements to the Kadence dashboard in a few clicks. They could set priorities, so high-priority updates sat at the top of employees’ inboxes, and they could segment who received what. An admin might tell the whole company about a town hall meeting later that day, but only the finance team about their Secret Santa nominations. A Workplace Announcement on the Kadence dashboard informing employees of an upcoming town hall meeting #### What can workplace announcements be used for? Announcements work for any update that needs to reach a defined group quickly and reliably. The four most common uses are company-wide news, updates for one office, messages for one team, and emergency notices. In each case the sender chooses the audience, so people get the information they need without notifications meant for someone else. 1. **Company-wide announcements.** A major milestone or policy change reaches every employee, in the office or remote, at the same time, so the message is consistent. 2. **Office-specific updates.** The facilities team can tell employees at one location about maintenance work or an office closure. Only people at that location receive it, which avoids needless notifications elsewhere. 3. **Team-specific communication.** Managers can share project updates, deadlines or meeting schedules with a single team. 4. **Emergency notifications.** During an emergency such as a fire or a sudden office closure, admins can notify everyone in a building in a few clicks. The Kadence interface of a new Announcement of a Fire Drill in the user's inbox Used this way, announcements bring three benefits to internal communication. #### 1. How do announcements keep hybrid teams informed and engaged? Announcements give distributed employees a reliable view of what is happening at work, including the events that make a trip to the office worthwhile. When people see a social event or team gathering in advance, in the same place they [book a desk](), they can plan their office days around it. That keeps them connected to company culture when they spend less time on site. Distributed workforces risk losing touch with their company’s culture. HR managers need people to feel they belong, even when they spend less time in the office, and it is easy for employees to miss the events that connect them with colleagues across the company. With announcements, social events can be promoted ahead of time: a colleague’s birthday, or a bake sale for a local charity. Employees are more likely to come into the office when they can plan for it. If you want to encourage office attendance with something like a cycle-to-work scheme, announcing it where people organize their diaries and decide where to work is the obvious place. For more ideas on giving people reasons to meet, see the [guide to bringing teams together](). #### 2. How do announcements reach the right people? Good internal communication sends each update only to the people it affects. Kadence’s announcements could be filtered by team, by office location and by booking, so a message about one building reached only the people using it. Announcements could also be scheduled in advance, which meant late bookers still received time-sensitive reminders. Take a fire drill scheduled at one office on an upcoming Friday. Everyone using that building needs to know. At launch, Kadence let admins send an announcement to every employee booked into that office on Friday and mark it as urgent, so it appeared at the top of their inbox. Admins could also schedule a reminder, for example an hour before the drill. Everyone using the office that Friday would receive it, including people who decided that morning to come in and so missed the first announcement sent only to those already booked. Targeting by booking is where a workplace platform has an edge over email: it knows who will be in the building, not just who works there. The Kadence interface of a new Announcement being created informing teams of a Cycle to Work Scheme #### 3. How do announcements streamline internal communication? Announcements put company news in one predictable place, so managers can inform teams efficiently and employees know where to find updates. People stop worrying that they missed something, because they know where it is stored and how to reach it. Scheduling also lets admins plan communication ahead instead of sending every message by hand. At launch, Kadence could also send the same announcement to [Slack, Microsoft Teams and the Kadence app](). That helped with emergencies, when reach matters most, and with rollouts, while teams were still being onboarded to Kadence. Admins could set up an announcement in a few clicks and schedule it in advance, which lightened their workload and gave them confidence that the whole workforce would receive it. Workplace Announcements are part of the day-to-day operations side of the Kadence platform. To see how they fit alongside desk and room booking, explore [Kadence WorkOps](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between a workplace announcement and a company email? A workplace announcement appears inside the platform employees use to plan and book their office days, and it can be targeted by team, office or booking. A company email goes to an inbox alongside everything else and is easier to miss. ##### Can announcements target only the people who will be in an office on a given day? At launch in April 2024, yes. Admins could send an announcement to every employee booked into a specific office on a specific day, and schedule reminders that also reached people who booked later. ##### Can announcements be used in an emergency? Yes. During an emergency such as a fire or a sudden office closure, admins could notify everyone in a building in a few clicks, and the same message could go to Slack, Microsoft Teams and the Kadence app. Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## 40% Would Take A Pay Cut To Work From Home: Why Offices Must Earn Their Place - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/40-would-take-a-pay-cut-to-work-from-home-why-offices-must-earn-their-place/ Description: 40% would willingly take a pay cut of 5% or more to continue working from home. Learn how to make your office a place employees want to be. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · February 12, 2025 · [Helen Attia]() ### 40% Would Take A Pay Cut To Work From Home: Why Offices Must Earn Their Place A [new Harvard study]() has found that 40% of people surveyed would willingly take a pay cut of 5% or more to continue working from more. Even more striking, 9% said they’d accept a 20% reduction in salary just to avoid returning to the office. These figures aren’t just data points; they tell a powerful story about the changing dynamics of work. They reveal what many leaders have been slow to acknowledge: the office, as it stands today, isn’t offering enough value to outweigh the benefits of working from home. And because [we know remote work doesn’t always allow for meaningful collaboration](), it is on companies to make their offices more welcoming places to encourage employees back to the office. Featured Content 5 Things Hybrid Teams Get Right Discover the 5 things hybrid teams get right in this checklist, learn how top-performing teams make hybrid work, work! [Download]() #### The Problem With Return-To-Office Mandates Many companies are still clinging to [rigid return-to-office (RTO) mandates](), hoping to restore pre-pandemic norms. But these mandates often backfire. Instead of fostering engagement, they create an “us vs. them” dynamic between leadership and employees. When workers feel forced back, it undermines trust and signals that their preferences and wellbeing are secondary to outdated managerial habits. Mandates ignore a fundamental truth: people aren’t rejecting the office itself; they’re rejecting *the way* the office is being used. #### What The Data Really Tells Us The Harvard study reveals who values remote work the most. Interestingly, women are more likely than men to accept a 20% pay cut to maintain remote flexibility. This speaks volumes about how the office often fails to support diverse needs, particularly around work-life balance. Turns out, [95% of employees]() want their office spaces to get a bit of a makeover. We’re talking better layouts, more private nooks, cooler amenities, and even some outdoor spots to break up the day. It just goes to show—people aren’t anti-office, they just want spaces that feel good to be in. If the office is going to compete with the comfort of home, it has to offer more than just desks and Wi-Fi. It needs to feel like a place where wellbeing, connection, and creativity thrive. If employees are willing to sacrifice significant pay cut to avoid the office, it’s a clear signal that the traditional office environment isn’t meeting their needs. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Office Isn't Dead, But It Needs A Purpose Instead of enforcing RTO policies, companies should be asking: *What can we do to make the office a place people actually want to be?* If employees are willing to take a pay cut, alarm bells should be going off about forcing them back. The answer lies in reimagining the office as a hub for meaningful collaboration rather than a default location for daily tasks. Here’s how companies can shift the narrative: 1. **Design for Collaboration, Not Presence:** Offices should be optimized for activities that truly benefit from in-person interaction—brainstorming sessions, team-building events, and strategic planning. Rows of desks and rigid 9-to-5 schedules don’t inspire creativity or connection. 2. **Flexibility as a Core Value:** Flexibility shouldn’t just be a perk; it should be baked into company culture. Trust employees to choose when and where they do their best work. The office should support flexibility, not replace it. 3. **Focus on Employee Experience:** Invest in creating spaces that people enjoy. Comfortable environments, access to natural light, quiet zones, and areas designed for casual interactions can make the office feel less like an obligation and more like a resource. 4. **Data-Driven Decisions:** Use workplace analytics to understand how and when people are using the office. This insight helps leaders make informed decisions about space utilization and employee preferences. 5. **Lead with Purpose, Not Power:** Leadership should model flexible work behaviors themselves. When executives are seen using hybrid models effectively, it sets the tone for the rest of the organization. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Moving From Mandates To Meaning Forcing people back into the office isn’t just a logistical issue; it’s a cultural one. Mandates may get people through the door, but they won’t foster engagement, loyalty, or productivity. To win hearts and minds, companies must focus on creating offices that offer value beyond what remote work can provide. When the office becomes a place where employees feel inspired, connected, and supported, the question won’t be *“Why do I have to come in?”* but rather *“When can I come in next?”* The future of work isn’t about choosing between the office and remote work. It’s about designing a work experience that gives people the freedom to choose what works best for them—and making sure the office is worth that choice. **Ready to create an office people actually want to come back to?** [Book a demo]() with Kadence’s hybrid work experts today and see how we can help you make the most out of your office space. --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## University Space Management: 5 Challenges and Solutions | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/5-space-management-solutions-for-higher-education-organizations/ Description: University space management under hybrid work: how to downsize staff offices, understand space usage, avoid booking conflicts, integrate tools and protect data. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · May 23, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### University Space Management: 5 Higher Education Challenges and Solutions Five students sit around a desk in an university University [space management]() is the work of making staff offices, meeting rooms and shared areas in higher education fit how people now work. [Hybrid work]() has changed the sector as much as any other, and universities face five recurring challenges: downsizing staff offices, understanding space usage, scheduling without conflicts, integrating technology and protecting data. Each challenge has a practical answer in space management software, which gives administrators the data and booking tools to get smarter about how physical spaces and desks are used. Kadence first set out these challenges and solutions in May 2024. Kadence’s [higher education]() page covers how the platform supports universities today. #### Why is space management harder for higher education? Higher education organizations manage a mix of staff offices, administrative buildings, meeting rooms and specialist spaces, and hybrid work has made demand for them less predictable. The core task is creating an environment that is both functional and enjoyable for employees while controlling the cost of space that is often unevenly used. As workforces and spaces change, the question for managers and administrators is how to balance the demands of a modern workforce with the practicalities of managing space under a hybrid model. The five challenges below are where that balance is usually hardest. #### 1. How can universities downsize staff offices? Universities can downsize staff offices by moving from permanent individual offices to bookable shared desks. A [desk booking]() tool requires staff to book before coming in, which shows who is in the office and when. That evidence tells administrators where and how to downsize, and frees space for other uses. As an organization evolves, there is a growing need to reconfigure traditional office layouts into collaborative, multipurpose spaces and to save on real estate costs. Reducing staff offices and desk space makes room for amenities such as study areas, meeting rooms and recreational facilities, and it matters as much as cutting unnecessary space altogether. Managing that transition is hard without a clear picture of how the space is used. **The solution:** implement a [desk booking]() management tool. Desk booking supports [desk hoteling](), a model in which staff reserve shared desks instead of keeping permanent individual offices. It keeps discipline by requiring a booking before each office day, and the resulting data shows where space can be released. #### 2. How do you understand how campus office space is used? You understand space usage with analytics that break down how each space is used through the day, the week and the semester. Those patterns show which rooms and areas sit empty while others are overcrowded, so administrators can make informed decisions that benefit everyone, including switching off unused areas to save energy. University offices often have areas or meeting rooms that are rarely used while other parts of administrative buildings are constantly overcrowded. That uneven distribution wastes resources and frustrates employees who cannot find the spaces they need. Underused spaces often come from poor scheduling and planning. Large conference rooms get booked for small meetings, leaving smaller, more suitable rooms empty. Areas set aside for specific purposes, such as archives or IT rooms, are not repurposed when they are not in use. This inefficiency affects energy consumption and maintenance costs as well as the space itself. Get insights on 148 bookings and 66% check-ins on floor 2 of the London HQ office. Alongside booked and checked-in floor occupancy levels for August and September **The solution:** choose [space management]() tools with built-in data and analytics on utilization patterns. With a breakdown of how spaces are used, administrators can switch off certain areas when they are not in use to save on energy bills, or group desks differently to distribute employees more efficiently. #### 3. How do you stop scheduling and booking conflicts? You stop scheduling conflicts by replacing shared spreadsheets with a centralized booking platform that shows, at a glance, which workspaces are free. When everyone books from the same system, double bookings and unused reservations become visible, and people can find and reserve the space they need without running into each other. Most people know the frustration of arriving to find someone already at their favorite desk, even after highlighting the right cell in a shared Google Sheet. Scheduling conflicts come from the complexity of organizing people and their movements, and a shared sheet quickly becomes confusing. Desks in higher education offices get double-booked, or a conference room is reserved on several days but never used. Conflicts lead to last-minute changes, cancellations and frustration. Booking room 11 and inviting Willa, Michael and Jane on Wednesday using Kadence **The solution:** space management tools are built to organize people and spaces, so they include room and desk scheduling that shows when and where workspaces are available. A centralized platform streamlines booking for everyone. In May 2024, Kadence also pointed to AI-driven Smart Suggestions, automated prompts that help avoid scheduling conflicts and suggest bookings that make sense for each person. #### 4. How do you integrate new tools with legacy campus systems? You integrate new tools by choosing a platform that manages room bookings, resource allocation and user access from one interface and connects to the systems staff already use. Fewer tools means less complexity, and an intuitive interface makes the tool easy for first-time users. Integrating new technology can look daunting. Existing infrastructure is often complex, with legacy systems and software that are not easily compatible with modern solutions. A university might run separate systems for room bookings, resource management and user access, all of which need to stay in sync. Poor integration creates inefficiency, data silos and a lot of headaches. The pace of technological change adds pressure to keep up, and ongoing updates can be resource-intensive and disruptive. The result is often a patchwork of tools that do not talk to each other and make space management harder. **The solution:** simplify. Space management tools should reduce complexity, not add to it. A platform that handles room bookings, resource allocation and user access from a single interface lets the organization rely on fewer tools. It should also be easy to fit into the existing tech stack. In May 2024, Kadence described an out-of-the-box approach that [integrates with Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace or Workday](), with a user experience that is easy for first-time users to navigate. #### 5. What security and privacy standards should university space management software meet? University space management software should meet recognized security standards and encrypt data both in transit and at rest. In May 2024, Kadence advised looking for [SOC 2 compliance]() and Cyber Essentials certification. These standards protect staff personal data and campus information from unauthorized access and breaches. Data breaches and privacy concerns are a constant risk. Higher education organizations are under pressure to protect sensitive personal data about employees, as well as information about the campus and facilities. Without robust security, systems are vulnerable to unauthorized access, data breaches and other threats that can compromise the integrity of the organization and the safety of its community. **The solution:** choose space management software with strong security infrastructure. The platform should be SOC 2 compliant, maintain Cyber Essentials certification and encrypt data in transit and at rest. Kadence’s [security]() page sets out its current standards. Partnering with a provider that upholds high data and privacy standards gives peace of mind when adding a new tool to university workflows. #### How does Kadence support higher education space management? Kadence combines data analytics, flexible scheduling, integrated technology and security measures to help higher education organizations manage their spaces. It addresses unused space, scheduling conflicts, technology integration and data protection in one platform, so staff get a productive environment and administrators get evidence for space decisions. To see how one university has approached it, read the [University of Exeter customer story](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is university space management software? It is software that helps a university plan, book and measure how its staff offices, meeting rooms and shared spaces are used. It typically combines desk and room booking with analytics, so administrators can see usage patterns and decide where to downsize or repurpose space. ##### How does desk hoteling help universities reduce office space? [Desk hoteling]() replaces permanent individual offices with shared desks that staff book before coming in. The booking data shows who uses the office and when, which gives administrators the evidence to downsize staff offices and turn freed space into study areas, meeting rooms or other amenities. ##### How can universities cut energy costs with space data? Analytics show which areas and rooms go unused through the day, week or semester. Administrators can then switch off those areas when they are not in use to save on energy bills, or group desks so people use fewer spaces more fully. ##### Which integrations matter for campus space management? Integrations with the tools staff already use. In May 2024, Kadence described integrations with Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace and Workday, so booking fits into existing workflows instead of adding another separate system. Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## 5 ways conference room scheduling software has changed | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/5-ways-conference-room-scheduling-software-has-changed/ Description: Making the best use of meeting rooms & spaces is vital in the hybrid workplace. So how can conference room scheduling software help? [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · July 23, 2021 · [Jamie Addis]() ### 5 Ways Conference Room Scheduling Software Has Changed From organizing workflows on Monday.com to hosting a virtual conference on Hopin, the pandemic has sparked a digital revolution in the way we work. Tools that enable people to seamlessly do their jobs from wherever they’re located have quickly become a mainstay of the modern workplace. As organizations develop hybrid working models, offices are becoming more about meeting and collaborating spaces than rows of desks. The spotlight is now on streamlining the room booking function through intuitive conference room scheduling software. #### Conference Room Scheduling And The Hybrid Workplace In a [hybrid workplace culture](), people blend remote and in-person work. Employees enjoy the freedom to work remotely if they want to, but don’t miss out on the connection, collaboration and socialization opportunities that being in the office provides. Many organizations are reconfiguring offices to focus more on collaboration and meeting space. In a hybrid world, there’s no need for one desk per person. Typically, people come in when they need to collaborate, and work remotely when they need to get their head down and focus. Companies are able to repurpose desk space. [Conference room scheduling software]() stands to play a key role in this new culture. Teammates come into the office for one-off meetings, or on a regular cadence. They may be traveling some distance, or it might be their one day in the office that week. It’s important they’re able to book the right space easily through a conference room reservation system and feel confident that the room they’ve booked has what they need to make their meeting a success. #### An Evolution In Conference Room Scheduling Not long ago, walking along a typical office corridor you’d have seen Post-its or sheets of paper stuck to meeting room doors with a chart of the day’s bookings scribbled on them. Granted, it was a simple system. But it was low-tech, outdated, prone to errors, insecure and looked downright unprofessional. The spreadsheet is a step up. Although digital, it remains an inelegant solution. It’s not exactly user friendly, people might delete an entry by accident – or perhaps on purpose, if it’s a particularly popular room – and there’s no easy way to analyze usage or availability data over time. It’s time to put these outdated tools to bed. Modern conference room scheduling software provides employees with an intuitive, friction-free booking process, usually using an intuitive app or website. Here are five ways it’s evolved since the pandemic. ##### 1. Workplace Analytics To Help You Optimize Spaces Modern room booking software gives you a wealth of usage data at your fingertips. You can see how frequently employees book each room, and forecast future usage based on actual bookings. You’ll be able to recognize peak times when most people are in and wanting meeting space, which will help you manage occupation density. Check-in data also shows you how employees use rooms and how often they’re at capacity. The data lets you make smart decisions about how you configure your office space. Do you need several large conference rooms, or will smaller breakout-style rooms work best? Are certain rooms more popular than others? Would turning over desk space to more meeting rooms meet your employees’ needs better? ##### 2. Touchless Room Check-In Touchless check-in is a hygienic way for employees to activate a room booking. From a [security point of view](), you can ensure that only the people who have booked can check in or access the room during the hours they’ve reserved it for. It gives people confidence that they’re in the right room, and that the room is ready for them. You could keep a room that hasn’t been cleaned after the previous users locked until it’s ready to use, for example. It also means you get actual room usage data. You can base your analytics on how employees use rooms, rather than bookings. You can handle ghost bookings better too, and release rooms back into the availability pool if they’re not taken up. Regular no-shows can be easily identified, and training given to repeat offenders. ##### 3. Meet The Needs Of A Distributed Workforce In a hybrid workplace, your team won’t spend the working week in the same place. Some might be in the office, but the majority will be remote – at their kitchen table or in their garden office. People will be coming into the office less often and when they do, they’ll need the tools and amenities they rely on to be readily available. A system that enables them to easily see room availability, the type of equipment in each room, and the capacity of each room is a crucial component of the process. And the benefits don’t stop once the right room is booked. When your employees arrive at the office, an intuitive conference room scheduling app can show them how to get to their reserved room. Handy if people are going to different offices, buildings or regional hubs and aren’t familiar with the layout. ##### 4. Employees Expect An Integrated Workplace Experience With so many aspects of workplace culture digitized, from task planning on Monday.com to coffee breaks on Slack, employees expect all workplace systems to keep pace. An integrated digital infrastructure, with systems such as room booking and desk booking syncing with personal calendars will become the standard. Have you ever forgotten which room a meeting is in, and had to scroll through emails to find the details? Conference room scheduling software syncs with calendar tools employees already use and gives them all the meeting details they need, quickly and easily, to boost user adoption. Companies that don’t keep up could start to feel antiquated and struggle to attract the best talent. ##### 5. Enable Dynamic Meeting Room Management The meeting room itself is changing. [Hybrid meetings](), where some participants are remote and some are in-person, are becoming the norm and placing new demands on meeting room technology. With collaboration as the main purpose of the office, you might need to reconfigure some rooms for brainstorming sessions, others for a presentation to 50 people, half of whom are remote and half of whom are in-person. Conference room scheduling software allows you to easily update the booking system after reconfiguring rooms, so employees have an up-to-date view of what’s available. The usage data the system gives you will help you predict what’s needed and meet demand. #### The Time Is Now For Conference Room Scheduling Software While the world was in shutdown, the way we booked meeting rooms was off the agenda. The wave of digital innovation focused on bringing people together virtually rather than facilitating in-person meetings. But now we’re tentatively returning to normality, it’s time for room booking to adapt. Embracing [modern conference room scheduling software]() will give your employees the seamless, integrated digital experience they expect, and give you invaluable insights into the type of meeting space you need to provide. #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## 7 Reasons Why You Need The Kadence Agent - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/7-reasons-kadence-agent/ Description: The Kadence Agent helps deliver real-time, validated attendance insights across every location with Wi-Fi-based office check-ins. [News]() · [Product News]() · June 10, 2025 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Tired Of Manual Check-Ins? Here’s 7 Reasons Why You Need The Kadence Agent Tired Of Manual Check-Ins? Here’s 7 Reasons Why You Need The Kadence Agent Global businesses need a global picture of office attendance. Yet when workplace tools are poorly adopted, disconnected from actual behavior, or too complex to maintain—leaders lose visibility. And without office use visibility, [workplace operations]() become unmanageable. That’s why Wi-Fi based office check-ins are crucial for office visibility. Kadence changes this with Automatic Check-Ins, powered by [Kadence Sense](): a lightweight desktop tool that enables Wi-Fi-based attendance logging—no employee input required. Here are seven real-world use cases—and the strategic benefits Kadence delivers with Automatic Wi-Fi based office check-ins. #### 1. Gain Clear Metrics To Power Hybrid Strategy With low adoption of manual check-ins and inconsistent bookings, most organizations lack a trustworthy record of office presence. We’re trying to gain metrics for return to office… and we can’t get clean data. [Kadence Agent]() helps deliver real-time, validated [attendance insights]() across every location with Wi-Fi-Based Offiice Check-ins—giving leaders the metrics they need to justify spend, reallocate space, and inform long-term [workplace strategy](). Insights and Data showing hybrid work compliance per department #### 2. Eliminate Check-In Friction To Maximize Adoption Manual check-ins rely on consistent human behavior. But humans forget, and engagement drops quickly. When check-ins are skipped or ignored, attendance data is lost—leaving leadership in the dark. We’ve tried to get employees to check in themselves. It’s a nightmare. The [Kadence Agent]() eliminates the need for employee action. With Wi-Fi-based presence detection, attendance is captured the moment an employee connects—automatically, reliably, and at scale. The result: higher adoption, zero effort, and accurate data you can actually use. The Kadence Agent Widget #### 3. Simplify IT Management With Effortless Setup When tools are difficult to deploy, adoption slows and IT overhead increases. Complex setups also create security risks and reduce long-term maintainability Our existing provider requires the individual IP address for every machine—no one wants to do that work. Kadence requires just a single IP address per office to enable [automatic check-ins]()—no device-by-device registration, no ongoing manual configuration. It’s simple to roll out, easy to support, and [secure by design](). Get started in minutes with [Kadence Agent.]() #### 4. Automate Workplace Workflows With Verified Presence Workflow automation only works when [presence data]() is accurate and timely. If attendance is inconsistent or incomplete, triggers fail—and key workflows like catering, locker access, or even HR tracking fall apart. We need geofencing to trigger attendance, which launches other workflows like lunch invites. Kadence acts as your real-time source of truth for in-office presence. When an employee connects to Wi-Fi, their [attendance]() is confirmed—automatically triggering workflows, [integrations](), and policies across the business. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### 5. Optimize Desk Usage With Data-Driven Assignments Without dependable booking and check-in data, [desk assignments]() become guesswork. This leads to overlapping reservations, unused desks, and a confusing experience for employees. We want to assign desks to people who are permanently in-office, but also clearly reserve desks for actual visitors. Kadence brings together desk assignment, real-time availability, and verified presence—so teams always know who’s in, where they’re sitting, and how the space is being used. It removes ambiguity and supports smarter, more flexible seating plans. Kadence's Workplace Insights Dashboard #### 6. Prevent Overcrowding And Walk-In Frustration When employees show up without booking, or when others don’t check in properly, capacity systems break. Employees lose trust, and usage drops as frustration rises. People go to the office and don’t have seats. Kadence keeps [desk booking]() availability live and accurate. Automatic check-ins reflect true occupancy in real-time, helping facilities avoid overbooking and ensuring that walk-ins aren’t left without space to work. A stylized image of Kadence's Desk Booking Coordination Interface #### 7. Standardize Global Visibility Across All Workplaces With different tools and inconsistent processes across regions, gaining a global view of [space utilization]() is nearly impossible. This makes [portfolio decisions](), lease negotiations, and policy rollouts difficult to manage. We want to track attendance and space use across our global offices and coworking spaces. Kadence gives you a unified check-in system for every office and workplace type—delivering consistent, accurate data across your entire portfolio without requiring you to standardize every location’s tech stack. Kadence's Building, individual use and Team office trends dashboard #### Kadence Is A Strategic Layer For The Enterprise Workplace Kadence is the invisible infrastructure that **unlocks clarity, coordination, and confidence** in the [hybrid workplace](). It’s not another app employees forget to use. It’s the connective layer that quietly powers your entire [workplace strategy](). - **One system for every global office** - **Real-time, automatic presence tracking** - **Frictionless employee experience** - **Enterprise-grade scalability and compliance** Discover more about how Automatic Check-ins deliver accurate workplace occupancy data with the Kadence Agent. See Kadence In Action Let Kadence take the hassle out of hybrid working. Book a customized demo today. [Book Demo]() Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Hot Desk Management: Booking Durations and Limits | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/advanced-features-for-desk-management-efficiency/ Description: How Maximum Booking Durations and Limit Concurrent Bookings, added to Kadence in June 2024, keep popular desks available and space usage data accurate. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · June 12, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Hot Desk Management: Maximum Booking Durations and Concurrent Booking Limits Kadence's interactive office floor map In June 2024, Kadence added two hot desk management controls to its [desk booking]() product: **Maximum Booking Durations** and **Limit Concurrent Bookings**. The first caps how long someone can book a space. The second caps how many desks one person can hold at once. Together they give office managers fairer access to popular areas and more accurate space usage data. Flexible hot-desk booking had become the way hybrid teams organized in-person meetings and brainstorming sessions, while office managers used the same tools to make better use of office space. Kadence’s current [desk booking software]() page describes the product as it stands today. #### What are Maximum Booking Durations? Maximum Booking Durations let an office manager set the longest time anyone can book a particular space. Kadence introduced the setting in June 2024 for high-demand areas and for seating that should not be used for long stretches. It keeps popular spaces in circulation and helps teams follow health and safety guidance. Kadence desk booking details with a quick book prompt in the Live Office view ##### Fair access to the most popular areas Most offices have busy areas with good furniture and snacks that are almost always fully booked. A [maximum booking duration]() gives everyone an equal chance to book these sought-after areas, which supports a sense of fairness and inclusion. In Kadence the setting applies to a [neighborhood](), a group of spaces set aside for a team or purpose. ##### Staying compliant with health and safety regulations Leaning stools and high seats can look stylish, but prolonged use of any seating may lead to health issues. A maximum booking duration limits how long employees spend on these seats. That helps an office stay comfortable, productive and safe, and helps it comply with health and safety regulations. Kadence’s help center explains how to restrict neighborhood booking duration. #### What does Limit Concurrent Bookings do? Limit Concurrent Bookings caps how many desks a person can hold at the same time. Kadence introduced it in June 2024 to stop over-booking, such as a team manager reserving several desks for teammates who may not come in. It frees desks for people who need them and keeps usage data accurate. A Kadence warning shown when someone tries to book too many spaces at once ##### More available desks A desk can look free when a colleague has already reserved it. In [hybrid workplaces]() it is common for managers to book several desks on behalf of their team. With a concurrent booking limit, office managers stop people from holding desks that are not needed, so everyone who truly needs a workspace gets one. ##### More accurate space usage data Over-booked desks also distort your data. When desks are booked for teammates who may or may not show up, there is no way to know how the space is actually used. A limit enforces the right booking habits, which leads to accurate space usage data and more efficient desk management. Those numbers feed the utilization measures in the [workplace analytics metrics guide](). The help center has a detailed guide to [limiting concurrent desk bookings](). #### Why do booking rules matter for hot desk management? Booking rules matter because shared desks only work when access is fair and the data is trustworthy. Without limits, a few people can hold the best spaces or reserve desks nobody uses. With them, office managers keep popular areas available and base space decisions on real use, not inflated bookings. For enterprise workplace teams, that second point carries the most weight. Decisions about how much space to keep depend on usage data, and usage data depends on bookings that reflect who actually comes in. Desk and room booking now sit within Kadence [WorkOps](), the day-to-day side of the platform. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a maximum booking duration? It is a limit on how long anyone can book a particular space. Kadence introduced it in June 2024 so office managers could keep popular areas available to more people and limit time on seating such as leaning stools and high seats. ##### Why limit concurrent desk bookings? To stop one person from holding several desks at once, often on behalf of teammates who may not come in. Limiting concurrent bookings frees desks for people who need them and keeps space usage data accurate. Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## AI Is Reshaping Work. The Workplace Must Catch Up. - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/ai-is-reshaping-work-the-workplace-must-catch-up/ Description: AI is transforming the enterprise workplace. Here’s why your workplace strategy must evolve with AI-driven Space Ops to stay competitive. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · February 23, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### AI Is Reshaping Work. The Workplace Must Catch Up. AI Workspace If you wanted evidence that AI in the enterprise workplace has moved beyond experimentation, you didn’t have to look far this past week. [Accenture announced that it is linking employee promotions to AI tool usage](), signaling a structural shift in performance expectations. AI literacy is no longer a technical skill reserved for innovation teams. It is becoming a leadership competency. At the same time, [PwC engineers launched an AI agent capable of processing enterprise-grade spreadsheets](), dramatically reducing the time required for complex financial modeling. What previously took weeks of manual work can now be completed in hours. Meanwhile, [the EU Parliament restricted certain built-in AI features on official devices due to data security concerns](), underscoring that governance and operational risk are now central to AI deployment discussions. Across corporate real estate, [leaders are actively exploring what an “AI-friendly workplace”]() actually means in practice. These examples reflect operational decisions being made now, in real time, at enterprise scale. AI is influencing promotion frameworks, accelerating financial workflows, triggering regulatory scrutiny, and reshaping how leaders think about infrastructure. Investment is rising. Expectations are shifting. Work itself is being redesigned. But there is a structural blind spot emerging inside many organizations. Digital workflows are accelerating. The physical workplace is not. A stylised design of Kadence AI booking recomendations. #### AI Is Changing The Rhythm Of Work [Research from McKinsey]() shows that nearly all organizations are increasing AI investment, yet only a small fraction believe they are mature in their implementation. The gap is not about tools. It is about integration. Gartner has [urged leaders to create deliberate human-AI collaboration models]() rather than layering AI onto outdated operating structures. Taken together, the message is clear: AI is not just increasing productivity. It is compressing decision cycles, redefining team responsibilities, and altering collaboration dynamics. When AI tools accelerate content creation, forecasting, coding, or analysis, teams iterate faster. Strategic pivots happen more frequently. Cross-functional collaboration becomes more fluid. Organizational structures evolve more quickly. The speed of work increases. However, the physical workplace often remains governed by: - Quarterly or annual planning cycles - Static headcount-to-desk assumptions - Manual move coordination processes - Reactive occupancy reviews - Disconnected systems across HR, IT, and real estate This misalignment is becoming harder to ignore. If digital systems are adapting in real time while space strategy adjusts once or twice a year, friction is inevitable. Cost inefficiencies persist. Collaboration mismatches go unresolved. Leadership decisions are made without full operational visibility. The AI transformation conversation is incomplete if it excludes the physical layer of work. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Workplace Is Becoming Strategic Infrastructure For years, debate centered on where people should work. That framing no longer captures the real issue. The more urgent question is how the workplace functions as infrastructure inside an AI-accelerated enterprise. Real estate remains one of the largest expense categories after payroll. At the same time, AI is increasing variability in work patterns. Teams assemble and disband faster. Project cycles shorten. Collaboration spikes are less predictable. [PwC’s recent analysis of AI in real estate]() highlights how property strategy is beginning to incorporate predictive analytics and automation into asset management decisions. But experimentation with AI tools in isolation does not solve the core operational challenge. Enterprises need a system that connects workplace signals to business performance. They need a way to translate messy, real-world constraints into defensible, strategic decisions. This is where Space Ops becomes critical. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Space Ops Is The Operational Layer AI Has Exposed As Missing Every modern enterprise has invested in digital operating systems: - HR systems to manage people - Finance systems to manage capital - CRM systems to manage revenue - IT systems to manage cloud infrastructure Yet few organizations have an integrated operational layer for physical space. [Space Ops fills that gap.]() Rather than treating the workplace as static square footage, Space Ops treats it as a [dynamic, data-driven asset that responds to real-time signals.]() Consider the inputs most workplace leaders manage daily: - Team structures - Building portfolios - Hybrid patterns - Policy constraints - Adjacency requirements - Cost targets These inputs are often fragmented across spreadsheets, floor plans, and disconnected tools. Decisions are made through manual tradeoff analysis. An AI-powered Space Ops engine structures this complexity. As illustrated in the image above, messy workplace constraints feed into an intelligence layer that applies practical optimization, collaboration modeling, and continuous learning. Instead of generating simple occupancy charts, the system evaluates real collaboration signals. It models tradeoffs between cost and connection. It learns from every move, every reconfiguration, every pattern shift. The outcome is not just insight. It is strategic capability. An AI-driven Space Ops platform enables organizations to: - Visualize and optimize stack planning across floors and portfolios - Identify underutilized space with defensible data - Model future layouts instantly and compare cost-versus-collaboration tradeoffs - Streamline move management while minimizing disruption - Generate scenario plans that accelerate executive approvals - Continuously learn and adapt to hybrid and organizational change This is how the workplace becomes adaptive infrastructure rather than reactive inventory. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### AI Is Not Replacing People. It Is Raising The Bar For Operations. There is understandable concern about AI replacing roles. Yet most enterprise research, including [analysis from the World Economic Forum](), emphasizes that long-term value depends on integration, governance, and human oversight. AI amplifies output. It increases expectations. It accelerates iteration. But it also increases operational complexity. Leaders now face higher standards: - Faster execution cycles - Tighter cost scrutiny - Greater transparency expectations - More dynamic workforce patterns Without intelligent Space Ops, the physical workplace becomes the bottleneck. The organizations that thrive in the AI era will not simply deploy copilots. They will align digital acceleration with physical adaptability. They will treat real estate decisions as strategic, data-driven, and continuously optimized. The question is no longer whether AI will reshape work. That is already happening. The question is whether your workplace infrastructure is ready to keep pace. If you are evaluating how AI fits into your broader enterprise strategy, it is time to examine how your Space Ops capability supports it. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see how Kadence helps organizations design adaptive, self-optimizing workplaces built for the AI era. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts See Kadence in action. Speak with our team today. [Get in touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Amazon Return to Office: The Hybrid Work Challenge | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/amazon-and-the-hybrid-work-challenge/ Description: Amazon's September 2024 return to office plan set five office days a week from January 2025. The talent risks, and how a data-led hybrid model could work. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · September 18, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### Amazon's Five-Day Return to Office and the Hybrid Work Challenge Courier, delivery and businessman with box for ecommerce logistics, product label or distribution. Amazon’s [return to office]() decision, announced in September 2024, brought employees back to the office five days a week starting in January 2025. Amazon [announced the decision]() against the grain of most hybrid work data at the time, which showed that a balanced model, such as three days in the office and two remote, can lower quit rates, improve employee satisfaction and maintain productivity. So why did Amazon deviate from the norm, and what opportunities did it have to make hybrid work instead? We spoke with Stanford economist and hybrid work expert Nick Bloom to explore why Amazon might be making this move. This analysis reflects what was known in September 2024. #### What did Amazon announce in September 2024? In September 2024, Amazon said it would bring employees back to the office five days a week starting in January 2025. It was a full return to the office rather than a hybrid model, and it ran counter to most research on hybrid work at the time. A **five-day office mandate** is a policy that requires employees to work from the office every working day, with no scheduled remote days. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Why was Amazon’s five-day office mandate a risky move? The mandate risked higher attrition, harder recruitment and dissatisfaction among experienced managers. Amazon’s scale made the risk larger: with approximately 1.5 million employees worldwide, many in warehouses or delivery roles, a uniform five-day policy for its office staff was particularly challenging to apply fairly and consistently. ##### Employee attrition Research shows that requiring five office days a week can raise quit rates. In a study conducted by Nick Bloom, reducing office time from five days to three led to a one-third decrease in quit rates. Amazon’s strict mandate could see a rise in resignations as employees explore employers with more flexible options. **Attrition** is the rate at which employees leave an organization and are not replaced. ##### Recruitment challenges To stay competitive, Amazon must keep attracting top talent, and many job seekers now prioritize flexible work. According to [Gallup’s research](), 59% of employees would choose an employer that offers flexible work options. Amazon risked losing its appeal to highly skilled professionals who might choose companies that support hybrid or remote work. ##### Impact on middle managers and seasoned professionals Middle managers and seasoned professionals, particularly those in their 30s and 40s, were likely to be the most affected. Many are balancing career and family responsibilities, and a rigid office schedule could lead to dissatisfaction and drive key talent away. #### How could Amazon make hybrid work instead? Amazon still had room to reimagine its approach. It could use its own data to target in-office time to the teams that benefit most, reduce its [real estate footprint]() in line with its frugality principle, and improve satisfaction and retention by combining remote options with purposeful [in-person collaboration](). Each option plays to principles Amazon already holds. ##### Use data for a tailored approach Amazon is known for its data-driven culture. It could analyze productivity, engagement and satisfaction across different work arrangements. By identifying which teams or roles benefit most from in-office presence, Amazon could create a more targeted policy that aligns with its business goals while accommodating employee preferences. ##### Reduce real estate costs Frugality is one of Amazon’s core principles, and office real estate is a significant expense for any company. A hybrid model could allow Amazon to reduce its office footprint, in line with its frugal ethos, while still supporting employee needs. That starts with [space management]() based on how offices are actually used. ##### Improve employee satisfaction and retention Hybrid work has been shown to improve job satisfaction by giving employees more flexibility and a better work-life balance. By allowing remote work while still encouraging in-person collaboration, Amazon could build a more engaged and supportive work environment. #### How can a workplace platform support a hybrid transition? A workplace platform supports a hybrid transition by showing how offices are used, coordinating when teams come in, and turning attendance and booking data into policy decisions. In 2024, Kadence offered these capabilities to organizations moving to hybrid, and they map directly to the challenges a company of Amazon’s size would face. - **Optimize office space utilization.** By analyzing when and where employees prefer to work, a company can make sure office space is used well, which supports downsizing the footprint, reducing costs and aligning with a frugality principle without hurting employee experience. - **Improve collaboration and coordination.** Maintaining effective collaboration is one of the biggest challenges of hybrid work. A flexible but structured framework lets employees [schedule in-office days for key meetings and collaborative work](), while working remotely for focus-driven tasks. - **Make data-driven decisions.** [Workplace analytics]() help companies make data-driven decisions about [hybrid policy](). A company that thrives on data can use those insights to keep refining its model and stay competitive for talent. - **Support employee well-being and satisfaction.** Giving employees a say in when and where they work boosts their sense of control and satisfaction, which can lead to higher engagement and lower turnover. **Space utilization** is the share of available desks, rooms and floors that people actually use over time. #### Is hybrid the future for large employers? The data in 2024 pointed that way. Employees value flexibility, and companies that successfully adopt hybrid work attract and retain the best talent. For Amazon, mandating a five-day return could be costly. It also had a chance to lead: to reconsider its approach and become a leader in hybrid work, aligned with its core values. With the right tools, Amazon could manage that transition smoothly: [optimize office usage, enhance collaboration across distributed teams]() and make informed decisions that balance employee preferences with business objectives. As a company known for innovation and customer obsession, Amazon had all the ingredients to make hybrid work a strategic advantage. The [return-to-office guide]() covers how other employers have handled the same choice. #### Frequently asked questions ##### When did Amazon announce its five-day return to office? Amazon announced in September 2024 that employees would return to the office five days a week, starting in January 2025. ##### Why do experts see five-day office mandates as risky? Research by Nick Bloom found that cutting office time from five days to three reduced quit rates by one-third. Full-time mandates can raise attrition, make recruiting harder and hit mid-career employees with family responsibilities hardest. ##### What would a hybrid model have offered Amazon? A smaller real estate footprint in line with its frugality principle, better retention and satisfaction, and [in-office days]() targeted at the teams and work that benefit most from them. Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## AT&T Return To Office And Employee Survey Results | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/att-return-to-office-signals-culture-shift/ Description: AT&T's return to office in August 2025: John Stankey's memo, employee survey results showing 79% engaged, and why the shift to five days is about culture. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · August 4, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### AT&T Return To Office: Employee Survey Results And A Culture Shift (August 2025) AT&T AT&T’s return to office in August 2025 was about culture, not real estate. In an internal memo [reported by Business Insider](), CEO John Stankey responded to declining employee engagement scores by moving the company from a [hybrid work model]() to an enforced five days in the office, as part of a long-term shift to what he calls a “market-based culture.” The shift [changed what flexibility means at AT&T](). #### What did AT&T announce about returning to the office? In August 2025, AT&T set out a move from [hybrid work]() to five days a week in the office. John Stankey’s memo presented in-person presence as a long-term operating model, not a temporary adjustment. It tied office attendance to a new, performance-driven culture and warned that employees who need flexible schedules may not fit. “There might be a disconnect between you and your current professional choice,” Stankey wrote. The message was clear. Hybrid work at AT&T was no longer a benefit. It had become a filter: a way to align the workforce with a culture that prioritizes visibility, presence and direct contribution. #### Why is AT&T’s return to office a culture strategy, not a space strategy? Stankey’s memo framed office presence as [a long-term operating model]() for culture. He linked hub locations to better mentorship, collaboration and career visibility, and to deeper expectations about how employees contribute and grow. The office is the tool. The culture is the goal. “We work in person, together, during common hours,” the memo said. This is less about desks and more about norms. Stankey wants to move away from what he calls “hierarchy and familial cultural norms” toward an external, performance-driven model, which he presents as necessary for long-term relevance. A **market-based culture**, in his framing, is that external, performance-driven model. From a leadership standpoint, the intent is transparent. But the delivery reveals a deeper tension. #### What did AT&T’s employee survey results show? AT&T’s own employee survey showed that 79% of employees felt committed and engaged with their work. But the company fell short of its engagement goal, including its aim to be in the top third of Fortune 100 companies on this metric. The dip followed years of structural change, role consolidation and a broader realignment of how work happens. Stankey acknowledged the gap: “While this is reassuring, especially considering the amount of change we’ve navigated as a company recently, it wasn’t a surprise to me that we fell short of our engagement goal.” Instead of asking whether [flexibility could support performance and wellbeing](), the memo pointed in a different direction: “If a self-directed, virtual, or hybrid work schedule is essential for you… you will have a difficult time aligning your priorities with those of the company.” #### How did the memo balance support and control? The memo did both. It acknowledged employee challenges, reinforced support for mental health and care benefits, and pointed to recent updates to time-off and leave. At the same time, it drew a firm line around which kinds of flexibility fit AT&T’s future. Some employees may see that as clarity; others as a narrowing of options. Whitacre Tower, also known as One AT&T Plaza, in Dallas, Texas Whitacre Tower, also known as One AT&T Plaza, Dallas, Texas. #### Is there a smarter way to align a workforce than a five-day mandate? Yes. Wanting stronger cultural cohesion or more [in-person collaboration]() is not wrong, but there is a better way to get there: a hybrid strategy built on data. It shows how teams actually work, identifies when presence matters most and lets leaders design rhythms that suit both the work and the people doing it. The most effective hybrid strategies [start with data](). [Workplace analytics]() show which days teams come in and where collaboration happens, so leaders can decide when presence matters instead of mandating it everywhere. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Rigid return-to-office rules may boost short-term alignment. Long-term engagement comes from predictability, autonomy and trust. Culture does not live in a building. It lives in how people show up for each other. AT&T is building for the company it wants to be. The question is whether it is building in a way that brings employees with it. More analysis from Kadence CEO [Dan Bladen]() covers other companies’ return-to-office decisions. #### Frequently asked questions ##### Is AT&T requiring employees to return to the office five days a week? Yes. In August 2025, CEO John Stankey’s memo set out a move from a hybrid work model to an enforced five days in the office. ##### What did AT&T’s employee survey show? 79% of employees said they felt committed and engaged with their work at AT&T. The company still fell short of its engagement goal, including its aim to rank in the top third of Fortune 100 companies on this metric. ##### Why did AT&T end hybrid work? Stankey presented the change as part of a long-term shift to a market-based, performance-driven culture. He linked in-person work to mentorship, collaboration and career visibility. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Ali Carson | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/ali-carson/ Description: Ali is a Data Scientist at Kadence, combining her love for math and data to explore how people are thriving in the hybrid world. Passionate about uncovering insights, she’s dedicated to making sense of the numbers that shape our new ways of working. Outside of work, Ali is a proud cat mum to two cats and an active field hockey player, competing in the All-Ireland League every weekend. Ali Carson Kadence ### Ali Carson Ali is a Data Scientist at Kadence, combining her love for math and data to explore how people are thriving in the hybrid world. Passionate about uncovering insights, she’s dedicated to making sense of the numbers that shape our new ways of working. Outside of work, Ali is a proud cat mum to two cats and an active field hockey player, competing in the All-Ireland League every weekend. May 13, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Space Planning Problems Portfolio Averages Can’t See]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. This series uses aggregated and anonymized data from Kadence customers to understand how workplace behavior is changing at scale. I’m Ali Carson, a Data Scientist at Kadence. My role is to analyze workplace data to understand how offices are really being used day to day. In this edition of Kadence Pulse, \[…\] January 28, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: How Culture Shapes Workplace Operations]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. This series uses aggregated and anonymized data from Kadence customers to understand how workplace behavior is changing at scale. Rather than focusing on individual offices or policies, each Pulse looks at a single signal in the data and what it reveals about how workplace operations actually function. I’m Ali Carson, a \[…\] December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Wrapped: How You Used Kadence in 2025]() Welcome to Kadence Wrapped 2025! In 2025, workplace behavior stopped looking experimental and started looking intentional. Across millions of desk and room bookings, clear patterns emerged around when people came in, how they collaborated, and how reliably offices were used. The data does not simply show more activity. It shows greater operational maturity. Offices were \[…\] November 26, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Return of Real Meetings]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. In this edition, we look at how team meetings are evolving and what that shift tells us about modern workplace operations. Hybrid work has moved past the phase of chaos. For Kadence customers, it has settled into a predictable, midweek, team-first operating rhythm. The data from 2024 and 2025 shows a \[…\] August 19, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: What Predictability Says About Office Use]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse, where we explore how hybrid work is unfolding through real-world data from the Kadence platform. In this edition, we’re moving past averages to examine something more telling: the shape of office use across different business sectors. From consistency to chaos, and from bursty collaboration to habitual rhythms, the story isn’t just \[…\] July 25, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Insights Plus Reveals About The State Of Hybrid Work]() At Kadence, we built Insights Plus to help companies answer complex workplace questions using their own data—without having to wrangle spreadsheets or guess at behavior patterns. Over the past few months, I’ve worked directly with customers who had important questions about how their people were using the office. These weren’t theoretical—they were tactical, operational questions that needed \[…\] June 15, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: Unpacking Office Utilization Trends By Sector]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse, our deep dive into how hybrid work is evolving—powered by real-time desk booking data from our customers using Kadence. After a year of settling into hybrid rhythms, the first half of 2025 is showing signs of structural change in how different sectors are using office space. Our latest analysis — drawn from \[…\] April 2, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The American Work Ethic—Is Longer Always Better?]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse—our regular deep dive into hybrid work trends, behaviors, and insights pulled straight from the data of thousands of our global users. In this edition, we’re turning our attention to the American work ethic. Known globally for its hustle culture, the U.S. is showing a noticeable trend in extended office hours—even in the \[…\] February 14, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Magic Number Is 2]() Kadence Pulse is our new data-driven series where we uncover key trends in hybrid work, using insights straight from Kadence’s platform. Our goal is to help businesses and employees understand how hybrid work is evolving and how they can make smarter, more informed decisions. The way we work has changed forever, and at Kadence, we \[…\] November 21, 2024 · Hybrid Working #### [Hybrid Pulse Check #1: Office Attendance By Country And Weekday (November 2024)]() Kadence booking data from over 500 companies, published in November 2024: office attendance by country, the peak in-office days, and what workplace leaders can do about it. Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Alice Hendy | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/alice-hendy-mbe/ Description: Alice founded R;pple after losing her brother, Josh, to suicide in November 2020. R;pple is a digital tool that can provide immediate support and comfort to people searching for harmful content relating to the topic of suicide and self-harm. Alice also works as a Global Cyber Security Manager for a large consultancy firm. Alice Hendy Guest author ### Alice Hendy Alice founded R;pple after losing her brother, Josh, to suicide in November 2020. R;pple is a digital tool that can provide immediate support and comfort to people searching for harmful content relating to the topic of suicide and self-harm. Alice also works as a Global Cyber Security Manager for a large consultancy firm. April 12, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Mental Health At Work: What You Need To Know]() The world of work is going through a mental health challenge. The rise of remote working — with all of its great benefits – has meant employees are more socially isolated than they ever have been. Our work schedules are now flexible and adaptable, and that’s great — but not when it comes at the \[…\] Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Andy Lake | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/andy-lake/ Description: Andy helps organisations navigate complexity to develop a strategic approach to Smart/Agile/Flexible/Hybrid Working, based on almost 30 years of advising, researching and writing on new ways of working and their impacts. The approach brings together People, Culture, Real Estate and Technology to support integrated programmes of change. Andy Lake Director of Flexibility.co.uk & Founder of Smart Work Network ### Andy Lake Andy helps organisations navigate complexity to develop a strategic approach to Smart/Agile/Flexible/Hybrid Working, based on almost 30 years of advising, researching and writing on new ways of working and their impacts. The approach brings together People, Culture, Real Estate and Technology to support integrated programmes of change. January 11, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Modernize Your Work Practices With Smart Working]() For over three decades, I’ve been exploring and advocating for smarter, more flexible ways of working. As the founding editor of Flexibility and author of the Smart Working Handbook, I help organizations embrace a more strategic approach to modernizing their working practices. Smart Working isn’t just about choosing where to work. It’s a holistic method \[…\] Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Brett Hautop | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/brett-hautop/ Description: Brett Hautop is the founder of Workshape, a workplace consulting firm specializing in behavioral experimentation and workplace transformation. Previously VP of Global Workplace at LinkedIn, Brett helps leaders understand how work actually happens — and design the spaces, programs, and systems that make time together worth the trip. Brett Hautop Guest author ### Brett Hautop Brett Hautop is the founder of Workshape, a workplace consulting firm specializing in behavioral experimentation and workplace transformation. Previously VP of Global Workplace at LinkedIn, Brett helps leaders understand how work actually happens — and design the spaces, programs, and systems that make time together worth the trip. June 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Intentional Gathering: How Smart Companies Are Designing Time Together]() I’ve been thinking a lot about what equals work. Ask a carpenter to break down their job, and they’ll talk about specific tools, assembly processes, and tangible results. There’s a clear relationship between input, process, and output. But ask someone in knowledge work, and you’ll get: “I type on a keyboard, I sit in calls, \[…\] Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Dan Bladen | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/dan-bladen/ Description: Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder ### Dan Bladen Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. September 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] September 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] September 15, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [23% Is Not an Adoption Story]() CBRE says AI is already influencing space-planning decisions for 23% of occupiers. The workplace leaders I talk to are watching the rest of the company get lost, with tools that do not help them keep up. CBRE’s 2026 Americas Office Occupier Sentiment Survey put a number on a feeling a lot of workplace leaders already had. In \[…\] August 25, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Chief Places Officer Is Coming]() The most influential forecast in commercial real estate just floated a new job title, and I think it is the most important idea in the entire report. In this year’s PwC and ULI outlook, in a passage about how occupiers are reorganizing their floors, is the suggestion that coordinating where teams sit may soon become \[…\] August 12, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Workplace Leader’s Playbook for When a Reorg Hits]() Our team at Kadence was recently in a conversation with a large enterprise, and one thing a workplace leader on their side said has stuck with me. This particular company has publicly, very publicly, re-auged multiple times already this year and the Workplace team are feeling it. When a reorg hits and you have to \[…\] August 11, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Offices Were Repriced. Your Space Decisions Should Be Too.]() The market has already repriced your real estate. It did not ask whether you wanted to participate. Values have corrected, leases are getting shorter and smaller, and new supply has effectively stopped. What has not changed, in most enterprises, is how the lease decision itself gets made. That is the gap I want to close \[…\] July 14, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Your Workplace Operating Model Determines Your Real Estate Cost]() Most enterprise leaders can tell you their headcount, their cost per square foot, and their target occupancy. Far fewer can tell you, in a single sentence, how their organization actually allocates space. They know the floor is busy on Tuesdays and quiet on Fridays. They know real estate is one of their largest fixed costs. \[…\] June 17, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Why the Workplace Needs a Digital Twin: Lessons From LSE and WPP]() Digital twins already run hospitals, factories and energy grids. At a June 2026 Kadence breakfast, LSE's Prithwiraj Choudhury and WPP's Bex Moorhouse explained why the workplace is next. June 1, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Junior Hiring Decline Is a Workplace Operations Problem]() Generative AI took the blame for falling junior hiring. The Broken Ladder paper points to remote work instead, which makes it a problem organizations can solve. May 26, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is a Workplace Management System? Definition, Features and Benefits]() A workplace management system is software that centralizes space, facilities and employee activity so leaders can see how the workplace performs and decide with data. May 19, 2026 · Human Flourishing #### [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] April 16, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Brian Elliott on Why Workplace Strategy Can’t Stay Static in the Age of AI]() At IFMA, Brian Elliott and I kept coming back to the same tension. AI is accelerating the speed of business, but workplace strategy is still too often built on assumptions from a more stable era. Companies want faster answers on growth, attendance, capacity, and cost, while workplace leaders are still dealing with leases, layouts, infrastructure, \[…\] Page 1 of 6 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Dan Bladen — page 2 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/dan-bladen/page/2/ Description: Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. Page 2 of 6. Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder ### Dan Bladen Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. March 1, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Gen Z Is Choosing the Office. Is Your Workplace Ready?]() Gen Z is choosing office time for mentorship, visibility and faster careers. Enterprise workplaces need the operations to turn that presence into performance. February 23, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [AI Is Reshaping Work. The Workplace Must Catch Up.]() If you wanted evidence that AI in the enterprise workplace has moved beyond experimentation, you didn’t have to look far this past week. Accenture announced that it is linking employee promotions to AI tool usage, signaling a structural shift in performance expectations. AI literacy is no longer a technical skill reserved for innovation teams. It \[…\] January 28, 2026 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Introduces AI-Driven Visitor Management System to Power Modern Workplace Operations]() New self-service kiosks, AI-assisted invites, automated check-in, and real-time visibility unify visitor activity with workplace intelligence, natively inside the Kadence platform San Francisco, CA — January 27, 2026 — Kadence, the leading workplace operations platform for global enterprises, today announced the launch of its newly rebuilt Visitor Management System (VMS), designed to automate visitor operations, \[…\] January 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [How Bloomberg Designs Its Office Around Movement, Not Desks]() Most organisations face the same constraint. They want more interaction between teams, but they cannot change the building. Floors are leased. Cores are fixed. Vertical separation is inherited rather than designed. Kadence SpaceOps addresses this problem operationally. It allows organisations to model how teams move through space, test how different layouts affect interaction, and adjust \[…\] January 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Why Amazon Is Tracking Office Hours]() Amazon is no longer just tracking whether employees come into the office. It is tracking how long they stay. In December, the company rolled out a manager dashboard that measures employees’ in-office hours across a rolling eight-week period. The system categorises workers based on duration rather than attendance alone, flagging those who spend fewer than \[…\] January 8, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [How Google Designs Offices Around How Teams Actually Work]() Google did not build their offices at the Bay View campus to look impressive. It built it to work better. As organizations scale, coordination becomes harder to maintain. Teams drift apart. Dependencies stretch across floors and buildings. Decisions slow down, not because people stop communicating, but because the physical environment no longer reflects how the \[…\] December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Your Office Is Busy on Tuesdays and Empty on Fridays]() By 2026, uneven office attendance is no longer surprising. What surprises leaders is how persistent it is. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are crowded. Mondays and Fridays remain quiet, even in organizations with clear in-office expectations. This pattern appears across sectors, geographies, and workplace strategies. Yet it is still often discussed as an employee behavior issue rather \[…\] December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [The Enterprise Workplace Operations Playbook for 2026]() It’s 2026, and the workplace conversation has shifted. The question is no longer whether the office matters, whether hybrid work is permanent, or whether employees want flexibility. Those debates are largely settled. What remains unresolved is far more practical: how to operate the workplace so it actually works for the organization and the people inside \[…\] December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [How to Measure Collaboration in the Workplace]() Measure collaboration by what teams do, not how they feel: in-person overlap, meeting alignment, clustering by day and location, and whether space helps. December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [What Employees Want From the Office in 2026: A Workplace That Works]() Employees in 2026 do not want stricter attendance rules or more perks. They want an office that runs predictably, supports collaboration and respects their time. November 26, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Riding Into 2026: Talking Workplace With Brian Elliott]() There is something fitting about talking about the future of work while sitting in the back of a Waymo gliding through San Francisco. An autonomous car is a real-time example of systems quietly rewiring themselves. What looks like a neat consumer experience is actually the result of deep structural changes in how data, infrastructure, and \[…\] November 19, 2025 · Kadence News #### [Tracy Hawkins Of OpenAI Joins Kadence’s Advisory Board]() Today marks an exciting new chapter for Kadence. We’re thrilled to announce that Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, has joined Kadence as a Strategic Advisor. Tracy Hawkins is one of the world’s most respected workplace leaders, known for helping organizations like OpenAI, Grammarly, and Twitter design environments that empower people \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 2 of 6 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Dan Bladen — page 3 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/dan-bladen/page/3/ Description: Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. Page 3 of 6. Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder ### Dan Bladen Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. August 4, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [AT&T Return To Office: Employee Survey Results And A Culture Shift (August 2025)]() In August 2025, AT&T CEO John Stankey answered falling engagement scores with a memo moving staff from hybrid work to five office days and a market-based culture. July 22, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Raises $20M To Transform How Enterprises Run The Modern Workplace]() Today marks a major milestone in our journey: Kadence has raised a $20 million Series A to accelerate the future of work. The round was led by High Alpha, with participation from Kickstart, Midwich Ignite, and Four Cities Capital and Mantaray. We’re also honored to have the backing of 515 Ventures led by Frederic Kerrest \[…\] June 16, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Deutsche Bank, UBS And The City Of London: How Banks Are Redrawing The Hybrid Work Week]() In June 2025, Panmure Liberum joined Deutsche Bank in asking staff to cover Mondays and Fridays in the office. What it meant for hybrid working in the City of London. June 13, 2025 · Kadence News #### [Midwich Group Expands Strategic Partnership With Kadence to Scale Hybrid Work]() In June 2025, Kadence signed a strategic partnership with Midwich Group, the AV and unified communications distributor, to extend its global reach. June 2, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [RBC Pushes For More Office Time But Flexibility Still Wins]() The decision by RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) to require employees in the office four days a week is part of a broader trend: large enterprises are looking to reconnect people, rebuild culture, and spark the kind of collaboration that’s harder to replicate remotely. It’s a well-intentioned move—and a clear signal that the pendulum is \[…\] April 29, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Uber Sets The Standard For Structured Hybrid With Three-Day In-Office Rhythm]() When Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced that all employees—including those previously approved for remote work—would align to a three-day in-office rhythm, it signaled the company’s continued investment in structured hybrid work. Rather than pulling back on flexibility, Uber is fine-tuning its hybrid model to strengthen in-person collaboration while preserving the autonomy teams value. In a \[…\] April 24, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Google's Hybrid Work Model: Inside the Breakdown of Its Hybrid Strategy]() In April 2025, Google teams told some remote employees to come in three days a week or risk their jobs. What the move reveals about hybrid work without coordination. April 23, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why IBM Is Struggling With Their Hybrid Policy]() IBM has been a master of reinvention for over a century. But its latest shift — requiring U.S. sales employees to relocate near offices or clients — suggests it’s falling into the same trap as many legacy firms: mistaking location for coordination. According to The Register, IBM is asking its U.S. sales teams to confirm new \[…\] April 3, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Atlassian Is Sticking With Distributed Work]() At a time when many corporate leaders are calling for a return to the office, Atlassian is doubling down on distributed work—and it’s paying off. The software company just secured a top spot on Fortune’s 2025 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, and their commitment to remote-first operations is a big reason why. In \[…\] April 2, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Recharge Days Miss The Point Of Modern Work]() Another week, another trend in employee wellness. This time it’s “recharge days”—company-wide time off designed to combat burnout by shutting the laptop lid for everyone at once. On the surface, it sounds thoughtful. Generous, even. But let’s call it what it really is: a backwards step. This week’s Fortune article on the “100 Best Companies to Work \[…\] March 25, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Is Freddie Mac Forcing A Full-Time RTO?]() Freddie Mac is bringing everyone back to the office. Full-time. No flexibility. That’s the latest directive from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), announced just days after a major leadership shake-up that saw Director Sandra Thompson removed and Clinton Jones appointed in her place. This new mandate affects thousands of employees who had been thriving \[…\] March 14, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Nvidia Is Sticking With Hybrid Work]() It feels like every day brings a new headline about a company pushing for return-to-office (RTO) mandates, making the debate one of the most divisive workplace topics in recent years. While companies like Amazon and JPMorgan Chase have doubled down on their mandates, Nvidia has taken a decidedly different approach—one that prioritizes flexibility, trust, and \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 3 of 6 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Dan Bladen — page 4 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/dan-bladen/page/4/ Description: Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. Page 4 of 6. Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder ### Dan Bladen Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. March 13, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Vodafone Is Getting Serious About Hybrid Work]() Vodafone is tightening its grip on hybrid work, turning a nudge into a mandate. A recently leaked memo reveals that the telecoms giant is taking a hardline approach to hybrid work, warning employees that non-compliance could lead to disciplinary action, even impacting bonuses. This crackdown raises a critical question: Is rigid hybrid enforcement the right \[…\] March 4, 2025 · Product News #### [Introducing Kadence Sense – Workplace Intelligence Without The Sensors]() As hybrid work becomes the dominant way forward for organizations worldwide, leaders face a growing challenge: how to make smart, data-driven decisions about their workplaces without costly infrastructure or invasive tracking systems. Even in 2025, many companies are making critical decisions that affect thousands of employees based on limited data or gut instincts. That’s why \[…\] February 25, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Stripe Co-Founders Ask Why Companies Are Designing RTO For Their Worst Employees]() In a world where top talent thrives in flexible environments, why are companies structuring their workplace policies around the bottom 5% of performers? That’s the question posed by Stripe co-founders, John and Patrick Collison, when they were asked about return-to-office (RTO) mandates. It suggests that widespread RTO mandates are a misguided attempt to correct for \[…\] February 25, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Starbucks Cuts 1,100 Corporate Jobs: What It Means For Hybrid Work (February 2025)]() In February 2025, Starbucks cut 1,100 corporate jobs and tightened office rules for leaders. What the move meant for its hybrid work culture, and lessons for other employers. February 11, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Gathering Weeks: Airbnb’s Innovative Hybrid Strategy]() Companies are trying to figure out how to keep things flexible without losing that sense of connection. Airbnb seems to have cracked the code with their Live and Work Anywhere policy, centered around a simple yet transformative concept: the gathering week. Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, sums it up succinctly: Airbnb’s approach is rooted in the belief that \[…\] February 6, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [How Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG Make Hybrid Work: The Big Four's Approach]() In February 2025, the Big Four accounting firms were sticking with hybrid in their US offices. How Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG each set office expectations. February 4, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Zuckerberg Says Hybrid Passes The Performance Test—That’s Why Meta Isn’t Changing Course]() After years of debate over remote vs. office work, Meta has made its decision: hybrid is here to stay. CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently confirmed that there will be no changes to the company’s return-to-office (RTO) policy—a significant move at a time when many companies are still tightening their grip on in-office attendance. Zuckerberg delivered the statement at a \[…\] February 4, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Citi Is Sticking To Hybrid Work While Rivals Push For RTO]() While big banks like JPMorgan and Barclays are ramping up their return-to-office (RTO) mandates, Citigroup (Citi) is staying firm on its hybrid work policy. CEO Jane Fraser has made it clear: flexibility isn’t just a perk—it’s a competitive edge. Rather than dragging employees back with a “butts in seats” approach, Citi is investing £1 billion \[…\] January 31, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why More Companies Are Moving To A Three-Day Office Week]() The workplace is shifting—again. A few years ago, many leaders thought hybrid work was just a pit stop before a full return to the office (RTO). But here we are, and it’s become increasingly clear: three days in the office is becoming the sweet spot for companies across the globe. Instead of forcing rigid five-day \[…\] January 16, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Building Operations and Experience (BOE) in Commercial Real Estate]() Building operations and experience (BOE) combines property management, building operations and workplace experience. Here is what it is, why CBRE backed it, and its challenges. January 14, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Toyota’s RTO Mandate: Breaking Away From The Automotive Norm]() Toyota just dropped some big news—starting September 2, employees are expected back in the office four days a week. This puts Toyota on a completely different track compared to other carmakers, many of which are sticking with more flexible hybrid setups. Sure, Toyota says it’s all about boosting collaboration and keeping the company culture alive, \[…\] January 13, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [WPP Return to Office Policy: A Growing Divide Between Leadership and Workforce]() In January 2025, WPP's push for a stricter return to office met an employee petition. What it showed about running one RTO policy across global offices. [← Newer posts]() Page 4 of 6 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Dan Bladen — page 5 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/dan-bladen/page/5/ Description: Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. Page 5 of 6. Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder ### Dan Bladen Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. January 8, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [JPMorgan's Full-Time Return to Office Plan: A Risky Move in a Hybrid World]() In January 2025, JPMorgan Chase was reported to be planning a five-day return to office. Why the plan risked talent, productivity and real estate value. December 12, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Why Sonos Shifted From Remote To Hybrid Work For 2025: Its December 2024 Return-To-Office Mandate]() In December 2024, Sonos asked its product teams to be on-site two or more days a week, ending its remote-friendly stance. Why it happened and what it means for hybrid work. November 25, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [What Is a Hybrid Work Model? Types, Examples and How to Implement One]() A hybrid work model splits employees' time between the office and remote work. Here are the four main types, company examples, benefits, challenges and steps to implement one. November 11, 2024 · Product News #### [What Are Office Neighborhoods? 5 Reasons They Improve Workplace Experience]() Office neighborhoods seat people who work together in dedicated areas of the office. What they are, how they work with desk booking, and five reasons they help hybrid teams. November 5, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [The Evolution of Hybrid Working: How We Got Here and What Comes Next]() Hybrid working evolved in three phases, from early-2000s home internet to the pandemic and today's uncoordinated hybrid. Here is how it happened and what companies need next. September 24, 2024 · Product News #### [Introducing Kadence AI for Team Scheduling and Space Booking]() In September 2024, Kadence introduced Kadence AI, a workplace assistant that books desks and rooms on request and shows when teammates will be in the office. August 19, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [8 Examples of Effective Team Dynamics in Hybrid Teams]() Eight examples of effective team dynamics for hybrid teams, from clear communication and shared goals to fair rewards, burnout prevention and transparency. February 1, 2023 · Hybrid Working #### [The Hybrid Manifesto: Hybrid Working Principles For Your Workplace Policy]() The Hybrid Manifesto sets out hybrid working principles for workplace policy: four pillars (Trust, Alignment, Execution, Flourishing) and three benefits for People, Profits and the Planet. December 6, 2022 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Announces $10M Seed Funding Round (December 2022)]() In December 2022, Kadence announced a $10M Seed funding round led by Kickstart Fund, with angel investors including Slack co-founder Cal Henderson and Nick Bloom. March 17, 2022 · Hybrid Working #### [Virtual Water Cooler: How To Recreate Informal Connection For Remote And Hybrid Teams]() A virtual water cooler is an informal online space where remote and hybrid employees chat outside work tasks. Why it matters, how to build one, and activities to try. January 31, 2022 · Space Optimization #### [How To Set Up Office Neighborhoods That Create Synergy]() It’s not merely enough to have a business model that supports both in-person and remote employees. Instead, your new business model should be flexible enough to cater to the flexibility of the different work styles and schedules. Office neighborhoods software allows you to meet these demands head-on. As such, knowing the different office neighborhood sections \[…\] August 19, 2021 · Space Optimization #### [How to Evaluate Desk Booking Software: What IT Managers Should Know]() An IT manager's checklist for evaluating desk booking software, from requirements and adoption to single sign-on, integrations, data security and hidden costs. [← Newer posts]() Page 5 of 6 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Dan Bladen — page 6 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/dan-bladen/page/6/ Description: Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. Page 6 of 6. Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder ### Dan Bladen Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. February 22, 2021 · Space Optimization #### [Why Desk Hoteling Needs Check-Ins and Occupancy Data]() Desk hoteling works when every reservation ends in a check-in. Occupancy data shows who used each desk and when, so space, cleaning and energy match demand. August 13, 2019 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Opened a Belfast Technology Hub in 2019, Backed by Invest NI]() In August 2019, Kadence announced a Technology and Business Development hub in Belfast, a £3.6 million investment expected to create 41 jobs. [← Newer posts]() Page 6 of 6 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Dave Cairns | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/dave-cairns/ Description: Dave is Kadence’s Future of Work Strategist. He foresees what’s unfolding in the world of work and advises our customers on how to prepare and adapt to the latest trends easily. Dave Cairns Future of Work Strategist ### Dave Cairns Dave is Kadence’s Future of Work Strategist. He foresees what’s unfolding in the world of work and advises our customers on how to prepare and adapt to the latest trends easily. September 24, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] November 24, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [What AI Can't Replace: OpenAI's Tracy Hawkins on People, Purpose and the Office]() Dave Cairns sits down with Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, on raising kids with AI and why people still need to gather. November 13, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Compressed Work Week: Pros, Cons and How to Set One Up]() A compressed work week fits a 40-hour workload into fewer than five days. Learn the common schedules, the pros and cons, and how to set one up. Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Gillian Brookes | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/gillian-brookes/ Description: Gillian Brookes, author of Flexperts: Getting the Best from Flex in a World That's Ever Changing (2023), has partnered with 50+ organisations across New Zealand and Australia to unlock high performance through smarter flexibility. Based in Wellington, this workforce strategist blends evidence-based research, real-world pilots, and pragmatic tools to design workplaces that boost wellbeing, retention, and results for leaders, teams, and frontline workers. Gillian Brookes Guest author ### Gillian Brookes Gillian Brookes, author of Flexperts: Getting the Best from Flex in a World That's Ever Changing (2023), has partnered with 50+ organisations across New Zealand and Australia to unlock high performance through smarter flexibility. Based in Wellington, this workforce strategist blends evidence-based research, real-world pilots, and pragmatic tools to design workplaces that boost wellbeing, retention, and results for leaders, teams, and frontline workers. November 30, 2023 · Hybrid Working #### [Not Prioritizing Flex Work? You Won’t Like What’s Really Going On]() In my hometown, I get more unsolicited emails and messages from one particular organization than any other. It’s led by a chief executive who doesn’t believe in the benefits of flex work. The emails and messages I receive are from frustrated employees and leaders who wish they had access to the kind of flex work \[…\] Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Helen Attia | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/helen-attia/ Description: Helen heads up Kadence's People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence's employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. Helen Attia Kadence ### Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence's People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence's employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. July 25, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] July 23, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] June 30, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Hybrid Is The New Normal—But Not Yet For Everyone]() The UK has quietly reached a milestone: hybrid working is now the most common way to work among professionals. According to new data from the Office for National Statistics, 28% of workers in Britain split their time between home and the office. This is a structural shift in how the country works. But the data \[…\] June 5, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Gen Z Isn't Rejecting the Office. They're Rejecting Mandates.]() Gen Z workers want offices with a clear purpose, not attendance rules. What 2025 survey data says about RTO mandates, turnover and flexibility. May 22, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [The Smart Office Of The Future Is Designed For Human Flourishing]() Most conversations about smart offices start with sensors. But the smartest offices of the future won’t just track movement. They’ll understand momentum. They won’t just optimize square footage. They’ll cultivate belonging. At Kadence, we believe smart offices are about human flourishing. They won’t ask how many people showed up. They’ll ask—did anyone flourish here? The hybrid revolution gave the \[…\] May 20, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Kadence Connect: Building High-Performing Hybrid Teams with Brian Elliott]() Brian Elliott has seen inside hundreds of hybrid organizations. As a former Slack SVP and Executive Leader of Future Forum, he’s helped shape what great hybrid work looks like. In a recent conversation, Brian shared what separates thriving hybrid teams from the rest — and it’s not policies or tech. It’s leadership. Kadence Connect is our live \[…\] April 7, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [The Hybrid Training Your Company Should’ve Started Yesterday]() At Kadence, we’re talking to hybrid teams every day. And while the headlines keep circling around office mandates and badge swipes, the reality on the ground is far more nuanced — and far more urgent. We’re watching companies struggle with hybrid not because the model is broken — but because their managers are unprepared, their systems \[…\] March 31, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Hybrid Isn’t Failing. Leadership Is.]() I had one of those conversations recently that stays with you. You know the kind — the call you hop onto thinking it’ll be a quick exchange of ideas, and you leave feeling like someone just reframed everything you thought you knew. That someone, in this case, was Camilla Miehs. Camilla is a powerhouse. A \[…\] March 26, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Why Spring Might Be The Season Hybrid Work Proves Itself]() In San Francisco this week, the sun came out — and so did the laptops. Powerpoint presentations in parks. Zoom calls on the beach. Slack pings sent under picnic umbrellas. According to The San Francisco Standard, it wasn’t just a nice day; it was a quiet act of rebellion. And here’s the thing: companies trying to \[…\] February 12, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [40% Would Take A Pay Cut To Work From Home: Why Offices Must Earn Their Place]() A new Harvard study has found that 40% of people surveyed would willingly take a pay cut of 5% or more to continue working from more. Even more striking, 9% said they’d accept a 20% reduction in salary just to avoid returning to the office. These figures aren’t just data points; they tell a powerful \[…\] February 7, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [The Future Of Work In 2025 And Beyond With Nick Bloom]() In our latest webinar, economist and remote work expert Nick Bloom shared key insights into the evolving landscape of hybrid work. With data suggesting that work-from-home levels have stabilized globally, the discussion focused on what this means for organizations navigating hybrid models and the future of remote work technologies. We kicked off the webinar by \[…\] February 6, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [How To Build A Hybrid Workplace People Actually Want To Work In]() Hybrid has become a defining feature of the modern workplace, offering flexibility to hybrid teams while presenting new challenges—particularly in fostering connection, engagement, and satisfaction, regardless of where employees are working. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Anitta Krishan from Hoogly AI, a leader in people and workplace strategy, to explore what’s truly working in the \[…\] Page 1 of 3 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Helen Attia — page 2 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/helen-attia/page/2/ Description: Helen heads up Kadence's People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence's employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. Page 2 of 3. Helen Attia Kadence ### Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence's People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence's employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. November 6, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Welcome Back To Work! 10 Encouraging Ideas To Bring Employees Back]() If your teams are making a transition from remote working to hybrid working, welcome them back to the office. Think effective organizational communication among in-person or remote employees, improved meeting ideas, and enhanced employee well-being, among other things. Whether you are the employer, a manager, or an employee, getting back to the office is touchy. \[…\] October 17, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Kadence Connect Webinar Series: Decoding The Hybrid Work Paradigm]() In a recent webinar, the team at Kadence shared valuable insights with their customers on the evolving landscape of hybrid work. As organizations navigate the complexities of balancing office and remote work, learning from others as well as utilizing innovative solutions all help to optimize the hybrid work paradigm. Here’s what happened. The traditional 9-to-5 \[…\] September 4, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Embracing Flexible Work And The Right To Disconnect]() The U.K. government is making a push to embed flexible work and the right to disconnect into the workplace culture. These initiatives reflect a significant shift in how we as a society have been thinking about work-life balance, employee well-being, and productivity. Flexible work is no longer just a trend—it’s the future of work. The \[…\] August 14, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Creating Moments That Matter: Dave Cairns and Helen Attia on Connection at Work]() Helen Attia and Dave Cairns on why in-person moments still matter for distributed teams, and how to create them with intention. July 9, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [The Benefits Of Asynchronous Work With Paige Goldstein]() As we navigate the modern work landscape, the traditional 9-to-5 model is rapidly losing its relevance. Enter asynchronous work—a transformative approach that transcends time zones and fixed schedules. I recently chatted with Paige Goldstein, a self-proclaimed digital nomad and co-host of the Fill Your Sol podcast. We chatted about her flexible style of working and \[…\] July 5, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [10 Proven Strategies To Supercharge Internal Communication With Jo Coxhill]() Effective internal communication is the lifeblood of any thriving organization. It ensures that everyone is aligned, informed, and engaged, driving productivity and job satisfaction. However, many companies struggle with fostering clear and open communication among employees. If you’re looking to improve your internal communications, you’re in the right place. I recently spoke to Internal Communications \[…\] June 19, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Five Strategies To Adapt Your Office Space For Hybrid Work With Bex Moorhouse]() As the world continues to embrace the hybrid work model, companies must rethink and redesign their office space to cater to both in-office and remote employees. I spoke to Bex Moorhouse, Founder and Director of Invigorate Spaces Ltd – a corporate wellbeing consultancy that helps companies curate its built environments, people experiences and culture. This \[…\] June 10, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Nine Micro Moments to Build Team Culture, With Michelle Hartley]() HR expert Michelle Hartley on the small, frequent gestures that build team culture in hybrid work, and nine micro moments any manager can start using. April 29, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [How To Stay Connected To Your Hybrid Team With Steve Cockram]() As Head of People and Partnerships at Kadence, one of the things I ask myself most regularly is “how do we better communicate as a team?”. Operating as a distributed team, we are spread all over the world. For that reason, it’s really important for us to feel like we don’t sacrifice on connection and \[…\] April 22, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Listening And The Power Of Team-Level Agreements]() Gallup recently found that only 12% of hybrid workers benefit from hybrid policies decided by their individual team. Crucially — they also found that this small group is also the most engaged. It seems that when employees are given the trust and autonomy to make their own decisions — and be really heard by their team members — \[…\] April 5, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Transforming The Public Sector With Andy Lake]() As we step into a future where the lines between our professional and personal lives are increasingly blurred. The need for smarter, more flexible workspaces has never been more apparent. The public sector, traditionally seen as a bastion of the ‘old ways’ of working, is now at the forefront of this transformation. I recently sat \[…\] March 26, 2024 · Kadence News #### [Dave Cairns Joins Kadence as Future of Work Strategist]() In March 2024, Dave Cairns, formerly Senior Vice President of Office Leasing at CBRE Canada, joined Kadence as its Future of Work Strategist. [← Newer posts]() Page 2 of 3 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Helen Attia — page 3 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/helen-attia/page/3/ Description: Helen heads up Kadence's People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence's employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. Page 3 of 3. Helen Attia Kadence ### Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence's People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence's employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. March 4, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Rethinking Productivity: Embracing Outcomes In Hybrid Work]() Is your company moving towards a hybrid model of work? Are you worried how you can ensure employee productivity when they are not in the office? HR managers find themselves at the forefront of delivering success when companies move to the hybrid model. There are natural concerns about: These can feel daunting as companies embrace \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 3 of 3 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Jamie Addis | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/jamie-addis/ Description: Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you'll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. Jamie Addis Kadence ### Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you'll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. September 8, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] August 12, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. August 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. August 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [Office Space Planning: A Workplace Leader’s Guide to Strategic Workplace Design]() Office space planning was once a one-time exercise: lay out the floor, assign the desks, and revisit it in a few years. That model no longer fits how organizations operate. Office space planning has become an ongoing strategic discipline that touches real estate, headcount, hybrid policy, and employee experience at the same time. This guide \[…\] August 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Move Management? A Practical Guide to Office Moves, Adds, and Changes]() Move management is the practice of planning and executing workplace changes so people, space and resources stay aligned, from desk changes to full relocations. August 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Scenario Planning? A Guide for Workplace and Real Estate Leaders]() Scenario planning models several possible futures and a response to each. Workplace leaders use it to test lease, consolidation and RTO decisions first. June 8, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [SpaceOps: Built for What Happens Next]() Something Rory from our Product Engineering Team said recently has stayed with me. Most workspace tools, he explained, are good at telling you what happened. What floor engineering used last Wednesday. How many desks were occupied in Q3. Which neighborhoods ran at capacity and which sat empty. What they are not built to do is \[…\] May 26, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [How to Implement a Workplace Management System: A Step-by-Step Enterprise Guide]() Workplace management system implementation works when you set goals first, clean your data, roll out in phases and treat adoption as a metric. May 26, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [How to Choose the Right Workplace Management Software: An Enterprise Buyer's Guide]() Choosing workplace management software shapes how you allocate space, coordinate people and manage real estate costs for years. Here is how to evaluate it against outcomes, not features. May 26, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is an IWMS? IWMS vs Traditional Workplace Management Systems]() An IWMS brings real estate, facilities, space, assets and operations into one platform. Here is how it differs from traditional workplace management systems. March 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [Calculate the Financial Impact of Your People and Spaces]() Workplace operations now sit at the center of enterprise performance. Real estate represents one of the largest fixed costs on the balance sheet. Workforce expense remains the largest operating cost. Technology investment continues to expand. At the same time, executive teams are demanding clearer evidence that workplace decisions are driving measurable return. Despite this, many \[…\] March 4, 2026 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Partners With Archilogic to Power Intelligent Workplaces]() In March 2026, Kadence announced a strategic partnership with Archilogic, the spatial data platform, connecting Archilogic floor plan data with Kadence SpaceOps. Page 1 of 3 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Jamie Addis — page 2 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/jamie-addis/page/2/ Description: Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you'll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. Page 2 of 3. Jamie Addis Kadence ### Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you'll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. January 29, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Intelligence Behind SpaceOps]() Over the past few years, the conversations we’ve been having with workplace, real estate, and operations leaders have started to sound very similar. They’re being asked to make space decisions with incomplete information and still stand behind them. These aren’t abstract planning questions. They’re operational decisions with financial, cultural, and human consequences. Once they’re made, \[…\] November 26, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Conference Room Booking And Why It Matters For Workplace Operations]() Conference room booking is the process of reserving meeting spaces in an office so people can collaborate without conflict or wasted time. At its most basic, it ensures employees know which rooms are available, prevents double-bookings, and keeps meetings running smoothly. That definition worked when offices were predictable. In 2025, they are not. Hybrid schedules, \[…\] November 26, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Hot Desking And How You Can Implement It]() Hot desking is a flexible workplace model where employees do not have assigned desks but instead use available workstations as needed. It started as a way to save costs and optimize real estate, but in the age of hybrid work, hot desking has become a practical solution to changing attendance patterns. With fewer people coming \[…\] November 25, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Office Redesign Planning And How To Do It Right In 2026]() Every office tells a story about how work gets done. The layout, meeting spaces, and neighborhood design all reflect the culture and rhythm of an organization. But in 2026, those rhythms will be changing faster than ever. Hybrid schedules, shifting policies, and new collaboration habits are transforming how companies use their space. That means office \[…\] October 29, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [From CAFM To Workplace Operations]() For decades, companies have tried to manage the workplace with software built for buildings, not people. Computer-Aided Facilities Management, or CAFM, began as a digital leap forward for facilities teams. It helped organizations move from paper floor plans to electronic systems that tracked space, assets, and maintenance. But today, the world of work looks very \[…\] October 29, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [Capacity Planning For Offices: Why It Matters For Cost Control]() Every office represents a balancing act between cost and capacity. Too much space, and money is wasted on empty desks. Too little, and productivity stalls as employees compete for rooms and resources. For CFOs and real estate leaders, getting this balance right has never been more important. Hybrid work has made office use unpredictable, yet \[…\] October 23, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [Headcount And Seating Planning: How To Balance Growth]() Every leader faces the same challenge in 2025: how to plan for headcount growth and seating planning when the workplace keeps changing. Teams are distributed, hybrid policies evolve, and office attendance fluctuates week to week. Yet decisions about space still carry long-term financial consequences. Headcount and seating planning sits at the center of that challenge. \[…\] September 29, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Space Management? Turning Office Utilization Into Performance Data]() Space management is the planning, organizing and optimizing of office space. Here is what it covers, why it changed and how utilization data now drives it. September 25, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Visitor Management And Why It Matters For Workplace Operations]() Visitor management is the process of welcoming, tracking, and supporting every guest who enters your workplace. It covers everything from digital sign-ins and badges to host notifications and compliance records. At its most basic, visitor management ensures people can enter safely, be where they need to be, and leave a record behind. But stopping there \[…\] September 16, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Are Workplace Analytics And How Can They Cut Costs?]() Every organization today faces the same pressure: how to make offices work harder for less money. Leaders are cutting square footage, employees expect more flexibility, and boards want proof that investments in real estate drive real returns. This is where workplace analytics comes in. At its simplest, workplace analytics means using data to understand how \[…\] August 26, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Workplace Operations Management? Role, Skills and Benefits]() Workplace operations management coordinates people, space and technology so the office supports business outcomes. Here is what the role covers and why it matters. August 18, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [What Is a Workplace Operations Platform? The Backbone of the Modern Workplace]() Workplace operations aligns people, space and technology to business outcomes. What it covers, why it matters, and what a workplace operations platform does. [← Newer posts]() Page 2 of 3 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Jamie Addis — page 3 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/jamie-addis/page/3/ Description: Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you'll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. Page 3 of 3. Jamie Addis Kadence ### Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you'll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. December 2, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [The CEO’s Perspective: Driving Growth, Innovation, And Hybrid Working ROI]() Embracing hybrid work isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for forward-thinking CEOs. This article unveils how hybrid work models drive unprecedented Hybrid Working ROI across the triple bottom line: By implementing a robust hybrid working ROI strategy, CEOs can future-proof their organizations, attract top talent, and gain a competitive edge in an evolving business \[…\] September 18, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Amazon's Five-Day Return to Office and the Hybrid Work Challenge]() In September 2024, Amazon said employees would return to the office five days a week from January 2025. The risks, and how hybrid could work instead. August 30, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Starbucks' Hybrid Work Policy: An Opportunity To Brew A Better Hybrid Culture (2024)]() In 2024, Starbucks' three-day office policy and its October threat to fire staff who did not comply drew criticism. How it could build a fairer hybrid culture instead. August 23, 2024 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Named Top Performer For Customer Success Award]() Kadence has been named a top performer in the Summer 2024 Desk Booking Software Customer Success Report FeaturedCustomers is the leading customer success content marketing platform for B2B business software & services helping potential B2B buyers make informed purchasing decisions through vendor validated customer success content such as customer testimonials, success stories, case studies, and \[…\] April 10, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Exploring The Future Of Work: Understanding Hybrid Remote Work]() Welcome to a new era of work. Traditional notions of where and how work gets done have been redefined. But what is hybrid remote work? This new terminology has become commonplace. It’s now an integral part of both how companies choose to operate and the attraction of jobs to employees. In this article, we delve \[…\] March 20, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Space Management Tools Help Navigate Hybrid Work]() The rise of hybrid work models has defined what we think of as the modern workplace. As companies adapt to this new normal, the need for effective space management tools has become critical. These tools can have a transformative impact on the hybrid work environment, enhancing: The traditional 9-to-5 office routine has given way to \[…\] March 6, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Desk Reservation Software Is Shaping The Hybrid Workplace]() As companies transition into a hybrid work model, efficient desk utilization becomes essential. This is where Desk Reservation Software steps into the limelight. The right software can transform the way organizations manage workspace dynamics. Let’s explore the pivotal role that Desk Reservation Software plays in shaping the future of the hybrid workplace. The global workforce \[…\] February 29, 2024 · Hybrid Working #### [Hybrid Work Management Software – Choosing The Right One]() The rise of hybrid work models has become more than just a trend. It’s a necessity. As teams embrace a flexible work environment, effective Hybrid Work Management Software has become critical. Read our key considerations that will empower you and your team to choose the right software that best suits your hybrid goals. The traditional \[…\] July 23, 2021 · Space Optimization #### [5 Ways Conference Room Scheduling Software Has Changed]() From organizing workflows on Monday.com to hosting a virtual conference on Hopin, the pandemic has sparked a digital revolution in the way we work. Tools that enable people to seamlessly do their jobs from wherever they’re located have quickly become a mainstay of the modern workplace. As organizations develop hybrid working models, offices are becoming \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 3 of 3 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## John Hopkins | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/john-hopkins/ Description: John Hopkins is an Associate Professor of Management from Swinburne University of Technology, and the Founder of WorkFLEX, a Melbourne-based company offering a range of online courses, coaching and training, to help workers and organisations successfully transition to new ways of working. John Hopkins Guest author ### John Hopkins John Hopkins is an Associate Professor of Management from Swinburne University of Technology, and the Founder of WorkFLEX, a Melbourne-based company offering a range of online courses, coaching and training, to help workers and organisations successfully transition to new ways of working. February 16, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Embracing Third Spaces: The Evolution Of Modern Workplaces]() In the move towards more flexible ways of working, modern organizations are having to get smarter about how they use space. That means integrating a hybrid operating platform and making sure existing office space is used effectively. For others, it means giving their employees access to flexible workspaces near them. Through my experiences with WorkFLEX, \[…\] Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Mandy Garner | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/mandy-garner/ Description: Mandy is the founder of wmpeople, the umbrella company of workingmums, workingdads and workingwise. These networks improve the world of work for everyone by inspiring and promoting best practice in diversity and inclusion amongst employers, and connecting jobseekers to work that matches their situation. Mandy Garner Guest author ### Mandy Garner Mandy is the founder of wmpeople, the umbrella company of workingmums, workingdads and workingwise. These networks improve the world of work for everyone by inspiring and promoting best practice in diversity and inclusion amongst employers, and connecting jobseekers to work that matches their situation. January 17, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Flexible Working: A Personal Journey To Empowerment]() As the founder of wmpeople, I’ve witnessed firsthand the evolution of flexible working and its impact on countless lives. Over the years, my platforms have become a haven for parents and caregivers seeking work that accommodates their unique life circumstances. In its early days, flexible working was often equated with part-time roles or job-sharing arrangements. There \[…\] Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Martin Studencan | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/martin-studencan/ Description: Martin Studencan is an entrepreneur from Slovakia and founder of NextRetreat. NextRetreat is an all-in-one solution designed to simplify team travel, helping companies plan and organize team offsites effortlessly with in-house technology, curated destinations, and streamlined processes. Martin Studencan Guest author ### Martin Studencan Martin Studencan is an entrepreneur from Slovakia and founder of NextRetreat. NextRetreat is an all-in-one solution designed to simplify team travel, helping companies plan and organize team offsites effortlessly with in-house technology, curated destinations, and streamlined processes. December 2, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [NextRetreat’s Top Tips For Planning An Offsite For Hybrid Companies]() If you work in a hybrid office environment, chances are that your daily interactions are dominated by Zoom meetings and Slack channels. And while these tools have undoubtedly made our day-to-day working lives easier, a high-quality in-person offsite is now more valuable than ever. Offsites serve as crucial touchpoints for hybrid working teams. They create connections that \[…\] Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Neal Pilaivin | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/neal-pilaivin/ Description: Neal is a leader in IT Operations, heading infrastructure, security, support, and collaboration teams at HP, Microsoft, Sonos, and Hubspot. His current focus is Angel Investing, backing founders innovating primarily in health, services, and enterprise software. What we call the workplace has evolved, yet traditional management and corporate office culture have largely remained static for the entire Internet era. It's time for that to change; ideas emanating from the admission that the office is part of an organization's toolkit will lead to productive people and more efficient use of expensive office space. Neal Pilaivin Guest author ### Neal Pilaivin Neal is a leader in IT Operations, heading infrastructure, security, support, and collaboration teams at HP, Microsoft, Sonos, and Hubspot. His current focus is Angel Investing, backing founders innovating primarily in health, services, and enterprise software. What we call the workplace has evolved, yet traditional management and corporate office culture have largely remained static for the entire Internet era. It's time for that to change; ideas emanating from the admission that the office is part of an organization's toolkit will lead to productive people and more efficient use of expensive office space. No migrated articles are available in this category yet. Explore [all news and ideas](). Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Omar Ramirez | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/omar-ramirez/ Description: Omar Ramirez is a seasoned strategist with over 16 years of experience leading complex workplace programmes across North America, APAC, EMEA, and Latin America. Omar specialises in developing innovative strategies and fostering strong, collaborative partnerships that deliver measurable results. His expertise spans global programme management, client engagement, and creating solutions that align with organisational outcomes. Omar Ramirez Guest author ### Omar Ramirez Omar Ramirez is a seasoned strategist with over 16 years of experience leading complex workplace programmes across North America, APAC, EMEA, and Latin America. Omar specialises in developing innovative strategies and fostering strong, collaborative partnerships that deliver measurable results. His expertise spans global programme management, client engagement, and creating solutions that align with organisational outcomes. No migrated articles are available in this category yet. Explore [all news and ideas](). Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Perry Timms | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/perry-timms/ Description: Perry Timms is the Founder and Chief Energy Officer of PTHR. In 2022, he was ranked Number 1 Most Influential HR Thinker by HR Magazine and in 2023, was inducted into the HR Most Influential Hall of Fame. In 2024, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award from WorldBlu for service to self-managed and democratic, freedom-centred work. He has 30+ years experience in Change and Transformation through technology, 20+ years as an HR Professional and 10+ years since founding PTHR. His personal mission is to see more people flourish through their work and help shift organisations into a force for societal good. Perry Timms Guest author ### Perry Timms Perry Timms is the Founder and Chief Energy Officer of PTHR. In 2022, he was ranked Number 1 Most Influential HR Thinker by HR Magazine and in 2023, was inducted into the HR Most Influential Hall of Fame. In 2024, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award from WorldBlu for service to self-managed and democratic, freedom-centred work. He has 30+ years experience in Change and Transformation through technology, 20+ years as an HR Professional and 10+ years since founding PTHR. His personal mission is to see more people flourish through their work and help shift organisations into a force for societal good. October 24, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [From Thought Leadership To Sense Making With Perry Timms]() Thought Leadership has been a “thing” for some three decades now. It is often provocative, ideological, and agitative, sometimes research-led and evidence-based on trended analysis and experimentation. People who are leading “thinkers” are considered very differently from strategists and operational implementors. Inevitably, there are tensions between those who do and those who think. Thought leadership \[…\] Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Simone Fenton-Jarvis | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/simone-fenton-jarvis/ Description: You could say I’m a workplace thought-leader who's passionate about creating human-centric workplaces, but at its most basic, what I do is focus on people. I home in on the employee experience, workplace culture, and organisational performance and use data insights to deliver change and business improvement in regard to culture, space, process, and technology. I’m a fellow and non-executive director of IWFM, sit on the editorial boards for Facilitate Magazine and the Facilities Management Journal, along with the post-graduate advisory board at Nottingham Trent University. I’m the author of a published book, ’The Human-Centric Workplace’ which explores how to enable people, communities, and our planet to thrive. Simone Fenton-Jarvis Author of The Human-Centric Workplace and Fellow Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management ### Simone Fenton-Jarvis You could say I’m a workplace thought-leader who's passionate about creating human-centric workplaces, but at its most basic, what I do is focus on people. I home in on the employee experience, workplace culture, and organisational performance and use data insights to deliver change and business improvement in regard to culture, space, process, and technology. I’m a fellow and non-executive director of IWFM, sit on the editorial boards for Facilitate Magazine and the Facilities Management Journal, along with the post-graduate advisory board at Nottingham Trent University. I’m the author of a published book, ’The Human-Centric Workplace’ which explores how to enable people, communities, and our planet to thrive. October 7, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [The Short-Term Pain And Long-Term Gain Of Being Brave]() Human beings are wired to avoid pain. We try to “fix” the pain, often papering over the cracks. When it comes to technology within the workplace, I see the papering over the cracks in ways like: You see, none of these are actually okay statements to make, and yet, for the last 17 years, these \[…\] December 6, 2021 · Human Flourishing #### [The Human-Centric Workplace]() Before we discuss what a human-centric workplace is, we must define what it is to be human. From poets, philosophers, anthropologists, religious bodies, scientists, politicians, and artists. Despite the efforts, the answers are diverse and inconclusive, because believing in a single answer would create silos between the brain, emotion, the body and so forth; we \[…\] Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Tonille Miller | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/tonille-miller/ Description: With over 15 years of experience as a management consultant, I/O psychologist, and executive coach, Tonille is the founder of EXT - Experience and Transformation, a boutique consulting firm that helps leaders and organizations thrive in the new world of work. She specializes in change management, digital transformation, employee engagement & retention, culture, behavior change, strategic communications, business transformation, hybrid work, AI adoption, employee experience, leadership development, and organizational effectiveness. Her new book, The Flourishing Effect: Unlocking Employee Thriving as Your Competetive Edge, provides a playbook for leaders and change-makers to create the conditions that engage their people and unlock high performance in this new world. She has been featured in media outlets like The Huffington Post, Nasdaq, TechFunnel, Thrive Global, Employee Experience Magazine, Flex Index Executives Diary Magazine, and the American Journal of Health Promotion. Tonille Miller Guest author ### Tonille Miller With over 15 years of experience as a management consultant, I/O psychologist, and executive coach, Tonille is the founder of EXT - Experience and Transformation, a boutique consulting firm that helps leaders and organizations thrive in the new world of work. She specializes in change management, digital transformation, employee engagement & retention, culture, behavior change, strategic communications, business transformation, hybrid work, AI adoption, employee experience, leadership development, and organizational effectiveness. Her new book, The Flourishing Effect: Unlocking Employee Thriving as Your Competetive Edge, provides a playbook for leaders and change-makers to create the conditions that engage their people and unlock high performance in this new world. She has been featured in media outlets like The Huffington Post, Nasdaq, TechFunnel, Thrive Global, Employee Experience Magazine, Flex Index Executives Diary Magazine, and the American Journal of Health Promotion. May 2, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [How To Cultivate A Company Culture With Tonille Miller]() In today’s competitive landscape, attracting, retaining, and unlocking top talent has become a top priority for organizations. With the emergence of hybrid work reshaping the very fabric of organizational dynamics, it’s more important than ever to create a generative company culture that enables people to do their best work in this new environment. But how \[…\] Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Vineet Rajan | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/author/vineet-rajan/ Description: Vineet is the CEO and CoFounder of Forte. Forte is the mental wellness employee platform that provides Content and Connections so they can uniquely and meaningfully contribute at work, home, and in their community. Learn more at getforte.com. Vineet Rajan Guest author ### Vineet Rajan Vineet is the CEO and CoFounder of Forte. Forte is the mental wellness employee platform that provides Content and Connections so they can uniquely and meaningfully contribute at work, home, and in their community. Learn more at getforte.com. May 21, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [The Need For Wellbeing Resources Like Forte]() What comes to mind when you think of the “workplace”? For myself, it used to bring up images of bustling offices, morning commutes, and deskside chats. But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of the workplace has changed, giving rise to the era of the modern hybrid and dynamic workforce. As we \[…\] Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How Automatic Bookings Power Smarter Office Planning - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/automatic-bookings/ Description: Learn how Automatic Bookings delivers accurate, real-time occupancy data for smarter workplace operations and planning. [News]() · [Product News]() · September 5, 2025 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Introducing Automatic Bookings For Smarter Workplace Planning Discover why automatic desk bookings power smarter office planning. #### Why Automatic Bookings Matter Ghost desks, false bookings, and missed check-ins distort reality and drive poor decisions. Employees forget to reserve, visitors arrive unannounced, and contractors or hot desk users slip through the cracks. The result is inflated utilization metrics and misleading occupancy reports that cost enterprises millions in wasted space. Kadence Agent solves this with [automatic desk bookings]() and automatic desk check in. The system instantly creates a booking for anyone who arrives onsite, whether they are an employee, contractor, or visitor. Every arrival is captured in the system, producing [real-time occupancy data]() that leaders can trust to plan, consolidate, and scale their offices. #### Capture Real Usage vs. Actual Bookings Most enterprises still plan their space using unreliable sources such as badge swipes or Outlook calendars. These tools only tell half the story. A desk may look booked but sit empty, or entire teams may show up without leaving any trace in the system. This gap between bookings and actual usage forces executives to make multimillion-dollar decisions on incomplete information. With [automatic workplace bookings]() powered by Kadence Agent, every arrival is logged and every presence is counted. Enterprises finally gain a single source of truth about occupancy across their portfolio. A stylized design to show the inaccuracy of check-in data provided through just key cards vs. Kadence Sense and Auto Check-ins. #### Feed Clean Data Into Your Workplace Operations Platform Kadence is more than a hybrid workplace booking system. It is the [workplace operations platform]() that connects people, space, and policy into one ecosystem. Every booking and check-in captured by Kadence Agent flows directly into your reporting and planning tools. Facilities teams can see who is in the office and where they are sitting. IT leaders can deploy globally with confidence thanks to integrations with Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google, and [SSO](). Real estate leaders gain accurate usage metrics to guide lease negotiations, consolidations, and long-term [portfolio strategy](). When you capture [real-time occupancy data]() from every arrival, you can: - Right-size your portfolio with confidence - Consolidate underused zones and reallocate space - Forecast demand ahead of [lease renewals]() - Run hybrid policies with evidence-based compliance - Maintain accountability for security and visitor tracking Kadence aligns with enterprise-grade standards for [privacy, security, and compliance,]() ensuring every person onsite is accounted for in line with your access and data policies. A stylized design to show how check-in data results in accurate insights. #### Let Presence Power Real Estate Strategy Automatic Onsite Bookings turn scheduling into a strategic advantage. When every arrival is logged without friction, occupancy metrics become the single source of truth. That means: - **Employees** skip the admin and start work right away - **Visitors and contractors** are welcomed with guaranteed space - **Leaders** get the confidence to reduce square footage and renegotiate leases with evidence Customer Quote from VP of Corporate Real Estate and Facilities Management at Endeavour. #### How It Works The Kadence Agent connects with your exisiting WiFi network for attendance monitoring without the need to deploy additional hardware or sensors. Here’s how it works: - **Network Verification:** Employees are marked as present simply by connecting to your WiFi network. No apps, QR codes, or manual bookings and check-ins required. - **Frictionless Experience:** The system automatically checks employees into their booked spaces without any manual intervention. - **Real-Time Data:** Occupancy information is updated in real-time, providing you with accurate, up-to-the-minute data. **[Get started with the Kadence Agent here]()** #### Trusted By Leading Enterprises Enterprises such as the [Royal College of Surgeons of England]() and [Wavex]() already rely on Kadence Agent to keep occupancy data clean, justify space consolidation, and run hybrid policies with clarity. These organizations demonstrate how trusted data leads to measurable savings and a stronger workplace culture. So if you’re serious about scaling smarter office planning, just know Kadence Agent is more than a check-in tool. With automatic desk bookings and automatic [desk check-in](), it becomes the hidden engine that powers accurate [workplace operations]() across your company. [Get your demo now]() to see how it works! Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Automatic Check-ins with Kadence Agent - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/automatic-check-ins-with-the-kadence-agent-for-mac-or-windows/ Description: The Kadence Agent provides your team the ability to never have to check in manually again, and you with the accurate data you need. [News]() · [Product News]() · February 5, 2025 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Automatic Check-Ins With Kadence Agent Read about kadence Agent Accurately tracking and optimizing [office occupancy]() remains a persistent challenge. Traditional methods have left businesses relying on guesswork and outdated data for crucial [space management]() decisions. But what if you could gain real-time, precise occupancy insights without expensive hardware or disruptive installations? **All this is made possible through our new [Kadence Agent](), a lightweight desktop app that automates employee check-ins and enhances the hybrid work experience.** Centrally provisioned by IT in minutes, it captures hybrid data automatically. Providing your team the ability to never have to check in manually again, with the accurate data you need to make informed decisions. #### What Is The Kadence Agent? Kadence Agent is a lightweight desktop app within the [Kadence Sense]() ecosystem, running conveniently from your computer’s taskbar. Once set up, it will check employees into their [bookings]() automatically without them needing to manually check-in again. As a global admin of Kadence, you can download the Kadence Agent directly from the Kadence web app. Simply go to your ‘personal profile’ and click ‘Kadence Agent’ to download. **For a detailed step-by-step guide on installation and distribution, [discover more in this set up guide]()** #### Key Benefits Of Automatic Check-Ins Using Kadence Agent ##### 1. Effortless Attendance Monitoring Imagine a world where [attendance tracking]() happens seamlessly in the background: - **Seamless Check-ins**: Say goodbye to manual processes. Kadence Agent automatically registers occupancy across all locations, eliminating the need for manual badge swipes. - **Hybrid Compliance**: Simplify [hybrid work compliance]() reporting with precise [occupancy data]() – always know who was in the office, and when. - **Support Flexible Work**: Kadence adapts to various work arrangements, whether it’s full-time office work, hybrid schedules, or occasional [in-office days](). The Kadence Agent Modal ##### 2. Make Informed Space Planning Decisions Turn data into actionable insights: - **Visualize Attendance Patterns**: Understand peak office hours, preferred work days, and how different teams utilize the office spaces. - **Efficient Resource Assignment**: With real-time occupancy data, you can allocate your resources more effectively. Adjust cleaning schedules, and ensure IT support is available when most needed. - **Space Planning**: Use historical data to predict [future space needs](), whether you’re considering expanding, downsizing, or reconfiguring your office. Team office use trends graph #### How It Works Kadence Agent connects with your existing WiFi network for attendance monitoring without the need to deploy additional hardware. Here’s how it works: - **Network Verification**: Employees are marked as present simply by connecting to your office W-Fi network—no apps, QR codes, or manual check-ins required. - **Frictionless Experience**: The system automatically checks employees into their booked spaces without any manual intervention. - **Real-Time Data**: Occupancy information is updated in real-time, providing you with accurate, up-to-the-minute data. **Get in touch with your Customer Success Manager to activate Kadence Agent for your teams!** Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Brian Elliott on Why Workplace Strategy Can’t Stay Static in the Age of AI - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/brian-elliott-on-why-workplace-strategy-cant-stay-static-in-the-age-of-ai/ Description: Brian Elliott explains why workplace strategy can’t stay static in the age of AI, and why leaders need dynamic scenario planning to keep up. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · April 16, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Brian Elliott on Why Workplace Strategy Can’t Stay Static in the Age of AI Workplace AI Strategy At IFMA, Brian Elliott and I kept coming back to the same tension. AI is accelerating the speed of business, but [workplace strategy]() is still too often built on assumptions from a more stable era. Companies want faster answers on growth, attendance, capacity, and cost, while workplace leaders are still dealing with leases, layouts, infrastructure, and patterns of use that can change quarter to quarter. That gap is getting harder to ignore. The question is no longer whether AI will change work. It already is. The more pressing question is what that means for the people responsible for planning space, supporting teams, and making portfolio decisions in an environment that no longer sits still. For a long time, workplace planning could operate on broad assumptions and still produce a workable answer. Forecasts were imperfect, but usable. Portfolio plans were updated periodically. Utilization data gave some signal, even if it was incomplete. Today, that is no longer enough. Headcount shifts faster, attendance remains uneven, business units operate differently, and executive pressure on cost continues to rise. In that environment, static planning is not just inefficient. It is increasingly hard to defend. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### AI Is Changing Work, Not Eliminating The Office One of the most useful parts of the conversation was getting past the lazy version of the AI debate. This is not simply a story about fewer people, less space, and the office fading into irrelevance. Brian and I agreed that major technology shifts rarely play out that neatly. New tools change what organizations expect from their teams. They expand what companies believe they can deliver. In practice, that often creates more complexity before it creates simplicity. That is one reason the office is not disappearing from the picture. In fact, many of the companies building the AI economy are also taking significant amounts of office space. During the session, we discussed the expansion of AI firms in San Francisco and the way companies like OpenAI are continuing to grow. The point was not that every company should expand its footprint. It was that the future is not as simple as AI replacing the office. What is changing is the role of the workplace itself. It is becoming more dynamic, more scrutinized, and more tightly connected to business performance. That raises the bar for workplace AI strategy. #### Calculate the ROI of Your Workplace Operations Our brand-new ROI Calculator is here to help you visualize your success in seconds. [Calculate Your ROI]() #### The Real Challenge Is Operational, Not Technical Another point Brian and I aligned on is that the technology itself is often the easiest part. The harder challenge is everything around it. Do you have reliable enough data to support good decisions? Do you know what space you have, how it is being used, what contracts are in play, and how different parts of the portfolio are performing? That is where many organizations still struggle. Workplace data is often fragmented across systems, vendors, and regions. Seat counts live in one place, contracts in another, attendance signals somewhere else, and growth forecasts somewhere else again. AI can help bring that picture together, but it cannot compensate for weak inputs or unclear operating discipline. We also touched on something just as important: access to tools is not the same as transformation. The companies seeing real gains are redesigning workflows, creating local champions, and helping teams adopt new habits that improve decisions in practice. The same is true in [workplace operations](). Visibility matters, but visibility alone is not enough. A dashboard can tell you what happened. A utilization report can show part of the picture. Neither one helps you test different futures before making an expensive decision. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Workplace Leaders Are Planning For Constant Change This is where the role of the workplace leader has changed so dramatically. It is no longer just about managing desks, chairs, and leases. Workplace leaders are now expected to help the business navigate uncertainty. They are balancing employee experience, portfolio efficiency, [hybrid coordination](), and executive pressure all at once. And they are doing it in an environment where one-size-fits-all strategy breaks down quickly. Some teams are in the office almost every day. Others are rarely there. Some need close adjacencies to work well. Others need far more flexibility. A static model smooths over those differences when it should be surfacing them. This is why so many workplace leaders feel caught between long-term commitments and short-term volatility. Lease decisions still need to be made. Space still has to be allocated. Moves still have to happen. But the assumptions underneath those decisions no longer hold steady for very long. #### Why Static Planning Breaks Down Static planning breaks down because it cannot keep pace with changing conditions. A portfolio plan based on average attendance may miss where demand actually peaks. A headcount forecast may ignore the fact that different business units use space in completely different ways. A [space allocation]() model may overlook the adjacencies one team needs or the flexibility another can tolerate. When that happens, companies either overspend on space they do not need or create constraints that hurt performance and employee experience. That was really the shared conclusion from the conversation. Workplace leaders are being asked to operate at the speed of business while managing assets that move far more slowly. AI is only increasing that pressure by raising expectations for speed, flexibility, and precision across the organization. If the business is becoming more dynamic, workplace AI strategy has to become more dynamic too. The leaders handling this well are the ones who can compare different paths before committing to one. They can model growth against policy, understand capacity against actual usage, and show where space can be consolidated, reconfigured, or expanded with confidence. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How SpaceOps Helps Leaders Plan With Confidence That is exactly why we built SpaceOps. At IFMA, I shared examples that brought this to life. One customer was preparing to open a new floor and believed it needed 100 additional desks. Once we modeled team adjacencies, likely peak demand, and overcapacity risk, the real answer was two. Another customer needed to find 15 desks on a floor in Sydney and used Kadence to identify where that capacity could actually come from. That is the shift. Static planning gives you a snapshot. [Scenario planning]() shows you consequences. [SpaceOps is built to help workplace leaders]() model growth, capacity, adjacencies, policies, and moves before they turn into expensive mistakes. When leaders need to answer how much space they really need, where teams should sit, or what happens under different policy or growth scenarios, they need more than a spreadsheet and a utilization report. They need a planning capability that reflects how dynamic the workplace has become. That, more than anything, was the point Brian and I kept returning to. AI is not making workplace strategy less important. It is making static workplace strategy impossible to defend. The teams that succeed will be the ones that can pressure-test assumptions, model multiple futures, and give the business a clear path forward based on evidence rather than instinct. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see how SpaceOps can help you plan with confidence, and [calculate your ROI]() to understand what smarter scenario planning could save across your portfolio. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts See Kadence in action. Speak with our team today. [Get in touch]() Part of a guide [AI and the future of work: strategy, capacity and the workplace]() AI and the future of work are now one conversation. Here is what AI means for the length of the week, for adoption, for human focus and for the office itself. #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Building Operations and Experience (BOE) Explained | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/building-operations-experience-boe-the-future-of-commercial-real-estate/ Description: Building operations and experience (BOE) unites property management, building operations and workplace experience. Learn how it works and why CBRE backed it. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · January 16, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Building Operations and Experience (BOE) in Commercial Real Estate Windows of Skyscraper Business Office [Building operations and experience]() (BOE) is an approach to commercial real estate that brings building operations, [workplace experience]() and property management together. The aim is buildings that are not just functional but also engaging and efficient for everyone who uses them. Tenants expect more, technology is reshaping how buildings run, and the industry is shifting from simply managing properties to creating experiences. BOE sits at the center of that change. In January 2025, CBRE’s move to acquire the flexible workplace provider Industrious showed how seriously the largest firms were taking it. #### What is building operations and experience (BOE)? Building operations and experience (BOE) is a people-focused upgrade to traditional building management. It is not only about keeping the lights on and the elevators running. It is about making buildings work better for everyone in them, including tenants, employees, visitors and the people managing the property, so they become places people want to be. Traditional building management treats a building as an asset to maintain. BOE treats it as a service to the people inside it. That shift matters for owners, because tenant experience affects retention, and for occupiers, because the building shapes how employees feel about coming in. #### Why did CBRE go all in on BOE? CBRE went all in on BOE to offer tenants a single, scalable service that combines [flexible workspace]() with facilities and property management. As reported in January 2025, the commercial real estate giant moved to acquire Industrious, a flexible workplace provider, to start an entirely new BOE-focused business segment. CBRE announced the plan in a [press release](), and [The Wall Street Journal reported]() that the firm was going all in on co-working. It was not CBRE’s first step in this direction. Back in 2020, CBRE invested in Industrious, taking a 40% equity stake and a $100 million convertible note. By combining Industrious with its existing services, such as [facilities management]() and property management, CBRE set out to build a one-stop offer covering everything from offices to data centers to warehouses: global, scalable and centered on the tenant. CBRE headquarters building. #### What are the three parts of BOE? BOE blends three core elements into one approach: property management, building operations and workplace experience. Each already exists as a discipline. BOE’s value comes from running them together, so that decisions about leases, building systems and the employee experience inform each other instead of sitting in separate teams. - **Property management:** the nuts and bolts of running a building, such as leases, rent collection and tenant relations. - **Building operations:** keeping systems such as HVAC, lighting and security running smoothly and efficiently. **HVAC** stands for heating, ventilation and air conditioning. - **Workplace experience:** designing workspaces, adding amenities and integrating technology so the tenant and employee experience is excellent. Together, these help buildings perform better, keep tenants happy and add value for property owners. #### Why are companies adopting BOE? Companies are adopting BOE because it links tenant experience to financial results. A better experience improves tenant retention and attracts new tenants. Integrating operations with experience can cut energy costs and improve efficiency. Together, happier tenants and efficient buildings raise asset value and set a property apart in a crowded market. - **Happy tenants:** a focus on tenant experience means better retention and new tenants knocking at the door. - **Better building performance:** integrating operations with experience can cut energy costs, streamline operations and improve efficiency. - **Higher property value:** happy tenants and efficient buildings mean higher asset value. - **Competitive edge:** in a crowded market, an exceptional experience sets a property apart. For occupiers, the same logic applies inside the office. Employees need to book desks and rooms, host visitors and find colleagues without friction. The [office space planning guide]() covers how to plan space around real demand. #### What technology makes BOE possible? Technology makes BOE possible by connecting building systems, sensors and people through shared data. Building management systems control operations in real time, IoT sensors measure conditions such as temperature and occupancy, tenant apps connect people to services, and analytics turn the combined data into better decisions about the building and how it is used. - **Building management systems (BMS):** software that monitors and controls building operations in real time, helping reduce energy use and catch issues before they escalate. - **IoT devices:** internet-connected sensors that collect data on everything from temperature to occupancy, helping personalize spaces and improve efficiency. Imagine a building that adjusts lighting and temperature to your preferences as you move through it. - **Tenant engagement platforms:** mobile apps that connect tenants to building amenities, services and each other, building community and making feedback easier. - **Data analytics:** analyzing data from multiple sources to predict trends, improve operations and make smarter decisions. On the occupier side, [workplace occupancy]() data shows how people actually use the space, which is the foundation for decisions about how much of it an organization needs. #### What are the challenges of BOE? The main challenges of BOE are data security, finding skilled staff and upfront cost. BOE collects large amounts of sensitive data that must be protected. Its systems need people who can run them. And the sensors, system upgrades and software it depends on can be expensive before the long-term savings arrive. - **Data security:** BOE collects sensitive information, from tenant preferences to operational data. Strong cybersecurity is essential. Companies must invest in encryption, firewalls and other tools, and stay compliant with data privacy regulations. - **Skilled workforce:** running BOE systems takes tech-savvy people who can manage IoT devices, analytics platforms and [smart building]() technologies. Hiring or upskilling them, and keeping them, can be hard in a competitive job market. - **Upfront costs:** installing IoT sensors, upgrading HVAC systems and integrating software platforms adds up quickly. The long-term benefits, including lower energy bills, streamlined operations and happier tenants, can still make it a worthwhile investment. #### What is the future of BOE? The momentum behind BOE is driven by three forces: rising tenant expectations, pressure to make buildings more sustainable, and advances in AI, IoT and analytics. Together they push property managers to rethink building design and operations, and they make buildings places that support creativity, productivity and collaboration while staying efficient. - **Rising expectations:** tenants are no longer satisfied with a merely functional workspace. They want flexibility, modern technology and amenities that improve their experience. - **Sustainability:** energy-efficient systems and smart technology cut energy use and operating costs, help meet sustainability goals and appeal to environmentally conscious tenants. - **Technology advances:** predictive maintenance that prevents costly breakdowns and smart systems that adapt to tenant preferences are setting new standards for building management. ##### Where does Kadence fit in BOE? Kadence works on the occupier side of BOE: the workplace experience inside the building. Its [space management]() tools help organizations allocate space, let employees book desks and rooms, and adjust availability using real-time data. Teams can coordinate their office days and navigate their day, while analytics support better decisions about space use. Automation simplifies everything from [visitor management]() to [desk booking](). [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() To see how Kadence supports better workplaces, [book a demo](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does BOE stand for in real estate? In commercial real estate, BOE stands for building operations and experience. It combines property management, building operations and workplace experience into one approach focused on the people who use a building, not only on the building itself. ##### What is CBRE’s BOE business? CBRE moved to create a new BOE-focused business by acquiring Industrious, a flexible workplace provider, as reported in January 2025. It built on CBRE’s 2020 investment in Industrious and combines flexible workspace with CBRE’s facilities and property management services. ##### How is BOE different from facilities management? Facilities management focuses on keeping a building and its systems running. BOE includes that work but adds property management and workplace experience, so operational decisions are made with tenant and employee experience in mind. ##### Is BOE worth the upfront cost? BOE can be expensive to start, because it may require IoT sensors, upgraded HVAC systems and new software. The long-term benefits, such as lower energy bills, streamlined operations and happier tenants, can make it a worthwhile investment. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Calculate the Financial Impact of Your People and Spaces - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/calculate-the-financial-impact-of-your-people-and-spaces/ Description: Estimate the ROI of optimizing your workplace. Model real estate savings, retention and productivity gains with the Kadence ROI Calculator. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · March 11, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### Calculate the Financial Impact of Your People and Spaces ROI Calculator Workplace operations now sit at the center of enterprise performance. Real estate represents one of the largest fixed costs on the balance sheet. Workforce expense remains the largest operating cost. Technology investment continues to expand. At the same time, executive teams are demanding clearer evidence that workplace decisions are driving measurable return. Despite this, many organizations still evaluate space, people, and tools independently. Finance reviews lease exposure. HR tracks attrition. IT monitors software spend. Operations manages space utilization. The financial interdependencies between these areas often go unmodeled. [The Kadence ROI Calculator addresses that gap](). It provides a structured, risk-adjusted financial model that quantifies the three-year impact of optimizing space, improving retention, increasing productivity, accelerating onboarding, and consolidating workplace tools. This enables workplace leaders to move from directional estimates to defensible financial projections grounded in operational data. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Why Performance Requires Integrated Modeling Operational performance in the workplace is shaped by the interaction between people, space, and technology. Evaluating these variables in isolation understates their collective impact. Consider the financial influence of: - Real estate footprint and lease commitments - Employee attrition and replacement cost - Time to productivity for new hires - Salary-weighted productivity improvement - Workplace technology consolidation - Administrative overhead tied to fragmented systems Each driver carries measurable cost. When modeled together across a multi-year horizon, the compounded value frequently exceeds expectations. The ROI Calculator integrates these variables into a unified framework, providing a more accurate view of performance opportunity. #### How the ROI Calculator Works The calculator follows a four-step structure aligned with how executive teams evaluate financial investment. **Step 1: Company Data** You begin by entering workforce fundamentals: - Number of employees - Average salary - Annual attrition rate - New hire rate - Country and currency These inputs allow the model to calculate projected financial impact across reduced employee turnover, faster onboarding cycles, and productivity improvement. Because workforce expense represents one of the largest operating costs in most organizations, even modest improvements create meaningful financial value over a three-year period. **Step 2: Workspace Footprint** Next, you input square footage and annual lease cost for each office location, along with an anticipated space reduction percentage. Using this information, the calculator models potential savings tied directly to improved space utilization and footprint optimization. The outputs reflect your actual lease commitments, ensuring that projections remain grounded in real cost exposure. **Step 3: Workplace Tools and Investment Comparison** The third stage evaluates your current workplace technology environment against projected Kadence investment. Inputs include: - Current annual workplace tool spend - Administrative FTE allocated to managing workplace systems - Annual Kadence license cost - Risk adjustment factor The risk adjustment factor enables conservative modeling and supports executive-level credibility. This stage accounts for tool consolidation savings, administrative efficiency improvements, and net investment comparison over three years. **Step 4: Financial Results and Impact** The final output presents a comprehensive financial summary across a three-year horizon, including: - Estimated total value created - ROI percentage relative to investment - Annual employees retained - CO₂ savings per year Savings are itemized across real estate optimization, employee retention impact, faster onboarding contribution, productivity gains, space utilization improvements, and tool consolidation. A detailed before-and-after comparison table outlines projected annual costs without optimization versus with Kadence across real estate, workplace tools, employee turnover, and productivity loss. This structure supports executive discussion and capital planning. #### Calculate the ROI of Your Workplace Operations Our brand-new ROI Calculator is here to help you visualize your success in seconds. [Calculate Your ROI]() #### Built for Operational Decision Makers Workplace strategy now intersects directly with financial performance. Decisions about space, technology, and workforce enablement influence capital allocation, efficiency, sustainability, and long-term resilience. The ROI Calculator connects these variables into a structured financial model built on your organization’s data. It enables workplace leaders to present a clear, quantified business case aligned to enterprise performance priorities. If you want to understand the financial impact of optimizing your people and your space, calculate your projected ROI today. To review your results in more depth and explore how Kadence can support your workplace operations strategy, [book a demo with our workplace operations experts](). --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts See Kadence in action. Speak with our team today. [Get in touch]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Capacity Planning For Offices: Why It Matters For Cost Control - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/capacity-planning-for-offices-why-it-matters-for-cost-control/ Description: Learn what capacity planning for offices is and how Kadence SpaceOps helps leaders forecast, model, and control real estate costs. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · October 29, 2025 · [Jamie Addis]() ### Capacity Planning For Offices: Why It Matters For Cost Control Capacity Planning Every office represents a balancing act between cost and capacity. Too much space, and money is wasted on empty desks. Too little, and productivity stalls as employees compete for rooms and resources. For CFOs and real estate leaders, getting this balance right has never been more important. Hybrid work has made office use unpredictable, yet leases, utilities, and maintenance remain fixed costs. That means capacity planning is no longer about square footage alone. It is about financial foresight. [Modern capacity planning]() for offices brings together data, forecasting, and scenario modeling to align space with real business demand, ensuring organizations make confident, cost-effective decisions in an uncertain world. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What Capacity Planning Means Capacity planning for offices is the process of determining [how much workspace an organization needs]() to support its people, operations, and growth. It connects workforce forecasts, attendance patterns, and portfolio data to identify the right amount of space for every location. At its core, capacity planning answers three key questions: - How much space do we have, and how is it being used? - How will policy or headcount changes affect that use? - When should we scale up, consolidate, or redesign? Unlike traditional occupancy reports, modern capacity planning models both the present and the future helping leaders plan ahead rather than react. A stylized design showing Kadence's heatmap. hybrid policy and check-in data #### Why It Matters In 2025 The financial impact of office capacity has grown sharper since the shift to hybrid work. Kadence data shows that average office utilization remains between 20 and 40 percent, meaning millions of square feet worldwide sit underused each week. At the same time, property, energy, and facilities costs continue to climb. CFOs now view real estate not as a fixed asset but as a flexible lever for cost optimization. Each square foot must justify its existence, and capacity decisions must align directly with business outcomes. Without accurate planning, organizations risk two extremes: overcapacity that drains budgets or undercapacity that hinders collaboration. The cost of either can stretch into the millions over the life of a lease. A stylized design of Kadence's AI-powered Scenario Planning feature. #### The Elements Of Effective Capacity Planning Smart capacity planning blends data, modeling, and governance. It requires collaboration between Finance, Real Estate, HR, and Workplace teams. The process typically includes: 1. **Baseline Measurement.** Tracking current occupancy, attendance, and portfolio utilization. 2. **Demand Forecasting.** Using hiring projections and hybrid policies to predict future space needs. 3. **Scenario Testing.** Modeling multiple outcomes, such as growth, consolidation, or relocation. 4. **Financial Analysis.** Comparing the cost and ROI of each scenario to identify optimal strategies. 5. **Implementation and Review.** Translating chosen scenarios into portfolio adjustments and monitoring performance over time. The outcome is a forward-looking view of space needs, supported by financial data and organizational intent. #### The Risks Of Traditional Approaches Many organizations still manage capacity through static spreadsheets or [outdated IWMS systems that provide historical data but little foresight](). These tools show what happened last month, not what could happen next quarter. Static models cannot account for hybrid attendance fluctuations or organizational changes in real time. As a result, leaders often rely on rough estimates when making multimillion-dollar lease or redesign decisions. The result is reactive management. Space sits idle while costs remain fixed. New policies roll out before the office is ready to support them. Without predictive modeling, every capacity decision becomes a gamble. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Shift To Predictive And Dynamic Capacity Planning Modern capacity planning [replaces guesswork with precision](). By combining live occupancy data, booking insights, and financial modeling, organizations can test multiple futures and see the full cost implications before acting. Predictive tools reveal: - How a 10 percent headcount increase will affect capacity at each site. - Whether consolidating floors will still meet policy requirements. - How attendance patterns impact energy and maintenance costs. This is not simply data collection. It is the use of intelligence to ensure that every square foot performs in line with the company’s financial and cultural goals. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How Kadence SpaceOps Supports Capacity Planning [Kadence SpaceOps]() brings financial and operational clarity to capacity planning. It connects real-time occupancy data with AI forecasting so leaders can model, test, and optimize office capacity decisions in one platform. With AI-powered Scenario Planning and Dynamic Stack Planning, SpaceOps enables organizations to: - Forecast space demand under new policies or headcount scenarios. - Simulate cost outcomes across different configurations or locations. - Visualize building and floor layouts in real time to identify excess or constrained capacity. - Create financially defensible plans that link space utilization directly to business performance. By integrating modeling and execution, SpaceOps gives CFOs and real estate teams a single, trusted view of how workplace capacity aligns with cost and strategy. A stylized design of Kadence's AI-generated stack planning feature. #### Why Capacity Planning Creates Business Advantage For CFOs, it provides a data-driven foundation for financial planning. For Real Estate and Workplace leaders, it offers operational agility — the ability to adapt quickly as teams grow, policies evolve, or leases expire. Accurate capacity planning directly impacts the bottom line. It reduces waste, improves forecasting accuracy, and helps organizations avoid long-term liabilities. Organizations that continuously model and monitor capacity can act with confidence, making strategic real estate decisions that support both cost savings and employee experience. For further reading, see [JLL’s research on optimizing corporate real estate portfolios](). A stylized design of Kadence's Move-Management feature. #### Frequently Asked Questions **1. What is the main goal of capacity planning for offices?** The goal is to align space supply with workforce demand, ensuring the organization has the right amount of space to support operations efficiently and cost-effectively. **2. How often should capacity planning be reviewed?** Ideally, capacity plans should be updated quarterly or whenever significant shifts occur in headcount, attendance, or corporate strategy. **3. What data sources are most important for capacity planning?** Key inputs include occupancy data, booking and attendance patterns, workforce forecasts, and lease commitments. Together, they provide a complete picture of space performance and demand. **4. How does Kadence SpaceOps enhance capacity planning?** SpaceOps connects live occupancy insights with predictive modeling, helping leaders simulate outcomes, validate decisions, and create financially defensible plans. #### Final Thought Capacity planning has evolved from a back-office exercise into a strategic discipline. It connects people, policy, and cost into one operational picture, ensuring every space decision is both efficient and evidence-based. Kadence SpaceOps empowers organizations to plan proactively — balancing growth with financial responsibility, and turning uncertainty into opportunity. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see it in action. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Hybrid Working | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/flexible-working/ Description: Hybrid Working: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Kadence journal ### Hybrid Working Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() December 2, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [The CEO’s Perspective: Driving Growth, Innovation, And Hybrid Working ROI]() Embracing hybrid work isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for forward-thinking CEOs. This article unveils how hybrid work models drive unprecedented Hybrid Working ROI across the triple bottom line: By implementing a robust hybrid working ROI strategy, CEOs can future-proof their organizations, attract top talent, and gain a competitive edge in an evolving business \[…\] November 21, 2024 · Hybrid Working #### [Hybrid Pulse Check #1: Office Attendance By Country And Weekday (November 2024)]() Kadence booking data from over 500 companies, published in November 2024: office attendance by country, the peak in-office days, and what workplace leaders can do about it. February 29, 2024 · Hybrid Working #### [Hybrid Work Management Software – Choosing The Right One]() The rise of hybrid work models has become more than just a trend. It’s a necessity. As teams embrace a flexible work environment, effective Hybrid Work Management Software has become critical. Read our key considerations that will empower you and your team to choose the right software that best suits your hybrid goals. The traditional \[…\] November 30, 2023 · Hybrid Working #### [Not Prioritizing Flex Work? You Won’t Like What’s Really Going On]() In my hometown, I get more unsolicited emails and messages from one particular organization than any other. It’s led by a chief executive who doesn’t believe in the benefits of flex work. The emails and messages I receive are from frustrated employees and leaders who wish they had access to the kind of flex work \[…\] February 1, 2023 · Hybrid Working #### [The Hybrid Manifesto: Hybrid Working Principles For Your Workplace Policy]() The Hybrid Manifesto sets out hybrid working principles for workplace policy: four pillars (Trust, Alignment, Execution, Flourishing) and three benefits for People, Profits and the Planet. March 17, 2022 · Hybrid Working #### [Virtual Water Cooler: How To Recreate Informal Connection For Remote And Hybrid Teams]() A virtual water cooler is an informal online space where remote and hybrid employees chat outside work tasks. Why it matters, how to build one, and activities to try. March 2, 2022 · Hybrid Working #### [Employee Directory For A More Connected Hybrid Workplace (March 2022 Release)]() In March 2022, Kadence added an employee directory so hybrid teams could see any colleague's schedule, teams and contact details, and plan to be in the office together. July 1, 2021 · Hybrid Working #### [Which Companies Are Going Hybrid? Remote-First, Hybrid And Office-First Examples From 2021]() How Coinbase, Airbnb, Google, Fujitsu, Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix and others planned to work after the pandemic, as reported in July 2021. Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Future Of Work | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/future-of-work/ Description: Future Of Work: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Kadence journal ### Future Of Work Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() September 24, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] September 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] September 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] September 15, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [23% Is Not an Adoption Story]() CBRE says AI is already influencing space-planning decisions for 23% of occupiers. The workplace leaders I talk to are watching the rest of the company get lost, with tools that do not help them keep up. CBRE’s 2026 Americas Office Occupier Sentiment Survey put a number on a feeling a lot of workplace leaders already had. In \[…\] August 25, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Chief Places Officer Is Coming]() The most influential forecast in commercial real estate just floated a new job title, and I think it is the most important idea in the entire report. In this year’s PwC and ULI outlook, in a passage about how occupiers are reorganizing their floors, is the suggestion that coordinating where teams sit may soon become \[…\] August 12, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Workplace Leader’s Playbook for When a Reorg Hits]() Our team at Kadence was recently in a conversation with a large enterprise, and one thing a workplace leader on their side said has stuck with me. This particular company has publicly, very publicly, re-auged multiple times already this year and the Workplace team are feeling it. When a reorg hits and you have to \[…\] August 11, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Offices Were Repriced. Your Space Decisions Should Be Too.]() The market has already repriced your real estate. It did not ask whether you wanted to participate. Values have corrected, leases are getting shorter and smaller, and new supply has effectively stopped. What has not changed, in most enterprises, is how the lease decision itself gets made. That is the gap I want to close \[…\] July 14, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Your Workplace Operating Model Determines Your Real Estate Cost]() Most enterprise leaders can tell you their headcount, their cost per square foot, and their target occupancy. Far fewer can tell you, in a single sentence, how their organization actually allocates space. They know the floor is busy on Tuesdays and quiet on Fridays. They know real estate is one of their largest fixed costs. \[…\] June 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Intentional Gathering: How Smart Companies Are Designing Time Together]() I’ve been thinking a lot about what equals work. Ask a carpenter to break down their job, and they’ll talk about specific tools, assembly processes, and tangible results. There’s a clear relationship between input, process, and output. But ask someone in knowledge work, and you’ll get: “I type on a keyboard, I sit in calls, \[…\] June 17, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Why the Workplace Needs a Digital Twin: Lessons From LSE and WPP]() Digital twins already run hospitals, factories and energy grids. At a June 2026 Kadence breakfast, LSE's Prithwiraj Choudhury and WPP's Bex Moorhouse explained why the workplace is next. June 8, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [SpaceOps: Built for What Happens Next]() Something Rory from our Product Engineering Team said recently has stayed with me. Most workspace tools, he explained, are good at telling you what happened. What floor engineering used last Wednesday. How many desks were occupied in Q3. Which neighborhoods ran at capacity and which sat empty. What they are not built to do is \[…\] June 1, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Junior Hiring Decline Is a Workplace Operations Problem]() Generative AI took the blame for falling junior hiring. The Broken Ladder paper points to remote work instead, which makes it a problem organizations can solve. Page 1 of 6 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Future Of Work — page 2 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/future-of-work/page/2/ Description: Future Of Work: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Page 2 of 6. Kadence journal ### Future Of Work Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() May 13, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Space Planning Problems Portfolio Averages Can’t See]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. This series uses aggregated and anonymized data from Kadence customers to understand how workplace behavior is changing at scale. I’m Ali Carson, a Data Scientist at Kadence. My role is to analyze workplace data to understand how offices are really being used day to day. In this edition of Kadence Pulse, \[…\] April 16, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Brian Elliott on Why Workplace Strategy Can’t Stay Static in the Age of AI]() At IFMA, Brian Elliott and I kept coming back to the same tension. AI is accelerating the speed of business, but workplace strategy is still too often built on assumptions from a more stable era. Companies want faster answers on growth, attendance, capacity, and cost, while workplace leaders are still dealing with leases, layouts, infrastructure, \[…\] March 1, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Gen Z Is Choosing the Office. Is Your Workplace Ready?]() Gen Z is choosing office time for mentorship, visibility and faster careers. Enterprise workplaces need the operations to turn that presence into performance. February 23, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [AI Is Reshaping Work. The Workplace Must Catch Up.]() If you wanted evidence that AI in the enterprise workplace has moved beyond experimentation, you didn’t have to look far this past week. Accenture announced that it is linking employee promotions to AI tool usage, signaling a structural shift in performance expectations. AI literacy is no longer a technical skill reserved for innovation teams. It \[…\] January 29, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Intelligence Behind SpaceOps]() Over the past few years, the conversations we’ve been having with workplace, real estate, and operations leaders have started to sound very similar. They’re being asked to make space decisions with incomplete information and still stand behind them. These aren’t abstract planning questions. They’re operational decisions with financial, cultural, and human consequences. Once they’re made, \[…\] January 28, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: How Culture Shapes Workplace Operations]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. This series uses aggregated and anonymized data from Kadence customers to understand how workplace behavior is changing at scale. Rather than focusing on individual offices or policies, each Pulse looks at a single signal in the data and what it reveals about how workplace operations actually function. I’m Ali Carson, a \[…\] January 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [How Bloomberg Designs Its Office Around Movement, Not Desks]() Most organisations face the same constraint. They want more interaction between teams, but they cannot change the building. Floors are leased. Cores are fixed. Vertical separation is inherited rather than designed. Kadence SpaceOps addresses this problem operationally. It allows organisations to model how teams move through space, test how different layouts affect interaction, and adjust \[…\] January 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Why Amazon Is Tracking Office Hours]() Amazon is no longer just tracking whether employees come into the office. It is tracking how long they stay. In December, the company rolled out a manager dashboard that measures employees’ in-office hours across a rolling eight-week period. The system categorises workers based on duration rather than attendance alone, flagging those who spend fewer than \[…\] January 8, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [How Google Designs Offices Around How Teams Actually Work]() Google did not build their offices at the Bay View campus to look impressive. It built it to work better. As organizations scale, coordination becomes harder to maintain. Teams drift apart. Dependencies stretch across floors and buildings. Decisions slow down, not because people stop communicating, but because the physical environment no longer reflects how the \[…\] December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Your Office Is Busy on Tuesdays and Empty on Fridays]() By 2026, uneven office attendance is no longer surprising. What surprises leaders is how persistent it is. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are crowded. Mondays and Fridays remain quiet, even in organizations with clear in-office expectations. This pattern appears across sectors, geographies, and workplace strategies. Yet it is still often discussed as an employee behavior issue rather \[…\] December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [The Enterprise Workplace Operations Playbook for 2026]() It’s 2026, and the workplace conversation has shifted. The question is no longer whether the office matters, whether hybrid work is permanent, or whether employees want flexibility. Those debates are largely settled. What remains unresolved is far more practical: how to operate the workplace so it actually works for the organization and the people inside \[…\] December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Wrapped: How You Used Kadence in 2025]() Welcome to Kadence Wrapped 2025! In 2025, workplace behavior stopped looking experimental and started looking intentional. Across millions of desk and room bookings, clear patterns emerged around when people came in, how they collaborated, and how reliably offices were used. The data does not simply show more activity. It shows greater operational maturity. Offices were \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 2 of 6 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Future Of Work — page 3 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/future-of-work/page/3/ Description: Future Of Work: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Page 3 of 6. Kadence journal ### Future Of Work Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [How to Measure Collaboration in the Workplace]() Measure collaboration by what teams do, not how they feel: in-person overlap, meeting alignment, clustering by day and location, and whether space helps. December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [What Employees Want From the Office in 2026: A Workplace That Works]() Employees in 2026 do not want stricter attendance rules or more perks. They want an office that runs predictably, supports collaboration and respects their time. November 26, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Return of Real Meetings]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. In this edition, we look at how team meetings are evolving and what that shift tells us about modern workplace operations. Hybrid work has moved past the phase of chaos. For Kadence customers, it has settled into a predictable, midweek, team-first operating rhythm. The data from 2024 and 2025 shows a \[…\] November 26, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Riding Into 2026: Talking Workplace With Brian Elliott]() There is something fitting about talking about the future of work while sitting in the back of a Waymo gliding through San Francisco. An autonomous car is a real-time example of systems quietly rewiring themselves. What looks like a neat consumer experience is actually the result of deep structural changes in how data, infrastructure, and \[…\] November 24, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [What AI Can't Replace: OpenAI's Tracy Hawkins on People, Purpose and the Office]() Dave Cairns sits down with Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, on raising kids with AI and why people still need to gather. August 19, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: What Predictability Says About Office Use]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse, where we explore how hybrid work is unfolding through real-world data from the Kadence platform. In this edition, we’re moving past averages to examine something more telling: the shape of office use across different business sectors. From consistency to chaos, and from bursty collaboration to habitual rhythms, the story isn’t just \[…\] August 18, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [What Is a Workplace Operations Platform? The Backbone of the Modern Workplace]() Workplace operations aligns people, space and technology to business outcomes. What it covers, why it matters, and what a workplace operations platform does. August 4, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [AT&T Return To Office: Employee Survey Results And A Culture Shift (August 2025)]() In August 2025, AT&T CEO John Stankey answered falling engagement scores with a memo moving staff from hybrid work to five office days and a market-based culture. July 22, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Raises $20M To Transform How Enterprises Run The Modern Workplace]() Today marks a major milestone in our journey: Kadence has raised a $20 million Series A to accelerate the future of work. The round was led by High Alpha, with participation from Kickstart, Midwich Ignite, and Four Cities Capital and Mantaray. We’re also honored to have the backing of 515 Ventures led by Frederic Kerrest \[…\] June 16, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Deutsche Bank, UBS And The City Of London: How Banks Are Redrawing The Hybrid Work Week]() In June 2025, Panmure Liberum joined Deutsche Bank in asking staff to cover Mondays and Fridays in the office. What it meant for hybrid working in the City of London. June 15, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: Unpacking Office Utilization Trends By Sector]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse, our deep dive into how hybrid work is evolving—powered by real-time desk booking data from our customers using Kadence. After a year of settling into hybrid rhythms, the first half of 2025 is showing signs of structural change in how different sectors are using office space. Our latest analysis — drawn from \[…\] June 2, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [RBC Pushes For More Office Time But Flexibility Still Wins]() The decision by RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) to require employees in the office four days a week is part of a broader trend: large enterprises are looking to reconnect people, rebuild culture, and spark the kind of collaboration that’s harder to replicate remotely. It’s a well-intentioned move—and a clear signal that the pendulum is \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 3 of 6 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Future Of Work — page 4 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/future-of-work/page/4/ Description: Future Of Work: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Page 4 of 6. Kadence journal ### Future Of Work Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() April 29, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Uber Sets The Standard For Structured Hybrid With Three-Day In-Office Rhythm]() When Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced that all employees—including those previously approved for remote work—would align to a three-day in-office rhythm, it signaled the company’s continued investment in structured hybrid work. Rather than pulling back on flexibility, Uber is fine-tuning its hybrid model to strengthen in-person collaboration while preserving the autonomy teams value. In a \[…\] April 24, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Google's Hybrid Work Model: Inside the Breakdown of Its Hybrid Strategy]() In April 2025, Google teams told some remote employees to come in three days a week or risk their jobs. What the move reveals about hybrid work without coordination. April 23, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why IBM Is Struggling With Their Hybrid Policy]() IBM has been a master of reinvention for over a century. But its latest shift — requiring U.S. sales employees to relocate near offices or clients — suggests it’s falling into the same trap as many legacy firms: mistaking location for coordination. According to The Register, IBM is asking its U.S. sales teams to confirm new \[…\] April 3, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Atlassian Is Sticking With Distributed Work]() At a time when many corporate leaders are calling for a return to the office, Atlassian is doubling down on distributed work—and it’s paying off. The software company just secured a top spot on Fortune’s 2025 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, and their commitment to remote-first operations is a big reason why. In \[…\] April 2, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Recharge Days Miss The Point Of Modern Work]() Another week, another trend in employee wellness. This time it’s “recharge days”—company-wide time off designed to combat burnout by shutting the laptop lid for everyone at once. On the surface, it sounds thoughtful. Generous, even. But let’s call it what it really is: a backwards step. This week’s Fortune article on the “100 Best Companies to Work \[…\] April 2, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The American Work Ethic—Is Longer Always Better?]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse—our regular deep dive into hybrid work trends, behaviors, and insights pulled straight from the data of thousands of our global users. In this edition, we’re turning our attention to the American work ethic. Known globally for its hustle culture, the U.S. is showing a noticeable trend in extended office hours—even in the \[…\] March 25, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Is Freddie Mac Forcing A Full-Time RTO?]() Freddie Mac is bringing everyone back to the office. Full-time. No flexibility. That’s the latest directive from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), announced just days after a major leadership shake-up that saw Director Sandra Thompson removed and Clinton Jones appointed in her place. This new mandate affects thousands of employees who had been thriving \[…\] March 14, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Nvidia Is Sticking With Hybrid Work]() It feels like every day brings a new headline about a company pushing for return-to-office (RTO) mandates, making the debate one of the most divisive workplace topics in recent years. While companies like Amazon and JPMorgan Chase have doubled down on their mandates, Nvidia has taken a decidedly different approach—one that prioritizes flexibility, trust, and \[…\] March 13, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Vodafone Is Getting Serious About Hybrid Work]() Vodafone is tightening its grip on hybrid work, turning a nudge into a mandate. A recently leaked memo reveals that the telecoms giant is taking a hardline approach to hybrid work, warning employees that non-compliance could lead to disciplinary action, even impacting bonuses. This crackdown raises a critical question: Is rigid hybrid enforcement the right \[…\] February 25, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Stripe Co-Founders Ask Why Companies Are Designing RTO For Their Worst Employees]() In a world where top talent thrives in flexible environments, why are companies structuring their workplace policies around the bottom 5% of performers? That’s the question posed by Stripe co-founders, John and Patrick Collison, when they were asked about return-to-office (RTO) mandates. It suggests that widespread RTO mandates are a misguided attempt to correct for \[…\] February 25, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Starbucks Cuts 1,100 Corporate Jobs: What It Means For Hybrid Work (February 2025)]() In February 2025, Starbucks cut 1,100 corporate jobs and tightened office rules for leaders. What the move meant for its hybrid work culture, and lessons for other employers. February 14, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Magic Number Is 2]() Kadence Pulse is our new data-driven series where we uncover key trends in hybrid work, using insights straight from Kadence’s platform. Our goal is to help businesses and employees understand how hybrid work is evolving and how they can make smarter, more informed decisions. The way we work has changed forever, and at Kadence, we \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 4 of 6 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Future Of Work — page 5 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/future-of-work/page/5/ Description: Future Of Work: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Page 5 of 6. Kadence journal ### Future Of Work Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() February 11, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Gathering Weeks: Airbnb’s Innovative Hybrid Strategy]() Companies are trying to figure out how to keep things flexible without losing that sense of connection. Airbnb seems to have cracked the code with their Live and Work Anywhere policy, centered around a simple yet transformative concept: the gathering week. Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, sums it up succinctly: Airbnb’s approach is rooted in the belief that \[…\] February 7, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [The Future Of Work In 2025 And Beyond With Nick Bloom]() In our latest webinar, economist and remote work expert Nick Bloom shared key insights into the evolving landscape of hybrid work. With data suggesting that work-from-home levels have stabilized globally, the discussion focused on what this means for organizations navigating hybrid models and the future of remote work technologies. We kicked off the webinar by \[…\] February 6, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [How Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG Make Hybrid Work: The Big Four's Approach]() In February 2025, the Big Four accounting firms were sticking with hybrid in their US offices. How Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG each set office expectations. February 4, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Zuckerberg Says Hybrid Passes The Performance Test—That’s Why Meta Isn’t Changing Course]() After years of debate over remote vs. office work, Meta has made its decision: hybrid is here to stay. CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently confirmed that there will be no changes to the company’s return-to-office (RTO) policy—a significant move at a time when many companies are still tightening their grip on in-office attendance. Zuckerberg delivered the statement at a \[…\] February 4, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Citi Is Sticking To Hybrid Work While Rivals Push For RTO]() While big banks like JPMorgan and Barclays are ramping up their return-to-office (RTO) mandates, Citigroup (Citi) is staying firm on its hybrid work policy. CEO Jane Fraser has made it clear: flexibility isn’t just a perk—it’s a competitive edge. Rather than dragging employees back with a “butts in seats” approach, Citi is investing £1 billion \[…\] January 31, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why More Companies Are Moving To A Three-Day Office Week]() The workplace is shifting—again. A few years ago, many leaders thought hybrid work was just a pit stop before a full return to the office (RTO). But here we are, and it’s become increasingly clear: three days in the office is becoming the sweet spot for companies across the globe. Instead of forcing rigid five-day \[…\] January 16, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Building Operations and Experience (BOE) in Commercial Real Estate]() Building operations and experience (BOE) combines property management, building operations and workplace experience. Here is what it is, why CBRE backed it, and its challenges. January 14, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Toyota’s RTO Mandate: Breaking Away From The Automotive Norm]() Toyota just dropped some big news—starting September 2, employees are expected back in the office four days a week. This puts Toyota on a completely different track compared to other carmakers, many of which are sticking with more flexible hybrid setups. Sure, Toyota says it’s all about boosting collaboration and keeping the company culture alive, \[…\] January 13, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [WPP Return to Office Policy: A Growing Divide Between Leadership and Workforce]() In January 2025, WPP's push for a stricter return to office met an employee petition. What it showed about running one RTO policy across global offices. January 8, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [JPMorgan's Full-Time Return to Office Plan: A Risky Move in a Hybrid World]() In January 2025, JPMorgan Chase was reported to be planning a five-day return to office. Why the plan risked talent, productivity and real estate value. December 12, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Why Sonos Shifted From Remote To Hybrid Work For 2025: Its December 2024 Return-To-Office Mandate]() In December 2024, Sonos asked its product teams to be on-site two or more days a week, ending its remote-friendly stance. Why it happened and what it means for hybrid work. December 2, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [The CEO’s Perspective: Driving Growth, Innovation, And Hybrid Working ROI]() Embracing hybrid work isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for forward-thinking CEOs. This article unveils how hybrid work models drive unprecedented Hybrid Working ROI across the triple bottom line: By implementing a robust hybrid working ROI strategy, CEOs can future-proof their organizations, attract top talent, and gain a competitive edge in an evolving business \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 5 of 6 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Future Of Work — page 6 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/future-of-work/page/6/ Description: Future Of Work: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Page 6 of 6. Kadence journal ### Future Of Work Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() November 25, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [What Is a Hybrid Work Model? Types, Examples and How to Implement One]() A hybrid work model splits employees' time between the office and remote work. Here are the four main types, company examples, benefits, challenges and steps to implement one. November 5, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [The Evolution of Hybrid Working: How We Got Here and What Comes Next]() Hybrid working evolved in three phases, from early-2000s home internet to the pandemic and today's uncoordinated hybrid. Here is how it happened and what companies need next. October 24, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [From Thought Leadership To Sense Making With Perry Timms]() Thought Leadership has been a “thing” for some three decades now. It is often provocative, ideological, and agitative, sometimes research-led and evidence-based on trended analysis and experimentation. People who are leading “thinkers” are considered very differently from strategists and operational implementors. Inevitably, there are tensions between those who do and those who think. Thought leadership \[…\] October 7, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [The Short-Term Pain And Long-Term Gain Of Being Brave]() Human beings are wired to avoid pain. We try to “fix” the pain, often papering over the cracks. When it comes to technology within the workplace, I see the papering over the cracks in ways like: You see, none of these are actually okay statements to make, and yet, for the last 17 years, these \[…\] September 18, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Amazon's Five-Day Return to Office and the Hybrid Work Challenge]() In September 2024, Amazon said employees would return to the office five days a week from January 2025. The risks, and how hybrid could work instead. August 30, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Starbucks' Hybrid Work Policy: An Opportunity To Brew A Better Hybrid Culture (2024)]() In 2024, Starbucks' three-day office policy and its October threat to fire staff who did not comply drew criticism. How it could build a fairer hybrid culture instead. August 14, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Creating Moments That Matter: Dave Cairns and Helen Attia on Connection at Work]() Helen Attia and Dave Cairns on why in-person moments still matter for distributed teams, and how to create them with intention. April 10, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Exploring The Future Of Work: Understanding Hybrid Remote Work]() Welcome to a new era of work. Traditional notions of where and how work gets done have been redefined. But what is hybrid remote work? This new terminology has become commonplace. It’s now an integral part of both how companies choose to operate and the attraction of jobs to employees. In this article, we delve \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 6 of 6 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Human Flourishing | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/human-flourishing/ Description: Human Flourishing: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Kadence journal ### Human Flourishing Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() May 19, 2026 · Human Flourishing #### [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] July 25, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] July 23, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] June 30, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Hybrid Is The New Normal—But Not Yet For Everyone]() The UK has quietly reached a milestone: hybrid working is now the most common way to work among professionals. According to new data from the Office for National Statistics, 28% of workers in Britain split their time between home and the office. This is a structural shift in how the country works. But the data \[…\] June 5, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Gen Z Isn't Rejecting the Office. They're Rejecting Mandates.]() Gen Z workers want offices with a clear purpose, not attendance rules. What 2025 survey data says about RTO mandates, turnover and flexibility. May 22, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [The Smart Office Of The Future Is Designed For Human Flourishing]() Most conversations about smart offices start with sensors. But the smartest offices of the future won’t just track movement. They’ll understand momentum. They won’t just optimize square footage. They’ll cultivate belonging. At Kadence, we believe smart offices are about human flourishing. They won’t ask how many people showed up. They’ll ask—did anyone flourish here? The hybrid revolution gave the \[…\] May 20, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Kadence Connect: Building High-Performing Hybrid Teams with Brian Elliott]() Brian Elliott has seen inside hundreds of hybrid organizations. As a former Slack SVP and Executive Leader of Future Forum, he’s helped shape what great hybrid work looks like. In a recent conversation, Brian shared what separates thriving hybrid teams from the rest — and it’s not policies or tech. It’s leadership. Kadence Connect is our live \[…\] April 7, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [The Hybrid Training Your Company Should’ve Started Yesterday]() At Kadence, we’re talking to hybrid teams every day. And while the headlines keep circling around office mandates and badge swipes, the reality on the ground is far more nuanced — and far more urgent. We’re watching companies struggle with hybrid not because the model is broken — but because their managers are unprepared, their systems \[…\] March 31, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Hybrid Isn’t Failing. Leadership Is.]() I had one of those conversations recently that stays with you. You know the kind — the call you hop onto thinking it’ll be a quick exchange of ideas, and you leave feeling like someone just reframed everything you thought you knew. That someone, in this case, was Camilla Miehs. Camilla is a powerhouse. A \[…\] March 26, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Why Spring Might Be The Season Hybrid Work Proves Itself]() In San Francisco this week, the sun came out — and so did the laptops. Powerpoint presentations in parks. Zoom calls on the beach. Slack pings sent under picnic umbrellas. According to The San Francisco Standard, it wasn’t just a nice day; it was a quiet act of rebellion. And here’s the thing: companies trying to \[…\] February 12, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [40% Would Take A Pay Cut To Work From Home: Why Offices Must Earn Their Place]() A new Harvard study has found that 40% of people surveyed would willingly take a pay cut of 5% or more to continue working from more. Even more striking, 9% said they’d accept a 20% reduction in salary just to avoid returning to the office. These figures aren’t just data points; they tell a powerful \[…\] February 6, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [How To Build A Hybrid Workplace People Actually Want To Work In]() Hybrid has become a defining feature of the modern workplace, offering flexibility to hybrid teams while presenting new challenges—particularly in fostering connection, engagement, and satisfaction, regardless of where employees are working. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Anitta Krishan from Hoogly AI, a leader in people and workplace strategy, to explore what’s truly working in the \[…\] Page 1 of 3 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Human Flourishing — page 2 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/human-flourishing/page/2/ Description: Human Flourishing: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Page 2 of 3. Kadence journal ### Human Flourishing Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() December 2, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [NextRetreat’s Top Tips For Planning An Offsite For Hybrid Companies]() If you work in a hybrid office environment, chances are that your daily interactions are dominated by Zoom meetings and Slack channels. And while these tools have undoubtedly made our day-to-day working lives easier, a high-quality in-person offsite is now more valuable than ever. Offsites serve as crucial touchpoints for hybrid working teams. They create connections that \[…\] November 13, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Compressed Work Week: Pros, Cons and How to Set One Up]() A compressed work week fits a 40-hour workload into fewer than five days. Learn the common schedules, the pros and cons, and how to set one up. October 17, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Kadence Connect Webinar Series: Decoding The Hybrid Work Paradigm]() In a recent webinar, the team at Kadence shared valuable insights with their customers on the evolving landscape of hybrid work. As organizations navigate the complexities of balancing office and remote work, learning from others as well as utilizing innovative solutions all help to optimize the hybrid work paradigm. Here’s what happened. The traditional 9-to-5 \[…\] September 4, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Embracing Flexible Work And The Right To Disconnect]() The U.K. government is making a push to embed flexible work and the right to disconnect into the workplace culture. These initiatives reflect a significant shift in how we as a society have been thinking about work-life balance, employee well-being, and productivity. Flexible work is no longer just a trend—it’s the future of work. The \[…\] August 19, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [8 Examples of Effective Team Dynamics in Hybrid Teams]() Eight examples of effective team dynamics for hybrid teams, from clear communication and shared goals to fair rewards, burnout prevention and transparency. July 9, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [The Benefits Of Asynchronous Work With Paige Goldstein]() As we navigate the modern work landscape, the traditional 9-to-5 model is rapidly losing its relevance. Enter asynchronous work—a transformative approach that transcends time zones and fixed schedules. I recently chatted with Paige Goldstein, a self-proclaimed digital nomad and co-host of the Fill Your Sol podcast. We chatted about her flexible style of working and \[…\] July 5, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [10 Proven Strategies To Supercharge Internal Communication With Jo Coxhill]() Effective internal communication is the lifeblood of any thriving organization. It ensures that everyone is aligned, informed, and engaged, driving productivity and job satisfaction. However, many companies struggle with fostering clear and open communication among employees. If you’re looking to improve your internal communications, you’re in the right place. I recently spoke to Internal Communications \[…\] June 19, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Five Strategies To Adapt Your Office Space For Hybrid Work With Bex Moorhouse]() As the world continues to embrace the hybrid work model, companies must rethink and redesign their office space to cater to both in-office and remote employees. I spoke to Bex Moorhouse, Founder and Director of Invigorate Spaces Ltd – a corporate wellbeing consultancy that helps companies curate its built environments, people experiences and culture. This \[…\] June 10, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Nine Micro Moments to Build Team Culture, With Michelle Hartley]() HR expert Michelle Hartley on the small, frequent gestures that build team culture in hybrid work, and nine micro moments any manager can start using. May 21, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [The Need For Wellbeing Resources Like Forte]() What comes to mind when you think of the “workplace”? For myself, it used to bring up images of bustling offices, morning commutes, and deskside chats. But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of the workplace has changed, giving rise to the era of the modern hybrid and dynamic workforce. As we \[…\] May 2, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [How To Cultivate A Company Culture With Tonille Miller]() In today’s competitive landscape, attracting, retaining, and unlocking top talent has become a top priority for organizations. With the emergence of hybrid work reshaping the very fabric of organizational dynamics, it’s more important than ever to create a generative company culture that enables people to do their best work in this new environment. But how \[…\] April 29, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [How To Stay Connected To Your Hybrid Team With Steve Cockram]() As Head of People and Partnerships at Kadence, one of the things I ask myself most regularly is “how do we better communicate as a team?”. Operating as a distributed team, we are spread all over the world. For that reason, it’s really important for us to feel like we don’t sacrifice on connection and \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 2 of 3 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Human Flourishing — page 3 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/human-flourishing/page/3/ Description: Human Flourishing: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Page 3 of 3. Kadence journal ### Human Flourishing Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() April 22, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Listening And The Power Of Team-Level Agreements]() Gallup recently found that only 12% of hybrid workers benefit from hybrid policies decided by their individual team. Crucially — they also found that this small group is also the most engaged. It seems that when employees are given the trust and autonomy to make their own decisions — and be really heard by their team members — \[…\] April 12, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Mental Health At Work: What You Need To Know]() The world of work is going through a mental health challenge. The rise of remote working — with all of its great benefits – has meant employees are more socially isolated than they ever have been. Our work schedules are now flexible and adaptable, and that’s great — but not when it comes at the \[…\] April 5, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Transforming The Public Sector With Andy Lake]() As we step into a future where the lines between our professional and personal lives are increasingly blurred. The need for smarter, more flexible workspaces has never been more apparent. The public sector, traditionally seen as a bastion of the ‘old ways’ of working, is now at the forefront of this transformation. I recently sat \[…\] March 4, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Rethinking Productivity: Embracing Outcomes In Hybrid Work]() Is your company moving towards a hybrid model of work? Are you worried how you can ensure employee productivity when they are not in the office? HR managers find themselves at the forefront of delivering success when companies move to the hybrid model. There are natural concerns about: These can feel daunting as companies embrace \[…\] February 16, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Embracing Third Spaces: The Evolution Of Modern Workplaces]() In the move towards more flexible ways of working, modern organizations are having to get smarter about how they use space. That means integrating a hybrid operating platform and making sure existing office space is used effectively. For others, it means giving their employees access to flexible workspaces near them. Through my experiences with WorkFLEX, \[…\] January 17, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Flexible Working: A Personal Journey To Empowerment]() As the founder of wmpeople, I’ve witnessed firsthand the evolution of flexible working and its impact on countless lives. Over the years, my platforms have become a haven for parents and caregivers seeking work that accommodates their unique life circumstances. In its early days, flexible working was often equated with part-time roles or job-sharing arrangements. There \[…\] January 11, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Modernize Your Work Practices With Smart Working]() For over three decades, I’ve been exploring and advocating for smarter, more flexible ways of working. As the founding editor of Flexibility and author of the Smart Working Handbook, I help organizations embrace a more strategic approach to modernizing their working practices. Smart Working isn’t just about choosing where to work. It’s a holistic method \[…\] December 6, 2021 · Human Flourishing #### [The Human-Centric Workplace]() Before we discuss what a human-centric workplace is, we must define what it is to be human. From poets, philosophers, anthropologists, religious bodies, scientists, politicians, and artists. Despite the efforts, the answers are diverse and inconclusive, because believing in a single answer would create silos between the brain, emotion, the body and so forth; we \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 3 of 3 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence News | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/news/ Description: Kadence News: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Kadence journal ### Kadence News Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() March 4, 2026 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Partners With Archilogic to Power Intelligent Workplaces]() In March 2026, Kadence announced a strategic partnership with Archilogic, the spatial data platform, connecting Archilogic floor plan data with Kadence SpaceOps. January 28, 2026 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Introduces AI-Driven Visitor Management System to Power Modern Workplace Operations]() New self-service kiosks, AI-assisted invites, automated check-in, and real-time visibility unify visitor activity with workplace intelligence, natively inside the Kadence platform San Francisco, CA — January 27, 2026 — Kadence, the leading workplace operations platform for global enterprises, today announced the launch of its newly rebuilt Visitor Management System (VMS), designed to automate visitor operations, \[…\] November 19, 2025 · Kadence News #### [Tracy Hawkins Of OpenAI Joins Kadence’s Advisory Board]() Today marks an exciting new chapter for Kadence. We’re thrilled to announce that Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, has joined Kadence as a Strategic Advisor. Tracy Hawkins is one of the world’s most respected workplace leaders, known for helping organizations like OpenAI, Grammarly, and Twitter design environments that empower people \[…\] July 22, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Raises $20M To Transform How Enterprises Run The Modern Workplace]() Today marks a major milestone in our journey: Kadence has raised a $20 million Series A to accelerate the future of work. The round was led by High Alpha, with participation from Kickstart, Midwich Ignite, and Four Cities Capital and Mantaray. We’re also honored to have the backing of 515 Ventures led by Frederic Kerrest \[…\] June 13, 2025 · Kadence News #### [Midwich Group Expands Strategic Partnership With Kadence to Scale Hybrid Work]() In June 2025, Kadence signed a strategic partnership with Midwich Group, the AV and unified communications distributor, to extend its global reach. August 23, 2024 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Named Top Performer For Customer Success Award]() Kadence has been named a top performer in the Summer 2024 Desk Booking Software Customer Success Report FeaturedCustomers is the leading customer success content marketing platform for B2B business software & services helping potential B2B buyers make informed purchasing decisions through vendor validated customer success content such as customer testimonials, success stories, case studies, and \[…\] March 26, 2024 · Kadence News #### [Dave Cairns Joins Kadence as Future of Work Strategist]() In March 2024, Dave Cairns, formerly Senior Vice President of Office Leasing at CBRE Canada, joined Kadence as its Future of Work Strategist. December 6, 2022 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Announces $10M Seed Funding Round (December 2022)]() In December 2022, Kadence announced a $10M Seed funding round led by Kickstart Fund, with angel investors including Slack co-founder Cal Henderson and Nick Bloom. August 13, 2019 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Opened a Belfast Technology Hub in 2019, Backed by Invest NI]() In August 2019, Kadence announced a Technology and Business Development hub in Belfast, a £3.6 million investment expected to create 41 jobs. Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Product News | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/product-news/ Description: Product News: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Kadence journal ### Product News Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() April 30, 2026 · Product News #### [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] March 18, 2026 · Product News #### [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] January 26, 2026 · Product News #### [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] November 3, 2025 · Product News #### [Outlook Meeting Room Booking Plug-in: Cut Scheduling Time in Half]() Kadence's Outlook plug-in puts meeting room booking inside Microsoft Outlook, with live two-way sync, consistent utilization data and central IT control. October 3, 2025 · Product News #### [Introducing Kadence SpaceOps: The AI Platform To Plan, Move, And Optimize Office Spaces]() Managing today’s modern workplace is challenging. Gone are the days of leaders being ok with cubicles and buildings sitting half empty. The stakes are enormous. A single lease can lock millions into wasted space for a decade. Office space is one of the top three controllable costs, yet up to 40% of space sits underutilized \[…\] September 5, 2025 · Product News #### [Introducing Automatic Bookings For Smarter Workplace Planning]() Ghost desks, false bookings, and missed check-ins distort reality and drive poor decisions. Employees forget to reserve, visitors arrive unannounced, and contractors or hot desk users slip through the cracks. The result is inflated utilization metrics and misleading occupancy reports that cost enterprises millions in wasted space. Kadence Agent solves this with automatic desk bookings \[…\] July 8, 2025 · Product News #### [Why Interactive Office Floor Plans Are Essential For Hybrid Work]() Go beyond static layouts—an Interactive Office Floorplan gives your team real-time visibility, better coordination, and smarter use of space. Hybrid work has reshaped how teams use the office, but most businesses still rely on outdated tools to manage that space. Traditional floorplans were built for a time when everyone had a fixed desk and came \[…\] June 10, 2025 · Product News #### [Tired Of Manual Check-Ins? Here’s 7 Reasons Why You Need The Kadence Agent]() Global businesses need a global picture of office attendance. Yet when workplace tools are poorly adopted, disconnected from actual behavior, or too complex to maintain—leaders lose visibility. And without office use visibility, workplace operations become unmanageable. That’s why Wi-Fi based office check-ins are crucial for office visibility. Kadence changes this with Automatic Check-Ins, powered by \[…\] April 10, 2025 · Product News #### [Introducing Insights Plus – Powerful Workplace Analytics Built By Hybrid Work Experts]() For workplace and HR leaders, understanding how your office is actually being used—and how your hybrid policies are performing—has never been more important. But in today’s world of fragmented data, one-size-fits-all dashboards, and endless manual reporting, turning occupancy data into actionable strategy with Hybrid work experts is easier said than done. That’s why we’re excited \[…\] March 4, 2025 · Product News #### [Introducing Kadence Sense – Workplace Intelligence Without The Sensors]() As hybrid work becomes the dominant way forward for organizations worldwide, leaders face a growing challenge: how to make smart, data-driven decisions about their workplaces without costly infrastructure or invasive tracking systems. Even in 2025, many companies are making critical decisions that affect thousands of employees based on limited data or gut instincts. That’s why \[…\] February 7, 2025 · Product News #### [Desk Booking For Microsoft Teams]() What would it look like to use your favorite tools in one place without having to switch between applications? A tool where you were able to connect with your team, see when they’re going to be in the office, book desks and rooms, invite guests, and understand how spaces are being used? To make hybrid work \[…\] February 5, 2025 · Product News #### [Automatic Check-Ins With Kadence Agent]() Accurately tracking and optimizing office occupancy remains a persistent challenge. Traditional methods have left businesses relying on guesswork and outdated data for crucial space management decisions. But what if you could gain real-time, precise occupancy insights without expensive hardware or disruptive installations? All this is made possible through our new Kadence Agent, a lightweight desktop \[…\] Page 1 of 2 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Product News — page 2 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/product-news/page/2/ Description: Product News: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Page 2 of 2. Kadence journal ### Product News Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() November 11, 2024 · Product News #### [What Are Office Neighborhoods? 5 Reasons They Improve Workplace Experience]() Office neighborhoods seat people who work together in dedicated areas of the office. What they are, how they work with desk booking, and five reasons they help hybrid teams. October 22, 2024 · Product News #### [How to Automate Desk and Room Check-Ins With a Check-In API]() Missed check-ins skew occupancy data. How a check-in API automates check-ins through door access, Wi-Fi, geofencing or sensors, using Kadence's October 2024 update. September 24, 2024 · Product News #### [Introducing Kadence AI for Team Scheduling and Space Booking]() In September 2024, Kadence introduced Kadence AI, a workplace assistant that books desks and rooms on request and shows when teammates will be in the office. April 9, 2024 · Product News #### [Workplace Announcements: 3 Ways They Improve Internal Communication]() Workplace announcements reach a hybrid workforce where it plans office days. How Kadence's April 2024 Announcements feature targeted teams, offices and bookings. November 7, 2022 · Product News #### [How to Assign Desks in a Hybrid Workplace: Kadence Assigned Desks (2022)]() How to decide when assigned desks suit a hybrid team, and how Kadence's Assigned Desks, launched in November 2022, let managers give people set desks on set days. September 9, 2022 · Product News #### [Tired Of Being The ‘Check-In Cop?’ 3 New Check In Easy Features You Need To Know]() It makes sense to make your beloved spaces bookable, and accessible for your teams, with tools that encourage them to use them right? We think so too. You see, spaces are meaningless unless they’re being used for a purpose, and now that people are chomping at the bit to return to the spaces they love \[…\] July 1, 2022 · Product News #### [Kadence Conference Room Booking System: What Launched in July 2022]() In July 2022, Kadence launched conference room booking: capacity and amenity filters, auto-release of no-show rooms, Outlook and Google calendar booking, and CSV usage data. March 18, 2022 · Product News #### [Kadence Visitor Management System: What Launched in March 2022]() In March 2022, Kadence added visitor management to its booking flow: guest invitations, branded arrival instructions, pre-visit health checks and email check-in. August 27, 2021 · Product News #### [3 Ways to Integrate a Desk Booking System With Workplace Technology]() Single sign-on, calendar sync and directory sync make a desk booking system easier to adopt and cheaper to run. Here is what each one does and why it matters. [← Newer posts]() Page 2 of 2 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Space Optimization | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/space-optimization/ Description: Space Optimization: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Kadence journal ### Space Optimization Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() September 8, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] August 12, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. August 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. August 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [Office Space Planning: A Workplace Leader’s Guide to Strategic Workplace Design]() Office space planning was once a one-time exercise: lay out the floor, assign the desks, and revisit it in a few years. That model no longer fits how organizations operate. Office space planning has become an ongoing strategic discipline that touches real estate, headcount, hybrid policy, and employee experience at the same time. This guide \[…\] August 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Move Management? A Practical Guide to Office Moves, Adds, and Changes]() Move management is the practice of planning and executing workplace changes so people, space and resources stay aligned, from desk changes to full relocations. August 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Scenario Planning? A Guide for Workplace and Real Estate Leaders]() Scenario planning models several possible futures and a response to each. Workplace leaders use it to test lease, consolidation and RTO decisions first. May 26, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is a Workplace Management System? Definition, Features and Benefits]() A workplace management system is software that centralizes space, facilities and employee activity so leaders can see how the workplace performs and decide with data. May 26, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [How to Implement a Workplace Management System: A Step-by-Step Enterprise Guide]() Workplace management system implementation works when you set goals first, clean your data, roll out in phases and treat adoption as a metric. May 26, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [How to Choose the Right Workplace Management Software: An Enterprise Buyer's Guide]() Choosing workplace management software shapes how you allocate space, coordinate people and manage real estate costs for years. Here is how to evaluate it against outcomes, not features. May 26, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is an IWMS? IWMS vs Traditional Workplace Management Systems]() An IWMS brings real estate, facilities, space, assets and operations into one platform. Here is how it differs from traditional workplace management systems. April 30, 2026 · Product News #### [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] March 18, 2026 · Product News #### [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] Page 1 of 4 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Space Optimization — page 2 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/space-optimization/page/2/ Description: Space Optimization: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Page 2 of 4. Kadence journal ### Space Optimization Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() March 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [Calculate the Financial Impact of Your People and Spaces]() Workplace operations now sit at the center of enterprise performance. Real estate represents one of the largest fixed costs on the balance sheet. Workforce expense remains the largest operating cost. Technology investment continues to expand. At the same time, executive teams are demanding clearer evidence that workplace decisions are driving measurable return. Despite this, many \[…\] November 26, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Conference Room Booking And Why It Matters For Workplace Operations]() Conference room booking is the process of reserving meeting spaces in an office so people can collaborate without conflict or wasted time. At its most basic, it ensures employees know which rooms are available, prevents double-bookings, and keeps meetings running smoothly. That definition worked when offices were predictable. In 2025, they are not. Hybrid schedules, \[…\] November 26, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Hot Desking And How You Can Implement It]() Hot desking is a flexible workplace model where employees do not have assigned desks but instead use available workstations as needed. It started as a way to save costs and optimize real estate, but in the age of hybrid work, hot desking has become a practical solution to changing attendance patterns. With fewer people coming \[…\] November 25, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Office Redesign Planning And How To Do It Right In 2026]() Every office tells a story about how work gets done. The layout, meeting spaces, and neighborhood design all reflect the culture and rhythm of an organization. But in 2026, those rhythms will be changing faster than ever. Hybrid schedules, shifting policies, and new collaboration habits are transforming how companies use their space. That means office \[…\] October 29, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [From CAFM To Workplace Operations]() For decades, companies have tried to manage the workplace with software built for buildings, not people. Computer-Aided Facilities Management, or CAFM, began as a digital leap forward for facilities teams. It helped organizations move from paper floor plans to electronic systems that tracked space, assets, and maintenance. But today, the world of work looks very \[…\] October 29, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [Capacity Planning For Offices: Why It Matters For Cost Control]() Every office represents a balancing act between cost and capacity. Too much space, and money is wasted on empty desks. Too little, and productivity stalls as employees compete for rooms and resources. For CFOs and real estate leaders, getting this balance right has never been more important. Hybrid work has made office use unpredictable, yet \[…\] October 23, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [Headcount And Seating Planning: How To Balance Growth]() Every leader faces the same challenge in 2025: how to plan for headcount growth and seating planning when the workplace keeps changing. Teams are distributed, hybrid policies evolve, and office attendance fluctuates week to week. Yet decisions about space still carry long-term financial consequences. Headcount and seating planning sits at the center of that challenge. \[…\] October 3, 2025 · Product News #### [Introducing Kadence SpaceOps: The AI Platform To Plan, Move, And Optimize Office Spaces]() Managing today’s modern workplace is challenging. Gone are the days of leaders being ok with cubicles and buildings sitting half empty. The stakes are enormous. A single lease can lock millions into wasted space for a decade. Office space is one of the top three controllable costs, yet up to 40% of space sits underutilized \[…\] September 29, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Space Management? Turning Office Utilization Into Performance Data]() Space management is the planning, organizing and optimizing of office space. Here is what it covers, why it changed and how utilization data now drives it. September 25, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Visitor Management And Why It Matters For Workplace Operations]() Visitor management is the process of welcoming, tracking, and supporting every guest who enters your workplace. It covers everything from digital sign-ins and badges to host notifications and compliance records. At its most basic, visitor management ensures people can enter safely, be where they need to be, and leave a record behind. But stopping there \[…\] September 16, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Are Workplace Analytics And How Can They Cut Costs?]() Every organization today faces the same pressure: how to make offices work harder for less money. Leaders are cutting square footage, employees expect more flexibility, and boards want proof that investments in real estate drive real returns. This is where workplace analytics comes in. At its simplest, workplace analytics means using data to understand how \[…\] August 26, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Workplace Operations Management? Role, Skills and Benefits]() Workplace operations management coordinates people, space and technology so the office supports business outcomes. Here is what the role covers and why it matters. [← Newer posts]() Page 2 of 4 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Space Optimization — page 3 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/space-optimization/page/3/ Description: Space Optimization: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Page 3 of 4. Kadence journal ### Space Optimization Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() July 25, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Insights Plus Reveals About The State Of Hybrid Work]() At Kadence, we built Insights Plus to help companies answer complex workplace questions using their own data—without having to wrangle spreadsheets or guess at behavior patterns. Over the past few months, I’ve worked directly with customers who had important questions about how their people were using the office. These weren’t theoretical—they were tactical, operational questions that needed \[…\] November 8, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Are Front Desk Receptionists Necessary? 3 Reasons You Might Not Need One]() Should your business still be hiring front desk receptionists? Or could other options save your company time and money without sacrificing customer service? Many companies have moved away from traditional reception strategies, and the trend is expected to continue well after the pandemic. Here are three reasons you might not need a front desk receptionist… Until about \[…\] November 6, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Welcome Back To Work! 10 Encouraging Ideas To Bring Employees Back]() If your teams are making a transition from remote working to hybrid working, welcome them back to the office. Think effective organizational communication among in-person or remote employees, improved meeting ideas, and enhanced employee well-being, among other things. Whether you are the employer, a manager, or an employee, getting back to the office is touchy. \[…\] August 21, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Streamlining Office Space Management With Bookable Parking, Lockers and Pods]() In August 2024, Kadence added Additional Space Types, letting employees book parking, lockers and private pods alongside desks and rooms from one floor plan. June 12, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Hot Desk Management: Maximum Booking Durations and Concurrent Booking Limits]() In June 2024, Kadence added Maximum Booking Durations and Limit Concurrent Bookings to give office managers fairer desk access and more accurate usage data. May 23, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [University Space Management: 5 Higher Education Challenges and Solutions]() Five space management challenges higher education organizations face under hybrid work, from downsizing staff offices to data security, and how software solves each. March 20, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Space Management Tools Help Navigate Hybrid Work]() The rise of hybrid work models has defined what we think of as the modern workplace. As companies adapt to this new normal, the need for effective space management tools has become critical. These tools can have a transformative impact on the hybrid work environment, enhancing: The traditional 9-to-5 office routine has given way to \[…\] March 6, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Desk Reservation Software Is Shaping The Hybrid Workplace]() As companies transition into a hybrid work model, efficient desk utilization becomes essential. This is where Desk Reservation Software steps into the limelight. The right software can transform the way organizations manage workspace dynamics. Let’s explore the pivotal role that Desk Reservation Software plays in shaping the future of the hybrid workplace. The global workforce \[…\] March 18, 2022 · Space Optimization #### [Improved Office Neighborhoods (March 2022): Public, Private and Team-Day Access]() In March 2022, Kadence updated Office Neighborhoods: public or private neighborhoods, team access on set days of the week, and clear reasons when a space is unavailable. January 31, 2022 · Space Optimization #### [How To Set Up Office Neighborhoods That Create Synergy]() It’s not merely enough to have a business model that supports both in-person and remote employees. Instead, your new business model should be flexible enough to cater to the flexibility of the different work styles and schedules. Office neighborhoods software allows you to meet these demands head-on. As such, knowing the different office neighborhood sections \[…\] August 19, 2021 · Space Optimization #### [How to Evaluate Desk Booking Software: What IT Managers Should Know]() An IT manager's checklist for evaluating desk booking software, from requirements and adoption to single sign-on, integrations, data security and hidden costs. July 23, 2021 · Space Optimization #### [5 Ways Conference Room Scheduling Software Has Changed]() From organizing workflows on Monday.com to hosting a virtual conference on Hopin, the pandemic has sparked a digital revolution in the way we work. Tools that enable people to seamlessly do their jobs from wherever they’re located have quickly become a mainstay of the modern workplace. As organizations develop hybrid working models, offices are becoming \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 3 of 4 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Space Optimization — page 4 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/category/space-optimization/page/4/ Description: Space Optimization: ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace from Kadence. Page 4 of 4. Kadence journal ### Space Optimization Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() June 10, 2021 · Space Optimization #### [Desk Utilization: How to Measure Desk and Space Utilization Rates]() Desk utilization shows how often each desk is actually used. Learn what space utilization rates measure, how to collect desk-level data and how to act on it. February 22, 2021 · Space Optimization #### [Why Desk Hoteling Needs Check-Ins and Occupancy Data]() Desk hoteling works when every reservation ends in a check-in. Occupancy data shows who used each desk and when, so space, cleaning and energy match demand. [← Newer posts]() Page 4 of 4 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Compressed Work Week: Pros, Cons and How to Set It Up | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/compressed-work-week/ Description: What is a compressed work week? Compare the 4/10 and 9/80 schedules, weigh the pros and cons, and follow a step-by-step plan to set one up for your teams. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · November 13, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dave Cairns]() ### Compressed Work Week: Pros, Cons and How to Set One Up The Compressed Workweek: Pros, Cons & How To Set It Up For Your Workplace A [compressed work week]() is a schedule that fits a full 40-hour workload into fewer days than the traditional five. The most common version is the 4/10 schedule: four 10-hour days, then a three-day weekend. Employees like a compressed workweek because it is more flexible than a conventional schedule. Employers use it to attract and keep good people, and to manage periods when workloads are heavier than usual. For some companies it works well all year. Before you restructure schedules, though, check how it fits your short- and long-term goals. Below are the main schedule types, the benefits and drawbacks, and a practical way to set one up. #### What is a compressed work week? A compressed work week keeps the same total hours but spreads them over fewer, longer days. Employees still work a full 40-hour week, or 80 hours over two weeks, but they get extra days off in return. It is a scheduling change, not a cut in hours. The terms “compressed work week”, “compressed workweek” and “compressed work schedule” all describe the same idea. What changes from one company to the next is how the hours are split across the days. #### What are the most common compressed work schedules? The two most common compressed schedules are the 4/10 and the 9/80. The 4/10 gives employees a three-day weekend every week. The 9/80 gives them a three-day weekend every other week. Some professions that need round-the-clock cover use a third pattern of three 12-hour days. ##### The 4/10 work schedule The 4/10 work schedule is the most common type of compressed workweek. An employee works [four 10 hour days]() during the week, usually Monday through Thursday. That gives them Friday through Sunday off. ##### The 9/80 work schedule The 4/10 schedule does not suit every company. The 9/80 work schedule is a common alternative. In the first week, an employee works nine hours a day Monday through Thursday and eight hours on Friday. In the second week, they work nine hours a day Monday through Thursday and take Friday off. Like a traditional or 4/10 schedule, the 9/80 adds up to 80 hours over two weeks. The difference is that workers get two three-day weekends every month. ##### Three 12-hour days Many healthcare professionals and firefighters work three 12-hour days a week, because their professions require 24-hour staffing. You can also let team members choose the schedule that helps them do their best work and manage life at home. #### What are the pros of a compressed work week? The main advantages of a compressed work week are more personal time for employees, fewer absences, the option of longer customer support hours, and less commuting. Each one depends on the schedule fitting the job, so test the benefits against how your teams actually work. - **More personal time.** Team members get more time to [rest and recharge](). They can spend it with family, on self-care or on anything else that supports their well-being. - **Fewer absences.** With an extra day off, employees are less likely to leave work to handle personal matters or errands. - **Extended support hours.** If your business relies on a customer service team, longer days let you offer customers extended support hours. - **Less commuting.** Fewer office days means fewer trips. Depending on where they live, that can save employees both time and money. #### What are the cons of a compressed work week? The main disadvantages are fatigue, friction with partners and clients on a traditional schedule, legal risk around overtime, and knock-on effects on employees’ lives outside work, such as childcare. A compressed work week does not work for every company, role or industry. - **Increased fatigue.** Some workers will feel more tired if the schedule does not suit their industry or job. - **Harder to work with partners.** If you rely on B2B relationships, partners, contractors or clients on a traditional 9-to-5 schedule may find your compressed schedule hard to work with. - **Occupational law risk.** A compressed schedule can breach occupational laws if you are not careful. Even when workers log the same number of hours, they may qualify for a different compensation schedule. Understand your state’s overtime rules and monitor schedules closely to stay compliant. - **Pressure on life outside work.** A compressed schedule may not suit other people in your employees’ lives. Childcare providers often work a traditional 9-to-5 schedule, which can make it hard for team members to secure childcare. #### How do you set up a compressed work week? Start by choosing the schedule that suits your company and employees, then check which departments it fits, coordinate coverage, test it and write a clear policy. Expect different teams to need different versions. ##### 1. Choose the schedule Decide which type of compressed schedule will best suit your business. A 4/10 schedule may be the right fit. You might prefer the 9/80, or build your own from parts of each. ##### 2. Check which teams it suits A compressed workweek may not suit all of your departments. One team may need a different model from another team in a different location. Your customer service team may need to work longer hours over fewer days, while your marketing team thrives on the 4/10 schedule. ##### 3. Coordinate coverage Managers and staff must coordinate well for a smooth transition. Managers need to confirm that every role is covered when other employees are off, and that the team still meets its deadlines and keeps work flowing. [People coordination tools]() help here: they link team schedules and show the best times and places for everyone to work. A compressed schedule also changes which days people come into the office. Workplace teams can use [occupancy data]() to see how office use shifts across the week and plan desks and rooms to match. ##### 4. Test before you commit Have managers implement, test and approve compressed schedules in each department before setting them in stone. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ##### 5. Write the policy Once you have confirmed that a compressed workweek is worth it, draft a policy. State which team members are eligible and when they can use the arrangement. Name the managers responsible for setting schedules and formally requesting them. Keep the policy flexible, because each department may need to run the compressed workweek differently. #### What should a compressed workweek policy include? A good compressed workweek policy covers four things: the laws that apply to working hours, what your employees need, the core hours when the office must be staffed, and a process for adjusting the schedule over time. Build each one in before launch. - **Research relevant laws.** Laws in your city or state may limit [how many hours each worker]() can log in a given period. If you are unsure whether you comply, consult your state labor office before you adopt a compressed workweek. - **Check with your employees.** A new schedule can significantly affect performance and work-life balance, and needs differ from person to person. Ask your team which arrangement would benefit them most. - **Establish essential office hours.** Many companies find it hard to keep staffing consistent on a compressed workweek. Schedule team members so the office is covered at all times. - **Make changes.** Your new schedule will likely need adjusting, especially early on. Managers and employees need time to adapt, and issues will surface along the way. Ask your team for feedback regularly. #### Is a compressed work week right for your company? A compressed work week is a viable option for many companies and can benefit both employers and employees. It suits teams whose work can be done in longer days without leaving customers, partners or colleagues uncovered. It is a poor fit where fatigue, coverage gaps or overtime rules outweigh the gain. The business landscape has changed a great deal since the pandemic. The [flexible office models guide]() compares the wider options. If a compressed workweek looks like the right next step, start planning with the advice above, and use reliable [scheduling software like Kadence]() to help along the way. For more on where work is heading, read more from [Dave Cairns, Kadence’s Future of Work Strategist](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a compressed work week? A compressed work week is a schedule that fits a full 40-hour workload into fewer than five days. Employees work longer days and get extra time off in return. The most common version is four 10-hour days with a three-day weekend. ##### What is the difference between a 4/10 and a 9/80 schedule? On a 4/10 schedule, employees work four 10-hour days, usually Monday through Thursday, and take Friday off every week. On a 9/80 schedule, they work 80 hours over two weeks and take every other Friday off, which gives them two three-day weekends every month. ##### What are the advantages and disadvantages of a compressed work week? The advantages are more personal time, fewer absences, longer customer support hours and less commuting. The disadvantages are fatigue, friction with partners on a traditional 9-to-5 schedule, overtime law risk and childcare challenges for employees. ##### Is a compressed work week legal? It can be, but a compressed schedule can breach occupational laws if it is not managed carefully. Workers may qualify for a different compensation schedule even when their total hours stay the same. Check your state’s overtime rules and consult your state labor office if you are unsure. Dave Cairns Dave Cairns Future of Work Strategist Dave is Kadence’s Future of Work Strategist. He foresees what’s unfolding in the world of work and advises our customers on how to prepare and adapt to the latest trends easily. [Read More from Dave Cairns]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Creating Moments That Matter With Dave Cairns | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/creating-moments-that-matter-with-dave-cairns-helen-attia/ Description: Dave Cairns and Helen Attia on why face-to-face moments build trust in distributed teams, and how to plan events and check-ins that create them. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · August 14, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Helen Attia]() ### Creating Moments That Matter: Dave Cairns and Helen Attia on Connection at Work Dave Cairns and Helen Attia sit opposite each other while conversing When Dave Cairns and I finally met in person, it was a moment that truly mattered. Like many colleagues in distributed teams, we had been working together for months without ever being in the same room. When we met at a Kadence event in London, everything clicked into place. That meeting was more than an introduction. It showed how much our work dynamics have shifted since before COVID, and why the moments we spend together now need more intention than they used to. #### What did Dave Cairns and Helen Attia discuss? In this August 2024 conversation, [Dave Cairns]() and I talked about how work changed after COVID and what distributed teams lose when every interaction happens on a screen. We covered why in-person moments build trust, why they are harder to create now, and how events and technology can help teams create them on purpose. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How have workplace dynamics changed since COVID? Before COVID, work had clear boundaries: the office was the office and home was home. The pandemic moved offices into living rooms, turned colleagues into faces on a screen and blurred professional and personal life. Virtual meetings work, but they cannot replace everything that happens when people share a room. When I met Dave in person, I realized how different things are now. There is something irreplaceable about face-to-face interactions. The little moments, the spontaneous conversations and the energy of being in the same room are things that Zoom just can’t replicate. As much as I advocate for flexible, [distributed work](), I have come to appreciate the value of these in-person moments even more. #### What are moments that matter at work? [Moments that matter]() are the interactions that build and maintain trust within a team: a first in-person meeting, a well-run onboarding, an unplanned conversation that resolves a problem. At Kadence we talk about them a lot. They are not corporate buzzwords. In a world without daily office interactions, they are the glue that holds teams together. A **distributed team** is a team whose members work from different locations, often across offices, homes and time zones, for most of their working week. Dave and I discussed how hard it can be to create these moments in a distributed work environment. Onboarding new team members, fostering trust and building a cohesive team dynamic are all harder when your main interaction happens through a screen. It is easy to miss the nuances, the body language and the unspoken cues that are so vital to human connection. #### Can distributed teams still create moments that matter? Yes. These moments are not impossible to create in a distributed team. They just require more intention. A well-planned event, a thoughtful team-building exercise or protected time for unstructured conversation can all create the connections a healthy, thriving team depends on. The difference is that someone has to plan for them. For workplace and HR leaders, this changes the job. Connection used to be a side effect of shared office days. Now it has to be designed, scheduled and supported, in the same way as any other part of [workplace operations](). The [guide to bringing teams together]() covers how to plan for it. #### How should companies rethink team events? Companies should design events around connection, not only business goals. At Kadence, we have moved away from the traditional offsite where the agenda was all business. Our events now aim to create experiences where people engage on a personal level and build the trust and understanding that distributed work depends on. One lesson stands out: not every event works for every team. Different teams have different needs and cultures, so events should be tailored accordingly. Our engineering team might value deep technical discussions, while our commercial team might prioritize networking opportunities. The key is to understand what is meaningful to each team and create moments that resonate with them. **Team event** here means any planned in-person gathering, from a quarterly offsite to a single team day, whose main purpose is connection rather than routine work. #### What role does technology play in connecting teams? Technology keeps distributed teams connected between in-person moments. The right tools make regular, effective communication routine, so important conversations are not lost in the daily grind and relationships keep growing when people are miles apart. The pandemic accelerated this shift, and the move toward integrated tools for [hybrid working]() is still only beginning. At Kadence, we have developed tools that support that kind of regular communication. Many workplaces still run on legacy systems, but there is a growing movement toward more integrated and flexible tools that support hybrid working. It is clear that organizations that fail to adapt risk being left behind. #### How does Kadence help teams create moments that matter? Kadence is designed to support communication, collaboration and connection, helping teams create meaningful moments whether they work together in person or remotely. Creating those moments is not just a nice idea. It is a critical part of modern workplace culture, and it works best when the tools fit how each team actually works. With Kadence, teams can tailor their interactions to their own needs. That might mean scheduling regular check-ins, [planning team-building events](), or [coordinating who is in the office and when](). Where the traditional office is no longer the default, these tools help teams stay engaged, connected and aligned with the organization’s goals. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What did the conversation leave us with? Reflecting on my conversation with Dave, it is clear that the way we work has changed for good. That change is not something to fear. It is an opportunity to rethink how we connect with our teams, how we build trust, and how we create a workplace that is not only productive but meaningful. The world has changed, and so have we. By focusing on creating moments that matter and using the right tools, we can build stronger, more resilient teams that are ready for whatever comes next. Dave explores the idea further in [For The Moments That Matter](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### Why do in-person moments matter for distributed teams? They carry the nuance that screens lose: body language, unspoken cues and spontaneous conversation. Those moments build the trust that onboarding, collaboration and team cohesion depend on. ##### How do you create moments that matter in a hybrid team? Plan them. Use well-designed events, thoughtful team-building and protected time for unstructured conversation, and tailor each to what the team actually values. ##### Should every team have the same kind of event? No. Different teams have different needs and cultures. An engineering team might value deep technical discussion, while a commercial team might prioritize networking. Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/cutting-headcount-is-not-redesigning-work/ Description: Rethink what AI transformation actually means for your estate, starting with the difference between cutting people and redesigning work. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · September 24, 2026 · [Dave Cairns]() ### Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work Cutting headcount I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. #### Cutting Isn't Redesigning Most of what’s being called AI transformation right now is the same structure with fewer people in it, and AI handed to whoever’s left to hit the same numbers. By the time that reaches anyone in this group, it’s a directive about square feet. Brian’s counter-example was [Zapier](). Their customer service lead spent a year working directly with her team to find where AI genuinely helped and where it didn’t. That meant rebuilding the work, including the staffing model and the job descriptions. Average handle time halved, and compensation moved from the 50th to the 90th percentile, because they decided the people who created the gain should get some of it. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() [Klarna]() went the other way, announced AI doing the work of 700 agents, then told Bloomberg a year later that they’d focused too much on cost, quality had dropped, and they were hiring humans again. > There’s no CEO top down mandate that’s going to radically restructure how a function works. Executives are almost always way too distant from the work itself to know what it takes to change it. > > > > > > Brian Elliott > > > > CEO, Work Forward Real change comes from the teams closest to the work. Not from an edict. #### The Poll Named the Real Tension The biggest pain point the group flagged was that space decisions still follow headcount rather than how people actually work. That gap is getting harder to close, not easier. [JLL’s 2026 Future of Work Survey]() has 78% of senior leaders expecting AI to significantly change their portfolio strategy, 31% actually preparing to redesign space for it, and 15% at the optimizing stage. For the first time in fifteen years of that research, what’s holding people back isn’t budget. It’s skills. Meanwhile executives want workforce and workplace plans on a three month cycle, and your estate moves on a ten year one. You can’t make three month iterations against a ten year lease. Which is why the theory keeps losing to the building. > You talk about activity based workspaces. From what I see in my role, that is a thing of pure fiction. It is still team in this spot, team in this spot, and we hope that you will collaborate. > > > > > > Head of Workplace Experience Engineering > > > > Banking At the scale he’s working at, with multi-year contracts and thousands of properties, that’s not cynicism. There’s an enormous amount of money and a very long contract sitting between the theory and Tuesday morning. A space planner at a data and analytics company named the flip side. Build the flexible space, watch it sit empty, cut it out, then field the complaints the next time somebody can’t get a room. Usually because they went looking at 9:59 for a ten o’clock meeting. Her team plays desk tetris on behalf of everyone else’s planning, and the circle starts again, because nobody has a reliable read on how the space was really used before the next decision lands. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Closing that gap is most of why we built [SpaceOps](). #### There's No Single Fix What came through clearly is that this group is dealing with opposite versions of the same problem. Some have built real mechanisms for user input. Committees, surveys, ongoing engagement with occupiers. Design input sits with the people in the building and the money calls sit with the people who own the money, and that separation works. Others have the inverse. > It is not due to red tape above. It is more entitlement below. > > > > > > Vice President, Communications and Workplace Operations > > > > SaaS Her senior leadership is genuinely hands off and happy to defer to a decision backed by data. The friction runs upward instead, out of a collaborative culture where people expect a say in anything that affects them. The framing that held both together came from a head of workplace experience engineering at a global bank. Everyone in this role is standing on a seesaw, balancing pressure from several directions at once, and everybody’s is weighted differently. At real scale there’s only so far collaboration goes before somebody has to hold the line. I made the same point to my eight year old two nights ago during an allowance negotiation, which suggests managing expectations doesn’t change as much between a kid and an enterprise portfolio as any of us would like. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### For This Quarter Brian’s advice was refreshingly unglamorous. Use the AI tools yourself before you ask your team to, and be honest with them about where you’re still figuring it out. Then bring employees into the design process itself, rather than asking for feedback after it’s built. Drawing on [Janet Pogue McLaurin’s research at Gensler](), his point is that people who help shape a space understand the trade offs behind it, not just how to use it. And it’s worth remembering that we’re all operating with ancient brains, medieval institutions and godlike technology. E.O. Wilson said that back in 2009 and it’s aged in the wrong direction. If you want more of Brian’s thinking, his newsletter [Work Forward]() is where the research behind this conversation lives, including what’s coming in October on managers and AI adoption. And if you’re building a plan that has to survive the executive above you and the people who use the space below you, [book a demo]() with our workplace operations team. --- Dave Cairns Dave Cairns Future of Work Strategist Dave is Kadence’s Future of Work Strategist. He foresees what’s unfolding in the world of work and advises our customers on how to prepare and adapt to the latest trends easily. [Read More from Dave Cairns]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] - [23% Is Not an Adoption Story]() CBRE says AI is already influencing space-planning decisions for 23% of occupiers. The workplace leaders I talk to are watching the rest of the company get lost, with tools that do not help them keep up. CBRE’s 2026 Americas Office Occupier Sentiment Survey put a number on a feeling a lot of workplace leaders already had. In \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Dave Cairns Joins Kadence as Future of Work Strategist | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/dave-cairns-joins-kadence-as-future-of-work-strategist/ Description: In March 2024, former CBRE Canada office leasing executive Dave Cairns joined Kadence as Future of Work Strategist, focused on hybrid and distributed work. [News]() · [Kadence News]() · March 26, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Helen Attia]() ### Dave Cairns Joins Kadence as Future of Work Strategist A profile picture of Dave Cairns with the words: 'A warm welcome to Dave Cairns Future of Work Strategist In March 2024, Kadence welcomed thought leader Dave Cairns to the team as its new Future of Work Strategist. Dave joined from CBRE Canada, where he had been Senior Vice President of Office Leasing. #### Who is Dave Cairns? Dave Cairns is an office leasing expert and advocate for [distributed work](). Before joining Kadence, he was Senior Vice President of Office Leasing at CBRE Canada. His focus there was on high-growth companies in the tech sector, Space as a Service operators and financial services firms, at local, national and global level. Dave brought an excellent set of relationships and a clear perspective on the future of work. His advocacy for distributed working made him a leading voice on LinkedIn, and his insights shaped how global organizations were thinking about new ways of working. His career path is unusual. Dave moved from a successful career as a professional poker player to become a prominent office leasing broker for some of the world’s most respected companies. Along the way he showed a strong ability to anticipate shifts in the workplace. During the pandemic, his foresight into the future of the office market was widely praised. #### What did Dave Cairns focus on at Kadence? At the time of his appointment, Dave’s work focused on how [hybrid work models]() had become the default, how they could be optimized, and how distributed work lets opportunities be spread more evenly. You can read his later work on the [Dave Cairns author page](), including our conversation on [creating moments that matter](). Dave said of joining Kadence: > “Workplace leaders have known for some time that the office hasn’t performed optimally, but no one could have predicted that the rest of the world would become self-aware at the same time. We now have a generationally defining opportunity to reshape how we work faster. It’s this backdrop and this moment that has me beyond excited to join Dan and the whole Kadence team! I’m looking forward to leveraging my deep understanding of distributed work from my days as a pro online poker player and my 10+ years, 1,000+ transaction track record as an office leasing agent to a company redefining employee experience and workplace performance at scale.” [Dan Bladen](), Kadence CEO and founder, commented: > “We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome Dave to the Kadence team. Dave’s work will play a pivotal role in amplifying Kadence’s values to a wider audience, and ensuring that we continue to deliver solutions that meet the evolving needs of forward-thinking businesses.” #### What was Kadence building in 2024? In 2024, Kadence was building the next generation of hybrid [workplace management software](), by coordinating companies’ most expensive resources: [people]() and [spaces](). Kadence’s view was that the most successful companies would be made up of teams who are intentional about what they are working on, who they need to work with, and where the work should be done. To see how Kadence helps teams plan where and when work happens, [book a demo](). Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() #### Related - [Kadence Partners With Archilogic to Power Intelligent Workplaces]() In March 2026, Kadence announced a strategic partnership with Archilogic, the spatial data platform, connecting Archilogic floor plan data with Kadence SpaceOps. - [Kadence Introduces AI-Driven Visitor Management System to Power Modern Workplace Operations]() New self-service kiosks, AI-assisted invites, automated check-in, and real-time visibility unify visitor activity with workplace intelligence, natively inside the Kadence platform San Francisco, CA — January 27, 2026 — Kadence, the leading workplace operations platform for global enterprises, today announced the launch of its newly rebuilt Visitor Management System (VMS), designed to automate visitor operations, \[…\] - [Tracy Hawkins Of OpenAI Joins Kadence’s Advisory Board]() Today marks an exciting new chapter for Kadence. We’re thrilled to announce that Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, has joined Kadence as a Strategic Advisor. Tracy Hawkins is one of the world’s most respected workplace leaders, known for helping organizations like OpenAI, Grammarly, and Twitter design environments that empower people \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Big Four Hybrid Work Models: Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/deloitte-pwc-ey-and-kpmg-big-four-accounting-firms-excel-with-hybrid/ Description: In February 2025, Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG backed hybrid work. How each firm set office time, from PwC's 50% in person to KPMG's leader-led model. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · February 6, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### How Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG Make Hybrid Work: The Big Four's Approach Two hands point at a printed graph and a calculator Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG are four of the clearest [hybrid work model]() examples among large professional services firms. In February 2025, while companies such as [JPMorgan]() and [Amazon]() were moving to full-time office mandates, the Big Four accounting firms were flipping the script across their US offices. [Bloomberg reported]() that they were not just sticking with [hybrid work]() but doubling down on it. For them, flexibility was not a perk. It was a strategy to win the competition for talent, keep productivity high and prepare their businesses for the future. #### Why did the Big Four stick with hybrid work? The Big Four treated hybrid work as a talent and performance strategy, not a concession. Each firm set its own model, but each described office time in terms of client work, collaboration or team development. Two of them, PwC UK and EY, also track attendance. Mike DePrisco, president and CEO of the Institute of Management Accountants, pointed out that the younger generation of professionals is seeking workplaces that break away from rigid structures. > “It’s really about changing our mindset, right? And moving away from these legacy ways of how work was getting done—and really embracing the fact that, look, it’s changed.” > > > > Mike DePrisco, CEO of the Institute of Management Accountants A **hybrid work model** is an arrangement in which employees split their working time between the office, or client sites, and remote locations. #### How does PwC approach hybrid work? PwC runs different models in the US and the UK. At PwC US, most employees split their time evenly, spending about 50% of it in person at an office or client site, with audit schedules shifting by season. PwC UK is more structured. Yolanda Seals-Coffield, PwC US’s Chief People and Inclusion Officer, says hybrid is here to stay. The flexibility keeps productivity high while giving employees room to thrive. At PwC UK, staff are now expected at the office or with clients at least three days a week, up from the previous two-day arrangement. The firm tracks where employees work and shares the data monthly with staff and their career coaches, an approach Kadence has [questioned elsewhere](). Laura Hinton, PwC UK’s Managing Partner, [explained the change](): “Face-to-face working is hugely important to a people business like ours, and the new policy tips the balance of our working week into being located alongside clients and colleagues. At the same time, we continue to offer flexibility through hybrid working.” #### How does Deloitte approach hybrid work? Deloitte takes a flexible, common-sense approach. Instead of strict office mandates, it brings teams together when it matters: key project milestones, brainstorming sessions and team building. The principle is outcomes over office hours. Showing up should add real value, and expectations vary by region to fit local norms. Deloitte describes its [approach to hybrid work]() as “co-locating when it matters most for performance, growth, and well-being.” In the US, its approach is not one-size-fits-all. Workplace expectations vary by region, and Deloitte leans into that, adapting to local norms and creating work environments that make sense for its people wherever they are. > “There’s a cultural element to how people view work depending on the country.” > > > > Willem Blom, Global Tax & Legal Leader, Deloitte **Co-location** means team members working in the same physical place at the same time, usually for work that benefits from being together. #### How does EY approach hybrid work? EY found that teams spending 40% to 60% of their time in person at the office strike a good balance between getting work done and building strong teams. Rather than blanket rules, EY lets teams decide when [in-person collaboration]() adds the most value. It also started tracking office attendance with swipe-card data to encourage collaboration and mentorship. EY is not simply hoping people show up. It started [tracking office attendance with swipe-card data]() to understand how often people are in the office, and to use that data to encourage meaningful collaboration and mentorship rather than to check a box. For other employers, this is the practical lesson: attendance data is most useful when it informs how teams use the office. Kadence makes it simple to [see how employees actually use the office](), without the hassle of manual data collection. #### How does KPMG approach hybrid work? KPMG US has no firm-wide mandate. About 57% of the workforce is in person at some point each week, and leaders decide what works best for their teams. Since fall 2023, audit teams have aimed for around three in-person days a week at an office or client site. KPMG is clear that it does not want performative office time. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() “Let’s empower and enable our leaders to make decisions about where it makes the most sense for their teams to work,” says Sandy Torchia, Vice Chair of Talent and Culture. “We do not want them to come in just to tick a box, swipe a badge, and leave,” says Becky Sproul, Partner and Audit National Talent & Culture Officer. > “It’s a giant experiment, right? We’ve never been here before—with the pandemic still fresh in our minds and the way we work changed for good.” > > > > Sandy Torchia, Vice Chair of Talent and Culture #### What can other companies learn from these hybrid work model examples? The common thread across the Big Four is flexibility with purpose. KPMG trusts leaders to decide what works, Deloitte focuses on collaboration when it counts, EY looks for a balance of in-person time, and PwC blends structure with autonomy. Each firm links office time to outcomes, and adapts it to teams and regions. Kadence chart of team office use trends by weekday for Legal, HR and Finance teams As work keeps changing, the Big Four are adapting, experimenting and listening to what works for their people. For enterprise leaders designing their own model, three lessons stand out: - Set expectations by team or function, not one rule for everyone. - Tie in-office time to specific work, such as milestones, client work and mentoring. - Use attendance data to encourage collaboration and mentorship, not just to check a box. Companies don’t have to figure this out alone. Kadence gives leaders [data-driven insights]() on office usage, collaboration patterns and [team dynamics](), so they can design hybrid strategies that work, with less guesswork and less wasted space. The [hybrid work strategy guide]() covers how to build one. #### Frequently asked questions ##### Do the Big Four accounting firms require employees in the office? As of February 2025, in their US offices, none had a strict five-day mandate. PwC US staff spent about 50% of their time in person, EY found 40% to 60% worked well, and KPMG left decisions to team leaders. PwC UK expected at least three days a week. ##### How does EY track office attendance? EY started tracking office attendance with swipe-card data, to understand how often people are in the office and to encourage collaboration and mentorship. ##### What is KPMG’s hybrid work policy? KPMG US had no firm-wide mandate. Leaders decide for their teams, and since fall 2023 audit teams have aimed for around three in-person days a week. To see how Kadence can help you design a hybrid model that works, [book a demo](). Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Desk Booking For Microsoft Teams - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/desk-booking-microsoft-teams/ Description: New Desk booking for Microsoft Teams users to help you book desks, schedule meeting rooms, and communicate with your team. [News]() · [Product News]() · February 7, 2025 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Desk Booking For Microsoft Teams Discover more about Kadence in Microsoft Teams What would it look like to use your favorite tools in one place without having to switch between applications? A tool where you were able to connect with your team, see when they’re going to be in the office, book desks and rooms, invite guests, and understand how spaces are being used? To make [hybrid work]() even easier for you and your people, we decided it was best to bring Kadence to the tools you and your team already know and use. We’re announcing our new [desk booking]() integration with [Microsoft Teams](); available to all of our users at no extra cost. Read on to discover how this changes everything! #### Manage Your Desk Bookings Without Ever Leaving MS Teams Using one platform for all of your work and communications, without having to go between different applications makes sense right? We thought so too. Surveys have shown that up to 56% of workers find [switching between different apps]() keeps them from being productive, and over 67% of people would like to have [all of their tools within a single window](). With the new [Microsoft Teams desk booking integration](), users can continue to coordinate their teams fully, and their desks and rooms in all of the ways they could before, yet this time, it’s all in one place within MS Teams. Illustration of desk booking inside MS Teams Book Desks, Rooms, and more all inside Microsoft Teams Desk Booking Software #### Make Bookings And Discover Where Teammates Are In Kadence AI [Kadence AI](), a natural language hybrid work assistant lives inside Microsoft Teams to take care of all your questions and concerns around your bookings and where your teammates plan to be. Just talk to Kadence AI in the same way you would a Personal assistant. Ask Kadence AI what spaces are available, and then ask it to book you that available space for the exact times you need. Ask it to let you know who’ll be in the office that day and to book you a space near your favorite colleagues. You can even ask it to let you know everyone who’s going in so you can get an idea of how busy the office is going to be. There’s quite literally no end to what Kadence AI can help you with in your day-to-day work. [Check it out here.]() Illustration of Kadence AI inside MS Teams Book spaces and discover when your teammates are going in with a single prompt #### Full Microsoft Integration Makes Room Booking Easy With Outlook Team meetings often lead to brilliant ideas, and [Kadence’s MS Teams integration]() makes this even more possible. Booking a room through [Outlook calendar]() isn’t just easy, but it **makes the best use of everyone’s time all in one click.** Simply go to your Outlook calendar within Teams, create a new event, and choose an available room. Not only does this show up in Kadence so you can keep a close eye on space usage, but you can also make [conference room bookings in Kadence](), and see them within Outlook. A perfect partnership of platforms that makes meeting room booking a piece of cake! Illustration of syncing room bookings with outlook calendar Find and book available Conference Rooms through Outlook Calendar Featured Content Hybrid Work Policy Template Streamline your team’s success—download our free Hybrid Work Policy Template today! [Download Template]() #### Better Usage Data With Check-In Notifications In One Place [Over a third of workers are overwhelmed]() with a bombardment of notifications and emails from all the different tools they use. This usually means employees tend to ignore these reminders and forget to check into or cancel their bookings, resulting in poor [space usage tracking](), and wasted bookings. So we decided to do something about that. Since [MS Teams]() is the platform of choice for many organizations to receive reminders, we thought we’d make it even easier, and less intrusive to merge all Kadence bookings, visitor, and check-in reminders within Microsoft Teams too. By slotting all communication into one centralized location, not only are your employees more likely to respond and [check into their desk bookings](), but you will be able to gain more accurate usage data as a result. Illustration of booking reminders inside MS Teams Never miss a check in again with instant smart notifications from Kadence #### Reserve Desks Or Rooms For You Or Your Team Whether you want to [book a room]() for a last-minute team briefing, or you want to [book a desk]() for your teammates on a particular day ahead of time, Kadence not only makes it easy for you to schedule your team day but also ensures you have the right desks or rooms booked. Now within the MS Teams app users can reserve a desk or room with all the right amenities they need, and for the right amount of people, they plan on being there. Admins can also create [dynamic neighborhoods](), and allocate specific teams to particular neighborhoods on the days of the week they choose, whether for now or ahead of time, all with MS Teams. Illustration of office neighborhoods set up in MS Teams Assign spaces to your teams and schedule them throughout the week #### Connect With Your Team By Knowing Who’s Working Where Other solutions simply do not work in the way that real people do, and the very nature of hybrid working means that the ability to just book spaces isn’t the only answer. [Employees want to come into the office to connect with their colleagues](), and for that to happen they need a tool to show them their employee’s schedules so they can [see who is working when, and where](). With MS Teams, users can see their teammate’s schedules ahead of time, making it easier to decide what days they plan to go into the office. Users can also see where their teammates are sitting on the [interactive office floor map]() using the employee locator and book a desk nearby. Illustration of Interactive Office Floorplan in MS Teams Discover where your teammates are working so you can book available spaces nearby on the Interactive Office Floorplan #### Get Started: Desk Booking For Microsoft Teams Coordinating your spaces, and your people is hard enough, and managing all of that on multiple platforms makes everyone’s job much harder. As if there’s not enough to think about already! At Kadence, we understand the importance of making hybrid work easy for its users, helping them focus on the things that really matter. Combining all of the tools your team uses into one seamless application not only makes sense but makes managing your hybrid workplace a great experience. **Interested in getting started with desk booking for Microsoft Teams? [Get in touch with our team]() for a quick demo or [download Kadence straight from Microsoft.]()** #### FAQs ##### How do I create a desk booking system in Microsoft Teams? Check out the [Microsoft Teams Setup Guide](), or watch our tutorial video to see how it works. ##### What is desk booking in Microsoft Teams? With [Microsoft Teams desk booking integration](), users can book desks and conference rooms directly from the MS Teams app. Desk and room bookings can be edited or cancelled all within the same interface. Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() See Kadence In Action Let Kadence take the hassle out of hybrid working. Book a customized demo today. [Book Demo]() #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Desk Hoteling Needs Check-Ins: Why Occupancy Data Matters | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/desk-hoteling-needs-occupancy-data/ Description: Why desk hoteling needs a check-in for every booking, how occupancy data compares with sensors, and how to use it for space planning, cleaning and energy. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · February 22, 2021 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Why Desk Hoteling Needs Check-Ins and Occupancy Data Desk hoteling only works with accurate occupancy data: you need to know who actually used each desk and when. That data, captured by a check-in every time someone arrives at a reserved desk, is what turns a shared-desk policy into space you can plan, clean, heat and right-size with confidence. Kadence published this argument in February 2021, as organizations prepared to return to offices after Covid. Employees expected a safe and sanitized office, and [many wanted to keep working remotely for at least some of the time](). Cutting real estate was a likely step to protect the bottom line, so workplace leaders and space planners had to make the most of the space they kept. Desk hoteling looked like the answer, but only if they knew who checked in and when. #### What is desk hoteling, and why does it need occupancy data? Desk hoteling is a shared-desk model in which employees reserve a desk for the time they need it instead of keeping a permanent one. It needs occupancy data because a reservation alone does not show whether the desk was used. Check-in data confirms use, so the space can be planned around real demand. The glossary explains the difference between [hot desking and hoteling](). Occupancy data is the record of how people actually use a space over time. The key ingredient for getting the most out of desk hoteling is accurate occupancy data. A digital desk booking process that makes it easy to check in to a reservation every time gives you insights to drive efficiencies, match resources with demand and support productivity. #### Why does a check-in matter more than a desk reservation? A check-in matters because it tells you whether a booking was used at all. A reservation shows intent; a check-in confirms that a named person used a specific desk, when and for how long. Without it, a hoteling program cannot tell real demand from empty bookings. Occupancy data reveals how employees interact with the office. In 2021 this mattered more than ever, because many businesses had reduced their real estate and resources, and demand from employees who want to use the office to collaborate could arrive at any time. Desk scheduling systems such as Kadence deliver hyperlocal data: a detailed breakdown of how and when space is used. If you secure the check-in every time, you know exactly when a desk was used, who used it and for how long. The same data underpins how you [measure desk utilization](). #### How does occupancy data help you manage the workplace? Occupancy data helps in four practical ways: it shows where space is underused, it informs cleaning schedules, it reveals how teams work together, and it guides energy use. Each turns check-in records into a decision about space, services or cost. ##### Efficient space planning Kadence Live Office view of an office floor Occupancy data shows how intensively each space is used over time. Underused areas are an obvious opportunity for cost savings. The data also helps with office configuration. Perhaps a cluster of desks near a window is always full while a gloomier part of the office gets no bookings. You can see that pattern in the data and fix it. To go further, feed office occupancy data into Building Information Modeling (BIM) systems, the digital building models used for space planning and building design. ##### Cleaning schedules based on data In a desk hoteling environment, a digital check-in process tells cleaning teams which desks were used. In 2021, the priority was making sure desks were sanitized between users: a desk was not released until it had been cleaned and prepared for the next person. Desk turnover data helps you manage cleaning schedules and plan resources. At the time, the same records also made contact tracing straightforward, because they showed the exact desks individuals used and when. ##### Analytics for team cadence and productivity Data shows how different teams interact in the office and how people use different [office neighborhoods](), which are zones set aside for particular teams or activities. You can then plan facilities to support productivity and find the right business cadence. If certain teams need specific equipment or like to sit together at a regular time each week, you can plan space and equipment so it is available when and where they need it. ##### Data-driven energy use Occupancy data shows when and where your highest energy demands are, so you can manage heating, air conditioning and lighting to match. Optimizing the energy efficiency of the office helps the planet, improves employee comfort and reduces cost. #### How can you collect occupancy data? The two main ways to collect occupancy data are [occupancy sensors]() and desk booking software with check-in. Sensors count presence in the background. Desk booking software records which desks are used, for how long and by whom, which is the most valuable data for a hoteling program. ##### Occupancy sensors Occupancy sensors count how many people are in a space, or how often a desk is used, using technologies such as ultrasound and infrared that detect movement. They do not tell you who is using the space, or whether it is the person who made the booking. Employees do not interact with sensors or get any value from them; the sensors just count in the background. ##### Desk booking software with check-in [Desk booking software]() records [desk check-ins](), so you discover which desks are used, for how long and by whom. The most valuable fact to capture is that an identified person has checked in to a reservation. That gives far deeper insight than a headcount. You begin to understand the cadence of office use and can plan spaces that support productivity, efficiency and comfort. You can also give something back to employees when they check in, as the next section explains. #### What makes a desk hoteling check-in process work? A check-in process works when it is easier to use than to skip. Put user experience at the center: if the booking software is overcomplicated, clunky or glitchy, people will not use it and you will never get the data. Then add features that improve people’s working lives, so checking in becomes part of their routine. Useful features include the option to book space close to colleagues and [wayfinding]() that helps people find their booked desk. In February 2021, Kadence described the process in three steps. ##### 1. Desk booking and arrival An employee reserves a desk, ideally in an easy-to-use app such as the Kadence workplace mobile app. They can check availability and book on a smartphone while on the move, or on a desktop while planning their schedule. When they arrive, the app detects their presence, shows the booked desk location and gives simple directions to the correct floor, office and desk. Check-in prompts remind them to check in. If they do not, the central system is alerted, which makes it easy to identify [no-shows]() and release the desk remotely. Other people who want to work in the office then have more desks to choose from. ##### 2. Making desk availability visible It is reassuring and helpful for employees to see at a glance which desks are available. In 2021, with social distancing in place, a good booking system could mark desks as unavailable on the floor plan in the app, and keep a desk unavailable after use until it had been cleaned. A smart system used occupancy data to alert cleaning staff automatically, so they could prepare the desk for the next person quickly. ##### 3. Touchless check-in Checking in through the mobile app, without touching shared equipment, gave employees control and the reassurance that they were keeping themselves and others safe. #### How does an occupancy data layer help you plan ahead? When you run [desk hoteling]() through a cloud-based booking and scheduling system, you get an accurate occupancy data layer. It lets you respond in real time to changing conditions and make planning decisions based on evidence, so the office stays agile as hybrid attendance changes. With that data, you can get the most out of desks and spaces, support productivity and meet the needs of a hybrid workforce moving between remote and office work. The [workplace analytics metrics guide]() explains which measures to track from this data today. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between desk hoteling and hot desking? Both remove permanent desks. In desk hoteling, employees reserve a desk in advance for the time they need it. In hot desking, people typically take whichever desk is free when they arrive. Reservations plus check-ins give hoteling the more reliable occupancy data. ##### Why do occupancy sensors fall short for desk hoteling? Sensors count movement, so they show how many people are in a space or how often a desk is used. They cannot show who used a desk or whether that person made the booking, and employees get nothing back from them. ##### What happens when someone books a desk but does not check in? The booking system flags the missed check-in as a no-show. The desk can then be released remotely and returned to the pool, so other people who want to work in the office have more desks to choose from. ##### How does occupancy data reduce costs? It shows how intensively each space is used over time. Underused areas become candidates for cost savings, and knowing when and where demand peaks lets you match heating, air conditioning and lighting to actual use. #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Desk Reservation Software is Shaping the Hybrid Workplace - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/desk-reservation-software-is-shaping-the-hybrid-workplace/ Description: Choosing the right Desk Reservation Software is the essential to a successful hybrid work model and employee satisfaction. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · March 6, 2024 · [Jamie Addis]() ### Desk Reservation Software Is Shaping The Hybrid Workplace Desk reservation software As companies transition into a hybrid work model, efficient desk utilization becomes essential. This is where Desk Reservation Software steps into the limelight. The right software can transform the way organizations manage workspace dynamics. Let’s explore the pivotal role that Desk Reservation Software plays in shaping [the future of the hybrid workplace](). #### Embracing The Hybrid Shift The global workforce has witnessed a seismic shift towards hybrid work models, blending remote and in-office work seamlessly. Hybrid offers unprecedented flexibility but also brings the challenge of optimizing office spaces. With employees splitting their time between home and office, desk space is not always in use. If employees have fixed desks, those spaces will remain empty when they work from home. To reduce real estate costs, it makes sense for companies to adopt a [hotelling model](). Employees can pick a desk when they come into the office. But which desk? This is where Desk Reservation Software becomes an indispensable tool for the modern workplace. #### Desk Booking Efficiency Desk Reservation Software acts as a digital maestro. It [orchestrates the efficient use of office space](). No more wandering through rows of empty desks or the frustration of finding a spot to set up shop. This innovative technology empowers employees to reserve a desk with a few clicks. When they step into the office, a dedicated workspace awaits. This enhances productivity and fosters a sense of routine and structure in the hybrid work setting. Giving employees the autonomy to book a desk will reduce anxiety about commuting to the office. The software can communicate to the rest of the team that the desk is reserved. The need for spreadsheets or team messages that say ‘this is my space today’ is not necessary. #### Streamlining Collaboration And Communication The heartbeat of any successful team is collaboration. Desk Reservation Software goes beyond the mere allocation of desk spaces. It serves as a conduit for [enhanced communication and collaboration](). Working hybrid means physical interactions with teammates are precious. The best Desk Reservation Software enables your team to find that time and space easily. Choose a software that highlights where your teammates have booked a desk. Or even more, pick software that allows managers to set up neighborhoods for teams. This will reserve a selection of desks that are available for a specific team. Teams will be concentrated in one area. This prevents teams from becoming spread across the office. And it cultivates collaboration simply through proximity. This is an image that lets you see which teammates are in the office on the interactive floor map, and check into desk 2 in the London HQ See where your teammates are working with Desk Reservation Software #### Utilize Desk Booking Data Desk Reservation Software provides real-time insights into office occupancy. This helps organizations make informed decisions about space utilization. With these analytics, companies can: - optimize their office layout - identify peak hours - allocate resources where needed This creates a more responsive and adaptive workspace. [Managers have an overview of how the office is being used](). Decisions are made based on helpful data. The result is employees have their needs for the office met. For the company as a whole, these insights can result in cost savings. Data will inform whether space is being under-used. Organizations can reduce unnecessary real estate and optimize spending. Space Management data and insights help drive team productivity Desk Reservation Software allows you to see how office space is being used. #### Employee Empowerment Through Flexibility One of the hallmarks of the hybrid workplace is flexibility. Kadence offers employees the autonomy to [choose when and where they work](). This level of flexibility is not just a perk. It’s a strategic move that results in productivity and employee satisfaction. With hybrid work models, some employees may miss having a fixed office desk. For these individuals, offering control over where they sit becomes crucial to their well-being. [Choice is fundamental to a happy team](). Teams do not need to enforce who shares which desk or when employees should come in. This may seem like the easiest solution for hybrid work. With the software these mandates are futile. Better efficiency and employee satisfaction are achieved together. #### Addressing Desk Reservation Pain Points In the transition to a hybrid model, organizations encounter various pain points. One key is ensuring any hotelling desk is suitable for the employee. Desk Reservation Software addresses these challenges with surgical precision. A user-friendly interface mitigates the stress associated with finding a suitable workspace. It offers desk customization. This enables employees to create a personalized and conducive environment. The software can find a desk with: - particular equipment - the right software and hardware - a desired ergonomic setup Need a particular kind of desktop? Need several power outlets? All of this is possible to find in advance of coming to the office. Desk Reservation Software alleviates the frustration of having to work at an unsuitable desk. #### A Case For Sustainable Work Practices Desk Reservation Software aligns with the growing emphasis on sustainable work practices. It is both cost-effective and green to optimize company space. Reducing the need for excess office space contributes to environmental conservation. An eco-friendly approach resonates with the values of the workforce. It positions companies as socially responsible entities. This attracts top talent in an increasingly conscious job market. #### Consider Kadence For Desk Reservation Software Desk Reservation Software is the linchpin in successful hybrid workplaces. It streamlines communication, enhances collaboration, and empowers employees. With Kadence, work smarter by knowing where and when your colleagues have booked a desk. Smart Suggestions recommend when to head into the office. Book a desk in your team’s neighborhood within seconds. Kadence gives you detailed insights into how your team uses office space. Reports explain what spaces are under-used, so you can save on real estate costs. If you’re looking for the right Desk Reservation Software, [book a demo]() today. We’ll show you exactly how Kadence can help you find your rhythm for work. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Desk Utilization: How to Measure Space Utilization Rates | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/desk-utilization/ Description: What desk utilization and space utilization rates mean, how to measure desk utilization with sensors, badges or check-ins, and how to plan with the data. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · June 10, 2021 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Desk Utilization: How to Measure Desk and Space Utilization Rates [Desk utilization]() is how often, and for how long, the desks in an office are actually used compared with the desks that are available. It is the most practical way to measure space utilization in a hybrid office, because desk-level data shows which desks people use, when and for how long. Measuring desk utilization answers the questions every workplace team faces when attendance varies from day to day. Which seating layouts work? Do you have the right number of desks? Which floors or neighborhoods are overcrowded, and which sit empty? For current benchmarks and a full planning method, see the [office space planning guide](). #### What is desk utilization? Desk utilization is the share of available desk time that people actually use over a given period. It is measured at the level of the individual desk, so it shows how often each desk gets used, for how long and by whom. That makes it more precise than a building headcount, which only tells you how many people were present. In a hybrid office, people book time in the office for a specific purpose, and occupancy fluctuates across the week. Desk utilization data lets a workplace team be proactive instead of reactive: it shows patterns across days, weeks and months, so you can plan space around how people really work. #### What is a space utilization rate? A space utilization rate is the proportion of a space’s capacity that is actually used over time. For desks, it compares the desks in use, or the desk hours in use, with the total available in the same period, expressed as a percentage. The same idea applies to rooms, floors and whole buildings. Space utilization data usually includes four related measures: - **Occupancy:** how many people use a space. See the glossary entry for [occupancy rate](). - **Density:** the square footage, or the number of workstations, available per employee. - **Fluctuations in usage:** how demand changes across the day and the week. - **Peak usage times:** when demand is highest, which is what capacity has to cover. In June 2021, Kadence cited [JLL benchmarking]() that put the average desk utilization rate across industries in the United States at 60%. This figure comes from JLL’s global benchmarking report of that period; treat it as a historical reference. The [workplace analytics metrics guide]() covers the measures to track today. #### How do you measure desk utilization? You measure desk utilization by recording which desks are used, when and for how long, then comparing that use with the desks available. The level of detail you get depends on how you collect the data. The three common methods are [occupancy sensors](), [badge swipe data]() and desk booking with check-in. ##### Occupancy sensors Occupancy sensors detect movement and tell you how many people are in a building, floor or neighborhood at any given time. They show presence, but not how a space is being used. They cannot forecast future usage, and they do not give you desk-level data. ##### Badge swipe data Badge swipe data goes a step further by telling you exactly who is in an area. It shows how different employees and teams use a building: when they come in, how long they stay and which floors or neighborhoods they use. ##### Desk booking and check-in data Desk booking with check-in gives the most detailed, hyperlocal view. Employees reserve a desk in advance in an app. When they arrive, a location-aware app prompts them to check in with one click. Every booking and check-in becomes a record of how each desk across the organization is used. In June 2021, Kadence described its [desk booking software]() working this way. The check-in step is what separates a reservation from actual use. #### Why does check-in data matter more than bookings? Check-in data matters because a booking only records intent, while a check-in confirms that the desk was actually used. Without check-ins, utilization figures count reservations that nobody turned up for. With them, you know how often desks are used, for how long and by whom, and you can forecast from actual bookings. This is also why [successful desk hoteling needs office workers to check in](). Check-in data shows which bookings go unused, so those desks can be released back into the pool of available workstations. #### What are ghost, zombie and pirate bookings? Ghost, zombie and pirate bookings are three common ways desk data drifts away from reality. Each makes the office experience worse for employees and makes the space harder to plan. Booking and check-in data exposes all three, so a workplace team can fix the cause rather than guess at it. - **Ghost booking:** a desk is booked but not used. - **Zombie booking:** a desk is booked but left empty on an ongoing basis. - **Pirate:** somebody takes a desk they have not booked. Check-in data confirms whether a desk is used by somebody without a booking and shows which bookings go unused. Over the longer term, you can work with teams to make sure the spaces on offer suit their needs, so they are less likely to book and not turn up. #### How do you use desk utilization data to plan the office? You use desk utilization data by turning usage patterns into decisions about layouts, density and team schedules. The data shows where demand is too high or too low, in real time and as a forecast, so changes to the floor plan rest on evidence instead of assumptions about who comes in. ##### Plan layouts around real demand A hybrid workplace has to flex. Some people come in for quiet time, and others come in to collaborate and socialize. Desk-level data shows the balance of demand between quiet and social areas. Teams on a regular cadence book desks and meeting spaces over weeks and months. When a new project brings teams together for a period, the same data helps you avoid bottlenecks around desks and rooms. An interactive floor plan lets you test how different layouts would meet that demand. ##### Manage density Too many people in a space disrupts productivity and comfort. An under-occupied office wastes resources. Utilization data shows when density is too high or too low. For example, if two teams both need regular breakout space in the same neighborhood, you can reconfigure the area or assign each team a different day so they do not compete for it. ##### Make space decisions with evidence With desk-level data and forecasts, space management decisions become data-driven. You can see which areas are underused and plan changes with confidence, so decisions about how much space you need rest on actual use. #### Why does desk utilization matter for employees? Desk utilization matters for employees because the data shows what they actually need from the office. A people-first workplace offers the right balance of collaboration, communal and quiet spaces, and a simple way to book and check in. Without usage data, it is hard to know what employees need, and space plans rest on guesswork. Understanding how the space is used lets you set up an office that is in sync with how people want to work, whether that means quiet, focused work or collaboration with colleagues. Customer stories such as [how MOO improved office utilization]() show the same approach in practice. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between desk utilization and occupancy? Occupancy counts how many people use a space at a given time. Desk utilization looks at individual desks: how often each one is used, for how long and by whom. Occupancy tells you a floor was busy; desk utilization tells you which desks carried that demand and which stayed empty. ##### How do you calculate a desk utilization rate? Compare the desks, or desk hours, actually used in a period with the total available in the same period, and express the result as a percentage. Use check-in data rather than bookings, because bookings include reservations that nobody used. ##### Which method gives the most accurate desk utilization data? Desk booking with check-in gives the most detailed data. Occupancy sensors count people but cannot show desk-level use or forecast demand. Badge swipe data shows who is in a building and when. Booking and check-in data shows which desk each person used, when and for how long. ##### What causes low desk utilization? Unused bookings are a common cause. [Ghost bookings]() (booked but not used) and zombie bookings (booked but left empty on an ongoing basis) hold desks that others could use. Check-in data identifies them so unused desks can be released back into the pool. ##### Is the 60% desk utilization benchmark still current? The 60% average desk utilization rate for U.S. industries comes from JLL’s global benchmarking report, cited by Kadence in June 2021. Treat it as a historical reference and measure your own buildings with check-in data. #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## 8 Examples of Effective Team Dynamics in Hybrid Teams | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/effective-team-dynamic-examples/ Description: What are examples of effective team dynamics? Eight practical examples for hybrid teams, from communication and shared goals to fair rewards and transparency. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · August 19, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### 8 Examples of Effective Team Dynamics in Hybrid Teams Business group of people laughing and doing team building at office. Examples of [effective team dynamics]() include communicating openly, sharing information with everyone, working toward clear common goals, setting clear expectations, rewarding people equally, meeting in person now and then, managing stress and burnout, and being transparent about decisions. Each one matters more when a team is split between the office and home. Teamwork is critical for any business, and even more so with a hybrid workforce. If your team does not operate with healthy dynamics, or you are constantly resolving conflict, it is very hard to grow and sustain success. In a physical office, teammates have many chances each day to catch up, raise issues and talk through strategy. When a team is split between physical and virtual settings, you cannot always set up an impromptu meeting or get the whole department together. So the details matter every time you connect. #### What are team dynamics? Team dynamics are the unconscious psychological factors that shape how a team behaves and performs. They show up in collaboration, communication and daily interactions, in large and small groups alike. Positive team dynamics are easy to spot: people act in ways that help the whole team, not just themselves. Every team is made up of people with different expertise, strengths and weaknesses. When team members behave in [ways that benefit the entire team](), the group becomes more cohesive. It generates better ideas, makes better decisions and has a higher chance of reaching its goals. Individual ability matters. But it is arguably more important to understand how each person interacts with the rest of the team. #### Why are team dynamics harder in a hybrid workplace? In a [hybrid workplace](), on-site and remote employees get different amounts of contact, information and support. On-site teams interact every day and even take breaks together. Remote team members miss those moments, which makes it harder for a distributed team to build the dynamics and culture it needs to work well. A hybrid workplace is one where employees split their time between the office and remote locations. That split affects information, rewards and workload. On-site employees often reach managers faster, while remote employees may miss updates. Office staff can end up covering tasks that remote colleagues cannot. The eight examples below address each of these gaps. For a wider view, see the [guide to bringing teams together](). #### What are examples of effective team dynamics? The eight examples of effective team dynamics below give hybrid teams a practical starting point. They cover how a team communicates, shares information, sets goals and expectations, rewards people, meets in person, handles stress and makes decisions. Use them to assess your own team and pick where to improve first. ##### 1. Communicating effectively Your first challenge when leading a hybrid team is working out how everyone will communicate. Without proper, open communication, you cannot keep healthy working relationships or build strong collaboration. One way to [ensure effective communication]() is to schedule frequent video calls. To support healthy communication, invest in the right [tools](). Use video conferencing software like Zoom or Microsoft Teams, connect everyone on Slack or another messaging tool, and use file-sharing tools like Google Drive or Dropbox. It can also help to match channels to goals: a quick call for a small, casual chat and a scheduled video call for larger, formal meetings. To help remote workers feel more included, hold video calls during work breaks. Calls that bring on-site and virtual team members together build good relationships and culture. ##### 2. Distributing information consistently On-site employees usually have more access to company information. They are connected to internal networks and may reach managers and other leaders who work in the office more quickly. Remote team members may not get every update their on-site coworkers receive. Make updates a priority so that everyone can contribute equally. Remote workers should know about every team meeting, client meeting and anything else that affects the team’s mission. They can achieve even more when they communicate well, which is where [people coordination tools for hybrid teams]() help. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ##### 3. Establishing clear, common goals Your company vision should be clear across every team and department, wherever people work. Without a [clearly defined goal](), you risk unmotivated employees who cannot engage with their work. They go through the motions and check off to-do lists. Great teamwork shows that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Each team member should understand how their contribution fits the company’s mission and why their role matters to its success. A well-defined goal can make a team far more efficient and productive. ##### 4. Laying out expectations As with goals, each team member must know what is expected of them, and the only way to achieve that is to communicate it well. Make the behaviors, attitudes and contributions you want crystal clear. You might want employees to share knowledge regularly, solve problems well and make good impromptu decisions together. You might want the focus to be teamwork and collaboration across teams. Or the most important thing may be that everyone treats others with dignity and respect. Whatever your expectations are, make sure your team knows them. ##### 5. Rewarding equally Remote and on-site employees should have equal access to company information. They should also be rewarded equally for their work. For example, if your health and wellness program includes free memberships at a gym near the office, some remote team members may not be able to use them. Offer benefits and rewards that every employee can use, or provide equally valuable alternatives for remote workers. ##### 6. Meeting occasionally Until the pandemic, most employees had plenty of chances to build meaningful working relationships in the office. With more people working remotely, that is harder. Moving back into the office after working remotely brings its own obstacles, especially when people are used to running meetings and solving problems from home. Building healthy bonds takes extra effort, so you need to bring employees together now and then. Hybrid working software helps team members plan in-person time and use it as effectively as possible. [Kadence WorkOps]() shows who is coming in and lets teams book desks and rooms for the days they meet. ##### 7. Managing stress and burnout Every team that moves to a hybrid model is prone to stress. Some remote team members may also care for children while juggling in-office and virtual responsibilities. Meanwhile, office-based employees may take on a heavier workload to fill gaps remote workers cannot, such as answering phones, keeping the office tidy, or printing and sending documents to remote colleagues. Make sure your whole team understands burnout: what it is, how to [identify early signs](), and how to recover if they become overwhelmed. One practical step is to create a flexible schedule and encourage people to set aside time each day to relax. ##### 8. Being transparent For healthy hybrid team dynamics, employees should understand how and why important decisions are made. Share results, good or bad, so the team can celebrate wins and make the changes needed to limit losses. Transparency matters more than ever. If it is not already part of your company culture and team operations, build it in. Open communication within a team produces better results over the long run. #### How can you improve team dynamics in a hybrid team? Start by assessing your team against the eight examples above and fixing the weakest area first. For most hybrid teams that means better communication, consistent information and planned in-person time. Simple, reliable hybrid working software makes it easier to coordinate meetings and solve problems together. Long-term success depends on great teamwork, and navigating group dynamics is essential to healthy communication and collaboration in a hybrid environment. To see how Kadence can support team collaboration in your workplace, [book a demo](). For more on leading hybrid teams, read more from [Dan Bladen, Kadence’s CEO and co-founder](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What are examples of effective team dynamics? Effective team dynamics include open communication, consistent information sharing, clear common goals, clear expectations, equal rewards, occasional in-person meetings, active management of stress and burnout, and transparency about decisions. ##### What does team dynamics mean? Team dynamics are the unconscious factors that influence how a team behaves and performs. They show up in how members collaborate, communicate and interact each day, and they shape the team’s ideas, decisions and results. ##### How do you build positive team dynamics in a hybrid team? Give remote and on-site employees the same information and rewards, set clear goals and expectations, use the right communication tools, and bring people together in person from time to time. ##### Why is transparency important for team dynamics? When employees understand how and why decisions are made, and see results whether good or bad, they can celebrate wins together and adjust quickly when something goes wrong. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Embracing Flexible Work And The Right To Disconnect - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/embracing-flexible-work-and-the-right-to-disconnect/ Description: The U.K.’s push for the right to disconnect is setting the stage for a future where work-life balance isn’t just a buzzword but a reality. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · September 4, 2024 · [Helen Attia]() ### Embracing Flexible Work And The Right To Disconnect Smiling elegant woman with cup of coffee and her colleagues entering the office The [U.K. government is making a push to embed flexible work and the right to disconnect into the workplace culture](). These initiatives reflect a significant shift in how we as a society have been thinking about work-life balance, employee well-being, and productivity. #### Why Flexible Work Matters Flexible work is no longer just a trend—it’s the future of work. The pandemic was a catalyst, but the demand for flexible working arrangements has only gained momentum since then. In fact, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that [over half of U.K. workers want the option to work flexibly moving forward](). But what does flexible work really mean? It’s about giving employees the autonomy to decide when and where they work, tailoring their schedules to fit their personal lives. This isn’t just about making employees happy—it’s about fostering a more engaged, motivated, and productive workforce. The U.K. government’s push to enshrine flexible work into law is a recognition that the old 9-to-5 model doesn’t fit the modern world. By allowing employees to work in a way that suits them, businesses can unlock higher levels of productivity and satisfaction. It’s a win-win. #### Setting Boundaries To Protect Your Personal Time In our [always-on world](), the lines between work and life have become increasingly blurred. Smartphones, laptops, and constant connectivity have made it difficult for many employees to truly switch off after work hours. This is where the right to disconnect comes in. The right to disconnect ensures that employees are not expected to engage in work-related activities outside of their agreed working hours. This isn’t just about protecting personal time—it’s about preventing burnout, reducing stress, and ultimately improving productivity. Countries like France and Spain have already embraced this concept, and the U.K. is now following suit. By giving employees the right to unplug, businesses can help their teams recharge and return to work more focused and energized. #### What This Means For Businesses These changes may seem challenging for businesses, but they also present a unique opportunity. Embracing flexible work can set your company apart in a competitive job market. It’s about building a culture of trust, where employees are measured by their outcomes, not just the hours they log. Communication is key. Businesses need to have open and honest conversations with their teams about expectations and boundaries. By doing so, they can create an environment where employees feel supported and valued, which in turn drives productivity and success. #### How Kadence Can Help You Adapt To These Changes As businesses adapt to these evolving expectations around work, tools like Kadence can play a critical role in helping teams [stay organized and connected](). Kadence is designed to help teams coordinate their work schedules effectively, regardless of location, making it easier to manage availability, collaborate seamlessly, and maintain clarity around team commitments. While the legislation pushes for a balance between work flexibility and disconnection, Kadence offers practical features that support teams in maintaining productivity while respecting personal time. The platform makes it simple for teams to plan their work, align on availability, and stay connected, whether they are fully remote, hybrid, or in-office. Kadence helps foster those meaningful “in-office moments” that can be harder to come by in flexible work settings. It enables teams to create moments that matter by providing tools to effectively communicate, collaborate, and engage, no matter where employees are located. #### Moving Forward With Kadence, teams can stay coordinated, communicate effectively, and ensure they are working together in the most productive way possible, regardless of where they are. As the work landscape continues to evolve, tools like Kadence can help businesses create an environment where employees thrive, both personally and professionally, while maintaining the flexibility and autonomy they desire. By embracing these changes with the right support, your organization can adapt and succeed in this new era of work. --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() ##### What’s Next For The Future Of Work? Join our Kadence community to stay on top of latest news and trends in the future of work. #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Embracing Third Spaces: The Evolution of Modern Workplaces - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/embracing-third-spaces/ Description: In the move towards more flexible ways of working, organizations are embracing Third Spaces or non-traditional workplaces. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · February 16, 2024 · [John Hopkins]() ### Embracing Third Spaces: The Evolution Of Modern Workplaces Man looks out of window in in Third Space cafe. In the move towards more flexible ways of working, modern organizations are having to get smarter about how they use space. That means integrating a [hybrid operating platform]() and making sure existing office space is [used effectively](). For others, it means giving their employees access to [flexible workspaces]() near them. Through my experiences with [WorkFLEX](), I’ve seen another kind of space become increasingly popular among workers. One that provides a level of flexibility that more conventional workspaces cannot offer. “Third Spaces” are non-traditional workplaces that are neither offices nor co-working spaces. And they might just be transforming the way we work. #### What Are Third Spaces? Third Spaces are any public space that can feasibly (and reasonably!) be used for work. These could be cafes, bars, and libraries, to name a few. Think a cosy nook in your local coffee house. Your tablet is perched up against a cappuccino and you’re nibbling on an almond croissant. Third Spaces can be a very useful environment to get certain work tasks done, like deep individual work, creative thinking, reading, or admin. Professionals are turning to these kinds of spaces in numbers. [50% of workers recently surveyed by Opentable]() said they spend at least some of their time working in cafes and other Third Spaces throughout their work week. We’re also seeing a trend in co-working spaces to adopt an atmosphere more typical of a third space. With integrated coffee shops, biophilic design and areas for relaxation, they are responding to a general move away from traditional office set ups. #### Why Work In A Third Space? Third Spaces provide a useful alternative to the back-and-forth between office-based work and remote work. While office work is a great way to connect to your teammates and collaborate together, it can sometimes feel like a pressured, limiting environment. Remote work, with all of its great benefits for flexibility, can be socially isolating. Working in a Third Space can provide you with a perfect environment for a little mental break, where organic social interaction and spontaneous conversations still keep you stimulated and creative. A recent survey we ran found that working from Third Spaces significantly contributed to an overall sense of wellbeing in workers. While these kinds of spaces can be less effective for taking calls, completing confidential work or tasks that involve more equipment, they’re excellent for big picture thinking, admin tasks, and other independent activities. #### What About The Office? The office will continue to play a valuable role in our day-to-day work life. It’s a cornerstone of community, a platform for connecting with our colleagues and the values of our organizations. And yet it’s often not the best environment for all the tasks team members perform each week. If you’re forced to commute for an hour just to send three emails from your office, you’d be rightly frustrated. Tasks like this could have just as easily been done at the Starbucks around the corner. Third Spaces are like the “joker” card in your modern work schedule. They’re a great way to shake up your routine and immerse yourself in a fresh work setting — when the right tasks come about. #### Is A Third Space Right For You? Follow these four questions to assess whether or not you could work from a Third Space today. *1. Do you have a lot of calls to make today?* If yes, it’s probably best to take them from home or a designated area in your office. If not — a cafe would work well! *2. Do you have any privacy or data sensitive work to do?* If yes — best to avoid a public space and conduct the work from the privacy of your home or office. *3. Do you have a bunch of admin to sort out today?* If yes, this could be a great opportunity to go to your local cafe and hunker down with a laptop. Crush those emails! *4. Do you have some big picture creative or strategic thinking to get done?* If yes, this is also a good time to find a Third Space that helps you take time to zoom out and get some important thinking done. #### Trust Is Essential Hybrid work is still in its infancy. Companies are still figuring out how and where employees get their best work done. Recognizing that different kinds of spaces have their own unique advantages is a big step towards getting smarter about how we work. Ultimately, it comes down to trust. Employers need to trust their employees to be productive from Third Spaces, while employees should feel confident enough to ask for this kind of flexibility. When employers focus on *outcomes* rather than physical location, they are likelier to build happier, more productive teams. In a world where all you need to be productive is a laptop and decent WiFi, it’s only logical that we should embrace Third Spaces. In doing so, we’re opening the door to greater flexibility, creativity, and well-being. --- John Hopkins John Hopkins John Hopkins is an Associate Professor of Management from Swinburne University of Technology, and the Founder of WorkFLEX, a Melbourne-based company offering a range of online courses, coaching and training, to help workers and organisations successfully transition to new ways of working. [Read More from John Hopkins]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Employee Directory For A Hybrid Workplace (2022) | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/employee-directory-for-a-more-connected-workplace/ Description: In March 2022, Kadence launched an employee directory that let anyone in a hybrid workplace find colleagues, see their schedules and plan office days together. [News]() · [Hybrid Working]() · March 2, 2022 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Employee Directory For A More Connected Hybrid Workplace (March 2022 Release) Kadence hybrid working software employee directory In March 2022, Kadence released an employee directory to help people in a [hybrid workplace]() find each other. It gave every employee access to anyone’s profile in the company, including their schedule, teams and contact details, from the Kadence mobile app or desktop platform. The release came as restrictions were lifting globally and more people were returning to the office on certain days of the week to collaborate with their teammates. The directory was one of several highly requested features in that release. #### What did the Kadence employee directory do? The employee directory held an A to Z list of everyone at the company who used Kadence. Each profile stored contextual information about that person: their schedule, the teams they belonged to and their contact details. Anyone could open anyone’s profile and see where that colleague had booked to work. An **employee directory** is a searchable list of the people in an organization, with a profile for each person. In a hybrid setting, the schedule attached to each name is what matters: it shows who will be in the office and when. Kadence employee directory on the web platform, showing an A to Z list of colleagues and a selected colleague's profile #### Why does a hybrid workplace need access to everyone’s schedule? In a hybrid workplace, colleagues outside your own team are hard to find. When everyone worked in the office at the same time, finding them was simple. Once people split their week between home and office, you need to know someone’s schedule before you can plan to meet them. The directory made that information available company-wide. Many projects need people outside your direct team. The March 2022 release gave employees an access-all-areas pass to their colleagues’ information, so connecting with them no longer depended on chance. #### How does it help build connections across teams? People power the workplace, not the other way around. A connected workforce is paramount to work success, and connection across teams does not happen by itself when attendance varies day to day. The directory let employees connect with whoever they needed, without workplace obstacles or restrictions, and then plan in-person time around real schedules. Kadence employee directory in the mobile app, showing a colleague's profile with their schedule and booked workspace The original announcement used a simple example. In the old ways of working, you could walk over to the 5th floor to find Jimmy in the engineering team. In a hybrid world, Jimmy may not be in the office when you are. With the directory, you could find Jimmy even though he was not on your team, tap his profile, see his schedule and where he had booked to work, and plan to be in the office on the same day to meet face to face. For workplace leaders, the same pattern connects day-to-day [people coordination]() with office planning. Schedules and bookings show who is coming in, and that makes shared office days easier to arrange. Kadence’s guide to [bringing teams together]() covers how organizations plan those days. #### How did you use the employee directory? At launch in March 2022, the directory took four steps to use: 1. Log in to the [Kadence mobile app]() or desktop platform and select the **Directory** tab. 2. Find your teams and a tab named **Colleagues**. 3. Select **Colleagues** to see a full list of employees at your company using Kadence. 4. Select any colleague and view their profile to find what you need. The directory sat alongside Kadence’s other [WorkOps]() features for booking desks and planning office days. #### Frequently asked questions ##### When did Kadence launch its employee directory? Kadence announced the employee directory in March 2022, as part of a release of several highly requested features for hybrid teams. ##### What could employees see in a colleague’s profile? At launch, each profile showed the colleague’s schedule, their teams and their contact details, along with where they had booked to work. ##### Who could use the directory? Any employee at a company using Kadence could open the directory and view the profile of any colleague on the platform, not only people in their own team. #### Related - [The CEO’s Perspective: Driving Growth, Innovation, And Hybrid Working ROI]() Embracing hybrid work isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for forward-thinking CEOs. This article unveils how hybrid work models drive unprecedented Hybrid Working ROI across the triple bottom line: By implementing a robust hybrid working ROI strategy, CEOs can future-proof their organizations, attract top talent, and gain a competitive edge in an evolving business \[…\] - [Hybrid Pulse Check #1: Office Attendance By Country And Weekday (November 2024)]() Kadence booking data from over 500 companies, published in November 2024: office attendance by country, the peak in-office days, and what workplace leaders can do about it. - [Hybrid Work Management Software – Choosing The Right One]() The rise of hybrid work models has become more than just a trend. It’s a necessity. As teams embrace a flexible work environment, effective Hybrid Work Management Software has become critical. Read our key considerations that will empower you and your team to choose the right software that best suits your hybrid goals. The traditional \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Enterprise Room Display Software - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/enterprise-room-display-software-kadence/ Description: The enterprise room display software from Kadence that kills ghost meetings, reclaims lost space, and turns every door into actionable data. [News]() · [Product News]() · March 18, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations Kadence Room Display tablet mounted outside a meeting room showing live availability and instant booking, with Find a Room and analytics widgets. For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used was just an inconvenience — not a line item. That’s not the workplace enterprise leaders are managing today. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Meeting rooms are one of the most expensive and most wasted assets in a [corporate real estate]() portfolio. [Ghost meetings]() silently drain capacity. Employees waste time hunting for space. Utilization dashboards show what was booked — not what happened. And booking policies drift across offices with no consistent enforcement. The display on the wall has never been able to solve any of that. Until now. **Today, we’re introducing [Kadence Room Displays]()** — a fully integrated room display solution built natively into the Kadence Workplace Operations Platform. This is not a panel on a wall. It’s an operational control point — and it changes what happens the moment someone walks up to a meeting room door. #### What's New Here’s what’s now available with Kadence Room Displays: - **AI-powered no-show detection and automatic room release** - **Instant at-door booking** for ad-hoc space needs - **Find-A-Room Nearby** to surface available rooms without leaving the floor - **Check-in enforcement** via display, mobile, or sensor integration - **Native Outlook & Google Workspace sync** — real-time, two-way - **Global policy governance** — configured centrally, enforced locally - **Runs on standard iOS and Android tablets** — no proprietary hardware required - **Live data feed into Kadence analytics** — every check-in becomes a workplace intelligence signal #### Calculate the ROI of Your Workplace Operations Our brand-new ROI Calculator is here to help you visualize your success in seconds. [Calculate Your ROI]() #### Why Traditional Room Displays Fall Short Most room displays were designed to show availability. They were never designed to enforce it. That distinction matters more than it sounds. A display that shows “occupied” when nobody is in the room isn’t solving a problem. It’s labeling one. Without automation, enforcement, and integration, the same problems repeat every day: - Rooms stay booked but unused — ghost meetings that never get reclaimed - Employees waste time walking floors searching for space the calendar says doesn’t exist - Check-in policies are inconsistently applied, or not applied at all - Utilization data reflects bookings, not behavior — making it unreliable for any real decision The result is visibility without accountability. And for enterprise workplace leaders trying to optimize a global real estate portfolio, that’s not enough. #### 6 New Kadence Room Display Features ##### 1. Live Availability with Instant Booking Room status should be accurate, actionable, and immediate. Kadence displays show real-time availability and let employees book open rooms directly at the door — no app switching, no calendar hunting, no asking a colleague if that room is actually free. - View live room status at a glance - Book instantly from the tablet at the door - Adjust or extend meetings in real time Kadence Room Display showing live room availability with AI-powered booking suggestion, Outlook and Google Calendar sync, and meeting invitation integration. ##### 2. AI-Powered No-Show Detection and Auto-Release Ghost meetings are one of the largest hidden drivers of wasted real estate spend. Kadence detects missed check-ins and automatically releases unused rooms back into availability — without anyone having to intervene. - Increased room availability without expanding footprint - Fewer ghost bookings blocking space for others - More accurate utilization reporting as a result Kadence Room Display showing AI-powered no-show detection with pending check-in prompt, automatic room release notification, and office insight analytics showing 14% no-show rate and 30 rooms recovered. ##### 3. Check-In Enforcement that Protects your Data [Utilization dashboards]() are only as trustworthy as the data behind them. When check-in is enforced at the door — at the moment it matters — booking data finally reflects real occupancy behavior, not intentions. - Fewer ghost meetings across your estate - Consistent policy enforcement across every region - Defensible utilization insights for real estate decisions Kadence Room Display check-in enforcement screen with checkout prompt, room occupancy heatmap, and Kadence Analytics dashboard showing auto check-in rates, capacity usage, and team presence data. ##### 4. Find-A-Room Nearby Instead of walking the floor hoping to find space, employees can identify nearby available rooms directly from the display — instantly, without pulling out a phone or opening a laptop. - Faster decision-making during peak demand - Better distribution of meeting demand across floors - Less frustration, better collaboration flow Kadence Find-A-Room Nearby feature showing AI-suggested available rooms by floor, with automatic meeting invitations sent via Outlook and Google Calendar. ##### 5. Built-In Enterprise Governance Booking policies shouldn’t drift across buildings or regions. Kadence Room Displays are governed centrally through the same platform managing room booking, [desk booking](), [visitor management](), and SpaceOps — configured once, enforced everywhere. - Set check-in windows and [auto-release]() policies centrally - Apply role-based permissions by location or team - No fragmented tools, no policy inconsistency Kadence enterprise room display governance showing centrally managed smart setup, global room occupancy rate analytics across London, Berlin, New York and Singapore, with one-click settings replication across devices. ##### 6. Unified Workplace Intelligence Every booking, check-in, and release feeds directly into [Kadence analytics]() — building an accurate, real-time picture of how space is actually used across your estate. The door becomes a data source. - Real-time utilization dashboards and occupancy heatmaps - Capacity optimization insights across your portfolio - Data that strengthens every downstream real estate decision Kadence unified workplace intelligence dashboard showing real-time analytics across Berlin, Singapore and New York — including auto check-in rates, peak hour usage, capacity utilization and room occupancy heatmap. #### Part of Something Bigger Than A Room Display With the launch of the new Visitor Management System earlier this year, Kadence brought intelligence to the front door of the workplace. Room Displays extend that intelligence deeper — into the rooms where collaboration happens every day. Together with Room Booking, Desk Booking, Visitor Management, and [SpaceOps](), Room Displays help complete the Kadence Workplace Operations Platform. One system managing every layer of how your workplace functions — from how people book space, to how they use it, to how that data shapes the decisions that optimize it over time. This is what separates Kadence from standalone display vendors. We don’t sell panels. We build operational infrastructure. Kadence Room Displays integrated with AI assistant, calendar sync, live availability, room occupancy trends, and analytics — part of a unified workplace operations platform. #### The Bigger Picture Enterprise workplace leaders are under pressure to reduce wasted square footage, improve employee experience, enforce global policies, and deliver utilization reporting that holds up to scrutiny. [Room Displays]() may seem like a small addition. But the operational leverage they create is significant — because optimizing space doesn’t start in a dashboard. It starts at the door. Kadence Room Displays are available from March 2026. If you’re ready to turn every room door into an operational control point, [book a demo]() to see it in action. --- Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts See Kadence in action. Speak with our team today. [Get in touch]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/executive-loneliness-is-the-hybrid-problem-no-one-talks-about/ Description: Executive loneliness is rising in the workplace. Here's how to support leaders with real support and an effective hybrid strategy. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · July 25, 2025 · [Helen Attia]() ### Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About Executive Leadership Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. [According to the Forbes Coaches Council](), more and more executives are reporting feelings of isolation in hybrid and remote settings. The watercooler moments are gone. Calendars are packed. And for those leading teams from behind a screen, genuine connection is harder to come by. This isn’t about introversion or preference. It’s about what happens when people who spend most of their time making decisions, motivating others, and holding space for teams—don’t have anyone doing the same for them. #### Leadership Without Connection The pandemic-era scramble to digitise leadership created a new normal: meetings got shorter, decisions got faster, and face time became screen time. But somewhere along the way, informal trust-building moments disappeared. Executives now spend more time alone in front of a webcam than they do with peers or collaborators. This creates a few real risks: - A lack of perspective from trusted colleagues - Reduced visibility into team sentiment and emerging issues - Fewer outlets for reflection, feedback, or decompression Leaders aren’t just managing hybrid teams. They’re also managing the emotional cost of sustained isolation. #### When Visibility Doesn’t Equal Connection In hybrid work, we talk a lot about visibility: who’s in the office, who’s showing up on calendars, who’s collaborating. But presence doesn’t always equal connection. And for executives, it’s possible to be hyper-visible and still feel completely alone. The challenge is that executive loneliness rarely looks like disengagement. It often looks like high performance: jammed schedules, constant responsiveness, and surface-level positivity. That makes it even harder to spot, and even easier to ignore. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Hybrid Strategy Should Include The C-Suite We often think of hybrid strategy as something designed for employees: flexibility for teams, collaboration for managers, real estate for operations. But what about executives? [Leaders need strategies too.]() Not just to manage others, but to maintain connection themselves. Featured Content 7 Steps To Hybrid Success Streamline your team’s success—download our free checklist today! [Download]() At Kadence, we’re starting to see our customers design with leadership in mind. That looks like: - Weekly in-person rituals designed specifically for senior leaders - Peer check-in sessions that aren’t performance-based - Quiet working days in-office, so execs can spend time around people without being in meetings - Visibility dashboards that help leaders see not just when their teams are in—but when they should be too These strategies aren’t just about wellbeing. They’re about ensuring that leaders remain plugged in to culture, context, and each other. #### Connection Is A Leadership Skill Executive loneliness isn’t new. But in the hybrid world, it’s become easier to mask and harder to solve through serendipity. That’s why connection needs to be intentional. Hybrid leaders can’t rely on bumping into peers in hallways. They need systems and rhythms that build real relationships structured into the flow of work, not left to chance. And companies that build these systems signal something important: that connection isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s part of doing the job well. Want to build a hybrid strategy that supports everyone including your leadership team? [Book a demo with our hybrid experts.]() --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() Speak With Our Hybrid Experts Team Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] - [Hybrid Is The New Normal—But Not Yet For Everyone]() The UK has quietly reached a milestone: hybrid working is now the most common way to work among professionals. According to new data from the Office for National Statistics, 28% of workers in Britain split their time between home and the office. This is a structural shift in how the country works. But the data \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Exploring The Future Of Work: Understanding Hybrid Remote Work - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/exploring-the-future-of-work-understanding-hybrid-remote-work/ Description: Traditional notions of where and how work gets done have been redefined. But what is hybrid remote work and how can it help you? [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · April 10, 2024 · [Jamie Addis]() ### Exploring The Future Of Work: Understanding Hybrid Remote Work Exploring The Future Of Work: Understanding Hybrid Remote Work Welcome to a new era of work. Traditional notions of where and how work gets done have been redefined. But what is hybrid remote work? This new terminology has become commonplace. It’s now an integral part of both how companies choose to operate and the attraction of jobs to employees. In this article, we delve into what hybrid remote work entails, its benefits, challenges, and how individuals and businesses can navigate this new paradigm. #### What Is Hybrid Remote Work? Organized Hybrid work represents a flexible approach to work. It combines elements of remote work with in-person office attendance. It allows employees to enjoy the best of both worlds. There is the freedom and autonomy of remote work and the collaboration and connection that come with being in the office. It’s about striking a balance between the convenience of working from home and the advantages of face-to-face interaction. #### The Rise Of Hybrid Remote Work The COVID-19 pandemic served as a catalyst for the widespread adoption of remote work. As organizations scrambled to adapt to lockdowns and social distancing measures, remote work became the norm virtually overnight. However, as restrictions eased and businesses began to reopen, many companies found themselves grappling with the question of how to move forward. Enter hybrid remote work. For some, the transition to remote work was seamless, highlighting the potential for increased productivity, cost savings, and improved work-life balance. However, others found themselves missing the social aspect of the office and struggling to maintain a sense of connection with their colleagues. Hybrid work emerged as a compromise, allowing employees to enjoy the flexibility of remote work, while still facilitating in-person collaboration when needed. Use Kadence to book nearby Adam who is sitting at Desk 2 on Wednesday #### Benefits Of Hybrid Remote Work One of the key benefits of hybrid working is its flexibility. By allowing employees to choose where they work, businesses can attract top talent from around the globe and accommodate diverse lifestyles and preferences. This flexibility also extends to work hours, enabling individuals to structure their day in a way that [maximizes productivity and well-being](). Hybrid remote work can lead to cost savings for both employees and employers. With reduced commuting expenses and overhead costs associated with [maintaining office space](), individuals can enjoy greater financial freedom. Businesses can reallocate resources towards more strategic initiatives, such as employee development and innovation. And even more, all of this has a positive contribution to reducing a company’s carbon footprint. This approach also has the potential to foster a more inclusive and diverse workforce. By removing geographical barriers to employment, organizations can tap into talent pools that were previously inaccessible. Remote work arrangements can accommodate individuals with disabilities or caregiving responsibilities, opening up opportunities for greater participation in the workforce. #### Challenges Of Hybrid Remote Work Despite its numerous benefits, hybrid work also presents its fair share of challenges. One of the most significant concerns is maintaining a sense of company culture and cohesion. With employees working from various locations, fostering a strong sense of belonging and connection can be more challenging. Organizations must invest in strategies to facilitate communication, collaboration, and team bonding in a virtual environment. Much of this can be solved by having in place an operations system that can organize calendars and [desk booking](). Employees can book time in the office when they need and share when they’re working remotely. Managing performance and productivity in a hybrid remote work setting requires a shift in mindset and approach. Traditional metrics of success, such as time spent in the office, may no longer be relevant. Instead, organizations need to focus on outcomes and results, measuring performance based on deliverables rather than hours worked. See which day Willa, Michael, and Jane are in the office and book nearby on the Kadence mobile app #### Navigating The Future Of Work As we navigate the complexities, it’s essential to approach this new opportunity with intentionality and adaptability. For individuals, this may involve honing skills such as time management, communication, and self-discipline to thrive in a remote environment. It’s also crucial to prioritize work-life balance and establish boundaries between work and personal life. For businesses, embracing hybrid work requires a strategic approach to leadership, culture, and technology. Leaders must cultivate a culture of trust, accountability, and flexibility, empowering employees to take ownership of their work and outcomes. Investing in technology and infrastructure that supports remote collaboration and communication is also critical for success. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Consider Kadence Kadence is the software that can help you and your team find your rhythm of work. The key to successful hybrid work is a software that helps you manage and adopt an organized hybrid model. Our Smart Suggestions feature recommends when to head into the office. Teammates can easily find time to [collaborate together](), and even choose a desk next to each other. With [Kadence Flex](), you can book desks at a number of available co-working spaces across the globe. This is helpful if you have a distributed workforce who may not be located near offices. Using our Insights feature, Kadence gives you a detailed guide of how your team use the offices available to them. Reports will tell you what spaces are being wasted so you can save on real estate costs. [Kadence seamlessly integrates]() with your existing technology tools. You can use Kadence in Slack, Teams and more without disrupting your workflow. Communication is made easy. Together, we can build a future of work that is both fulfilling and sustainable for all. By embracing flexibility, autonomy, and inclusivity, organizations can harness the full potential of hybrid remote work. Drive innovation, productivity, and employee satisfaction by remaining agile, empathetic, and open to experimentation. This is the future of work. [Book a demo today](). --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Five Strategies To Adapt Your Office Space For Hybrid Work With Bex Moorhouse - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/five-strategies-to-adapt-your-office-space-for-hybrid-work-with-bex-moorhouse/ Description: Learn how to adapt your office space to stay ahead in the evolving landscape of work and to foster a thriving, adaptable workplace. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · June 19, 2024 · [Helen Attia]() ### Five Strategies To Adapt Your Office Space For Hybrid Work With Bex Moorhouse A woman smiles while looking into a webcam As the world continues to embrace the hybrid work model, companies must rethink and redesign their office space to cater to both in-office and remote employees. I spoke to Bex Moorhouse, Founder and Director of [Invigorate Spaces Ltd]() – a corporate wellbeing consultancy that helps companies curate its built environments, people experiences and culture. This new work paradigm demands flexible and adaptable environments that support productivity, collaboration, and well-being. You can watch Bex and I discuss what attitudes need to change within companies and what actions can be taken to make hybrid work effective. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Also here are my five practical ways companies can transform their office spaces for hybrid work. Implementing each of these will foster a new energy in your office. #### 1. Desk Layouts: Flexibility And Functionality One of the most significant changes companies can make is rethinking their desk layouts. Traditional office space setups, with rows of identical desks, are no longer effective in a hybrid work environment. Instead, focus on creating versatile spaces that can be easily reconfigured. **Why It Matters** Hybrid work means that employees will not be in the office every day. Flexible desk layouts accommodate varying numbers of in-office employees and can be adjusted to suit different tasks and team sizes. This approach ensures that office space is utilized efficiently and remains functional regardless of how many employees are present. **How To Implement** - **Modular Furniture:** Invest in modular desks and chairs that can be easily moved and reassembled. This allows teams to create collaborative spaces or individual workstations as needed. - **Zoning:** Designate specific areas for different types of work, such as collaborative zones, quiet areas, and hot desks for transient workers. - **Storage Solutions:** Provide ample storage options to keep workspaces tidy and organized, allowing employees to quickly set up and pack away their workstations. #### 2. Quiet Spaces: Enhancing Focus And Productivity In a bustling office environment, finding a quiet space to focus can be challenging. Creating dedicated quiet areas is essential for hybrid work, where some tasks require deep concentration without interruptions. **Why It Matters** Employees can often find quiet time at home, so if companies want employees to come into the office then they should be able to find this there too. Quiet spaces are vital for tasks that demand high concentration and minimal distractions. These areas help improve productivity, reduce stress, and accommodate different working styles, making them essential in a hybrid office. **How To Implement** - **Acoustic Solutions:** Use soundproof materials, such as acoustic panels and noise-canceling furniture, to minimize distractions. - **Private Pods:** Install individual work pods or small rooms where employees can retreat for focused work. - **Clear Signage:** Ensure quiet zones are clearly marked and respected, creating a culture of mindfulness around noise levels. #### 3. Multiple Screens: Boosting Efficiency And Collaboration Providing employees with the necessary technology can significantly enhance their efficiency and collaboration capabilities. When hybrid, many conversations with internal and external stakeholders will happen virtually. Rather than expecting your employees to hold conversations on a single screen, equipping your meeting rooms and desks with two mean they can join virtual meetings and still have full access to a desktop. **Why It Matters** Multiple screens enable employees to manage several tasks simultaneously, improving workflow and reducing the time spent switching between tabs and applications. This setup is particularly beneficial for remote collaboration, where screen sharing and virtual meetings are frequent. **How To Implement** - **Dual Monitor Stations:** Equip workstations with dual monitors or provide docking stations for employees’ laptops. - **Ergonomic Stands:** Ensure monitors are adjustable to promote good posture and reduce eye strain. - **Technical Support:** Offer training and support to help employees make the most of their multi-screen setups, ensuring they are comfortable and efficient. #### 4. Policies: Clear Guidelines For Hybrid Work Creating clear, comprehensive policies is crucial for managing a hybrid workforce. These policies should cover when employees are expected to work in the office and what flexibilty they have when working from home. Ensure these are made as team-level agreements, rather than as company-wide policies. Each team is different and will have different requirements depending on their roles. **Why It Matters** Well-defined policies provide structure and clarity, helping employees understand expectations and feel more secure in their work arrangements. This clarity can lead to increased productivity, better work-life balance, and overall job satisfaction. **How To Implement** - **Flexible Scheduling:** Allow employees to choose their in-office and remote days based on their tasks and personal preferences, within certain guidelines to ensure team coverage. - **Communication Protocols:** Establish clear rules for communication, including preferred channels (e.g., email, instant messaging, video calls) and expected response times. - **Focus Groups:** Speak to individuals and teams about the ways they like to work. Take this feedback on and ensure policies meet the crossover needs of your workforce. #### 5. Desk Booking System: Streamlining Office Management A desk booking system can greatly enhance the efficiency of a hybrid office by allowing employees to reserve workspaces in advance. A system, like Kadence, ensures that desks are available when needed and helps manage the flow of people in the office. **Why It Matters** A desk booking system prevents overcrowding and ensures that employees have access to the necessary resources when they come into the office. Kadence can offer [Smart Suggestions]() that notify you when your colleagues are heading into the office so you can book a desk nearby. It also provides [valuable data on office usage](), which can inform future space planning and resource allocation. **How To Implement** - **User-Friendly Software:** Choose a desk booking platform like Kadence that is intuitive and easy to use, with features like mobile access and real-time updates. - **Integration:** Integrate the desk booking system with other office management tools, such as calendars, Microsoft Teams and Slack for a seamless experience. - **Data Insights:** Utilize the data collected from Kadence to analyze patterns and optimize space usage, ensuring the office environment evolves with your team’s needs. #### Some Final Thoughts Adapting office spaces for hybrid work involves a thoughtful combination of physical changes and policy updates. I think by implementing flexible desk layouts, creating quiet spaces, providing multiple screens, establishing clear policies, and utilizing a desk booking system, companies can create a dynamic and supportive work environment. These strategies not only enhance productivity and collaboration but also address the diverse needs of a hybrid workforce, ensuring that everyone can perform their best, whether they are in the office or working remotely. Embrace these changes to stay ahead in the evolving landscape of work and to foster a thriving, adaptable workplace. If you would like to see Kadence in action, [book a demo]() with one our team. ##### What’s Next For The Future Of Work? Join our Kadence community to stay on top of latest news and trends in the future of work. --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Flexible Working: A Personal Journey To Empowerment - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/flexibility-work-personal-journey-empowerment/ Description: Flexible working is just as important as where we choose to work. It empowers individuals to give of their unique skills on their own terms. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · January 17, 2024 · [Mandy Garner]() ### Flexible Working: A Personal Journey To Empowerment As the founder of [wmpeople](), I’ve witnessed firsthand the evolution of flexible working and its impact on countless lives. Over the years, my platforms have become a haven for parents and caregivers seeking work that accommodates their unique life circumstances. In its early days, flexible working was often equated with part-time roles or job-sharing arrangements. There was a common belief that working fixed hours at a set location each week somehow lacked true flexibility. But my experience has shown me that flexible working is a multifaceted concept, encompassing compressed hours, annualized hours, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and self-scheduling. Flexible work is as diverse and adaptable as the individuals it seeks to support. #### What About The ‘When’? We often get so focused on the ‘where’ of work — office vs. remote, for example — that we forget that the ‘when’ is just as important. One poignant story I encountered recently on [workingwise]() was about a woman with severe arthritis who had to quit her job as a school technician. Her condition requires flexibility, not just in where she works, but when she works. Having the ability to work around her pain, at her own pace, could make a significant difference in her life. Parents have also felt the brunt of rigid work schedules. During the pandemic, I saw countless families on [workingmums]() and [workingdads]() struggling to balance homeschooling with work. These parents needed the flexibility to shift their hours, often working in tandem to manage their children’s education and their professional responsibilities. Although schools are back, the need for adaptable working hours remains, especially as we face ongoing disruptions like climate events, health crises, and childcare challenges. #### Control And Communication Countless [studies]() point to a simple truth: the more control you have over when and where you get work done, the happier you are. The best part? This kind of flexibility serves the employer as well as the employee. In many successful teams I’ve observed, flexibility enhances productivity (benefiting the business) as well as work-life balance (benefiting the individual). In our 24/7 society, having some flexibility over when we work is essential. This can be effectively managed with careful planning, robust communication, and a focus on output rather than strict hours. Employers can set core hours to maintain coverage during busy times, but allowing some leeway in how any remaining hours are used can be a win-win for everyone. In helping all sorts of people find the work that’s right for them, I’ve seen the profound impact that flexible work arrangements can have. They empower individuals, especially those with caregiving responsibilities or health concerns, to continue contributing their skills and talents to the workforce — on their own terms. As we look to the future, I remain committed to advocating for greater flexibility in the workplace. It’s not just a policy; it’s a pathway to a more inclusive, understanding, and productive work environment. --- Mandy Garner Mandy Garner Mandy is the founder of wmpeople, the umbrella company of workingmums, workingdads and workingwise. These networks improve the world of work for everyone by inspiring and promoting best practice in diversity and inclusion amongst employers, and connecting jobseekers to work that matches their situation. [Read More from Mandy Garner]() Mandy is the founder of [wmpeople](), the umbrella company of [workingmums](), [workingdads]() and [workingwise](). These networks improve the world of work for everyone by inspiring and promoting best practice in diversity and inclusion amongst employers, and connecting jobseekers to work that matches their situation. #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## From CAFM To Workplace Operations - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/from-cafm-to-workplace-operations/ Description: Learn CAFM’s history, how IWMS evolved, and why outcome-based Workplace Operations is redefining how organizations manage the modern office. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · October 29, 2025 · [Jamie Addis]() ### From CAFM To Workplace Operations What is CAFM For decades, companies have tried to manage the workplace with software built for buildings, not people. Computer-Aided Facilities Management, or CAFM, began as a digital leap forward for facilities teams. It helped organizations move from paper floor plans to electronic systems that tracked space, assets, and maintenance. But today, the world of work looks very different. The goal is no longer just to [manage square footage](). It is to orchestrate people, space, and time for measurable business outcomes. #### What Is CAFM? Computer-Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) refers to software that stores and manages data about buildings and workplace operations. CAFM systems typically combine space utilization, lease details, work orders, preventive maintenance, and moves within a single interface. At its core, CAFM helps organizations understand and operate the physical environment—optimizing how buildings are used, maintained, and configured. #### A Brief History Of CAFM CAFM has evolved through five decades of workplace transformation. **1970s–1980s: The CAD Era And The Birth Of CAFM** As computing entered the workplace, facilities teams began digitizing floor plans using early mainframes and PCs. These tools laid the groundwork for space forecasting and basic asset tracking. By the late 1980s, CAFM systems expanded beyond drawings to include inventories, leases, and cost accounting—foundations for today’s integrated data models. **1990s: Networked CAFM And The Rise Of The Web** With networked PCs and the internet, organizations began centralizing multi-site portfolio data. This era marked the beginning of connected facility operations, linking buildings and teams across geographies. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() **2000s: The Integration Wave And The Rise Of IWMS** By the early 2000s, companies demanded a single view of their real estate, maintenance, projects, and space. In 2004, Gartner coined the term Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS) to describe these enterprise-class suites that combined multiple CAFM functions under one umbrella. **2010s: Cloud, Mobile, And Sensors** Cloud delivery and mobile apps made CAFM tools easier to access, while IoT occupancy data brought new levels of visibility. Over time, CAFM, Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), and IWMS platforms began to overlap as organizations demanded broader capabilities. Even IFMA’s glossary acknowledges that CAFM is now often used alongside CMMS and IWMS—a reflection of the category’s blurred edges. **2020s: The Shift To Hybrid Work And Outcome-Based Operations** The pandemic accelerated the shift from managing buildings to optimizing performance. The goal was no longer operational efficiency alone, but [measurable outcomes](): productivity, collaboration, cost per seat, carbon reduction, and employee experience. #### CAFM vs IWMS vs CMMS It is easy to confuse these systems because they share overlapping functions. The distinction lies in scope and focus. - **CAFM** covers space management, moves, assets, and maintenance. It often integrates with CAD for floor planning and scenario testing. - **CMMS** focuses on maintenance operations, preventive schedules, and work orders—most common in plants or facilities management. - **IWMS** unifies corporate real estate, projects, maintenance, sustainability, and space in one platform, serving enterprise-level portfolios. Practically, [IWMS platforms address the entire portfolio](). CAFM focuses on the building layer and day-to-day operations within it. CMMS manages the maintenance lifecycle. #### Why CAFM Is No Longer Enough CAFM assumes a building-first mindset: maintain assets, track space, close work orders. That remains necessary, but not sufficient, when the real mandate is workplace performance. The office has become a dynamic ecosystem where leaders must measure impact, not just maintenance. That includes: - **Utilization and cost** – right-sizing the footprint and reducing cost per employee. - **Collaboration** – increasing meaningful interactions between teams. - **Experience** – removing friction from booking and access to improve employee satisfaction. - **Sustainability** – reducing energy per occupied hour and carbon intensity. - **Agility** – supporting dynamic, team-based seating and scheduling. If you only manage the office, you miss the reason it exists: to deliver better outcomes for people and the business. A stylized design of a before and after view of check-ins with Kadence. #### Introducing Workplace Operations Workplace Operations [reframes the problem from facilities to outcomes](). It is not just about maintaining square feet. It is about maximizing performance per seat. A Workplace Operations platform unifies space data, bookings, schedules, occupancy signals, and analytics to plan, operate, and continuously optimize the workplace. The metrics that matter most shift from square footage to collaboration density, cost per seat, and energy per occupied hour. A stylized design of Kadence's AI-powered Scenario Planning feature. **Core capabilities include:** - Dynamic scheduling and booking for desks, rooms, and team days. - Occupancy and intent signals from calendars, sensors, and Wi-Fi. - Space optimization through scenario planning, adjacency modeling, and load balancing. - Experience and automation, such as auto-releasing no-show bookings. - Insights and reporting that reveal real-time utilization and collaboration patterns. - Integrations across HRIS, calendars, and IWMS or CAFM systems. Kadence represents this evolution. SpaceOps provides scenario planning, move management, and stack planning, while InsightsPlus closes the loop with performance data. Together, [they form a single layer of intelligence for planning, measuring, and improving workplace operations at scale](). [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Where CAFM Fits Now CAFM remains valuable, particularly for CAD-linked floor planning, asset management, and operational maintenance. But it now sits as one module within a broader ecosystem. IWMS platforms continue to serve real estate and sustainability needs. Workplace Operations focuses on orchestrating people, schedules, and environments to drive measurable outcomes. CAFM still manages the building. Workplace Operations manages how the building works. The next era of workplace technology is defined by outcomes, not oversight. Leaders no longer need another system of record. They need a system of results—a platform that connects data, people, and decisions in real time. Kadence SpaceOps delivers that connection, uniting planning, modeling, and measurement in a single, intelligent layer of workplace control. The organizations that make this shift will stop managing facilities and start engineering performance. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see it in action. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## From Thought Leadership To Sense Making With Perry Timms - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/from-thought-leadership-to-sense-making-with-perry-timms/ Description: Perry Timms speaks to how thought leadership and evidence-based data can intersect to understand the future of work. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · October 24, 2024 · [Perry Timms]() ### From Thought Leadership To Sense Making With Perry Timms Perry Timms sat at a desk Thought Leadership has been a “thing” for some three decades now. It is often provocative, ideological, and agitative, sometimes research-led and evidence-based on trended analysis and experimentation. People who are leading “thinkers” are considered very differently from strategists and operational implementors. Inevitably, there are tensions between those who *do* and those who *think*. #### The Role Of Thought Leadership Thought leadership can be considered a proxy or even the antithesis of evidenced facts and data, established practices and proven processes. Does thought leadership help you make a business-critical decision? Probably not; the data and evidence should do that. Does thought leadership help you be more adaptable to demanding changes and overcome being trapped in your own orthodoxies? It certainly does, offering you the chance to think differently and fostering a sense of adaptability in the face of change. One tug-of-war currently between researchers, analysts, thought leadership and evidence-based practice is the use of the workplace—**more specifically, the office**—for knowledge, creative, and information-led workers, not factories, utility plants, logistics depots, schools, hospitals, retail and hospitality outlets, etc. #### Where's The Evidence? To establish the evidential basis for this, I struggled to find a definitive figure for the number of people in the workforce affected by the “back-to-the-office” dilemma. I asked bots, searched the web, and downloaded numerous reports. I couldn’t find evidence of a precise measure of how much of the global workforce does office-type work and what percentage doesn’t. So we’re going to have to work with estimates that 30-40% of all work is office-based, knowledge, and information-type work, with 60-70% of work NOT of that denomination. Therefore, the office “debate” impacts (at most), 40% of the global workforce. That’s still 1.36 billion people in the 3.4 billion workforce globally. More interestingly, the financial value of office space is high. Corporate Real Estate globally is set to top £118 trillion in value. Some have predicted a huge crash in 2026, others are more bullish about converting city office spaces for mixed use of retail, hospitality and living spaces. Urban living and the *15-minute city* are concepts that aim to repurpose urban centres from purely retail, hospitality, and commerce to living spaces, education spaces, health, leisure, and work. Is that thought leadership?? Trend analysis and sense-making? It’s both, and this is where we need to be in the office-v-hybrid/remote debate. We need facts, evidence, trend analysis, and data to help us decide. However, we also need thought leadership to help us imagine a more creative, participatory, and fulfilling way to position the place of work and to test new concepts and bring energy and momentum – not resistance and friction – to the space/place of work for knowledge workers. #### The Practical Use Imagine this: A thought leader shares that studies of rescue services teams show that performance is improved in teams with stronger social cohesion and who have lunch together. A CEO reads this and says to his Executive Team: “See, let’s get all our people back to the (expensive asset that is the) office to lunch together because that will help us perform better”. But, this enterprise is full of designers and software developers, so are *not* fire and rescue services. Taken out of context, research like this used in thought leadership could be misleading as much as it is provocational. This is where sense-making is important. Making sense of the thought leadership in context and as a stimulus for additional thinking, trials and experiments and test-and-learn deployment. So, upon reading this article, the CEO should have gathered his team and said: *“I see how this strengthens bonds and boosts performance in emergency services, so what’s our version of this where we can build more cohesion, connection and support for each other as colleagues?”* Then, work with ideas and things that sense-make. We need more of that in the office/hybrid/remote debate and tug-of-war. Less museum curation and more art exhibitions. Thought leadership – agitating and provocational. Sense-making – testing, applying and contextualising thought leadership. We need both. We need better, We deserve better. --- Perry Timms Perry Timms Perry Timms is the Founder and Chief Energy Officer of PTHR. In 2022, he was ranked Number 1 Most Influential HR Thinker by HR Magazine and in 2023, was inducted into the HR Most Influential Hall of Fame. In 2024, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award from WorldBlu for service to self-managed and democratic, freedom-centred work. He has 30+ years experience in Change and Transformation through technology, 20+ years as an HR Professional and 10+ years since founding PTHR. His personal mission is to see more people flourish through their work and help shift organisations into a force for societal good. [Read More from Perry Timms]() ##### What’s Next For The Future Of Work? Join our Kadence community to stay on top of latest news and trends in the future of work. Part of a guide [AI and the future of work: strategy, capacity and the workplace]() AI and the future of work are now one conversation. Here is what AI means for the length of the week, for adoption, for human focus and for the office itself. #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() [Kadence]() AI workplace management for corporate real estate [US +1 (415) 758 4757]() [UK +44 (0)20 3884 2705]() - [https://www.linkedin.com/company/kadenceos]() - [https://twitter.com/KadenceOS]() - [https://www.youtube.com/@onkadence]() - [https://www.facebook.com/KadenceOS/]() - [https://www.g2.com/products/kadence-kadence/reviews]() #### Platform - [SpaceOps]() - [WorkOps]() - [Kadence AI]() - [Desk booking]() - [Room booking]() - [Visitor management]() - [Integrations]() - [Pricing]() #### Solutions - [Real estate]() - [Facilities]() - [People and HR]() - [IT and security]() #### Industries - [Financial services]() - [Technology]() - [Legal]() - [Business services]() - [Commercial real estate]() - [Consumer goods]() - [Energy and utilities]() - [Government]() - [Healthcare and pharma]() - [Higher education]() - [Manufacturing]() - [Media and entertainment]() - [Non-profits]() - [Retail]() #### Resources - [Customer stories]() - [Wall of Love]() - [Future of Work]() - [Product news]() - [Release notes]() - [Events]() - [ROI calculator]() - [Guides]() - [Glossary]() - [Compare]() #### Company - [Why Kadence]() - [Newsroom]() - [Security and trust]() - [Contact us]() - [Careers (opens in a new tab)]() - [Help center (opens in a new tab)]() - [FAQs (opens in a new tab)]() - [Sign in (opens in a new tab)]() © 2026 Kadence [Privacy policy]() · [Terms of service]() · [Cookies policy]() · [Anti-spam policy]() ## Are Front Desk Receptionists Necessary? 3 Reasons You Might Not Need One - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/front-desk-receiptionist/ Description: Does your company really need a front desk receptionist? Find out why more companies are using technology to greet and assist customers. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · November 8, 2024 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Are Front Desk Receptionists Necessary? 3 Reasons You Might Not Need One Visitor Management Should your business still be hiring front desk receptionists? Or could other options save your company time and money without sacrificing customer service? Many companies have moved away from traditional reception strategies, and the trend is expected to continue well after the pandemic. Here are three reasons you might not need a front desk receptionist… #### Times Have Changed – Hybrid Working Is The Future Until about a decade ago, most offices had receptionists. However, with the emergence of various tech solutions, more companies have realized the advantages of using [visitor management systems]() for handling repetitive tasks. There are clear advantages to having dedicated receptionists for large corporations and other businesses that can afford it. But what if you are a small or micro company with limited resources? Chances are, you must strategize every hire to reach your goals. Few things can cost your business more than interruptions, like greeting a guest, answering the phone, or helping a delivery person. That is especially the case if your employees are pulled from their primary roles to fill an empty reception desk. ##### Three Types Of Human Receptionists A **dedicated receptionist** (A.K.A. “front desk receptionist”) serves as the face of the company, and their job is to greet and assist people who come through the doors. This might include answering questions, [facilitating sign-ins](), directing a guest to refreshments or somewhere else in the building, or any number of other tasks. A **semi-dedicated receptionist** handles all the responsibilities of a dedicated receptionist, except they have other duties to tend to between visitors. Office managers and administrative assistants often serve as semi-dedicated receptionists and are charged with tasks like data entry, schedule management, event planning, inventory management, and so forth. Think about it… If a company ceases to keep dedicated or semi-dedicated receptionists on staff, a visitor will find the closest person they see for any questions or requests they have. It’s not difficult to see how constantly being interrupted can significantly hinder productivity and job satisfaction. #### Hybrid Working Technology Is Better Than Ever Consider how much work it used to require to book a vacation. There are so many moving parts in a solid travel plan, which is why many people once hired travel agencies to do it for them. Travel agents are still relevant, but now many people make their travel plans using online resources. Likewise, new technologies continue to emerge for reception and office services. For example, a [visitor management]() solution that enables you to [create invites and space bookings]() simultaneously. That scratches the surface of the technology available to organizations that want to cut costs without losing customers. Let’s take a look at several different forms of digital reception and the tools used for them: **Gateway receptionists** are systems that control access to a building or a specific area of a building. Apartment buildings often use this kind of technology to monitor guests; if you visit a friend at their apartment and have to buzz in and wait until they let you in, you are going through a gateway receptionist. Many businesses use this technology, usually through a phone or intercom system. [Visitor management systems]() are also known as **digital receptionists**. Offices are beginning to purchase these technologies by the droves because they are becoming more helpful and affordable by the day. Essentially, a digital receptionist is a visitor sign-in app that guests can access through a tablet, laptop, or kiosk in an office reception area. Many systems even allow visitors to check themselves on their smartphones before appointments and meetings. Digital receptionists are showing up in hotels, medical facilities, airports, and many offices. These systems can take care of many reception and office tasks, including: - Gathering valuable visitor information (e.g., name, contact information, the purpose of the visit, check-in and check-out times, etc.). - Capturing photos and print badges for visitors. - Allowing visitors to complete and sign important paperwork. - Automatically notifying host employees of visitor arrivals through phone, email, or team chat apps. **Virtual receptionists** are human beings who handle nearly all the tasks of a dedicated receptionist, except they [work remotely](). A [virtual receptionist]() will field phone calls, answer customer questions, schedule appointments and meetings, direct customers to specific departments, and more. A Check-in notification from Kadence's Visitor Management Software #### **What Are The Perks Of A Virtual Receptionist?** Switching from a human receptionist to a virtual receptionist (aka Visitor Management System ‘VMS’) has some noteworthy advantages: **A VMS saves time**: Using a virtual receptionist streamlines the booking process for visiting your workplace. Letting your VMS manage booking and check-ins makes it easier than ever to invite visitors while [booking meeting spaces]() at the same time. In addition, your VMS knows who is visiting your office in advance and in real-time, letting you [optimize the utilization of your space]() and avoid maxing out the capacity in your office. **A VMS is more affordable:** Switching from a human receptionist to a VMS eliminates a major expense for your company. With a VMS instead of a human receptionist, you can fulfill the same tasks for [much lower costs](). You can transfer calls, contact people, and perform similar tasks more efficiently without keeping your employees from completing more urgent jobs. Furthermore, technology removes the prospect of human error when collecting information while also allowing guests the freedom to enter their information at kiosks. Turning to a [VMS]() to handle booking and check-ins can elevate your visitor experience while keeping your workplace safer. Your visitors and employees’ safety is always a top priority, which makes switching to a VMS one of the best moves you can make for your business. --- Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() ##### What’s Next For The Future Of Work? Join our Kadence community to stay on top of latest news and trends in the future of work. #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Gathering Weeks: Airbnb's Innovative Hybrid Strategy - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/gathering-weeks-airbnbs-innovative-hybrid-strategy/ Description: Consider adopting Airbnb's unique gathering week concept to optimize the time your teams spend in the office. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · February 11, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Gathering Weeks: Airbnb’s Innovative Hybrid Strategy Airbnb's Headquarters. Internal and external views Companies are trying to figure out how to keep things flexible without losing that sense of connection. Airbnb seems to have cracked the code with their [Live and Work Anywhere policy](), centered around a simple yet transformative concept: the **gathering week**. Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, [sums it up succinctly](): “I have a simple rule: we basically ask people to come to San Francisco one week a month,” Chesky shared on the Masters of Scale Rapid Response podcast. “Some people come for just two or three days. Some people come for the full week.” Brian Chesky CEO of Airbnb #### Why Gathering Weeks Work Airbnb’s approach is rooted in the belief that meaningful in-person interactions don’t require daily office attendance. *“I have not found a huge value in people being in the office all the time,”* Chesky admitted on a recent episode of the Masters of Scale [Rapid Response podcast](). Instead, the company prioritizes focused, intentional gatherings that foster collaboration, creativity, and connection. Most of Airbnb’s employees are based in San Francisco, but for those living out of state or even out of the country, the company flies them in once a month for these in-person meetups. While this might sound costly, Chesky believes it’s a smart investment: “The cost is worth it and more affordable than thousands of people coming to work in person five days per week. Even if it was more expensive, it would still be worth it.” Brian Chesky CEO of Airbnb #### How Gathering Weeks Disrupt The Return-To-Office Trend While many companies, like [JP Morgan]() and [Amazon]() are doubling down on return-to-office ([RTO]()) mandates, pushing for employees to be in the office five days a week, Airbnb is flipping the script. Instead of rigid schedules, they’re betting on flexibility and focused in-person time. And it’s working. This approach challenges the narrative that productivity and innovation can only thrive with daily office attendance. Companies forcing full-time office returns often miss the point: it’s not about being in the same room every day—it’s about creating opportunities for meaningful connection when it matters most. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() [Airbnb’s gathering weeks]() prove you don’t need constant face time to build strong teams or deliver great results. While others are clinging to outdated office norms, Airbnb is showing that a little strategic togetherness goes a long way. #### The Impact On Productivity This model isn’t just about saving money—it’s about maximizing impact. *“I think the output for us is superior,”* Chesky remarked. Gathering weeks create concentrated bursts of collaboration, allowing teams to align on goals, brainstorm new ideas, and strengthen relationships. The rest of the month, employees enjoy the autonomy to work from wherever they’re most productive. Turns out, [85% of business leaders]() are still scratching their heads, unsure if their teams are actually getting stuff done in hybrid setups. But here’s the kicker: [61% of employees]() say they’re actually more productive working this way. The numbers don’t lie—maybe it’s time to trust the process. employees sit around a desk Airbnb’s Headquarters in San Francisco. Source: [Office Snapshots](), [Jeremy Bittermann]() #### How To Implement Gathering Weeks In Your Organization 1. **Schedule Regular In-Person Meetups:** Designate specific weeks each month for [team gatherings](), whether in a central office or rotating locations. 2. **Make It Purposeful:** Ensure that gathering weeks have clear objectives—strategy sessions, project kick-offs, or creative workshops—to make the most of face-to-face time. 3. **Invest in Travel, Not Real Estate:** Allocate budget for flying in remote employees instead of maintaining [large office spaces](). 4. **Create Flexible Frameworks:** Allow teams to decide how long they need to gather, whether it’s a few days or a full week, based on their unique needs. 5. **Blend Autonomy with Connection:** Balance the freedom of [remote work]() with the human connection of [in-person collaboration](). #### The Kadence Takeaway At Kadence, we believe [hybrid work]() thrives when flexibility meets intentional connection. Airbnb’s gathering week model proves that you don’t need to be in the office every day to achieve great results. Our platform helps companies manage flexible work environments, making it easy to [coordinate in-person gatherings]() while supporting remote productivity. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() If you’re rethinking your [hybrid strategy]() for 2025, consider adopting the gathering week concept. It fosters deeper relationships, drives better outcomes, and might just be the key to unlocking your team’s full potential. Curious about how to make hybrid work even better for your team? [Book a demo]() with Kadence today and see how we can help you boost productivity, strengthen team connections, and make the most out of your hybrid setup. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Gen Z Office Trends: Is Your Workplace Ready? | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/gen-z-is-choosing-the-office-is-your-workplace-ready/ Description: Gen Z office preferences shifted in 2026 toward career growth and mentorship. What that means for enterprise workplace strategy, space and SpaceOps. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · March 1, 2026 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Gen Z Is Choosing the Office. Is Your Workplace Ready? Gen Z Office Gen Z office preferences are not what many enterprise leaders expected. For years, leaders assumed the youngest generation would permanently reject the office, and workplace strategy often centered on remote enablement. By early 2026 that assumption was fracturing: Gen Z workers were choosing in-office time for career development, visibility and relationships. For senior leaders, the real question is not whether employees are willing to come in. It is whether the workplace is operationally designed to justify that decision. #### What did the 2026 reporting show about Gen Z and the office? In February 2026, [reporting from Axios]() showed Gen Z workers expressing a stronger preference for in-office time than many executives anticipated. The reasons were career development, visibility and relationship-building. The fastest-growing segment of the workforce was signaling that proximity accelerates progression. That finding aligns with broader research. [Deloitte’s Global Gen Z and Millennial Survey]() consistently finds that younger workers prioritize skill development, mentorship and career progression as top decision factors, often above pure location flexibility. #### What do Gen Z office workers actually want? Gen Z is not choosing desks. They are choosing access: to feedback, mentors, leaders and the informal learning that is hardest to get remotely. The office is valuable to them when it delivers those things, and they are looking for: - Faster feedback loops - Real-time mentorship exposure - Informal learning opportunities - Visibility into leadership decision-making - Network density that accelerates internal mobility **Internal mobility** is an employee’s ability to move into new roles, teams or levels within the same organization. #### How is AI changing what young talent needs from the workplace? As AI automates execution-level tasks, the human differentiators shift toward judgment, collaboration, strategic thinking and leadership presence. Early-career employees must build skills that automation cannot easily replicate, and many of those skills are learned by watching and working alongside experienced colleagues. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() By early 2026, enterprise AI adoption was operational, not theoretical. In February 2026, [Accenture linked promotion criteria to AI fluency](), making AI capability a performance expectation rather than an optional skill. [PwC engineers launched an AI agent]() that could handle enterprise-grade spreadsheets, reducing weeks of financial modeling to hours. [Anthropic expanded enterprise integrations]() that embed AI directly into tools like Google Workspace and Slack, treating AI as workflow infrastructure rather than a standalone experiment. This creates a structural paradox. The more digital work accelerates, the more intentional physical collaboration must become. Gen Z’s preference for in-office work is not nostalgia. It is a rational response to an environment where apprenticeship, exposure and contextual learning matter more than ever. The [guide to AI and the future of work]() covers this shift in more depth. Kadence AI booking recommendations shown in the Kadence app #### Why are most enterprise workplaces not ready? Many enterprise workplaces remain structurally misaligned with growth-driven presence. When teams arrive on different days and junior staff sit apart from their managers, attendance does not translate into value. Presence becomes fragmented and inefficient rather than strategic, which makes this a workplace operations problem, not an attendance problem. Common operational gaps include: - Teams arriving on different days without intentional overlap - Managers working remotely while junior employees are onsite - [Collaboration zones]() overbooked midweek and underutilized elsewhere - Static seating plans disconnected from evolving team structures - Limited visibility into how space usage correlates with performance metrics Without integrated data, leaders cannot answer critical business questions: - Are high-potential employees colocated with mentors? - Does physical proximity increase promotion velocity? - Which teams generate measurable collaboration density when onsite? - Where is real estate underperforming relative to cost? - How should [space allocation]() evolve as AI reshapes team structures? Without operational intelligence, Gen Z’s renewed interest in the office becomes a wasted opportunity. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What is SpaceOps, and why is it the missing layer? SpaceOps is the operational layer that connects physical workspace to enterprise decision-making. Booking tools and attendance dashboards show who came in. SpaceOps treats the workplace as a dynamic asset, informed by real-time signals across teams, buildings, schedules and collaboration patterns, so leaders can plan space around how people actually work. Kadence introduced [SpaceOps]() for this purpose. Rather than treating the workplace as static square footage, [Kadence SpaceOps]() brings [stack planning](), [move management]() and [scenario planning]() together. Kadence SpaceOps overview: stack planning, move management and scenario planning for the workplace leader A SpaceOps strategy enables organizations to: - [Align team schedules]() intentionally to maximize meaningful overlap - Optimize adjacencies based on real collaboration data rather than assumptions - Model stack plans dynamically as business units expand or contract - Identify underutilized space with defensible cost analysis - Forecast space demand based on workforce trends and generational shifts - Measure how physical presence correlates with performance outcomes A **stack plan** shows which teams sit on which floors of a building, and how that allocation changes as teams grow or shrink. Implemented well, [scenario planning]() and SpaceOps turn the workplace into active infrastructure that supports business objectives. Gen Z’s choice to come in becomes an asset rather than an operational strain. Leadership gains visibility into how space supports talent development, and real estate decisions become predictive rather than reactive. #### What should senior leaders do next? Senior leaders should treat space as performance infrastructure, not static inventory. Real estate remains one of the largest enterprise cost centers after payroll, and talent development is one of the biggest drivers of long-term advantage. AI adoption is raising both opportunity and complexity. Where those forces meet, leaders need operational maturity. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Gen Z is signaling that the office can accelerate careers when it is designed correctly. Enterprises that keep treating space as static inventory will struggle to deliver that value. The SpaceOps AI engine turning teams, buildings, policies, hybrid patterns and adjacency needs into defensible scenarios and move plans The question is no longer whether employees will come in. It is whether your workplace is engineered to justify it. For the wider playbook, see the [return-to-office guide](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### Does Gen Z prefer working in the office? Reporting from Axios in February 2026 showed Gen Z workers preferring more in-office time than many executives expected, mainly for career development, visibility and relationships. Deloitte’s research finds younger workers often rank skill development and mentorship above pure location flexibility. ##### Why does AI make in-person work more important for early-career employees? As AI automates execution-level tasks, judgment, collaboration and leadership presence become the human differentiators. Those skills are built through apprenticeship and exposure, which the office supports. ##### How can enterprises make office time worthwhile for younger employees? Plan for intentional team overlap, colocate high-potential employees with mentors, align seating with current team structures, and measure how space use relates to outcomes. That requires connected workplace data, not just a booking tool. If you are evaluating how AI and generational workforce shifts affect your workplace strategy, [book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see how Kadence helps organizations design workplaces for the next generation of work. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Gen Z and the Office: Why RTO Mandates Backfire | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/gen-z-isnt-rejecting-the-office-theyre-rejecting-mandates/ Description: Gen Z doesn't dislike the office. It dislikes being told to show up without a reason. See the 2025 data on RTO mandates, turnover and what works instead. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · June 5, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Helen Attia]() ### Gen Z Isn't Rejecting the Office. They're Rejecting Mandates. Gen Z and the office are not at odds. Gen Z workers are not rejecting the office. They are rejecting being told to come in without a good reason. The pressure on them is real. According to [new data from Owl Labs]() published in 2025, 82% of Gen Z knowledge workers said their company had issued or increased in-office mandates that year, nearly double the average across all workers (47%). And 84% of Gen Z employees were actively looking for more flexible jobs. Chart of 2025 Owl Labs data: 82% of Gen Z workers faced increased in-office mandates, against 47% of all workers, and 84% of Gen Z were seeking more flexible jobs #### Is Gen Z rejecting the office? No. Gen Z is rejecting office time that has no point. Many younger workers want to be in the office when the day is intentional. What they push back on is a rule to be present with no clear reason, no plan for the day and no idea who else will be there. [The real story is more nuanced]() than a wish to stay home. Too often they show up to empty rooms and outdated rituals. What they are rejecting isn’t work. It’s waste. #### Do return-to-office mandates hurt retention? The 2025 data suggests they do. A return-to-office ([RTO]()) mandate is a formal policy that requires employees to work from the office on set days or full time. Among HR leaders with strict in-office policies, 44% reported retention problems, compared with 34% of those without mandates. Mandates were still spreading. [Fifty-six percent of HR leaders]() said their companies had formal in-office requirements, the highest level in three years. And 60% of workers believed full-time office mandates [will become even more common in 2025](). Among HR leaders with strict in-office policies, nearly two-thirds also said qualified candidates were harder to find. You can mandate presence. You can’t mandate loyalty. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Why does flexibility matter so much to Gen Z? To Gen Z, [remote work]() is not a perk. It is a proxy for autonomy, trust and modernity. Take it away without a reason and many will look elsewhere: [70% of hybrid or remote employees]() said they would start job hunting if forced back full-time at their current salary. #### What do companies get wrong about RTO? The current RTO wave is driven by good intentions: collaboration, creativity and culture. The approach is where it fails. Flexibility is fading, yet most mandates lack the tools or structures that make office time valuable. The result is disillusionment, attrition and headlines about generational disengagement. #### What are the best companies doing instead? They make office time worth the trip: - **Designing for presence, not enforcing it.** They align in-office time around collaboration, not control. - **Giving people visibility and choice.** They use tools like Kadence to show when teammates are in and what is happening in the office that day. [Kadence WorkOps]() puts [desk booking](), room booking and team schedules in one place. - **Treating flexibility as a strategy, not a concession.** [Hybrid work]() is about performance, not preference. The [hybrid work strategy guide]() and [return-to-office guide]() show how to plan office days around the work. See how [Axalta approached its return to the office](). #### How can offices win Gen Z back? Offices can still win if companies let go of control. Gen Z is asking employers to make the office relevant, relational and worth the commute. At Kadence, we help organizations do that with smart scheduling, [team coordination]() and real-time insights. [Book a demo with our hybrid experts]() and design a workplace Gen Z wants to be part of. #### Frequently asked questions ##### Does Gen Z want to work in the office? Many do, when the time is intentional. They push back on showing up without a clear reason or any idea of who will be there. ##### How many Gen Z workers faced new office mandates in 2025? Owl Labs data from 2025 found that 82% of Gen Z knowledge workers said their company had issued or increased in-office mandates that year, against 47% of all workers. ##### How can employers make office days worth the commute? Plan office time around collaboration, show people when teammates will be in and what is happening that day, and treat flexibility as a strategy rather than a concession. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Headcount And Seating Planning: How To Balance Growth - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/headcount-and-seating-planning-how-to-balance-growth/ Description: Learn how to balance headcount growth and seating planning. Discover how Kadence SpaceOps helps forecast demand and optimize space. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · October 23, 2025 · [Jamie Addis]() ### Headcount And Seating Planning: How To Balance Growth Headcount Seating Planning Every leader faces the same challenge in 2025: how to plan for headcount growth and seating planning when the workplace keeps changing. Teams are distributed, hybrid policies evolve, and office attendance fluctuates week to week. Yet decisions about space still carry long-term financial consequences. Headcount and seating planning sits at the center of that challenge. It [connects workforce forecasts with the physical realities of space and cost](). When done well, it helps organizations stay agile, align budgets with real demand, and avoid expensive miscalculations. #### What Headcount And Seating Planning Means Headcount and seating planning is the process of predicting how many people will need workspace, when they will need it, and where they will sit. It blends finance, real estate, and workplace operations into a single view of demand and capacity. This planning discipline answers core questions for every organization: - How many seats are needed under our hybrid policy? - What happens to occupancy if headcount grows 10 percent next quarter? - Can we consolidate locations without creating crowding? The goal is simple: ensure that every space investment matches the company’s workforce and strategy, without overspending or underdelivering. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Why It Matters In 2025 Kadence data shows that average office utilization remains between [20 and 40 percent across industries](). This unpredictability makes traditional, static planning unreliable. Headcount forecasts built once a year cannot account for shifting attendance or new hybrid schedules. At the same time, real estate costs continue to rank among the top three controllable expenses for enterprises. Poor alignment between headcount and seating leads to either wasted space or costly shortages. Both erode financial performance. The modern office is a dynamic environment. Planning for it requires live data, flexible modeling, and predictive tools that can show what future growth or policy changes will mean for capacity and cost. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Building Blocks Of Effective Headcount Planning A strategic approach to headcount and seating planning integrates three elements: 1. **Workforce forecasting.** Anticipating hiring trends, policy shifts, and team distribution. 2. **Occupancy analytics.** Measuring how space is actually used week to week. 3. **Scenario modeling.** Testing multiple “what-if” outcomes to plan ahead with confidence. These components give leaders visibility into both current utilization and future demand. By understanding how different conditions affect occupancy, organizations can stay ahead of change instead of reacting to it. #### The Cost Of Getting It Wrong When seating plans are disconnected from real usage, companies face a cascade of problems: - **Financial waste.** Unused desks and underfilled floors inflate lease and operational costs. - **Employee frustration.** Crowded or poorly allocated areas create friction for teams. - **Reduced productivity.** Unpredictable seating undermines collaboration and sense of belonging. Every decision about space represents an investment. Without data-driven planning, that investment often misses its target. A stylized design of Kadence's AI-powered Scenario Planning feature. #### The Shift From Static To Predictive Planning [Legacy systems and spreadsheets were built for stable environments.]() They record data but cannot predict it. Once headcount changes, those plans quickly become outdated. Modern organizations need predictive tools that combine live occupancy insights with workforce projections. This allows leaders to model growth, reorganization, and policy changes, and to see exactly how those shifts will impact space, cost, and performance. Predictive planning turns headcount management into a continuous cycle of evaluation and adjustment, not an annual report. A diagram of Space Ops features. #### How Kadence SpaceOps Makes It Possible Kadence SpaceOps transforms headcount and seating planning into a live, connected process. It links HR, occupancy, and scheduling data so leaders can forecast, test, and execute with accuracy. With **AI-powered Scenario Planning** inside SpaceOps, organizations can: - Model different headcount growth or reduction scenarios in minutes. - Forecast seat demand under evolving hybrid policies. - Visualize how changes in attendance affect capacity and cost. - Balance space efficiency with team productivity before making real-world changes. By combining predictive modeling with live data, SpaceOps enables companies to make evidence-based real estate and workforce decisions. CFOs gain financial defensibility, facilities leaders gain precision, and employees benefit from well-balanced, predictable workplaces. #### Why Headcount And Seating Planning Creates Strategic Advantage Data-driven headcount and seating planning gives organizations the clarity to act quickly and confidently. It reduces waste, strengthens financial governance, and ensures the office always reflects the workforce it serves. Companies that use predictive planning frameworks consistently outperform those relying on static models. They respond faster to market shifts, optimize costs, and maintain employee experience even during rapid change. For insight into workplace planning best practices, visit the [International Facility Management Association (IFMA)](). A stylized design showing Kadence's heatmap. hybrid policy and check-in data #### Frequently Asked Questions **1. What is the difference between headcount planning and seating planning?** Headcount planning forecasts how many people an organization will employ over time. Seating planning translates that forecast into real workspace allocations that reflect attendance patterns and team needs. **2. How often should organizations update headcount and seating plans?** In a hybrid environment, plans should be reviewed quarterly or whenever hiring, policies, or space usage change significantly. **3. What data is most useful for accurate planning?** Key inputs include occupancy rates, booking data, hybrid policy schedules, and hiring forecasts. These provide the foundation for predictive modeling. **4. How does Kadence SpaceOps support headcount and seating planning?** SpaceOps combines HR and occupancy data with AI modeling tools that simulate future workforce scenarios, helping leaders validate decisions before implementation. #### Final Thought Headcount and seating planning is not just about matching people to desks. It is about creating a system that connects growth, policy, and real estate decisions through data. Kadence SpaceOps provides the intelligence to plan with confidence, ensuring that every square foot aligns with business goals, employee experience, and financial efficiency. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() today to see it in action. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How Bloomberg Designs Its Office Around Movement, Not Desks - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/how-bloomberg-designs-its-office-around-movement-not-desks/ Description: Learn how the Bloomberg office optimizes movement and interaction, and how you can plan your workplace to do the same without rebuilding. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · January 22, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### How Bloomberg Designs Its Office Around Movement, Not Desks Bloomberg Office Design Most organisations face the same constraint. They want more interaction between teams, but they cannot change the building. Floors are leased. Cores are fixed. Vertical separation is inherited rather than designed. [Kadence SpaceOps]() addresses this problem operationally. It allows organisations to model how teams move through space, test how different layouts affect interaction, and adjust placement without redesigning the office. Bloomberg solved the same office problem physically. Its European headquarters in London, [designed by Foster + Partners](), is organised around movement rather than desk placement. Instead of separating floors through lifts and stairwells, the building uses a continuous internal ramp that connects levels through a central atrium. Employees moving between adjacent floors share a single circulation path rather than travelling in isolation. This changes how often people encounter each other during normal movement. Photo: Nigel Young #### The Architectural Decisions Bloomberg Made Bloomberg’s headquarters includes several deliberate design choices that directly affect interaction. The building uses a six-storey internal ramp that replaces short elevator trips between floors. The ramp is wide enough to support two-way movement and pausing without blocking circulation, making it practical for everyday use rather than symbolic. Lifts remain available, but they are not the default for short journeys. Employees moving one or two floors are more likely to walk, reducing vertical movement that happens out of sight. Sketch: Norman Foster Floors are arranged around a large open atrium. Sightlines extend across levels rather than stopping at floor edges, limiting visual isolation between teams. Shared amenities such as pantries, informal seating, and meeting areas are positioned directly along the ramp and atrium edge. These spaces intercept people who are already moving through the building instead of requiring deliberate detours. Departmental boundaries are kept shallow. As people move through the building, they pass multiple teams rather than remaining within a single functional zone. Each decision increases the number of unplanned encounters during routine movement. Photo: Nigel Young #### What These Decisions Achieve Together, these choices change how interaction happens. Employees moving between desks, meetings, or amenities are more likely to pass colleagues from other teams. Vertical separation is reduced. Informal conversations occur during movement rather than being confined to scheduled meetings. The design of the building supports the values of Bloomberg as an organisation and the way it operates. The cores have been pushed to the edges of the building to visually open the floors and reveal a spiralling ramp, the heart of the building, bringing together the people who work in it. In a sense, it is all about community and collaboration – both within the building and the way it embraces its surroundings. Michael Jones Senior Partner, Foster + Partners The building does not force collaboration. It increases the frequency with which collaboration becomes possible. This is achieved through shared circulation, not adjacency alone. Photo: Nigel Young #### Why This Is Hard to Replicate Most organisations cannot reproduce these outcomes architecturally. Central ramps cannot be added to leased buildings. Lift cores cannot be removed. Atriums cannot be reconfigured without structural change. In multi-building portfolios, separation is often unavoidable. As a result, many organisations accept fragmentation as inevitable. Teams are stacked based on availability rather than interaction. Movement patterns emerge accidentally rather than intentionally. The constraint is not awareness. It is the lack of planning tools. Photo: Nigel Young #### Designing Movement Without Changing the Building Bloomberg centralised movement through office architecture. Most organisations have to do it through planning. Kadence SpaceOps allows leaders to model how team placement affects movement and interaction before changes are made. Instead of treating floor assignments as static, organisations can test how different configurations alter circulation pressure and cross-team exposure. For example, SpaceOps can show how placing two interdependent teams on adjacent floors increases shared movement through common paths, or how separating them vertically reduces incidental contact. Leaders can identify where congestion forms and where isolation increases under different scenarios. Movement becomes a variable rather than a by-product. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### From Static Stack Plans to Movement-Aware Planning Traditional [stack planning]() answers one question: where does each team fit? The Bloomberg office answers a different one: how do people encounter each other during the workday? SpaceOps brings that second question into workplace planning. Teams can be positioned based not only on capacity, but on how their placement affects circulation, exposure, and interaction across the building. This shifts planning from static allocation to operational intent. Layouts can be evaluated before execution, reducing the risk of configurations that fit on paper but fragment in practice. A stylized design of Kadence's AI-generated stack planning feature. #### Why This Matters in 2026 In 2026, the challenge is no longer getting people into the office. It is whether being there improves coordination. Hybrid schedules, vertical separation, and portfolio sprawl all reduce the likelihood of unplanned interaction. Co-locating teams is often insufficient. Bloomberg’s headquarters demonstrates that interaction depends on how people move, not just where they sit. SpaceOps makes it possible to plan for that reality without rebuilding offices or making irreversible changes. A stylized design of Kadence's AI-powered Scenario Planning feature. #### What Bloomberg Ultimately Shows The London Bloomberg office is often described as innovative architecture. Its more important contribution is operational. By deliberately shaping movement, the building increases interaction without relying on policy or enforcement. The same principle can be applied through planning tools rather than construction. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() With SpaceOps, organisations can model movement, test assumptions, and design layouts that increase exposure between teams without changing the building. The office does not need to look different to work differently. It needs to be planned with intent. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see how Kadence SpaceOps helps organisations plan offices around movement, interaction, and coordination without redesigning their space. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Is Stack Planning? A Guide for Workplace Leaders | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/how-does-stack-planning-power-smarter-workplace-decisions/ Description: What is stack planning? Learn what a stack plan shows, its core components, how it links to scenario planning and move management, and what to look for. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · August 12, 2026 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions Stack Planning [Stack planning]() is the process of visually organizing teams, departments and functions across floors, buildings or entire portfolios. It powers smarter workplace decisions by giving leaders a single view of how the organization occupies space, so they can test changes before making them. Instead of redrawing plans from scratch, leaders can see the cost, capacity and adjacency impact of a move, a merger or a consolidation in advance. That turns high-stakes space decisions from guesswork into decisions backed by data. For how stack planning fits the wider discipline, see the [office space planning guide](). #### What is stack planning? Stack planning is the process of visually organizing teams, departments and functions across floors, buildings or portfolios. An office stack plan gives workplace and real estate leaders one dynamic view of how the organization is distributed and how that distribution can change. It acts as a living map of where people sit and how much space each department uses. Managing office space used to be a static exercise. Teams were assigned to floors, departments were clustered by function, and any change meant redrawing plans from scratch. The pace of organizational change has made that model obsolete. Hybrid work, mergers and rapid team restructuring mean floor plans must evolve continuously, and leaders need to visualize, test and optimize layouts across multiple buildings and floors without weeks of manual coordination. A stack plan shows where people sit, how much space each department uses, and where there are opportunities to consolidate or grow. It helps leaders answer questions such as: - Which teams are spread too thin across locations? - What happens to space needs if we grow or merge departments? - Can we free up an entire floor by rebalancing capacity? By showing people, teams and space together, stack planning turns complexity into clarity. Illustration of Kadence's AI-generated stack planning feature #### What does a stack plan show? A stack plan shows how teams, departments, functions and business units are allocated across floors, buildings or locations, presented as a top-down, floor-by-floor view. It makes an organization’s physical footprint readable at a glance, so a leader can see where space is working and where it is not without redrawing anything. In practice, a stack plan reveals several things at once: - the footprint each department occupies; - how teams are allocated floor by floor; - which teams sit next to one another, known as adjacency; - available capacity and areas marked for growth; - opportunities to consolidate; - the lease and space constraints a leader has to plan within. **Adjacency** is the physical closeness of teams that need to work together. Keeping it intact is one of the main goals of a good stack plan. #### Why does stack planning matter for workplace strategy? Stack planning matters because most organizations have far more flexibility in their existing footprint than they use. It connects space strategy to real behavior, policy and cost. For CFOs and workplace leaders, that visibility is what makes space decisions financially defensible rather than based on static snapshots. As of August 2026, Kadence Pulse research showed average office utilization [hovering between 20 and 40 percent](). That means most organizations have significant room within their existing footprint, if they know how to use it. Kadence Pulse chart showing the distribution of average booking percentage across all buildings and months Traditional [integrated workplace management system]() (IWMS) tools capture static snapshots of space. Modern workplaces need continuous optimization, because space must respond to changing headcount, shifting schedules and evolving collaboration needs. Workplace stack planning bridges the gap between data and design. #### What are the core components of stack planning? Stack planning combines three core components: visualization of how teams occupy space, integration with live workplace data, and scenario testing to model changes before they happen. Together they turn a static floor map into a decision-making tool. The stronger the underlying data, the more reliable those decisions become. 1. **Visualization.** A digital map showing departments, teams and their spatial relationships. 2. **Data integration.** A real-time connection to occupancy, headcount and policy data. 3. **Scenario testing.** The ability to model changes such as growth, reorganization or consolidation, and see the impact instantly. Together, these help organizations plan not just for today’s layout but for what comes next. ##### Why does live data matter? A stack plan becomes far more useful once it is connected to live workplace data rather than kept as a standalone diagram. When headcount forecasts, occupancy trends, attendance patterns and department-level space needs feed the plan, its scenarios reflect how the organization actually uses space. That connection separates a stack plan that looks accurate from one that holds up when a decision is made against it. Diagram of Kadence SpaceOps features #### What does static planning cost? Static planning costs organizations money and disruption. Many still rely on PDFs or CAD drawings that must be updated by hand. Those formats make change hard to visualize, which leads to guesswork in high-stakes decisions and leaves leaders unable to see which areas are underused or how a move will affect collaboration. When a business grows, merges or reorganizes, manual stack plans quickly go out of date. Space becomes fragmented, departments lose adjacency, and inefficiencies multiply. Without live visualization, it is nearly impossible to know which areas are underused or how moves will affect collaboration. As a result, organizations risk overpaying for space they do not need, or disrupting teams unnecessarily. Kadence’s [space management]() tools are built to keep that picture current. Kadence floor plan heatmap combining hybrid policy and check-in data #### How does stack planning connect to scenario planning and move management? Stack planning sits in the middle of a three-stage workplace planning workflow. [Scenario planning]() comes first and models what could change. Stack planning translates the chosen scenario into a spatial plan. [Move management]() then executes the approved plan. Understanding where each stage fits makes all three more effective. - **Scenario planning** helps leaders model what could change, whether that is headcount growth, a consolidation or a policy shift. Kadence covers this in [scenario planning](). - **Stack planning** turns the chosen scenario into a spatial plan, showing where teams and functions should go across floors and buildings. - **[Move management]()** executes the approved plan by coordinating the people, assets and sequencing needed to make it real. Together, the three turn a strategic decision into a workplace that reflects it. Kadence scenario builder for modeling headcount, attendance policy, space per employee and peak load changes #### Why does office stack planning create a strategic advantage? Office stack planning creates advantage by aligning physical space with organizational structure, so space decisions support cost, collaboration and growth rather than working against them. It gives every stakeholder a shared, data-backed view of how space is used. That turns real estate from a fixed overhead into a lever leaders can actually pull. The advantage looks different for each stakeholder: - **CFOs** get visibility into how every square foot contributes to cost efficiency. - **Workplace leaders** keep teams connected and productive across changing layouts. - **HR** gets a foundation for designing spaces that reflect company culture and collaboration goals. When paired with live data, office stack planning becomes a lever for [portfolio optimization](), cost reduction and employee engagement. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How does Kadence SpaceOps make stack planning dynamic? [Kadence SpaceOps]() turns stack planning from a visual exercise into an operational capability. It connects live occupancy data, HR information and AI-driven modeling in one platform, so organizations can plan, test and implement space decisions in one place and tie each stack decision to its financial impact. With Dynamic Stack Planning in SpaceOps, teams can: - see every department’s footprint across buildings and floors; - drag and drop layouts to test new configurations instantly; - evaluate cost, capacity and collaboration outcomes side by side; - align stack plans with headcount forecasts and hybrid attendance data. For enterprise decision-makers, that means each stack decision can be tied to floors released, lower cost per employee and leases right-sized against real demand rather than assumption. To size the opportunity in your own portfolio, the [ROI calculator]() shows what optimized space could return. Kadence SpaceOps stack plan showing desk allocation by floor, alongside floor plan and move plan steps #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the purpose of stack planning? Stack planning helps organizations see how teams are distributed across their space and optimize layouts to improve efficiency, collaboration and cost management. It lets leaders test a move, merger or consolidation before committing to it. ##### How often should stack plans be updated? Review a stack plan whenever headcount, policies or business priorities shift. With digital tools connected to live data, updates can happen continuously rather than once per quarter. ##### What is the difference between stack planning and move management? Stack planning visualizes and models layouts before changes occur. Move management executes those changes by coordinating people, assets and workflows once a plan is approved. ##### What should organizations look for in office stack planning software? Look for live data integration, so the plan reflects real occupancy, headcount and attendance rather than a static snapshot. It should support scenario testing to model changes before committing, and connect to move management so an approved plan can move into execution without being rebuilt elsewhere. Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. - [Office Space Planning: A Workplace Leader’s Guide to Strategic Workplace Design]() Office space planning was once a one-time exercise: lay out the floor, assign the desks, and revisit it in a few years. That model no longer fits how organizations operate. Office space planning has become an ongoing strategic discipline that touches real estate, headcount, hybrid policy, and employee experience at the same time. This guide \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How Google Designs Offices Around How Teams Actually Work - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/how-google-designs-offices-around-how-teams-actually-work/ Description: Learn how Google office spaces use team neighborhoods to reduce friction and improve coordination around how teams actually work. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · January 8, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### How Google Designs Offices Around How Teams Actually Work Google Offices Bay View Campus Google did not build their offices at the [Bay View campus]() to look impressive. It built it to work better. As organizations scale, coordination becomes harder to maintain. Teams drift apart. Dependencies stretch across floors and buildings. Decisions slow down, not because people stop communicating, but because the physical environment no longer reflects how the business actually operates. Bay View is [Google’s response to that problem](). It is not an office as a destination. It is an office with operating infrastructure. > Our goal was to push the limits on what an office building could be, not just for the benefit of Googlers, but for the wider community and industry. The Bay View campus can adapt to changing workplace needs so our offices remain vibrant for decades to come. > > > > > > David Radcliffe > > > > Vice President Real Estate & Workplace Services, Google This is what designing for effective [workplace operations]() looks like in 2026. Photo: Iwan Baan #### What Google Designed Bay View is Google’s first purpose built campus. [Designed in collaboration with BIG and Heatherwick Studio](), it brings together more than one million square feet of workspace organized around a simple idea: teams work best when the people they rely on are close by. Instead of arranging space around functions or job titles, [Google designed their offices around team neighborhoods](). Related teams sit together in clearly defined zones. Focus areas and collaboration spaces are balanced within each neighborhood. Movement through the building is intentional, connecting teams without forcing constant interruption. These boundaries are not aesthetic. They are operational. They make it obvious who belongs where and why. Photo: Iwan Baan #### Team Neighborhoods as an Operating Model What makes Bay View particularly relevant is not the architecture itself, but the thinking behind it. At its core, a [team neighborhood]() is a set of rules: - Which teams need to be close to each other - When those teams need to be present together - How shared space is used without creating friction Google embedded those rules into the physical fabric of its campus. Photo: Iwan Baan Kadence embeds the same thinking into software. With [Team Neighborhoods](), organizations can define digital neighborhoods that mirror how teams actually work together. Those neighborhoods can be aligned to specific in office days, allowing leaders to balance office traffic across the week rather than concentrating it by accident. Teams come in together. Shared spaces are planned with intent. Overcrowding becomes predictable and manageable instead of chaotic. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Because neighborhoods are connected to booking and [attendance data](), organizations can also plan resources more accurately. [Meeting rooms](), amenities, and even catering scale with real demand rather than assumptions. This makes it possible to achieve Google level coordination without redesigning your office or disrupting teams every time priorities change. Kadence Office Neighborhoods Schedule #### Why This Works for Modern Work In 2026, effective offices are not static. Attendance fluctuates. Projects evolve. Teams grow, shrink, and reorganize more frequently than ever. Bay View works because [it treats proximity as a performance lever.]() When teams that depend on each other are close, coordination happens naturally. Questions get answered faster. Onboarding improves. Collaboration becomes a default behavior rather than a scheduled event. Google invested heavily in architecture to protect those relationships. Most organizations do not have that option. They operate in leased buildings with fixed layouts and hybrid patterns that shift week to week. The need, however, is exactly the same. Photo: Iwan Baan If we make spaces where workers are healthy and happy, the business will thrive. Michelle Kaufmann Director of Real Estate and Workplace Services, Google #### What Google Teaches Us About Offices in 2026 The lesson from Bay View is not about solar canopies or beautiful interiors. It is about intent. The best offices are designed around relationships, not rows of desks. They anticipate how work actually happens and adapt as the organization evolves. Google hard coded that capability into architecture. Kadence makes it operational. [Team neighborhoods](), supported by [scenario planning]() and real usage data, turn the workplace into a system that can flex without breaking. That is what effective workplace operations look like in 2026. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### From Neighborhood Design to Scenario Planning Defining neighborhoods is only the starting point. The real challenge is understanding how those neighborhoods will perform as the business changes. This is where [Kadence SpaceOps]() comes in. As part of a broader [office space planning]() strategy, Kadence’s AI powered [scenario planning]() allows leaders to instantly generate multiple what if scenarios and evaluate the impact of headcount growth, policy shifts, or organizational change before committing to action. Teams can model growth or downsizing alongside lease constraints, test different neighborhood allocations across the week, and identify underused areas for [reallocation](). Instead of reacting to overcrowding or empty floors after the fact, leaders can see issues coming and adjust early. This is the layer Google solved through years of planning and permanent construction. SpaceOps solves it continuously, using data. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see how Kadence helps you design, operate, and continuously improve team neighborhoods without resetting your office. A stylized design of Kadence's AI-powered Scenario Planning feature. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How To Build A Hybrid Workplace People Actually Want To Work In - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/how-to-build-a-hybrid-workplace-people-actually-want-to-work-in/ Description: Learn how to build a functional hybrid workplace your teams can thrive in with Anitta Krishan from Hoogly AI. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · February 6, 2025 · [Helen Attia]() ### How To Build A Hybrid Workplace People Actually Want To Work In Hybrid has become a defining feature of the modern workplace, offering flexibility to hybrid teams while presenting new challenges—particularly in fostering connection, engagement, and satisfaction, regardless of where employees are working. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with [Anitta Krishan]() from [Hoogly AI](), a leader in people and workplace strategy, to explore what’s truly working in the hybrid model, what’s not, and how we can elevate the experience for everyone. **The key takeaway:** It’s not about forcing employees back into the office. It’s about cultivating trust, fostering meaningful connections, and crafting an integrated experience—no matter where work happens. Here’s what we discovered: #### Rebuilding Trust: The Cornerstone Of Hybrid Success Hybrid work thrives on trust—more than just believing employees will resist the temptation to binge-watch Netflix while working from home. True trust is about creating an environment where employees feel genuinely supported and valued, whether they’re in the office or at home. Anitta offered a critique of the mindset many leaders still hold: “Executives are often trying to recreate the pre-pandemic office environment, driven by a sense of nostalgia and a need for control. But the world has fundamentally changed. People are seeking flexibility, and forcing them back into old patterns is no longer effective.” Trust-building requires empathy and vulnerability from leaders. Anitta illustrated this with a powerful example: > “Trust isn’t just about assuming your team is working when they’re remote—it’s about showing up for them, no matter where they are. For me, it starts with being real about my own struggles. I’ll often say, ‘I don’t have all the answers, and honestly, I’m figuring this out too.’ When I show that I’m not perfect, it invites others to do the same, and that vulnerability creates a deeper sense of trust. It’s about letting your team know they’re not alone in their challenges.” This openness encourages employees to share their challenges, creating a culture of understanding and mutual support. #### Connection Is Paramount A key challenge of hybrid work is maintaining authentic connections. With part of the team in the office and the other working remotely, it’s easy to feel disconnected. Anitta emphasized the importance of fostering connections beyond work tasks: “The challenge of hybrid work is not just about tasks—it’s about creating a sense of belonging. No one has cracked the code on how to seamlessly integrate the virtual and in-person worlds. But small gestures, like a casual check-in about the weekend, can bridge that gap. It’s about seeing the whole person, not just their role.” In-person interactions also remain essential. According to Anitta, “In-person offsites and gatherings are irreplaceable. They create energy, spark creativity, and leave lasting memories. We want to continue those conversations and sustain that energy until the next time we meet face-to-face.” [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Seamless Experience: No More Second-Class Remote Workers Remote employees often feel like second-class citizens, overlooked for promotions or excluded from key moments. Anitta called for a more equitable experience: “It’s crucial that hybrid work feels seamless, whether you’re in the office or remote. If the experience is unequal, remote employees will inevitably feel disconnected. The goal should be creating an experience that feels integrated, so it’s just as natural for someone to collaborate from home as it is from the office.” Ultimately, the goal is true **seamlessness**. As Anitta put it, “When remote and in-office employees experience an equal, cohesive work environment, the lines between where you work and how you work begin to blur.” The solution lies in seamlessly integrating technology into daily workflows. “Technology should be embedded in the workflow in a way that feels intuitive—not like an extra task. It should enhance collaboration, not become a barrier to it.” #### Empowering Managers To Lead With Purpose Managing hybrid teams requires a completely new skill set, and too many leaders are being left to figure it out on their own. Anitta emphasized the critical need for manager training: “Managing hybrid teams requires a new skill set. It’s not just about mastering technology—it’s about being equipped to lead with empathy, foster trust, and create collaboration. It’s about understanding that managing remotely means understanding people more deeply, not just managing processes.” Training should go beyond the basics of remote communication tools. It should help managers build trust, encourage collaboration, and recognize the signs of burnout. “Start by asking the ‘why,’” Anitta suggested. “Leaders need to ask the right questions—‘Why are they coming into the office? Who are they working with? What are they struggling with?’ When you ask ‘why,’ you uncover the deeper motivations and challenges, and that’s where true leadership begins.” By digging into these questions, managers can better understand their team’s needs and support them in a more personalized, effective way. #### Humanizing Work: Recognizing People Beyond Their Roles “Work is not just about tasks and deliverables; it’s about people. It’s about relationships. In a distributed world, it’s even more important to remember that employees are multifaceted individuals, not just job titles. Their lives outside of work matter.” One of the most impactful moments of our conversation centered on the need to humanize the workplace. As Anitta explained, “The world is distributed now. That’s why we’re not just focusing on remote-only companies—we recognize that every employee has a life outside of work.” Featured Content 5 Things Hybrid Teams Get Right Discover the 5 things hybrid teams get right in this checklist, learn how top-performing teams make hybrid work, work! [Download]() #### Actionable Steps To Create A Hybrid Workplace That Works Our conversation with Anitta revealed several key takeaways for building a more effective hybrid workplace: 1. **Rebuild Trust**: - Encourage leaders to embrace empathy and vulnerability. - Create open forums where employees feel safe to share their challenges and experiences. 2. **Foster Connection**: - Make time for informal connections—whether through virtual coffee breaks or casual check-ins. - Invest in team-building events, both in-person and virtual, to strengthen relationships. 3. **Empower Managers**: - Provide managers with training to lead hybrid teams effectively, focusing on trust-building and emotional intelligence. - Equip managers with tools to monitor team well-being and identify signs of burnout. 4. **Prioritize Seamlessness**: - Design workflows that ensure equal experiences for remote and in-office employees. - Leverage technology to remove friction and foster easy, real-time collaboration. 5. **Humanize Work**: - Acknowledge the personal lives of employees, treating them as whole people, not just job titles. - Foster a culture of empathy and flexibility, where life outside of work is understood and respected. That’s why Anitta and the team at [Hoogly AI]() set out to build the Hoogly platform with these key principles in mind, focusing on their main goal: to build more connections and trust in remote teams. #### The Future Of Hybrid Work Our conversation underscored one essential truth: Hybrid work isn’t defined by where employees work, but by how they work. When organizations invest in trust, connection, and seamless experiences, they unlock the full potential of their teams. This approach isn’t just good for business—it’s also good for people. At Kadence, we’re dedicated to making hybrid work truly work. If you’re ready to elevate your team’s hybrid experience, explore [our tools and solutions]() designed to enhance connectivity, collaboration, and productivity in a distributed world. Let’s build a future where work works for everyone. [Book a demo with Kadence today.]() --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() ##### What’s Next For The Future Of Work? Join our Kadence community to stay on top of latest news and trends in the future of work. #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How to Choose Workplace Management Software | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/how-to-choose-the-right-workplace-management-software/ Description: How to choose workplace management software: the features that matter, how to evaluate vendors for enterprise needs, security and data checks, and what to ask. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · May 26, 2026 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### How to Choose the Right Workplace Management Software: An Enterprise Buyer's Guide How to Choose the Right Workplace Management Software To choose the right [workplace management software](), start with the outcomes your organization needs, then judge each platform on how well it supports them, how easily it integrates with the systems you already run, and whether it can scale with your headcount, locations and hybrid policies. A long feature list is not the test. Actionable data, adoption and fit are. The decision deserves that rigor because it is not simply a software purchase. It is an operational commitment that affects how an organization allocates space, coordinates people and manages real estate costs for years. The right system enables better coordination, more accurate forecasting and more confident decisions about space. For a definition of the category first, read [what a workplace management system is](). #### Why does choosing the right workplace management software matter? Choosing well matters because the decision has real financial and operational consequences. Real estate is typically one of the largest cost lines in an enterprise budget. The right system provides the visibility to justify real estate investment and respond to workforce change, while the wrong one compounds cost in wasted space, poor adoption and unreliable data. [Per-employee office costs can vary dramatically depending on how space is managed](). Organizations with poor visibility into utilization consistently spend more than those making data-led decisions. Hybrid policies add pressure. Attendance is harder to predict, collaboration patterns have shifted, and at most organizations the gap between planned and actual space use has widened. A workplace management solution that cannot account for that complexity becomes a liability rather than an asset. The right system gives leaders what they need to build a workplace strategy that holds up over time. Getting it wrong is expensive, and the cost grows quickly. #### What are the common mistakes when selecting workplace management software? The most common mistakes are evaluating features instead of outcomes, underestimating implementation complexity, and letting IT, workplace and finance teams pursue different goals. Each is predictable, so each can be planned for. Knowing them in advance helps structure a better evaluation and avoids costly course corrections after launch. ##### Evaluating features rather than outcomes It is easy to be drawn to a long feature list without checking whether those features solve the organization’s specific problems. A platform that looks comprehensive in a demo may not map well to how the business actually operates day to day. ##### Underestimating implementation Workplace management platforms typically need to integrate with existing HR systems, calendars and access control infrastructure. Organizations that do not plan for this often face delays and resistance after launch. Adoption and alignment problems that surface after launch are far more expensive to fix than those found during evaluation. ##### Stakeholder misalignment Misalignment between stakeholders, particularly IT, workplace and finance teams, can derail a selection before it reaches a decision. Agree on the outcomes and the owners of each requirement before vendors are invited in. #### Which features matter most in workplace management software? The features that matter most are the ones that directly support the decisions the organization needs to make. Effective buyers shift their focus from what a platform includes to what it enables. In practice, four capabilities carry most of the weight: desk booking, room booking, [visitor management](), and analytics that turn usage into actionable data. ##### Desk booking and space reservation The core requirement is flexibility combined with ease of use. A desk booking system that employees find difficult will not be adopted, and low adoption undermines the data quality the organization relies on for space decisions. Good [desk booking software]() gives real-time visibility into desk availability and supports different booking models, including hot desking and assigned spaces. **Hot desking** is a model in which employees use any available desk rather than an assigned one. The system should also capture utilization data that informs longer-term decisions about how desks are configured and allocated across the portfolio. ##### Meeting room and conference space management Meeting room management is a significant operational challenge in most hybrid environments. Look for a system that prevents double booking, integrates with the calendar tools employees already use, and shows how rooms are actually used. Rooms that are booked but consistently empty are a common source of waste that goes unaddressed when visibility is limited. Room booking software should surface this clearly, so facilities teams can reconfigure or repurpose space that is not earning its footprint. For organizations with multiple locations, managing room availability across sites from one interface is a practical necessity. ##### Visitor management and workplace access Visitor management matters to enterprise organizations managing security, compliance and front-of-house experience at scale. The right software handles visitor registration, check-in and access permissions in the same system used to manage space, not in a disconnected tool that leaves gaps in the operational picture. A [visitor management system]() gives a more complete view of who is in the building and when, which matters for both security and [capacity planning](). It also improves the experience for visitors and for the employees who host them. Kadence AI booking a meeting room and sending a visitor invitation, with QR code check-in on arrival ##### Workplace analytics and utilization data Analytics is often the biggest differentiator between workplace management solutions. The question is not whether the platform provides data, but whether that data is actionable. Check three things: - whether utilization reports reflect real behavior or only booking activity; - whether the system identifies trends over time rather than reporting snapshots; - whether the data can support scenario modeling before decisions are made. [Workplace analytics]() that connect space usage, team attendance and real estate costs in a single view are particularly valuable for leaders making portfolio-level decisions. Diagram of the Kadence platform: WorkOps for desk and room booking, visitor management and attendance, feeding occupancy data to SpaceOps for scenario modeling and stack planning #### How do you evaluate workplace management software for enterprise needs? Evaluate enterprise workplace management software with a framework that goes beyond feature comparison. Start by aligning the system with specific goals, such as reducing real estate costs, improving hybrid coordination or gaining visibility across a multi-location portfolio. Then assess scalability, integration depth, long-term product development and total cost of ownership against expected ROI. Variable demand is a key test. [According to JLL’s 2026 Global Occupancy Planning Benchmark Report, global office utilization sits at 56% against an organizational target of 74%](). Any solution under evaluation must handle variable demand patterns rather than fixed occupancy assumptions. **Total cost of ownership** is the full cost of a platform over its life, including implementation, configuration and ongoing support, not only the software fee. Evaluate it alongside expected ROI. For organizations that need to model space scenarios before committing to decisions, scenario planning software provides the analytical depth that enterprise real estate decisions require. Kadence’s [buyer’s guide]() sets out a structured way to compare options. #### What security, compliance and data checks should you run? Security and data governance are non-negotiable for enterprise workplace management software, particularly for organizations handling employee [presence data](), visitor records and real estate information across multiple jurisdictions. Expect clear data privacy controls, role-based access permissions, documented data handling and compliance evidence that matches your industry and geography. Check each of these before selecting a platform: - **Data privacy controls** and **role-based access permissions**, so people see only what their role requires. - **Compliance documentation** relevant to your industry and geography. - **Data location and processing**: where data is stored and how it is processed. - **Audit trails**: what records of access and change are available. - **Regulatory fit**: for regulated industries such as financial services, legal or healthcare, verify alignment with internal standards and external regulatory requirements before selection. - **Reliability and uptime guarantees**: a platform that goes down on peak office days disrupts operations, erodes trust and reduces adoption across the organization. #### What questions should you ask when comparing workplace management solutions? Before selecting a solution, work through a structured set of internal questions that go beyond each vendor’s sales narrative. The answers separate platforms that perform well in demonstrations from those that deliver sustained value in practice, and show whether a vendor understands the operational realities of enterprise workplaces. - Does this system provide actionable data, or does it only report on what has already happened? - How well does it integrate with the tools already in use across HR, IT and facilities? - Can it scale as the organization’s headcount, locations or hybrid policies evolve? - Will employees across different roles and levels of technical ability actually use it consistently? - What does a typical implementation look like, and what support is available during and after rollout? Ask vendors to demonstrate how their platform supports your specific goals, and verify integration and scalability claims before committing. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How does Kadence support enterprise workplace management? Kadence supports enterprise organizations across each of these requirements, from desk and room booking through to portfolio-level analytics and scenario planning. The aim is the data, scalability and operational alignment an organization needs to make confident decisions about space, people and real estate. The [Kadence platform guide]() explains how the pieces fit together. To model the financial impact of better workplace management for your organization, use the [ROI calculator](), or book a demo with Kadence’s workplace operations experts. #### Frequently asked questions ##### How do you choose the right workplace management system? Start by defining the outcomes your organization needs. Then evaluate platforms on how well they support those outcomes, how easily they integrate with existing systems, and whether they can scale with your organization over time. ##### What features should workplace management software include? Core features include desk and room booking, visitor management, [workplace analytics](), and integrations with HR and calendar systems. The most important factor is whether those features produce actionable data that supports real decisions. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ##### What should organizations consider when evaluating workplace management software? Key considerations are scalability, integration capability, total cost of ownership, data security and compliance, and ease of adoption across different user groups. ##### How do you compare workplace management solutions effectively? Focus on outcomes rather than features. Define what success looks like for your organization, ask vendors to demonstrate how their platform supports those specific goals, and verify integration and scalability claims before committing. ##### What questions should you ask vendors before selecting a workplace management system? Ask how the system handles data quality and accuracy, what the implementation process typically involves, how it integrates with existing tools, and what support is available after deployment. Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How To Cultivate A Company Culture With Tonille Miller - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/how-to-cultivate-a-company-culture-with-tonille-miller/ Description: Learn how to cultivate a company culture that enables your people to thrive and keeps distributed workforces connected. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · May 2, 2024 · [Tonille Miller]() ### How To Cultivate A Company Culture With Tonille Miller A group of office workers present a colleague with cake and presents at the office. In today’s competitive landscape, attracting, retaining, and unlocking top talent has become a top priority for organizations. With the emergence of hybrid work reshaping the very fabric of organizational dynamics, it’s more important than ever to create a generative company culture that enables people to do their best work in this new environment. But how do you get started? #### What Do We Mean By Culture? Culture will absolutely make or break an organization in the form of profitability, productivity, engagement, agility, collaboration, innovation, customer satisfaction, burnout, turnover, and healthcare costs. With [data]() showing organizations that focus on their culture see significant increases in revenue growth (4.1x), stock price growth (827%), net income (756%), sales per employee (13%), and ROI (15x), the business case is compelling to say the least. While some mistakenly believe company culture is “Taco Tuesdays” or foosball tables, on the contrary, culture doesn’t require being co-located. Culture is the lifestyle of the organization; it governs how people mingle, hustle, and behave – whether they’re in the office, at home, or sending emails from the subway. I would argue that you can actually build a stronger, more inclusive, and effective company culture for distributed teams because it forces you to be intentional, embedding it into everything you do, rather than just letting it develop organically based on the lowest common denominator that shows up in the office that day. #### Key Strategies To Create Culture Here are a few strategies for creating a company culture that enables your people and the business to thrive in a flexible environment: ##### 1. Purposeful Gatherings As organizations embrace hybrid work and flexible arrangements, the purpose of the office has shifted from the central hub for work activities to a place where teams come together to solve problems, collaborate, and build relationships that transcend virtual boundaries. - **Make the office a high-profile destination:** Facilitate meaningful interactions, experiential events, and access to leaders and high-performers. - **Make it count:** Bring people together for a specific, focused goal, such as a project kick-off, brainstorming session, or team-building activity. - **Intentionally bring people together for connection**: Annie Dean and the team at Atlassian have conducted a ton of [research]() and experiments on this topic and developed a [playbook]() called 1000 Days of Remote Work. In it, the data show zero correlation between people physically being in the office and team connection. They did find, however, that intentionally bringing teams together around 3 times a year to intentionally build connection leads to an average 27% increase in feelings of connection, and this boost lasts 4 to 5 months. ##### 2. Create Belonging Alright, let’s spill the tea on connection and belonging. Forget about just plopping people in the same office and expecting magic to happen because the data doesn’t support it. Even pre-pandemic, [Harvard Business Review]() found, a whopping 65% of folks grinding away in offices full-time felt like they were stranded on a deserted island when it came to connection. But fear not, here are some fab ways to whip up a sense of connection and [belonging]() as part of your company culture: - **Digital Platforms**: Leverage digital platforms that offer peer mentoring and manager coaching to aid in building team connections and trust. - **Communities:** Create communities such as employee resource groups (ERGs) and topical Slack channels to create a sense of belonging, ownership, and purpose. - **Shared experiences, challenges, and purpose:** - Create shared experiences by hosting virtual guest speakers and musical artists, or have the team listen to a podcast, read a book, or try a recipe, and then discuss it together. - Build interdependence, meaning, and empathy across teams by connecting the dots for them so they can see how their role/tasks impact others across the organization and broader ecosystem. One of my clients did this by rotating people from customer success and sales teams every three or six months to shed light on how the upfront promises the sales made to customers impacted customer success downstream. ##### 3. Upskill Leaders Stepping into the realm of flexible work environments demands a fresh perspective and some revamped habits. But fear not, because the very skills needed to steer distributed teams are the ones that make managers rock stars at handling Millennials and Gen Zers more broadly. Here are a few boss-level strategies to nail leadership in flexible work settings: - **Embrace Digital Fluency and Asynchronous Tools**: Mastering collaboration, communication, and project management tools is crucial; consider a Millennial or Gen Z reverse mentor for rapid skill development and better organizational awareness. They may even help you with your TikTok skills. 😉 - **Clarity and Transparency**: Communicate clear goals, deadlines, and performance expectations to team members. [Team-level agreements]() are a great way to start. - **Trust, Autonomy, and Accountability**: Give teams the flexibility to manage their time effectively. Leaders who empower their employees with autonomy and accountability see a virtuous cycle of trust, performance, and ownership. ##### 4. Ensure Development Remains A Priority While some leaders believe it’s more difficult to develop employees remotely, in reality, flexible work can democratize and expand developmental opportunities. Here are some effective strategies to develop employees when working distributed: - **Virtual Apprenticeship:** Encourage senior employees to copy junior staff on emails and add them to [Slack channels, calls, and Zoom meetings](), which provide them with opportunities to observe and learn. - **Learning in the Flow of Work:** Real-time coaching and feedback from managers and peers is a highly productive and cost-effective approach that promotes immediate knowledge application. - **Internal marketplaces:** Mastercard has taken a distributed-first, people-centric approach to talent development with the launch of its internal talent marketplace powered by Gloat. By redeploying people where their skills were needed internally, Mastercard avoided laying off any employees during the pandemic and saved them from outsourcing projects to contractors. With the platform’s ability to connect employees across geographies and business units, it also fosters collaboration while democratizing access and opportunities for developing their careers within the organization. ##### 5. Ensure Equity Equitable experiences for all employees, regardless of location is crucial. A gap between the experience of on-site and remote workers can lead to feelings of inequality and resentment. To avoid this, companies can analyze promotion trends to identify any favoritism toward employees who spend more time in person with managers and supervisors. Additionally, every policy, technology platform, and meeting practice should be assessed through the lens of on-site, hybrid, and remote employees to ensure a seamless and equitable experience for everyone. ##### 6. Design The Work Around Outcomes And Impact Organizations should intentionally design their work environments around the desired outcomes and value they seek to create. To optimize team results, leaders need to ask themselves, “What does the work actually require?” They can start by establishing clear objectives, setting expectations for the work, and communicating the reasoning behind them. To implement this in your organization, set organization-wide objectives and key results ([OKRs]()). Let each team decide how they want to meet those goals and enable team members to do the work when and where they choose. Rather than track hours logged, track performance outcomes and impact. ##### 7. Balance Flexibility And Structure Top talent seeks [a balance between flexibility and structure]() that allows them to do their best work while accommodating their individual needs and preferences. One of the top complaints from employees returning to offices is that they made the commute just to spend their day on Zoom calls with people in other locations. There are plenty of new software platforms and apps that eliminate the uncertainty of who will be in the office and how to access them, making it easier to coordinate with colleagues and maximize time together. The folks at Kadence have recognized this shift and are pioneering solutions that help organizations strike the delicate balance between flexibility and structure. Colleagues can align their plans and connect with internal communities and events, creating new opportunities for hybrid teams to [schedule real-life interactions](). Seamless scheduling software enables employees to see who will be in the office, thus making it easy to make plans and coordinate effectively. #### Final Thoughts As your organization navigates our new normal, embracing flexibility and unprecedented change, there’s one crucial element you can’t afford to overlook: the heartbeat of your organization must be strong. Cultivating a company culture that enables your people to thrive will unleash potential, innovation, and resilience in the face of uncertainty. --- Tonille Miller Tonille Miller With over 15 years of experience as a management consultant, I/O psychologist, and executive coach, Tonille is the founder of EXT – Experience and Transformation, a boutique consulting firm that helps leaders and organizations thrive in the new world of work. She specializes in change management, digital transformation, employee engagement & retention, culture, behavior change, strategic communications, business transformation, hybrid work, AI adoption, employee experience, leadership development, and organizational effectiveness. Her new book, The Flourishing Effect: Unlocking Employee Thriving as Your Competetive Edge, provides a playbook for leaders and change-makers to create the conditions that engage their people and unlock high performance in this new world. She has been featured in media outlets like The Huffington Post, Nasdaq, TechFunnel, Thrive Global, Employee Experience Magazine, Flex Index Executives Diary Magazine, and the American Journal of Health Promotion. [Read More from Tonille Miller]() With over 15 years of experience as a management consultant, I/O psychologist, and executive coach, Tonille is the founder of EXT – Experience and Transformation, a boutique consulting firm that helps leaders and organizations thrive in the new world of work. She specializes in change management, digital transformation, employee engagement & retention, culture, behavior change, strategic communications, business transformation, hybrid work, AI adoption, employee experience, leadership development, and organizational effectiveness. Her new book, The Flourishing Effect: Unlocking Employee Thriving as Your Competitive Edge, provides a playbook for leaders and change-makers to create the conditions that engage their people and unlock high performance in this new world. #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() [Kadence]() AI workplace management for corporate real estate [US +1 (415) 758 4757]() [UK +44 (0)20 3884 2705]() - [https://www.linkedin.com/company/kadenceos]() - [https://twitter.com/KadenceOS]() - [https://www.youtube.com/@onkadence]() - [https://www.facebook.com/KadenceOS/]() - [https://www.g2.com/products/kadence-kadence/reviews]() #### Platform - [SpaceOps]() - [WorkOps]() - [Kadence AI]() - [Desk booking]() - [Room booking]() - [Visitor management]() - [Integrations]() - [Pricing]() #### Solutions - [Real estate]() - [Facilities]() - [People and HR]() - [IT and security]() #### Industries - [Financial services]() - [Technology]() - [Legal]() - [Business services]() - [Commercial real estate]() - [Consumer goods]() - [Energy and utilities]() - [Government]() - [Healthcare and pharma]() - [Higher education]() - [Manufacturing]() - [Media and entertainment]() - [Non-profits]() - [Retail]() #### Resources - [Customer stories]() - [Wall of Love]() - [Future of Work]() - [Product news]() - [Release notes]() - [Events]() - [ROI calculator]() - [Guides]() - [Glossary]() - [Compare]() #### Company - [Why Kadence]() - [Newsroom]() - [Security and trust]() - [Contact us]() - [Careers (opens in a new tab)]() - [Help center (opens in a new tab)]() - [FAQs (opens in a new tab)]() - [Sign in (opens in a new tab)]() © 2026 Kadence [Privacy policy]() · [Terms of service]() · [Cookies policy]() · [Anti-spam policy]() ## Workplace Management System Implementation Guide | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/how-to-implement-a-workplace-management-system/ Description: A step-by-step guide to workplace management system implementation: set goals, clean your data, pilot in phases, drive adoption and measure the results. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · May 26, 2026 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### How to Implement a Workplace Management System: A Step-by-Step Enterprise Guide How to Implement a Workplace Management System [Workplace management system]() implementation is the process of planning, configuring and rolling out software that coordinates how an organization uses its space, workplace data and day-to-day operations. It is a technical and an operational undertaking at the same time. Deploying the software does not, on its own, change how people behave. Successful implementation depends on three things: clear goals set before rollout begins, a phased approach that lets the organization learn and adjust, and real investment in adoption across every team that will use the system. Done well, the rollout reshapes how the organization coordinates space, manages data and makes decisions about its physical environment. The steps below take an enterprise rollout from first planning through to long-term optimization. #### What should you decide before implementing a workplace management system? Decide what the organization is trying to achieve, which functions the system will affect and how success will be measured. The most important implementation decisions are made before go-live. Organizations that rush to deployment without aligning goals, auditing their data and securing stakeholder buy-in consistently face adoption problems and weak ROI after launch. A workplace management system is software that brings space, bookings, workplace data and operational workflows into one place, so workplace, real estate and facilities teams can run the office and plan it from the same information. For a fuller definition, read [What Is a Workplace Management System?]() Before anyone selects or configures a platform, leadership should agree on three points: - **The goal.** What decision or outcome is the system meant to improve? - **The scope.** Which locations, teams and functions are in the first phase, and which follow later? - **The measures.** Which metrics will show whether the implementation delivered value? These answers shape every later step, from vendor selection to training. #### How do you implement a workplace management system step by step? An enterprise rollout follows seven steps: define objectives and success metrics, select and configure the platform, prepare and migrate data, plan a phased rollout with testing, drive adoption through training and [change management](), integrate with existing systems, then monitor and optimize after go-live. Each step depends on the quality of the one before it. ##### Step 1: Define objectives, scope and success metrics Clarity before action is the foundation of any workplace management implementation. Organizations that begin rollout without defined objectives typically end up with a system that is technically deployed but operationally underused. Success looks different depending on the organization: - For some, it means reducing cost per employee by right-sizing underutilized floors. - For others, it means improving hybrid coordination so teams can plan in-office days with confidence. - For real estate teams, it might mean having the data needed to model lease decisions before committing to them. Whatever the goal, workplace, IT, finance and HR stakeholders need to define and agree on it, then tie it to metrics that can actually be tracked. Without that alignment, it is hard to judge whether the implementation delivered value, and equally hard to build the internal case for continued investment. ##### Step 2: Select and configure the right platform Selecting a workplace management solution means evaluating fit, not just features. A platform that looks comprehensive in a demonstration may not map to how the organization actually operates, particularly if it was assessed against a generic checklist rather than the goals set in step 1. A structured evaluation, such as the one in the Kadence [buyer’s guide](), keeps the comparison anchored to your own requirements. Configuration is where many implementations lose momentum. Organizations sometimes treat it as a technical task rather than a strategic one, and end up with a system that mirrors existing processes instead of improving them. Configure the platform to support the decisions the organization needs to make, with room to adapt as those needs change. Validate scalability, integration capability and ease of use for each role during this stage. Do not assume them. SpaceOps AI agent answering "Can Finance and Legal share a floor if we move to the new layout?" with a live floor plan view from Kadence SpaceOps showing current team allocations across two floors, and an AI-generated recommendation to consolidate both teams onto Floor 1 by moving HR to Floor 2. ##### Step 3: Prepare and migrate your workplace data Data quality is one of the most underestimated factors in implementation. [A 2025 report by the IBM Institute for Business Value found that 43% of chief operations officers identify data quality as their most significant data priority](). Organizations that enter implementation with poor underlying data tend to produce poor insights from the outset. Before migration, audit the existing data: - floor plans and space assignments; - employee records; - booking history; - asset inventories. Clean, standardize and validate this data before it moves into the new system. Test the migration before full rollout, so the team can find gaps and correct errors while the stakes are lower. The principle is simple: a workplace management system is only as useful as the data it runs on. ##### Step 4: Plan a phased rollout and test each phase Large, simultaneous rollouts carry significant risk. An organization that deploys across every location and user group at once has little room to learn from early mistakes before those mistakes affect everyone. A phased approach starts with a pilot in a single team, office or function. The pilot lets the implementation team test configuration, find friction points and refine the rollout before scaling. Build user acceptance testing into each phase. User acceptance testing means representative employees confirm that the system behaves as expected in real working conditions. Organizations that pilot and iterate consistently achieve smoother adoption and stronger long-term engagement than those that treat go-live as a single event. SpaceOps AI agent responding to "Seat the three new starters joining Monday" by automatically assigning desk locations on a live floor plan view, with move sheets generated and a prompt to notify the facilities team about equipment requirements. ##### Step 5: Drive adoption through training and change management Adoption is the single most important success factor in any workplace management implementation. If employees do not use the system consistently, it cannot generate the data the organization needs for better decisions, and the business case for the investment falls apart. Three practices make the difference: - **Internal champions.** Name a champion in each affected team. Champions give the rollout a human face and give employees a contact who understands both the system and their day-to-day work. - **Role-based training.** Administrators who manage space and reporting need different guidance from employees who book desks or check in. - **Clear communication.** Explain what the system does, why it is being introduced and how it helps individuals as well as the organization. This reduces resistance and builds early engagement. Track adoption as a metric. Do not assume it as an outcome. For an example of a rollout built around adoption, see how [MOPAC implemented desk booking](). ##### Step 6: Integrate with existing systems and workflows A workplace management solution that runs in isolation from the rest of the technology stack quickly becomes another siloed tool. Its value grows significantly when it connects with the platforms employees and teams already rely on: HR systems, calendar tools, access control infrastructure and enterprise resource planning platforms. Integration lets the system act as a single source of truth for workplace data rather than one input among many. That reduces duplication, improves data accuracy and gives cross-functional teams, from facilities to finance, a consistent view of how the workplace is performing. Map existing system dependencies before implementation begins, and check a vendor’s [integration capabilities]() before you finalize platform selection. Poor integration limits the system’s long-term value and is one of the most common reasons implementations fail to scale. ##### Step 7: Monitor performance and optimize over time Implementation does not end at go-live. The shift from deployment to continuous improvement is where workplace management systems generate their most durable value. Track metrics tied directly to the objectives set in step 1, whether that is space utilization, cost per employee, booking adoption rates or hybrid attendance patterns. [According to JLL’s 2026 Global Occupancy Planning Benchmark Report, the gap between actual and target office utilization has narrowed to 18 percentage points globally](). That suggests organizations with better data are setting more realistic targets and closing the gap more effectively. Feedback from employees and managers surfaces issues that data alone may not reveal. As the organization’s needs change, reconfigure and extend the system to support more advanced capabilities, including scenario planning and portfolio-level [workplace analytics](). SpaceOps AI agent answering "How many desks does Engineering actually need?" using live Kadence WorkOps occupancy data, showing team size, attendance patterns, and an AI-generated desk allocation recommendation. #### Who should be involved in a workplace management implementation? Workplace and facilities teams, IT, HR and finance should all be involved from the planning stage. Together they make sure the system is configured for cross-functional needs and integrates with existing tools. One owner should also be accountable for the outcome, because an implementation that nobody owns tends to stall. Each group brings something different to the rollout: - **Workplace and facilities** define how space is used and managed day to day. - **IT** owns integrations, data migration and access. - **HR** holds employee records and shapes communication and change management. - **Finance** ties the objectives to cost and judges whether the investment is paying off. Internal champions in each team then carry the rollout from the planning group to the people who use the system every day. #### What are the most common workplace management system implementation challenges? The most common challenges are unclear ownership, poor data quality, low user adoption, overly complex rollouts and integration gaps with existing systems. They are predictable, and most are avoidable with clear goals, early data audits, role-based training, phased deployment and integration planning before launch. Knowing them in advance reduces the risk of a costly course correction. - **Lack of clear goals or ownership.** This is the most frequent root cause of implementation failure. When no one is accountable for the outcome, decisions get deferred, timelines slip and adoption becomes no one’s responsibility. *Mitigation:* agree objectives up front and name one accountable owner. - **Poor data quality.** Bad data entering the system produces unreliable outputs, which erodes confidence in the platform early. *Mitigation:* audit and clean data before migration. - **Low user adoption.** Usually the result of insufficient training or change management. The system then generates incomplete data and fails to deliver the decision support it was designed for. *Mitigation:* role-based training, champions and adoption tracking. - **Overly complex rollouts.** Strategies that try to do everything at once create unnecessary risk and overwhelm implementation teams. *Mitigation:* pilot first, then scale in phases. - **Integration gaps.** Missing connections, particularly with HR systems and calendars, stop the system from working as a unified data source. *Mitigation:* plan integrations before platform selection. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How do you measure success after implementation? Measure success against the objectives defined before rollout began, not simply by whether the system is technically working. The right metrics vary by organization, but most enterprises track space utilization, cost savings from better [space allocation](), employee adoption and reductions in manual coordination. Treat measurement as an ongoing process, not a one-time review. Typical measures include: - space utilization and occupancy trends across locations; - cost savings achieved through more efficient space allocation; - employee adoption rates and engagement with the system; - operational improvements, such as less manual coordination overhead. Qualitative feedback also matters. If employees say the office feels more organized and predictable, that is a meaningful signal. The most effective organizations use their workplace management data to keep refining policies, adjust space configurations and make the case for further investment in space management and [portfolio optimization](). [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How does Kadence support workplace management system implementation? Kadence supports organizations through every stage of implementation, from configuration and integration to adoption, analytics and long-term portfolio optimization. A successful rollout needs a platform built for the complexity of real enterprise environments, not just the simplicity of a demonstration. The [Kadence platform guide]() explains how the platform’s parts fit together. To see how Kadence supports a structured, scalable implementation for your organization, [book a demo with our workplace operations experts](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the best way to implement a workplace management system? Start with clearly defined objectives and success metrics. Choose a platform that fits your organization’s specific needs, then deploy in phases rather than all at once, so you can test and iterate before full rollout. ##### How long does it take to implement workplace management software? Timelines vary by organization size and complexity. Most enterprise implementations take between three and twelve months when they follow a phased approach that includes data migration, integration and change management. ##### Which teams should be involved in implementation? Workplace and facilities teams, IT, HR and finance should all be involved from the planning stage. That way the system is configured to support cross-functional needs and integrates with existing tools. ##### How do you ensure successful adoption after implementation? Designate internal champions, provide role-based training and communicate clearly about the purpose and benefits of the system. Track adoption as a metric from day one rather than assuming it will happen on its own. Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How to Measure Collaboration in the Workplace | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/how-to-measure-collaboration-at-work-in-2026/ Description: How to measure collaboration in the workplace with four behavioral indicators drawn from attendance, booking and space data, without monitoring individuals. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · December 17, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### How to Measure Collaboration in the Workplace How to Measure Collaboration at Work in 2026 To measure collaboration in the workplace, track behavior instead of sentiment. Four indicators do most of the work: how often teams overlap in person, whether meetings line up with office attendance, how collaboration clusters by day and location, and whether space supports or constrains interaction. All four come from aggregated attendance, booking and space data, not from monitoring individuals. Collaboration is [one of the most cited reasons organizations want people in the office](), and one of the least well measured. Most leaders say it matters. Far fewer can explain whether it is improving, declining or simply changing shape. The issue is not that collaboration is intangible. It is that organizations have been measuring the wrong things. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Why has collaboration been so hard to measure? Collaboration has been hard to measure because organizations treated it as a cultural outcome rather than an operational one. Leaders asked people how collaborative they felt, then inferred success or failure from the answers. Surveys capture perception, not behavior. They are also retrospective: by the time results are analyzed, the patterns they describe have already changed. Measuring collaboration requires observing what people do, not just how they describe it. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() A **collaboration metric** is an aggregated, repeatable measure of when and how groups work together, built from observed behavior rather than self-reported feelings. #### How to measure collaboration in the workplace: four behavioral indicators The practical way to measure collaboration in the workplace is to track a small number of behavioral indicators consistently over time. Four matter most, and tracked together they show whether collaboration is being enabled or blocked: - **In-person team overlap:** how often teams, and the teams that depend on them, share days in the office. - **Meeting alignment with presence:** whether in-person meetings happen on the days the right people are actually in. - **Clustering by day and location:** where and when collaboration concentrates, and how that rhythm repeats over time. - **Space fit:** whether rooms and floors support or constrain the way groups actually meet. None of these metrics requires surveillance. They rely on aggregated patterns, not individual monitoring, and that distinction is critical: responsible [collaboration measurement]() builds trust because it focuses on systems, not people. #### What does collaboration look like in workplace data? Collaboration leaves clear signals in when teams choose to be in the office, how often people meet in person, and whether those meetings bring the right groups together. Kadence Pulse, Kadence’s analysis of booking data across organizations using Kadence, showed what those signals looked like in December 2025. At that point, the average company held around 40 meetings per month, with activity concentrated midweek. When single-person bookings were excluded, the average meeting size rose to around six people, and it had been increasing since mid-2024. Cancellation rates sat between 30 and 35 percent but were declining among enterprise organizations, which indicated more deliberate planning and more confidence in shared presence. These patterns show collaboration becoming more intentional, not more frequent. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Line chart of average meeting size per month for online and in-person meetings, based on Kadence bookings from January 2024 to October 2025. #### Why is coordinated presence a leading indicator of collaboration? Coordinated presence is one of the strongest signals of collaboration health. When teams can see when colleagues will be in, collaboration becomes easier to plan. When that visibility is missing, collaboration becomes opportunistic or is avoided altogether. Coordination improves first, which makes it a useful early measure. A **leading indicator** is a measure that moves before the outcome you care about, so you can act before the outcome changes. At the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), improving coordination across teams was essential. Before adopting Kadence, in-office collaboration depended heavily on informal knowledge and manual planning. After implementation, MOPAC achieved 83 percent user adoption, driven by clearer visibility into attendance and easier coordination across teams, as the [MOPAC desk booking story]() describes. This was not about measuring individuals. It was about making patterns visible. Collaboration improved because coordination improved. #### Does collaboration measurement work outside headquarters? Yes. A common assumption is that collaboration measurement only works in corporate headquarters. It also works for distributed organizations with varied roles. The aim is to read presence patterns across locations and support the rhythms teams already have, without imposing rigid attendance rules. [Kadence’s work with RSPB]() shows this. With distributed teams and varied roles, RSPB needed to support collaboration across locations. By using workplace data to understand presence patterns, RSPB could see when and where teams naturally came together and how space supported those moments. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() The insight was not about forcing alignment. It was about recognizing existing rhythms and supporting them operationally, so teams had clearer signals about when in-person time would be most valuable. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How does workplace operations make collaboration measurable? [Workplace operations]() is the layer that turns collaboration signals into insight. By connecting attendance patterns, booking behavior and space usage, leaders can see whether collaboration is being enabled or blocked, and identify where coordination breaks down, where space is misaligned, and where small changes would have an outsized impact. **Workplace operations** is the practice of running the office day to day across people, space and schedules. Interactive office floor plan showing how desks and rooms are used Kadence [workplace analytics]() provide this operational visibility without turning collaboration into a scorecard. Leaders can understand patterns over time and make informed decisions about space, scheduling and expectations. Kadence dashboards showing space utilization and hybrid policy compliance by department, alongside the questions a workplace leader asks #### What should change once you measure collaboration? The purpose of measuring collaboration is not another dashboard. It is to change decisions. When leaders can see how collaboration actually happens, they stop relying on blunt policies and assumptions. They design offices around real behavior, support teams where coordination matters most, and invest in the conditions that make collaboration easier. Kadence AI suggesting extra neighborhoods for Sales and Marketing during a product launch week, with the current and recommended floor configurations The organizations that measure collaboration well are not asking people to be more collaborative. They are operating workplaces that make collaboration easier to do. The [guide to workplace analytics metrics]() covers the wider set of measures that sit alongside these four. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the best way to measure collaboration at work? Track a small set of behavioral indicators consistently: in-person overlap, meeting alignment with presence, clustering by day and location, and space fit. Read them as patterns over time, not one-off snapshots. ##### What data do you need to measure team collaboration effectiveness? Aggregated attendance patterns, booking behavior and space usage. Connected, they show whether teams overlap, whether meetings happen when people are in, and where space is misaligned. ##### Does measuring collaboration mean monitoring employees? No. It relies on aggregated patterns across teams and locations, not individual monitoring. The focus is on how the workplace supports collaboration, not on scoring people. To see how collaboration really happens in your organization and how to measure it in a way that leads to better decisions, [book a demo with our workplace operations experts](). Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How To Stay Connected To Your Hybrid Team With Steve Cockram - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/how-to-stay-connected-to-your-hybrid-team-with-steve-cockram/ Description: Learn how you can adopt new strategies to stay connected with your hybrid team and improve workplace wellbeing. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · April 29, 2024 · [Helen Attia]() ### How To Stay Connected To Your Hybrid Team With Steve Cockram A man participates in an online video call with nine colleagues visible on the screen. As Head of People and Partnerships at Kadence, one of the things I ask myself most regularly is “how do we better communicate as a team?”. Operating as a distributed team, we are spread all over the world. For that reason, it’s really important for us to feel like we don’t sacrifice on connection and cohesion as an organization and group of people. In a recent chat with [Steve Cockram]() of [GiANT Worldwide](), I got into the topic of how to stay connected as a hybrid team — and why it’s so important for companies navigating a new era of work. This is a summary of the ideas and insights that came up in our conversation. Please also check out my full conversation with Steve where he goes into even more detail of how to stay connected as a hybrid team. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Hybrid Work: No Longer Just A Nice To Have Hybrid work is still seen as a “nice to have”. That means that leaders and managers acknowledge its importance for the health of their business, but they continue to forget to take it on board with regularity and intention. Basically: it falls to the bottom of the pile. It’s high time we started to view hybrid work as an urgent, must-have solution that runs at the core of a company’s business and people objectives. Hybrid is about much more than setting up a desk booking system and telling people to come into the office two days a week. It’s about having an actionable strategy in place to ensure that your people are getting adequate *[relational connection]()* (as put by Steve) — the lifeblood of emotional health. But what does “adequate relational connection” actually entail, and why is it so important? #### Building Trust And Relationships Beyond The Screen The pandemic steered the course of professional work firmly towards screens. From a situation where real life communication was the norm — working in an office five days a week — suddenly employees found themselves relying predominantly on Zoom calls (from home!) for social interaction. The change happened overnight — and it somehow tricked us all into believing video calls are a like-for-like replacement of real meetings. The truth couldn’t be more different. As human beings, we rely deeply on in-person communication and interaction for our well-being. It’s this *relational connection* that builds trust and makes us feel happy and fulfilled — like we belong in a community. Without this enormous part of us being addressed, no number of Zoom calls can fill the gap. Put very simply — if we’re [not getting enough quality time together](), our wellbeing, sense of community and productivity will all suffer. HR teams are generally well aware of wellbeing and the need for their people to stay happy and healthy. And yet few have managed to connect the dots between hybrid, home working and emotional health and wellbeing. Perhaps it’s time to flip the script on what it means to meet up in work contexts. #### Rethinking Time Together So how, as a leader, do you go about putting into practice what you know about the importance of in-person meeting for your team’s overall health? According to Steve, staying connected as a hybrid team is all about reimagining what it means to meet up as a team. A lot of the time, business owners are thinking about how to make in-person meetings more efficient and productive. As though the time spent together needs to showcase everyone “working harder” or “achieving outcomes”. But Steve argues that it’s actually more important to view these social gatherings as exactly that — social gatherings. Whether it’s quarterly, monthly, or weekly all-hands meet ups at the office — companies should start thinking about providing platforms for social connection *with no strings attached*. The time you spend with your teammates together is a precious resource, and it shouldn’t be wasted on work tasks that could easily be done remotely. The objectives therefore have to be different — less focused on direct business objectives and more geared towards deepening relational connection and trust. The best part? The more you develop a concrete strategy for ensuring your team are connecting and communicating on a regular basis, the more you’ll see your business and bottom line flourish as a result. --- This isn’t the first time the world of work has undergone monumental changes. When the industrial revolution brought millions of people from rural work settings to cities, it took governments and organizations a long while to understand how to build legislation that kept people healthy and happy. The same is happening with hybrid work now. Managers and business leaders are trying their best to navigate a new era of working, but most are still yet to realise that the puzzle is incomplete without one large piece – *people*. Time and time again, we see how the health of teams — as measured by the teams themselves — proves to be the most helpful metric on the dashboard of a CEO. It correlates directly with their likelihood of success. So don’t cut short those lunches, coffees, team dinners. Enjoy them. They’re all part of deepening connections and trust between your employees that feeds back into the wellbeing of your business. When people flourish, companies flourish. And at Kadence, our mission is to ensure you stay connected with your hybrid team. --- [GiANT Worldwide]() is a global leadership consultancy that helps thousands of leaders from companies of all sizes — from startups to Fortune 500s. Their innovative “5 Voices” self assessment tool gives leaders a better indication of their own natural leadership voice, from “Pioneer” to “Connector” and “Nurturer”. Once a leader has discovered their own voice, they become more self-aware; a better communicator; a quicker decision maker, and ultimately a better manager. --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Hybrid Is The New Normal—But Not Yet For Everyone - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/hybrid-is-the-new-normal-but-not-yet-for-everyone/ Description: The UK has quietly reached a milestone: hybrid working is now the most common way to work among professionals. According to new data from the Office for National Statistics, 28% of workers in Britain split their time between home and the office. This is a structural shift in how the country works. But the data […] [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · June 30, 2025 · [Helen Attia]() ### Hybrid Is The New Normal—But Not Yet For Everyone The UK has quietly reached a milestone: [hybrid working is now the most common way to work among professionals.]() According to [new data from the Office for National Statistics](), 28% of workers in Britain split their time between home and the office. This is a structural shift in how the country works. But the data tells a deeper story—one that reveals how access to flexibility isn’t evenly distributed. Hybrid is thriving in some sectors, roles, and regions. Others are still shut out. For hybrid work to fulfil its promise, it needs to be designed with inclusion in mind. That means moving beyond ad hoc arrangements and into intentional strategies. #### A Divide In Who Gets Flexibility The headline number—28% of UK workers are hybrid—is impressive. Just three years ago, it was half that. But look closer, and a pattern emerges. People with degree-level qualifications are ten times more likely to work hybrid than those without. And when it comes to income, the difference is just as stark: [45% of workers]() earning £50,000 or more work hybrid, compared to just 8% of those earning under £20,000. Hybrid working is also more common in the least deprived areas of the UK than the most deprived. This isn’t just about income or status. It’s about opportunity. When flexible working becomes a perk reserved for a privileged few, organisations risk creating two-tier workplace cultures—one that’s visible and office-bound, and another that’s remote, less included, and less recognised. #### Hybrid Strategy Needs To Be Designed Many companies have adopted hybrid by default—letting it evolve without a clear strategy. But as the ONS data shows, who gets to work hybrid is often shaped by legacy decisions, not thoughtful design. Hybrid needs a framework. That includes defining which roles are eligible, giving teams clarity on when and why to meet in person, and equipping managers with tools to support fairness. Without this, hybrid ends up reinforcing inequalities it was supposed to solve. A well-designed hybrid strategy also helps teams make better use of their spaces. It aligns office use with real behaviour, not assumptions. It gives leaders data to understand what’s working—and what’s not. Featured Content 7 Steps To Hybrid Success Streamline your team’s success—download our free checklist today! [Download]() #### Visibility, Inclusion, And Retention Hybrid has benefits. Studies show that those who work from home gain back an average of 56 minutes a day. That translates into more sleep, more exercise, and better wellbeing. But the benefits go deeper. Flexible strategies, when thoughtfully implemented, help with retention. A recent survey found that nearly half of workers would consider leaving a role if forced back to the office full-time. Giving people flexibility is no longer just a cultural benefit—it’s a business imperative. The challenge is ensuring those benefits are spread fairly. That means auditing access, identifying overlooked roles, and building hybrid into the fabric of how people work—not just where they work. #### Hybrid Isn’t Going Anywhere The ONS numbers confirm what we’ve seen across our customer base: hybrid is here to stay. But it hasn’t arrived evenly. The organisations who will thrive in the next phase aren’t the ones mandating office attendance or leaving hybrid to chance—they’re the ones designing strategies that enable flexibility, visibility, and inclusion across their workforce. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Want help building a hybrid strategy that works for everyone? [Book a demo]() with our hybrid experts. Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() Speak With Our Hybrid Experts Team Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Hybrid Isn’t Failing. Leadership Is. - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/hybrid-isnt-failing-leadership-is/ Description: Discover what it takes to build real hybrid leadership to make hybrid work successful with insights from Kadence and Camilla Miehs. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · March 31, 2025 · [Helen Attia]() ### Hybrid Isn’t Failing. Leadership Is. I had one of those conversations recently that stays with you. You know the kind — the call you hop onto thinking it’ll be a quick exchange of ideas, and you leave feeling like someone just reframed everything you thought you knew. That someone, in this case, was [Camilla Miehs](). Camilla is a powerhouse. A former HR leader with a global remit and a sharp mind for systems thinking, she’s shifting her focus to transforming how organizations approach people strategy. Not with surface-level fixes, but by tackling the deep, structural issues that keep workplaces stuck in the past. I reached out because, at Kadence, we’re at a critical crossroads. Yes, we’re [a hybrid work platform](). But we’re also realising — loud and clear — that **technology alone won’t save hybrid work**. Our customers aren’t struggling with tools. They’re struggling with trust. [With culture](). With outdated leadership models and HR practices that haven’t evolved for this new world of hybrid work. As Camilla put it: “We keep sprinkling mindfulness sessions or social events on top of broken systems. But the problem isn’t the lack of sprinkles — it’s that the cake is wrong.” Camilla Miehs #### We Don’t Have A Hybrid Problem. We Have A Leadership Crisis. The more we talked, the more it became clear: hybrid work is exposing the structural cracks that were always there. Knowledge doesn’t flow. Belonging feels performative. And the leadership of hybrid work? Many are defaulting to control because they don’t know how else to lead. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() “Most managers don’t know how to measure performance in knowledge work. They never did — even when everyone was in the office. So now they’re clinging to proximity as a proxy for productivity.” Camilla Miehs This isn’t about bad intent. It’s about skill gaps. Habitual thinking. And HR functions that, as Camilla argues, have become too reactive and compliance-driven to lead transformation. *“HR has spent years focusing on upskilling others but forgot to ask: what do we need to be world-class at, to drive the future of work?”* That hit home for me. Because at Kadence, we see this every day. We talk to customers who are eager for change but [have no roadmap](). They want [flexibility, culture, collaboration]() — but they’re missing the foundational systems, leadership models, and mindset shifts to make it happen. Featured Content 7 Steps To Hybrid Success Streamline your team’s success—download our free checklist today! [Download]() #### It’s Time To Get Real About What's Broken Hybrid work isn’t a new version of office work. [It’s a paradigm shift](). And we won’t get there with dashboards, diktats, or “three days a week in the office” rules slapped on top of 20th-century management styles. We need to ask harder questions: - Why aren’t teams collaborating, even with great tools? - Why do so many employees feel disconnected, despite “culture” initiatives? - Why are we still designing policies for the lowest common denominator instead of trusting people to do great work? Featured Content Free Hybrid Work Policy Template Streamline your team’s success—download our free Hybrid Work Policy Template today! [Download Template]() Camilla nailed it when she said: “Leaders don’t know how to work intentionally with culture — in-office, hybrid, or remote. They’ve never been taught. And people teams often don’t know how to bring them on that journey either.” Camilla Miehs That’s the real reason hybrid’s not working. Not because people don’t want flexibility. Not because Zoom is the problem. But because the [systems, skills, and support]() required for a human-centric, performance-driven culture simply aren’t in place. #### So What Do We Do? This is where I think we, at Kadence, can do more. And we are. We’re starting to build out services alongside our product to help hybrid work — because we know that without addressing people experience and leadership capability, no tech will ever be enough. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Camilla’s work is deeply practical: building leadership blueprints, restructuring how culture is built and maintained, and identifying the “super-connectors” within organisations who can drive lasting change. She said something that stuck with me: “We’ve designed work around one-size-fits-all models — and now we’re surprised when people don’t feel they belong. If we want human-centric work, we have to rebuild from the ground up.” Camilla Miehs That’s the journey we’re on. And if you’re reading this and nodding along — tired of band-aids and ready to fix the foundation — then let’s talk. Because hybrid isn’t failing. It’s hybrid leadership that needs to evolve. And we all have a role to play in building something better. Want to see how Kadence can help you operationalise your hybrid strategy? [Book a demo]() with our hybrid work experts today. --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Hybrid Manifesto: Hybrid Working Principles | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/hybrid-manifesto/ Description: The Hybrid Manifesto sets out hybrid working principles for workplace policy: four pillars, three benefits and a framework for People, Profits and the Planet. [News]() · [Hybrid Working]() · February 1, 2023 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### The Hybrid Manifesto: Hybrid Working Principles For Your Workplace Policy 5 teammates in a hybrid workplace meeting The Hybrid Manifesto is a set of [hybrid working]() principles for building a hybrid workplace policy. Kadence published it in February 2023 as a framework that helps companies create a work environment that benefits their People, Profits and the Planet. This page summarizes it. The full text is at [hybridmanifesto.org](). #### What is the Hybrid Manifesto? The Hybrid Manifesto is a document that sets out the guiding principles for implementing a hybrid workplace policy. It gives companies a framework for a work environment that benefits their People, Profits and the Planet, built on four pillars and three benefits of hybrid work. A **hybrid workplace policy** is the set of rules that decides where, when and how employees work. The manifesto does not prescribe office days; it describes the foundations a policy should rest on. #### Why did Kadence write the Hybrid Manifesto? Kadence wrote the manifesto because organizations faced a hard balance. Tools for fully [remote work]() mean people no longer need to commute to do their jobs. Yet coming together in person has unique benefits: accomplishing shared goals, connecting as human beings and building community. Balancing the two is daunting without the right support. Having helped many organizations move to hybrid work, the team wanted to give every organization the foundations of hybrid work and a framework for a better hybrid workplace policy. This summary is by [Dan Bladen](), who writes about hybrid work for Kadence. Kadence’s guide to [hybrid work strategy]() covers how organizations turn principles like these into a working policy. #### What are the four pillars of hybrid working? The manifesto defines four hybrid working principles it treats as essential for successful hybrid work: Trust, Alignment, Execution and Flourishing. They run from how a team communicates today to the long-term health of the organization. - **Trust** is the foundation for all team health and performance. It is established through effective, transparent communication. - **Alignment** means everyone is rowing in the same direction, in sync with their team members and the company. - **Execution** means everyone on the team can articulate the organization’s strategy and carry it out. - **Flourishing** is a hybrid organization’s commitment to the long-term health of People, Profits and the Planet. #### What are the key benefits of hybrid work? The Hybrid Manifesto promotes three key benefits of hybrid work, each framed as one value placed above another. Together they describe a workplace where people share goals, choose where to work and protect time for collaboration instead of burning out alone. ##### 1. Shared vision above corporate controls Personal goals and company goals are aligned, rather than set top-down. ##### 2. Situational flexibility above rigidity and repetitiveness Empowering people to choose where to work yields better performance and happier employees. ##### 3. Meaningful collaboration above individual burnout The social role of collaboration is protected and valued as an important work tool. #### How do the principles translate into results? According to the manifesto, organizations that implement its principles can achieve increased productivity, reduced burnout and greater employee retention. The principles are the starting point. A policy still has to turn them into day-to-day rules for where teams work and when they meet. In practice, that means deciding how people will [coordinate their office days]() and how the office supports the collaboration the policy values. If your company is thinking about moving to hybrid work, you can [talk to the Kadence team](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### Who wrote the Hybrid Manifesto? Kadence published the Hybrid Manifesto in February 2023, drawing on its experience helping organizations move to hybrid work. ##### What are the four pillars in the Hybrid Manifesto? The four pillars are Trust, Alignment, Execution and Flourishing. Trust comes from transparent communication, and Flourishing is the commitment to the long-term health of People, Profits and the Planet. ##### Does the Hybrid Manifesto say how many days to spend in the office? No. The manifesto sets out principles and benefits rather than a fixed schedule. It favors situational flexibility, where people are empowered to choose where to work, over rigid and repetitive patterns. #### Related - [The CEO’s Perspective: Driving Growth, Innovation, And Hybrid Working ROI]() Embracing hybrid work isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for forward-thinking CEOs. This article unveils how hybrid work models drive unprecedented Hybrid Working ROI across the triple bottom line: By implementing a robust hybrid working ROI strategy, CEOs can future-proof their organizations, attract top talent, and gain a competitive edge in an evolving business \[…\] - [Hybrid Pulse Check #1: Office Attendance By Country And Weekday (November 2024)]() Kadence booking data from over 500 companies, published in November 2024: office attendance by country, the peak in-office days, and what workplace leaders can do about it. - [Hybrid Work Management Software – Choosing The Right One]() The rise of hybrid work models has become more than just a trend. It’s a necessity. As teams embrace a flexible work environment, effective Hybrid Work Management Software has become critical. Read our key considerations that will empower you and your team to choose the right software that best suits your hybrid goals. The traditional \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Hybrid Work Management Software- Choosing the Right One - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/hybrid-work-management-software-choosing-the-right-one/ Description: Choosing the right management software for your hybrid work environment is essential to fulfilling the potential of your team's hybrid model. [News]() · [Hybrid Working]() · February 29, 2024 · [Jamie Addis]() ### Hybrid Work Management Software – Choosing The Right One A team of five around a desk, with pop up notifications from Kadence, a hybrid work management software, that says where teammates are working. The rise of hybrid work models has become more than just a trend. It’s a necessity. As teams embrace a flexible work environment, effective Hybrid Work Management Software has become critical. Read our key considerations that will empower you and your team to choose the right software that best suits your hybrid goals. #### The Need For Hybrid Work Management Software The traditional office setup has [undergone a seismic shift](). Remote and in-office work are now seamlessly interwoven. This brings both opportunities and challenges. Companies may worry about communication gaps, cultural shifts, employee engagement and well-being. On a logistical level, managers will have concerns about security, technology integrations and managing desk booking in the office. ##### **Hybrid Work Management Software Turns Challenges Into Opportunities** With the right Hybrid Work Management Software, these challenges can be easily solved. These platforms can bridge the physical and digital workspaces, which means you and your team can instead focus on the opportunities afforded by hybrid work. The challenges become short-term issues. The hybrid future is one of enhanced flexibility, access to global talent, and increased productivity. A finely tuned hybrid work environment can cut costs, improve employee retention and attraction, and future-proof your business against any disruption. This is why choosing the right software is essential. It provides a unified platform for task management, collaboration, and communication. It streamlines workflows, ensuring that team members, whether in the office or working remotely, stay connected and productive. It is through the software that companies can reach their full hybrid potential. #### Key Considerations In Choosing The Right Software ##### 1. Seamless Integration [Seamless integration with existing tools]() is non-negotiable. Look for a platform that effortlessly integrates with the software currently used and appreciated by your team. This includes: - Communication tools - Project management platforms - Document sharing systems A strong contender should integrate with widely used tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Workspace. Integrations mean that your hybrid employees do not have to jump from app to app. Your team can work without frustration with a platform that syncs with what they already feel comfortable with. This simplifies the user experience and also minimizes the learning curve for your team. Employees using their Hybrid Work Management Software and using its various integrations. Choose a Hybrid Work Management Software that integrates with pre-existing tools. ##### 2. Intuitive User Interface A user-friendly interface is the cornerstone of effective Hybrid Work Management Software. Your team should be able to navigate the platform effortlessly, irrespective of their technical proficiency. Opt for software with an intuitive design that promotes ease of use and encourages rapid adoption. [An intuitive interface encourages collaboration](). It should be easy for team members to access and update information. This reduces the likelihood of errors and ensures that everyone stays on the same page, regardless of their physical location. ##### 3. Flexibility And Scalability The hybrid work model is inherently dynamic. Think about the long-term needs of your team and how those may change as the company grows. Choose a solution that offers flexibility in customization and scalability to accommodate the evolving demands of your team. Look for software that allows you to tailor workflows, permissions, and project structures according to your organization’s unique requirements. [Scalability is crucial for future-proofing your investment.]() It ensures that the software can grow alongside your team. ##### 4. Robust Security Measures The hybrid work model introduces new challenges concerning data security and privacy. Your chosen Hybrid Work Management Software must [prioritize robust security measures]() to safeguard sensitive information. Look for end-to-end encryption, secure user authentication, and compliance with industry-standard security protocols. A trustworthy software provider will prioritize data protection. Your team should work with confidence, knowing that their information is secure. #### Personalizing The Hybrid Work Experience Each organization has its unique systems and requirements. When choosing the right Hybrid Work Management Software, find a solution that aligns seamlessly with your team’s specific needs and work culture. Understanding the pain points of your team is central to making the right choice. Are communication gaps impeding collaboration? Is task management becoming a bottleneck? Identifying these pain points allows you to prioritize features that directly address your team’s challenges. For instance, if your team struggles with finding time to collaborate, prioritize [a solution with real-time notifications](). These can give you suggestions on when your team could work together based on when they will be working at the office. This is an image of a smart booking notification in the Hybrid Management Software to let you know 2 of your starred colleagues have booked to be in one liberty plaza and to book a space if you want to join them Get an instant smart desk booking suggestion to let you know when your teammates are heading to the office. The key is personalization. Tailoring your choice to your team’s specific needs ensures that the software becomes a catalyst for positive change. Without personalization, the software only adds a layer of complexity. #### Consider Kadence As Your Hybrid Work Management Software The most beneficial hybrid work environment cultivates a culture of collaboration, innovation, and success. [Kadence helps you and your team perfect hybrid working.]() Book desks or meeting rooms within seconds. No longer worry about scheduling conflicts and instead spend time building connections. With Kadence, work smarter by knowing where and when your colleagues have booked a desk. Our Smart Suggestions recommend when to head into the office, so you can collaborate, and even choose a desk next to them. Kadence seamlessly integrates with your existing technology tools – so you can use Kadence in Slack, Teams, and more without disrupting your workflow. And with Insights, Kadence gives you a detailed guide to how your team uses the offices available to them. Reports will tell you what spaces are being wasted, so you can save on real estate costs. If you’re looking for the right hybrid work management software for you and your team, [book a demo today]() and we’ll show you exactly how Kadence can help you find your rhythm for work. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [The CEO’s Perspective: Driving Growth, Innovation, And Hybrid Working ROI]() Embracing hybrid work isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for forward-thinking CEOs. This article unveils how hybrid work models drive unprecedented Hybrid Working ROI across the triple bottom line: By implementing a robust hybrid working ROI strategy, CEOs can future-proof their organizations, attract top talent, and gain a competitive edge in an evolving business \[…\] - [Hybrid Pulse Check #1: Office Attendance By Country And Weekday (November 2024)]() Kadence booking data from over 500 companies, published in November 2024: office attendance by country, the peak in-office days, and what workplace leaders can do about it. - [Not Prioritizing Flex Work? You Won’t Like What’s Really Going On]() In my hometown, I get more unsolicited emails and messages from one particular organization than any other. It’s led by a chief executive who doesn’t believe in the benefits of flex work. The emails and messages I receive are from frustrated employees and leaders who wish they had access to the kind of flex work \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Evolution of Hybrid Working: How We Got Here | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/hybrid-working-evolution/ Description: The evolution of hybrid working in three phases, from early home internet to forced remote work and uncoordinated hybrid, and why coordination comes next. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · November 5, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### The Evolution of Hybrid Working: How We Got Here and What Comes Next How Did We Get Here? The Hybrid Working Evolution The evolution of hybrid working happened in three phases. Hybrid 1 began in the early 2000s, when home internet became reliable enough to [work from anywhere]() with a cable. Hybrid 2 was the forced remote work of the 2020 pandemic. Hybrid 3 is the flexible but often uncoordinated model that followed, built around hot desks. The pandemic did not create hybrid work. It accelerated a trend that had been building for two decades. Whether a company adopts hybrid work is no longer the question. The question is how to do hybrid well, without damaging culture or performance. > “Hybrid work represents the biggest shift to how we work in our generation…it will require a new operating model, spanning people, places, and processes.” > > > > — Satya Nadella, CEO & Chairman, Microsoft #### How did hybrid working evolve? Hybrid working evolved as technology untethered work from the office. Reliable home internet made remote work possible, WiFi and smartphones made it mobile, and the 2020 pandemic proved it could work at scale. Each phase gave employees more freedom over where they work, and each raised new questions about how teams coordinate. By the time this history was published in November 2024, McKinsey had reported that [90% of companies were moving to hybrid working](). Yet many companies were sleepwalking into a [hybrid work model]() that could damage both their culture and their performance. The cause was a focus on managing hybrid real estate, their second largest cost, at the expense of their most valuable asset and largest cost: their people. #### What was Hybrid 1? Hybrid 1 was the first phase of hybrid working, which began in the early 2000s when home internet became good enough to use reliably. The work desk could be anywhere, as long as there was an electrical socket and an ethernet cable. Work could leave the office, but it was still tied to a fixed spot. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Hybrid 1.5 followed with WiFi. Employees were no longer tethered to a desk by a cable, but physical barriers remained until the BlackBerry, and later the iPhone, made it possible to work anywhere at any time. The iPad then catalyzed the bring your own device movement, and global investment in WiFi infrastructure went into overdrive. **Bring your own device (BYOD)** is the practice of employees using their personal phones, tablets or laptops for work. By the end of this phase, the tools of work were no longer tied to the office. The canvas was set for people to work anywhere. #### What was Hybrid 2? Hybrid 2 was the forced remote work of the 2020 pandemic. It was not hybrid as such, but an unexpected extension of the [flexible working]() many people already knew. Because the infrastructure had been laid over the previous 20 years, it worked: white-collar workers kept their jobs and companies largely continued to grow. It came at a cost. Remote workers often paid with their [mental health](). By the summer of 2020, the conversation had already turned to what work would look like after the pandemic, and [it became clear that what companies and employees wanted above all else was flexibility](). McKinsey chart from its January 2021 Reimagine Work employee survey comparing working models before the COVID-19 pandemic (62% fully on site, 30% hybrid, 8% fully remote) with the desired working model after it (37% fully on site, 52% hybrid, 11% fully remote). Hybrid 2 proved several things: - Employees could be trusted to get work done anywhere, and naturally wanted to keep the flexibility and autonomy they had gained. - Companies could operate without all their expensive real estate, and employees worked just as hard at home as in the office. - Companies could hire talent beyond the limits of an acceptable commute. Research from Forrester put the scale in perspective: [over half a billion people were moving to hybrid](). There had not been a change like this to the way the world works since the Industrial Revolution, with huge implications for society, the environment, companies and workers. #### What is Hybrid 3, or uncoordinated hybrid? Hybrid 3 is the post-pandemic phase: flexible work where employees choose when to come in and the [permanent desk]() has been swapped for a hot desk. It tries to give companies and employees the best of both worlds. Without coordination, though, it becomes uncoordinated hybrid, where people cannot tell where to work or who they will be able to work with. Kadence illustration comparing pre-pandemic work, when spaces were static and people were predictable, with post-pandemic work, when spaces are flexible and people are unpredictable. In the office, the permanent desk has been exchanged for a hot desk. **Hot desking** means employees use any free desk rather than an assigned one (see [hot desking and hoteling]()). An employee trades a dedicated desk for the ability to work flexibly. Because not everyone is in the office every day, desks are left empty 40-60% of the time. That presents a big opportunity to reduce real estate, and leaders noticed: > “For every 100 employees, only 60 seats are needed, which will significantly reduce the need for costly real estate.” > > > > — Jamie Dimon, CEO, JP Morgan The savings are so attractive that it is easy to think hybrid is all about managing office real estate. Hybrid 3 takes the tools and lessons of the past two decades and aims for a best-of-both-worlds model. But many hybrid plans focus on managing real estate, the tools of the trade, rather than empowering the people doing the work. As work becomes more fluid, more variables enter the everyday experience, [making it harder to coordinate and work with colleagues](). [Adam Grant has said]() that “the first and perhaps cardinal sin of hybrid work is a lack of coordination.” Many companies still try to solve these problems with [facilities management]() tools built for the old office, which cannot tell employees where the best place to work is or who they can actually work with. #### Why doesn’t forced hybrid work? Forced hybrid, with 2-3 mandated office days a week, guarantees that employees mix in the workplace, but at a high price. It removes employee autonomy, usually delivers no real estate savings because everyone comes in on the same days, and shrinks the talent pool to people who can reach the office regularly. **Forced hybrid** is a model in which the company mandates that employees are in the office on specific days. The biggest issue is that [employees just don’t like being told what to do](). When people join a company, they are not only signing up for a role and a salary. They are signing up for that company’s way of life. The alternative, uncoordinated hybrid, can become a mess without the right tools. Many companies are still struggling to find a cadence that works for everyone. #### What comes after uncoordinated hybrid? What comes next is a third way: hybrid work that keeps employee autonomy and real estate savings while protecting company performance. It depends on coordination, so that employees can meet the right people, in the right place, at the right time, and on treating the office as a tool for specific types of work. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Employees need the ability [to coordinate with the right people, in the right place, and at the right time](). They need a way to decide when to come together for a particular task. Business leaders, in turn, need to see the office as a tool they offer employees for certain kinds of work. Seen this way, the office becomes part of the work stack, alongside video conferencing, productivity suites and project management tools. Each tool supports a different kind of interaction in a hybrid environment. The key is that each is fit for purpose. Understanding how the office is actually used, through [workplace analytics](), shows which work it is fit for. For a step-by-step plan, see the [hybrid work strategy guide](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What are the phases of hybrid working? There are three. Hybrid 1 began in the early 2000s with reliable home internet, followed by Hybrid 1.5 with WiFi and smartphones. Hybrid 2 was the forced remote work of the 2020 pandemic. Hybrid 3 is the post-pandemic flexible, hot-desk model, which often becomes uncoordinated hybrid. ##### Did the pandemic create hybrid work? No. The pandemic accelerated a trend that started in the early 2000s, when home internet became reliable. Because the infrastructure for flexible work had been built over the previous 20 years, companies could move to remote work quickly in 2020. ##### What is uncoordinated hybrid? Uncoordinated hybrid is flexible work without a shared way to plan office time. Employees choose when to come in, but cannot easily see where to work or who will be there, so collaboration suffers and the office feels unpredictable. ##### What is the biggest problem with hybrid work? According to Adam Grant, the biggest problem is a lack of coordination. When people cannot plan their office time around the colleagues they need, the benefits of flexibility and shared space are lost. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Discover The Hybrid Working ROI for CEOs - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/hybrid-working-roi-for-ceos/ Description: Discover the triple-bottom-line Hybrid Working ROI: Boost employee satisfaction, slash carbon emissions, and increase profits. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · December 2, 2024 · [Jamie Addis]() ### The CEO’s Perspective: Driving Growth, Innovation, And Hybrid Working ROI 5 ceos around a wooden desk smiling Embracing hybrid work isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for forward-thinking CEOs. This article unveils how hybrid work models drive unprecedented Hybrid Working ROI across the triple bottom line: 1. **People:** Boost satisfaction by 40%, cut turnover by 25%. Result? Unleashed productivity and innovation. 2. **Planet:** Halve carbon emissions through smart work practices. 3. **Profit:** Slash costs by 30%, and increase productivity by 15%. By implementing a robust hybrid working ROI strategy, CEOs can future-proof their organizations, attract top talent, and gain a competitive edge in an evolving business landscape. The time to act is now—transform your workplace, empower your workforce, and watch your triple bottom line soar. #### The Challenge For CEOs ##### Maintaining Company Culture In A Distributed Workforce Anything that directly impacts employee engagement, productivity, and overall organizational success is the main thing any CEO should be aware of. In a traditional office setting, company culture naturally develops through daily interactions, shared experiences, and physical proximity. However, with a distributed workforce, and with differing needs and schedules, CEOs face the challenge of fostering a sense of unity, shared values, and common purpose across geographically dispersed teams. This can lead to feelings of disconnection among employees, difficulties in aligning teams with the company’s vision, and potential poisoning of the unique values that define the organization. CEOs must now find innovative ways to communicate and reinforce company values, facilitate virtual team-building activities, and ensure that remote employees feel as connected and valued as their in-office counterparts. This is further compounded by the need to integrate new hires effectively into the company culture without the benefit of in-person onboarding and mentorship. ##### Ensuring Productivity And Innovation Across Hybrid Teams Distributed workforces present their own set of unique challenges when it comes to team productivity and innovation. CEOs often face the complex task of maintaining consistent levels of productivity when teams are split across different locations. Striving to create equal experiences for every individual inside every team regardless of their location is the ultimate goal, and it’s hard! Finding ways to facilitate collaboration amongst different departments and team members, ensuring that communication amongst these is on point, and providing all the tools your people need to thrive in their work is up there amongst the various challenges CEOs are facing. Not to mention navigating technology barriers and varying work environments. The success of the company often hinges on the CEO’s ability to overcome these obstacles and create a cohesive, productive, and innovative hybrid work environment. ##### Attracting And Retaining Top Talent In A Competitive Market As the job market becomes increasingly global and flexible, CEOs face the challenge of not only attracting skilled professionals but also keeping them engaged and committed to the company. The rise of remote work options has expanded the talent pool, but it has also intensified competition among employers. CEOs must now craft compelling value propositions that go beyond traditional office-based perks, offering flexible work arrangements, competitive compensation, and opportunities for growth and development. More often than not they need to create a company culture that resonates with top talent across different work environments, making sure that both remote and in-office employees feel equally valued and connected to the organization’s mission. This challenge can lead to high turnover rates, and increased recruitment costs, ultimately impacting the company’s ability to innovate and maintain a competitive edge in the market. #### Why Kadence Matters To CEOs ##### Boosts Overall Business Impact By Enhancing Team Productivity When your teams are productive, your business will grow. It’s not much more complicated than that. However, what is important is to [communicate policies]() in a straightforward way to get everyone on the same page. Unlike Amazon’s recent proclamation on [getting their employees back 5 days per week](), it’s now far more important to knuckle down with your hybrid policies and do what’s right by your business and the teams that work for it. The way you achieve this is by making it easy for them to [book the spaces they need with their teammates](). Whether it’s scheduling a team day or connecting in person with those from other departments – making it easy for your teams to know when to come into the office is the key. For the most part, when everyone was in the office before the pandemic, it was easy to connect with your teammates. You instinctively knew who would be in the office because everyone was on the same schedule. Now, everyone is on a different schedule depending on location, commute times, and the tasks they need to complete, thus making it nearly impossible to connect. That’s why having a tool that informs you when your teammates are going into the office, or when you have been invited to meetings or a team day is a crucial part of reducing overall operational costs, driving innovation across remote and in-office teams, and boosting overall business impact, and hybrid working ROI. An illustration of a cancelled booking alert from Adam. ##### Aligns With Strategic Vision By Bringing Your People Together What hybrid work tools lack today is a scaleable solution that grows with your company. A tool that flexes and adapts to the seasonal changes and the growing needs of your team and company. Take RSPB for example, who scaled and implemented a software solution for [various offices and more than 2,500 employees]() in next to no time, are now seeing the benefits of operating a successful hybrid model. The very nature of hybrid work, if it’s done right, is flexibility. That doesn’t mean to say that this causes operational inconsistencies, but it does support the changing needs of company priorities, team tasks, and employee needs to be productive. ##### Elevates Employee Satisfaction And Retention By Facilitating Their Workplace Needs An article by Nicholas Bloom and others cited that hybrid working from home improves retention without damaging performance. A study conducted in this article found that [quit rates dropped by a third due to hybrid working](). One of the true mechanisms to see a successful hybrid work is to foster a culture of flexibility and trust. Enabling individuals to book the spaces they need for the tasks they have exercises the true power of this. When employees feel trusted, they perform. Not only that, but they also thrive in doing so. Elevating and encouraging everyone else around them in the same way. Empowered to do great work in spaces that are fit for purpose by seamlessly booking out what they need for the day to make that happen. #### Kadence In Action For CEOs [MOO](), an impactful design and printing business quickly discovered the power of a hybrid working tool by noticing a **70% increase in office utilization across all of their locations.** The challenge MOO experienced was that because they were not set up for hybrid working, they couldn’t manage their spaces efficiently resulting in their people not coming to the office, They decided to consolidate and move to new offices that better suited their needs and quickly adopted a hybrid working platform to facilitate their goals. Using space utilization data to rethink how they worked, as well as understand employee booking habits, they were stunned by the difference a hybrid working software made in their organization. An infographic of MOO's usage stats with Kadence. > “We want our employees to use Kadence to support our in-person culture. To have a tool that would help boost creativity, collaboration, conversation, and connection!” Bryony Gilhooly, Head of People Operations at MOO #### Final Thoughts As we embrace the future of work, and a hybrid working ROI it’s clear that hybrid solutions like Kadence are not just beneficial, but essential for CEOs aiming to drive growth, innovation, and employee satisfaction. Don’t let the challenges of hybrid work hold you back. Speak to one of our hybrid work experts today and discover how Kadence can revolutionize your company’s productivity and culture. [Book your free consultation now]() – your future-ready workplace is just a conversation away! --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() ##### What’s Next For The Future Of Work? Join our Kadence community to stay on top of latest news and trends in the future of work. #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Google Hybrid Work Model: Why Its Strategy Broke Down | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/inside-the-breakdown-of-hybrid-strategy-at-google/ Description: In 2025, Google's hybrid work model split into team-by-team office mandates and remote job cuts. Why control failed and what coordinated hybrid does instead. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · April 24, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Google's Hybrid Work Model: Inside the Breakdown of Its Hybrid Strategy Google Office Hybrid Work Google’s [hybrid work model]() broke down in 2025 because it was run team by team, without company-wide principles or coordination. In April 2025, CNBC reported that several Google units were warning remote employees that their jobs could be eliminated unless they worked from an office at least three days a week. The move was more than cost-cutting. It is a case study in what happens when hybrid work lacks leadership, coordination and clarity, and in why coordination, not control, is what makes hybrid work succeed. #### What happened to Google’s hybrid work model? In April 2025, multiple units within Google began warning remote employees, including some previously approved for remote roles, that their jobs could be cut unless they came into an office at least three days a week. Some who were unwilling or unable to comply were offered voluntary exit packages. The details came from [a CNBC report](), and earlier in 2025 Google had already [offered voluntary exit packages]() to some teams. Google explained the policy this way: > As we’ve said before, in-person collaboration is an important part of how we innovate and solve complex problems. To support this, some teams have asked remote employees that live near an office to return to in-person work three days a week. > > > > — Courtenay Mencini, Google spokesperson The shift came as tech companies faced rising infrastructure costs and an AI arms race that demanded aggressive reallocation of resources. Google’s headcount had already fallen from roughly 190,000 two years earlier to around 183,000 at the end of 2024, and the cuts suggested hybrid workers might keep bearing the brunt of leadership misalignment. Google office building with the multicolored Google logo on its glass facade. #### Why did Google’s hybrid strategy break down? Google’s hybrid strategy broke down because policies were built on visibility rather than outcomes, and because each team set its own rules. Some employees had been approved to work remotely during the pandemic or because of their role. Without any change in their performance, they were told that being near an office now mattered more than their impact. **Proximity bias**, or [visibility bias](), is the tendency to value people who are seen in the office over people whose results are the same but who work remotely. [CNBC reporting]() indicated that remote workers at Google felt increasingly vulnerable as teams tightened return-to-office expectations, and employees were warned their roles could be eliminated if they did not adopt a hybrid schedule. That reveals a deep-rooted problem in how performance is perceived and rewarded. It also shows teams were not working to a shared framework. Some units mandated relocations; others merely encouraged office presence. The lack of alignment was a cultural problem as much as a logistical one. #### What does Google’s approach tell us about hybrid work? Google’s approach shows that leaving hybrid work to each team creates confusion and inequality, not flexibility. Rather than a company-wide stance grounded in purpose, rules varied by team, by distance from an office and by whether someone wanted to change roles. Employees could not predict how they would be treated. Some argue that decentralization allows for flexibility. At Google, the outcome was uneven rules: - **People Operations** mandated a return to hybrid for employees living within 50 miles of an office. Those farther away could keep remote setups, but only if they stayed in their current roles. Anyone changing teams had to adopt the hybrid model. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() - **Platforms and Devices**, the division that includes Android and Nest, saw dozens of teams hit with cuts. Google said remote work was not the primary driver. - **AI teams** heard from co-founder Sergey Brin, who in February 2025 [reportedly told AI workers]() they should be in the office every weekday, with 60 hours a week being “the sweet spot of productivity.” This mindset is a throwback to a traditional office culture driven by presenteeism, hierarchy and control, rather than trust, autonomy and outcomes. Scale comparing Google's hybrid approach (visibility over value, command-and-control, team-by-team decisions) with the coordinated hybrid model (outcomes over presence, trust and autonomy, company-wide standards). #### What are the main hybrid work models? Kadence sees four distinct approaches to hybrid work: Traditional, Controlled Hybrid, Flexible Hybrid and Coordinated Hybrid. They run from employer-centric, role-oriented models built on mandated office days to employee-centric, task-oriented models built on trust. In 2025, Google’s stance sat between Traditional and Controlled Hybrid. Kadence chart for choosing the right hybrid working model, running from Traditional and Controlled Hybrid (employer-centric, role oriented) to Flexible Hybrid and Coordinated Hybrid (employee-centric, task oriented). Traditional and Controlled Hybrid favor command-and-control management, mandated [in-office days]() and top-down decisions. They put company oversight ahead of employee productivity. For a plain explanation of each type, see [what a hybrid work model is](). #### What is coordinated hybrid work? Coordinated hybrid is a hybrid work model that lets people work wherever they do their best work while aligning teams so collaboration happens with intention. In practice it combines shared in-office days for teams that benefit from live interaction, on-demand [desk booking](), virtual parity for all meetings, and activity-based space design. Crucially, coordinated hybrid builds a culture of trust. It avoids the binary thinking that says real work happens only when people are visible. It recognizes that outcomes matter more than presence, and it gives individuals autonomy while keeping teams cohesive through coordination. On-demand [desk booking]() and shared [team days]() are what make that practical at scale. This is the model companies like Google need, both to retain top talent and to get the most from it. #### What does the data say about hybrid work? The evidence favors well-structured hybrid work. A 2024 study published in Nature found that hybrid work reduces attrition by 33%. Research by Nicholas Bloom at Stanford has repeatedly shown that well-structured hybrid models boost productivity without hurting promotion rates. Gallup has found hybrid workers are more engaged and less likely to burn out. - **Retention:** the [2024 study in Nature]() showed that hybrid work reduces attrition by 33%, a major win for companies trying to keep skilled workers in a tight labor market. - **Productivity:** Nicholas Bloom’s [research at Stanford]() has repeatedly shown that hybrid models, when structured well, boost productivity and do not hamper promotion rates. - **Engagement and wellbeing:** Gallup found that [hybrid workers are more engaged](), less likely to burn out and more likely to feel in control of their work-life balance. [Its research]() shows hybrid employees report the highest engagement compared with fully remote or fully on-site staff, and its State of the Global Workplace report emphasized that hybrid work contributes to employee wellbeing through greater autonomy. These are not minor perks. They are the foundation for sustainable performance. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What should Google and other companies do instead? Companies should treat hybrid work as a strategic asset rather than a logistical constraint. That starts with company-wide hybrid principles instead of leaving each team to make it up as it goes, and a shift from control to coordination: giving teams the tools and structures they need to thrive, wherever they are based. In practice, this could include: - defining collaboration days for each function, driven by task needs, not management preference; - designing physical workspaces around connection and innovation, not occupancy metrics alone; - ensuring remote employees have equal access to mentorship, feedback and growth opportunities; - measuring impact, not attendance. If Google wants to lead in AI, it must also lead in workplace design and hybrid work models. Attracting world-class talent depends not only on what you build, but on how you let people build it. The [hybrid work strategy guide]() sets out how to build these principles step by step. #### What is the real lesson from Google? The real lesson is that hybrid work is not a compromise but an opportunity, and it needs intention, alignment and trust. Google’s 2025 decisions were a wake-up call for the industry. The companies that do best will stop asking, “Where should people work?” and start asking, “How can we enable them to do their best work — together?” That is the promise of coordinated hybrid. With features like Kadence Insights Plus, part of its [workplace analytics](), leaders get customized dashboards that show how their teams work best and where there is room to improve. To see how Kadence supports a coordinated approach, [book a demo with our hybrid work experts](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is Google’s hybrid work policy? As reported in April 2025, some Google teams asked remote employees who live near an office to return to in-person work three days a week. Rules varied by team. People Operations, for example, required hybrid work for employees within 50 miles of an office. ##### Did Google cut remote workers? In 2025, CNBC reported that several Google units warned remote employees their jobs could be eliminated unless they worked from an office at least three days a week, and some were offered voluntary exit packages. ##### What is the difference between controlled hybrid and coordinated hybrid? Controlled hybrid is employer-centric: the office sets the norm, with mandated in-office days and flexibility by request. Coordinated hybrid is employee-centric: people work where they work best, and teams align their office days around tasks that benefit from being together. ##### Does hybrid work reduce employee turnover? Yes, according to a 2024 study published in Nature, which found that hybrid work reduces attrition by 33%. Gallup has also found that hybrid employees report the highest engagement compared with fully remote or fully on-site employees. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Interactive Office Floorplans Boost Workplace Coordination - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/interactive-office-floorplan/ Description: Discover how Interactive Office Floorplans enhances hybrid workspace planning, desk booking, and office space utilization all in one platform. [News]() · [Product News]() · July 8, 2025 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Why Interactive Office Floor Plans Are Essential For Hybrid Work Why Interactive Office Floor Plans Are Essential For Hybrid Work A stylised design of a Kadence interactive office floorplan Go beyond static layouts—an Interactive Office Floorplan gives your team real-time visibility, better coordination, and smarter use of space. #### The Problem With Static Floor Plans Hybrid work has reshaped how teams use the office, but most businesses still rely on outdated tools to manage that space. Traditional floorplans were built for a time when everyone had a [fixed desk]() and came in five days a week. Today, those static layouts create friction, confusion, and lost opportunities. [Employees want to plan their in-office days]() confidently. But without *real-time visibility into who’s coming in*, what spaces are available, or how the team is distributed, time is wasted, and space is too. To run a high-functioning hybrid workplace, organizations need: - **Visibility into who’s where and when** - **Flexibility to adapt to changing workplace needs** - **Speed to find, book, and adjust resources** The aim is to improve employee confidence and coordination with their team members. Giving them the tools to book spaces and communicate with one another. Taking into account the fluctuating nature of attendance, dynamic teams, and evolving [space types](), whatever tools you use have to make hybrid work the easiest thing in the world. #### What Makes A Floorplan Truly Interactive? An Interactive Office Floorplan is more than a digitized blueprint—it’s a live layer of your workplace strategy. Think of it as a dynamic hub that connects employees with space in real-time, empowering them to navigate hybrid work with clarity and ease. A GIF showing how to book a desk on Kadence's interactive office floorplan Key characteristics include: - **Clickable desks and rooms.** Employees can instantly view availability, see who’s sitting where, and reserve space directly from the map. - **Customizable seat assignments.** Admins can easily update layouts and adapt to team changes—no reupload or IT help required. - **Layered views for teams, amenities, neighborhoods, and zones.** This ensures employees can filter and locate what’s most relevant to their workday. - **Real-time visibility into occupancy and availability.** No more double bookings or ghost spaces—what’s shown on the map reflects what’s actually happening. - **Integration with [desk booking systems]()** **and workplace management software.** Turn your floorplan into a coordination engine. These features make your floorplan a central source of truth for hybrid [team coordination]() and office space utilization. A GIF showing how to set up office neighborhoods in Kadence #### How It Transforms The Hybrid Experience A smart floorplan isn’t just about navigation—it changes how people work together. When teams can see each other’s schedules and find the right spaces easily, [in-office days]() feel intentional and effective. Benefits for employees include: - **Knowing who’s in and where they’re sitting.** No more guessing or pinging three people to find a meeting space. - **Instant access to available desks or rooms.** This minimizes time spent wandering or refreshing booking tools. - **Quick and confident booking.** Integrated with desk booking systems, employees don’t need to toggle between apps. A stylized design showing Kadence's heatmap. hybrid policy and check-in data #### The Enterprise-Level Upside At scale, an Interactive Office Floorplan becomes a strategic asset—not just a planning tool. It connects buildings, teams, and systems into a single interface, supporting smarter hybrid workspace planning. Key enterprise benefits: - **Higher real estate utilization.** Interactive maps identify underused zones, enabling efficient workspace allocation. - **Actionable insights for leadership.** [Reliable occupancy data]() helps executives make cost-effective decisions about [office footprint]() and team distribution. - **Scalability across regions, campuses, and buildings.** Maintain consistency while enabling local flexibility. This makes it easier to roll out a unified hybrid strategy across an entire organization. #### Get Started With Kadence’s Interactive Office Floorplans Kadence helps you move from static PDFs to digital floorplan tools that integrate seamlessly with your existing stack. Whether managing a single office or a distributed portfolio, Kadence gives you everything you need to modernize your space, without complexity. [Get your demo now]() to see how it works. See Kadence In Action Let Kadence take the hassle out of hybrid working. Book a customized demo today. [Book Demo]() Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Conference Room Booking System Launch, July 2022 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/introducing-kadence-room-booking-the-easiest-way-to-book-a-room/ Description: What Kadence's July 2022 conference room booking system included: room search by capacity, auto-release for no-shows, calendar booking and room usage data. [News]() · [Product News]() · July 1, 2022 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Kadence Conference Room Booking System: What Launched in July 2022 Conference room booking A conference [room booking system]() lets employees find and reserve the right meeting room for the right number of people, and it frees rooms that are booked but not used. In July 2022, Kadence launched conference room booking in its [hybrid workplace]() platform to do exactly that: help people find a suitable room quickly, avoid double bookings and [ghost bookings](), and give workplace teams data on how rooms were used. Meeting face to face in the office builds engagement and community, yet gathering a group in the same room is often hard, frustrating and complex to organize. The release set out to make it straightforward. The details below describe the product as it launched in 2022; for current capabilities, see [Kadence room booking software](). #### Why does a hybrid office need a conference room booking system? In a hybrid office, meetings are the moments that bring people together, so finding a room should not be the obstacle. A conference room booking system shows which rooms are free, how many people they hold and what equipment they have. It prevents conflicts and frees rooms nobody uses, so the office’s meeting space works harder. Without a system, room booking can become a free-for-all that wastes time and resources and makes for a poor experience. Time spent searching adds up. One survey reported that [over 4 in 10 US office workers waste 60 minutes every week searching for the right spaces](), including desks, conference rooms and colleagues. #### How did users find the right room? The 2022 release let people find rooms two ways. In the Live office view in the Kadence web app, they could hover over a space to see its maximum capacity and its amenities. In the Bookings menu, they could filter rooms by capacity and amenities to find the best fit for a last-minute briefing or a planned workshop. Kadence room search with capacity and amenity filters #### How did the release stop meeting rooms going to waste? A room that shows as booked but sits empty frustrates employees and wastes space. The July 2022 release let admins release room bookings automatically if nobody checked in. Admins could set the release time from 5 minutes up to 15 minutes after the start of the booking, returning the room to the pool for others. This is the problem often called a ghost booking: a reservation that holds a room nobody uses. [Auto-release]() tackles it at the source, because a booking only keeps its room if someone actually arrives. Kadence admin setting for automatically releasing room bookings when nobody checks in #### How did it prevent booking conflicts? Booking conflicts happen when two groups believe they hold the same room. In the 2022 release, users could see which conference rooms were available in real time on an interactive office floor map, and they could book in advance knowing that once a booking was confirmed, nobody else could book that room for the same time. Rounding up a team and finding a suitable space is one of the easiest ways to lose time. A live floor map and locked bookings removed much of that friction, so meetings started on time in the room people expected. Kadence live office floor map showing which rooms are available #### Could rooms be booked from Outlook and Google Calendar? Yes. At launch, Kadence integrated with Google and Outlook calendars, so people could book a room from their preferred calendar or from the Kadence web app. They could choose an available room, add a description, invite teammates and add a Microsoft Teams or Google Meet link so remote colleagues could join. Calendars are where most people already plan their day, so booking a room there removes a step. See how it worked in the [room booking demo with Google and Outlook](), or read more about [Outlook calendar room booking](). #### How could workplace teams analyze conference room usage? Understanding who books which rooms, for how long, and which spaces are most popular is central to room management. In 2022, Kadence Insights let admins export booking data as CSV files. From that data they could identify heavy users, spot people who tended to book but not show up, and find the least-booked rooms. Those least-booked rooms are candidates for repurposing, which can save utility and space costs. For enterprise workplace and real estate teams, this kind of usage data turns room decisions from guesswork into evidence. For current reporting options, see [Kadence workplace analytics](). Kadence booking data exported as a CSV file for room usage analysis #### How did booking a room work step by step? At launch, a room could be booked in three places. **In the Kadence web app:** 1. Open the web app and go to Bookings in the sidebar menu. 2. Click New booking in the top right. 3. Under Where, click Room and choose the building and floor. 4. Optionally, choose a minimum capacity and the amenities you need. 5. Click When to select a date and time. 6. Under Who, type the names or email addresses of the people you are inviting. 7. Click Next to find a room on the interactive office floor map. 8. Click an available room, add a short description of the meeting, and click Book this space. **In Outlook:** open the calendar and click New event, add a title, attendees, date and time, then select an available room, add a Microsoft Teams link and a description, and send the invite. **In Google Calendar:** double-click the date and time you need, add a title, a Google Meet link and guests, click Rooms to find an available room, add a description and save to send the invite. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a conference room booking system? A conference room booking system is software that shows which meeting rooms are available, what they hold and what equipment they have, and lets people reserve them. Kadence added one to its platform in July 2022, with capacity and amenity filters, a live floor map and [calendar integration](). ##### How does auto-release reduce wasted meeting rooms? Auto-release cancels a room booking if nobody checks in within a set time. In Kadence’s 2022 release, admins could set that window from 5 minutes up to 15 minutes after the booking started, so empty rooms went back into use. ##### Could people book Kadence rooms without leaving their calendar? Yes. At launch, rooms could be booked from Outlook or Google Calendar as well as the Kadence web app, with a Microsoft Teams or Google Meet link added for remote attendees. #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Introducing Kadence SpaceOps: The AI Platform To Plan, Move, And Optimize Office Spaces - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/introducing-kadence-spaceops/ Description: Discover Kadence SpaceOps, the AI-first platform that unifies scenario planning, move management, and stack planning to optimize portfolios. [News]() · [Product News]() · October 3, 2025 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Introducing Kadence SpaceOps: The AI Platform To Plan, Move, And Optimize Office Spaces Managing today’s modern workplace is challenging. Gone are the days of leaders being ok with cubicles and buildings sitting half empty. The stakes are enormous. A single lease can lock millions into wasted space for a decade. Office space is one of the top three controllable costs, yet up to 40% of space sits underutilized on any given day. Yet most leaders still rely on spreadsheets and legacy tools when making critical real estate decisions. [Kadence SpaceOps]() changes that. It is the AI-first platform that unifies [scenario planning](), [move management](), and [stack planning](), giving leaders the power to model, test, and [optimize portfolios with confidence.]() With SpaceOps, enterprises can eliminate wasted lease costs annually, prove compliance with confidence, and ensure employees stay productive and engaged through every transition. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What SpaceOps Solves - **For CFOs & Real Estate Leaders** → Avoid committing millions to leases you don’t need by validating demand with data, reporting, and predictive modeling. - **For COOs & Facilities Managers** → Eliminate the chaos of disruptive moves by automating workflows, reducing operational risk, and keeping employees productive from day one. - **For HR & Team Leaders** → Build policies that reflect [how employees actually use space](), strengthening performance, engagement, and culture. A diagram of Space Ops features. #### Dynamic Stack Planning Real estate teams spend weeks manually testing layouts and paying consultants, often only to discover the plan doesn’t work in practice. Kadence SpaceOps provides drag-and-drop layouts so leaders can design and test configurations across floors or buildings, seeing cost and collaboration impacts in real time. - Visualize where teams sit across buildings and floors - Drag and drop departments into new layouts instantly A stylized design of Kadence's AI-generated stack planning feature. **Example:** After a lease ends, a global bank wants to consolidate two departments onto one floor. Previously, this took weeks of manual planning and external consultants. With SpaceOps, the team simulates layouts in minutes, selecting the most cost-efficient design without disrupting operations. #### AI-Powered Scenario Planning Leasing decisions often rely on assumptions that cascade into multi-million-dollar liabilities. SpaceOps lets leaders model multiple “what-if” scenarios, from headcount growth to new policies or downsizing, so they can forecast space, cost, and impact before locking into 10-year commitments. - Model growth or downsizing needs in advance - Forecast seat demand under different attendance policies - Spot underused areas and reallocate before waste compounds A stylized design of Kadence's AI-powered Scenario Planning feature. **Example:** A Toronto-based tech firm faces pressure to enforce its 2-day in-office policy but fears running out of desks. Without accurate modeling, leadership considers leasing more space. With SpaceOps, they simulate headcount and attendance patterns, discovering current space is sufficient if balanced correctly, avoiding millions in unnecessary lease costs. #### Intelligent Move Management Moves are notorious for draining resources, disrupting operations, and damaging employee trust. SpaceOps automates allocations, dependencies, and workflows, ensuring employees stay engaged and productive through every transition. - Plan [employee moves]() or desk changes in one place - Track dependencies and approvals to avoid costly errors - Link moves directly to updated floor layouts **Example:** A healthcare company spins up a new clinical admin team and needs 50 people seated together within a month. Historically, this meant late-night coordination, endless spreadsheets, and weeks of disruption. With SpaceOps, Facilities completes the entire move in one workflow, from desk allocation to IT setup, ensuring the team is productive on day one. A stylized design of Kadence's Move-Management feature. #### Why SpaceOps Wins Kadence SpaceOps delivers what enterprises need most: risk-free planning, financial defensibility, and employee-first execution, all in one unified platform. - **Evidence-driven decisions** grounded in [live occupancy data](), delivering audit-ready compliance and financial confidence at the board level. - **Enterprise scale without complexity**, with fast global rollouts measured in weeks not months, and [integrations]() into [HRIS](), [SSO](), calendars, and access control systems. - **Employee-driven efficiency**, aligning space strategies with real work patterns to boost engagement, culture, and retention. - **One unified platform**, consolidating strategy, planning, execution, and reporting into a single system that reduces risk and cuts costs. This launch is just the start. Future SpaceOps updates will extend its enterprise advantage with: - Deeper AI forecasting for long-term portfolio and financial planning - Seamless integrations with your broader workplace tech stack [Get your demo today]() and see how enterprises are already cutting wasted leases, streamlining moves, and making confident, board-ready real estate decisions with AI. Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts See SpaceOps in action and take control of your portfolio now. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Introducing Kadence AI for Scheduling and Space Booking | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/introducing-kadence-workplace-ai/ Description: In September 2024, Kadence introduced Kadence AI, a workplace assistant that books desks and rooms and shows teammates' office plans, in Teams and Slack. [News]() · [Product News]() · September 24, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Introducing Kadence AI for Team Scheduling and Space Booking An example of a natural conversation with a AI tool for hybrid work. Kadence AI is Kadence’s workplace AI assistant. When Kadence introduced it in September 2024 as an addition to its [hybrid work]() platform, it booked desks and meeting rooms on request and showed when teammates planned to be in the office. At launch, the aim was to change how people manage their workspace, work with their teammates and handle the day-to-day complexity of hybrid work, so that the workday runs more smoothly and productively. #### What is Kadence AI? Kadence AI, also called Kadence Workplace AI, is Kadence’s digital assistant for hybrid work. At launch in September 2024, it booked workspace on request and gave real-time insight into teammates’ office plans. Employees asked for what they needed, and it handled the booking inside tools such as Microsoft Teams and Slack. In a hybrid workplace, coordination and collaboration can be hard. Coordinating with teammates, finding and booking the right space and aligning schedules should be simple, but often are not. These tasks take time and leave less headspace for actual work. [Kadence Workplace AI]() was built to take them on. #### Why did Kadence build a workplace AI assistant? Kadence built Kadence AI because routine coordination was taking time away from real work. Hybrid workplace AI is about more than convenience. By automating routine tasks, it lets teams focus on innovation and collaboration. At launch in September 2024, Kadence AI fit into existing workflows with no setup and started working immediately. #### What could Kadence AI do at launch? In September 2024, Kadence AI worked like a personal assistant for workspace needs. It had three core features. ##### 1. Book desks and meeting rooms instantly Employees could ask Kadence to reserve a desk or a meeting room, and it was done in seconds. Kadence AI booking multiple desks from a single request ##### 2. Coordinate team movements Employees could find out when teammates were in the office, which made spontaneous collaboration easier. Kadence AI showing which teammates are coming into the office ##### 3. Integrate and manage bookings Kadence AI worked within existing tools like [Microsoft Teams]() and [Slack](), so people could manage bookings without leaving their workflow. Kadence AI managing workspace bookings #### How did Kadence AI handle privacy and security? At launch, Kadence stated that customer data was never used to train AI models. Kadence followed strict data protection protocols to keep information confidential and secure. Opting out was also straightforward for teams that decided the AI features did not fit their needs. #### What were the benefits for hybrid teams? Kadence AI was designed to save time and bring distributed teams together. It aimed to support team culture as well as bookings, by simplifying hybrid management and helping make better use of office space. Kadence tailored it for IT, People and Culture, and Office Management teams. The benefits Kadence set out at launch were: - **Efficiency:** less time and friction in everyday tasks. - **Connectedness:** staying in sync with teammates, wherever they work. - **Productivity:** more focus on work, less on complex scheduling. - **Flexibility:** adapting easily as hybrid work patterns change. For the wider picture on AI in the workplace, see the [guide to AI and the future of work](), or read more from [Dan Bladen, Kadence’s CEO and co-founder](). To see what Kadence AI does today, visit [Kadence AI]() or [book a demo](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is Kadence AI? Kadence AI is a workplace AI assistant from Kadence, introduced in September 2024. At launch, it booked desks and meeting rooms on request and showed when teammates planned to be in the office. ##### Was customer data used to train Kadence AI? No. At launch in September 2024, Kadence stated that customer data was never used to train AI models, and that it followed strict data protection protocols to keep information confidential and secure. ##### Which tools did Kadence AI work with at launch? Kadence AI worked within existing tools such as Microsoft Teams and Slack, so employees could book space and coordinate with teammates without switching apps. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How to Assign Desks in a Hybrid Workplace | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/introducing-new-assigned-desks-to-help-hybrid-teams-thrive/ Description: When to assign desks in a hybrid workplace, how to find out what your teams need, and how Kadence Assigned Desks worked when it launched in November 2022. [News]() · [Product News]() · November 7, 2022 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### How to Assign Desks in a Hybrid Workplace: Kadence Assigned Desks (2022) Assigned Desks To assign desks in a hybrid workplace, start with how your teams actually work, then give a set desk to the people who come in on a regular rhythm and keep bookable desks for everyone else. [Assigned desks]() suit teams that want consistent time together; flexible desks suit people who come and go. One office can offer both. In November 2022, Kadence launched Assigned Desks, a feature that let managers give team members a specific desk on specific days of the week. The launch is a useful example of how assigned and bookable desks can run side by side. The product details below describe the feature at that time. #### Should a hybrid workplace use assigned desks or flexible desks? There is no single right answer. Hybrid work looks different for everyone, and it probably always will. Some people come in whenever they want to see friends and need come-and-go flexibility. Others keep a regular rhythm on set days and value sitting near the same people. A good desk strategy serves both groups instead of forcing one model on everyone. An assigned desk is a desk reserved for one person, either permanently or on set days. A flexible desk, sometimes called a hot desk, is shared and booked or taken as needed. For a fuller comparison of these approaches, see the [guide to flexible office models](). Before choosing, list what each side needs. **What your people need:** - Come-and-go flexibility - Regular in-person connection with their team - To see where their friends are working **What the organization needs:** - A smooth [space booking]() process for teams - To know which spaces are being used and what to expect - More [space management]() options #### How do you find out whether your teams need assigned desks? Look at how teams already use the office before you assign anything. Talk to managers and team members, then check booking data for patterns: how often teammates are in together, whether people keep booking the same spaces, and which areas are most popular. Those patterns show where a set desk would help and where flexibility matters more. Four practical steps: 1. Talk to team managers and team members to understand how they work. 2. Check your team’s booking activity to see how often they meet in person at the office. In 2022, Kadence customers could see this in the Kadence web app. 3. Look at your team’s booking history to see whether people use the same spaces regularly. 4. Review space usage and find out which areas of the office are more popular than others. #### How did Kadence Assigned Desks work when it launched in 2022? Assigned Desks let a manager give a team member a specific desk on specific days of the week. The person did not need to book in advance; they could simply arrive and [check in to their desk](). Everyone could see who was sitting where on any given day, and unused assigned desks could be given to someone else. Picture the experience the feature was designed for. It is Monday morning, and you do not need to book a desk because your manager has already assigned you one you use regularly. You pick up coffee for the teammates you know will be sitting near you, meet them at the door, and all check in to your desks. Kadence Assigned Desks screen showing desks assigned to team members on set days #### What are the benefits of assigned desks for hybrid teams? Assigned desks give people a guaranteed place to work and a familiar group around them, which makes office days easier to plan and more worthwhile. They also give workplace teams clearer visibility of who is on site. The benefits fall into three areas: visibility, connection between coworkers, and a more organized workspace. ##### Visibility of who is sitting where With assigned desks, everyone can see who is working where on any given day. Coworkers can find friends who are sitting nearby, and facility managers get a clearer picture of how spaces are used. Knowing exactly who is on site also matters in an emergency. For employees, it means a guaranteed space to do their best work. ##### Deeper connections with coworkers One of the main reasons people come into the office is to [connect with colleagues](). Assigning desks to team members on specific days creates regular touch points: people sit near the same teammates, with the amenities they need, on a consistent basis. Those repeated contacts help build working relationships and a shared sense of mission. ##### A more organized workspace For office and facility managers, assigned desks remove much of the confusion of [hot desking](). In 2022, Kadence let managers share desks of their choice among any team members on any day of the week. If someone did not show up, the desk could go to another person or be released back into the system for anyone to book. #### How do assigned desks improve space utilization data? Assigned desks make occupancy data more accurate because the system knows who is expected where. People with assigned desks know where they sit, and people who book flexibly know which desks they can and cannot use. That reduces booking conflicts, and cancellations free desks to reassign ahead of time, so usage data reflects how the office is really used. Accurate data matters beyond the day-to-day. It supports decisions on repurposing space and cutting costs, and it can inform a [hybrid policy]() that works for both the organization and its people. For the wider picture, see the [guide to hybrid work strategy](), and for managing desks across a portfolio, see [Kadence space management](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### Can assigned desks and hot desks work in the same office? Yes. A hybrid office can assign desks to people with a regular rhythm and keep other desks bookable for people who come and go. Kadence’s Assigned Desks, launched in November 2022, was designed for this mix. ##### What happens to an assigned desk when the person does not come in? In the 2022 launch, a manager could give the unused desk to someone else or release it back into the system so any team member could book it. People could also cancel ahead, so the desk could be reassigned in advance. ##### How do I decide who should get an assigned desk? Talk to managers and team members, then review booking data. People who come in on the same days, sit with the same teammates and book the same spaces are the strongest candidates. People who visit occasionally may be better served by bookable desks. ##### Do assigned desks help with workplace data? Yes. Because the system knows who is expected at each desk, occupancy data is more accurate and booking conflicts fall. That data can inform decisions on repurposing space, cutting costs and shaping hybrid policy. #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/introducing-new-visitor-management-system/ Description: Meet the new Kadence Visitor Management System. Self-serve kiosks, AI workflows, visitor records, and data built into one platform. [News]() · [Product News]() · January 26, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System Visitor checking in at an office using a QR code, with a digital kiosk screen and real-time occupancy and visitor insights displayed. For a long time, [visitor management]() was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Visitor Management, Workplace Intelligence, and AI built into One Platform. Today, visitor management is a core part of [workplace operations](). It affects security, compliance, [space planning](), and how offices actually function day to day. And it needs to be managed consistently across every location without relying on local tools or manual workarounds. **That’s why we rebuilt [Visitor Management]() as a core capability of the Kadence platform.** The new Kadence Visitor Management experience combines self-service kiosks, badge printing, AI-led workflows, and audit-ready records while feeding real-world visitor activity directly into [SpaceOps]() to give teams a complete view of workplace activity. #### What's New Here’s what’s now available in Kadence’s new Visitor Management System: - **Self-service kiosks** for fast, high-volume entry - **Badge printing** for clear on-site identification - **QR-based check-in** for pre-registered visitors - **Digital NDAs + compliance steps** built into the check-in flow - **Real-time host notifications** via Teams, Slack, or email - **Centralized visitor logs** with governance across all locations - **Audit-ready visitor records by default** — complete, encrypted, and retrievable If you’re operating across multiple offices, these aren’t “nice-to-haves.” They’re the difference between a process that works at one site and a system that works everywhere. #### The Real Problem: Visitor Operations Breaks at Scale Most enterprise teams don’t have *one* visitor experience. They have dozens. And they don’t have one platform to manage their entire workplace activity. They have several. One office has a receptionist. Another doesn’t. One team prints badges. Another uses sticky labels. One site tracks NDAs. Another forgets. One region follows a strict process. Another does the best they can, and there’s no way to make sense of how your office is used. And the bigger you get, the harder it becomes to control. That fragmentation creates three very real problems: - **Bottlenecks:** peak arrivals turn into queues and staff interruptions - **Inconsistent Occupancy Data:** every site becomes its own version of “the process.” - **Audit gaps:** records end up incomplete, scattered, or hard to retrieve The result isn’t just inefficiency. It’s a risk, and a visitor experience that’s hard to predict. Your visitors don’t care what office they’re walking into. They expect it to feel like one company. Plus, you want to know how your offices are used day-to-day. #### Kadence is the guide (because we've been here before) Visitor management isn’t new to Kadence. We’ve had [VMS]() in the product for years. But over the past year, we’ve heard a consistent message from workplace and security teams: > *“We want visitor operations to be standardized globally.”* > > > > *“We want one platform to track employee and visitor presence.”* > > > > *“And we need records that stand up to audits without extra effort.”* So we didn’t just add a few features, we rebuilt the system that sits natively inside the Kadence platform. A visitor management system that feeds directly into SpaceOps, enriching workplace intelligence with real-world [presence data](). Diagram showing three steps to modern visitor operations: Standardize visitor processes, scale entry using kiosks and pre-registration, and stay audit-ready with centralized visitor records. #### 4 Key Features for Enterprise Visitor Operations ##### 1. Kiosks That Remove Front-Desk Bottlenecks Front desk dependency doesn’t scale. And peak arrivals don’t wait. Kadence visitor management kiosks give you self-serve entry that’s fast, reliable, and secure, so visitors can check in without creating queues or pulling staff away from their work. - QR check-in for pre-registered visitors - Badge printing for clear on-site identification - Designed for high-volume entry and unattended reception setups Tablet displaying a visitor self-check-in screen with a QR code, alongside a digital visitor badge showing a guest name and role. ##### 2. Standardized Visitor Workflows Across Every Location When each office runs check-in differently, enforcement becomes inconsistent, and governance becomes guesswork. Kadence lets you run visitor management from one centralized system so policies, workflows, and compliance requirements stay consistent everywhere. - Set policies once, enforce globally - Manage workflows centrally, with location-level control - Deliver the same visitor experience across every office Interface showing centralized visitor workflows applied across multiple office locations, with consistent visitor status and policy enforcement. ##### 3. Automate Visitor Management with Kadence AI Visitor workflows break when steps are missed, when NDAs aren’t signed, hosts aren’t notified, or records are incomplete. [Kadence AI]() helps reduce manual work and follow-ups by coordinating the workflow from invite to arrival so visits run consistently, without gaps. - Help teams complete workflows ahead of arrival - Trigger real-time host notifications and visitor status updates - Reduce missed compliance steps and manual coordination Illustration of automated visitor management with Kadence AI, including arrival notifications, workflow prompts, and real-time visitor status updates. ##### 4. Audit-Ready Visitor Records Paper logs and disconnected tools make it hard to answer simple questions: Who was in the building? When did they arrive? Did they sign the right documents? Kadence automatically creates encrypted, centrally governed visitor records that are always complete and retrievable by default. - Enforce identity capture and document signing - Centralize visitor logs across every location - Support audits and incident response with complete records Kiosk screen showing visitor booking details with identity capture and digital document signing for audit-ready visitor records. #### Going Beyond Visitor Management: A Complete View of Workplace Activity Visitor data is valuable on its own, but the real impact comes when it’s part of a unified workplace system. Built natively into the Kadence platform, Visitor Management feeds directly into [SpaceOps](), enriching workplace intelligence with real-world presence data. Visitor activity is treated as a core signal alongside employee attendance, giving workplace teams visibility into external foot traffic, peak arrival patterns, and guest-driven demand—across every location. - Track employee and visitor presence in one view - Understand peak days, arrivals, and space demand - Plan staffing, services, and space with greater accuracy Discover more about [SpaceOps](). Visual overview of workplace activity data, including visitor movement, occupancy insights, and analytics across multiple office locations. #### What Makes Kadence Different Most visitor tools stop at *check-in*. Kadence treats visitors as part of **workplace operations**. That means: - Visitor activity captured as a workplace signal - Global standards with local control by default - Scalable, unattended entry through kiosks and badges - Audit-ready records across every location - Built natively into the Kadence platform and SpaceOps If you run a distributed workplace, visitor management isn’t a point solution. It’s part of how the workplace actually functions. Kadence is built for that reality. Customer Quote The new Kadence [Visitor Management]() experience is available today. If you’re ready to standardize visitor workflows, remove front-desk bottlenecks, and keep audit-ready records by default, we’d love to show you what’s now possible. [Request a demo]() to see it in action. --- Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts See Kadence in action. Speak with our team today. [Get in touch]() #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Outlook Meeting Room Booking Plug-in: Cut Scheduling Time in Half]() Kadence's Outlook plug-in puts meeting room booking inside Microsoft Outlook, with live two-way sync, consistent utilization data and central IT control. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Visitor Management System Launch, March 2022 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/introducing-visitor-management-system/ Description: How Kadence's March 2022 visitor management system let hosts invite guests, send branded arrival instructions and health checks, and track who was on site. [News]() · [Product News]() · March 18, 2022 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Kadence Visitor Management System: What Launched in March 2022 Kadence visitor management In March 2022, Kadence added a [visitor management system]() to its [hybrid workplace]() platform. A visitor management system is software that handles how guests are invited, prepared for and checked in at an office. The release let employees invite guests in the same flow they used to book desks for themselves and their teammates, and it sent each guest a branded invitation, arrival instructions and a health check before the visit. The release reflected its moment. Offices were refilling after the pandemic, and many companies asked visitors for health declarations or proof of vaccination. Some of those steps belong to that period. The underlying job, giving guests a good first impression while knowing who is on site, has not gone away. For what the product does today, see the [Kadence visitor management system]() page. #### What did the 2022 visitor management launch add? The launch put guest invitations inside Kadence’s existing booking flow. Employees could book a space for themselves, for a teammate or for a visitor without switching tools. Guests were invited by email and received booking details, arrival instructions and a health check, all carrying the company’s own logo. Before the release, many teams used a separate platform for visitors. That meant a second tool to learn and a second record of who was coming in. The launch removed that step for hosts and gave workplace teams one place to see [desk bookings](), meetings and guests. Kadence booking screen where a host creates a booking and invites a guest in one flow Creating bookings and inviting guests in one place, as shown at launch in 2022 #### How were guests invited on site? A host started a new booking and chose one of two types. A [desk booking]() reserved a place for the guest to work. An onsite booking covered a guest who came in for a meeting and did not need a desk. The host entered the guest’s name and email address, and Kadence sent the invitation and reminders. Bookings could be all day, recurring or standard. Because the invitation, instructions and health check all came from one system, the guest received a consistent, on-brand set of messages instead of a mix of calendar invites and forwarded emails. Kadence onsite booking screen for inviting a visitor who does not need a desk An onsite booking for a visitor, created in a few clicks #### How did the release handle health and safety checks? Admins could set up pre-arrival instructions that were sent to guests automatically. In 2022 these could include the company’s health check policy, a requirement to show proof of vaccination, directions to the building and where to park. Guests could self-certify before arrival that they had no COVID symptoms. If there was an outbreak, admins could pull a list of everyone who had been on site for contact tracing. The COVID checks reflect workplace rules at the time. The general principle still applies to enterprise workplaces: a single record of employees and guests shows who was in the building on a given day, which matters for security, emergencies and compliance. Kadence admin settings for visitor arrival instructions and health check requirements Arrival instructions and compliance steps set by admins #### How did admins set it up? Setup took four steps in the [Kadence mobile app]() or desktop platform: 1. Go to Settings \> Visitor management. 2. Turn on the Visitor management feature. 3. Upload the company logo, so guest emails carry the company’s brand. 4. Add guest arrival instructions and any entry requirements for the building. #### What did a visit look like from invitation to check-in? 1. The host started a new booking and chose “desk” or “onsite”. 2. The host picked the date and time: all day, recurring or standard. 3. The host entered the guest’s name and email address. For an onsite booking, this was the last step. 4. For a desk booking, the host selected a desk and confirmed. 5. The guest received an email invitation with the company’s health check policies to complete before arrival. 6. A reminder went to the guest up to 24 hours before the visit. 7. On the day, the guest received an email that let them check in up to 30 minutes before the booking. Checking in notified the host. 8. If the booking was canceled, both the host and the guest received an email. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a visitor management system? A visitor management system is software that manages guests at a workplace: who is invited, what they need to know before arriving, and when they check in. Kadence’s March 2022 release built this into the same flow employees used to book desks, so hosts did not need a separate tool. ##### Could a visitor book a desk as well as attend a meeting? Yes. At launch, hosts could make a desk booking to reserve a place for a guest to work, or an onsite booking for a guest who only needed to attend a meeting. ##### How did hosts know a guest had arrived? On the day of the visit, the guest received an email that let them check in up to 30 minutes before the booking. Checking in sent a notification to the host. #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Is IWMS? IWMS vs Workplace Management Systems | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/iwms-vs-traditional-workplace-management-systems/ Description: What is an IWMS? A clear definition, its core functions and benefits, how it evolved, and how it compares with traditional workplace management systems. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · May 26, 2026 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### What Is an IWMS? IWMS vs Traditional Workplace Management Systems An IWMS, or Integrated Workplace Management System, is software that brings real estate, facilities, space, assets and workplace operations into a single platform. Instead of separate tools that each hold part of the picture, an IWMS connects people, space, assets and processes so the data flows between them and gives one source of truth for the workplace. A traditional [workplace management system]() does something narrower. It handles one or two functions, such as desk booking or maintenance requests, on their own. The difference matters most for organizations with several locations, hybrid policies or significant real estate costs, where decisions depend on seeing the whole portfolio at once. #### What is an IWMS? An IWMS is software that centralizes the management of real estate, facilities, space, assets and workplace operations in one system. It connects people, space, assets and processes so leaders can see how the workplace performs as a whole. In a hybrid workplace it also supports employee experience, collaboration and data-driven decisions, not only facilities tasks. The glossary has a short definition of an [integrated workplace management system](). The rest of this page compares an IWMS with traditional tools and explains when each fits. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What are the core functions of an IWMS? An IWMS lets an organization manage several parts of workplace operations from one platform. Rather than separate tools for facilities, real estate, [space planning]() and maintenance, it brings them together so data does not sit in silos. That gives workplace and operations leaders a complete picture and makes it easier to act on what the data shows. Key functions include: - **Space and occupancy management:** track which desks, meeting rooms and collaboration areas are used most and least. - **Real estate and lease management:** manage leases, costs and long-term planning across locations. - **Maintenance and facilities tracking:** monitor ongoing maintenance and make sure facilities run efficiently. - **Asset management:** keep track of equipment and technology, and optimize its lifecycle and use. - **Sustainability reporting:** track energy consumption and environmental impact. With data across these areas, managers can track key measures such as [space utilization](), employee engagement and collaboration patterns, and turn raw data into decisions. #### What are the benefits of an IWMS? An IWMS helps organizations reduce operational costs, use space more efficiently and make better decisions, because it centralizes data on real estate, facilities and people in a single system. The benefits grow with scale: the more locations an organization runs, the more a shared view of space and cost is worth. For enterprise organizations, a company managing dozens of locations can use an IWMS to: - Identify underutilized floors across its portfolio. - Model consolidation scenarios before committing to lease decisions. - Keep maintenance and compliance standards consistent across every site. HR and operations teams gain shared visibility into how space is actually used, which reduces the guesswork behind costly over-provisioning. Smaller organizations benefit too. They can use the same data foundation to plan as they grow, without rebuilding their systems later. Kadence AI booking recommendations #### How has IWMS evolved? IWMS began in the 1990s as software for real estate and [facilities management](). Early systems tracked leases, maintenance and space assignments, often in isolation from wider workplace strategy. They provided valuable data but were often slow, siloed and reactive. Hybrid work exposed those limits and pushed platforms toward real-time, people-centered data. IBM and Archibus were among the pioneers of these early systems. As workplaces became more flexible, hybrid and data-driven, companies needed systems that could provide real-time insights, integrate multiple data sources and support the human side of work. Modern platforms such as Kadence grew out of that need, blending operational efficiency with employee experience. #### What is the difference between an IWMS and a traditional workplace management system? A traditional workplace management system handles individual functions, such as desk booking or maintenance requests, in isolation. An IWMS integrates those functions into one platform that shares data across real estate, facilities, space and operations. The first is simpler to deploy; the second gives a connected view of how the workplace performs. | | Traditional workplace management system | IWMS | | --- | --- | --- | | Scope | One or two functions, such as desk booking or maintenance | Real estate, facilities, space, assets and operations together | | Data | Separate tools create data silos | Data is shared across functions | | Deployment | Simpler to deploy | More upfront investment in configuration and change management | | Best fit | Organizations with straightforward needs | Multiple locations, hybrid policies or significant real estate costs | Traditional systems are often adequate for straightforward needs, but their data silos limit strategic decisions as an organization grows. An IWMS takes more upfront work, and the payoff is a connected view. For organizations with multiple locations, hybrid policies or significant real estate costs, that view tends to be worth the trade-off: decisions about space, headcount and cost are easier to justify when they rest on unified data rather than fragmented reports. For a broader overview, read [what a workplace management system is](). [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Why does an IWMS matter for the modern workplace? An IWMS matters because modern workplaces create more operational complexity than traditional tools were built to handle. Getting it wrong is expensive: wasted space, poor coordination and uninformed real estate decisions. An IWMS gives leaders the visibility to plan deliberately instead of reacting after the fact. Hybrid work has changed how offices are used. Demand is uneven, attendance is harder to predict, and at most organizations the gap between how space is planned and how it is used has widened. By tracking space utilization and occupancy trends, collaboration patterns, hybrid attendance and engagement signals, organizations can see which floors are underused or which team needs more collaborative space, and act with confidence. For enterprises with large or distributed portfolios, that shift from intuition to evidence is where an IWMS delivers its operational value. It leads to better decisions about office design, capacity and investment. Kadence natural language analytics, asking questions about workplace data in plain language #### Where are workplace management systems heading? The most effective workplace platforms combine operational data with real-time intelligence, so teams make decisions before problems appear. As of May 2026, three trends were shaping IWMS: AI-driven analytics for proactive planning, real estate consolidation guided by behavioral data, and hybrid strategy built directly into how space is designed and managed. [Kadence AI]() adds a layer of intelligence that helps managers anticipate space and policy problems. Rather than waiting for utilization reports to confirm what already feels broken, organizations can optimize office layouts from actual usage patterns, support hybrid strategies without losing productivity, and monitor engagement and employee experience continuously. Planning work, including scenarios and moves, sits in [Kadence SpaceOps](). IWMS is no longer only about facilities management. It is a strategic tool that connects space, people and processes, and the platforms that last will be the ones that turn everyday workplace activity into better decisions. To estimate the financial effect of better workplace operations, try the [ROI calculator](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is an IWMS? An IWMS, or Integrated Workplace Management System, is software that centralizes the management of real estate, facilities, space, assets and workplace operations in a single platform. ##### What is the difference between IWMS and workplace management systems? Traditional workplace management systems typically handle one or two functions in isolation. An IWMS integrates multiple functions, so data is shared across real estate, facilities, space planning and operations. ##### Are workplace management systems the same as IWMS platforms? No. Workplace management systems often focus on a specific function, such as desk booking or maintenance tracking. An IWMS is designed to connect and manage all of these functions together. ##### When should an organization use an IWMS instead of a workplace management system? Organizations with complex or multi-location portfolios, significant real estate costs, or a need for data shared across functions will typically benefit more from an IWMS than from standalone workplace management tools. ##### What are the limitations of traditional workplace management platforms? They tend to create data silos, because each tool operates independently. That makes it harder to see how the workplace is performing as a whole and limits the quality of strategic decisions. Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## JPMorgan Return to Office Plan: A Risky Move | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/jpmorgan-full-time-office-mandate/ Description: In January 2025, JPMorgan was reported to be planning a five-day return to office. The risks for talent, productivity and real estate costs in banking. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · January 8, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### JPMorgan's Full-Time Return to Office Plan: A Risky Move in a Hybrid World The JPMorgan return to office plan reported in January 2025 would have ended hybrid flexibility at the largest bank in the United States. JPMorgan Chase, with over 300,000 employees, was reportedly [planning a full-time RTO policy]() for all employees, following Amazon’s move to a five-day office policy. CEO Jamie Dimon had long been vocal about his skepticism toward [remote work](). Even so, the plan raised significant questions about talent retention, productivity and operational cost in an industry already competing hard for top professionals. This analysis reflects what was known when the plan was reported in January 2025. #### What was JPMorgan reported to be planning? In January 2025, Bloomberg reported that JPMorgan Chase was planning a five-day return-to-office ([RTO]()) policy for all employees. The move would bring the bank into line with [Amazon](), whose full-time office mandate drew sharp criticism from employees and was followed by [delays in implementation](). A **return-to-office (RTO) mandate** is a company policy that sets how many days employees must work from the office, up to five days a week. #### Why was a full-time mandate a talent risk for JPMorgan? A five-day mandate risked pushing skilled employees toward competitors that still offered flexibility. The financial sector had shifted toward [hybrid work](), with Citigroup and Capital One adopting flexible models. In banking, where top performers drive outsized results, losing in-demand people to more flexible employers is a significant and expensive risk. A 2023 McKinsey report found that [87% of employees across industries prefer hybrid work models](), with flexibility ranking as one of the top reasons employees stay at their jobs. For JPMorgan, a full-time return could accelerate attrition among roles such as data analysts, product managers and risk specialists, who have numerous opportunities elsewhere. It also risked fallout among back-office employees and mid-level managers who had grown accustomed to hybrid work. #### Does hybrid work reduce productivity in financial services? Employees in the sector do not think so. Dimon argued that in-office work fosters collaboration, innovation and culture. Yet a 2023 survey of financial services employees found strong support for hybrid schedules and a belief that they help colleagues do better work. The survey measured employee views, not output, so it shows preference rather than proof. That 2023 [survey]() revealed that 86% of financial services employees value [hybrid work models](), and 76% feel hybrid schedules enable their colleagues to deliver higher-quality work. Mandating five days a week in the office risked alienating employees who value autonomy and balance, which are key drivers of engagement and long-term performance. #### What does a full-time office mandate cost in real estate? A full-time mandate commits the bank to carrying enough space for everyone, every day, whether or not the space is used. JPMorgan was investing heavily in office infrastructure, including a 60-story Manhattan skyscraper with yoga rooms, cycling spaces, meditation areas and a high-end food hall. Amenities may draw people in, but they do not fix engagement on their own. Hybrid work offers a path to right-sizing real estate while maintaining productivity. Doubling down on in-office mandates risked underutilized space, an issue already affecting other employers. A JLL report, cited by Forbes more than two years before JPMorgan’s plan, found that [office occupancy rates in major cities were below 50%](). **Office occupancy** is the share of available workspace that people actually use on a given day, as opposed to the space an organization leases or owns. JPMorgan office building in Manhattan JPMorgan Office Building #### What could JPMorgan learn from Amazon’s delayed RTO? [Amazon’s delayed RTO policy]() offered a cautionary tale. The company faced widespread pushback from employees, logistical challenges and declining morale, which led to staggered timelines and concerns about attrition. JPMorgan risked similar fallout, and in an already challenging talent market, turnover would be costly both financially and operationally. #### How were other banks approaching hybrid work? Other large banks were using hybrid work to support productivity, talent and cost. [Standard Chartered Bank]() reported an improvement in productivity after formalizing its hybrid model. [HSBC]() said it could eventually cut its global [real estate footprint]() by 40%. JPMorgan had an opportunity to lead by refining its hybrid strategy rather than reverting to pre-pandemic norms. By using data to understand space usage, attendance patterns and policy adherence, the bank could implement a model that balances collaboration with flexibility, and design workplaces that inspire collaboration and keep productivity high. Tools for [workplace occupancy]() and [space management]() exist to answer exactly those questions. Bar chart of the most popular in-office days by country for Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA, based on Kadence bookings Source: [Kadence Hybrid Pulse Check Report 2024]() #### What would an employee-centric approach have looked like? An employee-centric approach treats flexibility as a strategic choice, not a perk. Rigid five-day mandates may look like a way to regain control, but they risk alienating top talent, reducing productivity and inflating operational costs. A data-driven hybrid model instead matches office time to the work that needs it and sizes space to real demand. JPMorgan’s leadership could have drawn on the lessons from Amazon’s delays and the successes of hybrid-focused competitors. By taking a data-driven, employee-centric approach, the bank could have led the way in shaping the future of finance, valuing both collaboration and autonomy. The question was not whether hybrid work can succeed. It was whether JPMorgan would adapt or risk falling behind. For a wider view, see the [return-to-office guide](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What was JPMorgan’s return to office plan in January 2025? Bloomberg reported on January 7, 2025 that JPMorgan Chase was planning a five-day, full-time return-to-office policy for all employees, ending hybrid flexibility at a bank with over 300,000 employees. ##### Why was the plan seen as risky? It risked losing in-demand talent to more flexible competitors such as Citigroup and Capital One, alienating employees who value autonomy, and committing the bank to space that might go underused. ##### What data helps a bank decide on office attendance policy? Space usage, attendance patterns and policy adherence. Together they show which teams benefit from in-person time and how much space the organization actually needs. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Raises $20M Series A To Power The Future Of Work - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-20m-series-a/ Description: Kadence raises $20M to power the future of work, helping enterprises coordinate people, spaces, and schedules in one smart platform. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · July 22, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Kadence Raises $20M To Transform How Enterprises Run The Modern Workplace Kadence Raises $20M To Transform How Enterprises Run The Modern Workplace Today marks a major milestone in our journey: Kadence has raised a $20 million Series A to accelerate the future of work. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() The round was led by [High Alpha,]() with participation from [Kickstart](), [Midwich Ignite](), and [Four Cities Capital]() and [Mantaray](). We’re also honored to have the backing of [515 Ventures]() led by Frederic Kerrest (Co-Founder and Vice-Chairman of Okta) and welcome [Aaron Skonnard](), Co-Founder and former CEO of Pluralsight, to our board. This funding is more than just capital, it’s a signal of confidence in our mission, our customers, and the growing demand for a smarter, more human way to work. #### Building The Operating System For The Modern Workplace At Kadence, we believe the future of work isn’t about location, it’s about [coordination](). Whether your teams are working across four floors or four time zones, the modern workplace demands more than calendars and floorplans. It needs an operating system, one that brings people, spaces, and schedules into a single, intelligent flow. That’s what we’ve been building. With this new funding, we’re moving faster than ever. We’ll be investing deeply in our AI roadmap, delivering powerful new features to help workplace leaders unlock performance across their two biggest assets: their people and their spaces. #### Trusted By The World’s Leading Teams Since pioneering AI-driven workplace management in 2023, we’ve had the privilege of working with forward-thinking organizations like [Boeing](), [Ashurst](), and [BDO](). Today, over 10,000 teams in 40+ countries use Kadence to: - Optimize real estate spend (20% average reduction) - Boost productivity (40% lift in the first year) - Create connected, flexible work experiences people love From legal and finance to government and tech, our [customers]() rely on Kadence to help them work with intention, not just presence. This latest investment is a strong vote of confidence in Kadence’s momentum, and in our vision to reshape the future of work. We’re combining the backbone of a [workplace management system]() with the kind of coordination layer teams actually enjoy using. The result? Companies can scale smarter, move faster, and get the most out of their people and spaces. We’re incredibly proud to welcome [Aaron Skonnard]() to the Kadence board. As co-founder and former CEO of Pluralsight, Aaron scaled a global, hybrid-first company long before it became the norm. > > #### The Road Ahead This moment is a reflection of what we’ve built, but even more so, what comes next. We’re doubling down on what makes Kadence different: - Integrated [space](), [scheduling](), and [occupancy]() tools – all in one place - [AI-powered coordination]() that adapts to how people actually work - A beautiful, flexible experience teams actually want to use Whether you’re a [workplace strategist](), team lead, or CEO navigating new ways of working, Kadence gives you the tools to scale smarter, move faster, and connect better without compromise. To our customers, investors, partners, and community: thank you for trusting us to reimagine how the world works. And to our team – your clarity, resilience, and ambition got us here. This is your milestone too. We’re just getting started! Want help building a strategy that works for everyone? [Book a demo]() with our workplace strategists to explore how leading organizations use Kadence as the platform for modern work. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Funding: $10M Seed Round, December 2022 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-announcment/ Description: Kadence funding news from December 2022: a $10M Seed round led by Kickstart Fund, and how the company formerly known as Chargifi pivoted to hybrid work. [News]() · [Kadence News]() · December 6, 2022 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Kadence Announces $10M Seed Funding Round (December 2022) Kadence Announces $10M Seed Round In December 2022, Kadence, a [hybrid working]() software company, announced a $10M Seed funding round. Kickstart Fund led the round, with major participation from Manta Ray, Hambro Perks and Vectr7 Investment Partners, as well as Shadow Ventures and Forward VC. Kadence funding announcement #### Who invested in Kadence’s Seed round? Kickstart Fund led the $10M Seed round, joined by Manta Ray, Hambro Perks, Vectr7 Investment Partners, Shadow Ventures and Forward VC. Kadence also attracted well-known future of work angel investors: Cal Henderson, then co-founder and CTO at Slack; Shaun Ritchie, then CEO and founder of Teem; and Nick Bloom, Stanford professor, research leader and authority on [remote work](). “Companies around the world are reimagining the way they work,” said Cal Henderson. “And as the world goes hybrid, it’s important that teams find a rhythm for meeting in person for collaboration and creativity.” “Never before in history have humans changed how they work at such a scale and in such a short space,” said Nick Bloom. “Their focus on the coordination of people is where the market is heading.” #### What did Kadence do in 2022? In 2022, Kadence coordinated people, places and projects to help employees be in the right place at the right time with the right people. Its product gave people the power to choose when they work, where they work and who they work with. By December 2022, Kadence had grown from 0 to 300 customers in 18 months, from governments to fast-growing tech companies like Collibra and Starling Bank. Kadence had helped companies reduce expensive office space by 68% while increasing the number of employees coming into the office to collaborate by 25% month over month. “The last 12 months of hybrid have all been about creating order out of chaos,” said Dan Bladen, CEO and founder of Kadence. “Companies are now trying to figure out how to move from ‘order’ to ‘optimization’ and make the ‘way’ they work a competitive advantage.” #### What was Chargifi, and how did it become Kadence? Chargifi was the company’s original name. It built software and products for managing wireless charging networks in offices. [Dan Bladen]() moved his family from the UK to California in late 2019 to grow Chargifi. When the pandemic froze the market and customers began canceling orders, Dan had to reinvent the business. “Four months after we moved to Silicon Valley, our world changed forever,” Dan said. “We had been building Chargifi for seven years, but when the pandemic hit, demand completely dried up and it wasn’t clear when or if it would ever come back.” Hybrid work was still new when the team decided to repurpose the software and products they had already built. They turned them into a tool for [hot-desk management](). By the end of 2020, Chargifi had launched the first version of Kadence. Kadence desk booking in 2022, showing a live view of the office #### What did customers and investors say? Jeff Gwinnett, Senior Director of Workplace and Sustainability at Softchoice, a Kadence customer, said: “Our team loves Kadence. It’s simple and intuitive to use and is powering our hybrid strategy nationwide.” Read more in the [Softchoice customer story](). Kat, the newest General Partner at lead investor Kickstart Fund, made Kadence her first venture investment. “Having the opportunity to back companies like Kadence is why I got into venture capital,” she said. “They’re building something of true significance.” #### What was the funding for? Kadence said the new round would let it serve more customers and develop new tools to power the future of work. Its vision, carried over from its time as Chargifi, was to empower human flourishing at work and at home by improving the coordination of people, time and space, so teams feel trusted to choose how, when and where they do their best work. [Watch the announcement](), learn more about [why companies choose Kadence](), or visit the [Kadence newsroom]() for later company news. #### Related - [Kadence Partners With Archilogic to Power Intelligent Workplaces]() In March 2026, Kadence announced a strategic partnership with Archilogic, the spatial data platform, connecting Archilogic floor plan data with Kadence SpaceOps. - [Kadence Introduces AI-Driven Visitor Management System to Power Modern Workplace Operations]() New self-service kiosks, AI-assisted invites, automated check-in, and real-time visibility unify visitor activity with workplace intelligence, natively inside the Kadence platform San Francisco, CA — January 27, 2026 — Kadence, the leading workplace operations platform for global enterprises, today announced the launch of its newly rebuilt Visitor Management System (VMS), designed to automate visitor operations, \[…\] - [Tracy Hawkins Of OpenAI Joins Kadence’s Advisory Board]() Today marks an exciting new chapter for Kadence. We’re thrilled to announce that Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, has joined Kadence as a Strategic Advisor. Tracy Hawkins is one of the world’s most respected workplace leaders, known for helping organizations like OpenAI, Grammarly, and Twitter design environments that empower people \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Connect: Building High-Performing Hybrid Teams with Brian Elliott - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-connect-building-high-performing-hybrid-teams-with-brian-elliott/ Description: In this Kadence Connect webinar, Brian Elliott shares what great hybrid leaders get right — from trust to outcomes over attendance. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · May 20, 2025 · [Helen Attia]() ### Kadence Connect: Building High-Performing Hybrid Teams with Brian Elliott Kadence Connect - Brian Elliott [Brian Elliott]() has seen inside hundreds of hybrid organizations. As a former Slack SVP and Executive Leader of Future Forum, he’s helped shape what great hybrid work looks like. In a recent conversation, Brian shared what separates thriving hybrid teams from the rest — and it’s not policies or tech. It’s leadership. **Kadence Connect** is our live conversation series where hybrid work leaders share hard-won insights, frameworks, and future-facing ideas to help organizations thrive. Brian joined us to share the key lessons from his playbook that today’s leaders can’t afford to ignore. Watch the full webinar below. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Hybrid Isn’t Hard — Leadership Is One of the boldest things Brian says early on is this: > “Hybrid isn’t hard. Leadership is.” > > > > > > Brian Elliott Many companies struggle with hybrid not because the model is flawed, but because it exposes weak leadership habits. For decades, managers relied on proximity as a proxy for performance. In hybrid environments, that falls apart. The fallback to “management by eye contact” — seeing who’s in the office and when — is comforting, but meaningless. Great leaders, Brian says, lead through clarity and trust, not surveillance. #### High-Performing Teams Create Clarity Through his work at Slack and Future Forum, Brian identified a consistent pattern across the highest-performing hybrid teams. They excel in three areas: 1. **Create clarity** 2. **Build trust** 3. **Unlock potential** The first — clarity — is foundational. It means: - Defining *prioritized* goals (not 12 objectives, but 3 that matter) - Clarifying roles so no one is guessing who owns what - Setting team norms to shape how decisions get made Hybrid doesn’t work if people are uncertain about expectations. But it excels when leaders get intentional about alignment. > “Hybrid forces you to focus on outcomes. That’s the benefit.” > > > > > > Brian Elliott > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Leaders Don’t Need All The Answers Command-and-control doesn’t scale in hybrid teams. The best leaders don’t play the hero — they set a clear destination and invite others into the problem-solving process. > “If you have all the answers, you’re telling others to shut down their thinking.” > > > > > > Brian Elliott Instead of top-down directives, modern leadership is about asking better questions and letting the team shape the path. This unlocks creativity, autonomy, and deeper engagement — things you *need* when teams aren’t all in the same room. #### Reward Outcomes, Not Attendance Brian puts it plainly: stop rewarding people for showing up. Companies that anchor performance to attendance — who came in, when, and how often — miss the point. It’s not about visibility. It’s about impact. > “You get yourself out of the fear that ‘I need to see people to know they’re working.’” > > > > > > Brian Elliott Hybrid success demands a shift to output-based performance. That’s not just good for employees — it’s essential for business outcomes. #### The Bottom Line Hybrid work isn’t a logistical challenge — it’s a leadership opportunity. The managers and execs who embrace new mindsets will unlock flexibility, autonomy, and performance in ways traditional workplaces never could. Brian’s advice is clear: unlearn what doesn’t serve you, invest in clarity and trust, and stop managing by presence. Because in the future of work, outcomes speak louder than attendance. Want help putting this leadership model into practice? Book a demo with our hybrid experts and see how Kadence empowers high-performing teams — wherever they work. --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() Speak With Our Hybrid Experts Team Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-connect-energy-experimentation-and-empathy-with-perry-timms/ Description: Discover why hybrid strategy starts with people, not policy and how data, feedback, and flexibility can transform your workplace. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · July 23, 2025 · [Helen Attia]() ### Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms Hybrid Strategy At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with [Perry Timms]() reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t built around hierarchy, but around human flourishing? What if hybrid work wasn’t about balance sheets or badge swipes, but about energy, rhythm, and imagination? Here are the three biggest takeaways I walked away with. And why I think every hybrid leader should hear what Perry had to say. #### We’re All Running Two Organizations And That’s Okay We’re not just running a business and then we’ve got a transformation program. We’re building the future as we go. Perry Timms Perry’s idea that every organization today is both legacy and future was eye-opening. It’s not about making a clean switch into some ideal version of “future of work.” It’s about navigating the messy middle where the old and new exist side by side. That’s why so many of our customers feel behind. Because the pace of change is relentless and nonlinear. But instead of being overwhelmed, Perry argues we should embrace this as a time of creative construction. Everyone, at every level, should be part of shaping what’s next. That only happens if we build systems and rhythms where people can give feedback, test ideas, and feel ownership in what we’re building together. Featured Content 7 Steps To Hybrid Success Streamline your team’s success—download our free checklist today! [Download]() #### Start With Passion And People, Not Policy Whether you call them Tiger teams or set up a skunkworks, this stuff’s been done before. But we’ve done it episodically. Now we need to do it all the time. Perry Timms One of the most powerful ideas Perry shared was around capability pools and resident experts. Instead of dividing teams by department, he suggested organizing them around shared missions and deployable skillsets. This approach, already used in big pharma, creates a much more flexible and responsive organization. The same thinking can apply to hybrid strategy. Don’t wait for the perfect top-down policy. Instead, find your internal champions. People who care deeply about improving the experience. Empower them. Create a hybrid task force that includes facilities, HR, leadership, and frontline voices. Build momentum from the ground up. Featured Content Free Hybrid Work Policy Template Streamline your team’s success—download our free Hybrid Work Policy Template today! [Download Template]() #### We Need The Data And The Stories The stories influence people. The numbers back it up and sustain it. Perry Timms This line has stayed with me. At Kadence, we’re investing heavily in tools like [Insights Plus]() and [Surveys]() to give our customers the data they need to make better decisions about space usage, team collaboration, and hybrid patterns. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() But the goal isn’t just metrics. It’s meaning. What’s happening in one office that’s creating better engagement? What unexpected moments—like cage-free time in Utah or pet-friendly coworking in Michigan—are actually drawing people in? This is where data and feedback come together. One gives you the signal. The other tells you the story behind it. Employee Surveys If there’s one thing I took away from Perry, it’s that this moment demands curiosity, courage, and compassion. Let’s stop chasing rigid models of productivity and start designing for possibility instead. If you want to explore how Kadence can help, [book a demo with our hybrid experts](). --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() Speak With Our Hybrid Experts Team Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Hybrid Is The New Normal—But Not Yet For Everyone]() The UK has quietly reached a milestone: hybrid working is now the most common way to work among professionals. According to new data from the Office for National Statistics, 28% of workers in Britain split their time between home and the office. This is a structural shift in how the country works. But the data \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Webinar Series: Decoding the Hybrid Work Paradigm - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-connect-webinar-series-decoding-the-hybrid-work-paradigm/ Description: Kadence hosts it's first webinar series on Decoding the Hybrid Work Paradigm featuring Kadence AI in Kadence's new webinar series. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · October 17, 2024 · [Helen Attia]() ### Kadence Connect Webinar Series: Decoding The Hybrid Work Paradigm Read about Decoding the Hybrid Work Paradigm featuring Kadence AI In a recent webinar, the team at Kadence shared valuable insights with their customers on the evolving landscape of hybrid work. As organizations navigate the complexities of balancing office and remote work, learning from others as well as utilizing innovative solutions all help to optimize the hybrid work paradigm. Here’s what happened. #### The Hybrid Work Evolution The traditional 9-to-5 office model is rapidly becoming obsolete. Kadence is actively shaping this workplace revolution, assisting companies in developing tailored hybrid work strategies. The focus has shifted from mere location to reimagining collaboration, productivity, and cultural cohesion in a distributed work environment. #### Insights From Kadence Users We also wanted to give some of a customers the opportunity to share their hybrid journey with organizations experiencing similar challenges in decoding hybrid work. The team from Axalta approached Kadence to help them with the downsizing of their office space. They were experiencing a number of challenges and they needed a way to optimize their spaces and give all of their employees the equal opportunity to book the limited desks, and meeting spaces they had. > “How do we make all of our space available to our employees at any time” was one of the core problems they were trying to solve. Kadence then later helped them manage their space smarter by enabling them to allocate various teams to areas in the office on certain days of the week. This helped maximize all the space they had as well as give all of their employees a fair use of the office facilities. #### The Impact Of Optimized Office Space Our recent webinar on modern workplace solutions highlighted the impact of optimizing office spaces. [Lisa Bonin]() from [Servus Credit Union]() discussed how space management software like Kadence’s is changing how companies use real estate. > “I needed the metrics to prove the utilization rates within our spaces. That’s how we found Kadence!” Servus needed help optimizing their spaces to reduce costs and boost occupancy by tracking bookings, creating office neighborhoods, and providing analytics. > “Kadence gives us a custom dashboard so that we’re getting the reporting and the metrics that we specifically need to optimize our office space and reduce costs!” The insights from these tools like Kadence are crucial for creating flexible workplaces that meet hybrid teams’ needs, supporting both the company’s finances and its people. #### Pioneering Hybrid Work Solutions With Kadence AI A key highlight was the introduction of [Kadence’s new AI feature](), set to revolutionize hybrid work management. Kadence AI streamlines tasks enables natural conversations for booking and scheduling, integrates with existing platforms, and provides insights on team availability, enhancing collaboration and efficiency. ##### The key benefits of Kadence AI 1. Intelligent Space Allocation: Kadence AI optimizes seating arrangements based on team schedules, enhancing collaboration opportunities. 2. Predictive Occupancy Analysis: It offers foresight into office occupancy trends, enabling proactive space management. 3. Personalized Workspace Suggestions: The AI learns individual work preferences to suggest ideal workspace setups. #### Last Thoughts On Empowering Teams In The Hybrid Era Effective hybrid work strategies extend beyond mere space management. They’re about empowering teams to excel, regardless of location. Kadence is leading this charge with tools that transform hybrid work challenges into opportunities for organizational growth. As we continue to adapt to the hybrid work paradigm, Kadence stands out as an innovative force, reshaping our approach to work. Their evolving AI capabilities and user-centric solutions are set to play a pivotal role in defining the future of work – a future that promises greater flexibility, efficiency, and employee satisfaction. The hybrid work revolution is well underway, and with solutions like Kadence, organizations are well-equipped to thrive in this new era of work. Check it out here 👇 [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Next Month’s Webinar: How Are Employees Really Using Your Workplace? Are you curious about what’s really happening in your workplace? Join our monthly webinar to uncover how you can better understand employee office habits, booking trends, and popular areas of the office! Come also to meet your peers who are facing similar challenges, and opportunities with a chance to share your learnings with one another. [Kadence Connect Webinar Series: Decoding The Hybrid Work Paradigm image]() --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. ##### What’s Next For The Future Of Work? Join our Kadence community to stay on top of latest news and trends in the future of work. #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Webinar Series: The Future of Work with Nick Bloom- Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-connect-webinar-series-the-future-of-work-with-nick-bloom/ Description: In our latest webinar, economist and remote work expert Nick Bloom shared key insights into the evolving landscape of hybrid work. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · February 7, 2025 · [Helen Attia]() ### The Future Of Work In 2025 And Beyond With Nick Bloom In our latest webinar, economist and remote work expert Nick Bloom shared key insights into the evolving landscape of hybrid work. With data suggesting that work-from-home levels have stabilized globally, the discussion focused on what this means for organizations navigating hybrid models and the future of remote work technologies. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Flexible Work Has Stabilized We kicked off the webinar by discussing the current state of flexible work. Nick presented compelling data showing that work-from-home trends have reached a steady state, with approximately 50-60% of workdays now spent at home. Contrary to media narratives suggesting that remote work is declining, the numbers tell a different story. Drawing from multiple data sources — including surveys, foot traffic analytics, and mobile phone mobility data — highlighted a consistent pattern of stability across industries and regions. **The main reason behind this stability? Hybrid work is profitable.** It doesn’t significantly impact productivity, but it does reduce turnover and saves companies money. While there are variations by sector, the overall trend indicates that hybrid work is here to stay. #### Challenges Of Managing Hybrid Work Successfully implementing a hybrid model requires careful coordination. Nick’s research emphasized the importance of structured in-office days to maintain collaboration while avoiding the pitfalls of strict mandates. He pointed out that effective management in a hybrid environment hinges on three key factors: **Coordination:** Clear, pre-set office days help streamline team collaboration. **Data Collection:** Tracking workplace utilization and employee engagement helps leaders make informed decisions. **Performance Measurement:** Shifting focus from time-based monitoring to output-driven assessments ensures productivity remains high. #### Key Takeaways To Drive Hybrid Success **Data-driven approach:** As hybrid work continues to shape the modern workplace, organizations must take a data-driven approach rather than relying on guesswork. [Workplace analytics]() should be used to refine strategies and ensure employees remain engaged and productive. **Passive tracking through existing infrastructure:** Mentorship plays a crucial role in employee retention, and without it, new hires may struggle to see career growth, leading to higher turnover. While employee satisfaction and performance can be difficult to measure, tracking attendance through existing infrastructure such as a combination of badge swipe-ins and Wi-Fi logins can provide a clearer picture. **Trust is a key factor:** Conversations about data tracking should be framed transparently to emphasize the benefits for employees. While office utilization fluctuates—especially on Fridays—companies must strike a balance between maximizing use of office space and maintaining employee satisfaction. Hybrid work is here to stay, and the organizations that adapt effectively will be the ones that thrive. Looking ahead, hybrid work will continue to evolve, particularly with advancements in virtual and augmented reality. These technologies are set to enhance flexible collaboration, making it more immersive and efficient. As organizations adapt, the role of managers will also need to evolve, with leadership styles shifting to support remote and hybrid teams more effectively. Building a successful hybrid work strategy requires a deep understanding of employee needs, flexibility in approach, and the right technological tools to support collaboration and coordination. The Future of Work: Insights from Nick Bloom Download the webinar slides here to dive deeper into the data and insights shared [Download]() **Understand how to create a hybrid strategy that works for both your employees and your company performance. Get in touch here to learn more about our custom analytics dashboard offering to take your hybrid insights to the next level.** --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Introduces AI-Driven Visitor Management System to Power Modern Workplace Operations Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-introduces-ai-driven-visitor-management-system/ Description: New self-service kiosks, AI-assisted invites, automated check-in, and real-time visibility unify visitor activity with workplace intelligence, natively inside the Kadence platform [News]() · [Kadence News]() · January 28, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Kadence Introduces AI-Driven Visitor Management System to Power Modern Workplace Operations *New self-service kiosks, AI-assisted invites, automated check-in, and real-time visibility unify visitor activity with workplace intelligence, natively inside the Kadence platform* **San Francisco, CA — January 27, 2026** — Kadence, the leading [workplace operations]() platform for global enterprises, today announced the launch of its newly rebuilt [**Visitor Management System (VMS)**](), designed to automate visitor operations, remove front-desk friction, and give organizations real-time visibility into on-site activity across every location. As companies expand across regions and move to hybrid, leaner offices, managing visitors has become a challenge that traditional standalone tools weren’t designed to solve. Manual processes, inconsistent workflows, and disconnected systems slow entry, create blind spots, and limit visibility into who is on-site at any given moment. Kadence rebuilt Visitor Management to address those realities. “Visitor management isn’t just a front-desk function anymore – it’s a core part of how the workplace operates,” said Dan Bladen, co-founder and CEO of Kadence. “We listened to customers who needed something more scalable, more intelligent, and more connected. This is visitor management built like the rest of Kadence: elegant, easy-to-use, and AI-powered to meet the modern workplace where it is today.” Built natively into the Kadence platform, [VMS]() replaces fragmented front-desk tools with an AI-led, self-service experience by bringing kiosks, QR check-in, document capture, host notifications, and centralized visitor records into one governed system. Thanks to Kadence AI, employees no longer need to load up a separate app or workflow to invite a visitor; they can simply invite a guest by asking Kadence in Microsoft Teams or Slack. Visitor activity feeds directly into [Kadence SpaceOps](), where it’s treated as a signal alongside employee attendance, giving organizations clear visibility into external foot traffic, peak arrivals, and guest-driven space demand. #### **From Check-In Tool to Workplace Operations Signal** Unlike standalone visitor tools, Kadence VMS is embedded directly into a broader workplace operations platform, allowing visitor activity to be managed and understood in context. With Kadence VMS, organizations can: - Enable fast, autonomous entry with self-service kiosks designed for high-volume - Accelerate arrivals using QR-based check-in for preregistered guests - Eliminate manual coordination by automating invites with Kadence AI - Capture NDAs, waivers, and compliance documentation as part of the check-in flow - Trigger real-time host notifications via Microsoft Teams, Slack, or email - Maintain centralized, audit-ready visitor logs across all global locations This approach allows workplace, security, and IT teams to standardize visitor workflows globally while preserving flexibility at the local level. #### **Built for Scale, Hybrid Offices, and the Modern Enterprise** Kadence VMS supports organizations managing thousands of visitors each week with capabilities designed for today’s operational realities, including: - Global governance with local control - Real-time visibility for audits, emergencies, and incident response - Consistent, on-brand arrival experiences across every site - Autonomous check-in for hybrid and minimally staffed offices #### Related - [Kadence Partners With Archilogic to Power Intelligent Workplaces]() In March 2026, Kadence announced a strategic partnership with Archilogic, the spatial data platform, connecting Archilogic floor plan data with Kadence SpaceOps. - [Tracy Hawkins Of OpenAI Joins Kadence’s Advisory Board]() Today marks an exciting new chapter for Kadence. We’re thrilled to announce that Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, has joined Kadence as a Strategic Advisor. Tracy Hawkins is one of the world’s most respected workplace leaders, known for helping organizations like OpenAI, Grammarly, and Twitter design environments that empower people \[…\] - [Kadence Raises $20M To Transform How Enterprises Run The Modern Workplace]() Today marks a major milestone in our journey: Kadence has raised a $20 million Series A to accelerate the future of work. The round was led by High Alpha, with participation from Kickstart, Midwich Ignite, and Four Cities Capital and Mantaray. We’re also honored to have the backing of 515 Ventures led by Frederic Kerrest \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Belfast Hub Announced With Invest NI, 2019 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-invest-ni-belfast-hub-northern-ireland/ Description: In August 2019, Kadence announced a Technology and Business Development hub in Belfast, Northern Ireland: a £3.6 million investment backed by Invest NI. [News]() · [Kadence News]() · August 13, 2019 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Kadence Opened a Belfast Technology Hub in 2019, Backed by Invest NI On August 13, 2019, Kadence announced that it had set up a Technology and Business Development hub in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The £3.6 million investment was expected to create 41 jobs, with £328,000 of support from Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) toward the new roles. The historic Ormeau Baths building in Belfast, where Kadence took up residence in 2019 Kadence's Belfast office was in the historic Ormeau Baths building. #### Why did Kadence open a hub in Belfast? The Belfast hub was part of Kadence’s 2019 expansion plan to grow sales significantly by building its presence in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the USA and China. At the time, Kadence described itself as a market-leading [space management]() solution. Alastair Hamilton, then CEO of Invest Northern Ireland, which supported the investment, said: “Kadence’s decision to set up its Technology and Business Development hub in Northern Ireland was influenced by the availability of high quality talent, particularly software engineers, as well as the support offered by Invest NI.” He added that the company was “a welcome addition to Northern Ireland’s vibrant ICT sector, which has already attracted over 100 global technology companies,” and that “the new jobs created by Kadence will contribute over £1.8m in annual salaries to the local economy and will introduce new skills and new opportunities to the ICT sector here.” #### What would the Belfast team work on? The hub was set up to develop Kadence’s core technology. Its work covered product certification, quality assurance and collaboration with technology partners. It also included a team focused on the commercial go-to-market strategy. Kadence, headquartered in London at the time, took up residence in the historic Ormeau Baths building, then a co-working space and startup hub run in partnership with Barclays Eagle Labs. With the ongoing support of Invest NI, the company planned to draw on talent from both Queen’s University and the University of Ulster. #### What led up to the 2019 expansion? The Belfast hub followed a busy 2018, in which Kadence doubled its workforce. That year it secured investment from Hewlett Packard Enterprise and formed strategic partnerships with Belkin worldwide, Ingram Micro in the North American market, SABA Hospitality in Asia and Westcoast in the UK. By August 2019, Kadence had been deployed around the world and counted global brands such as Amazon, Pret A Manger, Grand Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott and WeWork among its customers. For more on the company’s history, visit [Why Kadence]() and the [Kadence newsroom](), or read more from co-founder [Dan Bladen](). #### Related - [Kadence Partners With Archilogic to Power Intelligent Workplaces]() In March 2026, Kadence announced a strategic partnership with Archilogic, the spatial data platform, connecting Archilogic floor plan data with Kadence SpaceOps. - [Kadence Introduces AI-Driven Visitor Management System to Power Modern Workplace Operations]() New self-service kiosks, AI-assisted invites, automated check-in, and real-time visibility unify visitor activity with workplace intelligence, natively inside the Kadence platform San Francisco, CA — January 27, 2026 — Kadence, the leading workplace operations platform for global enterprises, today announced the launch of its newly rebuilt Visitor Management System (VMS), designed to automate visitor operations, \[…\] - [Tracy Hawkins Of OpenAI Joins Kadence’s Advisory Board]() Today marks an exciting new chapter for Kadence. We’re thrilled to announce that Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, has joined Kadence as a Strategic Advisor. Tracy Hawkins is one of the world’s most respected workplace leaders, known for helping organizations like OpenAI, Grammarly, and Twitter design environments that empower people \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-mcp-now-in-your-favorite-ai-assistant/ Description: Kadence MCP is live. Book desks, run the office and get space insights inside Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini or Grok. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · September 8, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant Kadence MCP Now Available Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is not the same thing as reach. Reach is the harder problem, because the people we build for have spent the last two years moving. Their working day now begins and largely stays inside an AI assistant that already knows their calendar, their inbox, their documents, and a fair share of everything their company has ever written down. The one thing it has never known anything about is their workplace. Today we are fixing that. [The Kadence MCP is live](), and it lets your people use Kadence in natural language from inside the assistant they already work in. We ship ready-made connectors for Claude, ChatGPT, and Microsoft Copilot. Past those three, MCP is an open protocol rather than a private integration, so any assistant that speaks it reaches the same server, Gemini and Grok included, as does whatever your own engineers decide to build against it. So when a manager asks Claude to book her team a bank of desks for next week, Claude does not explain how to do it or hand her a link. It books the desks. By the time she has finished the sentence, those desks exist in Kadence. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What Your Assistant Can Now Do Around thirty tools ship with the MCP, spanning three areas of Kadence. [In WorkOps](), the assistant acts. It books desks, rooms and parking, checks people in and out, reads your schedule and your team’s, invites visitors, and sets your office days. This is the everyday coordination that every employee touches, and it now costs a sentence. [In SpaceOps](), it shows you how your space is set up: workspaces, neighborhoods, stack plans, desk assignments. Ask how engineering is seated across floors two and three and you get the current picture, in the middle of the meeting where somebody asked you for it. In Reporting, it answers the questions you would otherwise go hunting for, on occupancy, attendance and no-shows, and it brings the source of every number along with it, so you can repeat the answer out loud without going away to check it first. #### Three Real Jobs, One in Each Assistant Below are three jobs people at your company already do every week. A team manager books an onsite. A workplace manager fits eight new starters into a floor. A workplace leader checks whether a hybrid policy is working. We ran each one in a different assistant, and this is how each one goes. ##### Booking a Team Onsite in Claude A team manager has her whole team coming in together next week, so she asks Claude to book them all into their neighborhood, Monday to Friday. Claude finds desks for all eight of them on every day, and catches something she had missed: one of her team already holds a desk somewhere else on the Wednesday. It offers to move that booking and waits for her to agree. She agrees. Claude books the week, shifts the clash, and tells everybody where they are sitting. Then she asks for a room for eight each morning. Her own floor turns out to be full all week, so Claude works out the combination that does fit across two other floors and drops all five rooms into everyone’s calendar. The whole exchange runs four sentences. Done by hand, it costs her a morning of switching between tabs, and it is exactly the kind of job people give up on halfway through. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ##### Fitting Eight New Starters in ChatGPT Eight people join Sales at London HQ next week, and the workplace manager needs to know whether they will fit. He asks ChatGPT, which checks the Sales neighborhood and gives him the bad news plainly: eighteen desks, sixteen of them already assigned, so he is six short. He asks where those six might come from. ChatGPT looks at what teams actually use rather than what they were allocated, and finds two neighborhoods on the same floor that run well under their allocation even on their busiest day. It proposes pulling four desks from one and two from the other, so that neither gets stripped and both keep a buffer. He has his answer and the reasoning behind it without opening a thing. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ##### Checking a Hybrid Policy in Copilot The policy says three days a week in the office, and a workplace leader wants to know whether teams in Vienna hit it last month. She asks Copilot, which breaks the month down team by team and measures on check-ins rather than bookings, telling her so, because those two numbers answer different questions. Six of the eight teams land within half a day of policy. Two do not. She asks the follow-up that decides what she does next: is that whole teams, or a few individuals? Copilot pulls the two cases apart. One team misses policy across all eleven people. The other looks worse than it is, because four individuals rarely come in at all while the remaining ten sit right at policy. Those two situations call for two very different conversations, and she now knows which one she is having. So she asks Copilot to draft an email to each team lead with their own numbers. It writes both, puts them in her Outlook, and leaves her to read them before they go anywhere. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Why You Can Hand It the Keys An assistant that can change things in your workplace has to be one you trust with the keys, so we built the MCP around four commitments. Every person signs in through OAuth 2.1 as themselves. Nobody shares credentials and nobody pastes an API key into a chat window. An admin switches the integration on for the organization, and from there each person authenticates individually. Everyone keeps the permissions they already hold. The assistant can only ever do what the person asking could already do in Kadence, so connecting it widens nobody’s access by a single desk. Every number carries its source. When Reporting answers a question, the provenance travels with the answer, which is what makes it safe to quote in a room where somebody is about to sign a lease. And the assistant hands the last step back when the last step is yours. It writes the email. You send it. #### Connect the Assistant You Already Run We ship connectors for Claude, ChatGPT, and Microsoft Copilot, because those are the three assistants our customers have standardized on. They are not the boundary. MCP is an open protocol, so an organization running a different assistant, or its own internal tooling, reaches the same server we built for those three. Some of the most technical teams we talk to want nothing to do with the conversational layer at all. They would rather build straight against the tools, and that works, because underneath it is the same server either way. You integrate once, and it holds up whatever your AI stack turns out to look like in eighteen months. #### Bring the Workplace to Your People Kadence AI keeps doing what it does best inside Kadence, and it does it very well. The MCP answers a different question: what happens through the rest of the day, when your people are somewhere else entirely? Until today, asking Kadence anything meant leaving whatever you were in the middle of, going somewhere else, finding the right screen, and coming back. That break is small, and small breaks are precisely what stop people booking at all. Workplace software has spent a decade asking people to come to it. Another app, another login, another dashboard that nobody opens on a Tuesday. We pushed back on that when we [built into Slack and Teams](), because coordination actually happens there. The MCP carries the same argument to its conclusion. Your people already start the day inside an assistant. From today, your workplace is in there with them. The Kadence MCP is available now. [Book a demo]() and we will show you it running in the assistant your team already uses. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. - [Office Space Planning: A Workplace Leader’s Guide to Strategic Workplace Design]() Office space planning was once a one-time exercise: lay out the floor, assign the desks, and revisit it in a few years. That model no longer fits how organizations operate. Office space planning has become an ongoing strategic discipline that touches real estate, headcount, hybrid policy, and employee experience at the same time. This guide \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Named Top Performer For Customer Success Award - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-named-top-performer-for-customer-success-award/ Description: Kadence has been named a top performer in the Summer 2024 Desk Booking Software Customer Success Report by FeaturedCustomers. [News]() · [Kadence News]() · August 23, 2024 · [Jamie Addis]() ### Kadence Named Top Performer For Customer Success Award Kadence Customer Success Award Top Performer Badge **Kadence has been named a [top performer]() in the Summer 2024 Desk Booking Software Customer Success Report** FeaturedCustomers is the leading customer success content marketing platform for B2B business software & services helping potential B2B buyers make informed purchasing decisions through vendor validated customer success content such as customer testimonials, success stories, case studies, and customer videos. FeaturedCustomers evaluated all the potential Desk Booking Software companies on its platform for possible inclusion in the report. Only 15 companies met the criteria needed for being included in the Summer 2024 Desk Booking Software Customer Success Report. **Kadence earned a Top Performer award in the category.** The Customer Success Report is based on the curation of authenticated case studies, testimonials, and videos from across the web, telling a complete story of vendors in the Desk Booking Software space through real customer experiences. Rankings are determined by multiple factors including total number of customer success content, social media and market presence, vendor momentum based on web traffic and search trends, and additional data aggregated from online sources and media properties. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Top Performer – The Top Performer designation is awarded to vendors with significant market presence and enough customer success content to validate their vision. Top Performers’ products are highly rated by their customers but have not achieved the customer base and scale of a Market Leader. Highly rated by customers, Kadence consistently publishes high quality, vendor produced customer success content and curates quality customer references from multiple third-party sites. **About Kadence:** Kadence is the hybrid work platform that helps your team thrive. [Boost employee productivity](), enable in-person collaboration, and maximize your workspace to do more with less. By building the operating system for the future of work, they improve the coordination of people, time and space to help teams feel trusted and empowered to make the best choices about how, when and where they get their best work done. **About FeaturedCustomers:** FeaturedCustomers, the world’s only customer reference platform for B2B business software & services, helps potential B2B buyers research and discover business software & services through vendor validated customer reference content such as customer testimonials, success stories, case studies, and customer videos. Every day their platform helps influence the purchasing decisions of thousands of B2B buyers in the final stages of their buying cycle from Fortune 500 companies to SMB’s. For more information, visit [their website](). To find out more about how Kadence can help you and your team find your rhythm for work, [book a demo]() with our team. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### What’s Next For The Future Of Work? Join our Kadence community to stay on top of latest news and trends in the future of work. #### Related - [Kadence Partners With Archilogic to Power Intelligent Workplaces]() In March 2026, Kadence announced a strategic partnership with Archilogic, the spatial data platform, connecting Archilogic floor plan data with Kadence SpaceOps. - [Kadence Introduces AI-Driven Visitor Management System to Power Modern Workplace Operations]() New self-service kiosks, AI-assisted invites, automated check-in, and real-time visibility unify visitor activity with workplace intelligence, natively inside the Kadence platform San Francisco, CA — January 27, 2026 — Kadence, the leading workplace operations platform for global enterprises, today announced the launch of its newly rebuilt Visitor Management System (VMS), designed to automate visitor operations, \[…\] - [Tracy Hawkins Of OpenAI Joins Kadence’s Advisory Board]() Today marks an exciting new chapter for Kadence. We’re thrilled to announce that Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, has joined Kadence as a Strategic Advisor. Tracy Hawkins is one of the world’s most respected workplace leaders, known for helping organizations like OpenAI, Grammarly, and Twitter design environments that empower people \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Partners With Archilogic on Spatial Data | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-partners-with-archilogic-to-power-intelligent-workplaces/ Description: In March 2026, Kadence and Archilogic announced a strategic partnership that connects Archilogic's spatial data platform with Kadence SpaceOps for enterprises. [News]() · [Kadence News]() · March 4, 2026 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### Kadence Partners With Archilogic to Power Intelligent Workplaces Archilogic Partnership In March 2026, Kadence announced a strategic partnership with [Archilogic](), the leading spatial data platform for enterprises. The partnership combined Archilogic’s spatial data infrastructure with [Kadence SpaceOps](), so that enterprises could connect accurate floor plan data with real-time information on how people use their space. Spatial data is structured information about a building’s layout, such as floors, rooms and every square foot of space. The aim of the partnership was a workplace that is not only accurately mapped but continuously optimized. Dan Bladen, CEO and co-founder of Kadence, said: > “Archilogic customers gain an operating layer that helps teams actually run the workplace day-to-day. Kadence customers gain a richer spatial foundation that makes SpaceOps faster and more precise. It’s a true ‘better together’ partnership.” #### What problem did the partnership address? Enterprises are not short on workplace data. They have floor plans, lease records, occupancy metrics and badge reports. What they often lack is a way to turn that information into operational clarity. The partnership was designed to close that gap between data and action. As announced, Archilogic would provide the AI-ready spatial data foundation: a living record of every square foot across global portfolios. Kadence would provide the real-time operational layer that captures how teams use space day to day. Together, they would create a continuous feedback loop that keeps layouts, booking behavior and [workplace strategy]() aligned. Dominique Burgauer, CEO of Archilogic, said: > “Spatial data is the missing piece for applying enterprise AI strategies to the physical world. Archilogic fixes that, and by partnering with Kadence, we’re extending that foundation directly into daily operations, turning spatial intelligence into measurable business outcomes.” #### How was the integration designed to work? With Archilogic’s API-driven spatial data integrated into Kadence, floor plans become living infrastructure. In the design announced in March 2026, changes would synchronize automatically, booking workflows would reflect real layouts, and workplace policies would adapt without manual rework. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Traditional workplace systems rely on static documents and manual updates. When layouts change, systems fall behind. When teams reorganize, [booking rules]() drift out of line, and decision-makers are left reconciling outdated plans with current behavior. > “Enterprises cannot afford to treat space as a static record anymore. When spatial data and real-time behavior operate in separate systems, decisions lag behind reality. This partnership brings them together into a single intelligent infrastructure.” — Dan Bladen Diagram of the SpaceOps AI engine: workplace inputs such as teams, buildings, policies and adjacency needs feed optimization, collaboration modeling and continuous learning #### What did it mean for corporate real estate leaders? For large portfolios, approximation introduces risk. Archilogic represents every square foot accurately as a structured data layer, and [Kadence SpaceOps]() makes sure that space is used in line with hybrid strategies and operational goals. The partnership promised [corporate real estate]() leaders a single source of truth for decisions on consolidation, redesign and expansion. Badge swipes show presence, not performance. By combining Archilogic’s precise layouts with Kadence’s booking intent and actual usage data, enterprises would gain a full view of workplace ROI. Leaders could see which spaces are used, how layout affects effectiveness, and [model future scenarios]() before committing to costly changes. Kadence SpaceOps functions for workplace leaders: stack planning, move management and scenario planning #### How was it meant to change the employee experience? By syncing Archilogic’s spatial data with Kadence’s booking workflows, the partners aimed to make sure the space employees arrive to reflects what they booked, and the environment supports the work being done. Space becomes a strategic lever for productivity, collaboration and culture. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() For more company news, visit the [Kadence newsroom](). To see how spatial data and SpaceOps can improve portfolio performance, [book a demo with our workplace operations experts](). Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Kadence Introduces AI-Driven Visitor Management System to Power Modern Workplace Operations]() New self-service kiosks, AI-assisted invites, automated check-in, and real-time visibility unify visitor activity with workplace intelligence, natively inside the Kadence platform San Francisco, CA — January 27, 2026 — Kadence, the leading workplace operations platform for global enterprises, today announced the launch of its newly rebuilt Visitor Management System (VMS), designed to automate visitor operations, \[…\] - [Tracy Hawkins Of OpenAI Joins Kadence’s Advisory Board]() Today marks an exciting new chapter for Kadence. We’re thrilled to announce that Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, has joined Kadence as a Strategic Advisor. Tracy Hawkins is one of the world’s most respected workplace leaders, known for helping organizations like OpenAI, Grammarly, and Twitter design environments that empower people \[…\] - [Kadence Raises $20M To Transform How Enterprises Run The Modern Workplace]() Today marks a major milestone in our journey: Kadence has raised a $20 million Series A to accelerate the future of work. The round was led by High Alpha, with participation from Kickstart, Midwich Ignite, and Four Cities Capital and Mantaray. We’re also honored to have the backing of 515 Ventures led by Frederic Kerrest \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Office Attendance By Country: Hybrid Pulse Check #1 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-pulse-check/ Description: Kadence data from over 500 companies, November 2024: office attendance in Australia, the US, Canada and the UK, and why Tuesday and Wednesday are peak days. [News]() · [Hybrid Working]() · November 21, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Ali Carson]() ### Hybrid Pulse Check #1: Office Attendance By Country And Weekday (November 2024) Kadence Hybrid Pulse Check #1 Office attendance varies sharply by country. In November 2024, Kadence analyzed booking data from over 500 companies and found that Australian office workers had the highest in-office engagement, US [hybrid work]() had settled at two office days per week, Canada averaged roughly one in-office day a week, and the UK was the hybrid holdout. In every region except Australia, Tuesday and Wednesday were the peak [in-office days](). This first Hybrid Pulse Check sets out what the data showed and what it means for workplace leaders planning space and policy. #### How many days a week do people go to the office in each country? In the November 2024 data, Australian office workers averaged two to three days a week in the office, the highest in-office engagement of the countries measured. US hybrid work had stabilized at two office days per week. Canada took a more relaxed approach, with roughly one in-office day a week. UK attendance stayed largely flat. Kadence chart of monthly office bookings by country, comparing Australia, the US, Canada and the UK The UK saw only a small post-summer bump in 2024, as big companies nudged employees back to their desks. **Office attendance** here means the days employees book a workspace in the office, measured from bookings rather than policy. ##### What should workplace leaders do in each country? - **Australia:** With high attendance, create vibrant, engaging office spaces for regulars. - **US and UK:** Hybrid is here to stay, so communicate hybrid policies clearly. - **Canada:** Keep investing in [remote work]() setups, but do not neglect [flexible office space]() for occasional in-office days. #### Where is resistance to return-to-office mandates strongest? The UK showed the strongest resistance to returning to the office in November 2024. UK employees showed a strong preference for remote working and pushed back against full [return-to-office mandates](). Canada followed a similar path, with remote work and occasional office visits as the norm. Australia stood out as the opposite case. Kadence chart of preferences for remote, hybrid and in-office work models by country Australia’s two to three office days a week blend remote flexibility with [in-person collaboration](). ##### How can organizations adapt? In Canada and the UK, lean into remote work. Flexible desks, collaborative tools and easy-to-use [desk booking software]() make life easier for everyone. In Australia and the US, focus on getting hybrid schedules right. That means balancing collaboration spaces with quiet zones for heads-down work, and helping teams [coordinate which days they come in](). #### Which days of the week are busiest in the office? Tuesday and Wednesday were the peak in-office days across most regions in the November 2024 data. Europeans and Americans tended to come in two to three days a week and concentrate them mid-week. Australians were the exception: Monday was their peak office day, and attendance tapered off by Thursday. Kadence chart of the most popular in-office days by region, with Tuesday and Wednesday highest Kadence chart comparing office bookings by weekday for 2022/2023 and 2023/2024, with Tuesday and Wednesday highest and Friday lowest in both years ##### How should you plan for peak days? For the US and Europe, prepare Tuesdays and Wednesdays for peak office traffic, with enough space and resources. For Australia, embrace the early-week activity and plan a more relaxed setup toward Thursday to match lower attendance. Peak days matter for real estate decisions. A floor sized for an average day can still run short on a Tuesday. [Occupancy data]() by weekday shows where that gap sits. Kadence’s guide to [workplace analytics metrics]() explains which measures to track. #### How do you make the office work for everyone? Hybrid is a mindset shift as much as a work style. The office is where ideas flow, teams bond and culture thrives, not just desks and meeting rooms. To make hybrid work, create spaces people want to use, and use attendance and space-usage data to design workplaces that support collaboration and productivity. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What data did the Hybrid Pulse Check #1 use? Kadence analyzed booking data from over 500 companies using its platform. The findings were published in November 2024. ##### How many days a week did US hybrid workers go to the office? US hybrid work had settled into a rhythm of two office days per week, according to the November 2024 Pulse Check. ##### What are the most popular days to work in the office? Tuesday and Wednesday were the peak in-office days in every region except Australia. There, Monday was the peak day and attendance tapered off by Thursday. Ali Carson Ali Carson Ali is a Data Scientist at Kadence, combining her love for math and data to explore how people are thriving in the hybrid world. Passionate about uncovering insights, she’s dedicated to making sense of the numbers that shape our new ways of working. Outside of work, Ali is a proud cat mum to two cats and an active field hockey player, competing in the All-Ireland League every weekend. [Read More from Ali Carson]() Part of Kadence Pulse [All Kadence Pulse research]() What Kadence's own workplace data shows about how people use the office. #### Related - [The CEO’s Perspective: Driving Growth, Innovation, And Hybrid Working ROI]() Embracing hybrid work isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for forward-thinking CEOs. This article unveils how hybrid work models drive unprecedented Hybrid Working ROI across the triple bottom line: By implementing a robust hybrid working ROI strategy, CEOs can future-proof their organizations, attract top talent, and gain a competitive edge in an evolving business \[…\] - [Hybrid Work Management Software – Choosing The Right One]() The rise of hybrid work models has become more than just a trend. It’s a necessity. As teams embrace a flexible work environment, effective Hybrid Work Management Software has become critical. Read our key considerations that will empower you and your team to choose the right software that best suits your hybrid goals. The traditional \[…\] - [Not Prioritizing Flex Work? You Won’t Like What’s Really Going On]() In my hometown, I get more unsolicited emails and messages from one particular organization than any other. It’s led by a chief executive who doesn’t believe in the benefits of flex work. The emails and messages I receive are from frustrated employees and leaders who wish they had access to the kind of flex work \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Pulse: How Culture Shapes Workplace Operations - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-pulse-how-culture-shapes-workplace-operations/ Description: Kadence Pulse uses booking data to explore how culture shapes office attendance and workplace operations across countries. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · January 28, 2026 · [Ali Carson]() ### Kadence Pulse: How Culture Shapes Workplace Operations Culture Workplace Welcome to Kadence Pulse. This series uses aggregated and anonymized data from Kadence customers to understand how workplace behavior is changing at scale. Rather than focusing on individual offices or policies, each Pulse looks at a single signal in the data and what it reveals about how workplace operations actually function. I’m Ali Carson, a Data Scientist at Kadence. My role is to analyze patterns across thousands of workplaces and millions of bookings to understand how people really use offices day to day. In this edition of Kadence Pulse, I’ve been exploring how cultural differences show up in workplace behavior and how closely those patterns align with recent academic research. [A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]() provides a useful starting point. Analyzing data from more than 14,000 full-time, college-educated workers across 37 countries, the researchers found that cultural individualism explains around 29 percent of cross-country variation in work-from-home behavior. This is a larger share than industry mix, population density, or economic development. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() We see massive variations in working from home across countries. It’s really common in the US, UK and Canada but pretty rare in China and Japan. A big question was why, and the answer that jumped out from the data is that culture plays a huge role. We found culture, and particularly what is called individualism, is a big driver of WFH. In the US employees tend to want more autonomy and that includes choice over where they work, while in Asia there is a more collectivist culture focusing on face time which nudges towards the office. Neither is better or worse, but they play a huge role in shaping levels of WFH. Nick Bloom Stanford Economist, PNAS Study Author That research explains why hybrid schedules differ by country. What it cannot show is how those differences translate into everyday workplace operations. That’s where Kadence data becomes useful. #### How the Data Was Structured The PNAS paper reports average paid work-from-home days per week at a country level. Based on the ranges described in the paper, countries naturally cluster into three groups: those averaging roughly 1.3 or more work-from-home days per week, those between around 0.9 and 1.3 days, and those averaging fewer than 0.9 days. Using those country-level averages as a reference point, I grouped Kadence data into the same three categories. I then limited the analysis to companies with more than 5,000 total bookings and to countries with sufficient booking volume between 2024 and 2026. This helps ensure the patterns reflect stable workplace operations rather than early adoption or policy transition effects. The resulting dataset spans high, medium, and low work-from-home countries across North America, Europe, and Asia. #### Onsite Presence Follows the Same Pattern When I look at Kadence data through this lens, the first signal is clear. Countries that work from home more in the PNAS data also show lower onsite presence in Kadence data. This pattern is visible in the country-level averages shown below. In the high work-from-home group, countries such as the US, UK, Canada, and New Zealand cluster toward the lower end of average weekly onsite bookings per user. By contrast, countries in the low work-from-home group show consistently higher averages, while medium work-from-home countries sit between the two. Across all three groups, there is meaningful overlap within each band. Measured as the average number of days per week with a non-cancelled onsite booking per active user, high work-from-home countries consistently sit lower than medium and low work-from-home countries. Aggregated by band, the median onsite presence is 1.68 days per week in high work-from-home countries, 1.97 days in medium work-from-home countries, and 1.88 days in low work-from-home countries. The differences are real, but they are not extreme. This mirrors the PNAS finding that culture shapes how often people work remotely, without suggesting a sharp or binary divide between countries. #### Predictability Reveals a Clearer Cultural Signal Where cultural differences become more pronounced is not just in frequency, but in predictability. To understand this, I looked at how consistently people come into the office over time. A user is considered consistently onsite if they have at least one onsite booking in 80 percent of the weeks during the period they are active. Using that definition, 55 percent of users in high work-from-home countries show a consistent onsite pattern. In medium work-from-home countries, that figure rises to 64 percent. In low work-from-home countries, it reaches 68 percent. This suggests that culture influences how reliably teams coordinate shared time. In lower work-from-home countries, onsite presence tends to be more predictable week to week. In higher work-from-home countries, presence is more flexible and variable. Up to this point, Kadence data behaves exactly as the PNAS study would lead us to expect. #### What Happens Once People Are in the Office Frequency and predictability tell us when people come in. They do not tell us how the office is actually used. When I look at booking behavior on onsite days, the differences between countries narrow considerably. Across all three work-from-home groups, desk bookings dominate, accounting for just over half of all activity in every band. In high and medium work-from-home countries, desk bookings make up 57 percent of bookings per user, while in low work-from-home countries they still account for a majority at 52 percent. Room bookings also remain remarkably consistent across groups. They account for 28 percent of bookings in high work-from-home countries, 29 percent in medium work-from-home countries, and rise to 42 percent in low work-from-home countries. Even where attendance is higher, the balance between individual and collaborative space does not fundamentally change. Looking within each group, country-level variation exists, but it sits within a relatively tight range. Some countries lean slightly more toward desks or rooms, but no group shows a fundamentally different office usage model. This convergence extends to how intensively people use the office once they arrive. When I measure the average number of bookings per active user on onsite days, the values remain broadly comparable across all three groups, reinforcing that higher attendance does not translate into a different pattern of space use. Collaboration patterns show only modest differences across countries. The charts below show average room booking size by country, and across high, medium, and low work-from-home groups, most countries cluster within a relatively narrow range of meeting sizes. Looking at the underlying distributions, the median room booking size is two people in both high and medium work-from-home countries, and three people in low work-from-home countries. Average room size increases slightly from high to low work-from-home groups, but the shift is incremental rather than structural, reflecting slightly denser collaboration rather than a different way of working. Taken together, the data suggests that culture shapes when people come into the office, but not what the office is used for once they arrive. #### What This Means for Workplace Operations For global organizations, this distinction matters. Attendance rhythms differ by country, and attempts to standardize expectations around presence often run into cultural friction. The data supports that reality. At the same time, the convergence in in-office behavior suggests that organizations do not need entirely different office models in different regions. Desk demand dominates everywhere. Collaboration space remains a minority share. The intensity of office use on onsite days is broadly similar. The operational challenge is not designing different workplaces for different cultures. It is running workplace systems that can accommodate local attendance rhythms while supporting consistent, reliable use across regions. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Kadence helps workplace teams see these patterns clearly. By benchmarking behavior across countries and understanding how culture shows up in real usage data, organizations can design workplace operations that reflect how teams actually work. See how Kadence helps organizations run better workplace operations. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts.]() --- Ali Carson Ali Carson Ali is a Data Scientist at Kadence, combining her love for math and data to explore how people are thriving in the hybrid world. Passionate about uncovering insights, she’s dedicated to making sense of the numbers that shape our new ways of working. Outside of work, Ali is a proud cat mum to two cats and an active field hockey player, competing in the All-Ireland League every weekend. [Read More from Ali Carson]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() Part of Kadence Pulse [All Kadence Pulse research]() What Kadence's own workplace data shows about how people use the office. #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Pulse: The American Work Ethic—Is Longer Always Better? - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-pulse-the-american-work-ethic-is-longer-always-better/ Description: The American work ethic is driving longer office days—but what does Kadence data really say about how hybrid teams are using their time? [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · April 2, 2025 · [Ali Carson]() ### Kadence Pulse: The American Work Ethic—Is Longer Always Better? Is the American Work Ethic Driving Longer Office Days? Welcome to Kadence Pulse—our regular deep dive into hybrid work trends, behaviors, and insights pulled straight from the data of thousands of our global users. In this edition, we’re turning our attention to the American work ethic. [Known globally for its hustle culture](), the U.S. is showing a noticeable trend in extended office hours—even in the flexible age of hybrid work. The data tells a nuanced story about who’s staying late, where it’s happening most, and what it says about the way we work today. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() The way Americans work is changing, but one thing remains clear—many are putting in long hours at the office. Our latest data dive into hybrid work habits reveals some fascinating trends about where, when, and why employees are booking extended in-office days. While some states see high engagement in long bookings, others show patterns of occasional but concentrated office time. Let’s unpack the numbers. #### Americans Are Booking Longer Workdays More Than Anyone Else A long workday is defined as any booking exceeding **eight hours**. Our 2024 year-end wrap-up uncovered a striking trend: **North America led the world with the highest percentage of long office bookings (8.3%)**, surpassing Asia (6.1%) and Europe & Australia (2%). Even when isolating just the U.S. from the broader region, the trend holds—[the number of bookings exceeding eight hours remains significantly higher than anywhere else](). A look at the distribution of bookings in the U.S. confirms that while most reservations hover around the standard eight-hour mark, there’s a substantial number of users extending their in-office time to nine or even ten hours. #### Where Are These Long Workdays Happening? **Booking Counts By State** When we analyze where long bookings are taking place, **Minnesota, Illinois, and New York** emerge as the states with the highest total counts of long bookings. - **Minnesota** leads with over **27,000 long bookings**. - **Illinois and New York** follow closely with **23,000 each**. - **Vermont**, despite its small size, ranks **fourth** with **15,000 long bookings**—highlighting high engagement in the state. **Booking Counts By City** At the city level, major metropolitan areas naturally dominate the rankings: - **New York City** - **Montpellier** - **Chicago** - **Houston** - **Boston** These cities are known for their ambitious work cultures, making it no surprise that employees here are logging extended office hours. #### High Booking Counts Could Be Due To High User Counts—So Let’s Look At User Engagement The states with the most long bookings also have the highest user counts. To understand how **engaged** workers are, we need to shift focus from total bookings to the **percentage of users making long bookings** in each state. **User Counts by State** Before diving into engagement levels, it’s worth noting where the majority of users are located: - **New York (3,000 users)** - **California (1,600 users)** - **Illinois (1,800 users)** - **New Jersey (1,200 users)** - **Minnesota (\<500 users)** - **Vermont (\<500 users)** **Percentage Of Users Making Long Bookings** - **Vermont (84% of users made at least one long booking)**—despite a small user base, the state ranks among the highest for engagement. - **Maine, Louisiana, and Wisconsin** also show high engagement levels. - **New York, despite having the largest user base, sees only 27% of users making long bookings**—reinforcing that sheer volume doesn’t equate to engagement. #### When Are People Booking Longer Days? Examining the timing of long bookings across the U.S. revealed an interesting seasonal pattern. **October emerges as the most popular month** for long bookings, with a dip in November and December. The sharpest increase happens in Pennsylvania, but a similar peak appears in most states. Could this be a result of employees getting in extra work before Thanksgiving and year-end holidays? It’s certainly a possibility. #### Final Thoughts: What Does This Mean For Hybrid Work? **1. Long Bookings Are The Exception, Not The Rule** While the U.S. leads in extended office bookings, the majority of employees book only a few long days per year. The data suggests that while long office days are part of hybrid work, they are not the dominant work pattern for most people—a surprising insight given the traditional American work ethic that often equates long hours with dedication and success. **2. Engagement Varies Wildly By State** States like New York and California may have the most users, but that doesn’t mean they have the highest long-booking engagement. Vermont and Minnesota’s workforce demonstrate that smaller states can have outsized participation in extended office work. **3. Hybrid Work Needs To Be Flexible** The variance in booking behaviors across states and cities underscores why a one-size-fits-all hybrid policy doesn’t work. Employees use office time in different ways—some opting for regular short visits, others committing to longer but less frequent in-office days. #### What’s Next? Hybrid work isn’t about more office time—it’s about better office time. The American work ethic is deeply tied to ambition and identity, it’s easy to assume more hours equals more impact. But the data tells a different story. Companies should focus on creating environments that support **intentional** in-office work rather than pushing arbitrary mandates. Understanding these booking patterns helps us refine hybrid strategies that honor the American work ethic, while also encouraging smarter, more sustainable habits. Want to optimize your hybrid work strategy? Kadence helps teams coordinate office time seamlessly, so employees get the most out of their in-office days. [Book a demo]() with us today. --- Ali Carson Ali Carson Ali is a Data Scientist at Kadence, combining her love for math and data to explore how people are thriving in the hybrid world. Passionate about uncovering insights, she’s dedicated to making sense of the numbers that shape our new ways of working. Outside of work, Ali is a proud cat mum to two cats and an active field hockey player, competing in the All-Ireland League every weekend. [Read More from Ali Carson]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() Part of Kadence Pulse [All Kadence Pulse research]() What Kadence's own workplace data shows about how people use the office. #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Pulse: The Magic Number Is 2 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-pulse-the-magic-number-is-2/ Description: With Kadence Pulse, we uncover key trends in hybrid work. We've found that the magic number is 2 for office visits per week. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · February 14, 2025 · [Ali Carson]() ### Kadence Pulse: The Magic Number Is 2 Ali Carson, Data Scientist at Kadence #### Welcome To Kadence Pulse Kadence Pulse is our new data-driven series where we uncover key trends in [hybrid work](), using insights straight from Kadence’s platform. Our goal is to help businesses and employees understand how hybrid work is evolving and how they can make smarter, more informed decisions. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How Often Are Hybrid Workers Coming Into The Office? The way we work has changed forever, and at Kadence, we have the data to prove it. Our booking platform captures real-world hybrid work patterns, revealing insights into how employees are actually using their office spaces. And the data is clear: **the magic number is 2.** Across our entire customer base, the most common number of days employees book to come into the office each week is **two**. But what’s driving this trend? And how does it vary by region and industry? Let’s take a deep dive into the data. #### The Overall Trend: A Steady Climb Toward Three Days? We started by analyzing the **average number of weekly office bookings per user** over time. This includes all booking types—whether employees checked in, canceled, or simply reserved a desk. **Key Insight:** The weekly average fluctuates between **2 and 3 days**, with a slow upward trend over time. If this continues, we could eventually see 3 days per week becoming the norm. But what happens when we strip away the canceled bookings? #### The Reality Check: The True Average Is 2 Days By removing **canceled bookings**, we get a clearer picture of actual office attendance. **Key Insight:** The average **drops closer to 2 days per week**. This suggests that while employees may initially plan for 3 office visits, in reality, **they only make it in twice.** Why? A few possibilities: - Employees book for three days but adjust plans last minute. - Hybrid work is inherently flexible—some employees swap one day for another, leading to apparent overbooking. - Companies might encourage 3-day attendance, but employees naturally gravitate toward 2. #### Regional Breakdown: Who’s In The Office The Most? Next, we broke down attendance by **building region** to see how different parts of the world approach hybrid work. With Cancellations Included: - **Australia leads** the way, with employees booking office space the most. - **Europe lags behind**, with fewer bookings per week and little sign of upward movement. Without Cancellations: - **Australia still tops the list**, but the actual [attendance rate]() is closer to **2.5 days per week** rather than 3. - **Europe is even lower**, averaging **1.5 days per week**. This tells us that while hybrid is a global trend, **regional work cultures play a huge role in how it’s adopted.** #### Industry Breakdown: Who Books The Most? Different industries have different needs when it comes to in-office collaboration. Here’s what our data shows: With Cancellations Included: - **Legal and Consulting** have the highest number of office bookings. - **Transport and Automotive** book the least. Without Cancellations: - **Legal and Consulting remain at the top**, with **Medical and Health close behind.** Why the variation? Some industries, like legal and consulting, rely heavily on in-person meetings and client collaboration. Others, like tech and transport, can function more efficiently in a [remote-first]() setup. #### Most Popular Office Days: The Midweek Sweet Spot When do people prefer to come in? Our data shows a strong preference for midweek office visits. **Key Insight:** Mondays and Fridays are the least popular days. Hybrid workers tend to structure their schedules to **work from home on Mondays and Fridays**, reserving Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for in-office collaboration. This aligns with the broader shift toward **a midweek office presence.** **Regional and Industry Trends:** - The trend is consistent across regions—**Monday and Friday see the lowest office traffic everywhere.** - Some industries, like consulting and finance, still maintain **higher midweek attendance.** #### How Far In Advance Do People Book? Another interesting insight: **the majority of bookings happen close to the date of use.** To measure this, we used the median booking lead time to avoid outliers skewing the data. **Key Insight:** A **noticeable spike in bookings occurs in January.** What’s behind this? Likely a mix of new company policies, fresh start energy, and employees making good on their New Year’s resolutions to be more present in the office. #### Final Thoughts: What Does This Mean For Hybrid Work? So, what do we take away from this? - **2 days per week is the sweet spot.** While some companies aim for 3, actual attendance suggests employees naturally prefer 2. - **Mondays and Fridays are dead zones.** If your office feels quiet on these days, you’re not alone. - **Industry and regional differences matter.** Not all hybrid strategies will work everywhere—business leaders should consider local culture and industry norms when designing hybrid policies. At Kadence, we believe hybrid work should be data-driven, flexible, and employee-first. Understanding the trends behind office usage can help businesses create a smarter, more efficient hybrid strategy that actually works for their teams. Stay tuned for the next Kadence Pulse as we continue to uncover the data behind the future of work. If you would like to see how Kadence can help you track how your teams use your office spaces, [talk to one of our hybrid experts](). [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() --- Ali Carson Ali Carson Ali is a Data Scientist at Kadence, combining her love for math and data to explore how people are thriving in the hybrid world. Passionate about uncovering insights, she’s dedicated to making sense of the numbers that shape our new ways of working. Outside of work, Ali is a proud cat mum to two cats and an active field hockey player, competing in the All-Ireland League every weekend. [Read More from Ali Carson]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() Part of Kadence Pulse [All Kadence Pulse research]() What Kadence's own workplace data shows about how people use the office. Part of a guide [Office space planning: right-sizing, utilization and fit-out]() Office space utilization in most buildings sits far below what the space was planned for. Here is how to measure real use, right-size the portfolio and invest in the space you keep. #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Pulse: The Return of Real Meetings - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-pulse-the-return-of-real-meetings/ Description: Learn how Kadence data reveals how team meetings now shape the rhythm and reliability of workplace operations. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · November 26, 2025 · [Ali Carson]() ### Kadence Pulse: The Return of Real Meetings The Return of Real Meetings Welcome to Kadence Pulse. In this edition, we look at how team meetings are evolving and what that shift tells us about modern workplace operations. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Hybrid work has moved past the phase of chaos. For Kadence customers, it has settled into a predictable, midweek, team-first operating rhythm. The data from 2024 and 2025 shows a workplace that is far more intentional, structured, and coordinated than it was even a year ago. Across all customers, meeting volume has been rising steadily since early 2024. The average company now holds around forty meetings a month. This is not an unplanned return to the office. It is a sign that work has stabilised into a rhythm where people, time, and space are more deliberately aligned. #### Enterprise Is Leading Hybrid Maturity Meeting patterns also reveal something about operational maturity. When we look at meetings per person, enterprise organisations stand out. They hold the highest number of meetings per capita, and they continue to increase that number through 2025. Their meetings are shorter on average, and their cancellation rates are declining. These are all indicators of more structured planning and more reliable workplace operations. Kadence supports this shift by helping organisations understand how their hybrid operations compare with broader benchmarks. Instead of relying on assumptions or personal perception, workplace teams can see how their patterns line up against thousands of similar companies. This provides a clearer picture of where coordination is strong and where time or space may be getting lost. #### The Midweek Collaboration Engine At a weekly level, the collaboration pattern is just as clear. Across every company size, Tuesdays and Wednesdays have become the engine of the week, with the highest number of meetings and the greatest coordination between teams. Mondays and Fridays remain consistently quieter, suggesting that teams are now aligning most of their collaborative work around the middle of the week rather than spreading it evenly. Kadence helps organisations make these anchor days explicit so they become predictable moments for teams to come together. Instead of every team creating its own rhythm, companies can set clear midweek days for collaborative work. Kadence then reinforces that pattern by guiding bookings into the right windows and helping teams avoid unintentionally clustering on the same day. #### Collaboration Is Becoming Denser The data also shows that collaboration is changing inside the room. When we remove single-person bookings, the average meeting size rises to around six people. That number has been growing steadily since mid-2024. Mid-market companies currently host the largest meetings at around seven people, while enterprise organisations average around six and SMBs around five. This rise in group size suggests that people are not coming into the office to work alone. They are coming in for alignment, discussion, and problem solving. The modern office is becoming a collaboration engine rather than a quiet default. If your space is still dominated by small rooms designed for one or two people, it may no longer match the way your teams actually work. Kadence makes it easier to see these patterns and build a strong business case for rebalancing the mix of rooms without increasing your overall footprint. #### Workplace Reliability Is Improving Reliability is improving too. Across the customer base, cancellation rates sit around thirty to thirty five percent, but for enterprise organisations they are declining month after month. This improvement suggests stronger coordination and greater confidence in the time people spend together. Cancellations are more than a scheduling problem. They represent wasted space, wasted commutes, and unnecessary drag on operations. Kadence helps reduce no-shows and cancellations so the workplace becomes a dependable system that teams can trust. #### Regional Patterns Are Converging The regional data shows that collaboration patterns are becoming more consistent across global teams. Europe and the Americas now account for the majority of team meetings, and both regions follow a similar rhythm with steadily rising meeting volumes and a clear shift toward more in-person collaboration in 2025. Asia follows the same general direction at a slightly lower intensity, while Africa’s fluctuations reflect a much smaller sample size. Across all major regions, the average meeting now brings together groups of four to six people, and that number has been increasing over time. Although meeting durations vary by region, the overall pattern remains consistent: teams are gathering more predictably, using their time together more deliberately, and treating in-person collaboration as a valuable moment rather than a default. These converging patterns make global workplace operations easier to manage. Instead of building separate meeting strategies for each region, organisations can establish a unified operational model and tune it with local data. This reduces complexity for global HR, workplace, and real estate teams and strengthens the reliability of team meetings across the entire organisation. #### Practical Steps for Workplace Leaders **Benchmark your current workplace patterns** - Reviewing your meetings per person, average meeting size, cancellation rate, and meeting duration helps you understand how your organisation compares with the wider Kadence customer base. - When these numbers sit noticeably outside typical ranges, it usually signals that time, space, or coordination is not operating as effectively as it could. **Make your collaboration days explicit** - Many companies still struggle with inconsistent overlap because their anchor days are implied rather than agreed. - Setting clear midweek collaboration days creates predictable moments for teamwork, and Kadence reinforces these patterns by guiding bookings into the right windows and preventing teams from unintentionally clustering on the same day. **Adjust your room mix to match how people collaborate** - Most meetings across the Kadence customer base now involve five to seven people, yet many offices still rely on layouts designed for smaller sessions. - Booking data often shows that one and two person rooms are over-supplied while mid-sized rooms are in higher demand, which makes a strong case for rebalancing space without increasing the overall footprint. **Treat cancellation rates as an operational signal** - A cancellation rate above roughly thirty five percent is usually a planning reliability issue rather than a cultural one. - Introducing check-ins, auto-release rules, and clearer expectations around booking behaviour helps reduce cancellations and makes workplace operations feel more dependable. **Improve meeting quality through stronger structure** - Shorter, more frequent meetings tend to indicate healthier coordination because they prevent work from accumulating between sessions. - When meetings are long and infrequent, teams often carry unresolved work for longer than necessary, and improving meeting structure can create a smoother, more predictable rhythm. #### The New Shape of Workplace Operations Work has stabilised. The real opportunity now is improving how organisations operate within it. The data shows that when companies coordinate their anchor days, right-size their spaces, and improve the reliability of their bookings, the workplace becomes a system that supports focused, purposeful collaboration. Kadence helps organisations build this precision into their workplace operations. With clearer benchmarks, stronger planning, and better coordination, the office becomes an asset again. See how Kadence helps organisations run better workplace operations. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts.]() --- Ali Carson Ali Carson Ali is a Data Scientist at Kadence, combining her love for math and data to explore how people are thriving in the hybrid world. Passionate about uncovering insights, she’s dedicated to making sense of the numbers that shape our new ways of working. Outside of work, Ali is a proud cat mum to two cats and an active field hockey player, competing in the All-Ireland League every weekend. [Read More from Ali Carson]() Speak With Our Hybrid Experts Team Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() Part of Kadence Pulse [All Kadence Pulse research]() What Kadence's own workplace data shows about how people use the office. #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Pulse: The Space Planning Problems Portfolio Averages Can’t See - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-pulse-the-space-planning-problems-portfolio-averages-cant-see/ Description: Floor-level mismatch is hiding inside active portfolios. See how space problems averages miss and how teams can act on them. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · May 13, 2026 · [Ali Carson]() ### Kadence Pulse: The Space Planning Problems Portfolio Averages Can’t See Kadence Pulse- floor-level mismatch Welcome to Kadence Pulse. This series uses aggregated and anonymized data from Kadence customers to understand how workplace behavior is changing at scale. I’m Ali Carson, a Data Scientist at Kadence. My role is to analyze workplace data to understand how offices are really being used day to day. In this edition of Kadence Pulse, I’ve been looking at a different kind of space problem: not empty portfolios, but oversized floors hidden inside otherwise active estates. One of the easiest mistakes in workplace planning is to assume that if there is meaningful demand across a portfolio, every part of it must be working well. Our latest enterprise analysis suggests otherwise. Some workplaces show clear signs of demand across the wider estate, but when you examine them floor by floor, a different pattern appears: specific floors carry far more desks than real demand requires. The problem is not obvious in the average. It only becomes visible in the detail. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Meaningful Portfolio Demand Can Still Hide Oversized Floors One anonymized enterprise customer in the analysis makes the point clearly. This customer operates a large multi-site portfolio with 21.9% overall utilization. On its own, that number does not tell you where the real mismatch sits. But within that same estate, seven floors show a very different pattern, representing £2.3M in recoverable capacity under a conservative model. The clearest example sits on a single floor with 165 desks. On its busiest day in the quarter, only 25 desks were used. That means the floor is effectively set up for around six times more demand than it actually sees. Even using a peak-based calculation with a buffer, the analysis still identified 137 recoverable desks on that one floor. That is the first point of this piece. Space planning can break at floor level long before it becomes visible at portfolio level. You might expect a floor like this to sit inside a portfolio with very little activity at all. In this case, it does not. That is exactly why it matters. The wider estate shows meaningful usage, but the underlying floor-level mismatch could still be missed. #### This Is Not A One-Off What made this finding worth publishing was not one striking floor. It was the fact that the same pattern appeared again and again. Across four anonymized enterprise customers, in four different sectors and four different countries, we found floors sized for roughly 5 to 15 times their real daily demand, even where the wider portfolio still showed meaningful usage overall. Across those four examples, the analysis identified £3.4M in recoverable capacity. The repeated pattern is the real insight. This is not one customer anomaly. It is a type of floor-level mismatch that shows up across very different enterprise environments. At floor level, the numbers are strikingly consistent. Across the four clearest examples, recoverable capacity per floor ranges from roughly £229k to £330k, even though the organizations are in different sectors and geographies. That consistency helps show that the story is not being driven by one unusual customer. #### The Real Issue Is Uneven Demand, Not Empty Offices This is not a story about broad underuse across whole estates. In the underlying analysis, the clearest examples were separated from a different group of customers where the real issue was broader underuse or lower product adoption. Those cases matter, but they point to a different operational problem. The story here is more specific: otherwise active portfolios can still contain floors that no longer match demand. That distinction matters because the same analysis becomes a different story once team-assigned floors are brought back in. When those floors are included, the recoverable opportunity rises from £9.0M across 10 customers to £28.6M across 21 customers. But most of that additional scale comes from dedicated team space that appears oversized for how it is actually used. That is a valid planning problem, but it is a different one. In this piece, I’m focusing on the cleaner floor-level mismatch pattern in open and mixed space, where the signal is most consistent. That distinction also changes how the reader should interpret the findings. The question is not simply whether space is being used. It is whether each part of the estate is aligned with how people actually use it. In some cases, that means open floors with more desks than demand justifies. In others, it means dedicated team space that no longer reflects how a team works. Both are important, but they are not the same story. For this analysis, the strongest and most repeatable pattern sits in the first category: specific outlier floors inside otherwise active estates, where the mismatch only becomes obvious when the data is examined floor by floor. #### The Strongest Proof Sits Inside The Same Estate One of the strongest signals in the analysis came from comparing affected floors with healthier floors inside the same customer portfolios. Among customers with both kinds of floors, median utilization on the affected floors was 4.0%. On healthier floors, it was 23.5%. That is a median within-customer gap of 6.2x. This matters because it shows the mismatch is not just visible across different companies. It is visible inside the same estate, where some floors are performing normally and others are dramatically oversized for the demand they actually see. You might assume this kind of inefficiency only shows up when a whole portfolio is underperforming. The comparison above suggests otherwise. In many cases, the biggest difference is not between companies. It is between floors inside the same company’s estate. #### Why Average Utilization Misses It Portfolio averages are useful, but they can flatten the differences that matter most. The analysis shows that a building averaging 20% utilization can still contain one floor running at 40% and another at 3%. At that level of reporting, the building looks broadly fine. But the floors that need action are hidden inside the average. That is the broader workplace operations lesson here. The problem is not that teams lack utilization data. It is that the wrong level of data can make space look healthier than it really is. #### Why The Numbers Hold Up Findings like these invite scrutiny, and they should. This analysis uses completed bookings only, which means the demand signal is based on checked-in activity rather than reservations that were never used. It also filters out floors that are mostly assigned seating by excluding any floor where more than 70% of desks sit in team neighborhoods. In fact, 57% of floors in the initial cut were removed on that basis, making the remaining pattern more defensible. And the savings estimate is conservative. Rather than treating every empty desk as removable, recoverable capacity is sized against the 90th percentile of daily desk demand and then given a further 15% buffer. In other words, this is not average emptiness multiplied by rent. It is a more cautious estimate of capacity that sits beyond real peak demand. #### What This Means For Workplace Operations The practical takeaway is simple. Space performance should not be judged only by how full the portfolio looks overall. It should also be judged by how well each floor is aligned to actual demand. In this analysis, one anonymized enterprise customer showed 21.9% overall utilization, yet still contained seven floors with £2.3M in recoverable capacity. On the clearest example, 165 desks supported peak daily demand of just 25 people. Across four anonymized enterprise customers, the same floor-level pattern appeared again and again, with wider estates still showing meaningful usage while specific floors remained sized for 5 to 15 times real daily demand. And within the same estates, healthier floors were used 6.2x more than the affected floors. Taken together, those numbers point to a more useful question for workplace leaders. Not simply, “How utilized is our estate?” but, “Which specific floors are mismatched to demand, and what should we do about them?” #### Calculate the ROI of Your Workplace Operations Our brand-new ROI Calculator is here to help you visualize your success in seconds. [Calculate Your ROI]() #### Where Kadence SpaceOps Comes In That is where [Kadence SpaceOps]() comes in. If the problem is hidden floor-level mismatch, the answer is not more portfolio-level reporting. It is the ability to identify outlier floors clearly, understand how capacity compares to real demand, and model what happens next. Kadence SpaceOps helps workplace teams do exactly that: surface the floors that are out of step with demand, explore consolidation and restacking options, and plan how space can be repurposed or retained with more confidence. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() The point is not that every organization has too much space. It is that some of the most important space decisions are hidden in the detail, and portfolio averages alone will not always reveal them. When a floor built for 165 desks only ever needs 25 on its busiest day, the issue is no longer just utilization reporting. It is a planning problem. And planning problems need better visibility, better modeling, and better operational tools. See how Kadence SpaceOps helps organizations make better space decisions. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts.]() --- Ali Carson Ali Carson Ali is a Data Scientist at Kadence, combining her love for math and data to explore how people are thriving in the hybrid world. Passionate about uncovering insights, she’s dedicated to making sense of the numbers that shape our new ways of working. Outside of work, Ali is a proud cat mum to two cats and an active field hockey player, competing in the All-Ireland League every weekend. [Read More from Ali Carson]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts See Kadence in action. Speak with our team today. [Get in touch]() Part of Kadence Pulse [All Kadence Pulse research]() What Kadence's own workplace data shows about how people use the office. #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Pulse: Unpacking Office Utilization Trends By Sector - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-pulse-unpacking-office-utilization-trends-by-sector/ Description: Explore office utilization trends across industries in 2025, with Kadence data revealing how different sectors are returning to the workplace. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · June 15, 2025 · [Ali Carson]() ### Kadence Pulse: Unpacking Office Utilization Trends By Sector Welcome to Kadence Pulse, our deep dive into how hybrid work is evolving—powered by real-time desk booking data from our customers using Kadence. After a year of settling into hybrid rhythms, the first half of 2025 is showing signs of structural change in how different sectors are using office space. Our latest analysis — drawn from over 1,100 office buildings between January 2024 and May 2025 — reveals not just a rebound, but a divergence. Some industries are going all-in on the office. Others are still circling the block. Let’s get into it. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### A Quiet Majority, A Loud Few Across the board, most offices are still running cold. Average desk utilisation remains concentrated in the 20–40% range, with few buildings pushing beyond that threshold. But outliers are getting louder. Since November 2024, we’ve observed an increase in buildings hitting or exceeding 80% monthly utilisation. That tail of high performers is lengthening — suggesting that some tenants, perhaps entire sectors, are beginning to double down on the office. The distribution hasn’t just shifted — it’s splintered. #### Benchmarking Kadence Trends Against Industry Data To understand how Kadence customers compare to broader workplace trends, we benchmark our internal data against two leading industry sources: CBRE’s [space utilization]() figures and Brian Elliott’s Flex Index on workplace flexibility. According to [CBRE’s 2024-25 workplace study](), average space utilization across industries remains relatively low, with a cross-sector average of just 38%. Sector-specific breakdowns show: - **Life Sciences**: 48% - **Financial & Professional Services**: 40% - **Industrial & Logistics**: 39% - **Technology, Media & Telecommunications**: 35% - **Other**: 26% These utilization rates are strikingly similar to what we see across Kadence’s customer base — suggesting that our users mirror global norms in how office space is being used. But the difference lies in the detail. Where CBRE offers a top-down occupancy snapshot, Kadence tracks behavior in real time — surfacing [midweek peaks](), sectoral outliers, and early signs of cultural alignment. And when we add a third lens — the [Flex Index](), which tracks how many companies *allow* flexible work — the story gets even more compelling. [According to the Flex Index](): - 95% of technology companies, and over 80% of financial and professional services firms, offer location flexibility. - These same sectors rank highest in Kadence’s real-time utilization data — not just showing up, but doing so in concentrated, coordinated ways. - Conversely, real estate and transportation, which the Flex Index flags as least flexible, lag behind in Kadence utilization as well — despite often requiring full-time attendance. The implication? Flexible-first industries aren’t avoiding the office — they’re making smarter, more purposeful use of it. It’s not just about policy. It’s about rhythm, intent, and making the office worth the commute. Kadence gives teams the signal intelligence to do just that — not only to align their space with demand, but to [adapt it to how their people actually work](). #### Legal & Consulting: Steady, Strong, And Surging No sector shows more intent than **Legal and Consulting**. These firms not only have the highest average utilisation, but also the widest range — meaning their use of space varies dramatically across locations, but at the top end, it’s thriving. - The upper quartile of legal buildings hit 50%+ utilisation. - A steady month-on-month increase began in January 2025, with no sign of slowing. - Even the Christmas dip was smaller than other sectors. This goes beyond mere attendance. It’s about alignment. Legal teams are notably committed to in-office collaboration due to longstanding cultural norms that emphasize mentorship and client interaction, the competitive edge of face time in high-margin, client-facing work, and the influence of senior leaders who often favor an office-centric culture. #### Professional & Personal Services: Spiky But Rising The **Professional & Personal Services** sector — a broad bucket — is showing some of the most dramatic surges. - From February to April 2025, some buildings hit 90%+ utilisation. - The tails have lengthened, suggesting not just isolated peaks but a spread of higher in-office engagement. - Average usage climbed sharply in Q1 2025. This might reflect companies in this group leaning harder into team-based work — or being pushed by client expectations. A preference for in-person mentorship, secure client engagement, and a culture shaped by senior partners means these firms continue to value the office as a competitive advantage. #### Finance & Banking: Consistency Is The Message **Finance** isn’t shouting, but it is showing up. - A clear, consistent increase from January to March 2025. - Utilisation patterns are less volatile than in legal or services. - Like others, it saw a dip over Christmas — but the recovery was swift. Banking seems to be finding its hybrid groove without over-correcting. In a sector driven by compliance, routine, and risk management, a predictable return to office is aligned with operational needs and leadership preferences. #### Tech & Software: Still Playing It Cool Despite being the architects of flexible work, even **technology** firms are stirring. - Average utilisation remained modest, with 50% of buildings between 15–42%. - But from November 2024, outliers began extending upward — suggesting some teams are experimenting with more in-office time. - The post-Christmas bounce is real, but not dramatic. This sector is clearly still in test-and-learn mode — balancing freedom with function. While many teams are exploring office returns, deeply ingrained autonomy, distributed teams, and retention-sensitive cultures mean change is incremental and adaptive. #### Real Estate & Construction: Mirroring Tech **Real Estate & Construction** share tech’s trajectory: - Low overall averages, with some growth into early 2025. - Outliers appearing only recently. - Could signal construction demand aligning with return-to-office builds, or just more boots on the ground for site-based work. Office presence is tied less to policy and more to operational need, with field-based roles and project-based workflows dictating when, and if, people come in. #### The Office Week Tells A Sharper Story To truly understand how teams are using office space, we zoomed in on the rhythm of the week — focusing exclusively on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. These “[anchor days]()” have become the unofficial backbone of hybrid work schedules — the days when people are most likely to coordinate their in-office presence. By filtering our dataset to include only bookings made on these midweek days, several things become clear: - **Utilisation rates are noticeably higher** than the all-days average. This isn’t surprising — it reflects intentional, coordinated office attendance rather than ad hoc usage. - The **distribution curve shifts right**, indicating more buildings moving into the 40–60% range and above. This is especially visible in the histogram view, where the tail of high-performing buildings becomes more pronounced. - Sector-by-sector, we see **sharper divergence** in behaviour. Some industries treat these peak days as essential collaboration windows. Others, even on their busiest days, hover below the mid-30s — suggesting [remote-first]() norms or asynchronous team structures. To bring this to life, we overlaid smoothed trend lines for each industry. Legal, finance, and life sciences peak sharply midweek — with some buildings pushing past 70% average utilisation. Meanwhile, sectors like tech and media still prefer flexibility, showing gentler curves even on peak days. What this tells us is critical: the return to the office isn’t random — it’s concentrated. Hybrid work is becoming not just a question of where we work, but when. #### A Structural Shift Is Underway Look across sectors, and March–April 2025 is a clear inflection point. Every industry shows a meaningful climb. This isn’t a temporary rebound. It’s a signal that hybrid is shifting from experiment to expectation. And that means the real work — building around the rhythms that are taking hold — starts now. Want to see how your team compares? [Book a demo with our hybrid experts]() and discover how real-time workplace intelligence can help you plan, coordinate, and optimize your office around the [moments that matter]() most. --- Ali Carson Ali Carson Ali is a Data Scientist at Kadence, combining her love for math and data to explore how people are thriving in the hybrid world. Passionate about uncovering insights, she’s dedicated to making sense of the numbers that shape our new ways of working. Outside of work, Ali is a proud cat mum to two cats and an active field hockey player, competing in the All-Ireland League every weekend. [Read More from Ali Carson]() Speak With Our Hybrid Experts Team Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() Part of Kadence Pulse [All Kadence Pulse research]() What Kadence's own workplace data shows about how people use the office. Part of a guide [Office space planning: right-sizing, utilization and fit-out]() Office space utilization in most buildings sits far below what the space was planned for. Here is how to measure real use, right-size the portfolio and invest in the space you keep. #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Pulse: What Predictability Says About Office Use - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-pulse-what-predictability-says-about-office-use/ Description: Discover how different sectors are using the office in 2025 and why predictability, not just presence, is shaping the future of hybrid work. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · August 19, 2025 · [Ali Carson]() ### Kadence Pulse: What Predictability Says About Office Use Kadence Pulse Office Use Welcome to Kadence Pulse, where we explore how hybrid work is unfolding through real-world data from the Kadence platform. In this edition, we’re moving past averages to examine something more telling: [the shape of office use across different business sectors](). From consistency to chaos, and from bursty collaboration to habitual rhythms, the story isn’t just about how many people are coming in. It’s how and when they show up that reveals the real nature of hybrid work. Let’s take a look. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Which Sectors Use The Office Most? We started by tracking average utilization per month, industry by industry. But first, it’s helpful to understand the composition of our dataset. The largest share of companies on Kadence come from finance and insurance, followed by professional and business services, and education and nonprofit sectors. While all sectors are represented, the size of each group helps contextualize the patterns we observe. *Note: The “unknown/other” category, which was the largest, has been removed to highlight named sectors more clearly.* In January, healthcare and pharmaceuticals topped the list in average occupancy. They stayed consistently high through the first half of the year. By midyear, professional and business services overtook them, climbing from sixth place in January to first by May and June. Manufacturing and industrial followed a similar path, gradually rising and nearly matching the leaders in June. At the other end, media and entertainment stayed at the bottom, followed closely by transportation and logistics. These sectors may depend more on asynchronous or off-site workflows. Environmental and sustainability organizations showed the most fluctuation of any group. #### When Do Teams Show Up? Across most sectors, Tuesday continues to anchor the office week. It is the peak day for finance and insurance, media and entertainment, education and nonprofits, government and public sector, and manufacturing. Retail and consumer goods, professional services, and healthcare teams follow a more even rhythm, with attendance spread consistently across Tuesday through Thursday. Technology and real estate companies, in contrast, tend to peak on Wednesdays. Only one sector stands apart. Healthcare maintains steady attendance throughout the full week. There is no clear drop on Mondays or Fridays, just quiet consistency from start to finish. #### Who’s Predictable And Who’s Not? To better understand behavior, we looked beyond averages and examined the full distribution of office use across all days in 2025. Every industry showed a left-skewed curve, meaning low-occupancy days were more common than high ones. But not all sectors followed the same pattern. Media and entertainment had the narrowest spread, with usage levels that were low but consistent. Environmental and sustainability organizations were at the other end of the spectrum, swinging dramatically between high and low attendance from week to week. Professional and business services recorded the highest number of near-full office days, regularly hitting 97.5 to 100 percent utilization. Manufacturing and industrial teams also stood out, with the most days landing in the 87.5 to 92.5 percent range. Finance and insurance revealed a dual pattern. One group of users engaged at very low levels, between 2.5 and 7.5 percent. Another group showed more consistent engagement, clustering around 50 to 60 percent. This likely reflects a mix of fluid individual attendance and more structured team-driven office use. These distributions reveal more than averages ever could. Predictable usage suggests strong coordination and clear intent. Wider, more uneven curves point to ad hoc, event-based patterns that may reflect bursts of collaboration or shifting operational needs. #### Final Thoughts: The Real Office Metric Might Be Reliability Hybrid success doesn’t come from just having people in the office. It comes from knowing when and how the office will be used. Some sectors are making space a dependable part of the workweek. Others are treating it as an occasional tool. Both approaches can work, but they require different operational strategies. What stands out in this dataset is how rhythm is starting to settle within certain industries. Professional and business services, for example, are showing not just higher utilization but repeated full-capacity booking days. These aren’t scattered spikes. They point to deliberate, coordinated use of the office. That kind of pattern suggests teams are aligning their in-office time around shared goals. Featured Content Free Hybrid Work Policy Template Streamline your team’s success—download our free Hybrid Work Policy Template today! [Download Template]() Another insight is the emergence of dual patterns within a single sector. In finance and insurance, we see a large group using the office only occasionally, and another engaging more consistently. This suggests that flexible work is not a single mode, but a layered set of behaviors. Organizations that recognize and support both will likely benefit from stronger engagement and more efficient use of space. Healthcare continues to lead in consistency. Unlike most sectors, healthcare teams maintain steady attendance across all five weekdays. This kind of even distribution gives them a practical advantage in planning and collaboration. It could also serve as a model for sectors that need stability but are still trying to find it. Perhaps the most important takeaway is this: high utilization isn’t necessarily the goal. Predictable and purposeful usage matters more. If your space is full on Wednesdays and quiet the rest of the week, or if different teams are using the office in entirely different ways, that’s not a failure. It’s information. It gives you a baseline to adjust your strategy around the reality of how your people work. Want to understand how your teams are using space, and whether it matches the rhythm of your work? [Book a demo with our hybrid experts]() and see how Kadence can help you turn workplace patterns into workplace intelligence. --- Ali Carson Ali Carson Ali is a Data Scientist at Kadence, combining her love for math and data to explore how people are thriving in the hybrid world. Passionate about uncovering insights, she’s dedicated to making sense of the numbers that shape our new ways of working. Outside of work, Ali is a proud cat mum to two cats and an active field hockey player, competing in the All-Ireland League every weekend. [Read More from Ali Carson]() Speak With Our Hybrid Experts Team Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() Part of Kadence Pulse [All Kadence Pulse research]() What Kadence's own workplace data shows about how people use the office. #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Pulse | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-pulse/ Description: What Kadence's own workplace data shows about how people use the office: attendance by day and country, utilization by sector, meetings and the space planning signals portfolio averages miss. By Kadence Data Scientist Ali Carson. Research from Kadence data ### Kadence Pulse What Kadence's own workplace data shows about how people use the office: attendance by day and country, utilization by sector, meetings and the space planning signals portfolio averages miss. By Kadence Data Scientist Ali Carson. May 13, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Space Planning Problems Portfolio Averages Can’t See]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. This series uses aggregated and anonymized data from Kadence customers to understand how workplace behavior is changing at scale. I’m Ali Carson, a Data Scientist at Kadence. My role is to analyze workplace data to understand how offices are really being used day to day. In this edition of Kadence Pulse, \[…\] January 28, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: How Culture Shapes Workplace Operations]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. This series uses aggregated and anonymized data from Kadence customers to understand how workplace behavior is changing at scale. Rather than focusing on individual offices or policies, each Pulse looks at a single signal in the data and what it reveals about how workplace operations actually function. I’m Ali Carson, a \[…\] November 26, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Return of Real Meetings]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. In this edition, we look at how team meetings are evolving and what that shift tells us about modern workplace operations. Hybrid work has moved past the phase of chaos. For Kadence customers, it has settled into a predictable, midweek, team-first operating rhythm. The data from 2024 and 2025 shows a \[…\] August 19, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: What Predictability Says About Office Use]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse, where we explore how hybrid work is unfolding through real-world data from the Kadence platform. In this edition, we’re moving past averages to examine something more telling: the shape of office use across different business sectors. From consistency to chaos, and from bursty collaboration to habitual rhythms, the story isn’t just \[…\] June 15, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: Unpacking Office Utilization Trends By Sector]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse, our deep dive into how hybrid work is evolving—powered by real-time desk booking data from our customers using Kadence. After a year of settling into hybrid rhythms, the first half of 2025 is showing signs of structural change in how different sectors are using office space. Our latest analysis — drawn from \[…\] April 2, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The American Work Ethic—Is Longer Always Better?]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse—our regular deep dive into hybrid work trends, behaviors, and insights pulled straight from the data of thousands of our global users. In this edition, we’re turning our attention to the American work ethic. Known globally for its hustle culture, the U.S. is showing a noticeable trend in extended office hours—even in the \[…\] February 14, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Magic Number Is 2]() Kadence Pulse is our new data-driven series where we uncover key trends in hybrid work, using insights straight from Kadence’s platform. Our goal is to help businesses and employees understand how hybrid work is evolving and how they can make smarter, more informed decisions. The way we work has changed forever, and at Kadence, we \[…\] November 21, 2024 · Hybrid Working #### [Hybrid Pulse Check #1: Office Attendance By Country And Weekday (November 2024)]() Kadence booking data from over 500 companies, published in November 2024: office attendance by country, the peak in-office days, and what workplace leaders can do about it. Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Sense – Workplace Intelligence Without the Sensors - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-sense/ Description: New workplace intelligence software, Kadence Sense is used to help enterprises make data-driven decisions without using expensive sensors. [News]() · [Product News]() · March 4, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Introducing Kadence Sense – Workplace Intelligence Without The Sensors Discover more about Kadence Sense As [hybrid work]() becomes the dominant way forward for organizations worldwide, leaders face a growing challenge: how to make smart, data-driven decisions about their workplaces without costly infrastructure or invasive tracking systems. Even in 2025, many companies are making critical decisions that affect thousands of employees based on limited data or gut instincts. That’s why today we are excited to announce a new product that solves a pressing need for hybrid organizations worldwide, Kadence Sense. Kadence Sense provides accurate, real-time occupancy metrics across all your locations without requiring additional hardware. It leverages existing systems—Wi-Fi, Ethernet, badge access, and video conferencing tools—to centralize [workspace utilization]() data in Kadence [Workplace Analytics]() for a single source of truth. *“Kadence Sense transforms how we optimize our workplace. By eliminating the need for expensive sensors, we’ve unlocked accurate insights to create better, more engaging workspaces while reducing costs and complexity.”* — *Jeff Gwinett, Sr. Director, Workplace & Sustainability, [Softchoice]()* All this is made possible through a [lightweight desktop app]() that automates employee check-ins and enhances the hybrid work experience. Centrally provisioned by IT in minutes, it captures hybrid data automatically—without complex integrations, intrusive device tracking or expensive hardware—helping companies monitor compliance, optimize office space, and enable data-driven workforce planning. This is just the first part of Kadence Sense, with many more powerful features coming soon. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Real-Time Data For Smarter Workplace Decisions There’s so many exciting things about today’s launch. By integrating directly into your operations, Kadence Sense gives you the power to: - **Optimize [Space Utilization]()**: See exactly how desks, rooms, and shared spaces are being used to eliminate inefficiencies and maximize productivity. - **Align Hybrid Policies**: Measure whether your [hybrid work policies]() are meeting expectations and adjust to drive better outcomes. - **Plan for the Future**: Use real-time and historical data to guide decisions about office layouts, space requirements, and long-term [real estate investments](). #### Effortless Compliance, Actionable Insights Managing hybrid work shouldn’t be a burden. Kadence Sense automates critical processes to reduce administrative work and ensure seamless compliance with hybrid policies: - **Network Verification**: Employees are marked as present simply by connecting to your office W-Fi network—no apps, QR codes, or manual check-ins required. - **Global Consistency**: Track and manage attendance across multiple locations, even with diverse hybrid schedules. - **Detailed Reporting**: Gain team and department-level [insights]() to evaluate adherence and adjust strategies as needed. #### Cost-Effective And Scalable For Enterprises Unlike traditional occupancy solutions that rely on hardware, Kadence Sense delivers enterprise-grade insights without the complexity. - **Rapid Deployment**: Start gathering actionable data within hours using no-code configuration tools. - **Eliminate Hardware Costs**: Save on upfront investments and ongoing maintenance by leveraging existing networks. - **Scalable Across Locations**: From single offices to global hubs, Kadence Sense supports your [hybrid work strategy]() at any scale. #### Privacy-First Design For Employee Trust Kadence Sense respects employee autonomy and ensures data collection is non-invasive: - **No Location Tracking**: Attendance is verified through network connectivity without requiring invasive apps or geo-fencing. - **Frictionless Experience**: Employees can work as usual while Kadence Sense runs quietly in the background. - **Secure and Accurate Insights**: Data is captured securely to maintain trust and transparency across your organization. #### Why Kadence Sense Matters To Key Teams Kadence Sense empowers every stakeholder in your hybrid workplace ecosystem: - **Human Resources**: Gain accurate data to evaluate attendance policies and ensure hybrid work benefits all employees equally. - **Facilities Management**: Monitor real-time occupancy to identify [underutilized spaces](), consolidate resources, and optimize layouts. - **IT Teams**: Enjoy effortless deployment with minimal maintenance, ensuring a seamless experience for employees and teams. Hybrid work is here to stay, but success hinges on making informed, data-driven decisions. With Kadence Sense, you’ll unlock the potential of your workplace while staying flexible, scalable, and employee-focused. Stop guessing at what your [hybrid policy]() should be. [Schedule a quick demo]() with a hybrid work expert today, and see how Kadence Sense can immediately improve performance and productivity in your organization. See Kadence In Action Let Kadence take the hassle out of hybrid working. Book a customized demo today. [Book Demo]() Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence Wrapped: How You Used Kadence in 2025 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/kadence-wrapped-how-you-used-kadence-in-2025/ Description: Kadence Wrapped 2025 explores the workplace patterns that defined the year and how offices settled into a more predictable rhythm. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · December 17, 2025 · [Ali Carson]() ### Kadence Wrapped: How You Used Kadence in 2025 Kadence Wrapped 2025 Welcome to Kadence Wrapped 2025! In 2025, workplace behavior stopped looking experimental and started looking intentional. Across millions of desk and room bookings, clear patterns emerged around when people came in, how they collaborated, and how reliably offices were used. The data does not simply show more activity. It shows greater operational maturity. Offices were no longer reacting to attendance. They were being used in ways that were predictable, coordinated, and easier to manage at scale. Rather than signaling another year of disruption, the data points to consolidation. Teams established routines. Collaboration clustered around shared moments. Booking behavior became more reliable. For workplace leaders, this marks an important shift. The question is no longer whether flexible work can be supported, but whether workplace operations are equipped to run efficiently as these patterns stabilize. What follows is a closer look at how offices actually operated in 2025 and what those patterns reveal about where workplace strategy is heading next. #### A Record Year for Workplace Activity Total bookings on Kadence rose from just over 4.3 million in 2024 to more than 8.1 million in 2025, representing an 87 percent year-over-year increase. Desk bookings grew by nearly 78 percent, while room bookings more than doubled during the same period. What stands out is not only the scale of growth, but the way it reshaped space usage. Room bookings increased from 11 percent to 13 percent of all bookings, reinforcing the idea that offices are being used less for individual presence and more for coordination. As collaboration becomes more intentional, demand for shared space becomes clearer and more measurable. For workplace operations teams, this shift matters. Collaboration-driven usage places different demands on space planning, layouts, and service models than desks alone. #### Reliability Replaced Uncertainty In 2025, desk booking cancellations fell from 37 percent to 31 percent, while room cancellations remained relatively stable at around 35 to 36 percent. Major cities including New York, London, Los Angeles, and Amsterdam all recorded meaningful reductions in desk cancellations. This decline reflects a behavioral shift toward follow-through. Employees are not only booking desks more frequently, they are committing to those bookings. From an operational perspective, reliability is one of the most valuable signals. Fewer cancellations lead to cleaner utilization data, less wasted capacity, and greater confidence when forecasting demand. As booking behavior stabilizes, workplaces become easier to operate efficiently and consistently. #### Routine Became an Operational Advantage Recurring desk bookings increased by 50 percent year over year, reaching nearly 1.5 million in 2025. Recurrence is one of the strongest indicators of workplace maturity because it reflects established patterns rather than one-off decisions. Routine creates operational clarity. When attendance is predictable, workplace teams can plan services, staffing, and space allocation with far greater accuracy. Instead of responding to daily fluctuations, leaders can focus on improving performance. In 2025, routine was no longer an exception. It became an operational advantage. #### Teams Chose Coordination Over Chance More than 6,600 teams and over 4,000 neighborhoods were created on Kadence in 2025, both representing significant growth compared to the previous year. This rise reflects a broader shift toward coordinated attendance. Teams and neighborhoods enable employees to align schedules, sit together, and plan in-office time around shared objectives. For workplace operations leaders, this coordination is critical. Grouped attendance is easier to support, more efficient to manage, and more likely to deliver meaningful collaboration. Offices filled with intention rather than coincidence are simpler to operate and more valuable to the organizations behind them. #### Office Use Intensified Across Key Cities Average desk bookings per active user increased from 2.4 per week in 2024 to just over 3 in 2025. Cities such as New York and Los Angeles saw particularly strong growth, while Dallas, Santa Clara, and Hong Kong led globally with averages exceeding four desk bookings per user per week. These patterns highlight where office demand is concentrating. Understanding which locations are intensifying allows organizations to make more informed decisions about capacity, investment, and long-term portfolio planning. Office demand is no longer evenly distributed. It is clustering in ways that data now makes visible. #### Tuesdays Took the Lead Tuesday emerged as the most popular day for both desk and room bookings in 2025, overtaking Wednesday from the previous year. This shift suggests that teams are anchoring collaboration earlier in the week, building alignment and momentum sooner. Timing patterns like this have tangible operational impact. They shape peak demand for desks, meeting rooms, services, and amenities. When leaders understand these rhythms, workplaces can be designed to perform better on the days that matter most. #### Morning Routines Held Strong Despite broader changes in workplace behavior, start times remained remarkably consistent. The most common desk booking start time stayed at 9:00 a.m., while meetings most often began at 10:00 a.m. Half of all meetings started between 9:00 and 11:30 in the morning. These routines create predictable demand curves. For workplace teams, predictability enables precision. Staffing, services, and space can be aligned closely with how offices are actually used. #### Meetings Got Shorter and More Focused Average meeting length decreased slightly from 1.10 hours in 2024 to 1.05 hours in 2025, with more than 80 percent of meetings lasting one hour or less. Average meeting attendance also declined, from seven participants to 6.5. At the same time, overall meeting volume increased significantly. Companies averaged more than 21 meetings per week, up from 14.4 the year before. This combination suggests that collaboration is becoming more frequent but also more deliberate. From an operational perspective, shorter and smaller meetings are easier to support and often more effective. #### Workday Length Varied by Region Average desk booking durations remained between seven and eight hours globally. Australia recorded the longest average workdays at 7.6 hours and the highest proportion of long days, with 39 percent of bookings exceeding eight hours. These regional differences reinforce the need for localized workplace strategies. Global platforms create consistency, but effective operations depend on understanding how behavior varies by market. #### The Workplace Is Growing Up Preferences around where people work remain varied, but they are no longer chaotic. In 2025, regional patterns around working from home versus coming into the office became clearer and more stable. Europe and Africa recorded lower average desk bookings per week, indicating a stronger tilt toward remote work, while Australia and parts of the Americas showed higher in-office frequency. What matters here is not which regions prefer the office and which do not. It is that these preferences are now visible, consistent, and measurable. Workplace behavior is no longer fluctuating week to week. It is settling into identifiable patterns that can be planned for. For workplace operations leaders, this clarity is critical. When preferences stabilize, decisions around space allocation, service levels, and investment stop being reactive. Offices can be sized, staffed, and supported based on how they are actually used rather than how leaders assume they might be used. The organizations that will get the most value in 2026 will be those that design their workplaces around these realities instead of fighting them. If you want to see how employee preferences and workplace behavior are showing up across your own offices and where operational opportunities are hiding in plain sight, [book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() and turn workplace data into confident decisions. --- Ali Carson Ali Carson Ali is a Data Scientist at Kadence, combining her love for math and data to explore how people are thriving in the hybrid world. Passionate about uncovering insights, she’s dedicated to making sense of the numbers that shape our new ways of working. Outside of work, Ali is a proud cat mum to two cats and an active field hockey player, competing in the All-Ireland League every weekend. [Read More from Ali Carson]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Listening And The Power Of Team-Level Agreements - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/listening-and-the-power-of-team-level-agreements/ Description: At Kadence, we’ve found communication to be crucial. Listening and team-level agreements help us practice what we preach. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · April 22, 2024 · [Helen Attia]() ### Listening And The Power Of Team-Level Agreements Five works stretch-out their hands for a team huddle. Gallup recently found that only 12% of hybrid workers benefit from hybrid policies [decided by their individual team](). Crucially — they also found that this small group is also the most engaged. It seems that when employees are given the trust and autonomy to make their own decisions — and be really *heard* by their team members — they become more satisfied as a result. As Head of People and Partnerships at Kadence, my job is all about helping the people around me flourish at work. In this piece I’ll guide you through what we’ve learned at [Kadence]() about the power of listening to your teammates — and how it keeps us organized and focused on outcomes. And check out this conversation I had with the wonderful [Brian Elliott]() about what it means to listen and support teams. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Communication: The Foundation Of Hybrid Work At Kadence, our mission is helping companies to find the right rhythm of work for their unique teams. Our employees work between San Francisco and Amsterdam, and every single one of us has the option to choose how and where we get our work done. The distribution of our team, while being a great illustration of what it means to be fully hybrid, has shown us loud and clear the importance of strong communication in hybrid teams. It can be tricky to coordinate employees who are spread over the world, let alone keep them happy and fulfilled at work. Good communication is the foundation. Our technology is built precisely for this. By providing our employees with tools to help manage their schedules, coordinate with colleagues, and make sure they’re in the right place at the right time, we ensure everyone has access to a base layer of communication. Schedule management is about more than just logistics — it’s about sharing the when, where and what of work with your teammates, so you can coordinate and communicate with them better. These tools have helped us become a better company, where our distributed teams feel connected despite the distances. But we’ve also found that none of this would make sense without first ensuring we have the first part of communication in place – listening. #### The Importance Of Listening Experts in the field of work agree that keeping open communication channels and practicing active listening are one of two [key factors]() in employee retention and satisfaction. Listening is powerful. It makes sense, doesn’t it? The feeling of being listened to is one of the most validating things you can experience, whether in your personal or professional life. When it comes to navigating the ins and outs of hybrid work, listening is all about understanding the unique preferences and needs of each individual employee. Those preferences extend to the frequency of office-based work, team meetings, company-wide gatherings and other specific hybrid work routines. At Kadence, we hold regular feedback sessions on company and team levels to ensure our employees have the feeling they are actively being heard, and give them a platform to air any concerns or developments in their navigation of flexible work. One of our most successful team-level agreements is that employees set their own agendas for 1:1s with managers. Those moments of discussion shouldn’t be managers “checking up” on their teammates but rather employees feeling comfortable raising any number of topics that have been on their mind. Through encouraging active listening to each other, we hope to head towards a rhythm of work where everyone in the company feels fully heard and understood. #### Documenting Discussions: TLAs In the journey towards staying connected and coordinated as a distributed team — we’ve understood that alignment is even more powerful when it’s done on the team level. And when it’s put down in writing! TLAs – or “[team-level agreements]()” – have been a game changer for making sure we document and keep to the discussions we have about where, when and how we do work. Just because our team is spread out over various countries, it doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice on alignment and connection. Team-level agreements leave the finer details of hybrid work entirely up to our individual teams. Through open discussion and constant iteration, teams can decide for themselves: - Their core working hours - The team rituals - Their balance of remote and in-person work - Their main communication channels and work tools We believe that sweeping hybrid company policies aren’t useful when it comes to ensuring everyone is on the same page about how and where to do work. Everyone just ends up on their ”own” page! By giving our teams the power and autonomy to choose a work system that makes most sense for them and as part of the whole culture — we hope to see our people flourish and grow more than ever. And by encouraging them to get their team values and rituals down as tangible agreements, we ensure the work we put towards listening to each other translates to concrete actions. --- At Kadence, we’re constantly editing the blueprint out for ourselves. We see hybrid and flexible work as living things — not simple company policies established once and for all. For that reason, we’ve found communication to be crucial: especially when trying to make sense of a distributed team. We encourage as much discussion and feedback as possible, and our hope with that is to continue learning *together* about the challenges we will inevitably face as a hybrid organization. Only that way can we continue to optimize the experience here — while bringing out the best in our people, and ultimately our business. To find out more, check out some of our other [available resources]() or [book a demo]() with the team to see how Kadence can transform your workplace. --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/local-council-office-consolidation-needs-better-evidence/ Description: Rethink how council office use is measured, and understand what an estates paper needs before it reaches cabinet or scrutiny. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · September 22, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence Local Council Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across local government, and it is also the reason so many consolidation papers get deferred rather than approved. The problem is rarely that a council has no occupancy data. Most have something, whether that is door access logs, a one-off utilization survey commissioned from a consultancy, or a spreadsheet maintained by a facilities officer. The problem is that a council estates decision is held to a standard that a comparable private sector decision is not, and most of that data was never gathered with that standard in mind. #### Why The Standard Is Different When a company gives up two floors, the decision is taken in a board meeting and the reasoning stays inside the organization. When a council closes an office, the paper goes to cabinet or scrutiny, it is published, members can question the officer who wrote it, residents can read it, and the underlying data can be requested under the Freedom of Information Act. If a building is sold or a lease is surrendered, the decision cannot realistically be reversed, and the administration that approves it may not be the one defending it after the next election. There is also the rest of the estate to account for. A council’s offices sit alongside depots, libraries, leisure centers and customer service points, and the case for closing a civic building often depends on whether staff can be absorbed elsewhere in that estate, or into shared accommodation with a health board, a police force or a neighboring authority. Occupancy in a co-located building is never fully within one organization’s control, which makes the evidence harder to assemble and easier to challenge. Add the consultation obligations that come with changing where people work, and the fact that any redeployment has to be justified to unions as well as to members, and the evidence requirement becomes fairly demanding. #### Four Tests The Evidence Has To Pass ##### **It Has To Predate The Decision** Data gathered after a savings target is set will always look like justification. Data that has been running for a year or more before anyone proposed a consolidation is a record of how the estate actually behaves, and it is far harder to argue with. This is the most common weakness in consolidation papers, and it is a function of timing rather than of measurement quality, which means it can only be fixed by starting earlier. ##### **It Has To Cover Long Enough To Show A Pattern** Council attendance varies by season, by service area and by the point in the financial year. A survey run across two weeks in November tells you about two weeks in November. Continuous measurement across a full year lets you say what a typical Tuesday looks like in each building, and lets you separate a genuine decline in use from a seasonal dip that will reverse in the spring. ##### **It Has To Be Comparable Across Sites** Consolidation decisions are relative. You are deciding which building to keep, which means every site in scope has to be measured the same way over the same period. Where different offices have been surveyed by different methods at different times, the comparison tends to collapse under the first question a member asks about methodology. ##### **It Has To Be Explainable To A Non-Specialist** A cabinet member will not interrogate a sensor deployment methodology, but they will ask what the number means and how confident the officer is in it. Evidence that requires a technical preamble before it can be understood generally does not survive the meeting, regardless of how sound it is. #### Where The Usual Sources Fall Short Door access and badge data records entry to a building, which is useful for security and much less useful for space planning, because it says nothing about whether a floor, a wing or a meeting room was used once someone was inside. Headcount figures describe policy and contractual arrangements rather than behavior. Booking records, taken on their own, describe intent, and in most organizations a meaningful share of bookings are never honored. None of this makes those sources worthless. It makes them insufficient on their own for a decision that has to be defended in public, which is why [workplace analytics]() built on verified presence rather than entry or intent has become the practical baseline for public sector estates teams. SpaceOps AI agent answering "Can Finance and Legal share a floor if we move to the new layout?" with a live floor plan view from Kadence SpaceOps showing current team allocations across two floors, and an AI-generated recommendation to consolidate both teams onto Floor 1 by moving HR to Floor 2. #### What It Looks Like When The Evidence Is In Place [Denbighshire County Council]() had already reduced its number of office sites when it started measuring occupancy properly, which put it in a familiar position: committed to a direction, without the evidence to show whether it had cut too far or not far enough. Continuous occupancy data across its buildings confirmed which sites were genuinely well used and which were not, and gave the council a basis for further decisions rather than a retrospective defense of earlier ones. > Kadence takes away the guesswork. We finally have the evidence to make the right decisions for our people and our spaces. > > > > > > Dan Ick > > > > Denbighshire County Council Two details from that work are worth drawing out, because both are common across the sector. The first is that leadership had assumed Wednesday was the busiest day in the office, and the data showed the actual peak was Thursday. That is a small finding with large consequences, because peak day is what capacity is sized against, and because a hybrid policy built on the wrong peak produces crowding on one day and empty floors on another. It is also the kind of assumption that sits unexamined inside a consolidation paper until somebody checks it. The second is reporting time. The council’s facilities team had been reconciling spreadsheets over hours or days to produce reports for leadership, and with current data available on demand those reports now take minutes. In a local authority context this matters more than it sounds, because the reporting cycle around committee dates is fixed and unforgiving, and because officer time spent assembling a paper is officer time not spent on the estate itself. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Where To Start If The Decision Is Already In The Plan If a consolidation is scheduled for a future financial year, the useful work now is not modeling the saving. It is starting the measurement, so that by the time the paper is written there is a year of continuous, comparable data behind it that nobody can characterize as having been produced to order. Practically, that means measuring presence rather than entry, covering every site in scope rather than the ones that are easiest to instrument, running it continuously rather than in survey windows, and holding it in a form that can be reported at building and service level, because that is the level at which members and directors ask their questions. Councils that get consolidation approved first are generally not the ones with the most sophisticated analysis. They are the ones who started collecting the evidence before they needed it. If your authority is working toward a consolidation or a hybrid policy review, [book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see what a defensible evidence base looks like across a public sector estate. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] - [23% Is Not an Adoption Story]() CBRE says AI is already influencing space-planning decisions for 23% of occupiers. The workplace leaders I talk to are watching the rest of the company get lost, with tools that do not help them keep up. CBRE’s 2026 Americas Office Occupier Sentiment Survey put a number on a feeling a lot of workplace leaders already had. In \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Mental Health At Work: What You Need To Know - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/mental-health-at-work-what-you-need-to-know/ Description: In hybrid workplaces, it's imperative that employers prioritize mental health as a key component of their organizational culture. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · April 12, 2024 · [Alice Hendy]() ### Mental Health At Work: What You Need To Know Four people sat around each other supporting one another The world of work is going through a mental health challenge. The rise of remote working — with all of its great benefits – has meant employees are more socially isolated than they ever have been. Our work schedules are now flexible and adaptable, and that’s great — but not when it comes at the expense of connection and community. As the founder of [R;pple](), I’ve seen first hand how deeply work can impact our mental health. So here’s some key information on how mental health is affected by the workplace, and what you need to know to get the right help and support. #### Work-Related Stress And Loneliness Is On The Rise The numbers paint a clear picture. 71% of adults in the US report at least one symptom of stress, while the number of people experiencing loneliness has doubled since 2019. And it’s a vicious cycle — the more stress we experience at work, the more it affects our ability to get any work done at all. The CDC revealed that mental health conditions reduce cognitive performance [35% of the time](). What’s perhaps more worrying is that only 57% of employees who report moderate depression (and 40% with severe symptoms) are [actively receiving treatment]() to control their symptoms. The bottom line: our mental health is inextricably linked to the workplace — and we need to act fast to provide the proper support to our teams and employees. #### Hybrid Systems Help Develop Community The dawn of remote work brought about monumental changes to how we get work done. In most sectors, employees are now in the unique position of being able to spend a considerable amount of their time working from their home office. Often, that time is spent alone. The flexibility of home office has come at a cost. We’re losing out on what was a crucial part of the “old” way of working: people. Luckily, there’s another movement that is building momentum and providing a balance to how we go about our work weeks. Hybrid work offers a structure that combines elements of remote and in-person work to ensure employees are never spending too much time in their own silos. By encouraging in-person work as a way to reconnect with your colleagues, get social validation and feel part of a community, hybrid work presents an important step towards ensuring the workplace contributes to our mental health positively. And yet there’s always more we can do to provide support! #### R;pple – Giving People The Support They Need When it comes to the more severe symptoms of mental health, help becomes more of an urgent and serious matter. Online searches for suicide methods have increased by 50% in the last 2 years, with searches for suicide support lines also up by 150% since January 2019. To ensure more help and support is given to individuals searching for harmful content online, I set up **[R;pple]()** – a digital tool that can provide immediate support and comfort to people searching for harmful content relating to the topic of suicide and self-harm. Once they have installed R;pple, if someone searches for harmful content online, they will be: - Provided with guided breathing exercises. - Presented with reassuring messages. - Given immediate access to help lines and mental health services to use now and in the longer term. With over 1.8 million downloads and over 38,000 harmful searches intercepted, R;pple’s impact extends all the way from individuals to organizations. Companies like KPMG, West Ham United FC, and the University of Portsmouth have all recognized the importance of safeguarding their communities. By deploying R;pple as a browser extension on their company-issued devices or integrating it into their Wi-Fi networks, they’re taking proactive steps to ensure no call for help goes unanswered. #### The Key Takeaway The workplace, whether physical or virtual, plays a crucial role in our overall [mental well-being](). As the lines between work and home continue to blur, especially in hybrid and remote work settings, it’s imperative that employers prioritize mental health as a key component of their organizational culture. R;pple serves as a critical tool in this mission, enabling companies to extend a hand of support to those in need, at the moment they need it the most. By providing an immediate response to those seeking harmful content online, we’re not just preventing potential tragedies; we’re opening doors to conversations about mental health, reducing stigma, and fostering an environment where seeking help is not only encouraged but normalized. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() --- Alice Hendy Alice Hendy Alice founded R;pple after losing her brother, Josh, to suicide in November 2020. R;pple is a digital tool that can provide immediate support and comfort to people searching for harmful content relating to the topic of suicide and self-harm. Alice also works as a Global Cyber Security Manager for a large consultancy firm. [Read More from Alice Hendy]() Alice Hendy MBE founded R;pple after losing her brother, Josh, to suicide in November 2020. R;pple is a digital tool that can provide immediate support and comfort to people searching for harmful content relating to the topic of suicide and self-harm. Alice also works as a Global Cyber Security Manager for a large consultancy firm. #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Kadence and Midwich Group Strategic Partnership | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/midwich-group-expands-strategic-partnership-with-kadence/ Description: In June 2025, Kadence signed a strategic partnership with Midwich Group, a global AV and unified communications distributor, to scale hybrid work worldwide. [News]() · [Kadence News]() · June 13, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Midwich Group Expands Strategic Partnership With Kadence to Scale Hybrid Work In June 2025, Kadence signed a strategic partnership with [Midwich Group](), one of the world’s most established distributors of AV and unified communications technology. The partnership gave Kadence global distribution scale and industry reach through Midwich Group’s network of integrators and their customers. #### Why did Kadence partner with Midwich Group? Kadence partnered with Midwich Group because [hybrid work]() had become a global operational priority. Enterprise organizations were under pressure to standardize workplace strategies across regions, reduce overhead and help employees collaborate wherever they are. Midwich Group, with access to enterprise and education clients, offered the distribution scale to reach them. The aim was to help organizations run hybrid work at enterprise level: securely, smoothly and at speed. For Kadence, that meant bringing its [workplace operations platform]() to more teams around the world, alongside the [integrations]() that connect it to the tools companies already use. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How did the partnership come about? The partnership was made possible through Kadence’s relationship with [Midwich Ignite](), the corporate venture capital arm of Midwich Group. Kadence described it as a milestone in its mission to bring smarter workplace solutions to teams around the globe, by scaling its presence through Midwich Group’s ecosystem of integrators and their end-user relationships. Dan Bladen, CEO and co-founder of Kadence, said at the time: > “We’re excited to be partnering with Midwich Group to make hybrid work a competitive advantage for their customers.” #### What did the partnership mean for Kadence customers? Through the partnership, Kadence expected to benefit from Midwich Group’s global reach, technical expertise and deep market knowledge. That would let Kadence meet more customers where they are and support them on the way to better hybrid work. Morten Boll, Global UC Director of Midwich Group, said: > “We’ve teamed up with Kadence to shape the future of hybrid work. Momentum is building fast—and this collaboration reflects our commitment to innovation and delivering real value to our customers. Kadence is now part of our AV & UC ecosystem, and we’re excited to share more as things progress.” #### Where can I learn more? For more company news, visit the [Kadence newsroom]() or read more from [Dan Bladen](). To see how Kadence supports hybrid work at enterprise scale, [book a custom walkthrough]() with Kadence’s enterprise solutions team. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Kadence Partners With Archilogic to Power Intelligent Workplaces]() In March 2026, Kadence announced a strategic partnership with Archilogic, the spatial data platform, connecting Archilogic floor plan data with Kadence SpaceOps. - [Kadence Introduces AI-Driven Visitor Management System to Power Modern Workplace Operations]() New self-service kiosks, AI-assisted invites, automated check-in, and real-time visibility unify visitor activity with workplace intelligence, natively inside the Kadence platform San Francisco, CA — January 27, 2026 — Kadence, the leading workplace operations platform for global enterprises, today announced the launch of its newly rebuilt Visitor Management System (VMS), designed to automate visitor operations, \[…\] - [Tracy Hawkins Of OpenAI Joins Kadence’s Advisory Board]() Today marks an exciting new chapter for Kadence. We’re thrilled to announce that Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, has joined Kadence as a Strategic Advisor. Tracy Hawkins is one of the world’s most respected workplace leaders, known for helping organizations like OpenAI, Grammarly, and Twitter design environments that empower people \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Modernize Your Work Practices With Smart Working - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/modernise-work-practices-with-smart-working/ Description: Smart Working isn't just about choosing where to work. It's about making work more adaptable, inclusive, and aligned with both our personal and organizational goals. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · January 11, 2024 · [Andy Lake]() ### Modernize Your Work Practices With Smart Working Smart working For over three decades, I’ve been exploring and advocating for smarter, more flexible ways of working. As the founding editor of [Flexibility]() and author of the [Smart Working Handbook](), I help organizations embrace a more strategic approach to modernizing their working practices. Smart Working isn’t just about choosing where to work. It’s a holistic method that encompasses how we work, the tools we use, and the cultures we cultivate. It’s about making work more adaptable, inclusive, and aligned with both our personal and organizational goals. #### A Shift Towards Flexible Work Environments I’ve distilled the essence of flexible work into a list of core principles, which can help your organisation move to Smart Working. Let’s delve into five that are particularly important as we shift towards more flexible work environments: 1. **Flexibility, mobility, and virtuality as norms**: In a world where work is no longer confined to the office, embracing these aspects as standard practice is crucial. This approach allows organizations to adapt swiftly to changing circumstances and empowers employees to work efficiently from anywhere. 2. **Employee choice, subject to business considerations**: Granting employees the autonomy to choose their work environment builds a culture of trust and empowerment. This principle is key to attracting and retaining talent in an era where flexibility is highly valued. 3. **Effective and appropriate use of technology**: Adopting the right technology is instrumental to Smart Working. It enables seamless communication, collaboration, and productivity, regardless of physical location. Tools should be both user-friendly and capable of supporting diverse work modes. 4. **Focus on results, not presence**: Shifting the emphasis from where work is done to what is achieved encourages a more results-oriented culture. This principle champions productivity and efficiency over traditional measures of work, like time spent in the office. 5. **Positive impact on the ‘triple bottom line’**: Smart Working is not just about business efficiency; it also considers the well-being of individuals and the planet. It encourages work practices that are sustainable and contribute positively to society and the environment. My Smart Working handbook outlines 14 principles in total – [discover more here](). #### The Future Of Smart Working Smart Working is more than just a set of guidelines — it’s a movement towards a future where work is not just a place you go, but a dynamic and meaningful experience. It’s about crafting a world of work that’s not only more adaptive and inclusive, but one that thrives on innovation and sustainability. Together, let’s step into this future, creating workspaces and practices that resonate with the needs of the modern world. Let’s build organizations where creativity flourishes, where work-life balance is a reality, and where we all contribute to a greener, more sustainable future. The journey of Smart Working is just beginning, and the possibilities are limitless. --- Andy Lake Andy Lake Director of Flexibility.co.uk & Founder of Smart Work Network Andy helps organisations navigate complexity to develop a strategic approach to Smart/Agile/Flexible/Hybrid Working, based on almost 30 years of advising, researching and writing on new ways of working and their impacts. The approach brings together People, Culture, Real Estate and Technology to support integrated programmes of change. [Read More from Andy Lake]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## NextRetreat's Top Tips For Planning An Offsite For Hybrid Companies - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/nextretreats-top-tips-for-planning-an-offsite-for-hybrid-companies/ Description: Learn how a successful offsite can drive better collaboration for your hybrid team long after everyone returns to their regular workspaces. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · December 2, 2024 · [Martin Studencan]() ### NextRetreat’s Top Tips For Planning An Offsite For Hybrid Companies Kadence team members sat on a boat posing for picture. If you work in a hybrid office environment, chances are that your daily interactions are dominated by Zoom meetings and Slack channels. And while these tools have undoubtedly made our day-to-day working lives easier, a high-quality in-person offsite is now more valuable than ever. Offsites serve as crucial touchpoints for hybrid working teams. They create connections that pixels and bandwidth simply can’t replicate. At [NextRetreat](), we’ve planned many meaningful and energizing offsites for hybrid workforces. Read on for our comprehensive guide on how to help plan yours. #### Set Clear Objectives Before we dive into the logistics of planning your offsite, think about what you want to achieve. Do you want to strengthen team bonds? Boost morale? Tackle strategic planning? Improve productivity? Or… all of the above? Having clear goals in mind will help to shape everything, from the duration of the offsite to the venue and itinerary. Just remember, trying to accomplish too much can dilute the overall impact of your offsite. #### Choose The Right Time And Duration Timing is everything, so [you’ll need to provide ample notice and preparation.]() For smaller teams, we recommend a minimum of three months, while larger all-hands events may require five to six months or more to allow everyone enough time to make travel arrangements. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() It’s also good to ensure your offsite isn’t going to clash with any major project deadlines or public holidays that are already in the calendar. [On average, companies aim for a 3-5 day offsite](). This duration strikes a good balance, making it a worthwhile trip for everyone, especially for those traveling long distances. And don’t forget to consider different time zones when you’re planning a work schedule during your offsite! #### Location, Location, Location If your team is distributed across various locations, the ideal offsite destination should be one that the majority of team members can reach efficiently, minimizing travel time and ensuring a smooth and hassle-free journey. Your chosen [venue]() will set the tone for your entire offsite. The ideal place will have a combination of collaborative areas and breakout rooms, reliable WiFi connections, comfortable on-site accommodation, and plenty of outdoor space. #### Design An Engaging Agenda Balance is critical here. You want to provide a good mix of activities to keep workers engaged and motivated throughout the offsite. Kick things off with a team-building exercise or some icebreaker activities to help everyone relax. Add in focused work sessions during peak energy hours, but don’t forget to build in time for unstructured activities too. This allows your team to make organic connections with their colleagues. Plan a few shared meals and social activities into the itinerary, but you don’t have to expect everyone to eat together every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner! It’s important to avoid being too rigid, so you should leave room for ad-hoc discussions and downtime in your agenda. Try not to overbook the schedule. Check out our [4 Common Mistakes When Planning Your Next Team Retreat](). #### Involve Those Who Can’t Attend No matter how much notice you give, you’ll probably find that one or two team members are still unable to attend. If so, it’s important to make sure they can still engage with the offsite. To achieve this, you might record some of the key sessions and make them available to non-attendees or choose hybrid-friendly activities where remote workers can still engage and contribute “live.” You can use digital tools to keep track of discussions and decisions, and [schedule in follow-up virtual or in person sessions]() to maintain momentum after the offsite concludes. #### Prioritize Experience And Connection The most memorable offsites focus on human connection. After all, they’re an opportunity for people who don’t usually work together in real life to do just that. It’s important to make the experience fun, so consider setting up a few shared experiences like cooking classes, food tasting, or team games. When planning activities, be sure to create opportunities for cross-team mixing across all areas of the business, and include a few wellness activities such as group hikes or meditation sessions. Lastly, make sure that your evening social events don’t just revolve around alcohol! #### Be Inclusive Consider the various needs and preferences of your hybrid team members, accommodation specific dietary requirements and cultural considerations. Ensure activities are suitable for different physical abilities and have respect for personal boundaries, offering alternative options for those who may not want to participate in certain activities. It’s also important to provide quiet spaces for anyone who needs time and space to recharge. #### Follow Up After The Event Soon after the event concludes, document and share the key takeaways and action items with everyone, including those who were unable to attend the offsite. Create an accountability system or action tracker to stay on top of follow up actions, and schedule regular check-ins to maintain connections formed during the offsite. Be sure to gather feedback and use this to shape and improve future offsite events. #### Stick To Your Budget It can be easy to get carried away, so make it your mission to invest in what matters most, for example: - Comfortable accommodation and good food - Flights and on-site transportation - High-quality team activities - Unexpected expenses You can also try this free [budget estimator](). A successful offsite can transform your company culture and drive better collaboration long after everyone returns to their regular workspaces. --- Martin Studencan Martin Studencan Martin Studencan is an entrepreneur from Slovakia and founder of NextRetreat. NextRetreat is an all-in-one solution designed to simplify team travel, helping companies plan and organize team offsites effortlessly with in-house technology, curated destinations, and streamlined processes. [Read More from Martin Studencan]() ##### What’s Next For The Future Of Work? Join our Kadence community to stay on top of latest news and trends in the future of work. #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## 9 Micro Moments to Build Hybrid Work Culture | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/nine-micro-moments-to-build-team-culture-with-michelle-hartley/ Description: Build a strong hybrid work culture with small, frequent gestures. Nine micro moments from HR expert Michelle Hartley, from half agendas to thank-you notes. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · June 10, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Helen Attia]() ### Nine Micro Moments to Build Team Culture, With Michelle Hartley A woman at her desk smiles into the camera. A strong [hybrid work]() culture is built through small, intentional actions, not grand gestures. For distributed teams, creating meaningful connections between remote and in-office employees can feel hard, but frequent *micro moments* of appreciation and connection make it achievable. In a conversation published in June 2024, I sat down with [Michelle Hartley](), Managing Director of People Sorted. Michelle is an HR expert who has helped hybrid companies in many sectors connect their people and build a resilient company culture. In our conversation, she shared practical tips that HR managers can use to support their teams. Below are her key ideas and nine micro moments you can put into practice. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What are micro moments? Micro moments are small, frequent displays of appreciation and connection that make employees feel acknowledged and part of the company. Michelle Hartley uses the term for simple gestures, such as a thank-you note or an open slot in a meeting, that build a positive, inclusive team culture over time. One of Michelle’s key recommendations is to look past grand gestures, like company away days, as the main way to bring people together. The best leaders show appreciation and build connection in small ways, often. Those moments add up to a sense of belonging. #### Why do micro moments matter for hybrid work culture? In hybrid work, people spend less time in the same place, so the casual moments that once built culture happen less often. Micro moments recreate them on purpose. Because they are small, managers can repeat them every week, for remote and in-office employees alike, without a big budget or event. Hybrid work culture is the shared set of habits, values and relationships of a team that splits its time between the office and remote locations. It depends on consistent, everyday behavior more than on occasional events. For more on this, see the [guide to bringing teams together]() and our conversation on [creating moments that matter](). #### What are nine micro moments that build team culture? The nine micro moments below range from how you run meetings to how you recognize and support people. They are half agendas, unstructured time, thank-you notes, social media shoutouts, surprise deliveries, virtual celebrations, digital badges, professional development and mental health support. Each one is small enough to start this week. ##### 1. Half agendas Half agendas leave part of a meeting open on purpose. Traditional meetings often have packed agendas, with little room for spontaneous discussion. By leaving half of the agenda open, you create space for creativity, brainstorming and issues nobody planned for. Meetings become more engaging, and team members feel empowered to share ideas and be heard. Picture a product development meeting where the first half covers updates and the second half is open for new ideas or current challenges. That flexibility can lead to livelier, more productive discussion and a stronger sense of shared ownership. ##### 2. Unstructured time In a remote or hybrid setting, unstructured time gives team members a chance to connect on a personal level. Unlike structured meetings, it allows the spontaneous conversations that happen in an office break room. Encourage your team to schedule virtual coffee breaks or water cooler chats with no set agenda. These informal gatherings build relationships, reduce feelings of isolation and create camaraderie. A 15-minute virtual coffee chat once a week, for example, gives people a break and a relaxed chance to catch up. ##### 3. Thank-you notes Never underestimate a simple postcard or thank-you note. In a digital age, a physical note is a welcome surprise and a tangible sign that someone appreciates you. Personalized notes that thank team members for hard work or achievements, or simply say thank you, can make a real impact. A manager might send a handwritten note to someone who went above and beyond on a project. The gesture boosts morale, reinforces positive behavior and shows you value their contribution. ##### 4. Social media shoutouts Social media shoutouts recognize your team’s achievements in public. Highlighting individual or team successes on company social channels acknowledges the work and shows your culture to a wider audience. For example, you might post a LinkedIn shoutout for a team that finished a major project ahead of schedule. Public recognition lifts morale, strengthens your company’s reputation and encourages others to aim high. ##### 5. Surprise deliveries Sending unexpected gifts to team members’ homes creates excitement and shows appreciation. A delivery can be anything from a box of gourmet cookies to a personalized gift that reflects their interests. A wellness kit with a scented candle, herbal tea and a stress ball, for instance, shows you care about people’s well-being. Thoughtful gestures like this build team spirit and show employees they are valued. ##### 6. Virtual celebrations Celebrating milestones and achievements is essential to a positive team culture, and virtual celebrations can work as well as in-person ones when done right. Birthdays, work anniversaries and project completions are all worth marking. Host a virtual party with trivia games, a virtual happy hour or a themed dress-up day. For a team member’s birthday, you could send a digital card signed by the whole team and have a cake delivered to their door. Celebrations like these create memorable moments and a sense of community. ##### 7. Digital badges Digital badges recognize and reward employees for their achievements. They can be displayed on internal communication platforms or on professional networks like LinkedIn, as a visible acknowledgment of skills, accomplishments and contributions. Awarding a “Project Management Pro” badge to someone who led a challenging project can boost their confidence and encourage others to aim for the same. Badges also motivate continuous learning and development. ##### 8. Professional development Investing in professional development shows your team that you care about their growth and future. Training, conferences and online courses build skills and improve career prospects. Consider a professional development fund that employees can use for courses or certifications relevant to their roles. A marketing professional might use it for an advanced digital marketing course. Supporting growth improves individual performance and contributes to the success of the whole team. ##### 9. Mental health support Supporting mental health is essential, especially in hybrid work, where stress and isolation can be common. Mental health support can make a real difference to people’s well-being and productivity. Provide access to counseling services, mental health days and stress management workshops. A monthly webinar on mindfulness and stress reduction, for example, can help people manage their mental health. Showing empathy and understanding creates a supportive, caring work environment. #### How do micro moments fit with in-person team days? Micro moments work best alongside regular [in-person team days](). The small gestures keep connection going between office days. The team days give people time together in the same place. Together they build a positive, inclusive culture and a sense of belonging. It is the small, consistent actions that build a strong and resilient team culture, so start with one or two of these micro moments and add more over time. Then balance them with regular team days in the office. With Kadence, teams can reserve days and spaces to come in together, and [workplace events]() help plan the moments worth showing up for. In June 2024, Kadence’s Smart Suggestions tool also showed employees when colleagues were going into the office, so they could book a desk nearby. Explore [people coordination]() or [find out more]() about what Kadence can do for your team. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a micro moment in team culture? A micro moment is a small, frequent act of appreciation or connection, such as a thank-you note, a shoutout or an open slot in a meeting agenda. Repeated often, these moments make employees feel acknowledged and part of the company. ##### How do you build team culture in a hybrid workplace? Combine small, regular gestures with occasional in-person time. Recognize people’s work, create unstructured time to connect, support growth and mental health, and bring teams together in the office on planned days. ##### Are grand gestures like away days still worth doing? They can help, but Michelle Hartley recommends looking past grand gestures as the main way to bring people together. Small, frequent moments of appreciation and connection do more to build a sense of belonging day to day. ##### How can managers recognize remote employees? Send handwritten thank-you notes or surprise deliveries to their homes, give public shoutouts on company social channels, award digital badges, and host virtual celebrations for birthdays, work anniversaries and project milestones. Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Are Office Neighborhoods? 5 Benefits | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/office-neighborhoods-for-better-workplace-experience/ Description: Office neighborhoods group people who work together in dedicated areas. How they work with hot desking and desk hoteling, their benefits and how to set one up. [News]() · [Product News]() · November 11, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### What Are Office Neighborhoods? 5 Reasons They Improve Workplace Experience Illustration of Team Office Neighborhood details [Office neighborhoods]() are dedicated areas of an office where people who work together, or who need the same things, sit together. They improve workplace experience because they make collaboration easy when people are only in the office some of the time. Each neighborhood gives a team or community the colleagues, equipment and space it needs, while desk booking keeps the arrangement flexible. “Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” Steve Jobs said that in 2008. The pandemic and lockdowns then seriously curtailed teamwork. Video tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet helped enormously with remote work, but they cannot match a face-to-face project kick-off or a team working side by side to deliver a big win. A hybrid working model, where employees divide their time between the office and home, gives people the flexibility of remote work without losing real-life connection. But fewer hours in the office mean fewer chance encounters and informal chats that build camaraderie. The office has to become a more dynamic, flexible place that makes collaboration easy and fits different teams’ rhythms. That is where office neighborhoods come in. #### What are office neighborhoods? An office neighborhood is a dedicated area of the office for a group, or community, of employees who need to work with each other or who share similar needs. Each neighborhood typically holds 30 to 60 people. At first glance it looks like an [open-plan office](), but seating is organized around who needs to be near whom and what they need to do their work. Seating a community together makes sure people have access to the colleagues and amenities they need to get the most from their time in the office. Neighborhoods can be based on: - **Functions:** people in the same department sit together, such as marketing or sales. - **Projects:** employees from different departments come together to work on a specific project. - **Activities:** if certain work needs certain conditions, neighborhoods can be set up for [activity-based working](), such as quiet work, collaboration or technical work. - **Amenities:** a community that needs particular equipment or facilities, such as breakout rooms, printers or double monitors, sits in a neighborhood that has them. For how neighborhoods compare with other flexible layouts, see the [guide to flexible office models](). For layout ideas, see [how to design office neighborhood sections](). #### How does neighborhood seating work with hot desking or desk hoteling? Neighborhood seating is usually organized in zones that use either hot desking or desk hoteling. With hot desking, people pick any free desk on a first-come, first-served basis. With desk hoteling, people book a desk in advance and check in when they arrive. Hoteling adds predictability, because people know where they will sit and with whom. Hot desking means employees have no permanent desk and choose from a pool of available desks each time they come in. It is simple, and you can read more about [the future of hot desking](). [Desk hoteling]() goes a step further. Employees book a desk ahead and check in on arrival. Desks can be booked by the hour, day or week. A team can book specific desks at the same time each week, or for the length of a project. Employees can hold a regular, long-standing reservation and know who they will sit with. Office managers get full control over how the space is used, plus a wealth of [desk usage]() data. A [desk booking system]() is what makes hoteling practical at scale. #### What are the benefits of office neighborhoods? Done well, office neighborhoods support collaboration, productivity, efficient use of space, flexibility and employee engagement. They go beyond the open-plan office by grouping people around real working relationships and needs. For enterprise workplace teams, they also produce clearer data on how each area is used, which supports decisions on layout, capacity and real estate cost. ##### 1. More collaboration Sitting together deepens relationships and encourages communication, so collaboration happens naturally in a well-designed community. Adding desk hoteling spreads teamwork across the whole community: employees can sit with their own team whenever they come in or for the length of a project, or mix it up and work alongside people in other neighborhoods. ##### 2. Higher productivity Neighborhoods make sure employees have the amenities and equipment they need to do their best work. Each team gets a space tailored to its needs, so people are not running around the office looking for the right equipment. Fewer needless interruptions mean more time focused on the work itself. ##### 3. More efficient space management Hot desking and desk hoteling need fewer desks, because employees do not each need a permanent workstation. That means real estate costs can be trimmed or space reconfigured for other purposes. Managing neighborhoods with desk booking software gives you a wealth of usage data. You can see who uses each desk, when and for how long, in real time, and where people and teams have made recurring bookings over the coming months. Combining actual occupancy data with future bookings lets you forecast demand, plan seating, and even set up an overspill neighborhood for days when the office is busier than usual. ##### 4. Flexibility that puts people first If the pandemic taught workplaces anything, it was the importance of adaptability. Neighborhoods are fluid. You can move modular furniture, try new layouts or add meeting spaces without disrupting the rest of the office. A creative team might get a space designed for creative work, with an open area for relaxation or desks facing each other for easier communication. Usage data then shows what works and what does not, so you can improve or reconfigure spaces over time. ##### 5. A happier, more engaged team Engaged employees tend to be more productive and loyal, and their attitude spreads across the company. According to research by [Steelcase](), the more people like the environment they work in, the more engaged they tend to be. Neighborhoods let you shape spaces around what people need, which improves employee experience. Desk booking software should do the heavy lifting by making it easy to find and book the right space. For example, Kadence could suggest the best available spaces near teammates, with the right equipment. Kadence's Smart Booking Suggestions Interface tell the user that they should book desk 4 because their teammates Andy, Jane, and Mike are at One Liberty Plaza tomorrow. #### How do you set up an office neighborhood? Start by finding out what people need, because needs after the pandemic may look very different from before. Survey employees about the amenities that would make them want to come in, who they need to sit near, and what facilities and equipment they rely on. Then study any existing desk usage data for patterns before deciding on neighborhood types, sizes and layout. A simple survey is an easy way to gather opinion across the organization. Ask: - What would make you look forward to coming into the office? - Who do you need to sit near? - What facilities and equipment do you rely on? If you already use hot desking or desk hoteling, go through your desk usage data carefully. Are some areas more popular at certain times of day? Do particular teams favor one part of the office? Together, survey results and usage data show which types of neighborhood will work best, how large and how laid out each should be, and which relaxation and social spaces to include. #### How do you manage office neighborhoods safely and efficiently? Office neighborhoods are hard to run without a space management system. Shared desks and changing layouts can make people anxious about health and safety. The right technology lets employees reserve a desk in advance and check in on arrival, and gives admins control over who sits where, capacity alerts, and usage data to plan spaces around how people actually work. With a [space management system](), you can assign people to a neighborhood, edit seating plans to visualize capacity, and set alerts when specific areas are full. Combined with usage data, this helps you plan spaces and place amenities where people need them. With the right tools, neighborhoods can be even safer than traditional office setups. An illustration of the Kadence Office Neighborhoods setup dashboard #### How did Kadence support office neighborhoods in 2024? In November 2024, Kadence’s Office Neighborhoods feature let admins assign teams to specific areas on chosen days of the week, see current and future space use on an [interactive floor plan](), give permanent desks to key team members, and monitor usage and availability across neighborhoods. The aim was higher team productivity alongside lower real estate costs. **Assigning teams to areas.** Admins could assign teams to specific neighborhoods on any given day of the week, to make the most of the available space. Giving permanent desks to key team members balanced flexibility with stability. **Visualizing space use.** The interactive floor plan showed current and future space use, so decisions could rest on data rather than guesswork. An illustration of assigning teams to neighborhoods on certain days of the week. **Monitoring usage across neighborhoods.** Admins could see how each neighborhood was used, from meeting rooms and collaborative areas to quiet zones and shared resources. Monitoring usage patterns and availability helped teams find and reserve the spaces they needed within their own areas, and helped admins share out space more efficiently. Office Neighborhood Occupancy insights for your teams #### Why do office neighborhoods matter for hybrid teamwork? As Steve Jobs suggested, a business without teamwork struggles to achieve great things. The biggest benefit of office neighborhoods is that they help reinvigorate and nurture collaboration across the organization. Desk scheduling software supports them by helping employees feel safe, making office days easier, and giving workplace teams the tools to manage seating and layouts. For business leaders balancing productivity and community-building goals, office neighborhoods are a practical way to support the health of a hybrid community. The more organizations use the flexibility of hybrid work well, the stronger, happier and more productive their teams can be. For more from Kadence’s CEO and co-founder, see other articles by [Dan Bladen](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### How many people should be in an office neighborhood? A neighborhood typically holds 30 to 60 people. The right size depends on the community it serves, whether that is a department, a project team, a type of activity or a group that needs particular amenities. ##### Is an office neighborhood the same as an open-plan office? No. It can look like open plan, but seating is organized so that people who work together or share needs sit together in a dedicated area, with the amenities they need close by. ##### Do office neighborhoods need hot desking or desk hoteling? They usually use one or the other. Hot desking lets people take any free desk on arrival. Desk hoteling lets people book in advance, by the hour, day or week, and gives managers more control and more usage data. ##### How do you decide what kind of neighborhoods to create? Survey employees about who they need to sit near and what equipment and facilities they rely on, then review existing desk usage data for popular areas and team patterns. Together these show the types, sizes and layouts that will work best. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Neighborhoods Update, March 2022 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/office-neighborhoods-improvements/ Description: How Kadence's March 2022 workplace neighborhoods update let admins make areas public or private, assign teams on set days and show why a space was unavailable. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · March 18, 2022 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Improved Office Neighborhoods (March 2022): Public, Private and Team-Day Access Office neighborhoods [Workplace neighborhoods](), also called office neighborhoods, are areas of the office set aside for particular teams or groups. They stop a hybrid office from becoming a first-come, first-served free-for-all, where teams cannot find space near each other. In March 2022, Kadence released improvements to its Office Neighborhoods feature that gave admins more control over who could use each area and when. The update came as companies were bringing people back to the office in large numbers and finding it hard to manage their spaces. Without coordination, teams struggle to [find time and space together](), and an open [hot desking]() setup can leave people unable to sit with the colleagues they came in to see. The details below describe the release as it shipped in 2022. For how neighborhoods fit into wider workplace design, see the [guide to flexible office models](). #### What changed in the March 2022 Office Neighborhoods update? The update added three things. Admins could make each neighborhood public, open to anyone in the company, or private, restricted to chosen teams. They could assign specific teams to specific neighborhoods on specific days of the week. And employees could now see why a space was unavailable instead of simply being unable to book it. #### How did public and private neighborhoods work? For the first time, admins could set a neighborhood to public, so anyone in the company could use it, or to private, so only chosen teams could. That made spaces more flexible and gave admins better control over how they were used. Kadence setting to make an office neighborhood public or private #### How could teams be assigned to neighborhoods on set days? Admins could give specific teams access to specific neighborhoods on specific days. In effect, each team got its own office area without walls on the days it came in. To set it up, an admin turned on Restrict neighborhood access, searched for the teams to add, and chose the days of the week for each. Kadence setting to restrict a neighborhood to chosen teams on set days of the week #### What did users see when a space was unavailable? The update also improved an existing feature. When a user could not book a space in a restricted neighborhood, Kadence now told them which neighborhood it belonged to and why it was unavailable, rather than leaving them guessing. Kadence mobile screen explaining why a desk in a neighborhood is unavailable #### How did admins set up a neighborhood in 2022? In the [Kadence mobile app]() or desktop platform, admins worked from the Buildings tab in the left menu. **To create a neighborhood:** open the Buildings tab, click Add on the far right and select Neighborhood, then name it and search for the desks to include. **To edit a neighborhood:** open the Buildings tab, choose the building and floor, then click the three-dot menu next to the neighborhood in the list of spaces and select Edit neighborhood. **To make it public or private:** on the edit screen, toggle public or private. For a private neighborhood, select each day of the week and assign the teams that can use it on that day. For a fuller look at why neighborhoods help hybrid teams, read [5 reasons office neighborhoods improve workplace experience](). #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## How to Set Up Office Neighborhoods That Create Synergy Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/office-neighborhoods-sections/ Description: Creating office neighborhoods is a better way to create synergy within your company. We’ll talk about office neighborhood layouts and their benefits here. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · January 31, 2022 · [Dan Bladen]() ### How To Set Up Office Neighborhoods That Create Synergy Women sitting at a desk in the office It’s not merely enough to have a business model that supports both in-person and remote employees. Instead, your new business model should be flexible enough to cater to the flexibility of the different work styles and schedules. [Office neighborhoods]() software allows you to meet these demands head-on. As such, knowing the different office neighborhood sections enables you to put seats and employees together in a way that supports every individual, team, and department in your organization. Our [desk booking software solution]() also makes it easier for employees to easily find their seats as they navigate through different tasks and demands, like navigating from individual work to collaboration activities. #### **What Are Office Neighborhoods?** In its simplest form, this is a combination of the [open office]() and the traditional cube office floor plan but with a higher resemblance to an open office plan. However, the [office neighborhood layout]() is grouped into synergetic workers, making employees members of a community or group rather than individuals in different departments. The strategy uses urban physics, an engineering concept that gets insights from studying interactions between people in a city and discovering problems, trends, and opportunities. It then uses this information to design an optimal working environment with better interactions. **Matching Employee Needs** The more your [office neighborhood]() fits your employee needs, the more effective it is. For instance, an office neighborhood layout incorporates quiet and collaborative sections, giving employees various options to work more productively. By including sections where employees can brainstorm and interact, you create a space that caters to every employee’s working style. The strategic placement of your desks additionally ensures you follow the social distancing protocols. **Neighborhood Sections** Typically, each section seats at least 30 people, and the groups are based on the function, activity, project, or amenities available for work. Additionally, office neighborhood seating is organized into either [desk hoteling]() or hot desking. The [hot desking seating arrangement]() allows employees to select their desks every day on a first-come, first-served basis. The [desk hoteling]() will enable employees to pre-book a desk space either by the hour, day, or week and check-in once they arrive at the office. Different groups can also book a group of desks. #### **Different Types Of The Office Neighborhood Layouts** There are many different suggestions on the types of neighborhood sections you should have in your office. But the trick is to get the one that suits your employee’s needs the best. As such, the most common types of neighborhoods include the following: - Open seating office neighborhoods - Team specific office neighborhoods - [Activity-based office]() neighborhoods ##### **Open Seating Office Neighborhoods** As the name suggests, the open seating office neighborhood allows employees to sit anywhere in the section, as long as the space is accessible to the employee. This plan is perfect for employees that prefer a more flexible work culture since it allows them to work from any desk. It also caters to specific employee needs, like meeting on a sofa during brainstorming activities instead of rigidly assigned desks or office boardrooms. Ensure these spaces are also equipped with tools like whiteboards to facilitate effective working. An open seating neighborhood is ideal for remote, volunteer, or traveling employees and other visitors. ##### **Team Specific Office Neighborhoods** In this section, only a specific team can sit in the neighborhood. For example, you can have different sections for a sales team floor plan and a customer support team floor plan. The best time to use a team-specific office neighborhood is to provide a custom experience for each employee. Also, different teams often have different needs. For example, a sales team needs spaces to store sample products while the design team requires large desks and fixed monitors to create product plans and design prototypes. This means that a one-size-fits-all seating setup is not ideal for your employee working sections. ##### **Activity-Based Office Neighborhoods** Do you have a special team with special activity needs? If yes, an activity-based office neighborhood is ideal for meeting the needs of these employees. Keep in mind that different floor plans support various work activities, meaning you need a flexible plan when arranging your desk clusters. As such, this is the perfect seating model if your employees have special requirements for their workstations or if employees need unique spaces for certain types of working activities like group work on occasion. #### **Examples Of Neighborhoods In Offices** Small and large companies can customize their office neighborhoods entirely. As these examples show, you should aim to build neighborhoods that provide your employees excellent satisfaction instead of adopting the trending options. - **Google:** The Company used urban physics to design their Chicago workspace, thus, creating a neighborhood that looks like a speakeasy. The section has increased connections and innovative creativity among Google employees due to its intimate setting. - **Groupon:** The Company’s conference room is tiki bar-inspired, meaning it provides an escape for employees, an ideal setting for brainstorming ideas. - **Uber:** Uber headquarters have smaller neighborhood sections that provide a unique sense of collaboration, community, and shared support. - **Gerson Lehrman Group (GLC):** their office is arranged into neighborhoods that model the activity-based working neighborhood type, allowing employees to work together on similar projects. #### **Implementing And Managing Office Neighborhoods** As mentioned, an office neighborhood includes a variety of sections that include large communal tables, standing desks, pods or focus booths, conference rooms, huddle rooms, hot desks, and breakout spaces. ##### **Prepare First** But before implementing an office neighborhood design, it is essential that you first determine your employee needs. Also, [office neighborhood software like Kadence]() can help you design, schedule, and manage your sections and seating arrangements. For instance, a modern workplace scheduling system is excellent for gathering [workplace analytics]() to use when designing how to utilize your office space effectively. [Our Space Management solution]() tells you which rooms are used the most by employees, making it easier to understand and fashion your neighborhoods according to employee preferences. ##### **Keep Employees In Mind** Design thinking, together with employee feedback from surveys of running focus groups, put you in your employees’ shoes. This space is excellent for generating ideas to transform your office into fantastic neighborhood sections. Keep in mind that your seating setup affects your bottom line. As such, you need strategic seating that will [boost your ROI]() and employee productivity. This also means using technology solutions that facilitate your office neighborhood setup. One such solution is desktop booking software. #### **Desktop Booking Software** office neighborhood [The solution allows you to create a neighborhood]() with flexible seating arrangements that meet your employees’ needs. For instance, check the request of your employees on the software data and create a seating that fits their demands. Meaning, you offer options like open space or hot desks if that is what your employees want. A desktop booking software also [makes it easier for workplace managers to organize seating arrangements]() based on the specific needs of different departments. If your office is hybrid, the software can create several types of neighborhoods like bookable seating for hybrid workers that require specific slots during the days they come to the office, open seating for unannounced workers or visitors, and assigned seating for employees that require dedicated seating arrangements. #### **Make Your Spaces Work For Your People** An excellent workplace scheduling software solution provides added features and capabilities that make setting up and managing an office neighborhood seamless. For instance, features in your software solution might include desk permissions to customize different desks to specific departments or employees, neighborhood reporting to help collect data that is useful for optimizing your office sections, and [integration capabilities with tools like Outlook]() that further enhance office processes. Besides, a synergic office neighborhood section is a perfect system for putting your employees top of mind, making it easier for them to remain motivated, productive, and engaged at work. #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Office Space Planning: The Workplace Leader's Guide Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/office-space-planning/ Description: A practical guide to office space planning, including scenario modeling, occupancy analysis, stack planning, and move management. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · August 11, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### Office Space Planning: A Workplace Leader’s Guide to Strategic Workplace Design Office Space Planning Office space planning was once a one-time exercise: lay out the floor, assign the desks, and revisit it in a few years. That model no longer fits how organizations operate. Office space planning has become an ongoing strategic discipline that touches real estate, headcount, hybrid policy, and employee experience at the same time. This guide sets out what it now includes, why it matters, the disciplines it spans, who owns it, and how modern workplace leaders approach it. #### What Is Office Space Planning? Office space planning is the strategic process of organizing how an organization uses its physical space, aligning layout, capacity, and location with how teams actually work. It goes well beyond interior design or furniture layout. Where those focus on the look and feel of a room, office space planning is a workplace strategy discipline concerned with cost, capacity, collaboration, and how real estate supports the business. In practice, it connects several decisions that were once handled separately: how much space the organization needs, where teams should sit, how floors should be configured, and how to adjust all of that as the business changes. Done well, it turns space from a fixed cost into a resource that can be actively managed. SpaceOps AI agent answering "How many desks does Engineering actually need?" using live Kadence WorkOps occupancy data, showing team size, attendance patterns, and an AI-generated desk allocation recommendation. #### Why Has Office Space Planning Become a Strategic Priority? Office space planning has become a strategic priority because the conditions it has to account for now change faster than an annual plan can absorb. Several pressures have converged at once. Hybrid attendance varies enough that static plans built on full occupancy no longer reflect reality. Lease renewal cycles and finance-led consolidation pressure force space decisions that need evidence behind them, not assumptions. Hiring can outpace or undershoot capacity within a quarter, leaving space either strained or paid for and empty. At the same time, employee expectations of the workplace are rising even as footprints contract, so the space that remains has to work harder. And leaders are increasingly asked to defend space decisions to the board with real data rather than intuition. Together these make office space planning a continuous discipline rather than a once-a-year layout review, because the moment a plan is finished, one of its inputs has already moved. #### What Are the Key Disciplines Within Office Space Planning? Office space planning is best understood not as a single activity but as a set of connected disciplines that workplace leaders need to coordinate. Each addresses a different part of the same problem, and each maps to a distinct body of work. The four below are the core of it. ##### Stack Planning Stack planning is the macro view: a floor-by-floor, building-by-building map of which teams and departments sit where across the portfolio. It is what makes restacks and consolidations legible, showing where space can be rebalanced and where adjacencies can be preserved. Historically a corporate real estate function, it increasingly blends with workplace operations as the same map has to reflect live utilization, not just a fixed allocation. Our guide to [stack planning]() covers how it works in detail. ##### Scenario Planning and Headcount Modeling Scenario planning models space, headcount, and policy decisions against several possible futures before any of them is committed. It answers what a consolidation, a hiring surge, or a shift in hybrid policy would actually do to capacity and cost, so leaders can choose a path with evidence rather than instinct. It matters most around lease decisions and consolidations, where the commitment is large and hard to reverse. See our guide to [workplace scenario planning]() for the full picture. ##### Occupancy Analysis and Floor Plan Design Occupancy analysis turns real usage data into floor plan decisions: which teams cluster, how much space each needs, and where the balance of collaboration and focus space should sit. The difficulty for most organizations is not gathering the data but acting on it, since plans often go stale before they are approved. Our guide to [office space utilization]() covers how to measure it and turn it into design decisions. ##### Office Move Management and MAC Move management, including the routine moves, adds, and changes (MAC) that keep a workplace current, is the execution layer of office space planning. It is where a sound plan either lands cleanly or falls apart, and coordination, not logistics, is usually what breaks. Our guide to [office move management]() covers how to plan and execute moves without disruption. A stylized design of Kadence's Move-Management feature. #### Who Owns Office Space Planning Within an Organization? Office space planning rarely sits with a single owner. It is a shared responsibility across several functions, each bringing a different priority to the same set of decisions. That shared ownership is a strength when it is coordinated and a liability when it is not. Corporate real estate typically leads portfolio and lease decisions. Workplace operations owns the day-to-day planning and execution. Facilities supports the physical changes and vendor coordination. Finance, and the CFO in particular, sets the cost and capital efficiency targets the plan has to meet. And HR weighs in on policy, employee experience, and headcount planning. The most effective office space planning happens when these stakeholders work from a shared dataset rather than separate reports, because that is what stops each function optimizing for its own metric while the overall plan drifts out of alignment. #### What Has Changed About Office Space Planning in the Hybrid Era? What has changed is that the assumptions traditional office space planning relied on no longer hold. Planning used to start from a full office and a stable org chart. Hybrid work removed both, and the old methods have not kept up. Org-chart-based assumptions fail when a team of 100 rarely has more than 60 people in on any given day. Spreadsheet-based modeling goes stale before a plan is approved, overtaken by the next reorganization or policy change. Annual planning cycles cannot keep pace with change that now arrives quarterly. And fragmented tools produce fragmented decisions: when occupancy lives in one system, floor plans in a piece of space management software, and moves in another, no one holds the whole picture. What modern office space planning requires instead is live behavioral data, a single source of truth, and the ability to re-plan as conditions move rather than once a year. For a real-world example of how office design can support team neighborhoods and workplace operations, explore our breakdown of how [Google designs office spaces around how teams actually work](). #### What Are the Most Common Office Space Planning Mistakes? The most common office space planning mistakes come from planning against assumptions instead of behavior, and from treating the work as a project with an end date. Both leave a plan that looks finished but does not hold. The recurring pitfalls are consistent. Teams plan around static org charts rather than how people actually use space. They treat space planning as a one-time exercise instead of an ongoing discipline, so the plan ages badly. They run disconnected workflows across corporate real estate, facilities, and workplace teams, often stitched together from office space management software that was never designed to work together. They make decisions on data leadership cannot defend when it is questioned. And they underestimate the coordination complexity of execution, where even a sound plan can unravel. Most of these are avoidable, and most organizations still make several of them. #### How Kadence SpaceOps Supports Office Space Planning The disciplines above work best when they share one system rather than four. [Kadence SpaceOps]() brings scenario modeling, occupancy and floor plan intelligence, stack planning, and move execution into a single connected platform, so a decision made in one flows through to the next without being rebuilt. That also removes the reliance on eight-to-twelve-week consultant engagements every time conditions change, replacing them with plans a team can re-run in-house. One Kadence customer, Karger, used this approach to significantly reduce its office footprint. To see how the SpaceOps platform supports modern office space planning, [book a demo with our workplace operations experts](). If you are still scoping the opportunity, our [ROI calculator]() estimates what optimized space could return. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### FAQs on Office Space Planning ##### **What are the main types of office space planning?** The core disciplines are stack planning, scenario and headcount planning, occupancy analysis and floor plan design, and move management. Together they cover strategy, design, and execution across the portfolio. ##### **What office space planning metrics should workplace leaders track?** Peak and average utilization, office occupancy rate, desk and room utilization, booked-versus-used, and capacity variance across locations. The useful metrics are the ones that drive a decision rather than just populate a dashboard. ##### **What software is used for office space planning?** Organizations use a mix of space management software, occupancy analytics, and move management tools, though fragmented systems often produce fragmented decisions. A connected platform that links data, planning, and execution avoids that. ##### **What data should inform office space planning decisions?** Actual attendance and utilization patterns, headcount forecasts, lease timelines, and team-level demand. Behavioral data matters more than nominal headcount, which overstates how much space is really needed. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning Guide | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/office-space-utilization-occupancy-planning/ Description: What office space utilization is, which metrics matter, why most utilization data is unreliable, and how to turn it into occupancy planning and floor plans. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · August 11, 2026 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide Office Space Utilization: A Workplace Leader’s Guide to Occupancy Planning and Smarter Floor Plans Office space utilization is the measure of how much of an office is actually used, and how, over a period of time rather than at a single moment. It is the pattern of real activity across desks, rooms and floors, expressed against the capacity available. [Occupancy planning]() is the practice of using that pattern to decide where to allocate space, where to consolidate and where to redesign. Both matter because hybrid attendance has quietly broken the way most offices are planned. Space was once allocated against headcount and left alone. When attendance varies day to day, that logic no longer holds, and most workplace leaders cannot confidently answer a basic question: how is our space actually being used? The sections below cover how to measure utilization, why so much of the data is unreliable, and how to turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. For the wider discipline, see the [office space planning guide](). Kadence floor plan view assigning people to desks, with counts of unassigned people and unassigned spaces #### What is office space utilization, and why does it matter now? Office space utilization measures how much of a workplace is used, and how effectively, across a period of time. It differs from raw occupancy, which is a single snapshot of how many people are present at one moment. Utilization is the pattern those snapshots form over days and weeks, which makes it useful for decisions rather than just observation. The distinction matters more now than it used to. Hybrid attendance varies enough that a Tuesday and a Friday can look like two different buildings. A one-day headcount tells a leader almost nothing about what the organization actually needs. At the same time, lease commitments run for years, and finance teams are pushing to reduce [real estate cost per employee](). The result is a hard question that static org charts and assumptions can no longer answer with confidence: what do we actually need? Utilization data, gathered properly, is how that question gets answered. #### Why is most office utilization data unreliable? Most office utilization data is unreliable because it is built from proxies rather than behavior. Badge swipes, manual counts and headcount assumptions capture who entered a building or who was assigned a desk. They do not show how space was actually used through the day, so the resulting numbers rarely hold up when leadership starts asking questions. ##### What does good utilization data look like? Good utilization data differs in four ways: 1. **It captures behavior.** It uses signals from real workplace activity rather than inferring use from a turnstile. 2. **It is granular.** It covers desks, rooms and neighborhoods separately rather than collapsing everything into a single building-level figure. 3. **It is longitudinal.** It reflects patterns over weeks, not a single “representative” day that may not be representative at all. 4. **It separates booked from used.** It distinguishes what was reserved from what was actually occupied, which is where most reporting quietly overstates demand. Data that meets that bar becomes decision-grade intelligence, defensible enough to justify a lease, a consolidation or a redesign. Data that does not turns million-dollar decisions into educated guesses that fall apart under scrutiny. Kadence’s [workplace analytics]() are built around that standard. Workplace analytics charts showing space utilization and hybrid policy compliance by department #### Which office space utilization metrics should you track? The metrics worth tracking are the ones that drive a decision, not the ones that just fill a dashboard. Five carry most of the signal: [office occupancy]() rate, peak versus average utilization, desk and [room utilization]() measured separately, capacity variance across locations, and the gap between space booked and space actually used. ##### Office occupancy rate Office occupancy rate is the percentage of available capacity in use at a given time. It is a useful headline figure. Reported as a single average, though, it misleads, because it flattens the gap between a packed Tuesday and an empty Friday. Read it alongside peak and average, never on its own. ##### Peak versus average utilization Averages hide what matters most for capacity. An office running at 45 percent on average may still hit 90 percent every Wednesday, and it is the peak that decides whether people can find a desk. Planning to the average builds in failure on the busiest days. ##### Desk and room utilization Desks and meeting rooms need measuring separately, because they rarely move together. Desks often sit under capacity while rooms are chronically overbooked. A single combined figure hides that mismatch entirely. ##### Capacity variance across locations For multi-site organizations, the gap between how hard each location works is a decision in itself. Wide variance shows where space can be consolidated and where demand should shift. It is often the clearest early indicator of a right-sizing opportunity. ##### Booked versus used The gap between space booked and space actually used is the reliability check most reporting misses. Rooms reserved but never used, or desks booked and left empty, inflate apparent demand and lead to overbuilding. Because it reflects behavior rather than intent, booked-versus-used is the strongest signal of real demand. #### What is occupancy planning? Occupancy planning is the strategic discipline of aligning space to actual demand patterns over time. It uses utilization data to decide where to allocate space, where to consolidate and where to redesign. It is where measurement turns into action, because utilization data only matters if it changes a decision about the portfolio or a floor. Three terms often get used interchangeably, and it helps to separate them: - **Space planning** is the physical design of a given layout. - **Occupancy management** is the day-to-day administration of who sits where. - **Occupancy planning** sits above both. It is the ongoing practice of matching the portfolio to real and anticipated demand. Occupancy planning is the layer where utilization data earns its keep. It turns a pile of measurements into office space optimization: less wasted space, better-matched capacity and a footprint that reflects how the organization actually works. Those decisions run in two directions, the floor plan for a single team and the portfolio across the whole business. Utilization data drives both. Diagram of the Kadence platform: WorkOps collects occupancy data from day-to-day operations and SpaceOps uses it for scenario modeling, stack planning and move scheduling #### How does office space utilization data inform floor plan design? Utilization data informs floor plan design by replacing assumptions about how teams work with evidence of how they actually do. Instead of drawing a layout around an org chart, planners shape it around observed demand. That changes several decisions at once, from where teams sit to how meeting rooms are sized and how many desks each team receives. Four decisions change most: - **Neighborhoods.** Demand patterns show which teams genuinely cluster and which were placed together out of habit. That guides where to co-locate and where to separate. - **The collaboration-to-focus ratio.** This is the balance between open collaborative space and quieter focus space. It can be set against real behavior rather than a rule of thumb, so a team that skews heavily toward focused work is not handed a floor built for collaboration, or the reverse. - **Meeting room sizing.** Sizing follows actual booking patterns, favoring the small huddle rooms that get used over the large conference rooms that sit empty. - **Team allocations.** Each team is right-sized against its actual attendance rather than its nominal headcount. A team of 100 at 55 percent attendance does not need 100 desks. ##### Why do floor plans go stale? The practical obstacle is speed. Most teams cannot iterate on floor plans fast enough, so a plan is often stale by the time it is approved, overtaken by a reorganization or a policy change. Designs that can be re-optimized as the data shifts, then locked once agreed, keep a floor plan matched to reality rather than to the moment it was drawn. #### What are the most common office space utilization mistakes? The most common mistakes come from treating utilization as a report to be filed rather than intelligence to be acted on. The measurement happens, and then nothing changes. Each of the recurring mistakes below is avoidable, and most of them are quietly common in organizations of every size and sector. - **Running a one-time audit.** Utilization treated as a project rather than ongoing intelligence is out of date within a quarter. - **Reporting the wrong figure.** Teams report peak load when leadership needs the average, or the average when the decision hinges on peak. - **Planning on assumptions.** Plans are built on attendance assumptions instead of actual behavior. - **Stopping at the design.** A floor plan is optimized, but the change is never communicated or executed, so the design never reaches the building. - **Confusing reporting with intelligence.** Operational reporting describes what happened. Strategic decision intelligence informs what to do next. Kadence SpaceOps workflow from stack planning to move management to scenario planning #### How does office space utilization connect to portfolio decisions? Office space utilization is the evidence base beneath broader workplace decisions. Better floor plans are the local benefit. The larger value is portfolio-level, where the same data underwrites lease, consolidation and right-sizing decisions worth far more than any single layout. For finance and real estate leaders, it separates defending a number from guessing at one. Utilization data supports four portfolio decisions: - **Lease renewal and consolidation.** It makes modeling defensible by showing how much space can be released without straining peak demand. - **Right-sizing across sites.** It reveals where capacity is genuinely needed across a multi-site portfolio and where it is not. - **Scenario planning.** It feeds [workplace scenario planning]() for headcount changes and policy shifts. - **Moves and restacks.** It informs [move and restack execution](), so change follows real demand rather than assumption. #### How does Kadence SpaceOps support occupancy planning? Utilization data is only as valuable as the decisions it informs. [Kadence SpaceOps]() closes the gap between the two. It combines live behavioral data, AI-powered stack and floor plan optimization, scenario modeling and execution in a single loop, so a utilization insight can become an approved, implemented change without leaving the platform. One Kadence customer, Wavex, used this approach to reach [a fourfold improvement in space efficiency](). To estimate what optimized space could return in your own portfolio, use the [ROI calculator](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a good office utilization rate? There is no universal benchmark. A peak utilization figure commonly cited as healthy sits in the region of 60 to 80 percent, which leaves headroom for the busiest days. The right target depends on attendance patterns and how much flexibility the space is designed to absorb. ##### How do you calculate office occupancy? Divide the number of people or spaces in use by the total available capacity, then express the result as a percentage. Measured over time rather than at a single moment, the same calculation becomes a utilization pattern rather than a one-off snapshot. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ##### How can you improve office space utilization? Measure actual behavior across desks and rooms, right-size space to real demand, adjust the collaboration-to-focus mix, and re-plan as attendance changes. The gains come from acting on the data, not just collecting it. ##### What is the difference between occupancy planning and space planning? [Space planning]() is the design of a specific layout. Occupancy planning is the ongoing discipline of matching the portfolio to real and anticipated demand over time. Space planning produces a floor plan; occupancy planning decides what that floor plan should achieve. ##### What is the difference between office occupancy and office space utilization? Office occupancy is a snapshot of how many people or spaces are in use at one moment. Office space utilization is the pattern those snapshots form over days and weeks, measured against available capacity. Utilization is the more useful basis for lease, consolidation and floor plan decisions. Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Planning: A Workplace Leader’s Guide to Strategic Workplace Design]() Office space planning was once a one-time exercise: lay out the floor, assign the desks, and revisit it in a few years. That model no longer fits how organizations operate. Office space planning has become an ongoing strategic discipline that touches real estate, headcount, hybrid policy, and employee experience at the same time. This guide \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Offices Were Repriced. Your Space Decisions Should Be Too. - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/offices-were-repriced-your-space-decisions-should-be-too/ Description: Offices were repriced, but most occupiers still sign leases on benchmarks. Here is why your own utilization data should drive every renewal. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · August 11, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Offices Were Repriced. Your Space Decisions Should Be Too. Offices Repriced The market has already repriced your real estate. It did not ask whether you wanted to participate. Values have corrected, leases are getting shorter and smaller, and new supply has effectively stopped. What has not changed, in most enterprises, is how the lease decision itself gets made. That is the gap I want to close in this piece, because the next three years of lease events are going to reward the companies that treat each one as a portfolio decision and punish the ones that treat it as a renewal formality. #### Calculate the ROI of Your Workplace Operations Our brand-new ROI Calculator is here to help you visualize your success in seconds. [Calculate Your ROI]() #### The Market Repriced Your Real Estate Whether You Participated or Not Start with the numbers, because they set the stakes. The PwC and ULI outlook for 2026 describes an office market still working through the correction. Net absorption has been flat or negative for fourteen straight quarters. The most severe price corrections may be behind us, but distress continues, in part because 49% of office leases in place in March 2020 at ten thousand square feet and above have yet to roll over. On the supply side, just over 27 million square feet is under construction, matching the lowest levels of new supply since the Great Financial Crisis. Average lease sizes have come down meaningfully from where they sat before the pandemic. Read together, that is not a temporary dip. It is a structural reset. Space costs less than it did, tenants hold more leverage than they did, and roughly half the pre-pandemic lease stock has not even come up for its decision yet. The repricing is real, and most of it is still in front of us rather than behind us. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Report’s Lesson for Investors Is a Lesson for Occupiers Here is the part of the report that I think occupiers are underreading. Its central message for this cycle is that broad market bets no longer work. The outlook argues that outperformance now comes from asset selection and operational excellence, from underwriting demand at a granular level, down to the submarket, the microlocation, even block-level analysis. The era of buying a market and riding the tide is over. You win by understanding the specific, local depth of demand for a specific asset. That advice is aimed at investors. It applies just as forcefully to the people signing leases. If the winning move on the capital side is granular, demand-led analysis instead of broad benchmarks, then the winning move on the occupier side is exactly the same. Stop making footprint decisions off market averages. Start making them off your own demand, measured at the level of the floor, the team, and the day. The difference is that an investor has to go and acquire that granular demand data. An occupier already generates it. It is sitting in the organization right now, mostly uncaptured. #### Broker Benchmarks Tell You the Market. Your Data Tells You Yourself. When a lease comes up, most CRE teams reach for a benchmark. Peers in your sector use this many square feet per head. Comparable buildings trade at this rate. Your utilization looks roughly in line with the market. Benchmarks feel safe because they are external and defensible. The problem is that a benchmark is a market average, and you are not the average. A benchmark can tell you what companies like yours tend to do. It cannot tell you that your teams peak at 60% occupancy on Wednesdays and never break 40% on any other day, or that two of your five floors are effectively carrying the cost of a handful of Tuesday meetings. That is not benchmark data. That is your demand signal, and it is the only thing that actually tells you what to sign. In a stable market you could get away with the benchmark, because the cost of being slightly wrong was low. In a repriced market, where every square foot is a live cost decision and the leverage has shifted to you, the gap between the market average and your actual demand is exactly where the money is. Signing to a benchmark in this market is leaving that money on the table. SpaceOps AI space planning agent interface showing floor plan consolidation and stack planning dashboard. #### What a Data-Driven Lease Decision Actually Looks Like Make it concrete. Picture an enterprise with three floors in one building, on a lease coming up for renewal, currently configured the way it was configured in 2019. The default path is a rubber stamp. The renewal lands on someone’s desk, and it gets signed for a similar footprint, maybe trimmed by 10% because that feels prudent, because that is what we have always had. Meanwhile the attendance data three tabs over shows the third floor has not broken 40% occupancy in a year. The data-driven path starts from the demand signal instead of the footprint. First, establish real peak demand, not the headcount, but how many people are actually in on the busiest day, by team. Then model the options against that peak. Renew all three floors. Consolidate into two and hand one back. Consolidate into two but redraw the neighborhoods so the teams that need to overlap actually can. Each of those scenarios carries a cost, a capacity headroom, and a disruption cost, and you can put them side by side before you commit to anything. You pick the configuration that holds your real peak with sensible margin, and you stop paying for the floors that only ever held a rounding error of attendance. That is the whole difference. The default path optimizes for looking reasonable. The data-driven path optimizes for what the organization actually needs, and in a repriced market it is usually a materially smaller and cheaper answer. #### Every Lease Event for the Next Three Years Is a Portfolio Decision The reason this matters now rather than eventually is that 49% figure. Roughly half of the pre-pandemic lease stock has not rolled yet, which means the decisions are coming, in a wave, over the next three years. Every one of them is a portfolio decision made under uncertainty, and every one of them is a chance to either compound an advantage or lock in a mistake for the length of a new term. The companies that come out of this cycle ahead will not be the ones with the best broker relationships. They will be the ones who walked into each renewal already knowing what their own demand required, and who could defend the decision with data rather than instinct. That capability is not something you assemble the week the lease expires. It is something you build now, so the demand signal is already captured and already modeled when the decision arrives. #### The Engine Built for This Decision This is precisely what [SpaceOps]() exists to do. It takes your own demand signal, captured in the flow of employees coordinating their week and measured through [Kadence Sense]() rather than a survey, and turns it into portfolio scenarios you can compare and defend before a single lease is signed. Consolidation, team adjacency, hand-back, renewal, each modeled against your actual peak demand, with the cost and capacity trade-offs made visible. It runs on constraint-based optimization, not a generic language model guessing at your floor plan, which is what lets you take the output into a boardroom and stand behind it. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() The market repriced your real estate for you. The one thing it cannot do is make the lease decision for you. If you want to see what right-sizing to your true demand is worth across your portfolio, run the numbers through the [Kadence ROI calculator](), and when you are staring down a renewal and want to see the scenarios before you sign, [book a demo]() with our workplace operations team. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Check-In API: Automate Bookings and Check-Ins | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/optimizing-your-spaces-by-automating-bookings/ Description: Why missed check-ins skew occupancy data, and how a check-in API automates desk and room check-ins through door access, Wi-Fi, geofencing or sensors. [News]() · [Product News]() · October 22, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### How to Automate Desk and Room Check-Ins With a Check-In API A check-in confirmation reminder about your booking on desk 2. A check-in API lets other systems, such as door access, Wi-Fi or [occupancy sensors](), check people in and out of desks and rooms automatically. That matters because employees often forget to check in or out, and every missed check-in skews occupancy data. Automating the step keeps booking and occupancy records accurate without relying on people to remember. In October 2024, Kadence announced improvements to its public API that let organizations automate bookings and check-ins this way. The update is a useful example of how automated check-ins work in practice. The details below describe the API as announced at that time; for current capabilities, see the [Kadence hybrid workplace API](). #### Why is occupancy data often inaccurate? Occupancy data is often inaccurate because it depends on people checking in and out of their workspaces, and many do not do it consistently. When check-ins are missed, the system cannot tell a used desk from an empty one. The result is data that understates or overstates how the office is really used, which undermines every decision built on it. Occupancy data is the record of which spaces are actually used, when and for how long, as distinct from which spaces were booked. Missed check-ins cause four linked problems: 1. **Skewed space utilization metrics.** Without accurate check-ins, you cannot tell how office spaces are truly used. 2. **Poor resource allocation.** Inaccurate data leads to poor decisions about where space and amenities go, which can waste valuable office space. 3. **Booking conflicts.** When check-outs are missed, spaces appear occupied when they are free, which causes conflicts and frustration. 4. **Inefficient cost management.** Real estate costs are hard to optimize when occupancy information is unreliable. For the metrics that depend on this data, see the [guide to workplace analytics metrics](). #### What challenges do IT managers face in automating check-ins? IT managers have to connect booking data to many other systems while keeping it secure and easy to use. The main challenges are integration complexity, data privacy and security, balancing security with a smooth user experience, scaling as the organization changes, and the overhead of maintaining several systems that must work together. In more detail: 1. **System integration complexity.** Connecting workplace management tools, access control systems and employee databases can be technically difficult. 2. **Security concerns.** Data privacy and security must hold across the platforms and devices people use in the office and remotely. 3. **User experience.** Strong security has to sit alongside an experience employees find easy. 4. **Scalability.** Solutions need to grow and adapt as the organization and its needs change. 5. **Maintenance overhead.** Several systems need managing, updating and keeping in step. #### How does a check-in API automate bookings and check-ins? A check-in API connects the booking system to the tools that already know when someone arrives. When a trigger fires, such as a badge at the door or a laptop joining the office Wi-Fi, the API books or checks the person in and updates the record straight away. Nobody has to open an app, and the data stays current. Kadence’s October 2024 update described four parts to this. ##### Integration with existing systems The public API was built to connect with an organization’s current systems, including its mobile app, [smart building]() tools or any platform it used to manage the workplace. ##### Booking and check-in across many space types Through the API, users could be booked and checked in automatically to: - Desks - Meeting rooms - Lockers - Private pods - Parking spaces ##### Flexible check-in triggers Depending on the company’s setup, check-ins could be triggered by: - Door access systems - Wi-Fi connection - Geofencing, which detects when a device enters a defined area around a building - Occupancy sensors ##### Real-time updates When a check-in or check-out happened, the system updated immediately, keeping occupancy data accurate and current. You can see the flow in the [public check-in API demo](). For another route to [automatic check-ins](), see [automatic check-ins with the Kadence agent for Mac or Windows](). #### Why do automated check-ins matter for the business? Automated check-ins produce occupancy data that reflects real use, and that data drives better decisions on space, cost and policy. They also remove everyday frustrations for employees, such as double bookings and desks that look taken but are empty. The benefits fall into three areas: space management, employee experience and data-driven decisions. ##### Better space management Accurate occupancy data shows how office spaces are truly used. Organizations can make informed decisions about layout and size, and identify underused areas to repurpose. That creates real opportunities to save on real estate and to allocate resources more strategically. For how this data supports portfolio decisions, see [Kadence workplace occupancy](). ##### A better employee experience Automated check-ins remove common hybrid frustrations like double bookings and workspaces that are unexpectedly occupied. Moving between home and office becomes smoother, and people can rely on the resources they booked being there. Easy tools for managing hybrid schedules make the workplace more flexible and more satisfying. ##### Data-driven decisions Real-time occupancy data shows how the workplace is used. Organizations can base hybrid work policies on actual use rather than assumptions, then keep refining their workplace strategy as employee needs change. #### What should IT teams look for in a workplace booking API? IT teams should look for an API that fits their stack, keeps data in sync and can be extended as needs grow. The October 2024 Kadence API was described as offering integrations with existing systems, real-time synchronization, custom workflows, raw data for reporting, mobile and IoT connections, developer documentation and [webhooks]() for event-driven actions. As announced, those capabilities were: 1. **Integrations** with HR systems, access control platforms and collaboration tools, creating one system for managing the workplace. 2. **Real-time data synchronization,** so occupancy data, bookings and check-ins stayed accurate across all connected systems. 3. **Custom workflow automation** for [space booking]() and check-ins, tailored to an organization’s own processes. 4. **Reporting,** with direct access to raw data for custom reports and analytics dashboards. 5. **Mobile and IoT integration,** enabling features such as contactless check-ins and smart building controls. 6. **Developer documentation** and resources to help IT teams implement and maintain integrations. 7. **Webhooks,** so connected systems could respond quickly to events like check-ins, bookings or capacity changes. The broader benefits of a public API in hybrid working software are customization, scalability, integration with the rest of the tech stack, and room for new integrations that further improve the workplace. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a check-in API? A check-in API is an interface that lets other systems check people in and out of desks, rooms and other spaces automatically. Instead of relying on employees to tap a button, it uses signals such as door access, Wi-Fi connection, geofencing or occupancy sensors. ##### Why do automated check-ins improve occupancy data? Because they do not depend on people remembering. Every arrival and departure is recorded as it happens, so the data shows which spaces were really used, not just which were booked. ##### Which spaces could Kadence’s API book and check people into? As announced in October 2024, the API could automatically book and check users into desks, meeting rooms, lockers, private pods and parking spaces. ##### Can a check-in API respond to events in other systems? Yes. Kadence’s October 2024 API supported webhooks, which let connected systems respond quickly to events such as check-ins, bookings or capacity changes. Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Outlook Meeting Room Booking Plug-in | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/outlook-meeting-room-booking-plugin/ Description: Kadence's Outlook meeting room booking plug-in lets employees book rooms as they create meetings, with two-way sync, accurate utilization data and IT control. [News]() · [Product News]() · November 3, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Outlook Meeting Room Booking Plug-in: Cut Scheduling Time in Half Discover more about Kadence's Outlook Plug-in. Kadence’s Outlook meeting room booking plug-in lets employees book a room at the same moment they create a meeting in Microsoft Outlook. As of November 2025, it brought room booking, live two-way sync and consistent utilization data into the tool enterprise teams already use every day. Managing meeting spaces across a global enterprise is more than a scheduling task. It is an operational challenge. Disconnected tools, manual workflows and inconsistent data drain thousands of productive hours and hide the real return on real estate. [Kadence’s Outlook plug-in]() closes that gap by embedding [meeting room booking]() directly in Outlook. #### How does the Outlook plug-in reduce scheduling time? The plug-in removes tool switching and manual coordination, because employees book the room while they create the meeting. It is built to reduce scheduling time by 50%. Across a 10,000-person enterprise, where employees can waste up to 10 hours per month trying to book rooms, that adds up to thousands of reclaimed hours. The result is fewer interruptions and faster workflows. For global teams, that means hundreds of hours every week moved from administration to high-value work, without adding cost or complexity. Illustration contrasting a frustrating meeting room booking process with booking a room directly in Outlook #### How does two-way sync prevent booking errors? Live two-way synchronization means every change made in Kadence or in Outlook shows up instantly in the other system. Double bookings disappear, and room availability stays accurate across the organization. Two-way sync is a connection in which updates flow in both directions, so neither system holds stale data. Inaccurate data creates more than inconvenience. It creates uncertainty. For [workplace and facilities leaders](), consistent booking data means predictable operations, confident planning and fewer disruptions across global portfolios. Illustration of Kadence and Outlook bookings syncing across global offices #### Why does booking inside Outlook help adoption? Adoption is the difference between a tool and a solution. The plug-in sits inside the Microsoft 365 environment employees already trust, so there is no new platform to learn and no new habit to build. One consistent workflow inside Outlook speeds up rollout across global teams and standardizes booking behavior. Kadence also connects with other everyday tools; see [Kadence integrations]() and the [Microsoft Outlook calendar integration](). #### How does it improve space utilization and real estate ROI? For enterprise workplace leaders, space is an asset, not just a cost center. By unifying how bookings are managed in every region, the plug-in provides consistent [data on utilization](), occupancy and behavior. Cleaner datasets, fewer support tickets and standard processes help teams make faster decisions about portfolio performance. The outcome is better real estate investment, smarter allocation of space and measurable improvements in space efficiency. Illustration showing a 15% increase in meeting space utilization #### How does the plug-in support compliance and governance? The plug-in runs securely within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, so it aligns with existing governance frameworks. IT and workplace leaders keep central oversight of permissions, data policies and deployment through the Microsoft Add-in Store. Large organizations get enterprise-level control without slowing employees down. #### Frequently asked questions ##### Can you book meeting rooms directly in Outlook with Kadence? Yes. As of November 2025, Kadence’s Outlook plug-in let employees book a meeting room at the same time they created a meeting in Outlook, without switching to another tool. ##### Does the Kadence Outlook plug-in sync with Kadence? Yes. The plug-in uses live two-way synchronization, so changes made in either Kadence or Outlook appear instantly in the other system. That prevents double bookings and keeps availability accurate. ##### How is the Outlook plug-in deployed? IT teams deploy it through the Microsoft Add-in Store and manage permissions, data policies and deployment centrally within Microsoft 365. [Book a demo]() to see how it fits your meeting room management. Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas — page 10 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/page/10/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Page 10 of 15. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() December 12, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Why Sonos Shifted From Remote To Hybrid Work For 2025: Its December 2024 Return-To-Office Mandate]() In December 2024, Sonos asked its product teams to be on-site two or more days a week, ending its remote-friendly stance. Why it happened and what it means for hybrid work. December 2, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [The CEO’s Perspective: Driving Growth, Innovation, And Hybrid Working ROI]() Embracing hybrid work isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for forward-thinking CEOs. This article unveils how hybrid work models drive unprecedented Hybrid Working ROI across the triple bottom line: By implementing a robust hybrid working ROI strategy, CEOs can future-proof their organizations, attract top talent, and gain a competitive edge in an evolving business \[…\] December 2, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [NextRetreat’s Top Tips For Planning An Offsite For Hybrid Companies]() If you work in a hybrid office environment, chances are that your daily interactions are dominated by Zoom meetings and Slack channels. And while these tools have undoubtedly made our day-to-day working lives easier, a high-quality in-person offsite is now more valuable than ever. Offsites serve as crucial touchpoints for hybrid working teams. They create connections that \[…\] November 25, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [What Is a Hybrid Work Model? Types, Examples and How to Implement One]() A hybrid work model splits employees' time between the office and remote work. Here are the four main types, company examples, benefits, challenges and steps to implement one. November 21, 2024 · Hybrid Working #### [Hybrid Pulse Check #1: Office Attendance By Country And Weekday (November 2024)]() Kadence booking data from over 500 companies, published in November 2024: office attendance by country, the peak in-office days, and what workplace leaders can do about it. November 13, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Compressed Work Week: Pros, Cons and How to Set One Up]() A compressed work week fits a 40-hour workload into fewer than five days. Learn the common schedules, the pros and cons, and how to set one up. November 11, 2024 · Product News #### [What Are Office Neighborhoods? 5 Reasons They Improve Workplace Experience]() Office neighborhoods seat people who work together in dedicated areas of the office. What they are, how they work with desk booking, and five reasons they help hybrid teams. November 8, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Are Front Desk Receptionists Necessary? 3 Reasons You Might Not Need One]() Should your business still be hiring front desk receptionists? Or could other options save your company time and money without sacrificing customer service? Many companies have moved away from traditional reception strategies, and the trend is expected to continue well after the pandemic. Here are three reasons you might not need a front desk receptionist… Until about \[…\] November 6, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Welcome Back To Work! 10 Encouraging Ideas To Bring Employees Back]() If your teams are making a transition from remote working to hybrid working, welcome them back to the office. Think effective organizational communication among in-person or remote employees, improved meeting ideas, and enhanced employee well-being, among other things. Whether you are the employer, a manager, or an employee, getting back to the office is touchy. \[…\] November 5, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [The Evolution of Hybrid Working: How We Got Here and What Comes Next]() Hybrid working evolved in three phases, from early-2000s home internet to the pandemic and today's uncoordinated hybrid. Here is how it happened and what companies need next. October 24, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [From Thought Leadership To Sense Making With Perry Timms]() Thought Leadership has been a “thing” for some three decades now. It is often provocative, ideological, and agitative, sometimes research-led and evidence-based on trended analysis and experimentation. People who are leading “thinkers” are considered very differently from strategists and operational implementors. Inevitably, there are tensions between those who do and those who think. Thought leadership \[…\] October 22, 2024 · Product News #### [How to Automate Desk and Room Check-Ins With a Check-In API]() Missed check-ins skew occupancy data. How a check-in API automates check-ins through door access, Wi-Fi, geofencing or sensors, using Kadence's October 2024 update. [← Newer posts]() Page 10 of 15 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas — page 11 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/page/11/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Page 11 of 15. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() October 17, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Kadence Connect Webinar Series: Decoding The Hybrid Work Paradigm]() In a recent webinar, the team at Kadence shared valuable insights with their customers on the evolving landscape of hybrid work. As organizations navigate the complexities of balancing office and remote work, learning from others as well as utilizing innovative solutions all help to optimize the hybrid work paradigm. Here’s what happened. The traditional 9-to-5 \[…\] October 7, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [The Short-Term Pain And Long-Term Gain Of Being Brave]() Human beings are wired to avoid pain. We try to “fix” the pain, often papering over the cracks. When it comes to technology within the workplace, I see the papering over the cracks in ways like: You see, none of these are actually okay statements to make, and yet, for the last 17 years, these \[…\] September 24, 2024 · Product News #### [Introducing Kadence AI for Team Scheduling and Space Booking]() In September 2024, Kadence introduced Kadence AI, a workplace assistant that books desks and rooms on request and shows when teammates will be in the office. September 18, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Amazon's Five-Day Return to Office and the Hybrid Work Challenge]() In September 2024, Amazon said employees would return to the office five days a week from January 2025. The risks, and how hybrid could work instead. September 4, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Embracing Flexible Work And The Right To Disconnect]() The U.K. government is making a push to embed flexible work and the right to disconnect into the workplace culture. These initiatives reflect a significant shift in how we as a society have been thinking about work-life balance, employee well-being, and productivity. Flexible work is no longer just a trend—it’s the future of work. The \[…\] August 30, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Starbucks' Hybrid Work Policy: An Opportunity To Brew A Better Hybrid Culture (2024)]() In 2024, Starbucks' three-day office policy and its October threat to fire staff who did not comply drew criticism. How it could build a fairer hybrid culture instead. August 23, 2024 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Named Top Performer For Customer Success Award]() Kadence has been named a top performer in the Summer 2024 Desk Booking Software Customer Success Report FeaturedCustomers is the leading customer success content marketing platform for B2B business software & services helping potential B2B buyers make informed purchasing decisions through vendor validated customer success content such as customer testimonials, success stories, case studies, and \[…\] August 21, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Streamlining Office Space Management With Bookable Parking, Lockers and Pods]() In August 2024, Kadence added Additional Space Types, letting employees book parking, lockers and private pods alongside desks and rooms from one floor plan. August 19, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [8 Examples of Effective Team Dynamics in Hybrid Teams]() Eight examples of effective team dynamics for hybrid teams, from clear communication and shared goals to fair rewards, burnout prevention and transparency. August 14, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Creating Moments That Matter: Dave Cairns and Helen Attia on Connection at Work]() Helen Attia and Dave Cairns on why in-person moments still matter for distributed teams, and how to create them with intention. July 9, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [The Benefits Of Asynchronous Work With Paige Goldstein]() As we navigate the modern work landscape, the traditional 9-to-5 model is rapidly losing its relevance. Enter asynchronous work—a transformative approach that transcends time zones and fixed schedules. I recently chatted with Paige Goldstein, a self-proclaimed digital nomad and co-host of the Fill Your Sol podcast. We chatted about her flexible style of working and \[…\] July 5, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [10 Proven Strategies To Supercharge Internal Communication With Jo Coxhill]() Effective internal communication is the lifeblood of any thriving organization. It ensures that everyone is aligned, informed, and engaged, driving productivity and job satisfaction. However, many companies struggle with fostering clear and open communication among employees. If you’re looking to improve your internal communications, you’re in the right place. I recently spoke to Internal Communications \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 11 of 15 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas — page 12 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/page/12/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Page 12 of 15. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() June 19, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Five Strategies To Adapt Your Office Space For Hybrid Work With Bex Moorhouse]() As the world continues to embrace the hybrid work model, companies must rethink and redesign their office space to cater to both in-office and remote employees. I spoke to Bex Moorhouse, Founder and Director of Invigorate Spaces Ltd – a corporate wellbeing consultancy that helps companies curate its built environments, people experiences and culture. This \[…\] June 12, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Hot Desk Management: Maximum Booking Durations and Concurrent Booking Limits]() In June 2024, Kadence added Maximum Booking Durations and Limit Concurrent Bookings to give office managers fairer desk access and more accurate usage data. June 10, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Nine Micro Moments to Build Team Culture, With Michelle Hartley]() HR expert Michelle Hartley on the small, frequent gestures that build team culture in hybrid work, and nine micro moments any manager can start using. May 23, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [University Space Management: 5 Higher Education Challenges and Solutions]() Five space management challenges higher education organizations face under hybrid work, from downsizing staff offices to data security, and how software solves each. May 21, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [The Need For Wellbeing Resources Like Forte]() What comes to mind when you think of the “workplace”? For myself, it used to bring up images of bustling offices, morning commutes, and deskside chats. But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of the workplace has changed, giving rise to the era of the modern hybrid and dynamic workforce. As we \[…\] May 2, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [How To Cultivate A Company Culture With Tonille Miller]() In today’s competitive landscape, attracting, retaining, and unlocking top talent has become a top priority for organizations. With the emergence of hybrid work reshaping the very fabric of organizational dynamics, it’s more important than ever to create a generative company culture that enables people to do their best work in this new environment. But how \[…\] April 29, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [How To Stay Connected To Your Hybrid Team With Steve Cockram]() As Head of People and Partnerships at Kadence, one of the things I ask myself most regularly is “how do we better communicate as a team?”. Operating as a distributed team, we are spread all over the world. For that reason, it’s really important for us to feel like we don’t sacrifice on connection and \[…\] April 22, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Listening And The Power Of Team-Level Agreements]() Gallup recently found that only 12% of hybrid workers benefit from hybrid policies decided by their individual team. Crucially — they also found that this small group is also the most engaged. It seems that when employees are given the trust and autonomy to make their own decisions — and be really heard by their team members — \[…\] April 12, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Mental Health At Work: What You Need To Know]() The world of work is going through a mental health challenge. The rise of remote working — with all of its great benefits – has meant employees are more socially isolated than they ever have been. Our work schedules are now flexible and adaptable, and that’s great — but not when it comes at the \[…\] April 10, 2024 · Future Of Work #### [Exploring The Future Of Work: Understanding Hybrid Remote Work]() Welcome to a new era of work. Traditional notions of where and how work gets done have been redefined. But what is hybrid remote work? This new terminology has become commonplace. It’s now an integral part of both how companies choose to operate and the attraction of jobs to employees. In this article, we delve \[…\] April 9, 2024 · Product News #### [Workplace Announcements: 3 Ways They Improve Internal Communication]() Workplace announcements reach a hybrid workforce where it plans office days. How Kadence's April 2024 Announcements feature targeted teams, offices and bookings. April 5, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Transforming The Public Sector With Andy Lake]() As we step into a future where the lines between our professional and personal lives are increasingly blurred. The need for smarter, more flexible workspaces has never been more apparent. The public sector, traditionally seen as a bastion of the ‘old ways’ of working, is now at the forefront of this transformation. I recently sat \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 12 of 15 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas — page 13 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/page/13/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Page 13 of 15. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() March 26, 2024 · Kadence News #### [Dave Cairns Joins Kadence as Future of Work Strategist]() In March 2024, Dave Cairns, formerly Senior Vice President of Office Leasing at CBRE Canada, joined Kadence as its Future of Work Strategist. March 20, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Space Management Tools Help Navigate Hybrid Work]() The rise of hybrid work models has defined what we think of as the modern workplace. As companies adapt to this new normal, the need for effective space management tools has become critical. These tools can have a transformative impact on the hybrid work environment, enhancing: The traditional 9-to-5 office routine has given way to \[…\] March 6, 2024 · Space Optimization #### [Desk Reservation Software Is Shaping The Hybrid Workplace]() As companies transition into a hybrid work model, efficient desk utilization becomes essential. This is where Desk Reservation Software steps into the limelight. The right software can transform the way organizations manage workspace dynamics. Let’s explore the pivotal role that Desk Reservation Software plays in shaping the future of the hybrid workplace. The global workforce \[…\] March 4, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Rethinking Productivity: Embracing Outcomes In Hybrid Work]() Is your company moving towards a hybrid model of work? Are you worried how you can ensure employee productivity when they are not in the office? HR managers find themselves at the forefront of delivering success when companies move to the hybrid model. There are natural concerns about: These can feel daunting as companies embrace \[…\] February 29, 2024 · Hybrid Working #### [Hybrid Work Management Software – Choosing The Right One]() The rise of hybrid work models has become more than just a trend. It’s a necessity. As teams embrace a flexible work environment, effective Hybrid Work Management Software has become critical. Read our key considerations that will empower you and your team to choose the right software that best suits your hybrid goals. The traditional \[…\] February 16, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Embracing Third Spaces: The Evolution Of Modern Workplaces]() In the move towards more flexible ways of working, modern organizations are having to get smarter about how they use space. That means integrating a hybrid operating platform and making sure existing office space is used effectively. For others, it means giving their employees access to flexible workspaces near them. Through my experiences with WorkFLEX, \[…\] January 17, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Flexible Working: A Personal Journey To Empowerment]() As the founder of wmpeople, I’ve witnessed firsthand the evolution of flexible working and its impact on countless lives. Over the years, my platforms have become a haven for parents and caregivers seeking work that accommodates their unique life circumstances. In its early days, flexible working was often equated with part-time roles or job-sharing arrangements. There \[…\] January 11, 2024 · Human Flourishing #### [Modernize Your Work Practices With Smart Working]() For over three decades, I’ve been exploring and advocating for smarter, more flexible ways of working. As the founding editor of Flexibility and author of the Smart Working Handbook, I help organizations embrace a more strategic approach to modernizing their working practices. Smart Working isn’t just about choosing where to work. It’s a holistic method \[…\] November 30, 2023 · Hybrid Working #### [Not Prioritizing Flex Work? You Won’t Like What’s Really Going On]() In my hometown, I get more unsolicited emails and messages from one particular organization than any other. It’s led by a chief executive who doesn’t believe in the benefits of flex work. The emails and messages I receive are from frustrated employees and leaders who wish they had access to the kind of flex work \[…\] February 1, 2023 · Hybrid Working #### [The Hybrid Manifesto: Hybrid Working Principles For Your Workplace Policy]() The Hybrid Manifesto sets out hybrid working principles for workplace policy: four pillars (Trust, Alignment, Execution, Flourishing) and three benefits for People, Profits and the Planet. December 6, 2022 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Announces $10M Seed Funding Round (December 2022)]() In December 2022, Kadence announced a $10M Seed funding round led by Kickstart Fund, with angel investors including Slack co-founder Cal Henderson and Nick Bloom. November 7, 2022 · Product News #### [How to Assign Desks in a Hybrid Workplace: Kadence Assigned Desks (2022)]() How to decide when assigned desks suit a hybrid team, and how Kadence's Assigned Desks, launched in November 2022, let managers give people set desks on set days. [← Newer posts]() Page 13 of 15 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas — page 14 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/page/14/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Page 14 of 15. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() September 9, 2022 · Product News #### [Tired Of Being The ‘Check-In Cop?’ 3 New Check In Easy Features You Need To Know]() It makes sense to make your beloved spaces bookable, and accessible for your teams, with tools that encourage them to use them right? We think so too. You see, spaces are meaningless unless they’re being used for a purpose, and now that people are chomping at the bit to return to the spaces they love \[…\] July 1, 2022 · Product News #### [Kadence Conference Room Booking System: What Launched in July 2022]() In July 2022, Kadence launched conference room booking: capacity and amenity filters, auto-release of no-show rooms, Outlook and Google calendar booking, and CSV usage data. March 18, 2022 · Product News #### [Kadence Visitor Management System: What Launched in March 2022]() In March 2022, Kadence added visitor management to its booking flow: guest invitations, branded arrival instructions, pre-visit health checks and email check-in. March 18, 2022 · Space Optimization #### [Improved Office Neighborhoods (March 2022): Public, Private and Team-Day Access]() In March 2022, Kadence updated Office Neighborhoods: public or private neighborhoods, team access on set days of the week, and clear reasons when a space is unavailable. March 17, 2022 · Hybrid Working #### [Virtual Water Cooler: How To Recreate Informal Connection For Remote And Hybrid Teams]() A virtual water cooler is an informal online space where remote and hybrid employees chat outside work tasks. Why it matters, how to build one, and activities to try. March 2, 2022 · Hybrid Working #### [Employee Directory For A More Connected Hybrid Workplace (March 2022 Release)]() In March 2022, Kadence added an employee directory so hybrid teams could see any colleague's schedule, teams and contact details, and plan to be in the office together. January 31, 2022 · Space Optimization #### [How To Set Up Office Neighborhoods That Create Synergy]() It’s not merely enough to have a business model that supports both in-person and remote employees. Instead, your new business model should be flexible enough to cater to the flexibility of the different work styles and schedules. Office neighborhoods software allows you to meet these demands head-on. As such, knowing the different office neighborhood sections \[…\] December 6, 2021 · Human Flourishing #### [The Human-Centric Workplace]() Before we discuss what a human-centric workplace is, we must define what it is to be human. From poets, philosophers, anthropologists, religious bodies, scientists, politicians, and artists. Despite the efforts, the answers are diverse and inconclusive, because believing in a single answer would create silos between the brain, emotion, the body and so forth; we \[…\] August 27, 2021 · Product News #### [3 Ways to Integrate a Desk Booking System With Workplace Technology]() Single sign-on, calendar sync and directory sync make a desk booking system easier to adopt and cheaper to run. Here is what each one does and why it matters. August 19, 2021 · Space Optimization #### [How to Evaluate Desk Booking Software: What IT Managers Should Know]() An IT manager's checklist for evaluating desk booking software, from requirements and adoption to single sign-on, integrations, data security and hidden costs. July 23, 2021 · Space Optimization #### [5 Ways Conference Room Scheduling Software Has Changed]() From organizing workflows on Monday.com to hosting a virtual conference on Hopin, the pandemic has sparked a digital revolution in the way we work. Tools that enable people to seamlessly do their jobs from wherever they’re located have quickly become a mainstay of the modern workplace. As organizations develop hybrid working models, offices are becoming \[…\] July 1, 2021 · Hybrid Working #### [Which Companies Are Going Hybrid? Remote-First, Hybrid And Office-First Examples From 2021]() How Coinbase, Airbnb, Google, Fujitsu, Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix and others planned to work after the pandemic, as reported in July 2021. [← Newer posts]() Page 14 of 15 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas — page 15 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/page/15/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Page 15 of 15. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() June 10, 2021 · Space Optimization #### [Desk Utilization: How to Measure Desk and Space Utilization Rates]() Desk utilization shows how often each desk is actually used. Learn what space utilization rates measure, how to collect desk-level data and how to act on it. February 22, 2021 · Space Optimization #### [Why Desk Hoteling Needs Check-Ins and Occupancy Data]() Desk hoteling works when every reservation ends in a check-in. Occupancy data shows who used each desk and when, so space, cleaning and energy match demand. August 13, 2019 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Opened a Belfast Technology Hub in 2019, Backed by Invest NI]() In August 2019, Kadence announced a Technology and Business Development hub in Belfast, a £3.6 million investment expected to create 41 jobs. [← Newer posts]() Page 15 of 15 Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas — page 2 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/page/2/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Page 2 of 15. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() August 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Scenario Planning? A Guide for Workplace and Real Estate Leaders]() Scenario planning models several possible futures and a response to each. Workplace leaders use it to test lease, consolidation and RTO decisions first. July 14, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Your Workplace Operating Model Determines Your Real Estate Cost]() Most enterprise leaders can tell you their headcount, their cost per square foot, and their target occupancy. Far fewer can tell you, in a single sentence, how their organization actually allocates space. They know the floor is busy on Tuesdays and quiet on Fridays. They know real estate is one of their largest fixed costs. \[…\] June 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Intentional Gathering: How Smart Companies Are Designing Time Together]() I’ve been thinking a lot about what equals work. Ask a carpenter to break down their job, and they’ll talk about specific tools, assembly processes, and tangible results. There’s a clear relationship between input, process, and output. But ask someone in knowledge work, and you’ll get: “I type on a keyboard, I sit in calls, \[…\] June 17, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Why the Workplace Needs a Digital Twin: Lessons From LSE and WPP]() Digital twins already run hospitals, factories and energy grids. At a June 2026 Kadence breakfast, LSE's Prithwiraj Choudhury and WPP's Bex Moorhouse explained why the workplace is next. June 8, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [SpaceOps: Built for What Happens Next]() Something Rory from our Product Engineering Team said recently has stayed with me. Most workspace tools, he explained, are good at telling you what happened. What floor engineering used last Wednesday. How many desks were occupied in Q3. Which neighborhoods ran at capacity and which sat empty. What they are not built to do is \[…\] June 1, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Junior Hiring Decline Is a Workplace Operations Problem]() Generative AI took the blame for falling junior hiring. The Broken Ladder paper points to remote work instead, which makes it a problem organizations can solve. May 26, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is a Workplace Management System? Definition, Features and Benefits]() A workplace management system is software that centralizes space, facilities and employee activity so leaders can see how the workplace performs and decide with data. May 26, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [How to Implement a Workplace Management System: A Step-by-Step Enterprise Guide]() Workplace management system implementation works when you set goals first, clean your data, roll out in phases and treat adoption as a metric. May 26, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [How to Choose the Right Workplace Management Software: An Enterprise Buyer's Guide]() Choosing workplace management software shapes how you allocate space, coordinate people and manage real estate costs for years. Here is how to evaluate it against outcomes, not features. May 26, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [What Is an IWMS? IWMS vs Traditional Workplace Management Systems]() An IWMS brings real estate, facilities, space, assets and operations into one platform. Here is how it differs from traditional workplace management systems. May 19, 2026 · Human Flourishing #### [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] May 13, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Space Planning Problems Portfolio Averages Can’t See]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. This series uses aggregated and anonymized data from Kadence customers to understand how workplace behavior is changing at scale. I’m Ali Carson, a Data Scientist at Kadence. My role is to analyze workplace data to understand how offices are really being used day to day. In this edition of Kadence Pulse, \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 2 of 15 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas — page 3 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/page/3/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Page 3 of 15. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() April 30, 2026 · Product News #### [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] April 16, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Brian Elliott on Why Workplace Strategy Can’t Stay Static in the Age of AI]() At IFMA, Brian Elliott and I kept coming back to the same tension. AI is accelerating the speed of business, but workplace strategy is still too often built on assumptions from a more stable era. Companies want faster answers on growth, attendance, capacity, and cost, while workplace leaders are still dealing with leases, layouts, infrastructure, \[…\] March 18, 2026 · Product News #### [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] March 11, 2026 · Space Optimization #### [Calculate the Financial Impact of Your People and Spaces]() Workplace operations now sit at the center of enterprise performance. Real estate represents one of the largest fixed costs on the balance sheet. Workforce expense remains the largest operating cost. Technology investment continues to expand. At the same time, executive teams are demanding clearer evidence that workplace decisions are driving measurable return. Despite this, many \[…\] March 4, 2026 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Partners With Archilogic to Power Intelligent Workplaces]() In March 2026, Kadence announced a strategic partnership with Archilogic, the spatial data platform, connecting Archilogic floor plan data with Kadence SpaceOps. March 1, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Gen Z Is Choosing the Office. Is Your Workplace Ready?]() Gen Z is choosing office time for mentorship, visibility and faster careers. Enterprise workplaces need the operations to turn that presence into performance. February 23, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [AI Is Reshaping Work. The Workplace Must Catch Up.]() If you wanted evidence that AI in the enterprise workplace has moved beyond experimentation, you didn’t have to look far this past week. Accenture announced that it is linking employee promotions to AI tool usage, signaling a structural shift in performance expectations. AI literacy is no longer a technical skill reserved for innovation teams. It \[…\] January 29, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [The Intelligence Behind SpaceOps]() Over the past few years, the conversations we’ve been having with workplace, real estate, and operations leaders have started to sound very similar. They’re being asked to make space decisions with incomplete information and still stand behind them. These aren’t abstract planning questions. They’re operational decisions with financial, cultural, and human consequences. Once they’re made, \[…\] January 28, 2026 · Kadence News #### [Kadence Introduces AI-Driven Visitor Management System to Power Modern Workplace Operations]() New self-service kiosks, AI-assisted invites, automated check-in, and real-time visibility unify visitor activity with workplace intelligence, natively inside the Kadence platform San Francisco, CA — January 27, 2026 — Kadence, the leading workplace operations platform for global enterprises, today announced the launch of its newly rebuilt Visitor Management System (VMS), designed to automate visitor operations, \[…\] January 28, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: How Culture Shapes Workplace Operations]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. This series uses aggregated and anonymized data from Kadence customers to understand how workplace behavior is changing at scale. Rather than focusing on individual offices or policies, each Pulse looks at a single signal in the data and what it reveals about how workplace operations actually function. I’m Ali Carson, a \[…\] January 26, 2026 · Product News #### [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] January 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [How Bloomberg Designs Its Office Around Movement, Not Desks]() Most organisations face the same constraint. They want more interaction between teams, but they cannot change the building. Floors are leased. Cores are fixed. Vertical separation is inherited rather than designed. Kadence SpaceOps addresses this problem operationally. It allows organisations to model how teams move through space, test how different layouts affect interaction, and adjust \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 3 of 15 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas — page 4 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/page/4/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Page 4 of 15. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() January 22, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [Why Amazon Is Tracking Office Hours]() Amazon is no longer just tracking whether employees come into the office. It is tracking how long they stay. In December, the company rolled out a manager dashboard that measures employees’ in-office hours across a rolling eight-week period. The system categorises workers based on duration rather than attendance alone, flagging those who spend fewer than \[…\] January 8, 2026 · Future Of Work #### [How Google Designs Offices Around How Teams Actually Work]() Google did not build their offices at the Bay View campus to look impressive. It built it to work better. As organizations scale, coordination becomes harder to maintain. Teams drift apart. Dependencies stretch across floors and buildings. Decisions slow down, not because people stop communicating, but because the physical environment no longer reflects how the \[…\] December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Your Office Is Busy on Tuesdays and Empty on Fridays]() By 2026, uneven office attendance is no longer surprising. What surprises leaders is how persistent it is. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are crowded. Mondays and Fridays remain quiet, even in organizations with clear in-office expectations. This pattern appears across sectors, geographies, and workplace strategies. Yet it is still often discussed as an employee behavior issue rather \[…\] December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [The Enterprise Workplace Operations Playbook for 2026]() It’s 2026, and the workplace conversation has shifted. The question is no longer whether the office matters, whether hybrid work is permanent, or whether employees want flexibility. Those debates are largely settled. What remains unresolved is far more practical: how to operate the workplace so it actually works for the organization and the people inside \[…\] December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Wrapped: How You Used Kadence in 2025]() Welcome to Kadence Wrapped 2025! In 2025, workplace behavior stopped looking experimental and started looking intentional. Across millions of desk and room bookings, clear patterns emerged around when people came in, how they collaborated, and how reliably offices were used. The data does not simply show more activity. It shows greater operational maturity. Offices were \[…\] December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [How to Measure Collaboration in the Workplace]() Measure collaboration by what teams do, not how they feel: in-person overlap, meeting alignment, clustering by day and location, and whether space helps. December 17, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [What Employees Want From the Office in 2026: A Workplace That Works]() Employees in 2026 do not want stricter attendance rules or more perks. They want an office that runs predictably, supports collaboration and respects their time. November 26, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Return of Real Meetings]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse. In this edition, we look at how team meetings are evolving and what that shift tells us about modern workplace operations. Hybrid work has moved past the phase of chaos. For Kadence customers, it has settled into a predictable, midweek, team-first operating rhythm. The data from 2024 and 2025 shows a \[…\] November 26, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Conference Room Booking And Why It Matters For Workplace Operations]() Conference room booking is the process of reserving meeting spaces in an office so people can collaborate without conflict or wasted time. At its most basic, it ensures employees know which rooms are available, prevents double-bookings, and keeps meetings running smoothly. That definition worked when offices were predictable. In 2025, they are not. Hybrid schedules, \[…\] November 26, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Hot Desking And How You Can Implement It]() Hot desking is a flexible workplace model where employees do not have assigned desks but instead use available workstations as needed. It started as a way to save costs and optimize real estate, but in the age of hybrid work, hot desking has become a practical solution to changing attendance patterns. With fewer people coming \[…\] November 26, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Riding Into 2026: Talking Workplace With Brian Elliott]() There is something fitting about talking about the future of work while sitting in the back of a Waymo gliding through San Francisco. An autonomous car is a real-time example of systems quietly rewiring themselves. What looks like a neat consumer experience is actually the result of deep structural changes in how data, infrastructure, and \[…\] November 25, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Office Redesign Planning And How To Do It Right In 2026]() Every office tells a story about how work gets done. The layout, meeting spaces, and neighborhood design all reflect the culture and rhythm of an organization. But in 2026, those rhythms will be changing faster than ever. Hybrid schedules, shifting policies, and new collaboration habits are transforming how companies use their space. That means office \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 4 of 15 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas — page 5 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/page/5/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Page 5 of 15. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() November 24, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [What AI Can't Replace: OpenAI's Tracy Hawkins on People, Purpose and the Office]() Dave Cairns sits down with Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, on raising kids with AI and why people still need to gather. November 19, 2025 · Kadence News #### [Tracy Hawkins Of OpenAI Joins Kadence’s Advisory Board]() Today marks an exciting new chapter for Kadence. We’re thrilled to announce that Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, has joined Kadence as a Strategic Advisor. Tracy Hawkins is one of the world’s most respected workplace leaders, known for helping organizations like OpenAI, Grammarly, and Twitter design environments that empower people \[…\] November 3, 2025 · Product News #### [Outlook Meeting Room Booking Plug-in: Cut Scheduling Time in Half]() Kadence's Outlook plug-in puts meeting room booking inside Microsoft Outlook, with live two-way sync, consistent utilization data and central IT control. October 29, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [From CAFM To Workplace Operations]() For decades, companies have tried to manage the workplace with software built for buildings, not people. Computer-Aided Facilities Management, or CAFM, began as a digital leap forward for facilities teams. It helped organizations move from paper floor plans to electronic systems that tracked space, assets, and maintenance. But today, the world of work looks very \[…\] October 29, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [Capacity Planning For Offices: Why It Matters For Cost Control]() Every office represents a balancing act between cost and capacity. Too much space, and money is wasted on empty desks. Too little, and productivity stalls as employees compete for rooms and resources. For CFOs and real estate leaders, getting this balance right has never been more important. Hybrid work has made office use unpredictable, yet \[…\] October 23, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [Headcount And Seating Planning: How To Balance Growth]() Every leader faces the same challenge in 2025: how to plan for headcount growth and seating planning when the workplace keeps changing. Teams are distributed, hybrid policies evolve, and office attendance fluctuates week to week. Yet decisions about space still carry long-term financial consequences. Headcount and seating planning sits at the center of that challenge. \[…\] October 3, 2025 · Product News #### [Introducing Kadence SpaceOps: The AI Platform To Plan, Move, And Optimize Office Spaces]() Managing today’s modern workplace is challenging. Gone are the days of leaders being ok with cubicles and buildings sitting half empty. The stakes are enormous. A single lease can lock millions into wasted space for a decade. Office space is one of the top three controllable costs, yet up to 40% of space sits underutilized \[…\] September 29, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Space Management? Turning Office Utilization Into Performance Data]() Space management is the planning, organizing and optimizing of office space. Here is what it covers, why it changed and how utilization data now drives it. September 25, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Visitor Management And Why It Matters For Workplace Operations]() Visitor management is the process of welcoming, tracking, and supporting every guest who enters your workplace. It covers everything from digital sign-ins and badges to host notifications and compliance records. At its most basic, visitor management ensures people can enter safely, be where they need to be, and leave a record behind. But stopping there \[…\] September 16, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Are Workplace Analytics And How Can They Cut Costs?]() Every organization today faces the same pressure: how to make offices work harder for less money. Leaders are cutting square footage, employees expect more flexibility, and boards want proof that investments in real estate drive real returns. This is where workplace analytics comes in. At its simplest, workplace analytics means using data to understand how \[…\] September 5, 2025 · Product News #### [Introducing Automatic Bookings For Smarter Workplace Planning]() Ghost desks, false bookings, and missed check-ins distort reality and drive poor decisions. Employees forget to reserve, visitors arrive unannounced, and contractors or hot desk users slip through the cracks. The result is inflated utilization metrics and misleading occupancy reports that cost enterprises millions in wasted space. Kadence Agent solves this with automatic desk bookings \[…\] August 26, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Is Workplace Operations Management? Role, Skills and Benefits]() Workplace operations management coordinates people, space and technology so the office supports business outcomes. Here is what the role covers and why it matters. [← Newer posts]() Page 5 of 15 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas — page 6 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/page/6/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Page 6 of 15. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() August 19, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: What Predictability Says About Office Use]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse, where we explore how hybrid work is unfolding through real-world data from the Kadence platform. In this edition, we’re moving past averages to examine something more telling: the shape of office use across different business sectors. From consistency to chaos, and from bursty collaboration to habitual rhythms, the story isn’t just \[…\] August 18, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [What Is a Workplace Operations Platform? The Backbone of the Modern Workplace]() Workplace operations aligns people, space and technology to business outcomes. What it covers, why it matters, and what a workplace operations platform does. August 4, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [AT&T Return To Office: Employee Survey Results And A Culture Shift (August 2025)]() In August 2025, AT&T CEO John Stankey answered falling engagement scores with a memo moving staff from hybrid work to five office days and a market-based culture. July 25, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] July 25, 2025 · Space Optimization #### [What Insights Plus Reveals About The State Of Hybrid Work]() At Kadence, we built Insights Plus to help companies answer complex workplace questions using their own data—without having to wrangle spreadsheets or guess at behavior patterns. Over the past few months, I’ve worked directly with customers who had important questions about how their people were using the office. These weren’t theoretical—they were tactical, operational questions that needed \[…\] July 23, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] July 22, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Raises $20M To Transform How Enterprises Run The Modern Workplace]() Today marks a major milestone in our journey: Kadence has raised a $20 million Series A to accelerate the future of work. The round was led by High Alpha, with participation from Kickstart, Midwich Ignite, and Four Cities Capital and Mantaray. We’re also honored to have the backing of 515 Ventures led by Frederic Kerrest \[…\] July 8, 2025 · Product News #### [Why Interactive Office Floor Plans Are Essential For Hybrid Work]() Go beyond static layouts—an Interactive Office Floorplan gives your team real-time visibility, better coordination, and smarter use of space. Hybrid work has reshaped how teams use the office, but most businesses still rely on outdated tools to manage that space. Traditional floorplans were built for a time when everyone had a fixed desk and came \[…\] June 30, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Hybrid Is The New Normal—But Not Yet For Everyone]() The UK has quietly reached a milestone: hybrid working is now the most common way to work among professionals. According to new data from the Office for National Statistics, 28% of workers in Britain split their time between home and the office. This is a structural shift in how the country works. But the data \[…\] June 16, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Deutsche Bank, UBS And The City Of London: How Banks Are Redrawing The Hybrid Work Week]() In June 2025, Panmure Liberum joined Deutsche Bank in asking staff to cover Mondays and Fridays in the office. What it meant for hybrid working in the City of London. June 15, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: Unpacking Office Utilization Trends By Sector]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse, our deep dive into how hybrid work is evolving—powered by real-time desk booking data from our customers using Kadence. After a year of settling into hybrid rhythms, the first half of 2025 is showing signs of structural change in how different sectors are using office space. Our latest analysis — drawn from \[…\] June 13, 2025 · Kadence News #### [Midwich Group Expands Strategic Partnership With Kadence to Scale Hybrid Work]() In June 2025, Kadence signed a strategic partnership with Midwich Group, the AV and unified communications distributor, to extend its global reach. [← Newer posts]() Page 6 of 15 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas — page 7 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/page/7/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Page 7 of 15. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() June 10, 2025 · Product News #### [Tired Of Manual Check-Ins? Here’s 7 Reasons Why You Need The Kadence Agent]() Global businesses need a global picture of office attendance. Yet when workplace tools are poorly adopted, disconnected from actual behavior, or too complex to maintain—leaders lose visibility. And without office use visibility, workplace operations become unmanageable. That’s why Wi-Fi based office check-ins are crucial for office visibility. Kadence changes this with Automatic Check-Ins, powered by \[…\] June 5, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Gen Z Isn't Rejecting the Office. They're Rejecting Mandates.]() Gen Z workers want offices with a clear purpose, not attendance rules. What 2025 survey data says about RTO mandates, turnover and flexibility. June 2, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [RBC Pushes For More Office Time But Flexibility Still Wins]() The decision by RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) to require employees in the office four days a week is part of a broader trend: large enterprises are looking to reconnect people, rebuild culture, and spark the kind of collaboration that’s harder to replicate remotely. It’s a well-intentioned move—and a clear signal that the pendulum is \[…\] May 22, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [The Smart Office Of The Future Is Designed For Human Flourishing]() Most conversations about smart offices start with sensors. But the smartest offices of the future won’t just track movement. They’ll understand momentum. They won’t just optimize square footage. They’ll cultivate belonging. At Kadence, we believe smart offices are about human flourishing. They won’t ask how many people showed up. They’ll ask—did anyone flourish here? The hybrid revolution gave the \[…\] May 20, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Kadence Connect: Building High-Performing Hybrid Teams with Brian Elliott]() Brian Elliott has seen inside hundreds of hybrid organizations. As a former Slack SVP and Executive Leader of Future Forum, he’s helped shape what great hybrid work looks like. In a recent conversation, Brian shared what separates thriving hybrid teams from the rest — and it’s not policies or tech. It’s leadership. Kadence Connect is our live \[…\] April 29, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Uber Sets The Standard For Structured Hybrid With Three-Day In-Office Rhythm]() When Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced that all employees—including those previously approved for remote work—would align to a three-day in-office rhythm, it signaled the company’s continued investment in structured hybrid work. Rather than pulling back on flexibility, Uber is fine-tuning its hybrid model to strengthen in-person collaboration while preserving the autonomy teams value. In a \[…\] April 24, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Google's Hybrid Work Model: Inside the Breakdown of Its Hybrid Strategy]() In April 2025, Google teams told some remote employees to come in three days a week or risk their jobs. What the move reveals about hybrid work without coordination. April 23, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why IBM Is Struggling With Their Hybrid Policy]() IBM has been a master of reinvention for over a century. But its latest shift — requiring U.S. sales employees to relocate near offices or clients — suggests it’s falling into the same trap as many legacy firms: mistaking location for coordination. According to The Register, IBM is asking its U.S. sales teams to confirm new \[…\] April 10, 2025 · Product News #### [Introducing Insights Plus – Powerful Workplace Analytics Built By Hybrid Work Experts]() For workplace and HR leaders, understanding how your office is actually being used—and how your hybrid policies are performing—has never been more important. But in today’s world of fragmented data, one-size-fits-all dashboards, and endless manual reporting, turning occupancy data into actionable strategy with Hybrid work experts is easier said than done. That’s why we’re excited \[…\] April 7, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [The Hybrid Training Your Company Should’ve Started Yesterday]() At Kadence, we’re talking to hybrid teams every day. And while the headlines keep circling around office mandates and badge swipes, the reality on the ground is far more nuanced — and far more urgent. We’re watching companies struggle with hybrid not because the model is broken — but because their managers are unprepared, their systems \[…\] April 3, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Atlassian Is Sticking With Distributed Work]() At a time when many corporate leaders are calling for a return to the office, Atlassian is doubling down on distributed work—and it’s paying off. The software company just secured a top spot on Fortune’s 2025 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, and their commitment to remote-first operations is a big reason why. In \[…\] April 2, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Recharge Days Miss The Point Of Modern Work]() Another week, another trend in employee wellness. This time it’s “recharge days”—company-wide time off designed to combat burnout by shutting the laptop lid for everyone at once. On the surface, it sounds thoughtful. Generous, even. But let’s call it what it really is: a backwards step. This week’s Fortune article on the “100 Best Companies to Work \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 7 of 15 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas — page 8 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/page/8/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Page 8 of 15. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() April 2, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The American Work Ethic—Is Longer Always Better?]() Welcome to Kadence Pulse—our regular deep dive into hybrid work trends, behaviors, and insights pulled straight from the data of thousands of our global users. In this edition, we’re turning our attention to the American work ethic. Known globally for its hustle culture, the U.S. is showing a noticeable trend in extended office hours—even in the \[…\] March 31, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Hybrid Isn’t Failing. Leadership Is.]() I had one of those conversations recently that stays with you. You know the kind — the call you hop onto thinking it’ll be a quick exchange of ideas, and you leave feeling like someone just reframed everything you thought you knew. That someone, in this case, was Camilla Miehs. Camilla is a powerhouse. A \[…\] March 26, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [Why Spring Might Be The Season Hybrid Work Proves Itself]() In San Francisco this week, the sun came out — and so did the laptops. Powerpoint presentations in parks. Zoom calls on the beach. Slack pings sent under picnic umbrellas. According to The San Francisco Standard, it wasn’t just a nice day; it was a quiet act of rebellion. And here’s the thing: companies trying to \[…\] March 25, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Is Freddie Mac Forcing A Full-Time RTO?]() Freddie Mac is bringing everyone back to the office. Full-time. No flexibility. That’s the latest directive from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), announced just days after a major leadership shake-up that saw Director Sandra Thompson removed and Clinton Jones appointed in her place. This new mandate affects thousands of employees who had been thriving \[…\] March 14, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Nvidia Is Sticking With Hybrid Work]() It feels like every day brings a new headline about a company pushing for return-to-office (RTO) mandates, making the debate one of the most divisive workplace topics in recent years. While companies like Amazon and JPMorgan Chase have doubled down on their mandates, Nvidia has taken a decidedly different approach—one that prioritizes flexibility, trust, and \[…\] March 13, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Vodafone Is Getting Serious About Hybrid Work]() Vodafone is tightening its grip on hybrid work, turning a nudge into a mandate. A recently leaked memo reveals that the telecoms giant is taking a hardline approach to hybrid work, warning employees that non-compliance could lead to disciplinary action, even impacting bonuses. This crackdown raises a critical question: Is rigid hybrid enforcement the right \[…\] March 4, 2025 · Product News #### [Introducing Kadence Sense – Workplace Intelligence Without The Sensors]() As hybrid work becomes the dominant way forward for organizations worldwide, leaders face a growing challenge: how to make smart, data-driven decisions about their workplaces without costly infrastructure or invasive tracking systems. Even in 2025, many companies are making critical decisions that affect thousands of employees based on limited data or gut instincts. That’s why \[…\] February 25, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Stripe Co-Founders Ask Why Companies Are Designing RTO For Their Worst Employees]() In a world where top talent thrives in flexible environments, why are companies structuring their workplace policies around the bottom 5% of performers? That’s the question posed by Stripe co-founders, John and Patrick Collison, when they were asked about return-to-office (RTO) mandates. It suggests that widespread RTO mandates are a misguided attempt to correct for \[…\] February 25, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Starbucks Cuts 1,100 Corporate Jobs: What It Means For Hybrid Work (February 2025)]() In February 2025, Starbucks cut 1,100 corporate jobs and tightened office rules for leaders. What the move meant for its hybrid work culture, and lessons for other employers. February 14, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Kadence Pulse: The Magic Number Is 2]() Kadence Pulse is our new data-driven series where we uncover key trends in hybrid work, using insights straight from Kadence’s platform. Our goal is to help businesses and employees understand how hybrid work is evolving and how they can make smarter, more informed decisions. The way we work has changed forever, and at Kadence, we \[…\] February 12, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [40% Would Take A Pay Cut To Work From Home: Why Offices Must Earn Their Place]() A new Harvard study has found that 40% of people surveyed would willingly take a pay cut of 5% or more to continue working from more. Even more striking, 9% said they’d accept a 20% reduction in salary just to avoid returning to the office. These figures aren’t just data points; they tell a powerful \[…\] February 11, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Gathering Weeks: Airbnb’s Innovative Hybrid Strategy]() Companies are trying to figure out how to keep things flexible without losing that sense of connection. Airbnb seems to have cracked the code with their Live and Work Anywhere policy, centered around a simple yet transformative concept: the gathering week. Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, sums it up succinctly: Airbnb’s approach is rooted in the belief that \[…\] [← Newer posts]() Page 8 of 15 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## News and ideas — page 9 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/page/9/ Description: Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. Page 9 of 15. Kadence journal ### News and ideas Ideas, news and practical perspectives on the workplace. [All posts]() [Future Of Work]() [Human Flourishing]() [Hybrid Working]() [Kadence News]() [Product News]() [Space Optimization]() February 7, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [The Future Of Work In 2025 And Beyond With Nick Bloom]() In our latest webinar, economist and remote work expert Nick Bloom shared key insights into the evolving landscape of hybrid work. With data suggesting that work-from-home levels have stabilized globally, the discussion focused on what this means for organizations navigating hybrid models and the future of remote work technologies. We kicked off the webinar by \[…\] February 7, 2025 · Product News #### [Desk Booking For Microsoft Teams]() What would it look like to use your favorite tools in one place without having to switch between applications? A tool where you were able to connect with your team, see when they’re going to be in the office, book desks and rooms, invite guests, and understand how spaces are being used? To make hybrid work \[…\] February 6, 2025 · Human Flourishing #### [How To Build A Hybrid Workplace People Actually Want To Work In]() Hybrid has become a defining feature of the modern workplace, offering flexibility to hybrid teams while presenting new challenges—particularly in fostering connection, engagement, and satisfaction, regardless of where employees are working. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Anitta Krishan from Hoogly AI, a leader in people and workplace strategy, to explore what’s truly working in the \[…\] February 6, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [How Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG Make Hybrid Work: The Big Four's Approach]() In February 2025, the Big Four accounting firms were sticking with hybrid in their US offices. How Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG each set office expectations. February 5, 2025 · Product News #### [Automatic Check-Ins With Kadence Agent]() Accurately tracking and optimizing office occupancy remains a persistent challenge. Traditional methods have left businesses relying on guesswork and outdated data for crucial space management decisions. But what if you could gain real-time, precise occupancy insights without expensive hardware or disruptive installations? All this is made possible through our new Kadence Agent, a lightweight desktop \[…\] February 4, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Zuckerberg Says Hybrid Passes The Performance Test—That’s Why Meta Isn’t Changing Course]() After years of debate over remote vs. office work, Meta has made its decision: hybrid is here to stay. CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently confirmed that there will be no changes to the company’s return-to-office (RTO) policy—a significant move at a time when many companies are still tightening their grip on in-office attendance. Zuckerberg delivered the statement at a \[…\] February 4, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why Citi Is Sticking To Hybrid Work While Rivals Push For RTO]() While big banks like JPMorgan and Barclays are ramping up their return-to-office (RTO) mandates, Citigroup (Citi) is staying firm on its hybrid work policy. CEO Jane Fraser has made it clear: flexibility isn’t just a perk—it’s a competitive edge. Rather than dragging employees back with a “butts in seats” approach, Citi is investing £1 billion \[…\] January 31, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Why More Companies Are Moving To A Three-Day Office Week]() The workplace is shifting—again. A few years ago, many leaders thought hybrid work was just a pit stop before a full return to the office (RTO). But here we are, and it’s become increasingly clear: three days in the office is becoming the sweet spot for companies across the globe. Instead of forcing rigid five-day \[…\] January 16, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Building Operations and Experience (BOE) in Commercial Real Estate]() Building operations and experience (BOE) combines property management, building operations and workplace experience. Here is what it is, why CBRE backed it, and its challenges. January 14, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [Toyota’s RTO Mandate: Breaking Away From The Automotive Norm]() Toyota just dropped some big news—starting September 2, employees are expected back in the office four days a week. This puts Toyota on a completely different track compared to other carmakers, many of which are sticking with more flexible hybrid setups. Sure, Toyota says it’s all about boosting collaboration and keeping the company culture alive, \[…\] January 13, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [WPP Return to Office Policy: A Growing Divide Between Leadership and Workforce]() In January 2025, WPP's push for a stricter return to office met an employee petition. What it showed about running one RTO policy across global offices. January 8, 2025 · Future Of Work #### [JPMorgan's Full-Time Return to Office Plan: A Risky Move in a Hybrid World]() In January 2025, JPMorgan Chase was reported to be planning a five-day return to office. Why the plan risked talent, productivity and real estate value. [← Newer posts]() Page 9 of 15 [Older posts →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Insights Plus – Workplace Analytics Built by Hybrid Work Experts - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/powerful-workplace-analytics-built-by-hybrid-work-experts/ Description: Introducing Insights Plus—a powerful new add-on to Kadence that gives you bespoke workplace analytics built by Hybrid Work Experts. [News]() · [Product News]() · April 10, 2025 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Introducing Insights Plus – Powerful Workplace Analytics Built By Hybrid Work Experts Introducing Insights Plus – Powerful Workplace Analytics Built By Hybrid Work Experts For workplace and HR leaders, understanding how your office is actually being used—and how your [hybrid policies]() are performing—has never been more important. But in today’s world of fragmented data, one-size-fits-all dashboards, and endless manual reporting, turning occupancy data into actionable strategy with Hybrid work experts is easier said than done. That’s why we’re excited to introduce Insights Plus—a powerful new add-on to Kadence’s [workplace analytics]() that gives you customizable, real-time [workplace insights]() built by hybrid work experts. > [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Every workplace operates differently. And whether you’re trying to [reduce costs](), increase office engagement, or design a smarter [hybrid policy](), your data should reflect your unique goals—not generic metrics that don’t move the needle. Insights Plus brings your data to life through custom dashboards designed in collaboration with Kadence’s data science team. That means you get answers to the questions that matter most to your business—from “Which amenities are driving attendance?” to “Are we actually using all this space?” And best of all? No more pulling spreadsheets from multiple tools just to answer simple leadership asks. Here are several powerful ways you can leverage these new custom dashboards: “Kadence gave us the data and confidence to reduce our office space by 80%” Adrian Harper Karger's Head of Digital Landscape #### 1. Save Time With Automated Attendance Reporting Share executive-ready dashboards with leadership for quicker, data-driven decisions. With Insights Plus, you can automate [attendance reporting]() easily, eliminating the need for manual data exports and spreadsheets. By generating reports on team or individual attendance, you can assess the effectiveness of your hybrid work policies or desk assignments. Here are a few examples of customizable dashboards: - Get a granular view of how often each team member comes into the office - Compare in-office attendance across departments - Identify team preferences to fine-tune policies and foster in-person connections “Which employees qualify for a permanent desk based on their attendance?” Sarah Office Manager #### 2. Understand How Teams Work Together To Assess Policy Effectiveness Hybrid policies should drive real collaboration amongst your employees—not just office attendance. Insights Plus gives you granular, precise data on occupancy, monitor team interactions and meeting patterns. Use this to fine-tune policies and create an office environment that truly supports productive teamwork, giving you the valuable insights to ensure alignment between policy and team goals, surfacing tailored recommendations around space consolidation or repurposing. Here are a few examples we can create: - See overall space usage by type—compare meeting rooms vs. hot desks - Track how different departments use desks or rooms to optimize seating based on real usage - Customize dashboards to highlight what matters most—like most-used [space types](), average meeting lengths by department, or employee-to-desk ratios “Are employees spending their in-office days collaborating or working in isolation?” James Workplace Manager #### 3. Identify Inefficiencies And Opportunities With Precise Data Running an efficient workplace means aligning office perks and facility operations with actual attendance. Filter data by department, building or space types—drilling into peak hours, [no-show rates](), or space usage without needing your own analyst support. With precise occupancy data, facilities leaders can monitor peak and low days to predict usage patterns, ensuring services like catered lunches, cleaning, and HVAC usage are cost-effective and right-sized. - Identify peak and low occupancy days for each floor or building - Optimize cleaning, catering, and HVAC schedules based on usage patterns - Uncover patterns with occupancy, no-shows and actual usage at both a global and location-specific level “Can we optimize energy costs by closing off an office floor on low occupancy days?” Lena Head of Facilities #### Say Goodbye To Manual Reporting Ditch manual reporting and get instant workplace insights. With Insights Plus, your dashboards are built for you and embedded right inside Kadence—meaning your team gets the flexibility of a custom BI tool, without needing to be a data analyst to use it. Together with the support of Kadence’s data science experts, your organization can create views that directly support your goals, whether that’s reducing real estate spend, improving employee experience, or tracking the impact of a new workplace policy. **If you’re already using Kadence, Insights Plus is available today as a premium add-on. Talk to your Customer Success Manager to schedule a walkthrough – [get in touch]() to find out more!** Speak With Our Hybrid Experts Team Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Book Demo]() Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Not Prioritizing Flex Work? You Won't Like What's Really Going On - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/prioritizing-flexible-working/ Description: Frustrated employees and leaders wish they had access to the kind of flex work that other similar organizations now take for granted. [News]() · [Hybrid Working]() · November 30, 2023 · [Gillian Brookes]() ### Not Prioritizing Flex Work? You Won’t Like What’s Really Going On An employee with their laptop and note pad listening to music while they work. In my hometown, I get more unsolicited emails and messages from one particular organization than any other. It’s led by a chief executive who doesn’t believe in the benefits of flex work. The emails and messages I receive are from frustrated employees and leaders who wish they had access to the kind of flex work that other similar organizations now take for granted. Everyone else in my hometown knows how inflexible that organization is in reality. I have reached out to this chief executive recently to let him know, candidly and sensitively of course, that all is not well within his organisation. I have offered my help and even offered it for free, given how far behind they are compared to the rest of our city. So far, I haven’t had a reply! #### Flex Goes Underground What’s happening inside his organization is that flexibility is being offered, but leaders are doing it under the radar. Clandestine arrangements are being put in place so that leaders can do what they can to retain their team members and avoid the pain and cost of losing them to another company down the road. These deals are being inconsistently applied, often favoring the top performers, and creating resentment across teams and different parts of the business. #### It’s A Lose-Lose Situation The organization is missing out on potential productivity gains and they’re also accepting a higher risk of burnout and stress levels across their workforce. They’ve given themselves one less lever in their carbon emissions reduction strategy. With flexibility, you can reduce your workforce’s commuting and property needs, which significantly reduces your carbon emissions. If you’re not prioritizing flex, this is the kind of scenario you can expect. Your leaders will be giving people flexibility anyway and they will be doing it inconsistently. They’ll be undermining what you thought was going on by putting flex deals in place. These bad habits eat away at your leadership trust and cohesion. You’re also missing out on the kind of benefits you can expect if you were to bring flex out into the light. You’re probably spending [eight percent more on salary than you need to](), which is on average how much flexible workers value their ways of working. You’ll be selling yourself short when it comes to attracting and retaining the right people, especially with underrepresented groups including women, people with disabilities, and people from minority backgrounds. You might expect that I’ll tell you to release the shackles, open up all types of flex across your entire organization, and open the floodgates. No, don’t do that either. You’ll just get chaos and it’ll make you wish you’d left it well alone! By doing that you’ll end up with flex arrangements in place that don’t work. I’ve met enough flex-hesitant leaders over the years who have good reasons for being cautious. Here’s how you can avoid going from bad to worse when you open up more flex. #### Start With A Strategy First, develop a workforce strategy that lines up with what your organization is trying to achieve. - What ways of working are going to help you deliver on that strategy? - How will that differ across different parts of your workforce? - How can you make that clear and measurable? You’ll want to track your progress as well as look out for unintended consequences. This way you’ll adjust, do more of the good stuff, and let go of what isn’t working. #### Building New Skills Next, support your leaders and team members to build the skills that they need for success in today’s flexible world of work. Training your managers to make great flexible work decisions with their teams is critical. They are exhausted right now. The world of work changed so drastically in the last three years and they are tired of having to work it out on their own. Give them the cheat codes and they will deliver for you, just as they have in the past. Avoid the common mistake of relying on a policy and an email launch with a video from the chief executive. This flex shift needs to be a lot better supported than that. #### Make Flex Your Priority If you want to lean into the new and fast-evolving world of work, prioritize flex, but do it in the right way. You’ll find that you’ll attract and retain the right people, make significant productivity gains, reduce your risk of workforce burnout, and significantly reduce your carbon emissions while taking the pressure off your salary bill. So, why wouldn’t you? --- Gillian Brookes Gillian Brookes Workforce strategist based in Wellington, New Zealand. She is also the author of Flexperts; getting the best from flex in a world that’s ever changing. [Read More from Gillian Brookes]() Flex expert and workforce strategist based in Wellington, New Zealand. She is also the author of [Flexperts]() – getting the best from flex in a world that’s ever changing. Gillian’s Flexperts [course]() also helps managers get the best from flexible working. #### Related - [The CEO’s Perspective: Driving Growth, Innovation, And Hybrid Working ROI]() Embracing hybrid work isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for forward-thinking CEOs. This article unveils how hybrid work models drive unprecedented Hybrid Working ROI across the triple bottom line: By implementing a robust hybrid working ROI strategy, CEOs can future-proof their organizations, attract top talent, and gain a competitive edge in an evolving business \[…\] - [Hybrid Pulse Check #1: Office Attendance By Country And Weekday (November 2024)]() Kadence booking data from over 500 companies, published in November 2024: office attendance by country, the peak in-office days, and what workplace leaders can do about it. - [Hybrid Work Management Software – Choosing The Right One]() The rise of hybrid work models has become more than just a trend. It’s a necessity. As teams embrace a flexible work environment, effective Hybrid Work Management Software has become critical. Read our key considerations that will empower you and your team to choose the right software that best suits your hybrid goals. The traditional \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## RBC Pushes For More Office Time But Flexibility Still Wins - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/rbc-pushes-for-more-office-time-but-flexibility-still-wins/ Description: RBC’s four-day office policy reflects a shift toward in-person connection—but lasting impact comes from intentional, flexible hybrid design. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · June 2, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### RBC Pushes For More Office Time But Flexibility Still Wins RBC The decision by RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) to [require employees in the office four days a week]() is part of a broader trend: large enterprises are looking to reconnect people, rebuild culture, and spark the kind of collaboration that’s harder to replicate remotely. RBC is a relationship-driven bank and in-person, human connection is core to our winning culture. Dave McKay CEO, RBC It’s a well-intentioned move—and a clear signal that the pendulum is swinging back toward in-person time. But for [hybrid work]() to succeed in the long term, it can’t rely on blanket policies alone. It needs a more precise, people-centered design. RBC Plaza in Minneapolis. Source: August Schwerdfeger #### Hybrid Is Here To Stay While some companies are leaning back into the office, the overall trend is clear: hybrid work is now the global default. [According to JLL](), 87% of organizations have adopted hybrid work programs, and nearly 60% are redesigning office spaces to support more collaborative, flexible environments. Meanwhile, employee preferences remain consistent: [a 2025 survey found]() that 83% of employees prefer a hybrid working model, and 94% want more control over their schedules. These numbers point to an opportunity—not a tension—between flexibility and connection. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Presence Doesn’t Equal Performance Mandates may get people back through the door, but [they don’t guarantee the outcomes leaders are aiming for]()—like culture, creativity, or trust. RBC’s emphasis on in-person time is rooted in a belief that relationships are better built face-to-face. That’s true—but only if those moments feel meaningful. At Kadence, we see this shift as a chance to move from presence for presence’s sake to aligning teams in the office when it truly matters—whether for collaboration, onboarding, or rituals that build culture. Featured Content 7 Steps To Hybrid Success Streamline your team’s success—download our free checklist today! [Download]() The data backs this up. [According to Future Forum](), knowledge workers without access to [flexible working]() hours report: - 2.2x higher levels of work-related stress and anxiety - 1.7x worse work-life balance - 1.4x higher burnout When people have the ability to shape their schedules, they’re more likely to show up engaged, rested, and ready to contribute. When office time is tied to meaningful collaboration, not just policy, it becomes something people choose—not something they endure. The takeaway? Being physically present isn’t the same as being engaged. What employees really want is not just flexibility—but clarity and purpose. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Real Value Of Office Time The office is still essential—but its role is evolving. It’s no longer the default location for all work. Instead, it’s becoming a destination for *specific* kinds of work: - Team-building - Brainstorming - Onboarding - Strategic alignment The RBC announcement is a helpful reminder: the office still plays a vital role in how modern teams connect and collaborate. But the real value doesn’t come from how often people show up—it comes from whether those moments together are designed with purpose. At Kadence, we help companies make those moments count. With tools that help teams [coordinate their schedules](), choose the best days to meet, and make [smarter use of their space](), we enable a rhythm of work that supports both flexibility and connection. It’s not about more days in the office. It’s about making the most of the days that matter. When teams come together with intention, the office becomes more than a place to work—it becomes a place to build momentum. #### Trust Is The New Productivity RBC’s [return-to-office plan]() reflects a real desire shared by many companies: to rebuild a stronger, more [connected culture](). The opportunity now is to move beyond mandates toward smarter design—ones that balance business goals with individual needs, and structure with trust. The future of work isn’t less connection. It’s [more meaningful connection]()—enabled by better coordination, thoughtful strategies, and the flexibility people need to thrive. What we’re seeing across our customer base is that when teams are [trusted to decide when to come together]()—and given the tools to do it well—they don’t resist the office. They embrace it. It’s [not about mandating more time in the building](). It’s about designing time that matters. [Book a demo with our hybrid experts]() to see how Kadence helps companies like yours build a smarter rhythm of work around the [moments that matter]() most. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Hybrid Experts Team Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Rethinking Productivity: Embracing Outcomes in Hybrid Work - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/rethinking-productivity-embracing-outcomes-in-hybrid-work/ Description: Learn how to optimize productivity in the hybrid work model by looking at your team's outcomes, rather than their time in the office. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · March 4, 2024 · [Helen Attia]() ### Rethinking Productivity: Embracing Outcomes In Hybrid Work 5 teammates in a hybrid workplace meeting Is your company moving towards a hybrid model of work? Are you worried how you can ensure employee productivity when they are not in the office? HR managers find themselves at the forefront of delivering success when companies move to the hybrid model. There are natural concerns about: - optimising productivity - ensuring policy compliance - inspiring office attendance - retaining company culture These can feel daunting as companies embrace flexible working. However, the key to success might not lie in traditional notions of productivity. Flexible working advisor, Brian Elliott, told us how in his years working for and with hybrid companies, success has been found in redefining the outcomes. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Hear Brian Elliott speak to Kadence’s VP of People & Partnerships, Helen Attia, about embracing outcomes over productivity. #### Navigating The Hybrid Policy Conundrum Hybrid work policies are becoming the norm, with employees splitting their time between home and the office. Let’s be clear: leaders are worried about how they ensure employees are productive with the time they have. HR managers grapple with the task of ensuring compliance with these policies. Instead of enforcing rigid rules, focus on cultivating a culture of trust and flexibility. **Trust empowers employees, fostering a sense of loyalty that transcends physical boundaries**. Rather than scrutinizing every minute of remote work, shift the emphasis towards measurable outcomes. By setting clear expectations, employees are encouraged to manage their time efficiently. This results in increased autonomy and accountability. This not only reduces the need for micro-management, but also promotes a [healthier work-life balance](). #### Motivating Office Time Beyond The Winter Blues The winter months can cast a chill over employees’ enthusiasm for commuting to the office. HR managers face the challenge of motivating the workforce to step out of their cozy home offices. Rather than relying on traditional incentives, consider the intrinsic motivations that drive employees. Create a workplace environment that encourages group work, innovation, and social connection. Highlight the benefits of face-to-face interactions. [Emphasize the value of in-person collaboration]() for creativity and team dynamics. It’s more than just inspiring employees to attend the office. They want to have their own motivations for coming into the office. You don’t need to persuade your teams, if they already feel compelled to join. Allow employees to choose office days when they feel the most productive. This acknowledges personal needs and ensures that the office remains a vibrant hub of activity. As a knock-on effect, each employee will have fonder memories of the office. It’s likely they will want to come back. #### Retaining Company Culture In A Hybrid World Company culture was once nurtured within the confines of a physical office space. HR managers must preserve its essence, while employees navigate a new work model. Rather than fixating on physical proximity, emphasize shared values and goals that transcend location. Be inclusive. Leverage technology to bridge the virtual divide. Consider virtual team-building activities, regular town hall meetings, and collaborative projects. These can strengthen the bonds among team members. Solutions like Hybrid Work Management Software help ease your team into being apart and can help them organize their time. Their team will know when everyone is in the office or remote, without the need of fussy spreadsheets that cause frustration. Encourage open communication channels. Ensure employees feel heard and valued regardless of their physical location. **Grow a community in teams.** This cultivates a resilient company culture that permeates from each team and thrives in both physical and virtual spaces. #### Outcomes Over Metrics **Metrics like revenue per employee or hours worked can lead to a myopic view of productivity.** HR managers must recognize that the true measure of success lies in the outcomes produced, not just the inputs. Shift your mindset from tracking every minute to assessing tangible results. Instead of micro-managing remote hours, concentrate on the quality and impact of the work being produced. Allow employees the freedom to choose when and where they work best. Trust that they will deliver results. In a results-oriented approach, employees are empowered to take ownership of their work. This autonomy not only enhances job satisfaction, but also promotes creativity and innovation. Break free from outdated metrics and employees will be motivated by the desire to achieve meaningful outcomes. And when looking at metrics, look at your team’s retention rate. That will give you an idea on whether your team are happy or not. That will give you a sense of whether they have the incentive to be productive. #### Breaking Free From Traditional Terms The companies that succeed at hybrid work are those that fully embrace flexibility. The term ‘hybrid’ suggests that there is mandated office time. Brian prefers to think of companies working flexibly. The terms “hybrid”, “productivity”, and “remote” are laden with preconceived notions. These may hinder the true potential of flexible work. It’s time for HR managers to embrace a more dynamic and inclusive vocab. Rather than focusing on hybrid work policies, consider adopting a “flexible work culture.” This shift emphasizes adaptability and responsiveness to personal needs. Avoid fixating on productivity. Prioritize impactful outcomes and highlight the tangible contributions that make a difference. #### Embracing Change: A Call To Action For HR Managers HR managers must lead the charge in redefining how we perceive and approach work in the modern era. The challenges presented by hybrid work are opportunities. Innovate and create a workplace that thrives in the face of change. The roadmap includes: 1. **Designing for Distributed Teams:** Tailoring workplaces to the needs of distributed teams. Avoid enforcing top-down mandates. 2. **Prioritizing Focus Time:** Investing in more asynchronous ways of working. Give employees the focus time needed for exceptional performance. 3. **Leadership Focused on Outcomes:** Build leaders who prioritize outcomes over managing like hall monitors. Foster a culture of achievement. 4. **Investing in Tools and Training:** Provide the necessary digital tools and training to support successful remote work. Reimagine workspaces as hubs for connection and teamwork. HR managers can pave the way for a future where work is not confined by the traditional constraints of productivity. Prioritize outcomes over metrics. Cultivate a culture of trust and flexibility. Inspire genuine connections in the office. Redefine your terms to reflect our new reality. Success is not measured in hours spent in the office or the number of Zoom meetings attended. It’s about the impact we make, the connections we foster, and the resilient cultures we build. Take the lead and champion a shift that empowers your teams to thrive in the evolving landscape of work. --- [Brian Elliott](), one of Forbes’ “Future of Work 50,” is a speaker and leadership advisor. He combines 25 years of leadership experience as a startup CEO and executive at Google and Slack, while leading Future Forum, a think tank focused on the future of work. He’s the bestselling author of How the Future Works: Leading Flexible Teams To Do the Best Work of Their Lives, a LinkedIn Top Voice, has been published in Harvard Business Review. Brian is also the proud dad of two young men and one middle-aged dog. #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Riding Into 2026: Talking Workplace With Brian Elliott - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/riding-into-2026-talking-workplace-with-brian-elliott/ Description: Dan Bladen and Brian Elliott break down the real trends driving workplace change across the globe as we head into 2026. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · November 26, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Riding Into 2026: Talking Workplace With Brian Elliott 2026 Workplace There is something fitting about talking about the future of work while sitting in the back of a Waymo gliding through San Francisco. An autonomous car is a real-time example of systems quietly rewiring themselves. What looks like a neat consumer experience is actually the result of deep structural changes in how data, infrastructure, and decision making come together. That same kind of shift is happening inside companies today. Leaders are rewriting assumptions about where work happens, how teams coordinate, and how performance is understood. That was the context for my ride with [Brian Elliott](). We compared the forceful [return to office]() push that kicked off 2025 with what employees actually did. We talked about how hybrid has truly settled, the growing need for outcome alignment, how AI is embedding into workflows, and the increasing pressure on office portfolios and workplace roles. This is not a set of predictions. It is the shared consensus from two vantage points that see, week after week, how organizations are evolving beneath the surface. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Hybrid Has Settled Into Something More Realistic We started with the return to office mandates that surged at the beginning of 2025. There were confident declarations about full time office returns, especially in the US. But the real outcome has been far more measured. Attendance has increased but not at the level leaders commanded. And across sectors, hybrid has stabilized into a predictable rhythm. [Companies like OpenAI](), who set clear expectations years ago with a Monday through Wednesday cadence, have seen the smoothest adoption. Organizations that tried to reverse remote first promises made in 2022 found themselves dealing with frustration, friction, and in some cases, attrition. > Three days a week seems to be the average now. The number of people moving to five is less and less every month. What we are seeing is stabilization rather than escalation. > > > > > > Brian Elliott > > > > Future of Work Expert Hybrid is no longer a temporary state. It is the model. And it works best when companies design why people come in, not just when. A stylized design of showing a 15% increased in meeting space utilization. #### The Real Unlock Is Alignment Around Outcomes Our conversation kept coming back to the same point: hybrid struggles are very often alignment struggles, not location struggles. Brian shared the story of a CEO running a complex global organization with six business units across twelve countries, covering hardware manufacturing, software, and customer support. The leadership team wanted a simple top down mandate for office days. Instead, the CEO pushed responsibility back downward because the real challenge was not presence. It was clarity. Different parts of the business needed different ways of working. And the most difficult work was not operational. It was strategic. > It was not the process. It was getting senior leadership aligned on how to clearly articulate the most important five goals for the company for the next six months. Alignment is the actual work. Office days are just the surface layer. > > > > > > Brian Elliott > > > > Future of Work Expert This theme is everywhere. Companies that measure progress through activity or presence are struggling. Companies that structure around outcomes are gaining momentum. Leaders who lean into the difficult conversations about priorities, tradeoffs, and sequencing are seeing hybrid work accelerate performance. Leaders who avoid those conversations are defaulting to mandates because they do not have a better operating model beneath them. #### The Workplace Function Has Quietly Become Strategic We then turned to workplace teams, a function that has undergone one of the biggest transformations inside the modern enterprise. A few years ago, workplace roles centered on leases, layouts, furniture, facilities, and ensuring offices ran smoothly. Today, those same teams are responsible for space strategy, utilization analytics, cultural programing, cross functional alignment, [hybrid coordination](), reconfiguration planning, and the expectations of both CFOs and employees. Workplace is no longer a background function. It sits at the intersection of real estate, people operations, IT, and finance. And the workload has expanded dramatically faster than the resources or systems given to these teams. This change is not theoretical. It is visible in the lived realities of thousands of workplace operators across industries. The companies recognizing [workplace operations]() as a strategic function are the ones evolving their office portfolios and supporting hybrid work effectively. Those treating it as legacy [facilities management]() are falling behind. A stylized image of someone struggling to someone not struggle with meeting room bookings in outlook. #### AI Is Becoming Useful Where Companies Understand Their Workflows Driving through San Francisco, it was impossible not to notice how AI has become the city’s visual identity. But the companies deriving actual value from AI are not just adopting tools. They are rethinking workflows. Brian talked about Zapier’s code red moment in 2023, when they realized they needed to map their processes clearly before AI could meaningfully improve anything. He described how IBM flipped its promotions workflow by combining tenure data and performance history up front, eliminating unnecessary back and forth. These were not experiments. They were tangible workflow upgrades. This pattern is becoming consistent. AI creates value when companies understand: • What good looks like • Where human judgment adds value • Where automation reduces unnecessary friction The organizations doing this well are not chasing usage stats. They are redesigning the flow of work. AI’s impact is becoming structural, not symbolic. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Economics of Space Are Forcing Better Decisions As we talked about office portfolios, one point became clear: space economics are now unavoidable. Spiraling costs, inconsistent attendance, and underutilized space have pushed companies into a much more rigorous approach to real estate. One example that stood out was a company reporting a cost of forty thousand dollars per desk per year for premium office space. Even for organizations that can afford it, these numbers are prompting big conversations about how much space is needed and what it should be used for. Companies are now differentiating floors into premium client facing spaces, flexible collaboration areas, and efficient working zones. Space is being right sized, not randomly reduced. And utilization data, not [badge data](), is driving decisions. This shift is not about cutting costs. It is about aligning space with the actual rhythms of how teams work. If your max number of people in seats over the last ninety days was thirty, you are getting thirty seats. There is no point in keeping sixty when the data shows you only need half. Brian Elliott Future of Work Expert #### What 2026 Is Starting To Look Like By the time the ride wrapped up, the through line between everything we discussed was unmistakable. Hybrid has stabilized into a consistent, purpose driven rhythm. Leadership teams are being pushed, sometimes uncomfortably, to align on outcomes instead of attendance. Workplace operations has become strategic, central, and stretched. AI is embedding into workflows where companies already understand their processes. And office portfolios are being reshaped by clear economics rather than legacy assumptions. These are not predictions. They are the conditions that are already shaping how organizations operate. They are the baseline for 2026. If you want help building a workplace operations strategy that reflects how work is actually happening today, [book a demo with our team](). --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() Part of a guide [AI and the future of work: strategy, capacity and the workplace]() AI and the future of work are now one conversation. Here is what AI means for the length of the week, for adoption, for human focus and for the office itself. #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Space Management Tools Help Navigate Hybrid Work - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/space-management-tools-help-navigate-hybrid-work/ Description: Space management tools offer insights into how office spaces are utilized. Data can help managers decide how to customize their space. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · March 20, 2024 · [Jamie Addis]() ### Space Management Tools Help Navigate Hybrid Work Five people working in an office setup The rise of hybrid work models has defined what we think of as [the modern workplace](). As companies adapt to this new normal, the need for effective space management tools has become critical. These tools can have a transformative impact on the hybrid work environment, enhancing: - productivity - collaboration - overall employee well-being #### Embracing The Hybrid Work Revolution The traditional 9-to-5 office routine has given way to a more flexible and dynamic work model. This revolutionary shift allows employees to blend remote work with in-office collaboration. Employees can now strike a balance that accommodates both professional and personal needs. With this newfound flexibility comes the challenge of optimizing workspace utilization. That’s where space management tools come into play. Organizations must first grasp the intricacies of their workspace dynamics. Space management tools empower businesses to gain [insights into how their spaces are utilized](). Analytics provide a thorough overview of office occupancy, meeting room usage, and individual work patterns. This knowledge becomes the cornerstone for strategic decision-making. Companies can create an environment tailored to their unique needs. Space Management data and insights help drive team productivity Desk Reservation Software allows you to see how office space is being used. #### Boosting Productivity Through Smart Space Allocation There is correlation between a well-organized workspace and increased productivity. Space management tools enable companies to optimize their office layout. Managers can ensure that the available space aligns with the nature of the tasks at hand. Whether it’s collaborative zones for team projects or quiet corners for focused individual work. With the space personalized for the team’s needs, productivity increases. The right space management tools will help managers [allocate neighborhoods for teams](). Employees can effectively and easily collaborate when the space is designed for their needs. This is an image example of how Kadence customers can schedule teams to Office Neigborhoods throughout the week Use Office Neighborhoods and assign them to your teams weekly to optimize your space and boost collaboration #### Creating Agile Workspaces Adaptability is key. Space management tools facilitate the creation of agile workspaces. These can be easily reconfigured based on evolving needs. Tools can recommend suitable desks or meeting rooms equipped with the necessary technology and resources. With no more fixed desks, employees need to be able to book desks that meet the requirements for their tasks. This can be impossible to provide without space management tools. Otherwise, managers rely on unreliable spreadsheets to track what facilities are available. #### Prioritizing Employee Well-Being Effective space management creates an environment that prioritizes the well-being of employees. The space where work happens is integral to the happiness of the team. It’s as simple as saying when employees are comfortable, they feel better working. Employees may use the tools to reserve office spaces when they need a break from the isolation of remote work. This flexibility promotes [a healthier work-life balance](). Employees can choose the environment that best suits their tasks and preferences. And this autonomy to book when they like through their device empowers them. #### Enhancing User Experience Sometimes, it’s easy to forget the human aspect of technology. Space management tools are not just about data and analytics. They are tools designed to enhance the overall user experience. When choosing software, look out for a well-designed, intuitive user interface. Employees should be able to effortlessly navigate and leverage the features of these tools. If they can, booking a desk no longer becomes a task in itself. Not everyone is a tech expert. Space management tools come with comprehensive training and support features. Employees at all levels can harness the full potential of these tools. This takes off pressure for managers to set up outdated systems using spreadsheets and train their staff. Look out for [AI integration](). Instead of even having to learn how to use the software, employees can request what they need in a simple message. The AI will do the rest and respond in the same conversational manner. Kadence Hybrid Workplace AI Use Kadence Hybrid Workplace AI to book the spaces you need in your office with just a prompt #### Scalability And Customization Space management tools future-proof the work environment. They are a strategic investment that enable organizations to adapt and stay ahead of the curve. Their power lies in their scalability and customization options. Organizations can tailor these tools to fit their unique requirements. The same tools can be used as the company grows – from startup to operating on a global scale. The tools adapt to the size of the company, rather than the other way around. They work with the space you have and will adapt as your company grows or downsizes. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Integrations With Preexisting Software Space management tools should not be isolated entities. They should [seamlessly coexist with any software that your team is already using](). Whether that be Microsoft Teams or Slack, the space management tool should be able accessible within this software. This saves employees having to jump from app to app. Desks and meeting rooms can be booked within the software they are already familiar with. Managers should also have the capability to export reports about how the space is being used. This can be shared within internal communications, so decisions based on the data can be easily made. #### Consider Kadence To Navigate Hybrid With Confidence Space management tools are undeniably transformative. These tools go beyond optimizing physical spaces. They create a holistic work environment that prioritizes productivity, collaboration, and employee well-being. Kadence’s space management tools can empower your company in its hybrid journey. Book desks and conference rooms, invite visitors and coordinate your team’s movements. Kadence gives you detailed insights into how your team uses office space. Reports explain what spaces are under-used, so you can save on real estate costs. With Kadence, you not only manage the space, but ensure it achieves its full potential. [Book a demo]() today. We’ll show you exactly how Kadence can help you find your rhythm for work. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## SpaceOps: Built for What Happens Next - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/spaceops-built-for-what-happens-next/ Description: Most workspace tools tell you what happened. SpaceOps tells you what to do next. Discover prescriptive space planning. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · June 8, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### SpaceOps: Built for What Happens Next Prescriptive Space Planning Something Rory from our Product Engineering Team said recently has stayed with me. Most workspace tools, he explained, are good at telling you what happened. What floor engineering used last Wednesday. How many desks were occupied in Q3. Which neighborhoods ran at capacity and which sat empty. What they are not built to do is tell you what to do about it. That gap is the one [SpaceOps]() was designed to close. But as we have built it, we have learned something important: the distance between a space planning decision and an outcome is much larger than most workspace tools acknowledge. Closing it requires more than better data, and more than a smarter algorithm. It requires rethinking the entire space planning workflow from the moment a decision is made to the moment a team is sitting somewhere new. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Problem with Descriptive Data Most organizations are sitting on more workspace data than they have ever had. Badge access logs, booking records, sensor readings, HR headcount figures. The problem is rarely that the data does not exist. The problem is that the systems designed to interpret it were built to look backward. A [utilization report]() can tell you that floors four and five averaged 34% occupancy last quarter. What it cannot tell you is what to do about it. Whether closing those floors makes sense depends on how teams overlap, how headcount is expected to grow, what the lease implications are, and which moves would create the most disruption. None of that lives inside a utilization dashboard. The result is that the data stops being useful at precisely the moment the real space planning work begins. SpaceOps AI agent responding to a move scheduling request, showing the Plan, Schedule, and Execute stages of a workplace change with automated booking cancellation and zero manual intervention required. #### The Spreadsheet Trap When utilization data runs out, most organizations fall back to spreadsheets. It is easy to understand why. Spreadsheets are flexible, familiar, and free. But they are also where space planning decisions go to slow down and lose their integrity. The pattern is predictable. A planning file gets shared across teams. Multiple people start working from different versions. Booking data does not make it in because nobody thought to connect it. One team ends up with better outcomes because they were more vocal in the process, not because the data supported it. Decisions that should take days take weeks. And when something changes, the whole process starts over. What the spreadsheet trap really costs is not time, though it costs plenty of that. It is the quality of the space planning decision itself. Plans built in spreadsheets tend to reflect the loudest voices in the room rather than the best reading of the available data. And because the reasoning is buried across cells and email threads, it is nearly impossible to audit or defend later. When a CFO asks why the organization is paying for three floors in a market where actual attendance sits below 40%, a spreadsheet does not give you a good answer. SpaceOps AI space planning agent interface showing floor plan consolidation and stack planning dashboard. #### From Descriptive to Prescriptive Space Planning, and Beyond [SpaceOps]() was built to be prescriptive. That means it does not just show you what is happening in your portfolio. It helps you model what should happen next. If engineering grows by 20%, here is how it ripples across the floor. If you consolidate two floors, here are three [scenario planning]() options, ranked by disruption, cost efficiency, and team adjacency. Tell it what you need in plain language and it builds from there, using your actual occupancy data from [Kadence WorkOps]() rather than assumptions or portfolio averages. But prescriptive space planning is only useful if you can act on it. What we found, building and testing SpaceOps with real enterprise portfolios, is that the planning stage is only part of what leaders need. The harder part is execution: getting from a scenario on screen to 47 desks moved, three rooms rebooked, and four teams sitting somewhere new without something going wrong. That is why SpaceOps connects space planning directly to scheduling and execution. Once a scenario is approved, the system builds the move sequence, detects conflicts with existing bookings, identifies the lowest-disruption window, and generates move sheets for every team involved. The plan does not end when the decision is made. It follows through to the floor. What used to require an eight to twelve week consultant engagement, or a complex legacy IWMS implementation that takes months to configure and needs a specialist to operate, can now happen in days. That is not a marginal improvement in space planning. It changes the economics of how organizations respond to change. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Defensibility Question Something we did not fully anticipate when building SpaceOps was how much the ability to explain a space planning decision would matter to the people using it. Space decisions are organizational decisions. They affect trust. They reshape how teams interact. They send signals about who the organization values and how it thinks about its people. When a leader moves a team to a new floor, they need to be able to say why, and that reason needs to hold up in a leadership meeting, not just make sense in the moment. SpaceOps makes space planning auditable in a way that most tools do not. Once a plan is built, you can interrogate it. Ask why engineering was placed on floor one. See the reasoning, whether that is collaboration patterns, amenity proximity, or attendance data. If the logic does not hold, adjust it. The decision remains with the person accountable for it, but they have something to stand behind when the questions come. This shift from implicit to explicit reasoning is one of the things we are most proud of in how SpaceOps has taken shape. If you want to understand more about how we got here, [this earlier piece]() covers the thinking behind some of the key design choices. #### Intelligence That Knows Its Limits One of the most deliberate choices we made with SpaceOps is keeping humans firmly in the loop. The system models scenarios, sequences moves, and surfaces trade-offs. But it does not make space planning decisions. That might seem like a limitation. It is not. Fully automated space decisions introduce a kind of risk that is difficult to unwind. A model optimizing for cost efficiency can make technically correct recommendations that are organizationally damaging. Putting a high-growth team next to a recently restructured one might look fine on a floor plan. It is not always fine in practice. What SpaceOps does instead is make the trade-offs visible. Leaders can see what they are giving up when they optimize for cost over collaboration, or speed over stability. They can choose the plan that is not necessarily the most efficient, but the most defensible given everything they know about their organization. That is not a failure of intelligence. It is what good space planning judgment looks like when it is properly supported. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What Planning at This Speed Actually Changes For teams using SpaceOps today, the experience is different from any workspace tool they have used before. Space planning scenarios that previously required weeks of back-and-forth planning, consultant briefings, and manual data gathering can be modeled and compared in minutes. When conditions change, as they do, plans can be rebuilt just as quickly. There is no new engagement, no new fee, no waiting for an external team to ramp up again. That speed changes the quality of the decisions being made. When space planning is expensive and slow, organizations tend to make fewer, larger moves and hold on to real estate longer than they should. When it is fast and low-friction, leaders can test ideas before committing, explore options they would previously have dismissed as too complex to model, and act at the pace the business actually requires. #### Calculate the ROI of Your Workplace Operations Our brand-new ROI Calculator is here to help you visualize your success in seconds. [Calculate Your ROI]() Rory walks through how prescriptive space planning works in practice in the video above, including why the spreadsheet trap is harder to escape than it looks, and what it means to plan with data that is actually connected to how your office is being used. It is the clearest demonstration of what prescriptive space planning looks like when it is connected end to end. If you are working through questions around consolidation, growth, or complex moves, [book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see SpaceOps in action with your own portfolio data. Not ready for a demo yet? Use our [ROI Calculator]() to see the value SpaceOps could unlock for your portfolio in seconds. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## AI Space Planning Software That Executes Workplace Change - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/spaceops-the-first-ai-built-specifically-to-plan-schedule-and-execute-workplace-change/ Description: SpaceOps is AI space planning software that builds, schedules, and executes workplace change — powered by your real occupancy data. [News]() · [Product News]() · April 30, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change SpaceOps stack planning interface showing team allocations across floors in a Sydney office, with predicted headcount per day chart and Auto Stack AI button. Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from [AI space planning]() software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, and it was already wrong. So a consultant gets hired. Again. Ten weeks. $80,000. A PDF nobody can find six months later. And when move day goes wrong — bookings got cancelled, employees arriving to occupied desks, managers briefed too late — nobody blames the process. They blame the person who ran it. These leaders are making million-dollar calls in public, with consequences hundreds of people feel every morning. With spreadsheets. PDFs. Assumptions dressed up as strategy. In 2026. Still. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Introducing SpaceOps: Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change All in One Place [SpaceOps]() connects planning and execution in one end-to-end system — built on the occupancy data your organization is already generating, every single day. Not a planning tool. Not a scheduling tool. Not a move management tool. All of it. Connected. Inside Kadence. SpaceOps platform overview showing five core capabilities: Occupancy Modeling, Stack Planning, Scenario Modeling, Move Scheduling, and Space Planning, all connected through a single AI-powered workplace change management platform. Here’s what’s available now: - **AI-powered Stack Planning** — built on real booking behavior, not the org chart - **Space Planning via AI Agent** — build your seating plan through natural language; the agent knows your floors, your teams, your data - **Move Scheduling** — set the date, connected directly to the plan. No manual translation - **Automated Move Execution** — on the scheduled date, everything goes live in Kadence automatically. No emails. No chasing - **Floor Plan Import and Edit** — with AI suggestions for optimal team placement - **Directory Sync and Headcount Modeling** — real team data, in from the start - **Daily MAC Workflow** — a faster, more visual interface for the seating changes that never stop - **Share-Ready Exports** — presentation-ready plans, ready for stakeholder sign-off #### Calculate the ROI of Your Workplace Operations Our brand-new ROI Calculator is here to help you visualize your success in seconds. [Calculate Your ROI]() #### Why Every Tool Before This Has Failed Most workplace tools were built to show you a layout. Not change one. When your stack plan isn’t connected to your schedule, you’re translating manually between what was designed and what gets booked. When occupancy data isn’t in your planning tool, you’re guessing at how much space each team needs. When the schedule isn’t connected to your booking platform, executing a change requires a week of emails and someone manually updating everything after the fact. Visibility without accountability. For enterprise leaders making board-level decisions, that’s not enough. #### Four Things That Make SpaceOps Different From Every Tool That Came Before It ##### 1. Planning Built on Data You Already Have Every competitor needs sensors, badge readers, or has no data at all. [SpaceOps]() runs natively inside Kadence — it already has your booking signals. Which teams use which floors. How attendance shifts across the week. Where space sits empty. The AI uses that to right-size every team allocation before a single line gets drawn. No sensors. No badge readers. No guesswork. SpaceOps AI agent answering "How many desks does Engineering actually need?" using live Kadence WorkOps occupancy data, showing team size, attendance patterns, and an AI-generated desk allocation recommendation. ##### 2. An AI That Thinks Like a Space Planner Building a seating plan from a signed-off stack is judgment-heavy work — negotiating spatial constraints, catching conflicts, answering “does Engineering have enough room if ten contractors join next quarter?” mid-plan. [SpaceOps]() introduces an agent-driven planning experience for exactly that. It knows your stack, your floors, your team structure, and your occupancy history. You ask questions. It answers them — with reasoning grounded in your real data. You lock decisions; it adapts around everything else. And this isn’t third-party AI with a floor plan bolted on. The intelligence in SpaceOps is proprietary — a machine learning algorithm built specifically for this problem, trained on your behavioral signals. It shows its working. You stay in control throughout. SpaceOps AI agent answering "Can Finance and Legal share a floor if we move to the new layout?" with a live floor plan view from Kadence SpaceOps showing current team allocations across two floors, and an AI-generated recommendation to consolidate both teams onto Floor 1 by moving HR to Floor 2. ##### 3. Plan → Schedule → Execute. Without the Gaps Every competitor handles one part of the workflow. SpaceOps handles all three — connected, so nothing falls through between them. Schedule the move from within [SpaceOps](). Manage closures. Adjust if timelines shift. On the scheduled date, the new configuration goes live automatically — desk assignments, neighborhood groupings, floor plan layouts, all at once. From the first scenario to the moment the change is live. One system. SpaceOps AI agent responding to a move scheduling request, showing the Plan, Schedule, and Execute stages of a workplace change with automated booking cancellation and zero manual intervention required. ##### 4. The Daily Work That Never Goes Away Strategic [restacks]() aren’t the only change that happens. [New starters]() need desks. Teams shift. Neighborhoods need adjusting. Weekly. Daily. Always. A faster, floorplan-driven MAC interface replaces the current click-heavy workflow. New starters surface automatically from [HRIS](). Small floor plan changes happen without spinning up a full strategic process. Move sheets generate automatically. The daily work gets done faster. The big changes stay connected to the plan. SpaceOps AI agent responding to "Seat the three new starters joining Monday" by automatically assigning desk locations on a live floor plan view, with move sheets generated and a prompt to notify the facilities team about equipment requirements. #### The ROI of Getting Workplace Change Right — And What It Costs When You Don't Less wasted space. Fewer consultant engagements. Moves that go live on time, without the fire drill. And utilization data that actually reflects how your building is used — not how it was booked. For workplace leaders, the ROI isn’t just operational. It’s the ability to walk into a board meeting with a stack plan grounded in real data, a move that executed cleanly, and the audit trail to back every decision made along the way. That’s a different conversation with leadership. [SpaceOps]() makes it possible. Kadence platform diagram showing WorkOps handling day-to-day operations including desk and room booking, visitor management, attendance tracking, and live occupancy analytics, feeding live occupancy intelligence into SpaceOps which handles change orchestration including stack planning, scenario modeling, floor design, move scheduling, and automated go-live execution, with changes applied directly back into WorkOps to close the loop. #### SpaceOps and WorkOps: The Complete Picture [SpaceOps]() handles the strategic work — planning, scheduling, and executing space changes. WorkOps handles everything the workplace team needs to run the day-to-day: desk and room booking, visitor management, [interactive floor plans](), neighborhood management, occupancy intelligence, and the insights that make every future decision sharper. The two aren’t separate products. They’re two sides of the same system. WorkOps generates the real behavioral data — who books what, when, how often, across which teams — that SpaceOps turns into defensible planning decisions. SpaceOps executes the change, and the new configuration feeds straight back into WorkOps, keeping the operational layer current without anyone lifting a finger. The Kadence Workplace Operations Platform runs the full loop in one place, from how your people use space today to how your workplace should be configured tomorrow. We don’t sell tools. We build the operational infrastructure that runs the modern enterprise workplace. SpaceOps is available now. If you’re ready to run workplace change end-to-end — without the spreadsheets, the consultants, or the fire drills — [book a demo]() or [calculate your ROI]() to see how much you can save in seconds. #### Calculate the ROI of Your Workplace Operations Our brand-new ROI Calculator is here to help you visualize your success in seconds. [Calculate Your ROI]() #### FAQs **What is SpaceOps in workplace planning?** SpaceOps is a workplace planning platform that connects strategy and execution in one system, helping teams model space decisions and then put approved plans live. **How does SpaceOps improve workplace planning and execution?** It helps workplace leaders move from scenario planning to go-live faster by reducing manual handoffs, supporting re-optimization, and activating approved workplace changes in the same platform. **Why is traditional workplace planning no longer effective?** Traditional workplace planning is often fragmented and static, which makes it harder to adapt when headcount, team structures, or attendance patterns change. **How does SpaceOps support workplace strategy decisions?** SpaceOps helps leaders evaluate options, understand tradeoffs, and make evidence-based decisions about space, adjacencies, and future workplace needs. **How do workplace leaders use SpaceOps to plan and adapt office space?** They can use it to test scenarios, refine plans, export leadership-ready outputs, and implement approved changes without relying on disconnected tools or manual execution. --- Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts See Kadence in action. Speak with our team today. [Get in touch]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Starbucks Remote Work Policy And Hybrid Culture (2024) | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/starbucks-brewing-a-better-hybrid-culture/ Description: Starbucks' remote work policy asked most corporate staff to be in the office three days a week. How Starbucks could build a fairer hybrid culture in 2024. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · August 30, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### Starbucks' Hybrid Work Policy: An Opportunity To Brew A Better Hybrid Culture (2024) Hands of a barista and customer buying take out coffee in cafe Starbucks’ [remote work]() policy became a talking point in 2024. Its [hybrid policy]() requires most employees to be in the office, at their desk, three days a week. In October 2024, Bloomberg reported that Starbucks had [threatened to fire employees]() who did not comply with the [return-to-office mandate](). It is a tricky situation. A policy that appears to favor the CEO’s remote work style, while requiring most employees to come in three days a week, naturally raises questions. But challenges often present opportunities. This was Starbucks’ chance to show what an inclusive and effective [hybrid work]() culture can look like. #### What is Starbucks’ hybrid work policy? As of 2024, Starbucks’ hybrid work policy asked most corporate employees to work from the office three days a week. By October 2024, the company had threatened to fire employees who did not comply. The policy also appeared to favor the CEO’s own remote work style while holding most employees to a fixed office schedule. A **return-to-office mandate** is a company rule that requires employees to work from the office on a set number of days. #### What could Starbucks do to build a better hybrid culture? Starbucks could start with trust. As the [Hybrid Manifesto]() puts it, trust is the foundation of any hybrid company. That means a culture where everyone feels valued and supported regardless of location, with flexibility and an acceptance that one size does not fit all. Three steps would help Starbucks get there. - **Define clear expectations.** Outline roles, set guidelines for communication and collaboration, and set clear performance criteria for everyone. - **Empower hybrid workers.** Create an environment that supports productivity and collaboration, and train people to excel in a hybrid setting. - **Foster trust and respect.** Value the contributions of all employees, wherever they work, and create an environment where open and honest communication thrives. Kadence’s summary of [the Hybrid Manifesto]() sets out the principles behind these steps. Starbucks Center, the Starbucks headquarters building in Seattle, Washington Starbucks Center in Seattle, Washington (headquarters of Starbucks Coffee). Source: Wikipedia #### What can Starbucks employees do? Hybrid employees at Starbucks can shape the culture too, whatever the policy says. They can communicate openly, build relationships in person and online, and adapt to different ways of working. These habits make a hybrid team work day to day, and they help a policy feel like a shared way of working rather than a rule. - **Communicate openly.** Share project updates, offer feedback and support one another. - **Build relationships.** Connect with colleagues through virtual and in-person interactions, team meetings and [social events](). - **Be adaptable.** Embrace different work styles, schedules and communication preferences. #### How can workplace software support a hybrid culture? Hybrid work software makes the practical side of hybrid work visible. It helps teams plan when to be together, improves communication and shows how office space is actually used. That gives leaders evidence for decisions about office days and space, rather than a fixed rule alone. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Kadence’s hybrid work software is built to empower teams, improve communication and optimize [space utilization](). [Desk booking]() and [space management]() show which days people come in and how much space they use. Starbucks, and any company, can use that kind of evidence to build a hybrid culture that is fair, efficient and enjoyable for everyone. #### Frequently asked questions ##### How many days a week does Starbucks require employees in the office? As of 2024, Starbucks’ hybrid policy required most corporate employees to be in the office three days a week. ##### Did Starbucks threaten to fire employees over its return-to-office policy? Yes. In October 2024, Bloomberg reported that Starbucks had threatened to fire staff who did not comply with its return-to-office mandate. ##### What is the foundation of a good hybrid culture? Trust. The Hybrid Manifesto describes trust as the foundation of any hybrid company, built through clear expectations, open communication and respect for employees wherever they work. Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Starbucks 1,100 Job Cuts And Hybrid Work (2025) | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/starbucks-cuts-1100-jobs-what-this-means-for-hybrid-work/ Description: In February 2025, Starbucks cut 1,100 corporate jobs and required VP+ leaders in the office three days a week. What it meant for hybrid work and retention. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · February 25, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Starbucks Cuts 1,100 Corporate Jobs: What It Means For Hybrid Work (February 2025) A person buying a coffee. People in office working Starbucks jobs. In February 2025, [Starbucks cut 1,100 corporate jobs]() as part of a wider effort to streamline operations and refocus its business strategy. At the same time, it renewed its focus on in-person work. The announcement showed that even iconic brands are not immune to structural overhauls. > “Our intent is to operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity and drive better integration.” > > > > Brian Niccol, CEO, Starbucks Beneath the headlines was a deeper question: what did the cuts mean for [hybrid work]() at Starbucks, and for other organizations still working out their workplace strategies? #### Why did Starbucks cut 1,100 jobs? Starbucks cut 1,100 corporate jobs in February 2025 to operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity and drive better integration, in CEO Brian Niccol’s words. The cuts were part of a broader effort to streamline operations and refocus the business strategy. They came alongside new in-office requirements for senior leaders. A few months earlier, Kadence looked at how [Starbucks’ mandate for employees to return to the office]() three days a week undermined the flexibility of its hybrid strategy. With the layoffs and leadership changes, Starbucks reached an inflection point: could it keep a strong, flexible workplace culture while restructuring for efficiency? Diagram: Starbucks' shift to in-person work affects workplace culture through an in-person mandate, reduced flexibility, a potential morale drop and talent retention challenges #### What did Starbucks change about remote and in-office work? Alongside the cuts, Starbucks discouraged [remote work]() and required all VP+ leaders in North America to work from the office at least three days a week. Future hires will need to be based in Seattle or Toronto, except for enterprise-designated remote roles. Most existing remote employees at director level and below keep their status. The requirement appears to be another push to carry out the office mandate set the previous August. In a section of his letter about “taking steps to bring together our North America leadership teams,” Niccol said all “VP+ leaders in North America” must work from the office a minimum of three days per week, as part of a renewed focus on [in-person collaboration](). He added that “hiring for future roles will require partners to be Seattle or Toronto based, except for enterprise designated remote positions.” This is not an outright reversal, but it signals a shift toward fewer remote roles in the future. Niccol also reassured staff that “Generally, partners working remotely in director and below roles today will keep their remote status.” #### Can Starbucks retain talent while driving efficiency? Layoffs do not just reduce costs. They affect morale, engagement and retention. If hybrid work was a key part of Starbucks’ talent strategy, pulling back on flexibility risked driving away high performers. Research on [return-to-office mandates]() points to higher attrition, especially among the people companies most want to keep. Companies that force rigid return-to-office (RTO) policies often see higher attrition, particularly among top talent who value autonomy. [A study from the University of Pittsburgh]() found that S&P 500 firms implementing RTO mandates faced “abnormally high” employee turnover, with pronounced losses among women, senior employees and highly skilled workers. For a contrasting case, see [how Trip.com approached hybrid work](). Pros and cons of enforcing a rigid return-to-office policy at Starbucks: cost reduction and more in-office collaboration against higher attrition, lower morale, loss of top talent, employee pushback and competitive disadvantage This has played out before. [JPMorgan]() and [Amazon]() tightened their RTO policies and faced pushback from employees. [Companies like Apple, Microsoft, and SpaceX saw increased attrition when they imposed stricter in-office mandates.]() Workers now expect hybrid flexibility as a baseline, not a perk. A [Pew Research study]() published in January 2025 found that nearly half of employed adults who could work remotely would consider leaving their jobs if forced to return full-time. Without a firm commitment to the hybrid culture it had built, Starbucks risked alienating its best people in a competitive talent market. #### What can other organizations learn from Starbucks? Organizations watching Starbucks can take three lessons. Balance efficiency with flexibility, so cost-cutting does not remove the flexible work environment. Communicate change clearly and in both directions. And base decisions on data about how work models and office space actually perform, rather than on assumptions about office culture. Diagram of the move from a rigid work environment to an agile work culture: balance efficiency, communicate change and use data 1. **Balance operational efficiency with workplace flexibility.** Cost-cutting should not come at the expense of a flexible work environment. Done right, hybrid work has been shown to increase productivity and employee satisfaction. Prioritize agility over rigidity. 2. **Communicate change clearly and authentically.** Employees worry about job security, and also about how changes affect their day-to-day experience. Clear, transparent, two-way dialogue is critical when hybrid policies change. 3. **Use data, not assumptions.** Track real-time data on how different work models affect performance, engagement and retention. Base decisions on what actually works, not outdated ideas of office culture. The third lesson applies directly to real estate. Had Starbucks explored its real estate spend through insight into how its offices are actually used? Understanding [workspace utilization]() could help any company make more strategic decisions about office mandates and hybrid policies. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What’s next for Starbucks and hybrid work? As of February 2025, Starbucks had a chance to reaffirm its commitment to a modern, adaptable workforce. If it leaned into hybrid work rather than pulling back, it could turn the restructuring into a chance to redefine what an adaptive corporate culture looks like. Companies that thrive will evolve with their people, not against them. Whether an organization is scaling back, expanding or simply optimizing, the key is to be intentional. Kadence’s guide to [return to office]() covers how to build a hybrid strategy that works for both the business and its employees. #### Frequently asked questions ##### How many jobs did Starbucks cut in February 2025? Starbucks cut 1,100 corporate jobs in February 2025, as part of an effort to streamline operations and refocus its business strategy. ##### What are Starbucks’ office requirements for leaders? As of February 2025, all VP+ leaders in North America must work from the office a minimum of three days per week. Future hires must be based in Seattle or Toronto, except for enterprise-designated remote positions. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ##### Did Starbucks end remote work for existing employees? No. Brian Niccol said that, generally, partners working remotely in director and below roles would keep their remote status. ##### Do return-to-office mandates increase attrition? A University of Pittsburgh study found that S&P 500 firms implementing RTO mandates faced abnormally high turnover, with pronounced losses among women, senior employees and highly skilled workers. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Office Space Management: Book Parking, Lockers and Pods | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/streamlining-space-management/ Description: How Kadence's Additional Space Types, launched in August 2024, brought parking, lockers and private pods into one booking system for office space management. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · August 21, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Streamlining Office Space Management With Bookable Parking, Lockers and Pods Different space types employees can choose to book In August 2024, Kadence simplified office space management with **Additional Space Types**, a feature that lets office managers add parking spots, lockers and private pods to their floorplans so employees can book them alongside desks and rooms. It brought more of the office into one booking system and gave a fuller picture of how real estate is used. Hybrid work changed what employees need from the office on the days they come in. Someone might need a desk, a pod for private calls, a locker for luggage and a parking spot, all on the same day. Additional Space Types let them book all of it from one [interactive floor plan](), next to [desk booking]() and [room booking](). #### What are Additional Space Types? Additional Space Types are bookable resources beyond desks and rooms, such as parking spots, personal lockers and private pods, that office managers add and manage directly within their floorplans. Kadence launched them in August 2024. Employees reserve them the same way they reserve a desk, which simplifies booking and helps organizations use their real estate efficiently, wherever team members are based. Picture reserving a parking spot ahead of time, or securing a private pod for a focused work session, in a few clicks. The office becomes an environment that fits the different needs of each team, supporting both collaboration and individual focus. #### What could office managers do with Additional Space Types? At launch in August 2024, Kadence described five things office managers and employees could do with Additional Space Types: book several resource types for the day, configure each type, set access rules, manage how spaces are used and see usage patterns for each type. Each extends the controls already used for desks to other parts of the office. ##### 1. Select and book the resources needed for the day Employees could book a pod for private calls, a locker for luggage and a spot for their car, all from the interactive floor plan. A list of bookable resources that an employee can select in Kadence ##### 2. Create and configure each space type Office managers could list resources in order of priority within the booking flow and create neighborhoods with any space type, including rooms. A [neighborhood]() is a group of spaces set aside for a team or purpose. Managers could also set capacity limits, [maximum booking durations]() and limits on repeated bookings for high-demand spaces. An illustration of parking, lockers and private pods that users can book ##### 3. Fine-tune access for each space type Managers could decide who gets access to each space type, assign lockers, pods and parking spots to team members, and give individuals priority access. Bookings could be made in advance and repeated for as long as needed. ##### 4. Use spaces more efficiently Lockers, parking spots and pods could be managed in all the same ways as desks. That included [auto-release]() for no-shows or cancellations, and early check-in or check-in via access control. Available car park spaces that users can book in Kadence ##### 5. Uncover usage patterns for each space type Kadence’s heat map showed which space types were most popular, so managers could improve how each area was used. A heat map showing the most popular area of the office #### Why does office space management matter? Office space management matters because it controls both cost and experience. Optimizing how space is used reduces real estate costs, while easy access to amenities such as lockers and pods makes the office work better for employees. In a hybrid workplace, it also lets organizations adapt quickly as team sizes and work styles change. The main reasons are: - **Cost efficiency:** optimizing space use reduces real estate costs, so every square foot is used well. - **Employee satisfaction:** easy access to amenities like lockers and private pods improves the working day, which supports job satisfaction and retention. - **Flexibility:** as hybrid work becomes the norm, companies must manage their space to fit changing team sizes and work styles. - **Productivity:** well-organized spaces help people focus. - **Collaboration:** a well-managed workspace encourages teamwork and communication. #### What impact did Additional Space Types have on space management? Bringing parking, lockers and pods into the same system as desks and rooms put every [space booking]() in one place. That centralization simplified operations, made space use easier to track and optimize, and gave employees one simple way to book what they needed. It also made communication about space clearer for everyone. ##### Centralized space management With every booking in one system, office managers could run [space management]() from one place and cut the administrative effort of juggling separate tools. Spreadsheets and miscommunication about availability gave way to a single view of desks, rooms, parking, lockers and pods. ##### Savings on real estate Tracking and optimizing how every type of space is used helps companies reduce real estate expenses. Organizations can see which spaces are underused and stop paying for space they do not actively use, so resources go where they support employees and the business. ##### A better employee experience Easy booking and clear information improve the experience for employees. Giving people what they need, such as secure lockers for belongings or quiet pods for focused work, shows a commitment to their well-being and supports a more engaged workforce. ##### Clearer communication Kadence’s [workplace announcements]() keep team members informed about space availability, changes and updates. Office managers can tell teams about available spaces, changes or updates in one place. That transparency reduces confusion, helps teams coordinate and supports a more collaborative atmosphere. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What can employees book with Additional Space Types? Parking spots, personal lockers and private pods, alongside desks and rooms. Office managers add these resources to their floorplans, and employees book them from the same interactive floor plan they use for desks. ##### Can office managers restrict who books a locker, pod or parking spot? Yes. At launch in August 2024, managers could customize access for each space type, assign resources to team members, give individuals priority access, and set capacity limits, maximum booking durations and limits on repeated bookings. ##### How do Additional Space Types help reduce real estate costs? They bring every bookable space into one system, so usage can be tracked and optimized across desks, rooms, parking, lockers and pods. Seeing which spaces are underused helps organizations avoid paying for space they do not actively use. Luke Christian-Farman Luke Christian-Farman Product Marketing Manager Luke heads up product marketing at Kadence, where he’s all about unveiling cool new features to help customers smash their hybrid workspace goals. When he’s not shaking up the office scene, you’ll find him roaming the Sussex South Downs in the South East of England with his family, sipping tea and chasing pheasants with his boys. [Read More from Luke Christian-Farman]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Stripe Co-Founders Ask Why Companies Are Designing RTO For Their Worst Employees - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/stripe-cofounders-rto-worst-employees/ Description: Stripe co-founders argue RTO policies cater to low performers, where as hybrid work attracts top talent. Learn why. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · February 25, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Stripe Co-Founders Ask Why Companies Are Designing RTO For Their Worst Employees In a world where top talent thrives in flexible environments, why are companies structuring their workplace policies around the bottom 5% of performers? That’s the question posed by Stripe co-founders, John and Patrick Collison, when they were asked about [return-to-office (RTO) mandates](). “You don’t want to design your policies around like the bottom 5% of the company; that would be a horrible mistake. You want to design your policies against the top talent, and we have some outrageously productive remote people and they’re off, again, in a cabin in Idaho somewhere just coding up a storm.” John Collison Stripe Co-Founder It suggests that widespread [RTO mandates]() are a misguided attempt to correct for underperformers—those who may be disengaged, less productive, or difficult to manage remotely. Instead of focusing on what makes high performers excel, companies are designing policies around the wrong people. And that’s a dangerous mistake. #### Stripe’s Stance On RTO Stripe has been one of the few companies resisting the widespread shift back to in-office work, with [approximately 40% of the Stripe workforce operating remotely last year.]() Rather than taking a rigid stance, its cofounders have emphasized that workplace strategies should be shaped by the unique needs and context of each company, rather than a blanket mandate. Patrick and John Collison noted that much of the backlash [against remote work stemmed from online narratives that painted it as a vehicle for disengagement]()—coining terms like “quiet quitting” and amplifying spaces like the “anti-work” subreddit, where users shared stories of slacking off. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() However, they argued that using these outliers to justify broad RTO mandates was a mistake. When companies shape their [workplace strategies]() around the lowest-performing employees, they risk alienating their top talent instead. Stripe have not made this mistake. #### The False Premise Of RTO We’ve heard the same argument from CEOs pushing for a full-time return to the office: productivity and collaboration suffer when people aren’t physically together. But [research from Nick Bloom’s study with Trip.com proves otherwise](). The study found that [hybrid work]() had [no effect on productivity and reduced attrition by 35%](). Employees working in a [structured hybrid]() model also reported higher engagement and satisfaction, debunking the myth that in-office mandates are necessary for success. If you look closer, many of these mandates are actually about control—driven by a small percentage of employees who struggle in a hybrid or remote setting. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() On the All-In podcast, the Collisons responded to [JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s push for in-office mandates](), emphasizing that a successful workplace policy should cater to high performers, not be a reaction to a vocal minority. The problem? When you design your [workplace strategy]() to accommodate your weakest links, you create an environment that repels your strongest players. #### Top Talent Prefers Hybrid The data is clear: high performers overwhelmingly [prefer hybrid work](). A [recent Pew Research study]() found that nearly half of employed adults who could work remotely would consider leaving their jobs if forced to return full-time. Why? Because hybrid gives them the autonomy to structure their days for deep work, collaboration, and balance—without the daily energy drain of a rigid commute. When companies force RTO as a broad-stroke solution to a small group of disengaged employees, they risk alienating the very talent that drives their success. #### The Right Approach: Build For The Team You Want The best companies don’t create policies for their weakest performers—they optimize for their best. That means designing work environments that: - **Empower autonomy:** Give top talent the freedom to work in ways that maximize their effectiveness. - **Foster meaningful collaboration:** Use [in-person time strategically]() for innovation, problem-solving, and culture-building—not just for the sake of face time. - **Attract and retain top talent:** A hybrid model signals trust and flexibility, two things high performers value most. Instead of forcing an outdated, one-size-fits-all model that caters to the lowest common denominator, companies should ask: What kind of workplace will attract and retain our best people? Because if you’re designing your workplace strategy around the bottom 5%, you might just lose the top 5% in the process. Featured Content Free Hybrid Work Policy Template Streamline your team’s success—download our free Hybrid Work Policy Template today! [Download Template]() #### How Kadence Helps Hybrid Teams Kadence enables companies to build a workplace strategy designed for top talent. Our platform helps teams seamlessly [coordinate hybrid schedules](), [book office space]() efficiently, and create a flexible work environment that fosters productivity and collaboration. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Looking to optimize your [hybrid strategy]()? [Book a demo]() with our hybrid experts to see how Kadence can help your team thrive. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Benefits Of Asynchronous Work With Paige Goldstein - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/the-benefits-of-asynchronous-work-with-paige-goldstein/ Description: Learn how asynchronous work is a game-changer, offering benefits from increased productivity to cost savings and global talent access. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · July 9, 2024 · [Helen Attia]() ### The Benefits Of Asynchronous Work With Paige Goldstein A woman smiles into a webcam As we navigate the modern work landscape, the traditional 9-to-5 model is rapidly losing its relevance. Enter asynchronous work—a transformative approach that transcends time zones and fixed schedules. I recently chatted with Paige Goldstein, a self-proclaimed digital nomad and co-host of the Fill Your Sol podcast. We chatted about her flexible style of working and how employers could increase productivity by working asynchronously. Watch our full chat here: [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() This blog delves into the myriad benefits of working asynchronously, offering insights and practical strategies to help teams excel in this innovative framework. #### The Hallmarks Of Asynchronous Work **Flexibility And Autonomy** The hallmark of asynchronous work is the unparalleled flexibility it provides. Employees are liberated from rigid schedules, allowing them to choose work hours that align with their personal lives. This flexibility fosters a healthier work-life balance, reducing stress and preventing burnout. **Boosted Productivity** Asynchronous work taps into individual productivity peaks. By empowering employees to work when they’re most efficient, tasks are completed with greater precision and speed. This personalized approach maximizes output, benefiting the entire team. **Global Talent Pool** Geographical barriers vanish. Companies can now access a global talent pool, hiring the best minds regardless of location. This diversity drives innovation and brings a wealth of perspectives to the table. **Fewer Meetings, More Focus** Traditional work environments are often disrupted by frequent meetings and interruptions. Asynchronous work minimizes real-time meetings, allowing employees to concentrate on deep work. Communication becomes more intentional, conducted through written updates and collaborative tools. **Enhanced Communication Skills** Asynchronous work necessitates clear, concise communication. Without the luxury of immediate clarification, messages must be thorough and well-articulated. This practice hones overall communication skills, promoting transparency and accountability. **Elevated Job Satisfaction** When employees control their schedules and integrate work with personal activities, job satisfaction soars. A harmonious work-life balance boosts morale, fostering long-term commitment and loyalty to the organization. **Cost Efficiency** Organizations can realize significant cost savings with asynchronous work. Reduced need for physical office space cuts expenses related to rent, utilities, and supplies. Employees also save on commuting, contributing to a more sustainable business model. **Results-Oriented Culture** Working asynchronously shifts the focus from hours worked to results achieved. This meritocratic approach rewards performance based on output and quality, creating a motivating environment where contributions are valued. #### Implementing Asynchronous Work: Practical Tips **Define Clear Expectations** Success in asynchronous work hinges on clear expectations. Set defined goals, deadlines, and communication protocols to ensure alignment. Regular updates and reviews help adapt to evolving needs. **Leverage The Right Tools** Invest in tools that facilitate seamless asynchronous collaboration. Platforms like Slack, Trello, and Google Workspace streamline communication and task management, supporting a cohesive workflow. And of course, Kadence is your ultimate partner in [aligning your teams](), so you can find those important moments to collaborate. **Build A Trusting Culture** Trust is the foundation of working asynchronously. Leaders must trust their teams to manage time effectively and deliver quality work. This trust fosters a positive, empowered work environment. **Provide Training And Support** Equip employees with the skills needed for asynchronous work. Offer training on time management, communication, and collaboration tools. Continuous feedback and support ensure ongoing improvement. #### How Kadence Enhances Asynchronous Work Transitioning is seamless with Kadence, a comprehensive hybrid workplace management software. **Streamlined Coordination** Kadence offers tools for desk booking, room scheduling, and visitor management, optimizing physical space usage. Its intuitive interface helps employees plan their workdays, whether at home or in the office. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() **Efficient Communication** Kadence supports asynchronous communication, reducing the need for constant real-time meetings. Teams can share updates and collaborate at their own pace, minimizing disruptions and enhancing focus. **In-Depth Analytics** Kadence provides [workplace analytics]() to inform decisions about space and resource management. These insights help optimize operations for a hybrid work model. **Seamless Integration** [Kadence integrates]() with existing tech stacks, ensuring a smooth transition to asynchronous work. Whether using project management software, communication platforms, or calendars, Kadence enhances your team’s efficiency and effectiveness. #### A Final Thought Asynchronous work is a game-changer, offering benefits from increased productivity and job satisfaction to cost savings and global talent access. Embracing this approach can lead to a more flexible, inclusive, and efficient work environment. Tools like Kadence support this transition, providing the necessary infrastructure to thrive asynchronously. [Explore Kadence]() and take the first step towards a more productive and balanced future. --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Chief Places Officer Is Coming - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/the-chief-places-officer-is-coming/ Description: PwC and ULI floated a new role: the chief places officer. It already exists in every enterprise, unnamed and under-tooled. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · August 25, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### The Chief Places Officer Is Coming The Chief Places Officer Is Coming The most influential forecast in commercial real estate just floated a new job title, and I think it is the most important idea in the entire report. In this year’s PwC and ULI outlook, in a passage about how occupiers are reorganizing their floors, is the suggestion that coordinating where teams sit may soon become its own role. The report even gives it a name. An occupier research head quoted in the study is teasing the idea of a chief places officer, someone whose whole remit is the intersection of people and place. I want to take that seriously, because I do not think the role is coming. I think it is already here. Every enterprise I speak to already has this person. They just do not have the title, the budget, or the system to do the job properly. #### Calculate the ROI of Your Workplace Operations Our brand-new ROI Calculator is here to help you visualize your success in seconds. [Calculate Your ROI]() #### The Report Named a Role That Already Exists Read the passage closely and it is not really a prediction. It is a description of work that is already happening, badly, inside most large organizations. The report points out that companies with hybrid policies are moving away from a dedicated desk for every employee. Instead they are carving their floors into “neighborhoods,” clusters of desks assigned to teams, with communal areas where different groups can overlap. Somebody has to decide which team goes where, how much room each one needs on its busiest day, and what to do when two teams both want to be in on Wednesday. The report says this coordination may soon become a role of its own. Here is the line that stuck with me: > Somebody who is worried about the intersection of people and place. That is the job. And in every enterprise I know, it is currently being done by an office manager with a seating chart, a facilities lead who inherited it, or a head of real estate handling it in the margins of a much larger mandate. The work is real. The role is not real yet. That gap is the whole story, and it is about to close. #### What the Chief Places Officer Actually Does Strip away the title and the job is easy to state and very hard to do. You are matching people to space, continuously, while both sides keep moving. The people move because attendance is a pattern, not a rule. Teams cluster on some days and scatter on others. Headcount grows in one business unit and shrinks in another. The space moves because leases roll, floors get handed back, and neighborhoods get redrawn. The chief places officer sits in the middle of that and answers one question on repeat. Given who is actually coming in and when, what is the right configuration of the portfolio this quarter, and what will it be next quarter. That is not an administrative task. It is an optimization problem. You are trying to fit a shifting demand pattern onto a fixed and expensive supply of space, at the lowest cost, without making people hate coming in. Framing it that way matters, because it tells you exactly what this person needs in order to succeed, and it is not a bigger spreadsheet. #### The Chief Places Officer's Operating Stack Every real operating role runs on a stack. The CFO has a financial system. The head of sales has a CRM. The chief places officer, today, has a color-coded seating chart in a slide that is out of date the moment it is shared. If the role is going to be taken seriously, it needs three layers underneath it. The first layer is the demand signal. This is the record of how the organization actually uses space and intends to use it. Who comes in, on which days, in which teams, and what the headcount plan says is coming. This data does not exist in the building. It is generated by the workforce, which means it can only be captured on the occupier’s side, close to where people coordinate their week. The second layer is the supply model. This is an accurate, current picture of the portfolio itself. Floors, neighborhoods, capacities, cost per seat, and the lease timeline that governs when each decision has to be made. Most organizations have this scattered across facilities, finance, and a broker’s spreadsheet, never in one place at one time. The third layer is the optimization engine that sits between the two. This is the part almost nobody has. It takes the demand signal and the supply model and produces decisions you can compare and defend. Consolidate these two floors. Move this team next to that one. Renew here, hand back there. Without this layer, the first two are just reporting, and the chief places officer is back to guessing with better graphics. Demand signal, supply model, optimization engine. Take away any one of the three and the role cannot function. That is why it has stayed informal for so long. Until recently, no single system held all three. #### Why the Role Is Emerging Now The obvious question is why now. This coordination work has existed for years. What changed is the stakes. When space was cheap and every employee had an assigned desk, getting the configuration slightly wrong cost almost nothing. You had spare capacity everywhere. That era is over. The report describes a market where net absorption has been flat or negative for fourteen straight quarters and occupiers are actively shrinking their footprints. Every floor is now a live cost decision, and every lease event is a chance to get it right or expensively wrong. At the same time, the demand side got harder to read. The report finds that even as compliance improved, only 72% of organizations hit their attendance goals, and just 37% took any action to enforce their return-to-office policies. Read that as an operator. Attendance is no longer something you can mandate on a slide and assume. It is something you have to measure and plan around. The person who does that planning, seriously and with real data, is the chief places officer, whether or not that is the name on the door. Rising cost of getting it wrong, plus a demand pattern you can no longer assume, is exactly the condition that turns informal work into a formal role. That is what the report is picking up on. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What the Report Misses: How People Work, Not Just Where There is one thing the report underplays, and it is the part that will decide whether this role is taken seriously or treated as facilities with a fancier title. The report frames the job around when and where people work. Attendance, neighborhoods, footprint, cost. All of that is real. But the chief places officer is not only deciding where a team sits. They are deciding how that team works, because the environment shapes the output. A floor optimized purely for cost is easy to build and quietly corrosive. You can hit every utilization target and still create a space where focused work is impossible, where the teams that should be sparking off each other are on different floors, where people come in once and decide it was not worth the commute. That is the failure mode nobody puts on a dashboard. The best version of this role designs for the work itself. Quiet space for the work that needs concentration. Room for the collaboration that only happens in person. Adjacencies that put the right people within earshot of each other. Environments people actively want to be in, because the entire demand signal collapses the moment coming in stops being worth it. This is why experience is not a soft afterthought sitting next to the optimization. It is a constraint inside it. The right configuration of a portfolio is not the cheapest one that fits the bodies. It is the one that is efficient and makes the workplace somewhere people do their best work. Optimize for only the first half and you win the spreadsheet and lose the room. The chief places officer is the person who has to hold both at once, and that is exactly why the role needs a system that can see behavior, not just square footage. SpaceOps AI space planning agent interface showing floor plan consolidation and stack planning dashboard. #### The System of Record for a Role the Market Is About to Hire For This is the role Kadence was built for, before it had a name. The demand signal is captured in the natural flow of employees coordinating their week, with presence measured through [Kadence Sense]() rather than a survey nobody trusts. [SpaceOps]() holds the supply model and runs the optimization on top of it, modeling consolidation, team adjacency, and lease scenarios against your own workforce data so the trade-offs are visible before you commit. It runs on constraint-based optimization, not a generic language model guessing at your floor plan. All three layers, in one system, which is the thing the role has never had. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() The report is teasing a title. I would take the hint. Whoever an enterprise hires into this seat, on day one they will ask for the system that runs the people-and-place decision, and most organizations will not have one. If you want to see what getting that decision right is worth across your portfolio, run the numbers through the [Kadence ROI calculator](), and when you are ready to see the stack the chief places officer will actually run on, [book a demo]() with our workplace operations team. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/the-end-of-assigned-desks-is-not-the-end-of-belonging/ Description: Assigned desks are ending, but workplace belonging does not have to. The opportunity is to build offices that feel intentional and connected. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · May 19, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging Assigned Desks [Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy]() reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as [assigned desks]() disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because employees no longer own a desk. It has become harder to hold together because too many organizations removed the old symbols of stability before building the operating model needed to replace them. The argument is wrong in the place it matters most. It treats the loss of the assigned desk as the loss of belonging. It suggests that the office became less human when it stopped giving people a permanent chair, a drawer, a familiar neighbor, and a small physical claim on the organization. That version of the office is real in memory. It was never quite real in the data. #### Assigned Desks Were Hiding A Bigger Workplace Problem For decades, the fixed desk gave organizations a comforting illusion of stability. People had a place. Teams had a territory. Leaders could walk the floor and feel that the company had a physical shape. But a floor full of assigned desks was never the same thing as a workplace that was being used well. The average corporate desk in the pre-pandemic world was [occupied roughly 40% of the time](). Even in the most disciplined sectors, peak Tuesday occupancy rarely cleared 65%. Companies were paying [$80 to $200 per square foot annually]() for chairs that sat empty more often than not. The drawer full of family photos was sitting inside a very expensive footprint that few organizations had ever measured honestly. Those numbers may vary by market, industry, and building, but the underlying point is difficult to dispute. The office looked efficient because the model was familiar. It looked culturally settled because nobody was questioning the cost of permanence. Once the gap became impossible to ignore, the assigned desk stopped looking like a symbol of culture and started looking like an operating cost. The assigned desk did not become indefensible because employees stopped caring about the office. It became indefensible because organizations could finally see the difference between space they needed, space they used, and space they were simply used to paying for. #### Calculate the ROI of Your Workplace Operations Our brand-new ROI Calculator is here to help you visualize your success in seconds. [Calculate Your ROI]() #### Belonging Is Not Furniture The strongest part of Paul’s argument is the emotional one. People do need continuity at work. They need familiar relationships, predictable rhythms, team proximity, and a sense that the office has been designed around their needs rather than imposed on them as a cost-saving exercise. Actually a desk was never the source of that belonging. Belonging came from the manager who was present enough to notice when someone was struggling. It came from the team that built routines together. It came from the new joiner shadowing a senior colleague. It came from the lunch table, the project room, the recurring standup, the informal debrief, and the moments of proximity that made people feel part of something larger than their individual workload. None of that requires an assigned seat, but all of it requires intent. That is where many organizations have gone wrong. They removed permanence before they designed a new operating model. They reduced space before they redesigned how teams gather. They introduced booking systems before they clarified why people should come in, who they should come in with, and what kind of work the office should support. [Desk sharing]() did not cause that failure. It exposed it. The fixed desk had been doing quiet emotional labor for the organization, giving people the feeling that the workplace had structure even when the real sources of culture were leadership, ritual, trust, and shared purpose. Once the desk disappeared, the absence of those deeper structures became much harder to hide. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Friction Is Real, But The Diagnosis Is Wrong Poorly managed desk sharing creates exactly the frustrations Paul describes. People waste time finding space. Booking systems become unreliable. Meeting rooms show as available when they are already occupied. Teams arrive on the same day and end up scattered across different floors. New joiners struggle to understand the unwritten rules of the office. Quiet areas become contested. Preferred neighborhoods are quietly reclaimed, because people naturally seek familiarity even when the policy says the space is flexible. Those are not trivial irritations. They are [workplace operations]() failures. The mistake is to treat those failures as proof that flexible space cannot work. More often, they are proof that organizations are still trying to run a modern workplace with outdated management habits. The modern office is no longer a passive container for work. It is a live operating environment where people, space, time, technology, cost, and culture have to be coordinated deliberately. That coordination used to happen through habit. Teams sat together because the seating chart said they did. Leaders knew where people were because people were expected to be in the same place. [Space planning]() happened slowly because the organization itself moved slowly. That world has changed. The workplace now has to respond to shifting demand, different team rhythms, changing headcount, new policies, real estate pressure, and employee expectations that are far less uniform than they once were. This is where many organizations are stuck. They have removed the old certainty without replacing it with a better one. Employees do not know who will be in. Leaders do not know whether workplace policies are working. Workplace teams do not have enough visibility into demand. Real estate decisions are still being made from stale assumptions. Facilities teams are reacting to complaints rather than seeing patterns before they become problems. That is not a desk problem. It is an operating problem. #### The Future Office Needs Rootedness Without Waste The next era of workplace strategy will not be won by recreating the 2016 floor plan. It will also not be won by forcing employees into half-finished hot-desking experiments and calling that flexibility. The future office has to offer something more mature. Employees may not need to own the same desk every day, but they do need confidence in the experience. They need to know when their team is coming in. They need to find the right kind of space for the work they are doing. They need meeting rooms that are available when they say they are available. They need quiet space, collaboration space, social space, and enough visibility to make the office feel worth the journey. That is what rootedness looks like in a modern workplace. Not permanence for its own sake, but reliability, visibility, and trust. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() The office can be flexible and still feel human, provided flexibility is designed as an experience rather than treated as a space-saving policy. When employees feel like guests in their own workplace, the strategy has failed. When leaders celebrate utilization while employees absorb the friction, the strategy has failed. When the office becomes leaner but harder to use, the business has not modernized the workplace. It has simply made it smaller. Enterprise leaders, hold on to this distinction: the goal is not to preserve every old symbol of office life. The goal is to preserve the human outcomes those symbols were supposed to support: connection, continuity, trust, mentorship, focus, and belonging. Assigned desks were one way to create the appearance of those outcomes. It was never the only way, and it was often an expensive substitute for doing the harder work. The desk was never the answer. It was the alibi. Kadence WorkOps dashboard showing unified desk booking, room management, visitor tracking, and workplace occupancy data in one platform. #### The Workplace Now Has To Be Operated The lesson from the desk-sharing debate is not that companies should abandon flexible space. It is that flexibility without workplace operations becomes uncertainty. Organizations need a clearer way to understand how their workplace is actually being used. They need to know which teams are coming in, when demand peaks, where friction appears, which spaces are under pressure, and which parts of the office are quietly failing employees. They need to connect everyday workplace behavior with decisions about space, policy, planning, and experience. That is where Kadence comes in. Kadence helps [enterprises coordinate people, space, and operations]() in one intelligent [workplace operating system](). It gives employees the clarity to plan their day, find their teams, book the right spaces, and move through the office with less friction. It gives workplace and real estate leaders the visibility to understand demand, improve the employee experience, and [make better decisions about how space should evolve.]() [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Assigned desks made the old office feel permanent. But permanence was never the point. The point was belonging. The point was trust. The point was making the workplace feel like a place where people could do their best work together. Those outcomes still matter. They just have to be designed now. [Calculate your return on investment with Kadence]() or [book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see how Kadence helps enterprises build smarter, more human workplaces. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts See Kadence in action. Speak with our team today. [Get in touch]() #### Related - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] - [Hybrid Is The New Normal—But Not Yet For Everyone]() The UK has quietly reached a milestone: hybrid working is now the most common way to work among professionals. According to new data from the Office for National Statistics, 28% of workers in Britain split their time between home and the office. This is a structural shift in how the country works. But the data \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Enterprise Workplace Operations Playbook for 2026 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/the-enterprise-workplace-playbook-for-2026/ Description: A forward-looking guide to workplace operations. Learn how enterprises optimize space, attendance, and collaboration. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · December 17, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### The Enterprise Workplace Operations Playbook for 2026 The Enterprise Workplace Playbook for 2026 It’s 2026, and the workplace conversation has shifted. The question is no longer whether the office matters, whether hybrid work is permanent, or whether employees want flexibility. Those debates are largely settled. What remains unresolved is far more practical: how to operate the workplace so it actually works for the organization and the people inside it. For many enterprises, the problem is not a lack of data or effort. It is fragmentation. Workplace decisions are still being made in silos, with attendance discussed separately from space, collaboration discussed separately from operations, and real estate treated as a fixed asset rather than a living system. The organizations pulling ahead in 2026 are doing something different. They are treating the workplace as [an operational discipline]() through a more structured approach to workplace operations. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Office Is No Longer a Place. It Is a System. In the past, offices were designed and then largely left alone. Headcount drove capacity. Policies set expectations. Utilization was reviewed periodically. That model no longer holds. Today’s workplace is dynamic. Demand changes by day. Teams coordinate presence rather than simply showing up. Collaboration clusters around specific moments rather than happening continuously. Space is under pressure some days and underused on others. Employees experience the workplace as a system. When it works, days feel intentional and productive. When it breaks down, friction shows up immediately. This is why workplace operations has become the defining capability for enterprises in 2026. Without it, even well-intentioned strategies fail in execution and without a connected workplace operations platform, these gaps are harder to close. A stylised design of Kadence's Natural Language Analytics. #### What Employees Are Responding to Now Employees in 2026 are not responding to mandates or messaging. They are responding to experience. They come into the office when it is predictable, coordinated, and worth the time. They avoid it when days feel disorganized, crowded, or low value. This is not resistance. It is rational behavior. Organizations that invest in workplace operations remove uncertainty. Employees can see when their teams will be together. [They can trust that space will support the work they plan to do.]() They do not have to gamble on whether an in-office day will be worthwhile because workplace operations systems create more predictable and coordinated experiences. Presence becomes a choice rather than an obligation. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Why Attendance Patterns Matter More Than Policies Most enterprises now accept that attendance will never be evenly distributed. Midweek peaks and quieter edge days are not anomalies. They are signals. Busy Tuesdays tell you when collaboration matters most. Empty Fridays tell you where space is consistently underused. Together, these patterns reveal how work actually happens, not how it was expected to happen. The mistake many organizations still make is trying to flatten these patterns rather than learning from them. Spreading attendance without changing coordination creates low-value office days. Ignoring quiet days leads to wasted space and unnecessary cost. Workplace operations turns these patterns into insight. Leaders can design for peak demand, right-size for persistent underuse, and stop treating uneven attendance as a failure to be fixed, especially when supported by a unified workplace operations platform that connects data across locations. #### Right-Sizing Is a Confidence Problem, Not a Math Problem [By 2026, most CFOs know they can reduce office space.]() What stops them is uncertainty. Utilization data alone does not answer how much space is actually needed. High peak-day demand and low average usage send mixed signals. Long-term lease decisions feel risky without a clear view of behavior over time. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Organizations that have confidence in their space decisions do not rely on snapshots. They rely on operational visibility. They understand when space is critical, when it is optional, and when it can be safely reduced. Right-sizing becomes an ongoing process, not a one-time project. A stylized design of Kadence's AI-generated stack planning feature. #### Collaboration Can Be Measured, Responsibly Collaboration has long been treated as something that cannot be measured without becoming intrusive. That assumption no longer holds. In 2026, [collaboration shows up in behavior.]() It appears in overlap, meeting structure, coordinated presence, and repeated patterns. These signals can be observed without monitoring individuals. Workplace operations data allows leaders to see whether collaboration is being enabled or unintentionally blocked. They can understand whether teams are coming together, whether space supports those moments, and [whether the office is being used for the work that justifies it.]() This shifts collaboration from a sentiment to a system that can be supported deliberately. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Workplace Decisions That Matter in 2026 The enterprise workplace playbook for 2026 is not a list of policies. It is a set of operational questions leaders must be able to answer: - When does in-person work create the most value? - Where is space under pressure, and where is it consistently underused? - How do teams actually coordinate their presence? - Which locations and days justify investment? - What can be reduced without harming collaboration or performance? Organizations that can answer these questions do not guess. They operate with clarity driven by consistent workplace operations data and visibility. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How Workplace Operations Enables Better Decisions [Workplace operations connects people, space, and time.]() By bringing together attendance signals, booking behavior, and real usage patterns, leaders gain a continuous view of how the workplace is actually functioning. They can see change as it happens, test assumptions safely, and make decisions that stand up to scrutiny. Kadence supports this approach by turning everyday workplace activity into operational insight. Not to control behavior, but to understand it. Not to chase utilization, but to align space with real demand. The result is not just a better office. It is better decision-making. Discover why Interactive Office Floor Plans are essential for hybrid work success #### The Workplace Advantage in 2026 By 2026, the workplace is no longer a background function. It is a competitive advantage. Organizations that treat it as such are not louder about their policies. They are quieter and more confident about their operations. Their offices feel easier to use. Their space decisions feel intentional. Their employees trust that coming in will be worth it. This is what the enterprise workplace playbook looks like now. For a broader overview of what workplace management systems are and how they work, read our guide: [What Is a Workplace Management System?]() If you want to understand how workplace operations can help your organization make better decisions about space, presence, and collaboration, [book a demo with our workplace operations experts](). Not ready to speak with the team yet? [Use our ROI Calculator]() to estimate the cost savings available across your portfolio. #### FAQs **What is workplace operations in modern organizations?** Workplace operations is the discipline of managing how physical space, attendance, and employee behavior interact, using data to make informed decisions about how the workplace is structured and used. **Why is workplace operations important for enterprise companies?** Enterprise organizations managing multiple locations and hybrid workforces need a structured approach to workplace decisions. Without it, space is misallocated, costs are harder to control, and the gap between how the office is planned and how it is actually used widens. **How does workplace operations improve decision-making?** It replaces periodic, anecdotal reporting with continuous operational data, giving leaders a reliable view of space usage, attendance patterns, and collaboration behavior that they can act on with confidence. **What role does workplace data play in workplace operations?** Workplace data is the foundation of the discipline. It connects space usage, people behavior, and real estate costs into a single picture that enables organizations to move from reactive fixes to proactive planning. **How are workplace operations platforms changing the future of work?** They are shifting workplace management from a facilities function to a strategic one, giving organizations the tools to align their physical environment with how their people actually work rather than how they were assumed to work. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Human-Centric Workplace - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/the-human-centric-workplace/ Description: Before we discuss what a human-centric workplace is, we must define what it is to be human. From poets, philosophers, anthropologists, religious bodies, scientists, politicians, and artists. Despite the efforts, the answers are diverse and inconclusive, because believing in a single answer would create silos between the brain, emotion, the body and so forth; we […] [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · December 6, 2021 · [Simone Fenton-Jarvis]() ### The Human-Centric Workplace Before we discuss what a [human-centric workplace]() is, we must define what it is to be human. From poets, philosophers, anthropologists, religious bodies, scientists, politicians, and artists. Despite the efforts, the answers are diverse and inconclusive, because believing in a single answer would create silos between the brain, emotion, the body and so forth; we must consider the many angles that make up the whole human. #### What Does It Mean To Be A Human At Work? Aristotle claimed that to be human meant having a goal, a purpose, to belong, to live a happy life. Karl Marx believed that humans are social creatures and can therefore only develop with a society. Anthropologist, Clifford Geertz, refers to human nature as unfinished because we require culture to complete us, and therefore it is through the interactions between individuals and their settings, between the natural and social worlds, the symbols and structures determine what it means to be human. In the early days of our 300,000-year human evolution, work was simple: we worked to eat and avoid being eaten. Meaning and purpose came from elsewhere, whether it be spirituality, art, religion or science. As humankind has evolved, our identities, such as parent, friend, nationality, religious beliefs, hobbies, and our careers have become intertwined. Work is no longer about survival; work has become an extension of our identity. Social connectedness, culture, belonging, purpose, the ability to think – these are not things that simply stop when somebody is working. Neither does our lifestyle, our responsibilities, worries, fears or anxieties. Yet somehow, we have been hooked into believing that when at work, we must dimmish such humanity and appear robotic. People are not just cogs in your organization’s machine, merely existing to drive your organization’s financial success. People do not want to be managed, controlled, and worn down. The employee experience has evolved and continues to do so. Despite the initial panic following the mass exodus out of the workplace, thanks to the hard work of the workplace ninjas, technology, conscious leadership and a ton of resilience, the world is functioning; the impossible became workable. [Hybrid working]() is the talk of the town, not many would argue against work not being somewhere we go but what we do and why we do it. There is still space in your employee experience for the physical workplace, and its important space that needs to be used to drive connectedness, collaboration and belonging. We have been presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reimagine work and the workplace. #### Understanding The ‘Why’ Of Your Workplace Let’s drop all the labels, the core at all of this is flexible working practices, agile mindsets, ABW environments utilising smart technology. This isn’t about a free for all or looking at what your competitors do….or what’s being said on LinkedIn. We must understand the why of your workplace – what role does the physical workplace play in enabling the organizational purpose and for people to thrive? We must capture granular-level detail to really understand the why of the workplace and the why and how of our people, before prescribing the where. A place where people thrive is a place where people know and connect with the purpose, are enabled to treated like human. The Human-Centric Workplace is about highlighting that we can do better, and we must do better. **Keen to find out how to build a better working experience for your people? [Join the discussion]() with Simone in the upcoming webinar!** [The Human-Centric Workplace image]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Hybrid Training Your Company Should’ve Started Yesterday - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/the-hybrid-training-your-company-shouldve-started-yesterday/ Description: Hybrid work success depends on effective hybrid training and leadership—not mandates—with insights from Kadence and Tina Paterson. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · April 7, 2025 · [Helen Attia]() ### The Hybrid Training Your Company Should’ve Started Yesterday Hybrid Training At Kadence, [we’re talking to hybrid teams every day](). And while [the headlines]() keep circling around office mandates and badge swipes, the reality on the ground is far more nuanced — and far more urgent. We’re watching companies struggle with hybrid not because the model is broken — but because their managers are unprepared, their systems outdated, and their hybrid training non-existent. Everyone’s talking about productivity, flexibility, and belonging — but no one’s giving teams the tools to actually *achieve* them. That’s why my recent conversation with [Tina Paterson]() hit so hard. Tina is the creator of the [Outcomes Over Hours]() framework — a powerful, practical approach to leadership in a world where *how* we work matters more than *where*. Her philosophy is simple but cutting: results, not rules. Outcomes, not office hours. And after training thousands of leaders globally, she’s got the receipts to prove it works. #### “Lazy Leadership Won’t Survive Hybrid.” One of the things Tina said that stuck with me was this: > > “Hybrid is not just about where people work. It’s also about when they work — synchronous vs. asynchronous — and even who does the work, with AI vs. human intelligence coming into the mix. Leadership in hybrid environments isn’t just different. It requires entirely new capabilities.” > > > > > > > > > > > > Tina Paterson > > > > > > > > Hybrid Work Expert This isn’t hypothetical. Tina’s worked with huge enterprises, helping them shift how their leaders think and operate. Her 24-module training program breaks it down into three areas: - **Effective**: Are you even focusing on the right outcomes? - **Efficient**: Are your workflows and meetings supporting deep work and collaboration? - **Energetic**: Are your teams able to perform at a high level *without burning out*? As she told me: “Most people want to do a great job — but they’re drowning in work and don’t give themselves permission to look after their energy. We need to change that, structurally.” Tina Paterson Hybrid Work Expert #### The Gap Between What We Say — And What We Actually Train For Let’s be honest: most hybrid managers are winging it. We expect them to lead distributed teams, run inclusive meetings, support wellbeing, and drive performance — but no one has shown them how. The training hasn’t caught up. The systems haven’t adapted. And the result is a lot of half-baked mandates and burned-out teams. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Tina called it out plainly: “We’re still rewarding visibility over value. And if we keep managing like it’s 2015, the best people will leave.” I couldn’t agree more. Because at Kadence, we’re seeing it firsthand. Our platform helps [teams coordinate when and where they work]() — but without clear leadership or team structure, even the best tools go unused. Hybrid success depends on behavioural change. That’s where Tina’s work comes in. Tina’s launching an online version of her modules soon, with 10-minute interactive lessons that drive actual behaviour change. Tina’s approach is refreshingly no-nonsense: > “Corporate learning is often boring and long-winded — and no one changes their behaviour. That’s why our design principles are all about keeping it short, interactive, and focused on what actually adds value.” > > > > > > Tina Paterson > > > > Hybrid Work Expert #### Helping Teams Lead The Change At Kadence, we’ve seen how easily hybrid work can become performative — policies without support, flexibility without structure. That’s why we’re focused on helping companies [move from mandates to meaningful strategies](). [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Whether it’s equipping managers with better tools, encouraging outcome-based leadership, or supporting [real culture change](), we know the shift to hybrid success starts with how people lead — not just where people sit. If you’re ready to rethink your approach, we’ve created [a free hybrid work strategy template]() to help you get started. It’s packed with practical steps for designing a model that works for your people, not just your property portfolio. It’s the beginning of your hybrid training. Featured Content Free Hybrid Work Policy Template Streamline your team’s success—download our free Hybrid Work Policy Template today! [Download Template]() Because hybrid work isn’t failing. It’s outdated leadership and broken systems that are holding us back. The good news? We can change that with effective hybrid training. And the best time to start that reset? Yesterday. Want to see how Kadence can help you operationalise your hybrid strategy? [Book a demo]() with our hybrid work experts today. --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Intelligence Behind SpaceOps - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/the-intelligence-behind-spaceops/ Description: How Kadence is building the intelligence behind SpaceOps to turn workplace complexity into clear, defensible space decisions. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · January 29, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### The Intelligence Behind SpaceOps SpaceOps Over the past few years, the conversations we’ve been having with workplace, real estate, and operations leaders have started to sound very similar. They’re being asked to make space decisions with incomplete information and still stand behind them. - Should we consolidate floors? - Can we support a new in-office strategy without expanding? - Which teams genuinely need to sit together and which ones just think they do? These aren’t abstract planning questions. They’re operational decisions with financial, cultural, and human consequences. Once they’re made, they’re expensive, disruptive, and difficult to reverse. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() That’s the problem [SpaceOps exists to solve](). Not by promising a single “perfect” answer, but by giving teams something they rarely have today: clear options, visible trade-offs, and the confidence to make decisions before anything moves. Behind SpaceOps is an intelligence engine being built by Rory, our Machine Learning Lead, whose role is focused on turning messy, real-world workplace behaviour into systems leaders can actually use. Over the past few months, Rory has been walking customers through SpaceOps live, modelling real portfolios, testing scenarios, and stress-testing decisions in real time. What follows is grounded in that work and in how leaders are responding when they can see the implications of their choices clearly. This post explains how we’re approaching that challenge and the thinking behind the system we’re building. #### Turning Workplace Chaos Into a Solvable Problem Space planning only sounds straightforward if you’ve never owned it. Teams change. Headcount forecasts move. Hybrid attendance rarely matches policy. Buildings come with quirks, constraints, and years of legacy decisions baked in. And every adjustment creates knock-on effects somewhere else. What we’ve learned is that most organisations aren’t short on data. They’re short on structure. [SpaceOps starts]() by turning a messy, interconnected workplace reality into a structured problem the system can reason about. That means accounting for things like: - teams and headcount - floors, buildings, and capacity constraints - adjacency needs that matter in practice, not just on paper - real hybrid attendance patterns - future growth scenarios Instead of forcing teams to commit to a single plan early, the system evaluates thousands of possible configurations and surfaces a small set of viable options. From an operational standpoint, this shift is critical. You’re no longer defending one fragile plan. You’re comparing defensible alternatives. A stylized design of Kadence's AI-powered Scenario Planning feature. #### Optimisation Grounded in Reality A lot of optimisation software fails because it assumes a clean world. Real workplaces aren’t clean. Data is incomplete. Attendance fluctuates. Teams evolve mid-quarter. Constraints conflict. And no one wants a mathematically “optimal” plan that creates chaos on the ground. The optimisation engine behind SpaceOps borrows from the same families of techniques used in logistics and network planning, but it’s deliberately constrained by real-world rules. It balances trade-offs such as: - reducing move cost - improving collaboration adjacency - consolidating underused space - respecting capacity and safety limits - minimising disruption during execution One of the moments where this tends to land for customers is when Rory walks through timing decisions live and shows how preparing earlier can materially reduce disruption later. > If you move them from the baseline to what we showed you, you’re saving over 90 percent of the movement. Doing the move now prepares you for growth instead of reacting later. > > > > > > Rory > > > > Machine Learning Lead, Kadence The goal isn’t to find the fastest answer. It’s to converge on realistic answers that workplace teams can actually implement. In practice, that means accepting a simple truth: there is no perfect plan. There are only better-informed ones. A stylized design of Kadence's AI-generated stack planning feature. #### Designed for Imperfect Data One of the earliest decisions we made was to stop waiting for “perfect” inputs. Most organisations don’t have pristine attendance data. Booking behaviour is partial. Org charts lag reality. Adjacency requirements are often vague, political, or both. If SpaceOps depended on clean data, it would fail the teams it’s meant to support. So the system is designed to work with what’s available and improve over time. It can operate with: - inconsistent attendance signals - partial booking data - evolving team structures - building-specific constraints This is less about statistical purity and more about behavioural realism. The goal isn’t to model an ideal workplace. It’s to reflect how work actually happens. A stylized design of Kadence's Move-Management feature. #### Collaboration Is Not an Org Chart One of the biggest gaps we see in traditional workplace tools is how collaboration is defined. Org charts are tidy. Work isn’t. SpaceOps models collaboration using a broader set of signals, including: - calendar and meeting patterns - booking behaviour - proximity trends - historical seating decisions - natural clustering over time This helps the system understand which teams genuinely benefit from proximity and which ones don’t. From an operational perspective, this matters because forced adjacency is one of the fastest ways to create friction, disruption, and churn. By treating collaboration as behaviour rather than hierarchy, SpaceOps produces layouts that feel more intuitive to the people using them. A stylised design of Kadence AI booking recomendations. #### Learning Through Use Another principle we’re building around is learning through repetition. Every scenario generated, every plan approved, every move executed feeds back into the system. Over time, this helps SpaceOps understand: - which adjacency patterns stick - which moves create the most disruption - how teams respond to change - how hybrid behaviour evolves This feedback loop is a deliberate design choice from Rory’s team, reflecting the reality that workplace systems only get better when they learn from how people actually use them. This isn’t about automation for its own sake. It’s about reducing repeated friction for workplace teams who are constantly asked to redo the same work under slightly different conditions. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Making Intelligence Explainable Even the smartest recommendation is useless if it can’t be explained. SpaceOps is designed to show its reasoning: - why certain teams were placed together - what trade-offs were made - how much space or cost was saved - how disruption was reduced - how hybrid attendance shaped the outcome The modelling helps guide decisions. It’s not just about planning, it’s about understanding what those decisions actually unlock. Workplace Strategy Leader This explainability turns a plan into a decision leaders can stand behind. It also creates a shared language across Finance, HR, Real Estate, and Workplace teams, so conversations are grounded in the same facts. Once we’ve reviewed the scenarios, we can reflect that decision directly in Kadence. If a team moves floors, we can model it immediately and see the impact. Real Estate Leader #### The Foundation We’re Building On What we’re building with SpaceOps is not a feature or a workflow. It’s an operating model for making workplace decisions in environments that are rarely stable, clean, or predictable. The aim isn’t to automate judgment away. It’s to give workplace, real estate, and operations teams the ability to see their options clearly, understand the consequences, and move forward with confidence instead of guesswork. If you’re grappling with questions around consolidation, growth, hybrid strategies, or complex moves and want to see how this kind of intelligence applies to your portfolio, we’d love to show you. You can [book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see how teams are using real occupancy data and scenario planning to make better space decisions, faster. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Intentional Gathering: How Smart Companies Are Designing Time Together - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/the-intentional-gathering-how-smart-companies-are-designing-time-together/ Description: Brett Hautop on why most companies are spending millions getting their people together and getting almost nothing out of it. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · June 22, 2026 · [Brett Hautop]() ### The Intentional Gathering: How Smart Companies Are Designing Time Together Brett Hautop Intentional Gathering I’ve been thinking a lot about what equals work. Ask a carpenter to break down their job, and they’ll talk about specific tools, assembly processes, and tangible results. There’s a clear relationship between input, process, and output. But ask someone in knowledge work, and you’ll get: “I type on a keyboard, I sit in calls, I sit in rooms with other people.” That’s it. For most white-collar workers, that’s the entirety of work. And if you dig deeper into time allocation, the vast majority is spent in meetings and talking about work rather than doing work. Which raises a fundamental question as AI takes over more of the typing: what are human beings actually going to do? #### The Real Work Is Human Work During my time at LinkedIn, there were years when the company was spending as much as $150 million on off-sites, at a time when everyone was in the office all of the time. These gatherings were often intended for teams to connect outside the office, to focus on culture, initiatives, and strategic pursuits. Ultimately, they were often more about blowing off steam and having fun as a team. But post-pandemic, I started to ask whether we should flip the script. To give our office spaces a purpose again and use them for highly intentional on-site experiences, designed to come together in the office rather than to get away from it. If people don’t want to come in for heads-down individual work, and AI can handle most of the routine typing and processing, then the real value of bringing people together is for the work that only humans can do. Strategic thinking. Creative problem-solving. Relationship building. Alignment around mission and vision. The companies getting this right treat gatherings as designed hospitality experiences with deliberate programming. They’re not thrown-together agendas in conference rooms. They’re intentional experiences that amplify human potential. The data supports this shift. [Companies are now spending heavily on corporate retreats](), with the offsite market [expected to grow to $500 billion by 2030](). But most companies don’t have a plan. They leave it to individual business units to figure out. Some treat it like a requirement: “I don’t make you come to the office, so you’re doing these five straight days, and you’ll love it because you owe us.” Others realize the real opportunity and design experiences that people actually want to be part of. #### Calculate the ROI of Your Workplace Operations Our brand-new ROI Calculator is here to help you visualize your success in seconds. [Calculate Your ROI]() #### The Hybrid Meeting Crisis Before we talk about getting together intentionally, we need to address the elephant in the room: hybrid meetings have become the default way distributed teams collaborate, and they’re arguably the worst meeting format we’ve ever invented. Some companies I work with report that 90 percent of their meetings are now hybrid. Think about what that means. Even if four people plan to be in the office today, something happens, and one can’t make it. Suddenly, everyone defaults to hybrid mode — some people in the room focused on each other, others calling in and multitasking. The result? The age of extreme multitasking during meetings. People hear their name and ask you to repeat the last sentence, revealing they haven’t been listening to any of it. Remote participants speak 60 to 70 percent less than in-room counterparts, not because they have less to contribute, but because the format never creates the opening. This isn’t about meeting equity anymore. It’s about the fact that you’re paying someone to be involved in this conversation, and if they’re not actually engaged, you’re wasting everyone’s time. The organizations fixing this understand w[hich meeting formats are actually driving outcomes]() — cross-referencing attendance patterns, space utilization, and team presence data to see where collaboration is producing results and where it isn’t. Team scheduling view showing live office attendance, who is in and where they are sitting, with AI-powered recommendations for in-person team days #### Redesigning What Meetings Are For I’ve worked with companies that want to redesign what a meeting is and why we have them. Period. Full stop. The conversation usually starts with: “Everyone’s overworked and overwhelmed, but when we look at actual workloads, they’re not.” The real problem is a culture of bringing everyone along. Fear of silos leads to inviting everyone who might care about what you’re doing to every meeting. People feel obligated to attend because they were invited. Soon everyone’s invited to four meetings in the same 30-minute slot. The solution isn’t better cameras or microphones. It’s rules of engagement. When can you schedule a meeting, and when can’t you? What requires an agenda versus what can be asynchronous? How do we ensure that when people do come together, virtually or physically, it’s actually meaningful? One Fortune 100 client I’m working with has implemented what they call “meeting intent frameworks.” Every meeting request must specify whether it’s for information sharing, decision making, creative collaboration, or relationship building. Different intents require different formats, different spaces, and different technology setups. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Three Principles of Intentional Gathering Based on my experience at LinkedIn and current work with companies like HubSpot, here are the three principles that separate effective gathering from expensive socializing. ##### 1. Amplify Human Potential with Technology As AI handles more routine tasks, the time humans spend together becomes more valuable, not less. But we need to redesign how that time gets used. What are people actually doing when they’re not typing? How do we create environments where human creativity, strategic thinking, and relationship building can thrive? The answer lies in understanding which environments are actually producing the outcomes you want. Organizations need to see exactly [which spaces drive human collaboration outcomes]() — which room types, which configurations, and which days produce the dwell time and interaction patterns that signal real connection rather than performed presence. ##### 2. Be Intentional About When, Why, and How People Come Together Whether it’s one day a year or five days a week, align your gathering strategy with your mission, vision, and culture. Most companies are just doing whatever the executive leader feels is right based on gut instinct. There’s no intentionality around what coming together should accomplish. [Research shows]() that companies should expect to spend around $750 per person per night for high-quality retreat experiences. But the ROI comes from intentional programming and deliberate planning, not expensive venues. ##### 3. Design for Presence, Not Efficiency Most people are so concerned with efficiency that they don’t stop to be in the moment. The goal should be getting every ounce of value out of time spent together. Shut everything else off. Full presence for what you’re doing together. This requires both physical and digital infrastructure: the right spaces, the right technology, and the organizational clarity about what each type of gathering is actually for. Turn Room Data into Real Estate Decisions #### The Super Athlete Company Vision Here’s where this leads: imagine organizations that are small but mighty, accomplishing huge things that used to take 10,000 people. The super athlete companies of the future. These organizations won’t track how many hours you work in a week. They’ll focus on outcomes and impact. There will be times when you’re talking to someone’s AI representative, and times when you’re talking to them directly. The ability to be strategic about when you use each approach will be the competitive advantage. For the highest performers, work becomes about maximum impact rather than maximum hours. If you’re smart about amplifying human potential through AI and being intentional about when people gather, you can stretch out the week. Longer sessions when together, deeper conversations, more flexibility when apart. We’re very close to the point where you could get hired by a company as a human being working remotely, and all of your co-workers that you see on the screen are not actual humans. Until you spend time standing in front of them and next to them, your brain doesn’t believe they’re real, no matter what you think you know. Kadence Sense occupancy analytics dashboard showing real-time building utilization data captured from Wi-Fi, badge, and kiosk signals #### The Both/And Future For twenty years, I’ve been trying to make work suck less. But I want to go further. I want to make work something people look forward to and are excited about. There’s an existential challenge coming. As AI handles more tasks, what are humans going to do? I’m not worried about AI taking over the world. I’m concerned about purpose. If your purpose is wrapped up in what you do, and what you do changes dramatically, how do you maintain meaning? The answer isn’t to resist AI. It’s to design organizations that are human-first. Teams where work feels like being part of something meaningful with people you care about, working toward a common mission. The organizations that figure this out, that make time together worth the trip, will be the ones that attract and retain the best people. They’ll be the super athlete companies that accomplish extraordinary things with small, mighty teams. There’ll be places where work is something you look forward to. If you want to understand how your spaces are performing and whether your team gatherings are producing the outcomes that matter, [book a demo with the Kadence team](). --- Brett Hautop Brett Hautop Brett Hautop is the founder of Workshape, a workplace consulting firm specializing in behavioral experimentation and workplace transformation. Previously VP of Global Workplace at LinkedIn, Brett helps leaders understand how work actually happens — and design the spaces, programs, and systems that make time together worth the trip. [Read More from Brett Hautop]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Junior Hiring Decline: What the Broken Ladder Study Found | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/the-junior-hiring-decline-is-a-workplace-operations-problem/ Description: The Broken Ladder study finds the junior hiring decline tracks remote work, not AI, making it a workplace operations problem organizations can fix. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · June 1, 2026 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### The Junior Hiring Decline Is a Workplace Operations Problem Junior Hiring Decline According to The Broken Ladder, a study of hiring in the US, UK, Canada and Australia covered here in June 2026, the junior hiring decline may be mainly a [workplace operations]() problem rather than an AI problem. When the researchers tested generative AI and working from home together, the AI effect collapsed toward zero and the [remote work]() effect held. If that reading is right, the fall in early-career hiring is not happening to organizations but inside them, and better management of [hybrid work]() can fix it. #### What is the junior hiring decline? The junior hiring decline is the sharp fall, since late 2022, in the share of new hires going to early-career workers across the US, UK, Canada and Australia. The drop is between 8 and 11 percentage points, depending on the country. It raised a hard question for employers: who will become the experienced talent of the future? **Early-career workers** are people at the start of their working lives, typically hired for their potential as much as for their current output. The explanation that took hold first was clean and urgent. Generative AI had arrived, and firms no longer needed junior workers for the routine cognitive tasks they were once hired to do. [LinkedIn’s chief economic opportunity officer]() described it as the bottom rung of the career ladder breaking. [Stanford economists]() documented a 16 percent relative employment decline for workers aged 22 to 25 in AI-exposed roles. A consensus formed quickly. The Broken Ladder argues that consensus is premature. #### What did The Broken Ladder study find? The Broken Ladder found that remote work, not generative AI, is the main driver of the junior hiring decline. It tested both explanations at the same time. Measured alone, each looked plausible. Estimated together, the AI effect collapsed toward zero, while the effect of working from home held. [The Broken Ladder: AI, Remote Work, and Early-Career Hiring]() is by Peter Lambert of Warwick and LSE and Yannick Schindler of Oxford’s Ellison Institute of Technology. It draws on 243 million new hire records and 407 million online job postings collected across the US, UK, Canada and Australia from 2017 to 2025. The reason is a correlation most earlier studies missed. The occupations most exposed to generative AI are almost exactly the occupations that shifted most heavily to remote work after the pandemic: - **High on both lists:** software developers, data scientists, financial analysts, management consultants. - **Low on both lists:** electricians, construction workers, janitors. Across 683 occupations, the rank correlation between remote work (WFH) exposure and AI exposure is 0.77. Studies that controlled only for AI exposure were, without meaning to, measuring the effect of remote work. One detail adds weight. Lambert co-authored the research behind the WFH exposure index this paper depends on, one of the most widely used measures of remote work adoption. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Why does remote work reduce junior hiring? Remote work reduces junior hiring because it weakens the investment case for early-career employees. Firms hire junior workers expecting them to learn fast and grow into senior talent, at a manageable supervision cost. When teams are dispersed, feedback slows and each junior hire takes more senior time, so firms shift hiring toward experienced candidates. Remote and hybrid work put pressure on both parts of that model: - **Slower feedback.** Research by Emanuel, Harrington and Pallais found that physical proximity to colleagues significantly increases developmental feedback for junior employees, with the largest gains for the youngest workers. - **Less contact with managers.** Aksoy and colleagues found that even one day a month in the office, compared with fully remote work, raised productivity and communication between workers and their managers. - **Higher supervision cost.** Each junior hire places a greater demand on senior time when oversight has to happen at a distance. The paper tested this directly. Firms that adopted remote work in 2021 to 2022, matched against comparable organizations, later shifted hiring toward more experienced candidates, even after controlling for AI exposure. Kadence SpaceOps stack plan for a London headquarters showing desks by team on each floor, with Kadence AI suggesting a scenario for over-allocated teams. #### Why is this a workplace operations problem? It is a workplace operations problem because the cause sits inside the organization. If AI were replacing junior workers, the only tools would be blunt ones outside a company’s control. If remote work is the main driver, the frictions around supervision, mentoring and on-the-job learning can be managed through how teams schedule, meet and use the office. If AI is the cause, the available responses are wage subsidies, policy intervention and structural redesign of roles. If remote work is the cause, the problem is operational: it belongs to organizations that have not yet adapted their management practices to hybrid work. **Workplace operations** is the day-to-day coordination of people, space and time: who comes in, when, where they sit and who they work alongside. #### What questions should leaders ask about early-career employees? Leaders should ask whether early-career employees get meaningful in-person time with the senior colleagues who develop them, and whether attendance patterns create the conditions for learning or simply fill a headcount requirement. Without reliable answers, organizations manage their future senior talent pipeline blind. Two more questions help: 1. Are your most junior hires in the office on the same days as their managers, or arriving on different days from the people responsible for their development? 2. Is your hybrid strategy built on data about how your teams actually work, or on assumptions made when the policy was first written? For practical ways to bring the right people together on the same days, see the [guide to bringing teams together](). #### How can data help protect junior talent in hybrid work? Data helps by showing whether hybrid attendance actually supports early-career development. Workplace leaders can see which teams overlap in the office, whether junior and senior employees are there on the same days, and whether patterns reflect genuine collaboration or coincidental presence. That turns a vague worry into something they can measure and manage. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Kadence gives workplace operations leaders this behavioral data through its [workplace analytics](), so they can check whether the right people are in the office together. The goal is not to reverse the flexibility employees value; the research is clear that returning to pre-pandemic arrangements is neither realistic nor desirable. The goal is hybrid work designed well enough to preserve the investment case for junior talent. The paper’s authors describe their finding as cause for hope. In their words: > WFH delivers substantial benefits to workers and firms, and the organizational frictions it creates around supervising and developing early-career workers are surmountable. Surmountable problems have operational solutions, and operational solutions sit inside the organization. #### What is the strategic advantage for employers? Employers that learn to develop early-career talent inside hybrid structures will do more than repair a damaged pipeline. They will build a structural advantage over competitors still waiting for the technology story to resolve itself, because most of what looks like AI displacement may be a management problem. The ladder is not broken. The management practices around it need to catch up. For how AI is actually changing work, see the [guide to AI and the future of work](). Want to know whether your workplace is set up to develop the junior talent your organization depends on? [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### Is AI causing the decline in junior hiring? According to The Broken Ladder, mostly not. When the researchers tested AI exposure and remote work together, the AI effect collapsed toward zero while the remote work effect held. Earlier studies that looked only at AI were largely picking up the effect of remote work, because the same jobs score high on both. ##### Why does remote work make junior employees harder to develop? Junior employees learn fastest through frequent feedback from senior colleagues. Research by Emanuel, Harrington and Pallais found that physical proximity significantly increases that feedback, especially for the youngest workers. When teams are dispersed, feedback slows and supervision takes more senior time. ##### Does fixing junior hiring mean ending hybrid work? No. The Broken Ladder’s authors say remote work delivers substantial benefits and its frictions are surmountable. The fix is to coordinate hybrid work so junior employees share office time with the people who develop them. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Need For Wellbeing Resources Like Forte - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/the-need-for-wellbeing-resources-like-forte/ Description: With wellbeing resources, employees are provided the flexibility and support necessary to thrive in a hybrid workplace. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · May 21, 2024 · [Vineet Rajan]() ### The Need For Wellbeing Resources Like Forte Two people sat down have a conversation, while one holds open a laptop. What comes to mind when you think of the “workplace”? For myself, it used to bring up images of bustling offices, morning commutes, and deskside chats. But in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of the workplace has changed, giving rise to the era of the modern hybrid and dynamic workforce. As we navigate the new normal of hybrid work, employers and employees alike seek to find the optimal balance of flexibility, collaboration, productivity, and sustainability. The pandemic threw us into a world where kitchen tables doubled as desks and Zoom calls became the norm. We’ve all had our fair share of comical mishaps, from pets photobombing important meetings to accidentally wearing pajama bottoms on video calls. But amidst the chaos, there was a silver lining—a newfound appreciation for human connection. I saw communities rally together, offering support, encouragement, and a sense of belonging in the face of uncertainty. It’s in these moments of camaraderie that I’m reminded of the profound importance of human connection for our well-being and flourishing. At [Forte,]() we believe that human connection is at the heart of personal well-being and our collective success. That’s why our platform offers unlimited, confidential access to certified professionals who act as trusted confidants providing personalized guidance and support to employees. We also provide a wealth of wellness content and insights tailored to the specific needs of each organization. **The Evolution Of The Post-COVID Workplace** Beyond the flexibility it affords, remote work can lead to increased productivity, reduced commuting stress, and, when properly executed, a healthier work-life balance. Effective hybrid structures balance the benefits of remote work with the value of in-person collaboration, nurturing employees’ holistic well-being while driving business success. However, it’s essential to acknowledge the challenges that come with this shift, such as feelings of isolation and the need for effective communication and collaboration tools. This is where organizations like Kadence shine, offering solutions that facilitate [seamless collaboration]() and connection in the hybrid workplace. By providing teams with the technology and resources they need to thrive in this new environment, Kadence empowers organizations to embrace the best of both worlds—flexibility and collaboration—while fostering employee well-being and driving business success. **Forte: Serving The Hybrid Workplace** Hybrid employers face the challenge of providing the flexibility and support necessary for their teams to thrive. From navigating the intricacies of remote collaboration to fostering a sense of community among dispersed employees, the needs of hybrid organizations are as diverse as they are pressing. At Forte, we understand these challenges intimately, offering an affordable and accessible service designed to boost employee well-being and drive business outcomes. Forte centers around three key elements: 1. Employees have unlimited, confidential access to 1:1 conversations with certified professionals — known as Guides. Through audio calls of varying durations, employees can discuss what’s on their heart and mind – both professional and personal – and receive personalized guidance and support. 2. We offer a wealth of wellness content, including newsletters, e-courses, challenges, and webinars led by industry experts, all designed to empower employees and drive actionable change. 3. Forte provides employers with valuable anonymized data reports, giving them insights into the specific well-being topics that matter most to their workforce. With these insights, employers can better support and prioritize the mental wellness of their employees, leading to a healthier and more productive workforce. **The Forte Impact** Employees who utilize Forte consistently report improved well-being, heightened levels of focus and presence at work, and a greater sense of work satisfaction. Our platform isn’t just about giving out resources—it’s about making real connections and giving personalized support to help people do their best. We’re passionate about helping people flourish by building meaningful connections. And it’s not just something we say—companies that use Forte see more of their employees sticking around and a friendlier, happier workplace. When people feel cared for, they do better work, and everyone wins. In partnership with organizations like Kadence, Forte is committed to shaping a future workforce that is not only adaptable but also truly nurturing. Together, we can foster connection, productivity, and well-being at every level, empowering both organizations and individuals to unlock their full contribution. --- Vineet Rajan Vineet Rajan Vineet is the CEO and CoFounder of Forte. Forte is the mental wellness employee platform that provides Content and Connections so they can uniquely and meaningfully contribute at work, home, and in their community. Learn more at getforte.com. [Read More from Vineet Rajan]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() [Kadence]() AI workplace management for corporate real estate [US +1 (415) 758 4757]() [UK +44 (0)20 3884 2705]() - [https://www.linkedin.com/company/kadenceos]() - [https://twitter.com/KadenceOS]() - [https://www.youtube.com/@onkadence]() - [https://www.facebook.com/KadenceOS/]() - [https://www.g2.com/products/kadence-kadence/reviews]() #### Platform - [SpaceOps]() - [WorkOps]() - [Kadence AI]() - [Desk booking]() - [Room booking]() - [Visitor management]() - [Integrations]() - [Pricing]() #### Solutions - [Real estate]() - [Facilities]() - [People and HR]() - [IT and security]() #### Industries - [Financial services]() - [Technology]() - [Legal]() - [Business services]() - [Commercial real estate]() - [Consumer goods]() - [Energy and utilities]() - [Government]() - [Healthcare and pharma]() - [Higher education]() - [Manufacturing]() - [Media and entertainment]() - [Non-profits]() - [Retail]() #### Resources - [Customer stories]() - [Wall of Love]() - [Future of Work]() - [Product news]() - [Release notes]() - [Events]() - [ROI calculator]() - [Guides]() - [Glossary]() - [Compare]() #### Company - [Why Kadence]() - [Newsroom]() - [Security and trust]() - [Contact us]() - [Careers (opens in a new tab)]() - [Help center (opens in a new tab)]() - [FAQs (opens in a new tab)]() - [Sign in (opens in a new tab)]() © 2026 Kadence [Privacy policy]() · [Terms of service]() · [Cookies policy]() · [Anti-spam policy]() ## The Short-Term Pain And Long-Term Gain Of Being Brave - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/the-short-term-pain-and-long-term-gain-of-being-brave/ Description: Be brave and make decisions about workplace tools that will elevate hybrid work for short-term pain, but long-term gain. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · October 7, 2024 · [Simone Fenton-Jarvis]() ### The Short-Term Pain And Long-Term Gain Of Being Brave Human beings are wired to avoid pain. We try to “fix” the pain, often papering over the cracks. When it comes to technology within the workplace, I see the papering over the cracks in ways like: - “What have they pressed now? They must have just pressed the wrong bit” - “They are just resisting change” - “Ok, we’ll just do another communication email to everybody” - “It must be they’re age, I’m a digital native, they’re a digital immigrant” - “There’s a gremlin in the system, try again later” - “I’ve tested it and I didn’t have an issue” - Oh and my favourite… “just turn it off and back on again” You see, none of these are actually okay statements to make, and yet, for the last 17 years, these types of statements have been a constant. **Why?** Because we’re not scoping the end-user needs, desires, or expectations of the technology, we’re not measuring adoption and experience, and we’re certainly not being brave enough to just hold our hands up and say “We chose the wrong system, we need to look to change it”. Instead, we get hooked into 36-month contracts, fuelled by the sexy features, we deal with a gazillion complaints, suffer from buyers remorse, guilt and anxiety, and when we get to the point of contract renewal, we take a deep breath and we renew, why? - Because we haven’t got the resource to change - Because we don’t want to go through all the corporate governance again - Because we don’t want to do all the end-user change management again - Because we haven’t got the headspace or energy to just deal with the mess - Because you want it to work… because it was the system you thought would work! - Because holding your hands up and admitting it is not working, takes bravery. #### The Impact Of Avoiding Pain Avoiding pain by making excuses can lead to a cycle of inefficiency and frustration. For example, blaming user error often results in inadequate training and support, leaving employees feeling unsupported and undervalued. This not only affects productivity but also morale and job satisfaction. Avoiding pain leads to impacts on: productivity, engagement, team morale, staff churn, and yes, all of this hits the bottom line of the company. #### Why The Focus Should Be On End-Users To break this cycle of avoiding pain and fuelling blame, organisations need to prioritise the end-user experience. User-centered design is a methodology that focuses on understanding and meeting the needs of users. **How to act**… By following this process of end user engagement; involving end-users in the scoping, design, implementation and continuous improvement process, organisations can deploy systems that are in line with the end user needs, whilst also meeting business goals. Consider one company who had a costly legacy system, with poor uptake due to the poor experience, the number of bugs and the features not actually resolving the challenges the individuals or the organisation actually faced – it was something that was just “kind of being used, because it was always kind of used before”. Consider a second company that implemented end user engagement principles and saw a significant increase in user satisfaction and productivity. By conducting user surveys and usability testing, they were able to identify pain points and make necessary adjustments before full-scale implementation. Into the future they went onto continually review usage and ensure business needs were being met and end users were engaged, they have an excellent relationship with the tech company, developing in partnership; they have a tool they trust. You could argue the second company had found their [Kadence](). Have you found yours? Reflect: - Are you dismissing or deflecting tech-related problems and blaming the end-users? - Are you avoiding pain in your decision making? - Do you have the resource and expertise within your team to deploy and continually improve your [workplace tech tools]()? - Do you have [success metrics]() and are they being met? --- Simone Fenton-Jarvis Simone Fenton-Jarvis Author of The Human-Centric Workplace and Fellow Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management You could say I’m a workplace thought-leader who’s passionate about creating human-centric workplaces, but at its most basic, what I do is focus on people. I home in on the employee experience, workplace culture, and organisational performance and use data insights to deliver change and business improvement in regard to culture, space, process, and technology. I’m a fellow and non-executive director of IWFM, sit on the editorial boards for Facilitate Magazine and the Facilities Management Journal, along with the post-graduate advisory board at Nottingham Trent University. I’m the author of a published book, ’The Human-Centric Workplace’ which explores how to enable people, communities, and our planet to thrive. [Read More from Simone Fenton-Jarvis]() ##### What’s Next For The Future Of Work? Join our Kadence community to stay on top of latest news and trends in the future of work. #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() [Kadence]() AI workplace management for corporate real estate [US +1 (415) 758 4757]() [UK +44 (0)20 3884 2705]() - [https://www.linkedin.com/company/kadenceos]() - [https://twitter.com/KadenceOS]() - [https://www.youtube.com/@onkadence]() - [https://www.facebook.com/KadenceOS/]() - [https://www.g2.com/products/kadence-kadence/reviews]() #### Platform - [SpaceOps]() - [WorkOps]() - [Kadence AI]() - [Desk booking]() - [Room booking]() - [Visitor management]() - [Integrations]() - [Pricing]() #### Solutions - [Real estate]() - [Facilities]() - [People and HR]() - [IT and security]() #### Industries - [Financial services]() - [Technology]() - [Legal]() - [Business services]() - [Commercial real estate]() - [Consumer goods]() - [Energy and utilities]() - [Government]() - [Healthcare and pharma]() - [Higher education]() - [Manufacturing]() - [Media and entertainment]() - [Non-profits]() - [Retail]() #### Resources - [Customer stories]() - [Wall of Love]() - [Future of Work]() - [Product news]() - [Release notes]() - [Events]() - [ROI calculator]() - [Guides]() - [Glossary]() - [Compare]() #### Company - [Why Kadence]() - [Newsroom]() - [Security and trust]() - [Contact us]() - [Careers (opens in a new tab)]() - [Help center (opens in a new tab)]() - [FAQs (opens in a new tab)]() - [Sign in (opens in a new tab)]() © 2026 Kadence [Privacy policy]() · [Terms of service]() · [Cookies policy]() · [Anti-spam policy]() ## The Smart Office Of The Future Is Designed For Human Flourishing - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/the-smart-office-of-the-future-is-designed-for-human-flourishing/ Description: Discover why the smart office of the future is built to support human flourishing—not just efficiency—in the age of hybrid work. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · May 22, 2025 · [Helen Attia]() ### The Smart Office Of The Future Is Designed For Human Flourishing Most conversations about [smart offices]() start with sensors. But the smartest offices of the future won’t just track movement. They’ll understand *momentum*. They won’t just optimize square footage. They’ll cultivate *belonging*. At Kadence, we believe smart offices are about human flourishing. They won’t ask how many people showed up. They’ll ask—did anyone *flourish* here? The [hybrid revolution]() gave the office a new mandate: earn its place in people’s lives. That changes everything. The next generation of smart workplaces will be measured not by how many lights they turn off, but by how many people they help thrive. #### What Is A Smart Office Now? So what exactly is a smart office in the hybrid era? It’s not just a network of connected devices or occupancy dashboards. It’s a responsive system—built to support intentional presence, dynamic schedules, and team coordination across locations. In short, the smart office has evolved from optimizing *space* to orchestrating *experience*. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Hybrid work makes this shift unavoidable. When presence is a choice, the office must provide not just utility, but *meaning*. Without intelligence that reflects how people actually behave, leaders are flying blind. With it, they have a workplace that learns and leads. #### Smart Infrastructure Isn't Enough The early promise of the smart office was automation. Energy savings, occupancy analytics, temperature control—efficient systems that made buildings easier to manage. But the future of work is no longer about controlling the building. It’s about understanding the people inside it. In hybrid organizations, attendance is no longer mandatory. It’s intentional. Presence is negotiated—based on energy, culture, connection, and value. No sensor can detect that. And most dashboards can’t decode it—because they’re designed to report *activity*, not understand *intent*. They count how many people came in, but not why they chose to. They track usage, but miss the human context. The smartest dashboards of the future won’t just surface data. They’ll help leaders read between the lines. They’ll reveal patterns of purpose, not just patterns of presence. And they’ll turn workplace visibility into something far more valuable: *understanding*. Introducing Insights Plus. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() This is the fundamental limitation of traditional smart office thinking: it optimizes for *space*, not *experience*. #### Flourishing Is The Outcome That Matters Human flourishing isn’t a wellness initiative. It’s a precondition for performance. A [comprehensive meta-analysis]() conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford, London School of Economics, and MIT examined data from 1,882,131 employees across 230 organizations in 73 countries. The study found a strong positive correlation between employee wellbeing, productivity, and firm performance. Specifically, higher employee wellbeing was associated with increased productivity, customer loyalty, and profitability, as well as reduced staff turnover. We know what drives people: autonomy, rhythm, clarity, connection, purpose. But none of these can be solved by redesigning the floor plan alone. A truly smart office needs to *respond*—to patterns of behavior, signals of sentiment, evolving team norms. [It needs to adapt as culture changes.]() It needs to flex as people do. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Real Intelligence Is Human-Centered The future of the office isn’t more tech layered on legacy systems. It’s a redefinition of what intelligence means in the workplace. A smart office should know when silence signals focus and when it signals disengagement. It should help teams collide in ways that matter. It should reduce [the invisible friction of coordination](), so people can spend less time syncing calendars and more time doing their best work. Get smart booking suggestions whenever your team are going to the office Connect with your team in person, and get smart booking suggestions whenever your team are going to the office Workplaces that support flourishing don’t just attract top talent—they build momentum across the entire organization. They amplify creativity. They sustain energy. They make culture visible. And crucially, they’re built with systems that *learn*, not just track. Featured Content 7 Steps To Hybrid Success Streamline your team’s success—download our free checklist today! [Download]() #### What Should A Smart Office Actually Include? As the term “smart office” becomes increasingly popular—often diluted by vague promises and tech for tech’s sake—it’s important to ground it in practical, human-centered criteria. If you’re leading workplace strategy for a large, hybrid organization, ask yourself: - Does our workplace adapt to individual and team rhythms? - Do we have visibility into how, when, and why our spaces are used? - Are we combining behavioral data with qualitative feedback? - Can our teams coordinate presence with minimal friction? - Are our spaces designed to support focus, creativity, and connection? - Do our systems reinforce trust, autonomy, and a culture of intentionality? These are not surface-level upgrades. They’re the foundations of a smart office strategy that respects how work is changing—and how people want to work. Because a truly smart office doesn’t just run well. It helps people do their best work. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Office Has To Be Valuable To People The office isn’t dead. But its role is changing fast. Where it once served as the default setting for work, it now needs to become a *destination for purpose*. That means designing spaces—and systems—that are in tune with how people actually work, not just how leaders hope they do. This isn’t about replacing efficiency with empathy. It’s about realizing that *long-term efficiency depends on empathy*. The workplaces of the future will need to balance both. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Human Flourishing Isn’t Soft. It’s Strategic. For enterprise leaders, this moment is a strategic opportunity. The choices you make now will define the next era of work in your organization. You can design smart offices that simply do less harm—or you can design ones that actively make your people better. The former saves money. The latter creates value. The future belongs to companies who understand that human flourishing isn’t a byproduct. It’s the brief. Want to see how to build a smart office strategy around your people? [Book a demo with our hybrid experts.]() --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() Speak With Our Hybrid Experts Team Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## The Workplace Leader's Playbook for When a Reorg Hits - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/the-workplace-leaders-playbook-for-when-a-reorg-hits/ Description: A reorg lands and workplace leaders have days to redraw. Here is the five-play SpaceOps playbook for getting seating right under pressure. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · August 12, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### The Workplace Leader’s Playbook for When a Reorg Hits Reorg Our team at Kadence was recently in a conversation with a large enterprise, and one thing a workplace leader on their side said has stuck with me. This particular company has publicly, very publicly, re-auged multiple times already this year and the Workplace team are feeling it. When a reorg hits and you have to figure out who should sit next to whom, which desk clusters work, which teams need to be close to each other, there is no product that does that well. So you end up solving it yourself, by hand, late at night, with a floor plan and a color-coded spreadsheet. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() That is exactly the problem I want to talk about, because it is not a niche one. A reorg is announced on a Monday. By the following week, someone in the workplace team is expected to have an answer to a question nobody prepared them for: who sits where now. New reporting lines, merged teams, a function that just doubled, another that got absorbed. The org chart changed in a slide deck, and the physical floor has to catch up, fast, while everyone watches to see whether it lands well or badly. I have watched a lot of talented people run at that problem trying to solve by hand what is actually an optimization problem. It does not have to be that way. So this is a playbook. Five plays, in order, for the workplace leader who just got handed a reorg and a deadline. #### Calculate the ROI of Your Workplace Operations Our brand-new ROI Calculator is here to help you visualize your success in seconds. [Calculate Your ROI]() #### Why the Reorg Moment Is the Hardest One You Own First, why this moment specifically. Reorgs are not rare events you can treat as one-offs. They are the operating rhythm of the modern enterprise. In [McKinsey’s research](), 82 percent of executives said they had been through an organizational redesign at their current company, and of those, 70 percent said the most recent one happened within the past two years. Reorganizing is not the exception anymore. It is roughly a biennial event. And it usually does not go smoothly. By [McKinsey’s own measure](), only 23 percent of reorgs are judged successful by the companies that run them. More than three quarters fall short of what they set out to do. The workplace leader inherits the physical half of that risk. Strategy decides the new structure. Somebody still has to make it real in the building, decide which teams cluster, who needs to be near whom, how much room each group needs on its busiest day, and do it before the new structure loses momentum. Get it right and the reorg feels real on day one. Get it wrong and you have teams that were just told to collaborate sitting on different floors, which quietly undercuts the whole point. That is why this moment is the hardest one the workplace team owns. High stakes, no lead time, and almost no tooling built for it. #### Play One: Freeze the Real Demand Picture Before Anyone Moves The instinct under pressure is to start moving people. Resist it. The first play is to establish what is actually true right now, before the reorg scrambles it. You need the real demand picture, not the headcount on paper. How many people from each team are genuinely in on a typical peak day, which days those peaks fall on, and which groups already sit and work together whether or not the org chart says so. This is your baseline. Without it, every decision that follows is a guess dressed up as a plan. With it, you know your true starting occupancy and you can measure every proposed move against something real instead of against the 2019 seating chart nobody has updated. The mistake to avoid here is planning off assigned desks or headcount. Both overstate what you need, because neither reflects how many people actually show up. Start from demonstrated demand, not entitlement. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Play Two: Map the New Adjacencies, Not Just the New Boxes A reorg hands you a new org chart. The org chart tells you the reporting lines. It does not tell you the adjacencies, and adjacencies are what the floor is actually made of. The second play is to translate the new structure into a map of who needs to be near whom. Some of this is obvious from the reorg itself: teams that just merged should probably sit together. Much of it is not. Two functions that now share a goal may never appear on the same branch of the chart but need to be one conversation apart. A team that was split across the business may need to consolidate. Write these down as adjacency requirements, ranked by how much they matter. Must be together. Should be close. Keep apart. That ranked list, not the org chart, is the real brief for the floor. This is the step most reorgs skip, and it is why so many end up with the right boxes in the wrong places. #### Play Three: Generate Options Instead of Defending One Here is where the late-night spreadsheet fails everyone. Under time pressure, most workplace leaders build exactly one seating plan, the first one that seems to work, and then spend their energy defending it when leaders push back. One plan is a hostage. You cannot compare it to anything, so every objection feels like an attack rather than a trade-off. The third play is to generate several viable options, not one. Consolidate the new structure onto fewer floors. Keep the current footprint but redraw the neighborhoods. Prioritize the top adjacencies at the cost of the lower ones, or the reverse. Each of these is a legitimate answer with a different cost, a different disruption level, and a different set of compromises. Having three or four real options changes the entire conversation with leadership. You stop defending a plan and start facilitating a decision, which is a far stronger position to be in and a far faster way to get to yes. Generating options by hand is exactly the part that does not scale, which is where the tooling comes in later in this playbook. #### Play Four: Score the Trade-Offs Openly Options are only useful if you can compare them honestly, so the fourth play is to score them on the same axes, out loud, in front of the decision-makers. For each option, put three things on the table. Cost, meaning how much space it takes and what that space costs. Adjacency, meaning how many of your ranked must-be-together and should-be-close requirements it actually satisfies. Disruption, meaning how many people have to physically move to make it happen. Almost no option wins on all three. The consolidation that saves the most money usually forces the most moves. The plan that nails every adjacency usually needs the most space. Making those trade-offs explicit is the entire job, because it turns a subjective argument about seating into an objective decision about priorities. Leadership can then choose which axis matters most this time, and own that choice with you rather than second-guessing it later. #### Play Five: Decide, Then Execute in Sequence The final play is to commit and then move in a deliberate order. Once leadership picks an option, do not execute it all at once in a single chaotic weekend. Sequence it. Move the highest-priority adjacencies first, the teams whose closeness the reorg most depends on, so the structure starts paying off immediately. Then work down the list. Communicate the plan and the reasoning before people arrive to find their desk has moved, because a reorg already makes people anxious and a silent seating change compounds it. And keep the demand picture from play one running after the move, because the next reorg is, statistically, about two years away. If you still have your baseline and your adjacency logic captured when it lands, you start the next one from play three instead of from a blank floor plan at eleven at night. #### The System That Runs This Playbook You can run all five of these plays by hand. Most workplace leaders do, and it is exhausting and slow, and it is why the spreadsheet comes out at night. This entire playbook is the problem [SpaceOps]() was built to solve. You describe what the reorg needs to achieve. SpaceOps pulls in your real demand picture, captured in the flow of how people actually use the workplace and measured through [Kadence Sense]() rather than a stale headcount file. It generates the options, scores the cost, adjacency, and disruption trade-offs for each, and lets you compare them side by side before anything physically moves. It runs on constraint-based optimization, not a generic language model guessing at your floor plan, which is what lets you take the recommendation into a leadership room and defend it. Plays three and four, the two that do not scale by hand, stop being an all-nighter and become a conversation. The next reorg is already on its way. The only real question is whether the workplace team meets it with a blank spreadsheet or with a system built for exactly this decision. If you want to see what running the reorg this way is worth across your portfolio, put the numbers through the [Kadence ROI calculator](), and when you want to see the plays run on your own floors, [book a demo]() with our workplace operations team. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Why the Workplace Needs a Digital Twin | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/the-workplace-needs-a-digital-twin/ Description: A workplace digital twin lets leaders model portfolio decisions before making them. Insights from LSE's Prithwiraj Choudhury and WPP's Bex Moorhouse. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · June 17, 2026 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Why the Workplace Needs a Digital Twin: Lessons From LSE and WPP Digital Twin The workplace needs a [digital twin]() because most decisions about offices are still made on incomplete, siloed data and instinct. A workplace digital twin brings that data together and lets leaders model a decision, such as consolidating two offices, before they make it. According to LSE’s Professor Prithwiraj Choudhury, hospitals, factories and energy companies already work this way. In June 2026, Kadence brought together a group of senior workplace and real estate leaders in London for a conversation over breakfast. We were joined by [Professor Prithwiraj Choudhury]() of the London School of Economics, one of the world’s leading researchers on digital twins and the future of work, and by [Bex Moorhouse](), a senior [workplace strategist]() at WPP with more than two decades of hands-on experience managing large, complex estates. The conversation surfaced something most workplace leaders already sense: the way we make decisions about the workplace is broken, and fixing it takes the same shift that has already changed other industries. #### What is a digital twin? A digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical operation that runs alongside it. Sensors and real-time data collection feed the replica, AI and machine learning analyze the data, and operating instructions flow back into the physical environment. The physical operation and its virtual twin run in parallel, continuously learning from each other. Professor Choudhury, known as Raj, opened with this simple observation. Digital twins are not a future technology. They already run in hospitals, factories and energy infrastructure, and he shared an example of each: - **Healthcare:** at a hospital in New York, sensors on patients combined with AI prediction meant half the doctors could work remotely while clinical outcomes improved. The system identified which patients needed urgent attention faster and more accurately than human observation alone. - **Manufacturing:** at a Unilever detergent plant in Brazil, a digital twin had taken over production management entirely. One outcome was a 6 percent reduction in gas consumption. - **Energy:** in Turkey, an energy company built a digital twin headquarters in Istanbul, where engineers manage 26 power plants across the country from a single office. Wind engineers sit next to solar engineers for the first time. The company is moving from a power generation business to a technology business, and its most valuable asset is no longer the plants. It is the data network. The pattern is the same each time: real-time data, AI-driven analysis, and instructions that flow back into the physical world. Every industry that manages physical operations at scale is moving to this model. The question is not whether it will reach the workplace, but how fast. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What is an organizational digital twin? An organizational digital twin is a single data infrastructure that combines what an organization knows about its people, teams, spaces and costs, with AI agents on top that can model decisions before they are made. It is the most direct way to apply digital twins to the workplace, and most large organizations already hold the data it needs. The data exists: how individuals work and perform, how teams interact, how spaces get used, and what the portfolio costs and delivers. The problem is that it sits in separate systems that do not talk to each other, locked in facilities platforms, HR tools, access control systems and finance records never designed to be combined. An organizational digital twin integrates all of it and lets AI agents test questions such as: - Should we consolidate two offices? - What would happen to team connectivity if we changed our attendance expectations? - How would a change in how we allocate space affect the cost base? Raj compared it to crash testing. Automotive companies do not crash real vehicles to test safety. They run the simulation in the digital twin. The same logic applies to organizational decisions: run the scenario first. This is what [scenario planning]() does for workplace and real estate teams. SpaceOps AI agent responding to "Seat the three new starters joining Monday" by automatically assigning desk locations on a live floor plan view, with move sheets generated and a prompt to notify the facilities team about equipment requirements. This is the direction workplace strategy is heading. The organizations that get there first will make better decisions faster, with less cost and less risk. The ones that do not will keep making multimillion-pound portfolio decisions based on incomplete information and instinct. #### What is a personal digital twin? A personal digital twin is an AI agent trained on one person’s communications, such as their emails, messages and meeting transcripts, that can answer routine questions on their behalf. Raj’s research suggests people accept it for impersonal, transactional questions but reject it for interpersonal ones, where they still want the human. Raj’s experiment with Wade Foster, founder and CEO of Zapier, produced two striking results: 1. When employees received communications from either Wade or an AI agent trained on his emails, messages and meeting transcripts, they could not reliably tell which was which. The bot passed the test. 2. Employees were fine with the bot handling impersonal questions but strongly rejected it for interpersonal ones. They did not want an AI answering questions about leadership or career. The implication is that personal digital twins will handle the routine, transactional and repeated work. In doing so, they give leaders time back for what needs human judgment: the one-on-one conversation, the deep thinking, the connection. Raj pointed to Sam Liang at Otter.ai and Melanie Rosenwasser, Chief of People at Dropbox, as early examples of leaders already experimenting with this. For more on how AI is changing work, see the [guide to AI and the future of work](). [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What is the office for? The office is for connection. Raj and Bex reached the same answer from different directions. Not the performance of presence, and not tasks that could be done at home, but the deep trust-building that needs physical proximity and the broader network-building that exposes people to colleagues outside their own team. Raj’s research shows that even in a physical office, interactions drop dramatically beyond ten meters. People circulate among the same five to seven colleagues and mistake that for a connected culture. He also described a study of a company retreat where employees spent several days together and came out with more siloed communication networks than when they arrived, because people gravitated toward colleagues like themselves. Designed well, the office interrupts those patterns. Designed poorly, it just formalizes them. Bex brought the practitioner’s view. Her team at WPP shifted from tracking occupancy to tracking show-up rate, and used it to right-size space and give budget relief to teams that were not coming in. **Show-up rate** compares how many people were expected in the office with how many actually came. She also made a point about retention. In her exit interviews, every person who resigned over one period said some version of the same thing: *I stayed longer than I probably should have for my own career because of the people.* Connection is not a soft benefit. It is a retention strategy and a talent strategy. The [workplace analytics and metrics guide]() covers how to measure it beyond occupancy counts. SpaceOps AI agent answering "Can Finance and Legal share a floor if we move to the new layout?" with a live floor plan view from Kadence SpaceOps showing current team allocations across two floors, and an AI-generated recommendation to consolidate both teams onto Floor 1 by moving HR to Floor 2. #### Why do leaders have to go first? Leaders have to go first because employees copy what leaders do, not what they say. Bex saw [office occupancy]() stay flat despite every other lever until her team checked leaders’ attendance and found they were not coming in either. The same applies to AI adoption: leaders who talk about AI but rarely use it send a clear message. Bex described a situation where occupancy was not moving despite neighborhoods, booking tools and engagement events. Once leadership presence became a tracked and prioritized metric, everything else started to shift. On AI, Raj cited research from Stanford showing that senior leaders who talk about AI constantly use it for less than one hour a week. That gap is visible to everyone. If you want people to engage seriously with these tools, you have to engage seriously with them yourself. On [change management](), Bex was direct. **Change management** is not communications. It is not an announcement email or a slide in an all-hands. It is the sustained, empathetic work of keeping people on the journey, naming the fear rather than talking around it, and being clear about which tasks AI will change and which it will not. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() She shared a story from 15 years earlier, when she showed a cleaner a video of a robotic vacuum, thinking it would excite him. Two days later he told her he thought she was going to replace him. The technology was not the issue. The communication around it was. That lesson applies to every AI rollout. #### What does a workplace digital twin mean for real estate leaders? For workplace and real estate leaders, a digital twin means decisions grounded in real data, modeled before they are made and refined as patterns change. The physical estate needs a digital twin, and the data behind it must be integrated, not siloed. That is how leaders move from measuring desks to measuring decisions. This is the problem Kadence was built to solve. As of June 2026, [SpaceOps]() gives workplace and real estate leaders the portfolio intelligence to move beyond occupancy counts, model scenarios, understand how space supports the connections that matter, and make capital decisions with confidence. Its [AI agents]() answer [space planning]() questions on live floor plans, as the examples above show. The organizations that treat the workplace as a strategic asset, one that can be understood, modeled and improved with the same rigor as any other part of the business, will get this right. The rest will keep guessing. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see how Kadence helps global organizations build that capability. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a workplace digital twin? A workplace digital twin is a virtual model of an organization’s offices, people and space use, fed by real data from systems such as facilities, HR, access control and finance. AI agents on top of it let leaders test decisions, such as consolidating offices or changing attendance expectations, before acting. ##### How is a digital twin used in other industries? Professor Prithwiraj Choudhury shared three examples. In research from a New York hospital, sensors and AI prediction let half the doctors work remotely while outcomes improved. At a Unilever plant in Brazil, a digital twin cut gas consumption by 6 percent. And a Turkish energy company manages 26 power plants from one digital twin headquarters in Istanbul. ##### What should the office be used for? According to Professor Prithwiraj Choudhury and Bex Moorhouse, the office is for connection: the trust-building that needs physical proximity and the network-building that exposes people to colleagues beyond their own team. Tasks that can be done at home do not justify it. ##### What is the difference between occupancy and show-up rate? Occupancy counts how much space is used. Show-up rate compares how many people were expected in the office with how many came. WPP’s workplace team used show-up rate to right-size space and give budget relief to teams that were not coming in. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Check in easy Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/tired-of-being-the-check-in-cop-2-new-check-in-easy-features-you-need-to-know/ Description: Spaces are meaningless unless your people can access them when they need to. Kadence enables your people to check in easily. [News]() · [Product News]() · September 9, 2022 · Luke Christian-Farman ### Tired Of Being The ‘Check-In Cop?’ 3 New Check In Easy Features You Need To Know Check in easy It makes sense to make your beloved spaces [bookable](), and accessible for your teams, with tools that encourage them to use them right? We think so too. You see, spaces are meaningless unless they’re being used for a purpose, and now that people are chomping at the bit to return to the spaces they love whether, for social connection or [team collaboration](), it would be wise to have something in place to enable your people to check in easy. You may even be wondering that the problem isn’t in managing spaces or making bookings, but rather in making it easier for your people to book, and access those spaces, in the moment or ahead of time. If that’s you, and you’re tired of being the ‘[space booking](), and check-in cops’, look no further because we’ve got you covered with this latest set of features. #### **Arrive Early, Check In Early** Getting to the office early for scheduled meetings, or to use the space you’ve pre-booked is better than arriving late, fact! Sometimes it cannot be helped, but for the most part, getting in the office early doors is never a bad thing. An evolution on checking into spaces and a much-requested feature by many now means all Kadence users can check into their [bookings]() early on the same day if their spaces are available. With this new feature, your people no longer need to wait for their booking to start before they can start on their day. [Tired Of Being The ‘Check-In Cop?’ 3 New Check In Easy Features You Need To Know image]() #### **More Auto-Release Options** When it comes to [managing your spaces](), and maintaining some level of organization, and order, one fundamental problem businesses are experiencing with other platforms is knowing what to do when people don’t show up to their bookings. If there is anything in a [hybrid workplace]() that causes as much strain on the sheer amount of wasted time having to rectify this issue it’s this one! However, in most cases, there is always a genuine reason why someone might be late for their booking, and for those that have childcare responsibilities, or had their train canceled, losing your spot to work in the office that day just doesn’t seem fair. Having more [Auto-release options]() (1 hour, 1.5 hours, 2 hours & 3 hours) gives Admins far more flexibility when it comes to managing bookings, and ensures that you and your people get the spaces you need when you need them. [Easy check-in]() #### **Book The Perfect Space In Your Favorite Office Every Time** When you’re planning to come to the office, and you’re wanting to see who’s there, and what spaces are available that day, this newest feature makes your preferred place to work your default location. So whenever you go to see what spaces are available on the web app, you’re right where you need to be. [Tired Of Being The ‘Check-In Cop?’ 3 New Check In Easy Features You Need To Know image]() #### **Conclusion** Making it easy for your people to make space bookings, and check into those spaces is the only way to go when it comes to organizational [hybrid working](). It not only encourages your people to come to the office, and not waste bookings, but it means your spaces are being used in the ways that they are intended. Remember, spaces are meaningless unless they’re being used for a purpose, and now with these new features, you can make it easier than ever for your teams to enjoy them. Interested in getting started? [Kick off your free trial]() today or [get in touch with our team]() for a demo. Do you have trouble getting your teams into the office? #### Related - [Meet SpaceOps: AI Built Specifically to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() Office space is your organization’s second-biggest cost. And the decisions that shape it are being made right now by senior people working from AI space planning software data they can’t fully trust. The headcount came from HR. But HR doesn’t track who actually shows up. The stack plan took three months. Then a team restructured, \[…\] - [Introducing Kadence Room Displays: Room Booking Reimagined For Workplace Operations]() For years, room displays have been treated as signage. A screen on a wall. A color indicator. A calendar no one fully trusts. That approach worked when workplaces were simpler. When one office managed one set of rooms. When utilization data didn’t matter. When the gap between what was booked and what was actually used \[…\] - [Introducing The New Kadence Visitor Management System]() For a long time, visitor management was treated as a front-desk task. A clipboard, a paper log, a quick badge, and you’re done. That approach worked until workplaces scaled. Until offices became distributed. Until compliance tightened. Until front desks became leaner. Until visitor volume became unpredictable. Today, visitor management is a core part of workplace \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Toyota's RTO Mandate: Breaking Away From The Automotive Norm - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/toyota-rto-mandate-breaking-away-from-the-automotive-norm/ Description: Toyota is enforcing a four-day RTO, but this risks alienating employees who’ve planned their lives around hybrid work. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · January 14, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Toyota’s RTO Mandate: Breaking Away From The Automotive Norm Toyota just dropped some big news—starting September 2, employees are expected back in the office four days a week. This puts Toyota on a completely different track compared to other carmakers, many of which are sticking with more [flexible hybrid]() setups. Sure, Toyota says it’s all about boosting collaboration and keeping the company culture alive, but it also sparks a lot of questions about how this move will impact employee satisfaction, fairness, and the way work evolves in the auto industry. #### How Toyota Stands Apart In a [letter to employees](), Toyota emphasized the need to foster collaboration, productivity, and cultural cohesion by requiring a significant on-site presence. The policy [applies even to those employees]() who have relocated away from company locations during the pandemic, further highlighting the rigidity of this approach. This stance contrasts sharply with other leading motor companies: - **Ford**: Ford’s [hybrid policy]() allows employees to tailor their schedules based on team agreements, enabling greater flexibility. - **Mercedes-Benz**: Mercedes-Benz’s hybrid work model focuses on empowering employees with flexibility while maintaining productivity, offering benefits that allow staff to work both remotely and in-office as needed. Toyota’s more rigid policy may risk alienating top talent, especially when competitors are offering more adaptable arrangements. A survey by Buffer found that [98% of employees]() who have experienced [remote work]() would like to have the option to work remotely for the rest of their careers, emphasizing how crucial flexibility is to today’s workforce. #### The Cost Of Relocation And Its Unfair Implications One of the most contentious aspects of Toyota’s policy is its requirement for employees who have moved away from company locations to comply with the four-day in-office rule. This decision disproportionately affects workers who relocated to suburbs or rural areas based on the promise of [hybrid work](). For many, this represents a significant upheaval. A [report by McKinsey]() found that 38 percent of employees who worked remotely less than five days a week said that remote work made them more willing to live farther from their office. In the United States, 55 percent of those who moved during the pandemic relocated to places farther from their previous office locations. Now, these workers face increased commuting costs, disrupted work-life balance, and potential loss of the lifestyle they’ve built around flexible work. Is this fair? Employees who uprooted their lives based on previous policies may feel betrayed, leading to dissatisfaction and potential attrition. Image of the Toyota North American Headquarters in Plano, TX. Source: MotorTrend. #### The Risk Of Losing Talent Toyota’s stricter hybrid model could push employees to jump ship for competitors that offer more freedom and flexibility. Tesla is a notable example of [a company enforcing strict RTO policies](), which have sparked significant dissatisfaction among its employees. Many staff members have voiced concerns that the policy stifles flexibility and overlooks their ability to remain productive while working remotely. In the broader job market, flexibility is a significant deciding factor. According to a [Gallup survey](), 61% of on-site workers working a full-time job with remote capability would prefer a hybrid work arrangement and an additional 28% would prefer to be fully remote. #### Striking The Right Balance While Toyota’s intentions to bolster collaboration and culture are understandable, its approach risks alienating its workforce. [Alternatives that blend flexibility with operational goals]() might include: - **Hybrid Customization**: Allowing teams to determine their [in-office schedules]() based on project needs. - **Technology Investments**: Enhancing virtual collaboration tools to maintain productivity and connection regardless of location. - **Phased Implementation**: Gradually increasing [office days]() while monitoring employee feedback and retention data. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How Kadence Can Help At Kadence, we specialize in [hybrid work solutions]() that align business objectives with employee needs. Our tools enable: - Efficient scheduling of [team collaboration days](). - [Data-driven insights]() to optimize workplace strategies. - Seamless integration of remote and in-office work. Toyota’s decision underscores the complexity of hybrid work policies in today’s corporate landscape. Companies that prioritize flexibility alongside collaboration will likely emerge as leaders in talent retention and innovation. #### Final Thoughts Toyota’s four-day office rule is stirring up conversation, but it might not sit well with today’s workforce. For employees who’ve planned their lives around hybrid setups, this feels like a step in the wrong direction. As workplaces keep evolving, companies that tune into what their people really want and adapt accordingly are the ones that’ll thrive. At Kadence, we’re here to help you figure it all out and create a hybrid model that actually works for everyone. [Let’s make work better, together.]() --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Tracy Hawkins Of OpenAI Joins Kadence's Advisory Board - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/tracy-hawkins-of-openai-joins-kadences-advisory-board/ Description: Kadence welcomes Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, as a Strategic Advisor to shape the future of the workplace. [News]() · [Kadence News]() · November 19, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Tracy Hawkins Of OpenAI Joins Kadence’s Advisory Board Tracy Hawkins OpenAI Today marks an exciting new chapter for Kadence. We’re thrilled to announce that [Tracy Hawkins](), VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, has joined Kadence as a Strategic Advisor. Tracy Hawkins is one of the world’s most respected workplace leaders, known for helping organizations like OpenAI, Grammarly, and Twitter design environments that empower people to do their best work. Her appointment strengthens our commitment to building technology that enables more human, connected workplaces. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### A Proven Leader In The Future Of Work Tracy has spent her career at the intersection of people, culture, and space. Before joining OpenAI nearly two years ago, she held a similar role at Grammarly and spent more than nine years at Twitter, where she oversaw global real estate, [workplace experience](), and the company’s approach to [remote work](). Her experience gives her a unique perspective on how modern workplaces can adapt to the changing needs of teams worldwide. At Kadence, she will bring that insight to help us scale our vision of smarter, more intentional work. #### How AI Is Transforming The Workplace In our recent conversation, Tracy shared her perspective on how AI will reshape [workplace operations]() and culture — not by removing the human element, but by enhancing it. > AI is going to really help us move fast as workplace teams and be able to do some of the tasks that were very slow and do them very, very quickly. It’s going to empower folks with more information on our teams. And it’s also going to allow us more time to build relationships. Let me move some of those work to AI, spend more time with people in that human connection. > > > > > > Tracy Hawkins > > > > VP of Real Estate and Workplace, OpenAI This vision aligns closely with Kadence’s mission to make work more connected and more human. The power of AI is in its ability to simplify complex coordination, freeing up time for creativity, collaboration, and relationships. A stylised design of Kadence AI booking recomendations. #### Building A Smarter, More Human Future Together For years, workplace teams have relied on outdated tools and manual processes to plan and manage their spaces. As we’ve seen, even global enterprises are still cutting up printed floor plans to figure out how their teams should come together. Kadence is here to change that by building [intelligent workplace]() tools that make coordination effortless. > Tracy has been shaping what the future of workplace looks like inside some of the most innovative companies on the planet. We’re thrilled to be building alongside her to create a smarter, more connected workplace for everyone. > > > > > > Dan Bladen > > > > CEO, Kadence Tracy’s appointment reflects [our growing community of workplace pioneers]() who believe technology should serve people, not the other way around. Together, we’re helping organizations all over the world find their rhythm between remote and in-person work, enabling teams to connect with purpose, not just presence. #### The Road Ahead As we continue to develop our AI-driven coordination tools, Tracy’s insight will help guide how we deliver on our promise to make work more meaningful and more human. The future of work isn’t about more tools. It’s about creating time for what matters most: people, relationships, and shared purpose. With leaders like Tracy Hawkins joining our mission, that future feels closer than ever. Learn more about how Kadence is helping organizations create better workplace operations. [Book a demo today with our workplace operations experts.]() --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Kadence Partners With Archilogic to Power Intelligent Workplaces]() In March 2026, Kadence announced a strategic partnership with Archilogic, the spatial data platform, connecting Archilogic floor plan data with Kadence SpaceOps. - [Kadence Introduces AI-Driven Visitor Management System to Power Modern Workplace Operations]() New self-service kiosks, AI-assisted invites, automated check-in, and real-time visibility unify visitor activity with workplace intelligence, natively inside the Kadence platform San Francisco, CA — January 27, 2026 — Kadence, the leading workplace operations platform for global enterprises, today announced the launch of its newly rebuilt Visitor Management System (VMS), designed to automate visitor operations, \[…\] - [Kadence Raises $20M To Transform How Enterprises Run The Modern Workplace]() Today marks a major milestone in our journey: Kadence has raised a $20 million Series A to accelerate the future of work. The round was led by High Alpha, with participation from Kickstart, Midwich Ignite, and Four Cities Capital and Mantaray. We’re also honored to have the backing of 515 Ventures led by Frederic Kerrest \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Transforming The Public Sector With Andy Lake - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/transforming-the-public-sector-with-andy-lake/ Description: Andy Lake explains how the public sector can lead by example in creating dynamic, inclusive, and effective work environments. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · April 5, 2024 · [Helen Attia]() ### Transforming The Public Sector With Andy Lake A screenshot of a zoom call between Helen Attia and Andy Lake As we step into a future where the lines between our professional and personal lives are increasingly blurred. The need for smarter, more [flexible workspaces]() has never been more apparent. The public sector, traditionally seen as a bastion of the ‘old ways’ of working, is now at the forefront of this transformation. I recently sat down with [Andy Lake](), a leading figure in the world of flexible and smart working, to discuss how the public sector can evolve to not just keep pace with the private sector, but lead by example in creating dynamic, inclusive, and effective work environments. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Evolution Of Work The journey towards [smart workplaces]() isn’t just about adopting new technologies or policies — it’s about fundamentally rethinking the relationship between our work and our lives. For too long, the rigidity of the 9-to-5, office-bound work model constrained the potential of our institutions to innovate and adapt. Now that the private sector is swiftly moving towards a system that’s less about *where* you spend your time and more about *how* you spend your time — our public institutions are in the unique position of being able to follow a blueprint being laid out for them. By embracing smart flexibility, the public sector can become an environment that adapts to the needs of its most valuable asset: its people. Smart flexibility goes beyond the option to [work from home]() on a Friday or to start the day an hour early. It’s about creating a culture where flexibility is woven into the very fabric of how an organization operates. A framework of trust between employer and employee based on the understanding that it’s more than possible to be in control of a flexible work schedule. #### The Challenge For The Public Sector The public sector faces unique challenges in this transformation. From local government offices to national healthcare services, the range of functions and responsibilities is vast. But these challenges also present unique opportunities. By adopting a holistic approach to smart working, public institutions can set new standards for workplace innovation, inclusivity, and agility. So where should a public sector organization start its journey towards becoming a [smart workplace]()? It begins with leadership. Transformational change requires buy-in at all levels, from the executive team to frontline staff. This means engaging in open dialogues about priorities, challenges, and aspirations, and developing a shared vision for the future of work within the organization. At the heart of smart flexibility is the empowerment of teams and individuals to work in ways that best suit their roles, tasks, and personal circumstances. This requires a shift in management style, from overseeing to facilitating, enabling employees to perform at their best, wherever and whenever that may be. #### Technology As An Enabler Technology will play a crucial role in the evolution of the public sector and smart working. [Hybrid work]() platforms like [Kadence]() offer public sector organizations the tools they need to manage flexible work models, coordinate teams effectively, and ensure that their resources are utilized optimally. They give employers and employees a platform to flourish in a [coordinated hybrid]() system, where everyone is aligned on the *where* and *when* of work. With features that help managers set up [regular team meetings]() in the office, notify employees [when their colleagues have booked a room]() or desk, and [high-level statistics]() on [office occupancy]() and usage, a hybrid operating platform is a must for any institution looking to become more flexible. When the right technology comes accompanied by a commitment to training, support, and continuous improvement — the sky is the limit for the public sector. #### Looking Ahead As we move beyond the pandemic and into an era of rapid societal and technological change, the public sector has an opportunity to lead by example in creating work environments that are not only more flexible and efficient — but also more human. By embracing the principles of smart flexibility, public institutions cannot only improve their operational effectiveness but also enhance the well-being of their employees and the communities they serve. Transforming deep rooted work systems is not just a response to the challenges of the present, but a commitment to a more adaptable, resilient, and inclusive way of working. The key? Communication, openness, and commitment to a better future for all of us. --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() Part of a guide [AI and the future of work: strategy, capacity and the workplace]() AI and the future of work are now one conversation. Here is what AI means for the length of the week, for adoption, for human focus and for the office itself. #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Uber Sets The Standard For Structured Hybrid With Three-Day In-Office Rhythm - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/uber-redefines-hybrid-work/ Description: Uber expands its hybrid work policy to three days in office, aiming to strengthen collaboration while maintaining flexibility. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · April 29, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Uber Sets The Standard For Structured Hybrid With Three-Day In-Office Rhythm Uber RTO When Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced that all employees—including those previously approved for remote work—would align to a three-day in-office rhythm, it signaled the company’s continued investment in [structured hybrid work](). Rather than pulling back on flexibility, Uber is fine-tuning its hybrid model to strengthen [in-person collaboration]() while preserving the autonomy teams value. In a memo viewed by [CNBC](), Khosrowshahi made Uber’s position clear: “Good is not going to be good enough—we need to be great.” For Uber, that means a thoughtful balance of remote and office-based work, with an increased presence in shared spaces. Uber’s policy shift offers a clear signal: hybrid work is maturing. It’s no longer about experimentation—it’s about structure. Let’s explore what this evolution means for the [future of hybrid work]() and how other companies can build similarly intentional strategies. #### Why Uber Is Evolving Its Hybrid Approach Uber’s latest announcement builds on its 2022 “[anchor days]()” approach, which brought teams together in-office on [Tuesdays and Thursdays](). Starting this June, the company will strengthen that structure by moving to a [coordinated three-day in-office rhythm]()—Tuesday through Thursday—for all employees, including those who were previously remote. It’s a clear step toward a more intentional, consistent hybrid experience. After a thorough review of our existing remote approvals, we’re asking many remote employees to come into an office. In addition, we’ll hire new remote roles only very sparingly. Dara Khosrowshahi CEO, Uber This adjustment reflects Uber’s belief that in-person time strengthens collaboration, creativity, and speed. Leadership will also [monitor attendance]() “at both team and individual levels” to ensure consistency across the organization. The company’s evolution also includes updates to benefits, such as extending sabbatical eligibility from five years of service to eight—reflecting the maturing nature of Uber’s workforce and workplace policies. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Market Forces Behind The Shift To understand Uber’s decision in context, it helps to zoom out. Across the tech sector, companies are evolving their approach to hybrid work—shifting from broad flexibility to more intentional structures that support both employee experience and business performance. As priorities move from rapid growth to sustainable efficiency, [coordinated hybrid models]() are emerging as a strategic advantage. In the last few months alone, [Google](), [Amazon](), and [IBM]() have all refreshed their hybrid work policies as well. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() There’s also a practical business dimension to Uber’s evolving hybrid strategy. Last year, [Khosrowshahi directly linked remote work to revenue loss](). Specifically, the decline of loyal commuting customers who once relied on Uber to get to the office. For a company deeply connected to urban mobility, restoring in-office rhythms isn’t just about culture—it’s also about aligning [workplace strategy]() with core business performance. This shift isn’t just about internal alignment—it’s also a strategic response to external realities. By reintroducing consistent in-office rhythms, Uber is supporting both employee connection and the broader recovery of its core mobility ecosystem. Our collective view as a leadership team is that while remote work has some benefits, being in the office fuels collaboration, sparks creativity, and increases velocity. Dara Khosrowshahi CEO, Uber #### Improving The Employee Experience What sets Uber’s approach apart is its commitment to balance—reinforcing in-person connection through a consistent weekly rhythm, while still preserving the flexibility that hybrid work offers. Rather than reverting to a five-day office model, Uber is doubling down on a structured, sustainable version of hybrid. At the heart of every policy shift lies an important leadership challenge: trust. Adjusting expectations—especially for previously remote roles—requires clear communication, thoughtful [change management](), and improving the employee experience. As more companies move toward [structured hybrid]() models, success will hinge not just on the policy itself, but on how it’s communicated and implemented. Uber’s Headquarters in San Francisco #### The Real Question: Can Hybrid Work—Work? Uber’s move isn’t a retreat from hybrid—it’s a refinement. It reflects a broader truth: hybrid work performs best when it’s structured with intent. Success requires more than just offering remote flexibility or mandating office days—it demands clarity, coordination, and a shared purpose behind every in-person moment. Hybrid work only works when it’s designed with clarity, coordination, and adaptability. Companies like [Citi]() and [Nvidia]() are sticking by hybrid work for that very reason. That’s where [tools like Kadence]() come in. #### The Kadence Takeaway Kadence helps companies: - [Coordinate team presence]() for high-impact days in the office - Make smarter decisions on [space usage and desk allocation]() - Surface insights on [employee work patterns]() to better support wellbeing and performance [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() As Uber raises its in-office expectations, other companies are asking the right questions: How do we make the office worth the commute? How do we preserve the flexibility teams value while regaining the cohesion high-performing organizations need? There’s no universal answer—but the path forward starts with visibility, intentional design, and the right technology to support it. Uber’s announcement marks an important evolution in the hybrid work conversation. Flexibility still matters—but pairing it with structured, purposeful in-person time can unlock stronger culture and sharper execution. As more organizations refine their [hybrid work models](), leaders are clearly building systems that empower both people and performance. That’s exactly what Kadence is built for. If your team is rethinking its [hybrid strategy](), [book a demo]() with our hybrid experts. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Hybrid Experts Team Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Desk booking videos - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/video-category/desk-booking/ Description: Short walkthroughs of desk booking in Kadence. [All videos]() ### Desk booking videos Short walkthroughs of desk booking in Kadence. #### [Creating A Building In Kadence]() [Watch video: Creating A Building In Kadence]() #### [Kadence Web App Demo]() A quick tutorial demo video showing you how to use the Kadence web app to find and book a space, find a teammate and everything else you need to know to navigate through your working day. [Watch video: Kadence Web App Demo]() #### [Kadence Mobile App Demo]() A quick tutorial demo video showing you how to use the Kadence mobile app to find a space near your teammates, book a space or everything else you need to know to navigate through your working day. [Watch video: Kadence Mobile App Demo]() #### [Kadence + Slack Desk Booking Demo]() [Watch video: Kadence + Slack Desk Booking Demo]() #### [Public Check-In API Demo]() [Watch video: Public Check-In API Demo]() ## Virtual Water Cooler: Ideas To Build Team Connection | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/virtual-water-cooler-finding-connection-in-the-workplace-again/ Description: What a virtual water cooler is, why informal conversations matter for remote and hybrid teams, seven steps to build one, and games and activities to try. [News]() · [Hybrid Working]() · March 17, 2022 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Virtual Water Cooler: How To Recreate Informal Connection For Remote And Hybrid Teams A [virtual water cooler]() is an informal online space where remote and hybrid employees can chat, share interests and take a break together, without work tasks getting in the way. It is an attempt to recreate the unplanned conversations that used to happen in office hallways, break rooms and around the coffee machine. Can you design spontaneity? Think back to 2018, when serendipitous conversations at the office were taken for granted and often seen as a waste of time. Three years later, the move to digital work had removed many of the in-between spaces where those conversations happen. Organizations started looking for ways to bring them back online. #### What is a virtual water cooler? A virtual water cooler is a digital space, such as a chat channel or an open video call, where employees meet informally and talk about anything they like. Its purpose is connection, not productivity. It works best when employees can join and leave as they please, and when managers encourage it rather than control it. A **water cooler conversation** is an informal, unplanned chat between colleagues, named after the office water cooler where people bump into each other. The virtual version tries to create the same conditions for those chats when people are not in the same building. Small businesses, for example, have run virtual water coolers that stay open to anyone indefinitely. Any employee can drop in, meet others or start a conversation at any time. #### Why do water cooler conversations matter? Informal conversations build community and commitment. Chats with strangers, colleagues and friends around the office, however awkward, create connections among workers, and those connections make employees more committed to the organization. They also help people learn from each other and cope with stress, which is why they are worth recreating online. One benefit of being in a physical workplace is the informal conversation that happens anywhere, in the spaces between meetings and desks. Picture an employee who hits a wall and takes a break for a cup of cold water. They meet a colleague doing the same thing, and the two start talking about the challenges of a new project. That exchange fosters [water cooler learning](). In workplaces like hospitals, where the probability of stress is high, these conversations contribute greatly to how employees deal with complexity and stress. The best part is that everyone passes through the water cooler, so the conversations have less control and more spontaneity. #### Why is it hard to recreate water cooler moments online? Technology makes virtual collaboration easy, but it does not make informal conversation easy. Virtual water coolers thrive because they operate away from managers. When employees feel their bosses are pushing them to meet virtually, the space loses its value and people find other ways to connect, out of the company’s reach. People can chat in Zoom meetings or through apps and informal groups. Some informal spaces keep managers out, and that freedom leads to some of the most innovative and creative conversations. If employees feel manipulated into meeting each other, the whole system crumbles. The only way to succeed is to let go of the need to control interactions between employees. Instead, work on morale and engagement by keeping the whole virtual experience informal. Missing out on water cooler connections is a common [hybrid working]() mistake, and control is the fastest way to make it. #### What are the benefits of a virtual water cooler? A virtual water cooler supports team bonding, generates new ideas, links remote workers to the organization and breaks down silos between departments. Each benefit comes from the same source: employees talking freely about shared interests, outside the structure of meetings and deadlines. For organizations with distributed teams, it helps sustain growth and employee satisfaction. ##### It supports team bonding Remote employees are self-reliant. They meet deadlines without supervision and build the skills to solve problems on their own. They also need communication skills to keep work flowing with teammates and managers. A human-centric workplace meets needs beyond working self-sufficiently. A virtual water cooler gives remote workers a place to connect with colleagues over shared interests. Meeting those interests increases performance, teamwork, productivity and engagement. ##### It generates new ideas Look beyond office gossip, and water coolers are where creative business ideas are born. Employees talk freely there, without reservations. Those conversations turn into brainstorming that improves processes and policies and produces ideas for innovation and growth. ##### It links remote workers to the organization Many of the best-performing employees feel a sense of belonging to their organization. That is hard to build among remote employees, who rarely meet managers and colleagues face to face. When remote workers collaborate among themselves, they form strong relationships with each other and with the company. They feel part of something larger than themselves, which deepens their commitment to the organization. ##### It breaks down departmental silos A virtual water cooler is a space where employees feel free to talk to anyone. The more bonds form, the more the silos between departments break down. Networks form in their place and support collaboration across the organization, improving the culture and cohesion across levels of the hierarchy. #### How do you build a virtual water cooler? Build a virtual water cooler by encouraging interaction without controlling it, communicating consistently, and choosing tools that make joining and leaving easy. Start with collaborative projects and regular one-on-ones, keep the tone fun and informal, show gratitude, and set up separate channels and rooms for different interests and groups. ##### Seven steps to the virtual water cooler effect 1. **Encourage interaction.** Create collaborative projects so employees work together, even remotely. The goal is to encourage, not to control. Technology that provides channels for connection helps here. 2. **Connect engagement to results.** [Help your employees understand]() why meeting deadlines matters to overall performance, and build engagement strategies that motivate them to meet deadlines proactively. 3. **Hold regular digital meetings.** Keep a consistent link between each person and the organization. One-on-one meetings matter most, because they help people get to know each other and the company. 4. **Communicate consistently.** Consistency tells employees you are available when they need you, which makes them feel more secure. 5. **Keep it fun.** Remove anything that deadens the experience, even when the topic is company strategy. 6. **Show gratitude.** Thank employees for their work, their deadlines and their ideas. Reward good work with incentives or team recognition, and personalize rewards where you can. 7. **Make communication flexible and clear.** People read every behavioral cue. Create a setting where emotions, human cues and personality come through, so virtual interactions feel authentic. ##### Choosing the tools You need the right [tools to communicate with your team efficiently](), especially when people are in different locations. Video conferencing software supports virtual meetings. Group chats let you set up conversations around employee interests, which suits team and club water coolers. The platform should be easy and convenient for every user. Employees should be able to join and leave conversations as they please. ##### Setting up channels and rooms Create channels that strengthen company culture. Give each department its own space, and create another space where remote workers can meet colleagues from other departments. You can also add rooms for storytelling, event planning and hobbies. #### What types of virtual water cooler work best? Four types of virtual water cooler cover most needs: club water coolers built around shared interests, team water coolers for short casual breaks, happy hour water coolers at the end of the week, and office water coolers that act as a virtual breakroom. Most organizations will use more than one. - **Club water coolers:** Invite employees to film, book or cooking clubs based on their interests, and host them on set days after hours. Use in-meeting chat and emoji reactions to keep people engaged. - **Team water coolers:** A virtual space employees visit when they need a break and a casual chat, away from tasks and deadlines. Group messaging channels, each on a specific topic, let people relax for a few minutes. - **Happy hour water coolers:** Move the end-of-week happy hour online with trivia, movie nights, wine tasting and other activities. - **Office water coolers:** A virtual breakroom, such as a video meet-and-greet once or twice a week during a coffee or lunch break. Encourage live chat and let people talk about anything. #### What are good virtual water cooler games and activities? Good virtual water cooler activities are simple, voluntary and social: meme contests, pet channels, online game nights, a monthly video happy hour and surprise birthday celebrations. Water cooler conversations support workplace wellbeing and stress management because they rest on human connection, and the need for that connection keeps growing. - **Meme wars:** Create a meme channel and let employees compete. Reward the memes most people vote funniest. - **Pet channel:** Dedicate a channel to employees’ pets, where people share adorable and embarrassing photos. It gives people a smile and a break that helps them avoid burnout. - **Gaming nights:** Pick remote-friendly games such as video games, cards or brain teasers. Find a time between 8 and 10 pm when work is done and the kids are in bed. Options include Wordraw, Settlers of Catan, Skribbl and Scattergories. - **Happy hour:** Build it into your culture with a monthly video call where everyone brings a favorite drink to catch up and unwind. - **Birthdays:** Organize a surprise video call for an employee’s birthday. Sing, collect money for a gift or a personalized present, dress up and eat dinner together from your own locations. For hybrid teams, virtual connection works alongside time together in person. Kadence’s guide to [bringing teams together]() covers planning shared office days, and [workplace events]() can turn a social plan into an in-person gathering. #### Why does culture matter more than the tools? No amount of spontaneity or effort will create the virtual water cooler conversations you want without the right culture. Culture motivates employees to do their best and to care about the processes you put in place. Create that culture first, and employees will use the virtual water cooler to connect, share ideas and help the business grow. For more on how people connect at work, see other writing by [Dan Bladen](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is a virtual water cooler? A virtual water cooler is an informal online space, such as a chat channel or an open video call, where remote and hybrid employees talk about anything outside work tasks. It recreates the unplanned conversations that happen around an office water cooler. ##### Why are virtual water coolers important? They support team bonding, generate new ideas, give remote workers a sense of belonging to the organization and break down silos between departments. Informal conversation also helps employees cope with stress. ##### What are some virtual water cooler ideas? Popular ideas include interest clubs, topic channels, meme contests, pet channels, online game nights, a monthly video happy hour and surprise birthday calls. ##### How do you stop a virtual water cooler from feeling forced? Encourage it without controlling it. Keep it informal, let people join and leave as they please, and avoid pushing employees to take part. When people feel manipulated into meeting, they find other places to talk. #### Related - [The CEO’s Perspective: Driving Growth, Innovation, And Hybrid Working ROI]() Embracing hybrid work isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for forward-thinking CEOs. This article unveils how hybrid work models drive unprecedented Hybrid Working ROI across the triple bottom line: By implementing a robust hybrid working ROI strategy, CEOs can future-proof their organizations, attract top talent, and gain a competitive edge in an evolving business \[…\] - [Hybrid Pulse Check #1: Office Attendance By Country And Weekday (November 2024)]() Kadence booking data from over 500 companies, published in November 2024: office attendance by country, the peak in-office days, and what workplace leaders can do about it. - [Hybrid Work Management Software – Choosing The Right One]() The rise of hybrid work models has become more than just a trend. It’s a necessity. As teams embrace a flexible work environment, effective Hybrid Work Management Software has become critical. Read our key considerations that will empower you and your team to choose the right software that best suits your hybrid goals. The traditional \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Is Visitor Management And Why It Matters For Workplace Operations - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/visitor-management-workplace-operations/ Description: Learn what visitor management is and why it matters. Discover how Kadence turns guest check-ins into data that drives workplace performance. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · September 25, 2025 · [Jamie Addis]() ### What Is Visitor Management And Why It Matters For Workplace Operations Visitor Management [Visitor management is the process of welcoming, tracking, and supporting every guest]() who enters your workplace. It covers everything from digital sign-ins and badges to host notifications and compliance records. At its most basic, visitor management ensures people can enter safely, be where they need to be, and leave a record behind. But stopping there is a mistake. Too many companies treat visitor management as a front-of-house detail rather than a core part of workplace operations. At Kadence, we believe visitor management is not only about hospitality or security. It is [a strategic capability that generates valuable data for planning, efficiency, and cost reduction](). #### What Is Visitor Management? Traditionally, visitor management meant paper logbooks, receptionists noting names, and temporary badges. Digital visitor management systems evolved to speed up this process with touchscreen kiosks, branded sign-in flows, and automated notifications to hosts. The goal was simple: create a professional first impression, maintain safety, and keep accurate visitor logs. [Many of today’s providers stop there](). They define visitor management as a way to modernize check-in and make guests feel welcome. That is only half the story. In modern enterprises, visitor management plays a critical role in workplace operations because every visitor check-in creates data that leaders can use to optimize space, time, and people. #### Why Visitor Management Has Changed The world of work is no longer predictable. Hybrid schedules mean some offices are quiet one day and crowded the next. Compliance requirements are stricter. Real estate costs are under the microscope. Leaders are being asked to prove ROI on every square foot and every hour of employee time. In this environment, visitor management cannot be a standalone tool. It [must be part of a wider operations platform](). - Unpredictable demand: Visitor numbers fluctuate with hybrid attendance patterns, client meetings, and external contractors. - Compliance and safety pressures: Companies need reliable records for audits, regulations, and risk management. - Rising costs: With real estate often the second-largest cost after people, knowing exactly how spaces are used is vital. - Data fragmentation: Too many apps track different workplace inputs without a single view of operations. Visitor management addresses all of these when it is integrated into a unified workplace operations platform. #### The Workplace Operations Perspective Kadence defines workplace operations as the orchestration of people, space, and time so every resource drives performance. Visitor management becomes an essential data source within this model. - People: Visitor flows reveal who interacts with your teams, how often, and when. - Space: Check-in data shows which sites and rooms experience the most external traffic, guiding layout and resource planning. - Time: Visitor patterns reveal peak hours and durations, helping to align staffing, security, and front-of-house services. For CFOs, COOs, and CHROs, this data is powerful. It supports portfolio management, scenario planning, and workforce optimization. Visitor management stops being about name tags and becomes a way to measure performance and inform strategic decisions. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How Kadence Reimagines Visitor Management Kadence does not treat visitor management as a bolt-on feature. It is [part of our wedge into enterprises](), alongside desk booking, room scheduling, and team coordination. From there, we expand into the full Workplace Operations Platform, offering announcements, surveys, policy engines, and analytics. Here is how visitor management works inside Kadence: - Every arrival is accurate data: Visitor check-ins are captured and integrated into booking and occupancy data, giving leaders a clearer view of how their spaces are used. - Compliance and safety built in: Logs are stored securely to support audits and emergencies. Self-certify flows and touchless check-in keep people safe, while on-site capacity limits prevent overcrowding. - Real-time visibility: Hosts are notified the moment their guest arrives, with customizable email templates to deliver a branded visitor experience. - Integrated with resources: Visitors can be included in room bookings, assigned desks, and even added to ride planning. - [AI-powered front desk](): With Kadence AI, companies can invite guests, reserve desks, and set up arrivals simply by asking. The outcome is more than a smoother welcome. It is a platform that helps leaders cut costs, reduce risk, and optimize their workplace portfolio. #### Why Visitor Management Matters Now Office attendance patterns are no longer predictable. Some days see a steady flow of employees and guests, while others are far quieter. That variability makes accurate visitor data more valuable than ever. When visitor records are combined with employee presence data, leaders can answer critical questions such as: - Which days does our office experience peak demand? - Are we over-staffed or under-staffed at reception? - Do visitors use the same spaces as employees, and is that creating bottlenecks? - Should we resize our space based on actual combined usage? This makes visitor management a vital data source for workplace operations, helping organizations plan more effectively and avoid unnecessary costs. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Turning Check-Ins Into Strategy Visitor management in 2025 is no longer about digital kiosks and welcome screens. It is about transforming every visitor interaction into actionable intelligence. Companies that treat visitor management as a strategic component of workplace operations gain: - Clearer visibility into how space is truly used. - Stronger compliance and risk management. - More efficient allocation of staff and resources. - Better insight for portfolio decisions and cost savings. The companies that continue to treat visitor management as a simple front-desk function will miss out on these advantages. #### Final Thought Visitor management is more than hospitality. It is a core input into workplace operations, powering decisions about people, space, and time. At Kadence, we are building the platform that makes this shift possible. Ready to reimagine visitor management? [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see how Kadence can help you turn check-ins into strategic advantage. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Welcome Back To Work! 10 Encouraging Ideas To Bring Employees Back - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/welcome-back-to-work/ Description: Are you ready to welcome your employees back to the office? Here are some ideas to help make the transition go smoothly. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · November 6, 2024 · [Helen Attia]() ### Welcome Back To Work! 10 Encouraging Ideas To Bring Employees Back hybrid working If your teams are making a transition from remote working to [hybrid working](), welcome them back to the office. Think effective organizational communication among in-person or remote employees, improved meeting ideas, and enhanced employee well-being, among other things. Whether you are the employer, a manager, or an employee, getting back to the office is touchy. Since every member of your organization needs time to adjust to this change, you can make the transition smoother using these tips: #### 1. Prepare Your Office Building There’s no better way to say “welcome back to work” than with a refreshed and appealing atmosphere. [Organize workspaces](), arrange communal areas to encourage interaction, and consider updating any outdated tools or equipment, such as chairs or desks, to make your employees feel valued and comfortable as they return to the office. Small enhancements show that you’re committed to creating an inviting and supportive environment. #### 2. Enhance Your Organizational Communication Channels Proper communication ensures you experience a smooth transition from the onset because it keeps everyone informed. Make clear communication an essential part of your planning process by creating communication processes across all your business channels to ensure every employee receives their intended message. Some excellent avenues to pass information to your employees include: - [Company announcements]() - Email notifications - Workplace app Don’t use one channel. Instead, use every medium you have and consider [integration solutions like Slack]() to improve your communication processes. For instance, notify your employees of your plans beforehand to help them prepare. Parents especially need time to plan for daycare, and employees in distant remote locations might need to plan for travel back to their homes. In your message, include the requirements your employees need to have before they are back in the office. For example, include: - The introduction of flexibility within the workplace - The employees expected to be in the office - The employees allowed to work remotely - Remote working guidelines like the available [desk booking software]() solution - The health guidelines for safety, like the need to wear masks at all times - The safety health precautions like proof of vaccination for all employees coming back to work - New practices you plan to implement, whether to improve office efficiency or to safeguard against health risks Ensure your message is comprehensive yet easy to understand and follow. Also, include a contact your employees can use if they have any additional questions or concerns they need addressing. #### 3. Be Flexible Many employees have settled into the remote working environment. The flexibility of setting individual work schedules from home has made [remote workers more productive than office workers](). Therefore, going from remote working routines to a fixed working schedule is not ideal for many employees. Adopting a flexible approach to work is sure to make your employees more comfortable as they come back to the office. **Be Patient:** Instead of [making it mandatory for all employees to return to work](), give them time and phase out their return. **Collect Feedback:** Make sure this works for them and ask how they feel about it and what they need to help with the transition. Take suggestions from your employees with a survey on how you can better accommodate their preferences. #### 4. Get To Know What Your Employees Want Don’t assume your employees are mentally and emotionally prepared to be in the office. They might have concerns that never cross your mind, which you can mitigate to enhance your reopening experience further. As such, find out whether: - Hybrid workers prefer to be in the office on a [specific day of the week]() - Your [employees feel comfortable returning to the office](), or if specific issues make them anxious - They think they can carry out their duties efficiently once they are back to work - They need any specific tools, technology, or equipment to make their work more productive - Your implemented safety guidelines and protocols make them feel safe, or if there are areas to improve on #### 5. Welcome Gifts For Your Employees Personalized surprise gifts on every employee’s desk are quite the existential way of saying “welcome back to work.” For instance, a working mum might prefer a daycare money voucher while a health and fitness fanatic might prefer a well-being hamper. The more practical and personal the gift, the more your employees will feel your appreciation. Gift ideas to use are: - Desk or office plants - Nutritious snack boxes - Chocolate, brownies, or donut boxes - After-work activity service vouchers - Self-care hampers with things like journals and nutrition tips #### 6. Plan For Team Building On The First Day Back This is an excellent yet fun idea to get your employees back into the spirit of teamwork. For instance, an office scavenger hunt is the perfect team-building activity to work on problem-solving skills while working in a team. You can implement a regular “Kadence” of team-building activities into your employees’ schedule to keep encouraging them to work as a team long after their first day back to work. [Events]() can encourage people back to the office, because they offer opportunities to connect with colleagues outside of their team. A weekly agenda of team activities can keep momentum going. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### 7. Prepare For The First Meeting When done correctly, meetings enhance productivity. Make your first meeting a little better by creating a space where your team can share their voice and ideas. Include coffee, donuts, and other treats in your weekly meetings. **How To Prepare**: Start simple with icebreakers, interact with your team, and then set the tone for the meeting. Ensure the [meeting room]() is big enough to accommodate everyone while maintaining a social distance. Install technology like a microphone and a TV screen to help virtually bring remote workers into the meeting. **Encourage Engagemen**t: Introduce your new working strategy and plan for the year’s first quarter. Make your objectives fun and tie them to a reward program to increase employee motivation. Allow creative ideas and discussions from your team members. **Give A Time Schedule**: Create a timeline for your plan to ensure you meet deadlines. Use a whiteboard if you must to explain your ideas and strategies. Introduce a goal-tracking system where you track your team’s success once they achieve the goals on your board. Then introduce a reward for each win or milestone achieved for your entire team. #### 8. Create A Plan For Your Remote Workers Accommodating your remote or hybrid workers in your welcome-back activities is critical to ensuring you remain inclusive. As mentioned, technology is a great way to bring your remote workers to the office regardless of their location. Therefore: - Include helpful technology in the office and ensure your remote workers have the right technology to communicate with your office. - Use your communication channels to keep remote workers updated with daily work processes. - Send them their gifts to their designated locations and provide the flexibility to join your co-working spaces. - Introduce social activities between remote cross-teams to keep them friendly to the working environment and increase teamwork. As an employer, check on your remote workers more often than you do with your in-person employees. It is much harder to notice signs like burnout in remote workers. Still, you can combat these issues by regularly getting feedback through your hybrid model, personal observation, and regular talks. #### 9. Allow Your Workers To Engage With Each Other Allowing your team to be more interactive means they might feel more motivated and less stressed to be back at work, thus increasing their engagement and productivity levels. This also encourages a healthy flow of teamwork and ideas. Therefore, allow on and off interactions throughout the day but clarify that they must meet deadlines. #### 10. Onboarding New Hires Certain dos and don’ts make new hires feel less anxious when they first meet their employers. So, when your new hires arrive at your office, please introduce yourself, your company, and what you do, then take them on a tour around your office building. If you have new hires for different departments or teams, ensure you introduce them to the people in their group and then set a meeting time for a one-on-one meeting with their immediate supervisor. Once you’ve given them all your expectations and company rules, allow them to interact with other employees in the office. --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() ##### What’s Next For The Future Of Work? Join our Kadence community to stay on top of latest news and trends in the future of work. #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What AI Can't Replace: OpenAI's Tracy Hawkins | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/what-ai-cant-replace-with-openais-tracy-hawkins/ Description: Tracy Hawkins of OpenAI talks with Kadence's Dave Cairns about raising kids with AI, why people still gather, and designing offices for choice. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · November 24, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dave Cairns]() ### What AI Can't Replace: OpenAI's Tracy Hawkins on People, Purpose and the Office Open AI Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI, does not believe AI will replace the need for people to gather. When I sat down with her at OpenAI’s headquarters in San Francisco for this conversation, published in November 2025, we barely talked about office space. We talked about humanity, and what happens when technology becomes powerful enough to shape how our kids think, learn and connect. I have known [Tracy Hawkins]() for years, mostly over LinkedIn. She is one of those people who will kindly but directly challenge your assumptions. So when we finally met in person, I knew the conversation would be about much more than AI. It would be about what it means to be human in the age of it. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What was the most San Francisco moment ever? Before our chat, I had what might be the most San Francisco experience of my life. I was standing on a street corner, waiting for a Waymo, and I pulled out ChatGPT to prep for the interview. I typed, “I’m going to be interviewing the global head of real estate for the company that created you.” ChatGPT replied, “Oh, that’s pretty meta and cool. I’m definitely here to help you prep.” You can’t make this stuff up. It struck me how surreal it is that a tool we created has become both our collaborator and our counselor. My daughter doesn’t say *Google it*. She says *Ask AI*. That shift says everything about where we’re headed. #### How should parents raise kids in the age of AI? Tracy’s view is that parents, not schools, will play a huge role in shaping how children understand and use AI. She encourages her daughter to use it to learn how to think, not just to find answers: to ask how she should approach a problem instead of asking for the answer. That approach works as a blueprint for how adults should use AI too. When I asked Tracy what it’s like to wake up and walk into OpenAI every morning, she talked about her daughter too. She said she wanted to be part of something that will shape her child’s world. > “I really love mission-driven companies. The idea of creating a level playing field around knowledge and communication, that’s what brought me here.” > > > > Tracy Hawkins, VP of Real Estate and Workplace, OpenAI One of my favorite moments was when she told me her daughter thought ChatGPT was called Jack GPT, like a friend who knew everything. It made us laugh, but it also revealed something profound. Kids don’t see AI as a search engine. They see it as a being, a helper, someone or something they can talk to. #### Will AI replace the office? No. Tracy does not believe AI will replace the need for people to gather. “There’s still so much nuance that happens only when humans come together,” she said. “I think there’s still room for that human discussion, that magic aspect of collaboration.” In an AI-driven world, the office stays valuable as the place where that nuance happens. At OpenAI, occupancy is high because the mission is magnetic. People want to be there, drawn by the energy of building something that matters. As someone who has walked dozens of offices since joining Kadence, I can confirm that very few feel like that. The difference isn’t policy or perks. It’s purpose. When the mission is clear, presence becomes voluntary. **Occupancy** is the share of a workplace’s space that people actually use, as opposed to the space available. Kadence AI suggesting extra neighborhoods for Sales and Marketing during a product launch week, with the current and recommended floor configurations #### How should workplace design change as AI changes work? Workplace design should move from control to choice. Tracy argues that flexibility is key: spaces should support different types of people and different modes of work, from heads-down focus to collaborative bursts. She is thinking deeply about neurodiversity, data and how space can adapt over time as needs shift, rather than enforcing one way of working. That is true at OpenAI too. And that, to me, is the biggest shift of all. **Neurodiversity** describes the natural variation in how people’s brains process information, which affects how they focus, communicate and use space. A stylized design of Kadence's Natural Language Analytics. #### What does “build, measure, learn” mean for the office? It means the office is no longer a fixed bet. Instead of building and hoping people come, workplace teams build, measure how people use the space, and learn what to change. For real estate and workplace leaders, that turns office design into an ongoing cycle driven by usage data rather than a one-time project. When I reflected her ideas back to her, I said, “The office used to live by the rule if you build it, they will come. Now it’s build, measure, and learn.” She agreed. > “The office used to live by the rule if you build it, they will come. Now it’s build, measure, and learn.” > > > > Dave Cairns, Future of Work Strategist, Kadence It is the same principle we apply at Kadence: understanding how people use space, what creates friction, and how to design workplaces that remove it. Tracy added that technology partners like us have a huge opportunity, and responsibility, to eliminate friction for employees the moment they walk through the door. That means making it seamless to [find the right desk](), connect with the right teammate, and get [data that helps leaders make better space decisions](). That is what we are building toward: workplaces that don’t just function, but flow. [Kadence AI]() is part of that work. #### What did Tracy Hawkins of OpenAI change her mind about? Tracy used to think we all needed to be in the office all the time to do our best work. She has let that belief go. Now, she said, it’s not about being there. It’s about why you’re there. I asked her this at the end of our chat, and after a pause her answer was refreshingly honest. That hit home. Like Tracy, I have shed my hard-line opinions about where work should happen. It’s about intention and seasonality. The right rhythm at the right time for the right team. If there is one thing our conversation reaffirmed for me, it is that the future of work isn’t about AI or office real estate. It’s about agency, mission and meaning. When we design work that helps people connect with purpose, technology doesn’t replace humanity. It amplifies it. More on this in the [guide to AI and the future of work](), and in my other writing on the [Kadence author page](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does Tracy Hawkins do at OpenAI? Tracy Hawkins is VP of Real Estate and Workplace at OpenAI. In this conversation she discussed parenting in the age of AI, the future of the office, and designing workplaces for choice. ##### Does Tracy Hawkins think AI will replace the office? Tracy Hawkins does not believe AI will replace the need for people to gather. She sees nuance and “that magic aspect of collaboration” happening when humans come together. Curious how Kadence is helping workplace leaders design smarter, more human [workplace operations]()? [Book a demo with our workplace experts](). Dave Cairns Dave Cairns Future of Work Strategist Dave is Kadence’s Future of Work Strategist. He foresees what’s unfolding in the world of work and advises our customers on how to prepare and adapt to the latest trends easily. [Read More from Dave Cairns]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Are Workplace Analytics And How Can They Cut Costs? - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/what-are-workplace-analytics-and-how-can-they-cut-costs/ Description: Discover what workplace analytics are and how they cut costs by optimizing space, improving attendance, and guiding smarter office decisions. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · September 16, 2025 · [Jamie Addis]() ### What Are Workplace Analytics And How Can They Cut Costs? Workplace Analytics Every organization today faces the same pressure: how to make offices work harder for less money. Leaders are cutting square footage, employees expect more flexibility, and boards want proof that investments in real estate drive real returns. This is where [workplace analytics]() comes in. At its simplest, workplace analytics means using data to understand how people actually use your spaces, and then making smarter decisions about what to keep, what to change, and what to cut. Instead of relying on gut instinct or blanket policies, [leaders can see what is really happening inside their offices]() and make changes that reduce costs while improving employee experience. #### Insights: The Foundation Of Workplace Analytics Every Kadence customer has access to Insights, the baseline reporting layer of workplace analytics. This is where leaders can see desk and room bookings, occupancy rates over time, attendance patterns, and the gap between booked space and actual usage. It is often here that [the first savings are found](). Leaders discover entire banks of desks that are consistently empty, meeting rooms that sit idle, or teams that rarely follow through on their bookings. These are the inefficiencies that quietly drain budgets, paying for space that no one needs. Discover why Interactive Office Floor Plans are essential for hybrid work success Karger, a leading medical and scientific publisher based in Switzerland, used Kadence Insights to identify these patterns. Occupancy in their headquarters consistently sat at just 30 to 40 percent. With this knowledge, [they downsized their office footprint by 80 percent](), moving from multiple floors to just one and a half. Importantly, Kadence also gave them the tools to manage the transition, with desk booking to support shared space and team coordination to plan in-office days. Kadence gave us that confidence. On a regular basis, we know how many people are coming into the building, and therefore we are not going to be in a position where people come into the office and have no space to work. Adrian Harper Head of Digital Landscape, Karger Karger turned data into major cost savings without compromising employee experience. #### Insights Plus: From Reporting To Strategy For workplace leaders, HR teams, and real estate executives, analytics needs to go further than reporting. [Insights Plus provides advanced dashboards]() and scenario modeling to answer the bigger questions: - Can we consolidate three floors into two? - Do we have enough desks to support headcount growth without leasing more space? - Which teams are actually following our hybrid strategies, and which are not? A stylised design of Kadence's Natural Language Analytics. [Organizations using Insights Plus have been able to model headcount growth scenarios](), adapt policies to match real attendance, and prepare executive-ready dashboards for strategic planning. Instead of looking back at what happened, leaders can look forward with confidence and make smarter, faster decisions about their portfolios. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Sense: Real-Time Accuracy Without Hardware For enterprises that need a live pulse on how space is really used, Kadence Sense delivers accurate, [real-time occupancy data without the need for additional hardware](). By leveraging existing infrastructure such as Wi-Fi, ethernet connections, badge access, and video conferencing tools, our Agent eliminates ghost bookings and shows exactly which areas are underused. A stylized design to show how check-in data results in accurate insights. This is how leaders can align services like cleaning, catering, and security to actual demand. It is also how they can enforce compliance at scale, ensuring office strategies reflect reality rather than intention. Sense provides a single source of truth for occupancy across every location, responsibly collected and privacy-protected. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### From Data To Dollars The value of workplace analytics is not in the charts themselves. It is in what leaders can do with them. With Kadence, analytics becomes the command center of workplace strategy: - Optimize space by identifying and cutting what is underused - Reduce costs by modeling consolidation before committing spend - Align operations by matching services to live occupancy data - Improve employee experience by designing spaces that reflect how teams really work Workplace analytics turns the office from a fixed cost into a dynamic asset. And Kadence is the platform that brings it all together, with Insights for everyday reporting, Insights Plus for strategic modeling, and Sense for real-time truth. Workplace leaders do not need more tools. They need the right information at the right time to make better decisions. That is what workplace analytics delivers. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Conclusion The question is no longer whether to invest in workplace analytics. The question is how much money is being lost without it. Kadence gives organizations the visibility they need to cut costs, optimize portfolios, and create offices where people actually want to be. [Book a demo]() with our workplace operations experts. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Employees Want From the Office in 2026 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/what-employees-actually-want-from-the-office-in-2026/ Description: What employees want from the office in 2026 is a workplace that works. See how predictable workplace operations drive attendance, collaboration and space use. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · December 17, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### What Employees Want From the Office in 2026: A Workplace That Works What Employees Actually Want From the Office in 2026 What employees want from the office in 2026 is a workplace that works. They already value the office in the right conditions. They do not want a better-looking building or stricter attendance rules. They want an office that supports how work actually happens, without friction. The difference between offices employees choose to use and offices they tolerate rarely comes down to perks or policy. It comes down to [workplace operations](). **Workplace operations** is [the coordination of people, space and time](). When it works, employees feel it immediately. When it breaks down, they feel that too, and in 2026 they are far less patient with workplaces that create unnecessary effort. Stylized illustration of Kadence's natural language analytics, which lets workplace teams ask questions about office use in plain language. #### Why don’t attendance rules bring employees back? Attendance rules alone do not bring employees back because people come in when being in the office clearly improves their working day. Minimum-day requirements and blanket expectations are still common, but they treat attendance as something to enforce. When in-person work becomes easier to plan, more predictable and more purposeful, participation follows without enforcement. RCS England, the professional membership body for surgeons, shows this shift. Before improving its workplace operations, the organization struggled with siloed teams, limited visibility into attendance, and a heavy administrative burden tied to coordinating space. > Kadence has become second nature, like getting a coffee. It’s woven into how we work. > > > > — Mahsa Mohseni, Project Manager, RCS England After implementing Kadence, 85% of employees voluntarily met or exceeded the organization’s in-office expectations. The change did not come from tighter policies. It came from making in-person work easier to plan and more purposeful. With better coordination and clearer use of space, RCS England also consolidated from two floors to one, saving over £40,000 a year, and reduced manual administration through automation. Read the full [RCS England attendance story](). When presence becomes easier and more valuable, enforcement stops being the focus. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Why does predictability matter more than perks? Predictability matters more than perks because it removes the daily frustrations employees associate with coming in. Office design and amenities can improve the environment, but they rarely fix crowded peak days or missing colleagues. Employees want to know that the space they need will be free, the people they need will be there, and the day will unfold as expected. For years, organizations invested heavily in design and amenities to encourage attendance. What employees consistently value is confidence. They want to avoid overcrowded peak days, underused collaboration areas and the sense that coming in was a miscalculation. That is an operational challenge, not a cultural one. It requires understanding real demand and planning for it. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Wavex, a growing technology company, experienced this first-hand after moving into a much smaller headquarters with just 18 desks. Without clear coordination, the risk of friction was high. By implementing Kadence, Wavex achieved four times desk efficiency, improved scheduling transparency by 60 percent and reached 100 percent employee adoption. Teams began aligning their in-office time more deliberately, improving collaboration without adding space or hardware. See the [Wavex space efficiency story](). > Kadence has improved collaboration across our entire company – it gave us visibility, flexibility, and structure, all without needing hardware or hand-holding. > > > > — Savva Flouri, CFO, Wavex For employees, the benefit was simple. The office became dependable. #### How should the office reflect how teams actually work? The office should be planned around real usage data, not average occupancy. Many workplaces are still planned with average occupancy models that ignore how demand changes by team, function and purpose. Using real data, organizations can align space with how teams actually work, so facilities teams plan with confidence instead of reacting to complaints. **Average occupancy** is the share of space in use across a period, which hides the peaks and quiet days that employees actually experience. In 2026, employees are acutely aware when an office is designed around assumptions rather than behavior. They experience the consequences directly: overcrowded days, underused space, and coordination that relies on guesswork. These problems quietly erode trust in the workplace long before they appear in utilization reports. Strong workplace operations close this gap. With [workplace analytics]() built on real usage data, leaders stop guessing which changes will make a difference. Employees feel the alignment as ease. The office starts to feel intentional rather than improvised. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How does time in the office earn its place? Time in the office earns its place by giving employees time back. Employees no longer compare the office with how work used to feel. They compare it with effective alternatives that take less effort and cause less disruption. To compete, the office must deliver clear value through smooth operations, not novelty. That value shows up in small ways that add up: - less time coordinating schedules; - less time searching for space; - less time dealing with avoidable problems. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() When workplace operations are run with the same discipline as other enterprise systems, employees notice. Collaboration feels easier. Days feel more productive. Time in the office feels intentional rather than accidental. #### What do employees want most from the office? Employees want operational competence from the office. They judge it by how reliably it works, not by good intentions. They want a workplace that runs predictably, supports collaboration without friction and respects their time. They want confidence that showing up will be worthwhile, not a gamble. Employees can feel when coordination breaks down, when space does not match demand, and when [in-office days]() take unnecessary effort. These moments shape behavior far more than policies do. People decide whether to come in based on whether the workplace consistently delivers value, not on how strongly leaders communicate expectations. This is why workplace operations has become central to [employee experience](). When organizations understand how people actually use space and run the workplace accordingly, trust follows. Presence becomes intentional. Participation becomes voluntary. The organizations succeeding in 2026 are not forcing people back. They are earning presence by making the office work better every day. For a wider view of attendance policy, see the [return-to-office guide](). To see how better workplace operations can make the office a place people choose, [book a demo with our workplace operations experts](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What do employees want from the office in 2026? Employees want an office that works. That means predictable access to the space they need, the colleagues they need on the same days, and in-office days that do not require unnecessary effort. They value this more than new amenities or stricter attendance rules. ##### Do attendance mandates increase office attendance? Mandates alone rarely create lasting attendance, because people come in when the office improves their day. At RCS England, 85% of employees voluntarily met or exceeded in-office expectations after the organization made in-person work easier to plan, rather than tightening its policies. ##### What is workplace operations? Workplace operations is the coordination of people, space and time in the office. It covers how employees plan their office days, find space and colleagues, and how leaders use real usage data to match space to demand. ##### Why is average occupancy a poor basis for office planning? Average occupancy hides how demand changes by team, function and purpose. An office planned on averages can be overcrowded on peak days and underused on others. Real usage data shows those patterns, so space can be planned around how teams actually work. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Desk Booking Platform Evaluation: An IT Manager's Guide | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/what-every-it-manager-should-know-about-finding-the-right-desk-booking-solution/ Description: An IT manager's guide to desk booking platform evaluation: requirements, user adoption, SSO, integrations, data security, hidden costs and usage reporting. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · August 19, 2021 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### How to Evaluate Desk Booking Software: What IT Managers Should Know A desk booking platform evaluation led by IT should answer three questions before any vendor demo: what outcome the company needs, what the platform must connect to, and what security setup is the minimum it will accept. Then test candidates on ease of use, [single sign-on](), integrations, data protection, hidden costs and the quality of the space usage data they produce. When Kadence co-founder [Dan Bladen]() first published this guidance in August 2021, many companies had just decided to go hybrid and needed desk booking software within a quarter. IT managers found themselves balancing IT, facilities and workplace experience at once. The advice below comes from that period, and the evaluation principles still apply to any IT team choosing [desk booking software](). #### What does an IT manager own in a desk booking rollout? In a hybrid rollout, the IT manager often owns far more than the software. The role spans the information infrastructure, the return-to-office plan and the business case. In 2021, IT managers described themselves as the architects of how their companies would work, which made the desk booking decision part of a much larger brief. In the 2021 return to the office, IT managers were typically: - overseeing tech, software and the overall information infrastructure; - implementing safety protocols; - navigating the return-to-work plan to give hybrid workers the technology and software they need; - defining the requirements for a desk booking solution to adopt quickly; - helping the company optimize and repurpose its real estate; - trying to secure clear ROI to drive internal buy-in and user adoption. #### Why do desk booking evaluations go wrong? Desk booking evaluations usually go wrong because the company has not agreed what it needs. Without that clarity, teams choose a solution that is not the right match, either because there was not enough time to evaluate the options or because they missed requirements and hidden costs until after implementation. One IT director admitted on a call with Kadence in 2021: > “At the moment, if I’m honest, I don’t think we’re clear on what we need.” He was not alone. In 2021, after surveying 100 executives across industries and geographies, McKinsey found that although [90% of them expected to become a hybrid company](), most had no more than a high-level plan. A third had not reached internal consensus on what the hybrid workplace would look like. #### How do you define requirements before a desk booking platform evaluation? Define requirements by starting from the outcome you want, not from another company’s setup. That avoids carrying over the shortcomings of the previous way of working or copying an industry standard that does not fit. The outcome then points to the non-negotiables: the core functions needed to support each group of end users. Work through these questions first: - What hybrid work model will the desk booking solution need to support? - Will there be set office days or regular in-person team or company meetings? - What is the office for: collaboration, focused work, or a bit of both? - Which restrictions will you need to apply, such as closing certain desks or office areas? - What level of reporting will you need? - Which software integrations are required? - What are the minimum viable and the ideal security setups? ##### Build employee personas To complete the requirements, make sure the company has defined [employee personas](). A **persona** is a profile of a group of employees with similar needs. Base them on: 1. their hybrid work needs and preferences; 2. how often they want to be in the office, and what for; 3. how comfortable they are with adopting new technology. Identify the tech-savvy early adopters who will happily test a new workplace app, and the concerns and challenges that keep everyone else from doing the same. #### What drives user adoption of desk booking software? User adoption is driven by three factors beyond good internal communication: ease of use, frictionless setup and actionable insights. McKinsey’s 2021 research pointed to continuous iteration of processes as [one of the key differentiators of market productivity leaders](), and that iteration starts with people actually using the tool. In 2021, anxiety about returning to the office ran high. People worried about their safety, keeping a healthy routine, commuting, finding the colleagues they wanted to see, and locating a desk that suited their needs. To drive adoption, look for a solution that: - prioritizes excellent UI and UX; - offers floor plan views that show which desks are clean and available, what amenities are nearby, and where the booked space is; - lets team managers and admins book spaces on behalf of others; - comes with a [mobile app]() and works seamlessly across devices. For a sense of what fast adoption looks like in practice, read how [MOPAC implemented desk booking](). #### What security, SSO and integration requirements should IT check? The main advice IT leaders gave on choosing a desk booking solution was to consider the full cost of implementation. That starts with single sign-on, integrations and reliability, and extends to how data is stored, separated and protected. Weak answers here slow onboarding, create risk, and erode the trust that user adoption depends on. ##### The essentials - **Single sign-on (SSO)**, which lets employees log in with their existing company credentials, to make onboarding frictionless. - **Integrations** with the tools already in use, from Office 365 and Google Workspace to employee directories. See Kadence’s [workplace integrations]() for how this works today. - **Reliability and system availability.** ##### Security protocols - **Data storage and residency.** **Data residency** is the location where data is physically stored, which matters for regulatory compliance. - **Data isolation.** A multi-tenancy solution with row-based separation. **Multi-tenancy** means many customers share one platform while each customer’s data is kept separate. - **Access controls.** Strict control measures to eliminate the risk of data exposure beyond its tenant. - **Password protection.** Salted and hashed passwords for further protection in the case of an attack. - **Data encryption.** Data privacy matters for adoption too. If employees are not convinced that their data is secure and managed responsibly, user adoption rates will suffer. #### What hidden costs should IT budget for? The hidden costs of desk booking software sit in hardware, customization and day-to-day administration. A platform that looks affordable can become expensive if it needs new devices, costs time and money to reconfigure, or lacks the automations that keep the office running smoothly. Ask each vendor three questions before committing. 1. Does the software require additional hardware, or can it integrate with your existing tech stack? 2. Is it easily customizable, or will it cost additional time and money to manage, especially in a crisis? 3. Does it support operations with automations and flexible policy settings, such as notifying cleaners once a workspace is no longer in use and quickly locking an office area? #### How flexible do office policies need to be? IT should expect to change office layouts and capacity rules quickly, sometimes at short notice. In 2021 that need was driven by health and safety, but the same controls let a workplace team respond to any change in demand, policy or building availability without a new project each time. As one IT manager put it in 2021: > “I want to easily see everyone that was sitting here that day because someone there went home sick yesterday.” That level of agility comes from: - adjusting core parameters, such as the number of available workspaces and the maximum capacity of meeting rooms, for an area, an office or the whole real estate portfolio; - planning for different scenarios and defining the follow-up actions in each; - adding rules that trigger certain processes or work patterns when conditions change. To do that, the platform needs a real-time office view, historic space usage data, flexible policy settings to block desks or areas instantly, and floor plans that update automatically so staff see changes right away. In 2021, Kadence also offered customizable layout suggestions that adjusted layouts to make the most of real estate while higher safety standards were in place. #### How does space usage data help prove ROI? Space usage data proves ROI by showing how the office is actually used: which spaces are in high and low demand, which features and integrations work, and where space can be cut. Without it, IT has no control or insight, and a poorly set up hybrid workplace leads to expensive, underused real estate. Picture an employee returning after a year of remote work. They commute in, find a desk, and discover that none of the colleagues they wanted to see are there. They spend the day with headphones on and decide not to make the trip again. Multiply that across a workforce and the result is underused space, falling satisfaction and harder collaboration. The business case in 2021 drew on outside research: - Businesses with highly engaged employees see [41% lower absenteeism]() and considerably higher profitability, according to Gallup. - Improving employee productivity can [triple business gains]() compared with other cost savings such as space and energy, according to JLL. Softer returns include improved sustainability from less commuting and a smaller real estate carbon footprint, and better wellbeing and work-life balance. ##### What should the analytics let you do? With the right platform, you can: - experiment with office layouts and [scenario planning]() using multi-location space usage analytics; - use real-time occupancy data to see who is in the office and who is working from home; - eliminate zombie bookings with auto [desk release](), which frees a desk if the employee has not checked in within a set time; - analyze historic usage to see whether people come in as often as they intended, whether [assigned desks]() are used, which times and areas are busiest, and where office space could be cut; - forecast demand for different amenities and plan meeting spaces more effectively. The result is agility, load-balanced workspaces, engaged staff who feel their needs are valued, and an employer brand that attracts and keeps talent. To compare platforms side by side, use Kadence’s [buyer’s guide](). #### Frequently asked questions ##### What should IT managers look for in desk booking software? Look for ease of use, frictionless setup through single sign-on, integrations with tools such as Office 365, Google Workspace and employee directories, strong data security, flexible policy settings, a mobile app and actionable space usage analytics. Check hidden costs such as extra hardware and ongoing administration before committing. ##### What security features should desk booking software have? Check data storage and residency, data isolation through a multi-tenancy design with row-based separation, strict controls against data exposure beyond each tenant, salted and hashed passwords, and data encryption. Also confirm reliability and system availability, because downtime undermines trust and adoption. ##### Why does single sign-on matter for desk booking? Single sign-on lets employees use their existing company login, which makes onboarding frictionless. Less friction at setup is one of the three factors that drive adoption, alongside ease of use and actionable insights, and adoption determines whether the booking data is reliable. ##### What is auto desk release? Auto desk release changes a booked desk’s status back to available if the employee has not checked in within a set time. It removes zombie bookings, which make the office look fuller than it is and distort space usage data. #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Insights Plus Reveals About The State Of Hybrid Work - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/what-insights-plus-reveals-about-the-state-of-hybrid-work/ Description: See how Insights Plus transforms workplace data to optimize space, track hybrid compliance, and improve team collaboration. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · July 25, 2025 · [Ali Carson]() ### What Insights Plus Reveals About The State Of Hybrid Work A stylised design of Kadence's Natural Language Analytics. At Kadence, we built *[Insights Plus]()* to help companies answer complex workplace questions using their own data—without having to wrangle spreadsheets or guess at behavior patterns. Over the past few months, I’ve worked directly with customers who had important questions about how their people were using the office. These weren’t theoretical—they were tactical, operational questions that needed real answers. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() In this post, I’ll walk you through three actual dashboards we built in response to real customer needs, each focused on a different workplace theme: space optimization, hybrid compliance, and team collaboration. Each one tells a story—and each one shows the difference it makes when your data actually works for you. #### 1. Can We Save Energy By Closing A Floor On Low-Occupancy Days? The first dashboard came from a customer managing multiple buildings across global offices. Their question was simple: *Could we reduce energy costs by shutting off an underused floor on quiet days like Mondays and Fridays?* With *Insights Plus*, we analyzed desk bookings by location, then zoomed in on one building in New York. What we found was a clear trend: Floor 1 consistently had very low occupancy—just 10–15%—on Mondays and Fridays, while Floor 2 stayed closer to 60%. Using average booking counts and total desk capacity, we showed that the 20–25 people using Floor 1 on low days could comfortably fit onto Floor 2 without disruption. Then we looked at behavior. Were these bookings random? Turns out, a few employees were regularly booking on Mondays. This wasn’t noise—it was a pattern. That gave the workplace team a path forward: speak with those individuals, understand their needs, and coordinate the change with confidence. **Insights Plus enabled:** - Floor-level occupancy comparisons - Capacity validation - Identification of habitual users - Evidence-based support for energy-saving decisions [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### 2. Are Employees Following Our Hybrid Policy? The second dashboard was inspired by some of our customers. They weren’t just tracking attendance—they wanted to know how well people were *aligning* with hybrid expectations. Who was consistently coming in? Where were patterns shifting? Were policies being followed across locations? We focused in on San Francisco. Employees had personalized in-office targets—some were expected two days a week, others three. We calculated not just weekly compliance, but overall adherence: had employees met the expected number of days across the period, even if some weeks were missed? We then compared two employees on the same policy. One had near-perfect alignment—coming in three days most weeks. Another was more sporadic, averaging two days per week. Not a policy breach, but a difference in pattern—one that enabled a supportive, nuanced conversation rather than a binary judgment. We also surfaced booking trends by day. Wednesday dominated, with over 60% of bookings—a signal that helped with resource planning and team alignment. **Insights Plus enabled:** - Flexible, policy-aligned compliance tracking - Contextual behavioral comparisons - Informed, team-by-team adaptation - Day-level booking behavior visibility [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### 3. Are Teams Using Their Assigned Spaces And Coming In Together? Finally, a question we heard from our customers GWI and PHSO: *Are our teams really collaborating in the spaces we’ve assigned them?* This customer used a neighborhood model—dedicated spaces for each team. With *Insights Plus*, we created a view showing each team’s assigned neighborhood, team size, desk count, and co-booking rate: the percentage of bookings where multiple team members used their neighborhood at the same time. Some teams, like Support, had 95% co-booking—a sign of strong coordination. Others, like Marketing, were closer to 30%, showing more individual use. We spotlighted one team—HR—and tracked how many of them booked into the neighborhood together each month. We found a growing habit: attendance rose steadily from September to March, with clear peaks midweek. We also added room booking data: when meetings happened, how long they lasted, how many teammates joined, and what time of day they occurred. The result was a full behavioral picture of how the team used space—not just desks, but rooms, schedules, and rituals. **Insights Plus enabled:** - Neighborhood co-booking analysis - Temporal trends in team presence - Correlation between desk and meeting activity - Deep visibility into collaboration habits [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### From Data To Decisions These three dashboards aren’t just analytics—they’re answers. And they represent the kind of clarity workplace teams need to make decisions that improve how their people work, not just where. That’s what *Insights Plus* is for: actionable insight, made simple. Want to explore how it could help your team? [Book a demo with our hybrid experts today](). --- Ali Carson Ali Carson Ali is a Data Scientist at Kadence, combining her love for math and data to explore how people are thriving in the hybrid world. Passionate about uncovering insights, she’s dedicated to making sense of the numbers that shape our new ways of working. Outside of work, Ali is a proud cat mum to two cats and an active field hockey player, competing in the All-Ireland League every weekend. [Read More from Ali Carson]() Speak With Our Hybrid Experts Team Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Is a Hybrid Work Model? Types and Examples | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/what-is-a-hybrid-work-model/ Description: A hybrid work model splits time between the office and remote work. Learn the four main types, company examples, pros, challenges and how to implement one. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · November 25, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### What Is a Hybrid Work Model? Types, Examples and How to Implement One A hybrid work model is a way of organizing work in which employees split their time between the office and wherever else they are productive, such as home, a coffee shop or a [coworking]() space. It combines in-office collaboration with the freedom of remote work. The four most common types are flexible hybrid, structured hybrid, office-first hybrid and remote-first hybrid. Making any of them succeed takes more than Zoom links and hot desks. It takes a system that benefits both employees and the business. For the wider plan around your model, see the [hybrid work strategy guide](). #### What is a hybrid work model? A hybrid work model is the set of rules and habits that decides where and when employees work. At its core, people split their time between the office and other places where they do their best work. The model defines who chooses the days, how much time is spent in the office, and what the office is used for. **Hybrid work** means working partly in the office and partly elsewhere. **A hybrid work model** is the specific version an organization adopts, from fully flexible to mostly in the office. The model shapes cost, culture and space: how many desks you need, which days the office is busy, and whether people find the colleagues they came in to see. #### What are the main types of hybrid work models? The four main types of hybrid work model are flexible hybrid, structured hybrid, office-first hybrid and remote-first hybrid. They differ in two ways: who decides where and when people work, and how much of the week is spent in the office. Diagram of four hybrid work models: flexible hybrid, where the employee decides where and when to work; structured hybrid, with specific in-office and remote days; office-first hybrid, mostly in-office work with some remote flexibility; and remote-first hybrid, a focus on remote work with occasional office time. ##### Flexible hybrid The employee decides where and when to work. ##### Structured hybrid Work follows specific [in-office days]() and specific remote days. ##### Office-first hybrid Work happens mostly in the office, with some remote flexibility. ##### Remote-first hybrid The focus is on remote work, with occasional office time. #### Why are there so many versions of hybrid work? There are many versions of hybrid work because flexibility is the point. For some teams, daily in-office collaboration is essential. For others, asynchronous workflows and remote independence work better. Hybrid work adapts to what the organization needs while still giving employees flexibility, so the right model differs from company to company and even team to team. Kadence customers across the world use a variety of hybrid work models. Booking data shows different mixes of mostly-office, hybrid, occasional and fully remote workers from country to country. Kadence bar chart of global workplace trends comparing the number of users who are mostly in the office, hybrid, occasional office users and remote workers in Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA, based on Kadence booking data. A practical first step is to survey your employees to find out which hybrid model fits best. Every company and workforce is different. #### What are the benefits of a hybrid work model? A hybrid work model benefits both employees and employers. It lets people choose the right setting for each task, supports work-life balance, widens the talent pool beyond one city, and can lower real estate costs by reducing the office space a company needs. Employees save money too, mainly on commuting. 1. **Higher productivity.** Some people thrive in a busy office, others in a quiet home workspace. Hybrid work lets employees pick the setting that fits the task: brainstorming in the office, deep focus at home. 2. **Better work-life balance.** Flexibility helps employees manage school pickups, medical appointments or a midday workout, so they show up as their best selves. 3. **Attracting and keeping talent.** The job market is competitive, and hybrid work is a major advantage. A Gallup survey found that nearly 6 in 10 employees prefer jobs with flexible work options. Hybrid work also lets you hire the best candidate in Texas, New York or Florida, not only in your local city. 4. **Lower costs.** Less office space means lower rent, utilities and maintenance costs. Employees spend less on commuting and eating out. ##### What does the data say about hybrid work? Research published before November 2024 pointed the same way: - Nearly 30% of U.S. employees worked in a hybrid setup, according to Gallup. - A Stanford University study found that hybrid setups can cut employee turnover by 33%, thanks to better work-life balance and job satisfaction ([Stanford News]()). - In 2024, [Business Insider]() reported that companies offering flexible work arrangements were 22% more likely to see higher revenue growth than those keeping traditional in-office policies. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What are the challenges of hybrid work? The main challenges of hybrid work are communication gaps, keeping culture alive and fairness. Remote employees can feel out of the loop when half the team is in the office. Team-building is harder when people are spread across locations. And not everyone has the same resources at home, or the same visibility to managers. 1. **Communication gaps.** Without deliberate communication habits, teams risk siloed workflows and misunderstandings. 2. **Keeping culture alive.** Virtual happy hours are fun, but they do not fully replace the casual conversations and connections that happen naturally in the office. 3. **Fairness and equity.** Some employees lack a quiet workspace, reliable internet or the right tech tools. There is also the risk of [proximity bias](). **Proximity bias** is the tendency of managers to unconsciously favor employees they see in the office over remote workers when assigning promotions or projects. To counter it, give remote employees the same access to opportunities, training and recognition as their in-office peers. Schedule shared [collaboration days](), coordinate who is in the office so remote workers are included in key meetings, and pair this with anonymous performance reviews and regular one-on-ones. #### How do you implement a hybrid work model? To implement a hybrid work model, set clear expectations about office days and meetings, give teams the right tools, make meetings inclusive for remote participants, and protect employee well-being. Together, these four steps turn a policy into a way of working that people can follow and the business can measure. Four linked chain rings labeled clear expectations, right tools, inclusivity and well-being, the four elements of a successful hybrid work model. ##### 1. Set clear expectations Answer the key questions so everyone is on the same page: - Which days are employees in the office and which are remote? Give people choice, and ask them to share their plans through a tool such as Kadence. - What is the protocol for meetings? Are they virtual by default? - How do teams communicate across time zones? ##### 2. Invest in the right tools Equip teams with software and hardware that make hybrid work smooth: - **Hybrid work management:** a platform such as Kadence [WorkOps]() helps teams book desks and rooms and find their rhythm for coming in. - **Collaboration:** Slack, Microsoft Teams or Asana for communication and task management. - **Video conferencing:** Zoom or Google Meet for face-to-face conversations. - **File sharing:** cloud platforms such as Google Drive or OneDrive. ##### 3. Keep it inclusive Adopt a [remote-first]() mindset for meetings so everyone feels included. Record meetings for colleagues in other time zones, and use collaborative tools such as Miro to level the playing field in brainstorming sessions. ##### 4. Prioritize well-being Hybrid work should not feel like always-on work. Encourage employees to set boundaries, log off at reasonable hours and take mental health days when needed. Consider stipends for home office setups so people have ergonomic, efficient workspaces. #### What are examples of companies with a hybrid work model? Dropbox, MOO, Trip.com and GWI are examples of companies that adopted a hybrid work model, each by a different route. Dropbox made remote work the default and turned offices into collaboration spaces. MOO, Trip.com and GWI used hybrid work to improve office use, productivity and engagement. - **Dropbox** adopted a hybrid model it calls Virtual First. Employees can work from anywhere, and offices became collaborative spaces. The result was more engagement and savings on underused office space. - **MOO** embraced hybrid work to improve office utilization and collaboration. Using Kadence, it identified patterns in workspace usage and reshaped its spaces to support team collaboration while reducing overhead. Read the [MOO office utilization story](). - **Trip.com** ran a hybrid work experiment in which employee satisfaction rose, productivity increased and the company saved millions in operational costs. Read [how Trip.com made millions with hybrid work](). - **GWI** adopted Kadence so teams could coordinate their in-office schedules, which increased collaboration between remote and office-based workers while keeping flexibility. Read the [GWI employee productivity story](). A well-run hybrid model supports both connection and productivity, but it takes the right tools and data. Kadence brings desk booking, team schedules and meeting room reservations into one platform, and its [workplace analytics]() show how space is actually used, so leaders can plan space and reduce cost. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What are the four types of hybrid work models? The four types are flexible hybrid (employees choose where and when to work), structured hybrid (set office days and set remote days), office-first hybrid (mostly in the office with some remote flexibility) and remote-first hybrid (mostly remote with occasional office time). ##### What is an example of a hybrid work model? Dropbox’s Virtual First model is a well-known example. Employees can work from anywhere, and offices were turned into spaces for collaboration. MOO, Trip.com and GWI are other examples of companies that adopted hybrid work to improve office use, productivity or engagement. ##### Which hybrid work model is best? No single hybrid work model is best for every organization. Some teams need daily in-person collaboration, while others work well asynchronously. Survey your employees, look at how your office is actually used, and choose the model that fits your work, your people and your space. ##### What is the biggest risk of a hybrid work model? The biggest risks are communication gaps, weaker culture and unfairness, including proximity bias toward people who are seen in the office. Clear expectations, inclusive meetings, shared collaboration days and equal access to opportunities reduce these risks. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Is a Workplace Management System? | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/what-is-a-workplace-management-system/ Description: What is a workplace management system? A clear definition, how it differs from an IWMS, core features, benefits and ROI, and how enterprises choose one. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · May 26, 2026 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### What Is a Workplace Management System? Definition, Features and Benefits What Is a Workplace Management System A workplace management system is a software platform that centralizes the management of physical space, facilities and employee activity, giving an organization one view of how its workplace is performing. It connects desk and room booking, visitor management, occupancy data and analytics so that real estate, operations, HR and leadership work from the same numbers. Organizations need one because the workplace has become harder to run. Many operate across multiple locations with hybrid teams, rising real estate costs and pressure to make better decisions about how space is used. A workplace management system is the operational infrastructure that makes those decisions possible. For a full view of how Kadence approaches this, see the [Kadence platform guide](). #### What is a workplace management system? A workplace management system is a software platform that centralizes the management of physical space, facilities and employee activity. It gives real estate, operations, HR and leadership teams shared visibility into how space is used, who comes into the office and when, and where supply and demand for space are out of balance. Modern systems go beyond basic scheduling and booking. The booking is the visible part. The value sits in the data that booking, check-in and visitor activity produce, and in how that data is shared across functions. For organizations managing hybrid workforces across multiple locations, a workplace management system is the foundational tool for decisions grounded in data rather than assumption. It answers everyday questions, such as whether a team can find desks on its busiest day, and portfolio questions, such as whether a floor or building is still earning its cost. Two terms are worth defining at the start: - **Space utilization** is how much of the available space is actually used over time, compared with its capacity. - **Occupancy** is how many people or spaces are in use at a given moment. A workplace management system collects both and turns them into a picture leaders can act on. For a deeper treatment of these measures, see the [office space utilization and occupancy planning guide](). Illustration of Kadence AI natural language analytics answering questions about workplace data #### What problems does a workplace management system solve? The core problem is the gap between how office space is planned and how it is actually used. Fragmented tools make that gap worse, because facilities, HR, IT and finance each work from different systems. A workplace management system closes the gap by connecting those functions into a single operational picture built on shared data. The size of that gap is measurable. [According to JLL’s 2026 Global Occupancy Planning Benchmark Report, global office utilization sits at 56% against an organizational target of 74%](). That persistent gap shows how difficult it is to align space supply with actual workforce demand without reliable data. When each department holds its own partial view, there is no shared understanding of how the workplace is performing. Decisions get made on outdated or incomplete information. The cost of getting them wrong compounds over time in three ways: - underused floors that still carry full cost; - over-committed leases signed against assumed demand; - employees who find the office harder to navigate than it should be. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What is the difference between a workplace management system and an IWMS? A traditional workplace management system handles individual functions in isolation, such as desk booking or maintenance tracking. An [integrated workplace management system]() (IWMS) connects multiple functions, including real estate, facilities, space planning and operations, in a single platform that shares data across all of them. Each approach suits a different stage of complexity: - **Traditional systems** are simpler to deploy and sufficient for organizations with straightforward needs. - **An IWMS** requires more upfront configuration but provides a more connected view of the workplace. That view becomes more valuable as organizational complexity grows. For organizations managing large portfolios or making significant real estate decisions, the integrated approach tends to produce better outcomes. For a side-by-side comparison, read [IWMS vs traditional workplace management systems](). A workplace management system is also different from office management software. Office management software typically handles administrative tasks for a single location. A workplace management system provides operational data and coordination tools across an organization’s full portfolio of spaces. #### What are the key capabilities of a workplace management system? A modern workplace management system typically includes space reservation, [occupancy monitoring](), visitor management and analytics, all connected in one platform. The test of each capability is not whether it exists but whether the data it produces supports real decisions about space, people and real estate. ##### Desk booking Desk booking lets employees reserve individual workspaces in advance or on the day. It gives the organization real-time visibility into how desks across the portfolio are being used. It is not simply a reservation tool. Desk booking data is a primary input for space utilization analysis and longer-term [capacity planning](). It shows demand patterns so the organization can configure space to match them. Kadence covers this in its [desk booking software](). ##### Room booking Room booking manages the scheduling of meeting rooms and collaborative spaces. It prevents double booking and captures how rooms are used relative to their stated capacity. Organizations use this data to find rooms that consistently underperform and decide whether to reconfigure or repurpose them. In hybrid environments, where demand for meeting space changes through the week, this visibility is particularly important. ##### Visitor management A [visitor management system]() handles registration, check-in and access management for guests and contractors. It shows building traffic beyond the organization’s own employees. That data supports both security and capacity planning. It also completes the picture of total building occupancy across the portfolio. ##### Workplace analytics Workplace analytics combine data from booking, attendance and occupancy systems into a central view. Leaders use it to track utilization trends, evaluate hybrid policy compliance, forecast demand and model space scenarios. The difference between useful and actionable analytics matters. The most effective systems surface data in a way that directly supports a decision, rather than only reporting what has already happened. Diagram of the Kadence platform: WorkOps for day-to-day operations such as desk and room booking, visitor management and attendance tracking, feeding occupancy data to SpaceOps for scenario modeling, stack planning and move scheduling #### What are the benefits and ROI of a workplace management system? The primary benefits are lower real estate costs, better space utilization and more informed decisions across the organization. These outcomes are connected. Better data leads to more efficient space, and more efficient space leads to lower costs. Employee experience, team coordination and sustainability goals improve alongside them. ##### Lower real estate and operational costs A workplace management system provides the occupancy data needed to identify underused space and reduce it with confidence. [Research shows that more than a quarter of companies currently report their office space is underutilized](), yet many lack the consistent data to act on it. Aligning real estate supply with actual demand lowers cost per employee and frees capital tied up in space that is not earning its footprint. ##### Better space utilization Tracking how desks, meeting rooms and collaborative areas are actually used gives facilities teams the evidence to configure space around real behavior rather than legacy assumptions. That reduces waste and improves the quality of the office. ##### Better employee experience When employees can reliably find space, coordinate with colleagues and trust that the office is organized around their needs, their experience improves. The system removes the friction that makes hybrid office days feel disorganized or unpredictable. ##### Better team coordination Teams can align schedules, see who is coming in and when, and plan around shared space needs. That reduces the coordination overhead that makes hybrid work feel chaotic at scale. ##### Support for ESG goals Better space utilization means lower energy use, a smaller carbon footprint and more efficient use of physical resources. Organizations that right-size their portfolios often see measurable gains in sustainability metrics alongside financial ones. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How do enterprise organizations use a workplace management system? Enterprise organizations use a workplace management system to centralize data across real estate, facilities and people. Each function then makes its own decisions from the same operational picture, instead of reconciling separate spreadsheets and reports that rarely agree with each other. In practice, the same data serves each team differently: - **Real estate** teams use occupancy data to model consolidation and lease decisions. - **Operations** teams use it to coordinate space and manage demand. - **HR** uses attendance patterns to understand how hybrid policies work in practice. - **Leadership** uses the aggregate view to align workplace strategy with broader organizational goals. For a function-by-function view, read [how enterprise organizations use workplace management systems](). SpaceOps AI agent answering "How many desks does Engineering actually need?" using live Kadence WorkOps occupancy data, showing team size, attendance patterns, and an AI-generated desk allocation recommendation. #### How do you choose and implement a workplace management system? Choose a workplace management system by evaluating platforms against the outcomes your organization needs, not a generic feature checklist. Then implement it with clear objectives set before rollout, a phased deployment that allows testing and iteration, and real investment in adoption across every team that will use it. Key selection criteria include: - scalability across locations; - integration with existing HR and IT infrastructure; - data quality and actionability; - ease of adoption across different user groups. For organizations managing significant real estate investments or complex hybrid policies, the ability to model scenarios and forecast demand is particularly important. The full evaluation process is covered in [how to choose the right workplace management software](). Implementation is where many projects lose value. Poor data quality and stakeholder misalignment are the most common reasons implementations underperform. A step-by-step approach covering data migration, integration planning and [change management]() is set out in [how to implement a workplace management system](). SpaceOps AI agent answering "Can Finance and Legal share a floor if we move to the new layout?" with a live floor plan view from Kadence SpaceOps showing current team allocations across two floors, and an AI-generated recommendation to consolidate both teams onto Floor 1 by moving HR to Floor 2. #### How is workplace management changing? As of May 2026, the biggest shift in workplace management is from periodic reporting to continuous operational intelligence. Organizations no longer wait for a quarterly utilization review. They use the data in real time to make decisions about space, headcount and real estate that previously took months to resolve. AI-driven scenario planning, predictive occupancy forecasting and portfolio-level optimization are moving from early adoption to standard practice among enterprise organizations. The workplace is increasingly treated as an operational discipline rather than a facilities function, and the tools are changing to match. Kadence reflects that shift. It is a [workplace operating system]() built for enterprise organizations that need to move beyond basic scheduling into portfolio-level intelligence. Across [Kadence WorkOps]() and [SpaceOps](), it runs from desk and room booking through to workplace analytics and scenario planning, connecting the data leaders need to make confident decisions about space, people and real estate. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What does a workplace management system do? A workplace management system centralizes the management of physical space, facilities and employee activity in a single platform. It gives organizations the data they need to optimize space, coordinate people and make better decisions about real estate, through tools such as desk and room booking, visitor management, occupancy monitoring and workplace analytics. ##### What is the difference between a workplace management system and office management software? Office management software typically handles administrative tasks for a single location. A workplace management system provides operational data and coordination tools across an organization’s full portfolio of spaces, so real estate, facilities, HR and leadership can work from one shared view. ##### What features should a workplace management system include? Core features are desk and room booking, visitor management, occupancy monitoring and workplace analytics. The most important factor is whether those features produce actionable data that supports real decisions, rather than reports that only describe what has already happened. ##### How does a workplace management system improve efficiency? It replaces fragmented, manual processes with integrated data and automation. That reduces coordination overhead, surfaces underused space and gives teams a shared view of how the workplace is performing, so decisions about space are made on current evidence. ##### How do you know when your organization needs a workplace management system? If your organization manages multiple locations, runs a hybrid workforce, or makes significant real estate decisions without reliable occupancy data, a workplace management system is likely overdue. Those are the conditions in which fragmented tools and assumptions cost the most. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Is Conference Room Booking And Why It Matters For Workplace Operations - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/what-is-conference-room-booking-and-why-it-matters-for-workplace-operations/ Description: What is conference room booking? See how Kadence helps leaders optimize meetings, cut costs, and turn bookings into workplace strategy. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · November 26, 2025 · [Jamie Addis]() ### What Is Conference Room Booking And Why It Matters For Workplace Operations Conference Room Booking [Conference room booking]() is the process of reserving meeting spaces in an office so people can collaborate without conflict or wasted time. At its most basic, it ensures employees know which rooms are available, prevents double-bookings, and keeps meetings running smoothly. That definition worked when offices were predictable. In 2025, they are not. Hybrid schedules, rising real estate costs, and executive pressure for ROI mean conference room booking is no longer just about logistics. It has become a strategic input for workplace operations. At Kadence, we see conference room booking as a source of data that helps [leaders optimize people, space, and time](). AI Room booking software #### What Is Conference Room Booking? In the past, conference room booking was simple. Offices relied on paper schedules pinned to the door, then moved to calendar integrations in Outlook or Google. These systems made it possible to reserve rooms, avoid conflicts, and manage resources like AV. [Today’s software goes further.]() It allows employees to see availability in real time, integrates with calendars, and sends automated reminders. It makes it easier for teams to collaborate, reduces wasted time, and creates a more efficient workplace experience. But even that is only part of the story. In modern enterprises, room booking is not just about making sure meetings happen. It is about collecting and analyzing the data behind every booking to guide strategic decisions. #### Why Conference Room Booking Has Changed Work patterns have shifted dramatically. - Hybrid schedules create volatile demand. Rooms sit empty one day and are overbooked the next. - Ghost meetings are common, where rooms are booked but never used, wasting valuable space. - Real estate is expensive, and underused rooms drive unnecessary costs. - Large enterprises face complexity, with hundreds of rooms across multiple sites to manage. In this environment, conference room booking systems that only schedule meetings are no longer enough. [Leaders need booking systems that deliver accurate usage data](), integrate with existing workflows, and support planning at scale. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Workplace Operations Perspective Kadence defines workplace operations as the orchestration of people, space, and time. Conference room booking is a crucial part of this model because [meeting rooms are one of the most valuable and costly parts of an office.]() Room booking data reveals: - Actual usage versus scheduled bookings. - Peak meeting days and times across sites. - Which rooms are overused and which sit empty. - How visitor meetings overlap with employee collaboration. - Patterns that inform policy, resource allocation, and even lease decisions. For CFOs, COOs, and CHROs, this data matters. It informs portfolio management, scenario planning, and efficiency strategies. Room booking is no longer a convenience tool. It is a lens into how effectively a company uses its space and how that space contributes to performance. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How Kadence Reimagines Conference Room Booking Kadence does not see room booking as a standalone feature. It is part of our wedge into enterprises, alongside desk booking, team scheduling, and visitor management. From there, we expand into the full Workplace Operations Platform, offering [events](), announcements, surveys, and analytics. With Kadence, conference room booking becomes part of a larger system that drives operational insight: - Book rooms on desktop or mobile, with customizable amenities and even catering requirements included in the flow. - Rooms are automatically released back into the pool when cancelled or unused, eliminating waste from ghost meetings. - Powerful integrations with Google Calendar, Outlook, [Microsoft Teams](), and the Kadence mobile app make room scheduling seamless. - Real-time dashboards give leaders a clear view of availability and usage, helping them cut costs and drive efficiency. - Coming soon: elegant room displays to increase visibility, streamline check-in, and avoid booking conflicts. The result is a smooth experience for employees and a powerful decision-making tool for leaders. #### Why Room Booking Matters Now Employees no longer follow predictable patterns of office attendance. Some days are quiet, others see heavy demand, and without accurate data companies risk either too much unused space or not enough capacity when collaboration peaks. Conference room booking data, combined with presence information, [ensures companies size their spaces appropriately](). Leaders can plan for the right number of rooms, configure layouts that match actual demand, and deliver the right services to support productive meetings. The result is a workplace that adapts to changing patterns of use and avoids unnecessary cost. #### Turning Bookings Into Strategy Room booking has evolved from an operational task into a strategic capability. [Companies that use booking data well gain](): - Clearer visibility into how meeting spaces are truly used. - Automatic recovery of rooms from no-shows to reduce waste. - Stronger evidence for portfolio optimization and cost reduction. - A better foundation for workplace policies and collaboration strategies. - Improved employee experience without wasted real estate spend. Companies that continue to see room booking only as scheduling software miss out on these advantages. #### Final Thought Conference room booking is more than calendar management. It is a core input into workplace operations, powering decisions about people, space, and time. At Kadence, we are building the platform that makes this shift possible. Ready to reimagine conference room booking? [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see how Kadence can help you turn meetings into strategic advantage. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Is Hot Desking And How You Can Implement It - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/what-is-hot-desking/ Description: Learn what hot desking is, why it matters in 2025, and how to implement it successfully. Discover how Kadence makes hot desking seamless. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · November 26, 2025 · [Jamie Addis]() ### What Is Hot Desking And How You Can Implement It Hot Desking Hot desking is a flexible workplace model where employees do not have assigned desks but instead use available workstations as needed. [It started as a way to save costs and optimize real estate](), but in the age of [hybrid work](), hot desking has become a practical solution to changing attendance patterns. With fewer people coming in every day, fixed desks often sit empty. Hot desking matches supply with demand and ensures space is used more effectively. #### Why Hot Desking Matters In 2026 Hot desking is now mainstream, especially in the US and globally. - Around [60 percent of U.S. and Canadian employers]() already use desk sharing or hoteling models - Only about [40 percent of companies]() still maintain a one-to-one desk-to-employee ratio, down from 56 percent in 2023 - Globally, average [office utilization reached 40 percent in Q1 2025](), up nearly 10 points year on year, showing people are returning to offices but not every day - In North America, office utilization is among the lowest worldwide at just 26.5 percent, leaving huge amounts of space underused These numbers explain why hot desking matters: companies cannot afford to waste space, and employees no longer expect a permanent desk they may use only once or twice a week. A stylised design of Kadence AI booking recomendations. #### Benefits Of Hot Desking Hot desking offers clear advantages when it is designed and supported properly: - **Improved space efficiency**: [Shared desks ensure fewer empty workstations]() on low-attendance days, making better use of office space and helping organizations right-size their footprint. - **Lower costs**: Real estate is often a company’s second largest expense after payroll. By reducing dedicated desks, businesses can cut rent, utilities, and facilities costs, freeing up budget for employee experience or collaboration spaces. - **Flexibility for employees**: [Staff can choose the type of desk or zone that best fits their work](). Some may prefer a quiet area for deep focus, while others may sit near teammates for project collaboration. This flexibility makes the office more useful and appealing. - **Encourages connection and culture**: Hot desking can break down silos by [mixing people from different teams](). Employees meet colleagues they might not otherwise interact with, sparking collaboration and new ideas. - **Supports hybrid work strategies**: With fewer people in the office each day, [hot desking makes it easier to align the workplace]() with changing attendance patterns, ensuring the office serves as a purposeful destination. Featured Content Free Hybrid Work Strategy Template Streamline your team’s success—download our free Hybrid Work Strategy Template today! [Download Template]() #### Challenges Of Hot Desking Hot desking also comes with challenges that need careful management: - **Uncertainty and stress**: Employees may worry about arriving at the office and not finding a desk available, which can discourage them from coming in. - **Loss of personal space**: Some employees value the comfort of a consistent desk setup, with personal items or familiar equipment. Hot desking removes that sense of ownership and routine. - **Hygiene and cleanliness**: Shared desks and equipment require clear cleaning protocols to maintain employee trust and comfort. Without them, hot desking can quickly feel unprofessional. - **Coordination gaps**: Without visibility into where teammates are sitting, employees may feel scattered across the office and miss opportunities to collaborate. Poor planning can lead to wasted office days. - **Productivity risks**: Our [own Kadence data shows how mid-week peaks are common](). Hot desking ensures employees can find space on busy days without wasting resources on unused desks at other times. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How To Implement Hot Desking Successfully To make hot desking work, companies need clear policies, intentional design, and the right tools. - **Measure usage patterns**: [Track attendance, peak days, and unused desks before making changes.]() Kadence gives leaders real-time occupancy data to establish baselines. - **Set desk-to-employee ratios**: Move away from 1:1 models and set ratios that reflect actual presence, such as 1 desk per 1.5 or 2 employees. Kadence helps [manage these ratios dynamically]() as patterns shift. - **Design offices for different needs**: Provide quiet zones, collaboration areas, and team clusters, not just identical desks. Kadence [floor plans and usage maps show how spaces are really used](). - **Give employees visibility and control**: Provide booking tools, real-time availability, and team coordination features. Kadence [desk booking makes it simple to reserve ahead and sit near teammates.]() - **Iterate with feedback and data**: Continuously refine layouts and policies based on analytics and employee input. Kadence [delivers reports that highlight patterns and guide improvements.]() A stylised design of Kadence's Natural Language Analytics. #### Why Kadence Is The Right Platform For Hot Desking Kadence turns hot desking from a logistical challenge into a seamless experience. Employees can see which desks are available, reserve in advance, and choose spaces that match their needs. Teams can coordinate bookings to sit together. Leaders gain insights into occupancy and usage to reduce wasted space and costs. Companies can adapt their office footprint based on real behavior, not guesswork. Kadence makes hot desking practical, fair, and data-driven. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Frequently Asked Questions About Hot Desking **What is hot desking?** Hot desking is a workplace model where employees use shared desks rather than having permanently assigned seats. **What are the benefits of hot desking?** It helps companies cut costs, improve space utilization, and increase collaboration by mixing teams. Employees gain flexibility to choose the right space for different types of work. **What are the drawbacks of hot desking?** Without proper systems, it can create uncertainty, hygiene concerns, and a loss of personal space. Poorly designed hot desk setups can reduce productivity and morale. **How can companies make hot desking successful?** By combining data on office usage with desk booking tools, flexible layouts, and clear policies. Iteration and feedback are critical to keep improving. **How does Kadence support hot desking?** Kadence provides desk booking, real-time availability maps, occupancy analytics, and team coordination features, making hot desking efficient and employee-friendly. #### Take The Next Step Hot desking is more than a workplace trend. It is a strategic response to hybrid work and underused offices. Done well, it reduces costs, improves collaboration, and creates flexibility for employees. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see how Kadence can help you implement hot desking that works for your people and your business. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Is Move Management? Office Moves, Adds and Changes | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/what-is-move-management-and-why-it-matters/ Description: Move management plans and executes office moves, restacks, consolidations and moves, adds and changes. Learn the types, core components and steps to plan one. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · August 11, 2026 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### What Is Move Management? A Practical Guide to Office Moves, Adds, and Changes Office Move Management: A Practical Guide to Planning Office Moves, Adds, and Changes Move management is the practice of planning, organizing and executing workplace changes so that people, office space and resources stay aligned. It covers everything from relocating a team across one floor to shifting entire departments between buildings, and it coordinates who moves where, when and how. In every organization, change has a physical footprint. Teams grow, projects change and office layouts must keep pace. Whether a business is merging departments, opening new hubs or right-sizing its space, moving people and resources is now a constant part of work. Once treated as an administrative task, move management is now a strategic function that keeps offices efficient, compliant and connected during change. #### What is office move management? Office move management is the discipline of [planning, organizing, and executing workplace changes]() so that every employee has a seat, every desk has power and every department has the tools it needs from day one. It combines logistics, communication and data to minimize disruption and maintain productivity. The scope runs from a single desk change to a full relocation. What stays the same is the job: make sure the space, the people and the equipment arrive in the right place at the right time. Historically, moves were handled manually. Facilities teams managed floor plans through CAD drawings, tracked updates in spreadsheets and relied on long email chains for coordination. Each move was a one-off project that depended on memory and manual checks. Mistakes were common, and even small errors led to downtime, confusion or wasted space. #### Why does office move management matter? Move management matters because the strategy behind a space decision only delivers value if the move that follows is executed cleanly. A sound consolidation plan fails if teams land on an overcrowded floor or lose the adjacencies they depend on. And because offices now change continually, a reliable move process is a baseline requirement, not an occasional one. The modern office is in constant motion. Rather than reconfiguring space once or twice a year, organizations adjust it continually as policies, headcount and team structures shift. Each adjustment is a move to be planned. The forces behind that motion are consistent: - **Finance-led mandates** to consolidate and right-size. - **Lease renewal cycles** that force [restacks]() and relocations on a fixed timeline. - **Hybrid attendance patterns** that require ongoing changes to neighborhoods and seating. - **Hiring volatility** that creates frequent team-level moves. Kadence Pulse data shows that offices with unpredictable attendance patterns see lower and more volatile utilization, while consistent patterns support stronger space use. Kadence chart showing the distribution of desk booking percentages across industries, based on bookings from January to July 2025. Where execution breaks down, it is rarely the logistics that fail. It is stakeholder misalignment, missed dependencies and plans that go stale before the move date. The business impact is real: - **Productivity** drains away through downtime and lost focus. - **Cost** rises through duplicated effort and space that sits underused. - **Employee trust** erodes when people repeatedly return to a workspace that is not ready. What reads as an operational hiccup compounds into a measurable drag on performance and spend. Handled well, move management does the opposite. Fewer errors mean less downtime, better communication drives higher engagement, and consistent coordination keeps compliance and safety standards intact. Organizations that master it can adapt faster, scale with confidence and maintain continuity as their workforce changes. #### What are the different types of office moves? The main types are full [office relocations](), internal team moves and restacks, consolidations, and the routine moves, adds and changes that keep a workplace current. Not all moves are equal. Each type carries a different planning burden, a different set of stakeholders and a different risk profile, so the process has to scale to match. ##### Full office relocations and corporate move management A full relocation moves the entire organization to a new building or location, and it is the most complex type of move. Corporate move management at this scale involves a large stakeholder group, heavy IT and equipment logistics, overlapping lease periods and extensive vendor coordination. Employee communication becomes a project in its own right, since every person needs to know where they are going and when. The margin for error is small, because the whole business is exposed to any misstep. ##### Internal team moves and restacks A restack is a reorganization of which teams sit on which floors of a building. Internal moves and restacks shift teams within a building or across a portfolio. They happen far more often than full relocations but get less visibility, which is exactly where most coordination breakdowns occur. The complexity lies in keeping team adjacencies intact, avoiding capacity strain on the floors that receive people, and sequencing overlapping moves so one team is not displaced before another has cleared. ##### Consolidations and downsizing moves Consolidation moves reduce footprint by condensing teams into less space, and every one carries a cost implication visible to leadership. The plan has to stand up to finance, avoid peak-day capacity failures once teams are combined, and protect the employee experience through a transition that can otherwise feel like a downgrade. For a customer example, see how [RCS England consolidated its office space](). ##### What are moves, adds, and changes (MAC)? [Moves, adds, and changes (MAC)]() are the routine adjustments that keep a workplace current: - **Moves:** relocating employees and their equipment. - **Adds:** provisioning new hires or resources. - **Changes:** modifying existing layouts or assignments. The term has roots in IT and telecommunications but is now equally central to workplace operations. Moves and changes are typically owned by workplace operations and facilities teams, while adds and disconnects often involve IT systems integration. #### What are the core components of move management? Move management has five core components: assessment, planning, execution, communication and evaluation. Managed together, they reduce downtime, eliminate duplication and keep employees engaged during disruption. The most effective teams blend structure with adaptability and run all five from one shared plan rather than five parallel efforts. 1. **Assessment.** Understand what is changing, from team sizes and seating preferences to technology and access requirements. 2. **Planning.** Create a detailed move schedule, assign responsibilities and anticipate dependencies such as IT, furniture and communications. 3. **Execution.** Coordinate physical relocations efficiently while tracking progress in real time. 4. **Communication.** Keep employees informed through clear, timely updates to avoid confusion or lost productivity. 5. **Evaluation.** Review the move afterward to capture lessons, confirm data accuracy and refine future planning. These components describe what a move involves. Office move planning is how they come together in practice. Its purpose is to protect the business from the cost of a move going wrong: lost productivity, duplicated spend and stalled teams. It does that by sequencing the components into one coordinated plan, built on a single source of truth that workplace, IT, HR, facilities, vendors and employees all work from. When each group plans in its own spreadsheet or email thread, dependencies get missed and versions drift out of sync. When everyone works from one live view of what is moving, when and in what order, the plan holds together and the move runs on schedule. #### How do you plan a successful office move? Plan an office move by following a predictable sequence that scales from a single team to a full building: define the move, baseline the current state, design against real demand, sequence the dependencies, coordinate stakeholders from one plan, then review afterward. The size of the move changes. The sequence does not. 1. **Define the scope, timeline and decision-makers.** Establish what is moving, by when, and who needs to approve it before any detailed planning begins. 2. **Baseline current space and team allocations.** Capture what the existing footprint actually looks like in practice, not what the floor plan says on paper. 3. **Design the new layout against real demand.** Plan neighborhoods, team adjacencies and capacity buffers around actual attendance patterns rather than nominal headcount. 4. **Map dependencies and sequence the moves.** Line up IT, furniture, vendors, employee communication and any parallel team moves so nothing blocks anything else. 5. **Coordinate stakeholders with a single source of truth.** Most office move planning failures are communication failures, not logistics failures, so everyone involved should work from the same live plan. 6. **Execute and capture post-move feedback.** A move does not end on the move date. Record what worked and what did not so the next one runs better. A move plan timeline showing completed new desk assignments, a floor closure in progress with bookings canceled and move sheets for facilities and employees, and a scheduled floor restack. #### Why do spreadsheets and legacy systems struggle with move management? Legacy [IWMS]() and spreadsheet-based approaches capture static information, recording where people sit today, but they lack the intelligence to plan for tomorrow. An IWMS (integrated workplace management system) is a broad facilities platform for managing space, assets and real estate records. These tools rarely integrate with booking data or HR systems, so planners cannot see how people actually use space. The result is inefficiency and risk. Moves take longer, communication breaks down, and errors go unnoticed until employees return to find their workspace incomplete. When physical space is a living asset, move management needs to be connected, automated and informed by data. #### How does move management connect to broader workplace strategy? Move management is where workplace strategy becomes physical. Upstream decisions, including scenario planning, floor plan changes and consolidation modeling, only create value once a move turns them into reality. That makes move management the execution layer of workplace strategy, not an administrative afterthought. The connection runs in a clear line: - The outputs of [workplace scenario planning]() become the move plans that put a chosen future in place. - Occupancy and floor plan decisions become physical through the moves that execute them. - The broader discipline of [office space planning]() ties the sequence together, linking strategy to execution so that no decision stops at the modeling stage. Move management closes that loop. #### How does Kadence SpaceOps support move management? Kadence [SpaceOps]() unifies every step of the move process in one platform, so organizations can plan, coordinate and execute relocations with precision. It connects moves to live occupancy and booking data and to digital floor plans, turning manual coordination into orchestrated change. With SpaceOps Move Management, workplace teams can: - Plan and track all [employee moves]() or desk changes in one centralized view. - Automatically allocate desks and resources using live occupancy and booking data. - Identify dependencies and manage approvals to avoid bottlenecks. - Keep employees informed through automated notifications and updates. - Sync moves with digital floor plans for accurate, real-time visibility. Kadence SpaceOps move scheduling screen comparing a recommended five-phase move schedule with a three-phase alternative, showing headcount, average attendance, space per employee and maximum load for each phase. By bringing data and automation together, SpaceOps moves teams from manual coordination to orchestration. Teams stay productive, leaders keep oversight, and the workplace stays aligned with how the organization actually operates. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see it in action. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What are moves, adds, and changes? Moves, adds, and changes (MAC) are the routine adjustments that keep a workplace current: relocating employees and their equipment, provisioning new hires or resources, and modifying existing layouts or assignments. The term comes from IT and telecommunications but is now equally central to workplace operations. ##### Who is typically responsible for office move management? It usually sits with workplace operations or facilities, working alongside IT, HR and finance. Larger relocations often add a dedicated project lead or an external move manager. ##### How long does it take to plan an office move? A small internal move can be planned in days, while a full relocation typically takes weeks to a few months. Consultant-led relocations commonly run eight to twelve weeks. ##### What should you look for in an office move management solution? Look for a single source of truth that all stakeholders can see, integration with occupancy and booking data, dependency and approval tracking, and the ability to re-plan when conditions change. ##### What data should inform an office move plan? Use actual attendance and utilization patterns, current team allocations and headcount forecasts, along with the dependencies across IT, furniture and vendors. Behavioral demand matters more than nominal seat counts. Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Is Office Redesign Planning And How To Do It Right In 2026 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/what-is-office-redesign-planning-and-how-to-do-it-right-in-2026/ Description: Learn what office redesign planning is and how to do it right in 2026. Discover how Kadence SpaceOps helps teams optimize their workplaces. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · November 25, 2025 · [Jamie Addis]() ### What Is Office Redesign Planning And How To Do It Right In 2026 Office Redesign Planning Every office tells a story about how work gets done. The layout, meeting spaces, and neighborhood design all reflect the culture and rhythm of an organization. But in 2026, those rhythms will be changing faster than ever. Hybrid schedules, shifting policies, and new collaboration habits are transforming how companies use their space. That means office redesign is no longer a rare event tied to a lease cycle. It’s an ongoing process of aligning physical space with real work patterns. And getting it wrong can be expensive. A single miscalculated redesign can lock in millions in underused space and leave employees frustrated by a workplace that doesn’t support how they actually work. Office redesign planning is how [leading organizations avoid those mistakes](). It combines strategy, data, and design to ensure that every decision about space supports both performance and culture. A stylized design of Kadence's AI-powered Scenario Planning feature. #### What Office Redesign Planning Really Means Office redesign planning is the structured process of [evaluating and reshaping a workplace]() so it meets the evolving needs of employees and the business. It goes beyond interior design to connect real estate, operations, and people data into a single view of how the workplace functions. Redesign planning helps companies answer critical questions before construction begins: - How do teams use existing space today? - Which areas are underused or overcrowded? - What layouts best support hybrid collaboration and focus work? When grounded in data, redesign planning turns guesswork into evidence-based strategy. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Why Redesign Planning Matters In 2025 Workplace change has accelerated. Kadence data shows that average office utilization ranges between 20 and 40 percent across most industries, revealing just how much opportunity exists to optimize space. Real estate remains one of the top three controllable costs, and redesigning without data can lead to years of wasted expense. Leaders are also under new pressure to prove ROI on every square foot. The modern workplace is expected to do more than look good. It must attract talent, support productivity, and reflect company culture while staying financially efficient. A diagram of Space Ops features. #### The Key Phases Of Office Redesign Planning Effective office redesign follows a [repeatable, data-informed process](): 1. **Assessment.** Gather utilization data, employee feedback, and organizational goals to understand what needs to change. 2. **Scenario Testing.** Model different layouts, capacities, and space allocations to explore possibilities before committing. 3. **Validation.** Compare the cost, collaboration, and performance outcomes of each proposed configuration. 4. **Execution.** Translate approved plans into coordinated move and construction workflows. 5. **Iteration.** Track real-world results and refine designs as work patterns evolve. This approach turns redesign into a continuous improvement cycle, not a one-time project. #### The Pitfalls Of Traditional Redesign Many organizations still rely on static floor plans and isolated design projects that overlook how teams actually work. Spreadsheets and CAD drawings record where things are, not how they function. Once the construction is complete, feedback loops often stop. This disconnect between design and data leads to mismatched spaces. Meeting rooms go unused while quiet zones are overcrowded. Teams end up improvising workarounds that erode productivity. In today’s hybrid environment, static design is not enough. [Office space must adapt as quickly as the teams that use it.]() A stylized design showing Kadence's heatmap. hybrid policy and check-in data #### Designing With Data Modern office redesigns are shaped by analytics, not assumptions. Occupancy trends, booking patterns, and attendance rhythms reveal how people collaborate and what they need from the workplace. Data also exposes hidden inefficiencies. Leaders can pinpoint which zones are consistently underused or which teams overlap most often, guiding redesign decisions that improve both space performance and human connection. By combining people, space, and time data, organizations can design offices that are both flexible and financially sound. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### From Testing To Transformation With Kadence SpaceOps [Kadence SpaceOps]() makes office redesign planning an ongoing, data-driven process. It connects live occupancy insights with AI-powered modeling tools so leaders can test layouts, visualize team adjacencies, and forecast outcomes before committing to any changes. With Dynamic Stack Planning inside SpaceOps, workplace teams can: - See exactly where departments sit across buildings and floors. - Experiment with multiple design configurations in real time. - Test cost and collaboration trade-offs using live space data. - Align redesign plans with projected headcount and policy shifts. Because SpaceOps integrates planning and execution, leaders can move from strategy to action in one connected workflow. Redesigns no longer depend on guesswork — they evolve with the organization. A stylized design of Kadence's AI-generated stack planning feature. #### Why Office Redesign Planning Creates Business Value Redesign planning delivers value far beyond aesthetics. It ensures every decision about space is grounded in measurable performance outcomes. - **Financial efficiency:** Optimize spending by designing for actual, not assumed, demand. - **Employee experience:** Build spaces that support focus, collaboration, and belonging. - **Operational agility:** Adapt quickly to team or policy changes without major disruptions. - **Cultural alignment:** Reinforce company identity through thoughtful, responsive design. By combining real data with smart design, office redesign planning helps [organizations future-proof their workplaces]() and maximize every square foot. A stylized design of Kadence's Move-Management feature. #### Frequently Asked Questions **1. What is the difference between office design and redesign planning?** Office design focuses on layout and aesthetics, while redesign planning combines strategy, data, and execution to ensure the space aligns with business goals and employee needs. **2. How often should companies update their office layouts?** In the hybrid era, office design should be reviewed at least annually, or whenever headcount or work policies change significantly. **3. Why is data important in redesign planning?** Data provides evidence for decisions, reducing the risk of overbuilding, underutilization, and costly rework. It ensures redesigns match real usage and team behaviors. **4. How does Kadence SpaceOps help with redesign planning?** SpaceOps allows leaders to test layouts, model future scenarios, and link redesign plans to live usage data, ensuring every change is validated before implementation. #### Final Thought Office redesign planning is about more than rearranging desks. It is about continuously aligning the workplace with the evolving needs of the business and its people. Kadence SpaceOps gives organizations the tools to plan, model, and execute redesigns that adapt to change, creating offices that are efficient, inspiring, and ready for the future. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() today to see it in action. --- Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Is Scenario Planning? A Guide for Workplace Leaders | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/what-is-scenario-planning/ Description: What is scenario planning? Learn how workplace leaders model headcount, attendance and lease scenarios to make defensible real estate decisions. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · August 11, 2026 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### What Is Scenario Planning? A Guide for Workplace and Real Estate Leaders What Is Scenario Planning and Why it Matters Scenario planning is a structured method of exploring several possible futures, modeling how each would play out, and designing a response to each before committing to one. Unlike forecasting, which assumes a single likely future, scenario planning accepts that the world is unpredictable and prepares an organization to act with confidence rather than guesswork. In the workplace, that means modeling how headcount growth, shifting attendance and capacity constraints will play out across a real estate portfolio before committing to a [lease renewal](), a consolidation or a [restack](). Applied this way, scenario planning turns space, cost and workforce decisions into a single evidence-based strategy rather than a series of separate bets. Policies change, attendance fluctuates, costs rise and lease decisions loom, so the pressure on workplace and real estate leaders to make confident decisions is high. #### What is workplace scenario planning? Workplace scenario planning is the structured process of modeling several plausible futures for how an organization will use its space, then building a defensible plan for each. It identifies the critical uncertainties facing a workplace, such as attendance patterns, headcount growth and lease timing, and tests how different decisions play out before any capital is committed. It shares a name with financial scenario planning but answers a different question. Financial models forecast revenue, cost and cash under varying assumptions. Workplace scenario planning models how real estate, people and behavior interact, which a pure finance model cannot capture. A spreadsheet can tell you what a floor costs. It cannot tell you whether that floor will hold your teams at peak attendance once a new hybrid policy takes effect. That intersection of cost, capacity and human behavior is what makes workplace scenario planning a distinct strategic discipline. The method itself is not new. It first gained prominence in the [1970s when strategists at Royal Dutch Shell began using scenario analysis]() to prepare for potential oil crises. When disruption arrived, Shell was one of the few energy companies ready to act. The principle is the same today, but workplace leaders apply it to more complex systems: hybrid work patterns, dynamic lease portfolios and globally distributed teams. A stylized design of Kadence's AI-powered Scenario Planning feature. #### When should workplace leaders use scenario planning? Use scenario planning whenever a decision commits the organization to a fixed cost against a moving target: a lease renewal, an [office consolidation](), a restack or a return-to-office (RTO) policy change. Each choice is too costly to make on assumption. Scenario planning replaces the assumption with evidence, because static plans cannot keep up with changing attendance and headcount. Office utilization shows why. Kadence Pulse data shows that office utilization still averages between [20 and 40 percent across industries](), with wide fluctuations between sectors and cities. Real estate remains one of the top three controllable costs, so underused space translates directly into lost capital. Kadence chart of the rolling average desk booking percentage per industry group, based on bookings from 2024. Traditional workplace tools were built for stability. Spreadsheets, CAD drawings and [IWMS]() systems capture what has happened, not what might happen next. They cannot simulate outcomes, weigh cost against risk, or connect planning with execution. Scenario planning replaces static reporting with predictive modeling. It helps organizations: - anticipate changes in demand and workforce patterns; - identify risks before they become financial liabilities; - evaluate trade-offs between cost, collaboration and culture; - align leadership around data rather than opinion. The decisions where it earns its place share one trait: each is hard to reverse. - **Lease renewals** lock in space and spend for years, based on attendance that may look different by the time the ink dries. - **Office consolidations** can reduce cost or simply push overcrowding onto another floor, depending on how peak demand is modeled beforehand. - **Restacks** rearrange teams and adjacencies that are expensive to undo once people have moved. - **RTO policy shifts** change the busiest day of the week overnight, straining capacity that looked sufficient on paper. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How does workplace scenario planning work? Scenario planning works by defining the decision at hand, establishing a baseline from real attendance and utilization data, modeling several distinct futures against it, and aligning stakeholders before committing to any of them. The process works when it is repeatable, defensible and ongoing, revisited on a set cadence as conditions change, rather than a one-time exercise. Each organization applies it differently, but the process generally follows six steps: 1. **Identify key drivers of change.** These might include policy shifts, headcount growth, lease expirations or changing hybrid work patterns. 2. **Define critical uncertainties.** Which factors could significantly affect space, cost or team dynamics? 3. **Develop plausible scenarios.** Model several futures, such as growth, downsizing or consolidation, to test potential outcomes. 4. **Quantify the impact.** Assess how each scenario affects budgets, utilization and employee experience. 5. **Design responses.** For each model, outline actionable plans the business could implement if that scenario became reality. 6. **Revisit regularly.** Scenario planning is not a one-off activity but a living process that changes as new data emerges. In workplace terms, that means grounding the baseline in real attendance and utilization data, setting decision criteria around cost, capacity and collaboration, modeling scenarios against peak rather than average demand, and aligning real estate, finance and people leaders before any plan moves to execution. Peak demand is the attendance on the busiest day, which is where capacity actually breaks. Scenario planning does not eliminate uncertainty, but it gives leaders a structured way to manage it. ##### Two examples Every adjustment to policy, headcount or space allocation creates a ripple effect, and leaders are under pressure to make faster, more defensible decisions. Scenario planning lets teams test those outcomes before they commit to change. Consider a global enterprise deciding whether to close an underused office. With scenario planning, leaders can model attendance patterns, team distribution and cost impact to see whether consolidation will truly reduce spend or simply create overcrowding elsewhere. Or take a technology firm evaluating a shift from two to three in-office days per week. By forecasting demand, leaders can see whether existing capacity can handle the increase or whether they will need more space. Both exercises move a decision from assumption to evidence. Modeled well, scenario planning stops being an isolated exercise and becomes the input that drives broader workplace strategy, informing how space, cost and operational decisions are made across the portfolio. #### What scenarios should workplace leaders model? Model the scenarios tied to a decision that is actually on the table, with a timeline and a cost attached. Not every possible future is worth the effort, and modeling for its own sake produces noise rather than direction. Four scenarios come up repeatedly, because each one commits real budget against a moving target. ##### Right-sizing and office consolidation scenarios Right-sizing is the most common entry point, driven by broad, finance-led pressure to shed underused space. Modeling answers the questions leadership actually asks: how much space can we release, where does peak demand strain us if we do, and what does consolidation look like across a multi-site portfolio? It shows whether downsizing genuinely reduces spend or simply pushes overcrowding onto another floor. Done well, it turns a blunt cost-cutting mandate into a targeted plan. For a customer example, see how [Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence](). ##### Hiring surge and growth scenarios When headcount is outpacing available space, or when growth itself is uncertain, modeling shows when a site will hit its ceiling. Leaders can compare growth, consolidation and status-quo paths side by side, using projected demand rather than a headcount figure pulled from an org chart. That comparison makes the trade-offs explicit before capacity becomes a constraint. ##### Hybrid policy and RTO scenarios When a policy shift changes attendance, the spatial implications are rarely obvious. Modeling answers what a move from three to four in-office days does to peak load, and whether existing space can absorb it. The point is less the policy itself than what it does to the busiest day of the week. ##### Lease renewal and restack scenarios When a real estate commitment needs justification, scenario planning supplies the defensibility. It compares renewing, downsizing, restacking and relocating, with the data behind each path made explicit rather than assumed. For finance and corporate real estate leaders, this is where a modeled plan becomes something that holds up in front of the board. Kadence scenario builder screen with changing headcount, in-office attendance policy, space per employee and peak load target selected, and sliders to fine-tune each input. #### How does headcount planning connect to scenario planning? Headcount is the single largest input into how much space an organization needs, yet headcount and space are usually planned in separate systems. When [headcount planning]() stays inside HR and finance, space decisions inherit assumptions that were never meant to describe a building. Scenario planning closes that gap by modeling headcount as real demand for space. ##### What is headcount planning? Headcount planning is the process of forecasting how many people an organization will employ, in which roles, over a defined period and at what cost. In its traditional form it is an HR and finance exercise built around the org chart and the budget. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() That org-chart view breaks down as soon as it meets a hybrid workplace. A team of 100 does not need 100 desks when attendance runs at 60 percent on the busiest day and lower the rest of the week. Planning space against nominal headcount overbuilds capacity and inflates cost, because it counts seats no one occupies. The figure that matters for workplace decisions is demand, not seat assignments. Credible headcount planning for space draws on different inputs: - actual attendance patterns; - how teams behave rather than how they are structured; - demand at the neighborhood level; - the gap between peak and average occupancy. Modeled that way, headcount becomes a reliable basis for space decisions instead of a source of expensive error. #### What are the most common scenario planning mistakes? The most common workplace scenario planning mistakes share one root cause: treating the exercise as a document to complete rather than a discipline to maintain. The result is a plan that looks rigorous but cannot survive contact with a changing workplace. Each of the pitfalls below is avoidable. - **Planning around a single scenario.** This removes the what-if comparison that gives the work its value. - **Using static headcount instead of behavioral demand data.** This builds overcapacity in from the start. - **Modeling once and treating the output as final.** Attendance and headcount keep moving, so the plan goes stale. - **Ignoring the variance between peak and average attendance.** Averages hide where capacity actually breaks. - **Confusing operational reporting with strategic decision intelligence.** A report on last month is not a model of next year. - **Failing to align stakeholders early.** Perhaps the most costly mistake, because a sound plan dies in approval. #### How does scenario planning connect to broader workplace strategy? Scenario planning’s outputs become the inputs for nearly every downstream decision in office space planning: lease and consolidation choices, occupancy analysis, floor plan design, stack planning and move management. Its value depends on data that reflects reality, so models must connect to live occupancy, booking behavior and team patterns rather than assumptions. Many organizations build workplace strategies on models of what might happen but cannot connect those models to live operational data. They end up with theoretical exercises rather than executable strategies. Real scenario planning needs integration between the people using the space and the systems tracking it. Only when those inputs are connected can leaders run models that respond to real-world dynamics. Once a team validates a scenario, it feeds the rest of [office space planning](): - **Lease renewal and consolidation choices.** A validated scenario replaces a gut call on whether to renew, downsize or relocate with a defensible one. - **Occupancy analysis and floor plan design.** The chosen future becomes a specific allocation of space. - **Stack planning and move management.** Restacks and relocations are sequenced to limit disruption to teams. See [what move management is and why it matters](). - **Workplace operations.** Day-to-day decisions get a consistent logic rather than being argued from scratch. Kadence Pulse data shows a clear pattern: organizations with consistent and predictable attendance achieve higher space efficiency than those with irregular usage, while volatile patterns correlate with significant weekly waste. Scenario planning helps close that gap by simulating policy, attendance and team changes before they happen, then aligning capacity and cost with real demand. For finance and corporate real estate leaders, this is the difference between a portfolio managed by reaction and one managed by design. It is a continuous operating rhythm, not an annual workshop. Kadence chart showing the distribution of desk booking percentages across industries. #### How does Kadence SpaceOps support workplace scenario planning? Kadence [SpaceOps]() turns scenario planning from a strategic exercise into an operational capability. Leaders can model, test and execute scenarios in one connected platform, which links live occupancy data with AI forecasting to simulate the real impact of change. Chosen scenarios then move into execution through built-in move management and stack planning. Diagram of Kadence SpaceOps features. With [SpaceOps scenario planning](), workplace teams can: - Instantly generate multiple “what-if” models using live space utilization data drawn from bookings and attendance patterns. - Forecast seat demand and capacity under new hybrid policies or organizational shifts. - Compare how different layouts, team structures or headcount projections influence cost, collaboration and performance. - Translate validated scenarios into action with built-in move management and stack planning tools that keep teams productive during change. By combining modeling with execution, SpaceOps removes the gap between strategy and delivery. A CFO can present a financially tested plan to the board. Facilities leaders can coordinate moves in hours instead of weeks. HR teams can align workplace design with how people actually collaborate. The result is strategy turned into measurable actions grounded in live workplace data. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see SpaceOps in action. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between scenario planning and forecasting? Forecasting assumes a single likely future and predicts it. Scenario planning models several plausible futures, tests how each would play out and designs a response to each. For workplace decisions, that means comparing paths such as renewing, downsizing or restacking before committing to one. ##### How often should workplace scenarios be re-modeled? Quarterly at a minimum, and additionally before any lease decision or after a policy change. Static plans lose accuracy as attendance and headcount shift. ##### What data do you need for workplace scenario planning? You need attendance patterns, current utilization and capacity, headcount forecasts and lease timelines. Behavioral demand data matters more than nominal seat counts. ##### How is headcount planning different from workforce planning? Headcount planning forecasts how many people you will employ and at what cost. Workforce planning is broader, covering skills, roles and capability. For space decisions, headcount modeled as real demand is the relevant input. ##### Who is responsible for workplace scenario planning? It typically spans corporate real estate, finance, and workplace or people teams. The strongest processes give one owner accountability while pulling data and sign-off from all three. Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Is Space Management? Office Utilization as Data | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/what-is-space-management-turning-office-utilization-into-performance-data/ Description: What is space management? A definition, what it covers, why hybrid attendance changed it and how office utilization data now informs real estate decisions. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · September 29, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### What Is Space Management? Turning Office Utilization Into Performance Data What Is Space Management? Turning Office Utilization Into Performance Data Space management is the process of planning, organizing and optimizing how physical office space is used. At its most basic, it aligns an organization’s real estate footprint with its workforce: which desks, rooms and shared areas exist, who uses them and how the layout should change as needs change. Traditionally, space management meant floorplans, occupancy limits and making sure desks and rooms were available. By 2025, rising real estate costs, unpredictable attendance and executive demands for ROI had turned it into a strategic discipline. Kadence’s view is that space management is no longer about facilities alone. It is about turning office utilization into performance data that drives better decisions at every level. #### What is space management? Space management is the discipline of making sure workplaces are used efficiently. It covers monitoring how desks, conference rooms and shared areas are occupied, adjusting layouts and capacity to fit the workforce, and meeting compliance and safety requirements. Done well, it tells an organization how much space it needs and how to use it. In practice, space management covers three activities: - Monitoring how desks, conference rooms and shared areas are occupied. - Adjusting layouts and capacity to fit workforce needs. - Meeting compliance and safety requirements. Utilization, a related term, is the share of available space that people actually use. Space management turns that measure into decisions. #### How did companies manage space before? Historically, companies relied on CAD drawings and Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS) to track their offices. These tools helped facilities teams understand square footage, allocate desks and produce compliance reports. Their weakness was that they captured space as it was designed, not as it was actually used. The tools were often rigid, hard to use and disconnected from the day-to-day reality of how people use offices. That was workable when attendance was predictable. It stopped working when it was not. The glossary explains [what an IWMS is]() and how it differs from newer workplace platforms. #### Why has space management changed? Space management changed because attendance became unpredictable. Employees no longer follow fixed schedules: some days offices are busy, and other days they are nearly empty. Without accurate data, companies risk paying for unused real estate or running short of space when demand peaks. Three forces drove the change: - **Volatile attendance patterns.** Traditional planning assumptions no longer hold. - **Rising real estate costs.** Property is one of the largest expenses after people, so executives expect evidence of ROI on every square foot. - **Outdated tools.** Legacy IWMS systems cannot keep pace with real-time coordination, integrations and the needs of modern enterprises. Executives want more than floorplans. They want a single source of truth that links people, space and time. #### How does space management support workplace decisions? Space management data answers the questions executives ask about the portfolio: which sites to shrink, grow or repurpose, what happens if attendance changes, and where money is wasted. Kadence treats it as part of workplace operations, the orchestration of people, space and time so every resource supports performance. Space management data supports four kinds of decision: - **Portfolio optimization:** knowing which sites to shrink, grow or repurpose. - **Scenario planning:** modeling what happens if attendance doubles or halves. - **Workforce efficiency:** aligning space with how employees actually collaborate. - **Cost control:** identifying underused areas and eliminating wasted spend. For CFOs, COOs and CHROs, this data answers pressing questions. Do we need this office? Should we convert unused desks into collaboration space? Are we providing the right environment for productivity? [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How does Kadence approach space management? Kadence approaches space management as a unified system that fuses people, space and time into a single source of truth. As described in September 2025, it blends IWMS-grade planning power with a modern coordination layer, so occupancy, booking and planning data sit together and feed real estate decisions. Kadence AI recommending additional neighborhoods to bring two teams together, with the current and recommended floor configurations side by side In September 2025, Kadence described these [space management]() capabilities: - Real-time occupancy and booking data in a unified dashboard. - [Kadence Sense](), which captures workplace occupancy data without deploying sensors. - [Automatic release]() of [no-show]() bookings back into the system to prevent wasted space. - Custom analytics dashboards with Insights Plus, designed with Kadence’s data science team to inform real estate decisions. - Neighborhoods that align team schedules to balance attendance and avoid overcrowding. - Insight into collaboration patterns, team cadences and neighborhood occupancy. - Tracking of the most-used buildings, floors, desks and rooms, so cleaning or HVAC services can match real demand. - Interactive floorplans, capacity limits and guest bookings for resource planning. Planning capabilities now sit in [Kadence SpaceOps](), the part of the platform built for space planning, scenarios and moves. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Why does space management matter now? Space management matters now because office use is too variable for static planning. Leaders can no longer rely on assumptions about headcount or averages across the year. They need real-time data to see what is happening today and predictive insight to plan for tomorrow, which is why the topic has moved from facilities to the C-suite. Combining occupancy data with booking records and visitor flows lets companies align resources with actual demand. That means avoiding unnecessary leases, improving the employee experience and being ready for shifts in how work happens. Adrian Harper, Head of Digital Landscape at Karger, on using Kadence occupancy data to reduce the company's office floors Customers have already shown the impact. Publishing group Karger achieved an 80 percent reduction in its office footprint without compromising productivity, using Kadence to analyze utilization data and right-size its space. Read [how Karger reduced its office space](). [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How do you turn space into strategy? You turn space into strategy by treating space management as part of workplace operations rather than floorplan administration. Organizations that do this spend less on real estate, match people to the spaces they use and invest in collaboration areas with evidence. Those that do not miss the chance to tie the workplace to measurable business outcomes. Kadence analytics answering questions about hybrid policy compliance and space utilization per department Companies that treat space management as part of workplace operations gain: - Reduced real estate spend by eliminating waste. - Better alignment between people and the spaces they use. - Smarter investment in collaboration areas and amenities. - Clear visibility for portfolio and scenario planning. The [office space planning guide]() sets out how to take utilization data into right-sizing and [fit-out]() decisions. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the main purpose of space management? To make sure workplaces are used efficiently and that the real estate footprint matches the workforce. It covers monitoring how spaces are occupied, adjusting layouts and capacity, and meeting compliance and safety requirements. ##### How is modern space management different from an IWMS? Traditional IWMS tools and CAD drawings recorded space as it was designed: square footage, [desk allocations]() and compliance reports. Modern space management adds real-time occupancy and booking data, so plans reflect how space is actually used. ##### Who uses space management data? Facilities and workplace teams use it day to day. CFOs, COOs and CHROs use it to decide whether to keep an office, whether to convert unused desks into collaboration space and whether employees have the right environment for productivity. ##### Can space management reduce real estate costs? Yes, when it is based on actual utilization. Data on underused areas supports decisions to consolidate or repurpose space. Karger, for example, reduced its office footprint by 80 percent after analyzing utilization data with Kadence. Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Hybrid Companies: Who Went Hybrid Or Remote In 2021 | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/which-companies-are-going-hybrid/ Description: Hybrid companies in 2021: how Coinbase, Airbnb, Google, Fujitsu, Facebook, Microsoft, Intel and Netflix chose remote-first, hybrid or office-first models. [News]() · [Hybrid Working]() · July 1, 2021 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Natalie Chan ### Which Companies Are Going Hybrid? Remote-First, Hybrid And Office-First Examples From 2021 Hybrid companies come in many shapes. In July 2021, as vaccinations rolled out and economies tentatively opened up, organizations were deciding what their new normal would look like: remote-only, a hybrid working model, or everyone back in the office. For some, the pandemic accelerated a move to [flexible working]() that had been building for years. Others wanted to return to a traditional office setup as far as possible. This roundup records where well-known companies stood in July 2021, from fully remote Coinbase to office-first Netflix. It reflects their plans at that time, not their later policies. #### Where did companies sit on the hybrid spectrum in 2021? In July 2021, companies were spread along a spectrum from fully remote to fully office-based. [Remote-first]() companies such as Coinbase and Airbnb let employees choose where to work. Hybrid companies such as Google, Fujitsu and Facebook invested in spaces for teamwork. Netflix stood out as office-first. Culture, more than logistics, decided where each one landed. Going hybrid is about more than the when and the what. It is about company culture. How much freedom employees get, how prescriptive the leadership style is and how much a company prizes innovation all influence where it falls on the hybrid spectrum. Some companies focused on teamwork and collaboration, others on flexibility or wellbeing. For the traditionalists, it was about getting back to the office and seeing coworkers again. Spectrum showing how different companies planned to work after the pandemic, from Netflix in the office to GitHub 100% remote *Source: [CoScreen]()* A few terms help read the examples below: - **Fully remote:** there is no company office; everyone works from home or another location of their choice. - **Remote-first:** remote work is the default and employees are not expected to work from the office, though some offices may exist. - **Hybrid:** employees split their time between the office and other locations. - **Office-first:** remote work is available, but in-office work is preferred. #### Which companies chose a remote-first or fully remote model? For many businesses, the pandemic showed how effective a remote-first setup can be. By July 2021, fully remote companies were dropping the traditional office to give employees the freedom to work from home, while remote-first companies let employees choose where they work. Coinbase, InVision, Equinix, Buffer, GoDaddy, Airbnb, Doist and Close were examples. ##### Coinbase: a no-office headquarters Cryptocurrency exchange [Coinbase]() closed its main office headquarters for good. It encouraged employees to work remotely or at smaller, local offices. Company founder and former Airbnb engineer Brian Armstrong saw it as a democratizing move that ensures equal career opportunities for all employees, wherever they are based. An official statement said: “Closing our SF office is an important step in ensuring no office becomes an unofficial HQ and will mean career outcomes are based on capability and output rather than location. Instead, we will offer a network of smaller offices for our employees to work from if they choose to.” ##### InVision: international reach and employee happiness InVision had a director of Employee Happiness, a sign of how seriously it took keeping employees happy. The company ran a house swaps channel that kept employees aligned and connected. InVision was globally distributed. As one of its benefits, employees could swap locations to work and travel to new places across the globe. The package also included medical insurance, a free gym membership and options packages meant to give employees a feeling of company ownership. The company built its fully remote culture around hiring hard-working and humble people. ##### Equinix: drop-in workspaces Multinational [Equinix]() had a remote-first model built on flexibility. Staff had no location requirement, though drop-in co-working spaces were available in certain locations. A long-term IT strategy based on flexible digital infrastructure meant the company already had the technology for remote working when the pandemic hit. Equinix was also looking at improving its in-office experience. That included [hybrid meetings]() where your Zoom call launches automatically as you walk into your pre-booked meeting room, the kind of experience [room booking software]() is built to support. ##### Buffer: solving remote loneliness In 2020, Buffer found that 20% of remote workers struggle with loneliness. The company put measures in place to help its fully remote employees with loneliness and the difficulty of unplugging. One of them was a monthly stipend for every remote employee to work from coffee shops, where the different energy and setting help ease loneliness. ##### GoDaddy: empowering employees outside work GoDaddy let employees take a part-time job outside their working hours, and helped them pursue it. Any employee with a hobby they wanted to turn into income could get help from the company. GoDaddy also offered opportunities to build careers through education. Its flexible work schedule was designed so workers were not overwhelmed. Employees could schedule their working hours around caring for pets and children. ##### Airbnb: letting employees take charge “Employees are in charge, not companies,” said [Airbnb]() CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky. With an agile and decentralized business model, Airbnb fully embraced flexible working, allowing employees to work from wherever they chose. The logic was simple: employees wanted it, so Airbnb needed to offer it to attract the best people. As Chesky put it: “The employees and the talent market is going to drive working flexibility, not the companies. Because if a company says these are our rules, they’re not going to have the talent.” ##### Doist: asynchronous working hours Doist worked hard to give employees an entirely flexible experience as a global, remote-first company. New parents could bring their baby and partner to the company retreat. Employees chose their [coworking]() office based on their preference. Working hours were entirely flexible, as long as employees clocked 40 hours by the end of each week. ##### Close: a focus on deliverables Close, a fully remote company that helps businesses convert traffic into leads and revenue, did not focus much on working hours. Instead, it looked at each remote employee’s deliverables every week. Close gave employees realistic projects, deliverables and deadlines, and trusted them to work on those deliverables independently. It also offered a monthly $200 coworking stipend and two annual team retreats. #### Which hybrid companies focused on teamwork? In 2021, Google, Fujitsu and Facebook took hybrid approaches built around teamwork. Each put infrastructure in place to bring teams together and restart collaboration and connection: Google with reconfigurable pods and campfires for hybrid meetings, Fujitsu with a network of hubs and [satellite offices](), and Facebook with offices reserved for culture building. ##### Google: campfires for hybrid meetings A Google campfire meeting space: a circle of seats with vertical displays showing remote attendees [Google]() has long been a workplace innovator. When the Googleplex launched in 2003, its open plan offices, bold common spaces and free food and transport looked like a window into the future. In 2018, Google commissioned a team of space architects, engineers, builders and tech specialists to redesign the workplace around three principles: work can happen anywhere, workplaces are more than desks and meeting rooms, and employees’ needs are changing constantly. Its post-pandemic ideas focused on hybrid working. They included flexible team pods that can be reconfigured quickly for different needs, and campfires for [hybrid meetings](). A campfire is a seating circle mixed with vertical displays that show remote attendees dialing in, to put all participants on an equal footing. ##### Fujitsu: creative hubs and satellites Before the pandemic, Fujitsu’s culture prized long hours in the office and face-to-face work. Eighteen months later, [85% of employees favor either a remote or hybrid workplace model](). To support the change, the company committed to an ecosystem of workspaces for different needs, made up of hubs, satellites and shared offices. - **Hubs** support creativity, co-creation and chance encounters between colleagues. - **Satellites** let teams coordinate shared projects using video conferencing and face-to-face meetings. - **Shared offices** give employees easy-to-reach space in urban centers for independent work, online meetings or virtual training. ##### Facebook: the office as a place for culture building Facebook also chose a hybrid, remote-first model. It planned for many employees to work off-site most of the time, and to come into the office for culture building, training, key meetings and events. Facebook was also hiring remotely, particularly for senior staff who need less in-person training or career development support. CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw it as a boost for diversity, because [he could recruit outside traditional tech communities]() such as Silicon Valley and San Francisco: “Enabling remote work is going to be very positive on that front toward creating more broad-based economic prosperity.” #### Which companies built hybrid work around employee wellbeing? In 2021, Intel, Microsoft and Coda put employee wellbeing at the center of their hybrid plans. Intel tackled meeting fatigue with meeting-free Fridays. Microsoft set out a clearly communicated, phased return to the office. Coda made its meeting cadence lighter and more inclusive for people spread across locations, and added social time to reduce isolation. ##### Intel: meeting-free Fridays [Intel]() embraced hybrid working and made cultural changes to ease the burden on remote workers. To combat meeting fatigue, it introduced meeting-free Fridays. It also set meeting start times at ten past the hour to make meetings shorter, and encouraged days off to disconnect. ##### Microsoft: a phased return to the office Microsoft campus building exterior [Microsoft]() set out a phased return to the office in stages, ranging from remote-only to fully open campuses. Even with fully open campuses, hybrid work and flexibility would remain the norm. Microsoft described a research-driven approach to designing agile workspaces that encourage collaboration and meet the varied needs of its teams. ##### Coda: inclusive meetings Online collaboration firm Coda embraced the culture change that mandatory remote work forced on it. It made its meeting cadence lighter and more inclusive for employees in different locations. Meetings were all held at 1 pm, and recurring meetings were banned on Wednesdays to leave time for focused work, for changing work location or for other life commitments. Coda also introduced a company-wide social hour, with quizzes, cocktail-making and online games, to help with isolation. #### Which companies stayed office-first? Netflix was the clearest office-first example in July 2021. The world’s largest subscription streaming service came out against the flexibility trend and expected employees back in the office that fall. Even so, CEO Reed Hastings accepted that hybrid work was here to stay for most companies. [Netflix]() went against the grain. Hastings expected that most companies would end up with employees working “four days in the office while one day is virtual from home.” Kadence’s webinar on [three steps to a successful hybrid workplace]() looks at what that middle ground requires. #### What did these hybrid work model examples have in common? The 2021 examples show that organizations were working out their place on a spectrum from 100% remote to a traditional office. Hybrid ranged from office-first, where remote work is available but the office is preferred, to default digital, with no location requirement but co-working spaces in certain locations. Every point on that spectrum needed changes to both space and culture. Offices were changing to support hybrid working models. They needed to support collaboration, make room for chance encounters and provide quiet space for people who need or prefer to work from an office. Company culture was changing too. Remote workers risked becoming isolated, burnt out or left out, and companies needed to take care to prevent that. Any hybrid working model also needs digital infrastructure. [Desk booking software]() lets employees reserve office space when they need it, making their in-office experience smoother. It also gives organizations data on how space is used, so they can plan the workplace from historic and forecast usage rather than guesswork. Kadence’s guide to [flexible office models]() compares these approaches in more detail. #### Frequently asked questions ##### Which companies went fully remote or remote-first in 2021? In July 2021, examples included Coinbase, which closed its San Francisco headquarters, as well as InVision, Equinix, Buffer, GoDaddy, Airbnb, Doist and Close. Each let employees work remotely, with some offering co-working spaces or stipends. ##### Which companies chose a hybrid model with offices for teamwork? Google, Fujitsu and Facebook were leading examples in 2021. Google designed reconfigurable team pods and campfires for hybrid meetings. Fujitsu built hubs, satellites and shared offices. Facebook planned for employees to come in for culture building, training, key meetings and events. ##### Which company was office-first in 2021? Netflix. In July 2021 it expected employees back in the office that fall, although CEO Reed Hastings accepted that hybrid work was here to stay for most companies. ##### What is the difference between remote-first and hybrid? In a remote-first company, remote work is the default and employees are not expected to come to an office. In a hybrid company, employees split their time between the office and other locations, and the office is kept for specific purposes such as collaboration. ##### What does a company need to support a hybrid working model? It needs offices that support collaboration and quiet work, a culture that keeps remote workers included, and digital tools such as desk booking that let employees reserve space and give the organization data on how space is used. #### Related - [The CEO’s Perspective: Driving Growth, Innovation, And Hybrid Working ROI]() Embracing hybrid work isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for forward-thinking CEOs. This article unveils how hybrid work models drive unprecedented Hybrid Working ROI across the triple bottom line: By implementing a robust hybrid working ROI strategy, CEOs can future-proof their organizations, attract top talent, and gain a competitive edge in an evolving business \[…\] - [Hybrid Pulse Check #1: Office Attendance By Country And Weekday (November 2024)]() Kadence booking data from over 500 companies, published in November 2024: office attendance by country, the peak in-office days, and what workplace leaders can do about it. - [Hybrid Work Management Software – Choosing The Right One]() The rise of hybrid work models has become more than just a trend. It’s a necessity. As teams embrace a flexible work environment, effective Hybrid Work Management Software has become critical. Read our key considerations that will empower you and your team to choose the right software that best suits your hybrid goals. The traditional \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Why Amazon Is Tracking Office Hours - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/why-amazon-is-tracking-office-hours/ Description: Why Amazon is tracking office hours, not just attendance, and how organizations can manage space without redesigning offices. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · January 22, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Why Amazon Is Tracking Office Hours Amazon Office Tracking Amazon is no longer just tracking whether employees come into the office. It is tracking how long they stay. In December, [the company rolled out a manager dashboard]() that measures employees’ in-office hours across a rolling eight-week period. The system categorises workers based on duration rather than attendance alone, flagging those who spend fewer than four hours per day in the office, those who do not badge in at all, and those working from locations they are not assigned to. This marks a meaningful shift. Office presence is no longer binary. Time itself has become the metric. And more so, this is not simply a return-to-office policy refinement. It is a change in how work, space, and compliance are being operationalised. Amazon’s Headquarters, Seattle. Copyright: [Amazon]() #### What is Amazon Tracking Amazon’s dashboard refreshes daily and gives managers direct access to office-time data that previously sat with HR. It aggregates [badge data]() over time, producing median hours, rolling averages, and location-level compliance indicators. The system builds on Amazon’s earlier crackdown on so-called “[coffee badging]()” by narrowing the definition of acceptable attendance. Showing up briefly is no longer sufficient. Duration is now the signal. Amazon has framed tracking as a way to encourage collaboration. Operationally, however, the impact is broader. Office time has become legible, comparable, and enforceable at scale. Amazon joins companies such as Samsung, Dell, Bank of America, [JPMorgan](), and [PwC]() in using badge tracking to support [return-to-office mandates](). What differentiates Amazon is not enforcement itself, but precision. Hours are treated as a measurable unit of participation. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Noah Berger/Getty Images for Amazon Web Services #### Why Time Is an Attractive Metric Time is seductive because it is simple. It is easy to measure. Easy to compare. Easy to explain to leadership. When organisations struggle to define productivity or collaboration, time provides a concrete proxy that feels objective and defensible. From a management perspective at Amazon, tracking hours reduces ambiguity. It tightens expectations and limits interpretation. Compliance becomes visible. But that simplicity comes with trade-offs. When time becomes the primary signal, behaviour adjusts to satisfy the metric rather than the underlying goal. People optimise for presence. Visibility replaces effectiveness. Space fills predictably, but not necessarily purposefully. This is not unique to Amazon. It is the natural outcome of choosing duration as the organising principle. #### What Time-Based Measurement Misses The limitation of time as a metric is not that it is inaccurate. It is that it is incomplete. Recent [Flex Index reporting]() using 2024–2025 data from Kastle Systems and Roam highlights the gap. Remote employees showed significantly higher levels of work activity on holidays and weekends than in-office workers. On Christmas Day, [remote work]() activity reached 13.3 percent, while in-person activity fell to 1.9 percent. Stanford economist [Nick Bloom]() has pointed out that measuring work through 9-to-5 office presence overlooks the contribution employees make outside those windows. Time spent in the office does not reveal whether people coordinated effectively, whether space supported the work at hand, or whether collaboration actually occurred. It only shows that people were present for a defined period. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### When Offices Become Compliance Infrastructure Once time becomes the metric, the office itself changes role. It stops being primarily a tool for coordination and becomes a system for enforcement. Space is evaluated based on how reliably it can host people for long enough to satisfy policy requirements. This creates second-order effects. Peak periods intensify as employees cluster to demonstrate compliance. [Meeting rooms]() fill defensively. Quiet spaces become less accessible. Utilisation rises, but friction often rises with it. More subtly, time-based measurement shifts the relationship between organisations and employees. Trust is replaced by verification. Outcomes become secondary to observable effort. This is not a moral judgement. It is a structural consequence of how measurement works. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Measuring Space as a System, Not a Rule Amazon’s approach reflects one way to achieve operational control. It defines desired behaviour, measures time against that definition, and enforces compliance. There is another approach. Rather than measuring whether individuals meet time thresholds, [organisations can measure how space actually behaves](). Which areas are consistently occupied. Where collaboration concentrates. When demand exceeds capacity. Where space remains underused despite policy. This is the distinction Kadence Sense is built around. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() [Kadence Sense provides real-time, accurate occupancy insight]() using existing digital infrastructure such as Wi-Fi, network connections, and workplace systems. Instead of counting badge swipes or tracking individual duration, it builds a unified view of how space is occupied and how patterns change over time. The difference is not privacy alone. It is perspective. Sense does not answer whether someone stayed long enough. It reveals whether the workplace supported the work people came in to do. A wireframe example of how Kadence Sense Works #### From Measurement to Decision-Making Occupancy intelligence becomes powerful when it feeds decisions, not enforcement. With accurate [occupancy patterns](), leaders can see where policies create congestion, where space performs well, and where assumptions about collaboration do not hold up in practice. Services like cleaning, catering, and support can be aligned to real demand rather than fixed schedules. This is where [Kadence SpaceOps]() extends the picture. A stylized design of Kadence's AI-powered Scenario Planning feature. SpaceOps allows organisations to model different attendance expectations, schedules, or policy scenarios and understand their impact on utilisation and operational risk before enforcing them. Instead of assuming that longer office hours improve collaboration, leaders can test what actually happens under different conditions. Together, Sense and SpaceOps enable adaptive control. Behaviour is shaped through insight and iteration rather than rigid rules. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What Amazon Makes Clear Amazon experimenting with office time tracking illustrates a broader shift. When organisations cannot redesign their offices quickly enough to influence behaviour, they redesign measurement instead. Time becomes the interface between people and space. For some organisations, that level of control will feel necessary. For others, it will feel constraining. The critical question for 2026 is not whether offices are used enough, but whether they are used well. The most resilient [workplace strategies]() will be those that measure outcomes, not just hours, and adapt space without turning offices into compliance tools. Kadence helps organisations take that path. By combining occupancy intelligence with [scenario planning](), teams can evolve [workplace strategy]() without redesigning their offices or hard-coding assumptions into policy. [Book a demo with our workplace operations experts]() to see how Kadence helps organisations design workplaces around how work actually happens, not just how long people stay. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Why Atlassian Is Sticking With Distributed Work - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/why-atlassian-is-sticking-with-distributed-work/ Description: Discover why Atlassian is thriving with its distributed work model—and how intentional flexibility can help your hybrid strategy succeed. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · April 3, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Why Atlassian Is Sticking With Distributed Work At a time when many corporate leaders are calling for a return to the office, [Atlassian is doubling down on distributed work]()—and it’s paying off. The software company just secured a top spot on *Fortune’s* 2025 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, and their commitment to [remote-first]() operations is a big reason why. In 2020, Atlassian rolled out a [remote work]() policy called [Team Anywhere](). The policy allows its 12,000 employees to work from anywhere the company has a legal entity, provided their time zone aligns with their role, they have the approval of their team lead, and they hold the legal right to work in that region. As a result, rather than being tied to one of Atlassian’s 12 global offices, employees now log in from more than 10,000 different locations around the world. According to Fortune, approximately 92% report that the Team Anywhere policy enables them to do their best work, and 91% cite flexibility as one of the main reasons they choose to stay at the company. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Distributed By Design: Atlassian’s Alternative Approach Atlassian’s Global Head of Team Anywhere, [Annie Dean]() explained to [Dave Cairns](), Kadence’s Future of Work Strategist, how the company intentionally designed a distributed model from the outset—one that was based on flexibility, autonomy, and performance. While some companies are still figuring out hybrid structures, Atlassian focused on clarity and execution from the start. > “We sort of see this structured moment of hybrid work to be momentary. Even if people don’t show up—which they’re not in a lot of instances—the culture is still one-size-fits-all, regardless of how it’s executed.” > > > > > > Dave Cairns > > > > Future of Work Strategist, Kadence Rather than seeing hybrid and distributed as opposing forces, Dean framed Atlassian’s model as a unique solution aligned to their needs. She highlighted that many companies struggle with hybrid not because it’s flawed, but because it’s often poorly implemented. > “What we’ve seen is that a lot of companies approached hybrid as a temporary compromise, not as a deliberate strategy. What Atlassian did was different—we treated distributed work as an infrastructure, not an exception.” > > > > > > Annie Dean > > > > VP, Workplace + Future of Work Transformation, Atlassian This is less about rejecting hybrid and more about demonstrating what’s possible when work is designed around flexibility, intentionality, and the right tools from the ground up. #### This Isn’t A Perk. It’s Infrastructure. Atlassian’s distributed model isn’t about appeasing employees or avoiding real estate costs. It’s a deliberate, strategic infrastructure built around autonomy and trust. Dean argues that the entire conversation around [hybrid work]() often misses the point: > “The concept of hybrid can be distracting, just because it’s so poorly executed in many environments. But I think it’s not the controlling story. The controlling story is how we use technology to work differently.” > > > > > > Annie Dean > > > > VP, Workplace + Future of Work Transformation, Atlassian For Atlassian, distributed work is a technology story. It’s grounded in a data-driven approach that informs every aspect of how work gets done. The company established Team Anywhere within its people department, which houses the Teamwork Lab—a group of behavioral scientists tasked with researching and innovating how teams operate across time zones and geographies. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Atlassian’s remote-first model is built on four foundational elements: 1. **Asynchronous communication** – Written updates and documentation are prioritized over meetings to support flexibility and focus. 2. **Open by default** – Internal documents and written materials are made broadly accessible to foster transparency and inclusivity. 3. **Connection** – Atlassian hosts Intentional Together Gatherings (ITGs), where teams meet in person several times a year to strengthen relationships and alignment. 4. **Timezone awareness** – Teams are structured to ensure overlapping working hours, promoting smoother collaboration without burnout. This model not only helps Atlassian scale globally—it also offers something traditional offices often can’t: equity. Employees gain more control over their schedules, better access to family life, and freedom from geographic constraints. #### Rethinking How We Learn, Lead, And Grow Critics of remote work often point to the loss of mentorship or serendipitous collaboration as fatal flaws. Dean doesn’t buy it. She recalls her early days as a real estate attorney, poring over hundreds of pages of leases without understanding why: > “It was really hard as a young person doing that work and not knowing what I was doing it for. I’d have to write the ‘why’ on the top of my paper: I’m doing this for the lender who needs to understand the value of their portfolio.” > > > > > > Annie Dean > > > > VP, Workplace + Future of Work Transformation, Atlassian Today, she argues, those learning moments can happen faster and more effectively with the right tools: > “The opportunity for learning has never been bigger. You can ask AI anything. The feedback I’m getting from AI is so personalized and rich—it just feels like an amazing coach.” > > > > > > Annie Dean > > > > VP, Workplace + Future of Work Transformation, Atlassian Mentorship isn’t lost in distributed settings; it’s evolving. And Atlassian is designing systems that meet people where they are. That commitment to innovation has had a measurable impact. Atlassian’s workforce has tripled since implementing Team Anywhere, and applications for open roles have more than doubled. The rate at which candidates accept job offers has also climbed to 20%—a clear sign that flexible work isn’t just desirable, it’s a competitive advantage. #### Offices Are Becoming Event Spaces, Not Mandates Distributed doesn’t mean anti-office. Atlassian is still investing in physical space—but with a new purpose. Dean says workplaces now need to be: > “Event-driven, hospitality-led, and evaluated by metrics.” > > > > > > Annie Dean > > > > VP, Workplace + Future of Work Transformation, Atlassian The old model—massages, snacks, and good vibes—was largely unmeasured. Now, Atlassian tracks usage, purpose, and outcomes. If people come in, they’re coming in with intentionality. The role of workplace teams has shifted from facility managers to experience designers. > “Offices need to support different types of work: deep individual focus, collaborative team work, and everything scaffolded by individual private call spaces.” > > > > > > Annie Dean > > > > VP, Workplace + Future of Work Transformation, Atlassian This is where most [coworking]() spaces fail. As Dean notes, the ratio of private spaces to workers is way off. Atlassian’s research suggests a ratio closer to 1 private call space per 10 people is optimal—a far cry from the single “call coffin” in most shared workspaces. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### It’s About Community, Not Just Culture One of the biggest misconceptions about remote work is that it kills culture. But for Atlassian, distributed work has expanded the definition of community and deepened its value. Dean reflects: > “My hope is that people have an opportunity to be more connected to their local communities, including their family community.” > > > > > > Annie Dean > > > > VP, Workplace + Future of Work Transformation, Atlassian By allowing people to live and work where it best suits them, Atlassian employees can take a more active role in their communities. That could mean walking their kids to school, volunteering locally, or supporting neighbors in ways that wouldn’t be possible with a rigid 9–5 office schedule. For many, it also means reducing the stress of long commutes and gaining back time to invest in family, friendships, and wellbeing. This reconnection to place and people doesn’t weaken company culture—it strengthens it by creating healthier, more fulfilled individuals. That flexibility isn’t just good for business—it’s good for society. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Future Is Already Here Atlassian isn’t waiting for a better version of hybrid to emerge. They’ve already leaned into what works for their teams—and it’s paying off. Their model proves that when distributed work is designed intentionally, it can lead to stronger teams, happier employees, and better results. > > “We’ve unlocked a different way of being… And that will just continue to grow.” > > > > > > > > > > > > Annie Dean > > > > > > > > VP, Workplace + Future of Work Transformation, Atlassian But not every company needs to go fully distributed to see these benefits. Hybrid work—when treated as a strategy rather than a compromise—[can offer the best of both worlds](): flexibility for employees and meaningful in-person connection where it counts. [The key is intentionality](). Without it, hybrid becomes messy. With it, hybrid becomes magnetic. Featured Content Free Hybrid Work Policy Template Streamline your team’s success—download our free Hybrid Work Policy Template today! [Download Template]() Atlassian’s example shows that when companies embrace flexibility with clear systems, human-centered design, and cultural alignment, the results speak for themselves. Want to learn [how to build a distributed or hybrid model that actually works]()? [Book a demo with Kadence]() and start designing your future of work—on your terms. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Why Citi Is Sticking To Hybrid Work While Rivals Push For RTO - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/why-citi-is-sticking-to-hybrid-work-while-rivals-push-for-rto/ Description: Citi is leaning into hybrid work, allowing employees to work remotely two days. Learn why they’re playing it smart. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · February 4, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Why Citi Is Sticking To Hybrid Work While Rivals Push For RTO The Canary Wharf skyline at night, including the Citi headquarters While big banks like [JPMorgan]() and [Barclays]() are ramping up their return-to-office ([RTO]()) mandates, Citigroup (Citi) is [staying firm on its hybrid work policy](). CEO Jane Fraser has made it clear: flexibility isn’t just a perk—it’s a competitive edge. > Flexibility is here to stay. Those who embrace it will thrive; those who resist it will struggle. > > > > > > Jane Fraser > > > > CEO of Citigroup > > > > > > > > Unlike its peers, Citi is leaning into hybrid work, allowing employees to work remotely two days a week while spending three in the office. But here’s where they’re playing it smart: instead of forcing people back with strict policies, they’re making the office somewhere people actually *want* to be. #### Making The Office A Destination, Not A Duty Rather than dragging employees back with a “butts in seats” approach, Citi is [investing £1 billion in a full-scale revamp of its Canary Wharf headquarters]() in London. And this isn’t just a fresh coat of paint—it’s a complete transformation. Here’s what’s coming: - **Multi-Level “Villages”** – No more endless rows of desks. Citi is redesigning the office to feel more like a community, with open staircases connecting floors to encourage interaction. - **Indoor Gardens** – A triple-height green space in the middle of the building will bring a bit of nature inside. Think less corporate, more creative. - **Sustainability Focus** – Instead of knocking the whole thing down and starting over, Citi is upgrading what’s already there to reduce its environmental footprint. It’s all about rethinking what the office *should* be—a place that supports collaboration and culture, not just somewhere to clock in and out. Rendering of renovated Citigroup building in Canary Wharf. Source: Canary Wharf Group #### Citi Knows Hybrid Is Working—So Why Force Change? Here’s the key difference: Citi doesn’t *need* to issue a strict RTO mandate because [hybrid work]() is already [delivering results](). If performance is strong, why risk disrupting something that works? Clearly, Citi has seen the data. Productivity isn’t suffering. Business outcomes are holding steady. Employees are engaged. Unlike other firms tightening control out of fear, Citi recognizes that flexibility hasn’t harmed performance—if anything, it’s helped. A recent study showed that [85% of leaders find it challenging to trust that employees are being productive in hybrid setups](). Yet, the data tells a different story: productivity has stayed stable—or even improved—since hybrid work became the norm. In fact, [61% of those surveyed reported improved productivity thanks to hybrid arrangements](). The reality is that the office alone doesn’t guarantee productivity; it’s about giving people autonomy and the right tools to succeed. A forced return-to-office policy introduces risks: disengagement, increased attrition, and unnecessary friction with employees who value flexibility. Citi isn’t taking that gamble. Instead, they’re doubling down on an approach that’s already proving effective, reinforcing trust in their workforce while creating an office environment that draws people in naturally. #### What The Data Says: Hybrid Work Is Evolving At Kadence, we track real-world hybrid work patterns, and here’s what the data tells us: - **Two days in the office is still the most common pattern** among hybrid workers. - But the **average attendance is creeping up**, fluctuating between two and three days per week. - If this trend continues, **three days could soon become the new standard**. So, why is this happening? Because companies and employees are figuring out what actually *works*. People still value [in-person collaboration]()—but not at the cost of flexibility. A structured three-day office week allows teams to [plan their in-office days]() better, fosters more meaningful collaboration, and makes those commutes feel more worthwhile. With Kadence Insights, you can collate [accurate data about how your employees are using the office]() which can help you make further informed decisions about how you optimize your [real estate](). [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() This aligns with Citi’s approach: [encourage office attendance]() by making the space better, not by enforcing rigid mandates. #### Why This Stands Out Citi’s approach is different from what we’re seeing elsewhere. Other banks are tightening their grip, rolling back flexibility, and doubling down on old-school office culture. In contrast, Citi is saying: we trust our employees, and we’ll make the office worth their time. This isn’t just good for morale—it’s good for business. Employees who feel valued and trusted are more engaged, more productive, and less likely to jump ship. And in a world where talent is everything, that’s a win Citi isn’t willing to sacrifice. Featured Content 5 Things Hybrid Teams Get Right Discover the 5 things hybrid teams get right in this checklist, learn how top-performing teams make hybrid work, work! [Download Guide]() #### The Bottom Line Hybrid work isn’t just about giving people a break from the commute—it’s about creating a work environment that works *for* them. Citi gets that. Instead of relying on mandates, they’re using smart design and flexible policies to get people back in naturally. And as more companies wrestle with what the future of work should look like, Citi might just be showing them the way forward. If you would like to know how Kadence can help you and your team make hybrid work, [book a demo]() today. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Deutsche Bank Hybrid Working And UBS Office Days (2025) | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/why-deutsche-bank-ubs-and-others-are-redrawing-the-hybrid-work-map/ Description: Deutsche Bank and UBS want City of London staff in on Mondays or Fridays; Panmure Liberum joined in June 2025. Why banks reshaped hybrid working, not ended it. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · June 16, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Deutsche Bank, UBS And The City Of London: How Banks Are Redrawing The Hybrid Work Week Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank’s hybrid working model shifted toward office time at both ends of the week. In June 2025, Panmure Liberum joined Deutsche Bank in [asking employees not to work from home on both Mondays and Fridays](). UBS asked for either or both of those days to be part of the office routine. The City of London pattern was shaped less by sweeping mandates than by shifts in the weekly rhythm: a recalibration of [hybrid work](), not a retreat. #### What changed in Deutsche Bank’s hybrid working model? Deutsche Bank asked employees not to [work from home]() on both Mondays and Fridays, and in June 2025 Panmure Liberum joined it. UBS asked for either or both days to be office days. The aim was to fill the quiet ends of the week, since post-pandemic attendance had settled on Tuesday through Thursday. Hybrid working stayed in place. Others went further. Peel Hunt and [Man Group]() set four-day and five-day requirements, respectively. “We’re trying to avoid completely empty office days,” one banker said. #### Why are banks targeting Mondays and Fridays? Banks want to smooth the weekly curve of office attendance. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays had become the peak days for collaboration, while Mondays and Fridays stayed largely quiet. That uneven rhythm affects everything from resource planning to morale, even when the goal is not a full office. Kadence chart of the most popular in-office days by region, with Tuesday and Wednesday highest and Monday and Friday lowest Kadence’s own booking data, published in its [Hybrid Pulse Check](), shows the same mid-week peak across regions. For a real estate team, quiet Mondays and Fridays mean space that sits largely empty for part of every week. [Occupancy data]() by weekday shows how large that gap is in a given office. #### Is this a return to five days in the office? No. For most firms it was a return to routine, not to the past. [UK employees still work from home an average of 1.8 days a week](), well above the global average, and 90% of companies in London still offer hybrid working. Cevat Giray Aksoy, lead economist at the EBRD, described remote work as having moved from an emergency response to a defining feature of the UK labor market. Rather than ending hybrid work, companies like Deutsche Bank appeared to be shaping it more deliberately. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What is the real tension in hybrid work? The real tension is between predictability and autonomy, not the number of days. Employers want smoother attendance patterns, and employees want flexibility. Both are valid, and both point to better coordination tools rather than stricter policies. **Office rhythm** means the weekly pattern of who comes in, and when. Some firms found creative ways forward. [Barclays moved 100 employees to a Shoreditch coworking space originally designed for fintechs](). Others, [such as HSBC]() and BlackRock, were grappling with space shortages caused by earlier downsizing. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Office design, team planning and culture-building are now closely linked. Tools that help teams [coordinate their office days]() address the rhythm problem without a blanket rule. #### What makes the office worth coming in for? Beneath the headlines, the real question is not how many days. Banks such as Deutsche Bank and UBS could be asking what makes it worth coming in. Attendance is not the goal. Engagement is. That shifts the focus from counting days to designing intentional moments of connection, rhythm and presence. [Firms such as Deloitte and KPMG are using flexible policies]() to attract and retain talent. Others are quietly tightening rules. But even among the most traditional institutions, the conversation has shifted. As Aksoy put it: “The question isn’t whether they can force people back. It’s whether they can afford the talent exodus that inevitably follows.” That may be the most important recalibration of all. Kadence’s guide to [return to office]() covers how to plan office days around that question. #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is Deutsche Bank’s hybrid working policy? Deutsche Bank asked employees not to work from home on both Mondays and Fridays, while keeping a hybrid model. In June 2025, Panmure Liberum joined it in making the same request. ##### What did UBS ask of its employees in 2025? As reported in June 2025, UBS asked for Monday, Friday or both to be part of employees’ office routine. ##### How many days do UK employees work from home? UK employees work from home an average of 1.8 days a week, well above the global average, according to research cited in June 2025. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Why IBM Is Struggling With Their Hybrid Policy - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/why-ibm-is-struggling-with-their-hybrid-policy/ Description: The IBM relocation policy reveals flaws in location-based strategy. Learn why coordination—not control—is key to sustainable hybrid work. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · April 23, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Why IBM Is Struggling With Their Hybrid Policy IBM has been a master of reinvention for over a century. But its latest shift — requiring U.S. sales employees to relocate near offices or clients — suggests it’s falling into the same trap as many legacy firms: mistaking location for coordination. [According to *The Register*](), IBM is asking its U.S. sales teams to confirm new work arrangements by early June. Those living more than 50 miles from an assigned office or client site are expected to move. While the policy is framed as a way to enhance client intimacy and teamwork, the reality feels more like a quiet restructuring — one with limited support and plenty of ambiguity. Let’s call it what it is: control, not coordination. #### A Different Kind Of Hybrid Breakdown IBM says it wants its salespeople closer to customers, emphasizing physical proximity as a performance lever. But this line of thinking ignores two key realities of hybrid work: 1. **Proximity does not equal performance.** 2. **Relocation does not equal engagement.** The issue isn’t hybrid itself — it’s the rigidity of how it’s being applied. The memo from IBM’s GM for the Americas, Adam Lawrence, celebrates office presence and alludes to career progression tied to co-location. He pointed to IBM’s [flagship Manhattan office]() as a model for [in-person collaboration]() — calling it “remarkable” to see teams working there together. But for many employees, especially those with families, established routines, or roles that haven’t required regular travel, this isn’t an invitation. It’s a threat. IBM’s Manhattan Flagship Office. Source: [IBM]() And let’s not forget who gets hit hardest by these mandates: experienced workers, caregivers, employees with disabilities, and those outside high-cost tech hubs. What IBM is calling a strategy is, for many, a deadline to uproot or leave. #### What The Research Actually Shows Unlike [the Google case](), which revealed the cost of [visibility bias](), IBM’s move reveals the limits of geographic logic. The assumption is that being physically near customers drives better business outcomes. But that’s an oversimplification. [Workplace data from Unispace]() reveals a growing cost for companies that force employees back to fixed locations. Almost half (42%) of firms that mandated a return to the office have experienced higher-than-normal employee attrition, and 29% are now struggling to recruit new talent. The assumption that location guarantees performance is being disproven by the numbers. Meanwhile, [new FlexJobs research from 2025]() shows that flexible work is no longer a perk — it’s a career driver. According to their annual career change survey, 67% of workers who want to change careers cite a lack of remote work options as a key factor. Additionally, 61% of respondents say that access to flexible work would strengthen their loyalty to the company. These findings suggest that rigid, location-based policies like IBM’s risk alienating a large segment of the workforce that now considers flexibility a baseline expectation, not a bonus. The message from the data is clear: smart hybrid isn’t about where you sit. It’s about how and why you work — and whether your environment supports it in a sustainable way. #### So What Should IBM Do Instead? Here’s the thing: IBM’s instincts aren’t entirely wrong. Being close to customers can help sales teams build trust and close deals. But that benefit doesn’t require uprooting your people — it requires rethinking how teams operate, based on the nuances of client needs, employee preferences, and real-time performance data. Instead of issuing blanket mandates, IBM could: - Introduce [dynamic teaming models]() that prioritize in-person engagement around key sales milestones, onboarding phases, or customer lifecycle events, not arbitrary location rules. - Develop a network of local [collaboration zones]() — easily accessible, [bookable spaces]() in key client markets — which provide the benefits of co-location without the costs of full relocation. - Equip frontline managers with outcome-oriented tools, enabling them to focus on deal velocity, customer retention, and employee productivity rather than physical presence. - Leverage data-driven decision-making tools like [Kadence Insights Plus](), which allow organizations to track how and where work is happening. These customized dashboards provide granular visibility into [workspace utilization](), team behaviors, and employee patterns — surfacing where [hybrid coordination]() succeeds and where changes are needed. With this insight, companies can identify which activities truly benefit from in-person engagement, and avoid forcing unnecessary office time that drains morale or productivity. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Rather than pulling people into rigid structures, IBM should build adaptive systems that bring the right people together at the right times, for the right reasons. That includes reimagining client engagement itself. Why not bring clients into hybrid experiences? Host co-working sessions, innovation sprints, or quarterly business reviews in flexible formats that combine physical presence with digital agility. Let strategy drive location — not the reverse. And let data, not nostalgia, shape the future of client engagement. Featured Content 7 Steps To Hybrid Success Streamline your team’s success—download our free checklist today! [Download]() #### Final Thoughts IBM’s “return to client” policy may sound like a move toward agility and customer-centricity, but the way it’s being implemented tells a more outdated story. Co-location is being confused with coordination, and physical presence is being mistaken for performance. That’s not hybrid work. That’s just relocation with extra steps. The future of work is not about proximity for proximity’s sake. It’s about designing systems where people can do their best work — individually and together — without unnecessary disruption or outdated mandates. That’s what [coordinated hybrid]() unlocks. At Kadence, we’ve seen firsthand how this works in practice. Our platform supports companies in designing intentional hybrid experiences that balance flexibility with focus. Features like [smart desk]() and [room booking]() ensure that space is used efficiently, with [teams able to coordinate in-person time]() easily and intentionally. And with [integrated notifications and check-in prompts](), leaders gain visibility into patterns and preferences without resorting to surveillance or micromanagement. These tools don’t just support hybrid—they operationalize it, ensuring flexibility doesn’t come at the cost of clarity or coordination. The result? Leaders make better [space decisions](). Teams coordinate more effectively. And employees feel empowered, not micromanaged. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Want to design a hybrid strategy that actually works? [Book a demo]() with Kadence to explore how coordinated flexibility, data-informed planning, and tools like Insights Plus can transform your workplace into a strategic asset. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Hybrid Experts Team Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Why Is Freddie Mac Forcing A Full-Time RTO? - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/why-is-freddie-mac-forcing-a-full-time-rto/ Description: Freddie Mac is enforcing a full-time return to office amid leadership changes. Learn what this means for their organizational strategy. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · March 25, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Why Is Freddie Mac Forcing A Full-Time RTO? Freddie Mac Hybrid Work [Freddie Mac is bringing everyone back to the office.]() Full-time. No flexibility. That’s the latest directive from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), announced just days after a [major leadership shake-up]() that saw Director Sandra Thompson removed and Clinton Jones appointed in her place. This new mandate affects thousands of employees who had been thriving under a hybrid model. It’s a bold move—and one that says more about control and optics than performance or productivity. #### Zooming Out: A Bigger Shift At Freddie Mac The timing of this [RTO]() decision isn’t incidental. It’s happening alongside broader changes at Freddie Mac and its sibling agency, Fannie Mae. Leadership transitions, staff cuts, and discussions about the future of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs)—including renewed debate [over potential privatization]()—are creating a climate of uncertainty. Freddie Mac Headquarters, Virginia. Source: Freddie Mac In this context, the decision to mandate a full-time return to the office reads as a strategic reset. It’s less about reversing [hybrid work]() because it wasn’t working, and more about reasserting centralized oversight as the agencies navigate what could be a significant transformation. Put simply: it’s easier to project discipline and structure with a workforce that’s visible, contained, and predictable. That’s often the first move in any organizational reshaping. #### But Hybrid Was Working Let’s not forget: Freddie Mac’s hybrid model was delivering. [Employees had flexibility.]() Teams collaborated well. And like many organizations post-pandemic, the company saw that work wasn’t bound to a single location. So why undo it? Because hybrid work signals autonomy. And in times of restructuring—especially when leadership is trying to steady the ship or prepare it for change—autonomy is often seen as a liability, not an asset. This isn’t unique to Freddie Mac. We’ve seen similar moves in companies, like [Amazon]() and [Starbucks](), undergoing leadership transitions or preparing for external scrutiny. But that doesn’t mean it’s the right move. #### The Human Cost Of A Full-Time Mandate Forced returns to the office rarely land well with employees—especially after years of proving that flexibility works. When mandates come without a clear business case, trust erodes. Morale dips. And companies risk losing top talent. Look most recently at [JPMorgan](). It would be no surprise if Freddie Mac employees are unsettled. And it’s no wonder. It’s a jarring shift from a modern, trust-based workplace to something far more traditional, without the data or employee feedback to back it up. In a job market that still values flexibility, that could be costly. #### What This Signals To Other Employers For any business leader watching this unfold, the lesson is clear: decisions about where people work should be tied to outcomes, not just optics. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() When RTO becomes a lever for top-down control, companies risk alienating the very people who drive performance. The workplace is no longer a location—it’s an ecosystem of collaboration, autonomy, and trust. Undermining that for the sake of consistency or image is a short-term play that rarely pays off long-term. A now-viral video circulating shows Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte walking through an eerily empty Fannie Mae office, complete with a fully staffed cafeteria… and only 49 employees to serve. It’s the kind of footage that sparks debate: if the office is open and operational, but workers aren’t showing up, what message does that send? > [Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte: "There was about 2,900 people that were supposed to work in the building. Turns out, only 49 were showing up full-time."]() > by[u/Aftermebuddy]() in[XGramatikInsights]() Context matters, of course. Fannie Mae had been running a hybrid model, so it’s entirely possible the video was filmed on a low-attendance day. But that’s the point—hybrid work creates natural ebbs and flows. Mandating a [rigid, five-day presence]() doesn’t magically fill the building; it just creates friction. Kadence can help you [understand how your office is being utilized](), so you can [reduce your real estate costs](), rather than mandating office work. Insights allows Office Managers see how space is being used. The video is a snapshot of a deeper tension: between the image of traditional office life and the modern reality of how work gets done. #### What Forward-Thinking Companies Are Doing Instead The most progressive [companies we work with]() at Kadence are doubling down on flexible, hybrid work. Not because it’s trendy—but because it’s working. They’re using data to understand how teams operate best. They’re building [dynamic schedules]() that let people connect meaningfully in person—without the burnout of daily commutes. And they’re attracting top talent by offering what people actually want: [autonomy, purpose, and balance](). [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() These companies aren’t fighting the future of work. They’re designing for it. Freddie Mac’s return-to-office mandate isn’t just about work—it’s about control in a time of change. Whether it’s to prepare for potential privatization, reset internal culture, or align with new leadership expectations, it marks a turning point. But it also raises an important question for every organization: are your workplace policies driving performance—or just projecting control? The answer will define whether your company thrives in the years ahead, or falls behind in the competition for talent and innovation. Because at the end of the day, it’s not about being in the office five days a week—it’s about building a workplace that works. If you are considering RTO as a last resort, we’d love to connect and help you put together a winning [hybrid strategy]() for 2025 and beyond. [Get in touch today.]() --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Why More Companies Are Moving To A Three-Day Office Week - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/why-more-companies-are-moving-to-a-three-day-office-week/ Description: Three days in the office is becoming the sweet spot for companies across the globe. Find out why this is the new trend in hybrid work. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · January 31, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Why More Companies Are Moving To A Three-Day Office Week A calendar with three days of the week marked with red crosses The workplace is shifting—again. A few years ago, many leaders thought [hybrid work]() was just a pit stop before a full return to the office ([RTO]()). But here we are, and it’s become increasingly clear: three days in the office is becoming the sweet spot for companies across the globe. Instead of forcing rigid five-day schedules, businesses are leaning into a structured three-day office week. And it’s not just about meeting in the middle—it’s about making hybrid work actually work. It’s a balance between [in-person collaboration](), employee wellbeing, and making sure those expensive office spaces are used efficiently. #### Barclays Shift Toward Three Days In The Office In the UK, big players are setting the standard. Barclays, for example, has [just this week asked its UK staff to be in three days a week](). The company sent a memo to many of its 85,000 employees outlining the shift, requiring them to increase their [in-office days]() from two to three. While Barclays has framed the change as a move to strengthen workplace culture and innovation, some employees have voiced concerns about losing the autonomy they had during more [flexible hybrid]() arrangements. Nonetheless, it signals a growing trend in banking and beyond, as companies seek to balance flexibility with the benefits of regular in-person interactions. Companies are [even redesigning their offices]() to better support a three-day model. It’s no longer about just having desks available—it’s about making sure the office is a place people actually want to come to, where collaboration happens naturally, and where those in-person days feel valuable. Featured Content 5 Things Hybrid Teams Get Right Discover the 5 things hybrid teams get right in this checklist, learn how top-performing teams make hybrid work, work! [Download]() #### The Same Pattern Emerges In North America Across the Atlantic, it’s the same story. General Mills, a giant in the retail and food industry, has [adopted a three-day model to strengthen teamwork and company culture]()—without being too rigid. Many other North American businesses, like [Apple]() and [Google](), are coming to the same conclusion: three days hits the sweet spot. It keeps employees engaged without draining them with unnecessary commutes. It supports talent retention. And, let’s be honest, it makes better use of office space rather than leaving it half-empty all week. In stark contrast, companies like [Amazon](), [JP Morgan](), and even the [U.S. federal government]() have taken a more rigid approach, enforcing strict return-to-office mandates. These policies have sparked backlash from employees who value flexibility and have shown that top-down directives don’t necessarily lead to higher productivity or engagement. The reality is that forcing people back five days a week ignores the success of hybrid models and the preferences of today’s workforce. #### What The Data Says: Two Days Is Still King, But Three Is Catching Up At Kadence, we [track real-world hybrid work patterns](), and here’s what the data tells us: - Two days in the office is still the most common pattern among hybrid workers. - But the average attendance is creeping up—fluctuating between two and three days per week. - If this trend continues, three days could soon become the new standard. So, why is this happening? Because companies and employees are figuring out what actually works. People still value in-person collaboration—but not at the cost of flexibility. A structured three-day week allows teams to [plan their in-office days]() better, fosters more meaningful collaboration, and makes those commutes feel more worthwhile. #### Why Three Days Makes Sense (And Five Doesn't) This isn’t about compromise—it’s about optimisation. The companies nailing hybrid work know that: - **Productivity thrives on flexibility:** People do their deep work best at home, but real creativity and problem-solving happen in person. Three days strikes that balance. - **Office space needs to be used wisely:** Businesses are rethinking their [real estate strategies](), making sure offices don’t sit half-empty all week. - **Top talent expects flexibility:** In both the UK and North America, companies that offer hybrid options attract and keep the best people. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What’s Next? Future-Proofing Hybrid Work Hybrid work isn’t going anywhere. Companies that ignore flexibility risk losing talent, wasting resources, and falling behind. The data suggests we’re heading toward a three-day standard, and businesses that embrace it now will have the edge. That’s where Kadence comes in. We help businesses make hybrid work seamless—from [desk]() and [meeting room bookings]() to [occupancy analytics]()—so teams can work smarter, not harder. [Get in touch]() to find out how we can help you and your team. Three days in the office isn’t a compromise. It’s the future. And the smartest companies are already making it work. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Why Nvidia Is Sticking With Hybrid Work - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/why-nvidia-is-sticking-with-hybrid-work/ Description: Discover why Nvidia rejects the return-to-office trend, embracing hybrid work while rivals enforce mandates. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · March 14, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Why Nvidia Is Sticking With Hybrid Work Nvidia is sticking with hybrid work It feels like every day brings a new headline about a company pushing for return-to-office ([RTO]()) mandates, making the debate one of the most divisive workplace topics in recent years. While companies like [Amazon]() and JPMorgan Chase have doubled down on their mandates, [Nvidia has taken a decidedly different approach]()—one that prioritizes flexibility, trust, and employee autonomy. In a world where many CEOs are pushing for full-time office returns, Nvidia is choosing to swim against the tide. The company, which has become one of the hottest names in tech thanks to its dominance in AI and semiconductors, has made it clear: hybrid and [remote work]() are here to stay. Inside Nvidia’s Voyager Headquarters. Source: Marlena Sloss—Bloomberg/Getty Images #### Nvidia’s Flexible Approach: A Competitive Advantage? Amid the boom in artificial intelligence, Nvidia’s high-powered chips are in high demand from industry giants like Amazon and Google. Yet, while those companies and many others have enforced return-to-office policies, Nvidia—valued at over $1 trillion and employing around 26,000 people worldwide—has taken a different route. In May 2020, CEO Jensen Huang made his stance clear, stating he had “no trouble with” employees working remotely indefinitely. “There’s no question we’re going to do this,” he told *VentureBeat* at the time. Fast forward to today, and the California-based company has stood by that position. Employees have complete autonomy over where they work—whether from home, a café, or one of Nvidia’s state-of-the-art office spaces. Nvidia’s Voyager Headquarters. Photo: Jason O’Rear Nvidia sees this flexible approach [as a way to empower employees](), enabling them to balance personal and professional responsibilities. The firm views its flexible work arrangement “as a way for employees to balance their personal and work obligations, while preparing for the future, so they can focus on doing their life’s work.” Beau Davidson Vice President of Employee Experience, Nvidia This philosophy isn’t just about keeping employees happy; it’s a strategic move. By offering flexibility, Nvidia can attract and retain top-tier talent in an industry where skilled professionals are in high demand. It also fosters innovation by giving employees the freedom to work in environments that enhance creativity and deep focus. #### A Stark Contrast: Amazon And JPMorgan’s RTO Mandates Nvidia’s stance is a sharp contrast to what we’ve seen from Amazon and JPMorgan Chase. These corporate giants have taken a more rigid stance, implementing strict office mandates that have sparked internal resistance. At JPMorgan, [employees have actively pushed back against the company’s in-office requirements](), even launching a petition against the mandate. The push for RTO has been met with frustration, as many workers feel the policy prioritizes control over productivity. Employees argue that they’ve proven remote work can be effective and question why the company is taking a step backward. Amazon, on the other hand, has faced similar struggles. Its attempt to [enforce a structured hybrid model]()—requiring three days a week in the office—has led to discontent among employees. Many workers view the policy as arbitrary and counterproductive, especially in a company that thrived during the pandemic with distributed teams. Reports suggest that morale has taken a hit, with employees feeling that their voices aren’t being heard. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Future Of Work: A Lesson From Nvidia? So, what can we learn from Nvidia’s approach? The company’s decision to embrace [hybrid work]() isn’t just about flexibility—it’s about recognizing the changing dynamics of modern work. Employees today value autonomy, and organizations that acknowledge this stand to benefit from increased engagement, retention, and innovation. Research backs this up. A [recent study from Stanford’s Institute for Economic Policy Research]() found that U.S. executives overwhelmingly expect remote work to remain a permanent fixture in the workplace. The study highlights how companies that integrate hybrid models successfully see productivity gains, increased job satisfaction, and reduced attrition. Nvidia’s approach aligns with this trend, proving that hybrid work isn’t just a short-term experiment but a viable long-term strategy. Source: [Stanford’s Institute for Economic Policy Research]() [Only 12% of executives]() surveyed who currently support hybrid or remote work plan to enforce an RTO mandate in the coming year. However, even if these mandates take effect, their impact on overall remote work trends will be minimal. Projections suggest that RTO policies will only reduce the share of work-from-home (WFH) days by 0.4 percentage points—dropping from 21.2% to 20.8% of all paid workdays. And even this slight shift is uncertain, as many firms are encountering significant pushback and logistical challenges in enforcing [in-office attendance](). Meanwhile, companies that force RTO without clear justification risk alienating their workforce. The resistance seen at Amazon and JPMorgan is a clear sign that employees are unwilling to accept mandates that don’t align with their proven ability to work effectively from anywhere. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() The workplace is evolving, and rigid RTO policies feel increasingly out of step with what employees want. Nvidia’s decision to stick with hybrid work is a testament to the power of trust and adaptability. The question is: will other companies follow suit, or will they continue to battle against a shift that’s already well underway? #### How Kadence Supports Hybrid Teams At Kadence, we believe that hybrid work isn’t just a policy—it’s a strategy that requires the [right tools]() to succeed. [Our platform]() helps companies navigate the complexities of flexible work by making it easy to [manage schedules](), coordinate [in-office collaboration](), and create [seamless workplace experiences](). Companies like Nvidia are showing that hybrid work isn’t just viable—it’s a competitive advantage. If your organization wants to build a [hybrid strategy]() that works, Kadence can help make it happen. [Book a demo]() with us today. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Why Recharge Days Miss The Point Of Modern Work - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/why-recharge-days-miss-the-point-of-modern-work/ Description: Recharge days are a quick fix. Hybrid work already gives employees the autonomy they need to manage their time and wellbeing. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · April 2, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Why Recharge Days Miss The Point Of Modern Work Recharge Days Another week, another trend in employee wellness. This time it’s “[recharge days]()”—company-wide time off designed to combat burnout by shutting the laptop lid for everyone at once. On the surface, it sounds thoughtful. Generous, even. But let’s call it what it really is: a backwards step. This week’s [*Fortune* article]() on the “100 Best Companies to Work For” highlights recharge days as a rising benefit—one that’s “taking off” as employers double down on wellness. Companies like IHG, which now offers three recharge days annually, ServiceNow, which provides six additional well-being days, and HP, which grants employees one ‘me day’ each year, are leading the charge. These are well-intentioned efforts, but if we’ve learned anything from the last few years, it’s this: [wellbeing at work shouldn’t be scheduled](). It should be flexible. And it should be individual. That’s exactly what [hybrid work]() was built for. #### Recharge Days Are A Symptom Of Rigid Work Design The idea behind recharge days is noble: give people a break, prevent burnout, and show employees they’re valued. But it misses the point entirely. The real issue isn’t a lack of time off—it’s a lack of autonomy. If your employees need [a company-wide “recharge day” to feel rested](), it’s probably because they’re not being trusted to manage their energy day to day. They’re trapped in rigid systems, outdated expectations, and meeting-heavy calendars that don’t leave space for rest or deep focus. So rather than fixing the system, we’re bolting on another day off. It’s like giving someone a single glass of water after making them run a marathon in the desert. What they need is consistent hydration—not a one-off refresh. #### Hybrid Work Is The Real Wellness Benefit What if we stopped trying to schedule wellbeing and started designing for it? [Hybrid work, when done right](), allows people to manage their own time. It gives them the freedom to work where and when they’re most productive. It empowers them to take breaks, go for a walk, attend school pick-ups, or start later on days they need it—without waiting for permission or a sanctioned “wellness day.” [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() [That kind of trust is more powerful than any corporate perk.]() And the data backs it up: according to a [report from Future Forum](), employees with schedule flexibility report 29% higher productivity and 53% greater ability to focus. Stanford University ran [a six-month trial with Trip.com]()—tracking over 1,600 employees—and found that [hybrid work]() didn’t dent productivity or slow down anyone’s career progression. It’s just more proof that flexibility works without compromising results. [People want autonomy.]() They want to be treated like adults. Hybrid makes that possible every day—not just once a quarter when the company calendar allows. Featured Content 7 Steps To Hybrid Success Streamline your team’s success—download our free checklist today! [Download]() #### Compressed Workweeks Don’t Compress Burnout Another rising trend in the wellness conversation? [Four-day weeks](). Shorter Fridays. [Compressed schedules](). Again, we’re solving the wrong problem. If you give people flexibility, they’ll naturally manage their time around their life and workload. You don’t need to force everyone into a cookie-cutter schedule to prove you care. In fact, rigidly applied shorter weeks can backfire—squeezing the same amount of work into fewer days, increasing stress, and killing productivity. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() The irony? There’s often more productivity loss in a “mandatory recharge day” than in a [well-managed hybrid setup](). One-size-fits-all solutions rarely fit anyone particularly well. #### Are We Really Moving Forward? We’ve spent the last few years learning how work can actually work better. We’ve [tested, iterated, and proven]() that people don’t need to be in the same room—or on the same schedule—to collaborate, deliver results, or thrive. So why are we regressing? Recharge days and [compressed workweeks]() are often old-world solutions dressed in new-world language. They treat symptoms, not causes. They paper over systemic problems with superficial benefits. Instead of innovating, we’re retreating. We should be doubling down on what we’ve learned: that flexibility isn’t a perk—it’s a principle. It’s the foundation of a healthier, more human, more productive way to work. #### Empower People, Don’t Schedule Their Wellbeing At Kadence, we believe hybrid is the way forward—not because it’s trendy, but [because it works](). It gives teams what they actually need: autonomy, balance, and trust. It respects people’s time, their lives, and their capacity to manage both. Now, the one real benefit of recharge days is that when everyone’s off, there’s no pressure to check emails or stay plugged in—because the whole team’s offline. But here’s the catch: that doesn’t work so well for customer-facing teams like sales and support, who need to stay responsive. That’s why at Kadence, we’ve taken a more thoughtful approach. Instead of company-wide recharge days, we give our team additional time off around major holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving—when big swathes of the world are already offline. It means people can truly disconnect without missing a beat at work the next day. So before you roll out your next “recharge day,” ask yourself: do your people really need another top-down solution? Or do they just need the freedom to manage their time like adults? The companies that will win the next decade won’t be the ones giving people more time off. They’ll be the ones giving people more control. Kadence gives your people the power to choose how, when, and where they work. From [coordinating hybrid schedules]() to [making office space actually work for teams](), we’re here to help you make flexibility real. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Ready to swap recharge days for something that actually works? [Book a demo with Kadence]() and start building the workplace your people deserve. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Sonos Return To Office Mandate: Remote To Hybrid | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/why-sonos-just-shifted-from-remote-to-hybrid-work-for-2025/ Description: In December 2024, Sonos set a return to office mandate for product teams: two or more days a week on-site. Why it shifted, and the questions it raised. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · December 12, 2024 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Why Sonos Shifted From Remote To Hybrid Work For 2025: Its December 2024 Return-To-Office Mandate Discover Sonos' return to office mandate. [Return to office]() mandates reached Sonos in December 2024. The company [announced a return-to-office policy]() for its product teams, requiring them to be on-site two or more days per week. For a company long seen as a pioneer of flexible work, it was a notable shift from remote to hybrid. For years, [Sonos]() worked by the mantra “impact, not location,” which resonated with employees and job seekers alike. But challenges during 2024, including a crisis around its app and broader industry struggles, pushed the audio company to rethink its approach. #### What is Sonos’ return-to-office policy? In December 2024, Sonos told its product teams to work on-site two or more days per week. The policy mainly affects employees near its US offices in Santa Barbara, Boston, Seattle and San Francisco, and leaves the rest of the workforce largely unaffected. Sonos said flexibility remains a core value while it studies [in-person collaboration](). A **return-to-office mandate** is a company rule that requires employees to work from the office on a minimum number of days. At Sonos, the rule applies to one group, product teams, rather than to the whole company. Spokesperson Olivia Singer said: “Flexibility is not going away… we are evaluating the impact that in-person collaboration has on the effectiveness of our teams and our culture.” #### Why did Sonos change its approach to hybrid work? Sonos changed course after a difficult 2024. A crisis around its app and broader industry struggles put pressure on the business. Product teams often benefit from hands-on testing and face-to-face problem-solving, which makes them a natural focus for more in-person time. The policy reflects a wider debate in tech about flexibility and in-person collaboration. The Sonos mobile app open on a smartphone The timing matters. Employee morale reportedly stayed low after the [app controversy](), layoffs earlier in 2024 and tighter budgets. In that environment, even a limited mandate can deepen existing concerns. #### Do return to office mandates solve the underlying problem? Return to office mandates rarely fix the problems behind them on their own. The question for Sonos was whether requiring office days would address the challenges it faced, or alienate employees at a time when morale was already low. Research on [hybrid work]() suggests rigid requirements often come with unintended consequences. Sonos was far from alone in December 2024. Amazon had led the charge by [mandating five-day office weeks](), and Dell had faced backlash for similar policies. Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom, an expert on [remote work](), has found that [hybrid work models]() consistently outperform fully in-office setups, with employees reporting higher productivity, engagement and job satisfaction. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What does office space cost when attendance changes? Office space is a cost that attendance decisions directly affect. Hybrid work is not only about employee wellbeing; it is also a financial strategy. By using office space well and cutting unnecessary real estate costs, organizations can reinvest the savings in product innovation, customer experience and employee development. For companies in Sonos’ position, the practical question is how much space the new policy actually needs. [Space management]() and [workplace analytics]() show how offices are used on each day, so real estate decisions follow real attendance rather than the policy on paper. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What is the path forward for Sonos and hybrid work? Sonos’ decision shows the tension between collaboration and flexibility. The policy aims to meet operational needs, but it matters that the company keeps its commitment to flexibility, the value that defined its culture and reputation. Transparency and employee input will decide whether the change works. Hybrid work is about more than balancing remote and office days. It is about systems that put results first, empower teams and [support the changing needs of the workforce](). For Sonos, the challenge is not only getting people back to the office. It is making sure the change creates real value for the business and its people. The true test of the policy will not be how many employees badge in. It will be how well the company balances collaboration with the flexibility its workforce has come to expect. Kadence’s guide to [hybrid work strategy]() covers how to strike that balance. #### Frequently asked questions ##### When did Sonos announce its return-to-office policy? Sonos announced the policy in December 2024. It requires product teams to be on-site two or more days per week. ##### Which Sonos employees does the policy affect? It mainly affects product team employees near Sonos’ US offices in Santa Barbara, Boston, Seattle and San Francisco. The rest of the workforce is largely unaffected. ##### Is Sonos ending flexible work? Sonos said no. Spokesperson Olivia Singer said flexibility is not going away and that the company is evaluating how in-person collaboration affects its teams and culture. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Why Spring Might Be The Season Hybrid Work Proves Itself - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/why-spring-might-be-the-season-hybrid-work-proves-itself/ Description: As spring draws people outdoors, companies that don’t support hybrid work risk losing transparency and trust. [News]() · [Human Flourishing]() · March 26, 2025 · [Helen Attia]() ### Why Spring Might Be The Season Hybrid Work Proves Itself A woman sits in the park in Spring on her laptop In San Francisco this week, the sun came out — and so did the laptops. Powerpoint presentations in parks. Zoom calls on the beach. Slack pings sent under picnic umbrellas. [According to The San Francisco Standard](), it wasn’t just a nice day; it was a quiet act of rebellion. And here’s the thing: companies trying to force everyone into a full-time return-to-office strategy might still find their people “out of office” — just not where they expect. As spring arrives and the days grow longer, it’s clear that people aren’t craving corporate cubicles 5-days a week. They’re craving genuine human connection. Community. Vitamin D. And the flexibility that comes with hybrid work. Rear view of university student using laptop at park The problem? Most companies have confused proximity with presence. But being physically present in an office doesn’t guarantee engagement, wellbeing, or collaboration. If anything, rigid [RTO mandates]() can actually push people to disengage or, worse, pretend to comply. Which raises a tough question for leaders: *Do you want your people to lie to you about where they are?* Because the truth is, remote workers will leave the house — just on their own terms. And if your company doesn’t offer a [hybrid model]() that acknowledges that reality, you’re not preventing absenteeism. You’re just eroding trust. #### Hybrid Isn’t A Compromise. It’s A Strategy For Trust. Let’s step back. The reason so many leaders pushed for return-to-office policies in the first place was grounded in something real: people *are* lonely. We’re more disconnected than ever. A [study by Cigna]() found that 58% of U.S. adults report feeling lonely — and that was *before* the latest wave of RTO mandates. But trying to fix loneliness with a commute misses the point. People don’t need an office. They need *belonging*. And forcing them into a rigid 9-to-5 doesn’t necessarily foster that. In fact, it can have the opposite effect — creating resentment, mistrust, and “coffee badge” culture where people show up just to be seen, not to connect. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Hybrid work, when done right, does something different. It balances autonomy with alignment. It offers structure without rigidity. And most importantly, it’s built on *mutual trust* — not surveillance. That’s the real unlock. Because when people feel trusted, they’re more likely to show up authentically — not just physically. And when they have the flexibility to choose when and where they work best, they’re more likely to use in-person time for what it’s meant for: *meaningful connection*. #### The Sun’s Out. Your People Are Too. Is Your Culture Ready? Here’s what’s happening in real time: workers are reclaiming their autonomy. The weather gets better, and people go outside — because they *can*. That’s not a problem. It’s a sign that your team is human. But if your company treats flexibility as a perk instead of a pillar, don’t be surprised when your people start working from a coffee shop or a park — and just don’t tell you. That’s where hybrid models have the edge over fully remote ones. [Hybrid creates a shared rhythm.]() It encourages intentional in-person collaboration *without* mandating it five days a week. And it enables leaders to see patterns, plan effectively, and design spaces that support both focus and connection. At Kadence, we see this every day. The companies that thrive in hybrid aren’t the ones tracking badge swipes. They’re the ones fostering a culture where showing up — physically or virtually — feels *worth it*. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Takeaway: Design For Real Life, Not A Return To 2019 As spring rolls in, people are naturally drawn to connection. They want to spend time with their teammates, but also with their families, their friends, and yes — the sunshine. Trying to fight that isn’t leadership. It’s control. The companies that will win in this new era of work are the ones that accept a simple truth: *life is hybrid*. People live fluidly, moving between spaces and roles throughout the day. Work should reflect that — not resist it. So if you’re still clinging to rigid office mandates in the hopes of solving disconnection, ask yourself: Are you designing for how people actually work? Or for how you wish they did? [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Because your people aren’t just working from home anymore. They’re working from anywhere. The question is: *Are you okay with that?* Or better yet: *Are you ready to build a culture that thrives on it?* #### Hybrid Work Isn’t About Location — It’s About Coordination. At Kadence, we [help teams plan their time together with purpose](). Whether it’s setting anchor days, booking space, or simply knowing who’ll be in when, our platform gives hybrid teams the visibility and rhythm they need to make every day work better — in and out of the office. Featured Content 7 Steps To Hybrid Success Streamline your team’s success—download our free checklist today! [Download]() Want to see how it could work for your team? [Book a demo]() with one of our hybrid experts and get a personalized walkthrough of Kadence in action. --- Helen Attia Helen Attia Helen heads up Kadence’s People and Partnerships teams. She looks after Kadence’s employees, as well as our customers and partners. She cares deeply about how distributed work can drive better business outcomes and a happier, healthier workforce. Based in Amsterdam, she enjoys exploring the city and the other parts of Europe on her doorstep with her young family. [Read More from Helen Attia]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [The End Of Assigned Desks Is Not The End Of Belonging]() Paul Allsopp’s article on the desk-sharing economy reads beautifully. It captures something real about the emotional experience of modern office life: the fear that as assigned desks disappear, employees are becoming “corporate nomads,” moving through the workplace like temporary visitors rather than people with a place to belong. But workplace culture has not become nomadic because \[…\] - [Executive Loneliness Is The Hybrid Problem No One Talks About]() Hybrid work has solved a lot of problems. Commutes are down, productivity is up, and flexibility has become a cornerstone of how modern teams operate. But for some leaders, something else has crept in—something that doesn’t show up in dashboards or engagement surveys. It’s executive loneliness. According to the Forbes Coaches Council, more and more \[…\] - [Kadence Connect: Energy, Experimentation, And Empathy With Perry Timms]() At Kadence, we’ve always believed in the power of flexibility, data, and community to reshape how we work. But this latest Kadence Connect session with Perry Timms reminded me just how urgent and human this transformation really is. Perry doesn’t just work in organizational design. He challenges us to reimagine it. What if workplaces weren’t \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Why University Utilization Figures Mislead - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/why-university-utilization-figures-mislead/ Description: Find out why university space utilization figures mislead, and what estates teams should measure instead to make decisions that hold up. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · September 22, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Why University Utilization Figures Mislead University Utilization Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in completely different ways, measured by systems built for different purposes, at a point in the year that changes everything. This is not a data quality problem in the ordinary sense. It is a consequence of how universities are structured, and it is why estates teams so often find that a number they trust internally falls apart the moment a faculty disputes it. #### Four Things That Make A University Estate Different ##### **Space Is Held By Departments, Not Centrally** In most organizations the property function controls the estate. In a university, faculties and departments hold space, defend it, and treat it as an asset attached to their standing. An estates team has influence, a space charging model if it is lucky, and very little direct authority. That changes what data is for. It is there to make an argument a head of department will accept, rather than to support a decision estates can take on its own. ##### **Academic Space Is Already Governed By A Separate System** Timetabling software owns teaching space and has done for years. That system knows what was scheduled, which is genuinely useful, but scheduled is not the same as attended. A 200-seat lecture theater booked for a module with 60 enrolled students and 35 typically present is fully utilized in the timetable and two thirds empty in reality. Most universities have no continuous record of the difference, and that gap is where most of the recoverable space sits. ##### **Term Dates Dominate Everything** A figure from week four of term and a figure from week two of the vacation describe the same buildings and have almost nothing in common. Add exam periods, reading weeks, graduation and clearing, and annual variation swamps the differences between buildings that a space plan is trying to identify. Any utilization figure without a date attached to it is close to meaningless, and a figure averaged across the whole year is worse, because it hides both the peak the estate has to be sized for and the troughs where capacity is genuinely idle. ##### **The Estate Is Not One Estate** Teaching space, research space and professional services space have different economics, different users and different measurement requirements. A wet lab that appears lightly occupied may be running experiments that make the space unavailable regardless of headcount, while a professional services floor that appears lightly occupied is a different matter entirely. Averaging across the three produces a number that describes nothing in particular. #### What To Measure Instead The practical answer is to stop asking what the utilization figure is and start asking three narrower questions: how often is this space occupied, by whom, and on which days. That requires continuous presence data rather than periodic survey data, measured at a level granular enough to separate teams and buildings, and held long enough to cover a full academic cycle so that any comparison is like for like. It also requires separating what was booked from what was attended, because the difference between the two is the finding rather than an error to be cleaned up. Done properly, this produces something more useful than a portfolio-level number. It gives an estates team a picture of where demand genuinely concentrates, which is the basis for both consolidation arguments and growth arguments, and it is the point at which [workplace occupancy data]() starts supporting capital decisions rather than describing them after the fact. #### What This Looks Like In Practice [The University of Exeter]() now runs continuous occupancy data across 14 buildings on its Exeter and Cornwall sites, covering more than 400 staff. The figures that came out of it are worth looking at less for their size than for what kind of figures they are. Collaborative team days rose from 418 to 1,900 per month, and average meeting room use nearly doubled from 20% to 38% per day. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Neither of those is a space reduction. Both describe the same estate being used more intensively, which is the outcome most universities actually need, since very few are in a position to dispose of buildings and most are under pressure to accommodate growth without capital spend. The clearest example was a 120-person computer lab created out of space the university already held, identified because the data showed where space was sitting idle and where teams were colliding with each other rather than because anyone set out to find a lab. > This data has been really useful in helping me build business cases to see where we can grow our space into other areas of the university. > > > > > > Kirsty Mushing > > > > Department Manager, University of Exeter That is the departmental ownership problem being solved by evidence rather than by escalation. The same data supported smaller operational changes that matter more than they appear to. Private offices that sat empty for parts of the week were made available as meeting rooms, and teams were separated across different anchor days so that Monday and Tuesday attendance did not collide with Wednesday and Thursday attendance in the same space. Neither decision requires capital, and neither is possible without knowing what happens day by day. #### The Argument This Changes Most university space conversations stall in the same place. Estates believes a department is holding more space than it uses, the department believes estates does not understand how that space is used, and neither side has evidence the other accepts. Timetable data does not settle it, because the department can reasonably say the timetable does not capture research activity or informal use. Survey data does not settle it either, because the department can reasonably ask why a fortnight in November should determine anything. Continuous presence data settles it, or at least moves the conversation onto ground where a decision is possible. That is the real value of it in a sector where the estates function has to persuade rather than instruct. If your institution is planning a space review, a new building business case, or a consolidation of professional services accommodation, the question worth asking first is not what the utilization figure is. It is whether the data behind it would survive being shown to the department it affects. To see how that evidence is built across a university estate, [book a demo with our workplace operations experts](). --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [23% Is Not an Adoption Story]() CBRE says AI is already influencing space-planning decisions for 23% of occupiers. The workplace leaders I talk to are watching the rest of the company get lost, with tools that do not help them keep up. CBRE’s 2026 Americas Office Occupier Sentiment Survey put a number on a feeling a lot of workplace leaders already had. In \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Why Vodafone Is Getting Serious About Hybrid Work - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/why-vodafone-is-getting-serious-about-hybrid-work/ Description: Vodafone is enforcing its hybrid work policy with office mandates, but does rigid enforcement actually work? [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · March 13, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Why Vodafone Is Getting Serious About Hybrid Work Vodafone's Newbury Headquarters and a woman working hybrid at home. Vodafone is tightening its grip on [hybrid work](), turning a nudge into a mandate. A recently leaked memo reveals that the telecoms giant is taking a hardline approach to hybrid work, warning employees that non-compliance could lead to disciplinary action, even impacting bonuses. This crackdown raises a critical question: Is rigid hybrid enforcement the right move for businesses looking to boost performance in 2025? #### The Vodafone Memo: A Hardline Stance On Hybrid Work [According to The Register](), Vodafone’s UK workforce received a stark reminder about their [hybrid working policy]() in a message entitled “Hybrid Working at Vodafone”: > “We therefore want to remind everyone of the Group UK Hybrid Working policy. It’s essential that all employees adhere to the expectation of being in the office 2-3 times a week, or at least eight days a month.” But the message didn’t stop there. Vodafone made it clear that failing to comply wouldn’t just be a policy violation—it could have serious consequences: > “Employees who are not fully compliant with our hybrid working policy by the end of Q1 may be subject to disciplinary action in line with policy. Continued non-compliance with attendance expectations could result in a final written warning, which would mean individuals are not meeting the minimum performance standards and therefore would not be eligible for a bonus in 2026 or in subsequent years in which a final warning is given.” Strict mandates might force compliance, but they don’t build trust—or engagement. If leadership thinks [office presence alone]() drives performance, they’re missing the point of hybrid work entirely. #### The Problem With Vodafone’s Approach Yet, this claim doesn’t fully align with what insiders have reported. Employees say Vodafone had previously encouraged office attendance—but now, it’s a strict mandate. This shift is even more striking given that Vodafone has been [reducing office space]() in Newbury and Paddington, London while offshoring roles to Málaga, Romania, India, and other countries. Vodafone’s UK Headquarters in Newbury Here’s the irony: Vodafone is demanding office attendance at a time when its own [workplace strategy]() contradicts its in-office push. Employees report that coming into the office often means sitting on video calls with colleagues in different locations—or even in the same office but at different desks due to a lack of [meeting rooms](). Vodafone, however, insists that this is not a change in corporate policy: “Vodafone’s hybrid working policy has been in place since 2021, with all employees expected to be in the office 2-3 times a week, or at least eight days a month. This allows flexibility for staff, and for them to benefit from in-office collaboration.” But they did not respond on the threat to bonuses. This raises an important question: If employees are still working remotely, even while physically present in the office, what’s the point of enforcing [in-office attendance]()? The real issue isn’t hybrid work—it’s that many companies, including Vodafone, are failing to make office time meaningful. Hybrid work isn’t just about presence; it’s about productivity, collaboration, and engagement. #### The Business Risks Of Enforcement-First Hybrid Policies Vodafone’s approach highlights a growing divide between leadership and employee expectations. If the goal is to drive productivity, innovation, and engagement, penalizing employees for flexibility is the wrong strategy. Here’s why enforcement-driven hybrid policies are risky: 1. **Employee Pushback & Attrition** – Talented employees value flexibility. If they feel forced into the office, they’ll start looking for companies that respect their autonomy. A Gallup study found that Gallup research shows that [nearly all employees in remote-capable jobs (93%) want to work remotely at least part of the time](). 2. **Decreased Morale & Engagement** – When hybrid work is treated as a compliance issue rather than a strategic advantage, morale takes a hit. Employees work best when they feel trusted, not micromanaged. Employees with [flexible work arrangements]() report higher job satisfaction and productivity, with research linking flexibility to [a potential 43% boost in revenue]() and a 20% improvement in performance over disengaged employees. 3. **Loss of Competitive Edge** – Companies that embrace hybrid work as a strategic tool, rather than a mandate, attract top talent and retain institutional knowledge. A punitive approach to attendance could drive skilled professionals away. [72% of recruiters say companies without hybrid options are losing their competitive edge in hiring.]() #### The Smarter Approach To Hybrid Work Rather than issuing ultimatums, businesses should be asking: How do we make in-office time so valuable that employees want to come in? - **Design offices for collaboration:** People don’t come to the office to sit on Zoom calls—they come for meaningful interactions. Make those interactions worthwhile. - **Focus on outcomes, not hours:** If employees are meeting their goals, why does it matter whether they’re in the office eight days a month? - **Lead with flexibility:** Hybrid work isn’t about counting days—it’s about balancing individual needs with company goals. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Future Of Hybrid Work: Adapt Or Struggle Companies that treat hybrid work as an evolution—not a policy to enforce—will attract and retain the best talent. Those that impose rigid attendance rules risk losing their workforce to more flexible competitors. Vodafone’s ultimatum is a case study in how *not* to handle hybrid work. The real winners in 2025 will be companies that focus on creating a workplace people *want* to be in, not one they *have* to be in. If you’re looking to build a [hybrid work strategy]() that actually works—without the rigid mandates—Kadence can help. [Book a demo]() today to see how we make [hybrid work seamless](), efficient, and employee-friendly. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Why Your Office Is Busy on Tuesdays and Empty on Fridays - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/why-your-office-is-busy-on-tuesdays-and-empty-on-fridays/ Description: In 2026, busy Tuesdays and empty Fridays are not random. Learn what attendance patterns reveal about workplace operations and office space. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · December 17, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Why Your Office Is Busy on Tuesdays and Empty on Fridays Why Your Office Is Busy on Tuesdays and Empty on Fridays By 2026, uneven office attendance is no longer surprising. What surprises leaders is how persistent it is. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are crowded. Mondays and Fridays remain quiet, even in organizations with clear in-office expectations. This pattern appears across sectors, geographies, and workplace strategies. Yet it is still often discussed as an employee behavior issue rather than what it actually is: a [workplace operations]() problem. The imbalance is not accidental. It is the predictable outcome of how offices are planned, coordinated, and operated. #### Midweek Crowding Is a Rational Outcome When leaders look at [attendance data](), they often describe it as inconsistent or difficult to predict. In reality, it is highly logical. Teams cluster their in-office time around collaboration. Being in the office only delivers value if the right people are there at the same time. Tuesdays and Wednesdays maximise overlap, decision-making, and momentum. Employees are not resisting flexibility or ignoring expectations. They are optimising for how work actually gets done. The mistake many organizations make is continuing to operate the workplace as if demand were evenly distributed across the week. Employees feel the consequences immediately. Peak days are busy, noisy, and difficult to navigate. Quieter days feel under-supported. The issue is not that people are choosing the wrong days. It is that the workplace has not been operated for the days that matter most. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Return of Real Meetings Is Intensifying the Pattern This clustering has become more pronounced as organizations place greater emphasis on [in-person collaboration](). Kadence Pulse data shows that t[he average company using Kadence now holds around 40 meetings per month,]() and those meetings are highly concentrated midweek. Tuesdays and Wednesdays consistently see the highest volume of meetings across customers. When single-person bookings are excluded, the average meeting size rises to around six people, and that number has been increasing since mid-2024. At the same time, cancellation rates sit around 30 to 35 percent, but are declining among enterprise organizations. That suggests teams are planning in-office time more deliberately and committing to being present together. Midweek crowding is not incidental. It reflects a shift toward fewer, higher-value, in-person moments that require real presence and coordination. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Planning for Averages Fails on Peak Days Most offices are still planned around averages. Average occupancy. Average desk demand. Average meeting room usage. But employees do not experience averages. They experience Tuesdays. When space is sized and managed for a hypothetical typical day, it breaks down under real conditions. Meeting rooms are oversubscribed. Desks run out. Teams spend time navigating logistics instead of collaborating. Meanwhile, large parts of the office sit empty on quieter days, reinforcing the perception that space is being wasted. This creates two problems at once. Employees lose confidence that coming into the office will be worth the effort. Workplace teams lack the evidence needed to make confident decisions and remain stuck reacting to issues rather than planning ahead. #### What Real Data Reveals About Demand This dynamic becomes clear when organizations move from assumption to evidence. [At MOO, the global design and print company, leaders wanted to understand how their office was actually being used rather than relying on anecdotal feedback.]() By analysing booking behavior and attendance patterns with Kadence, they uncovered clear midweek clustering and repeatable rhythms in how teams used the space. Instead of trying to flatten attendance across the week, MOO used this insight to operate the workplace more intentionally. [Office utilization]() increased to around 70 percent, with employees using the space more deliberately for collaboration and focused work. The workplace became something people planned around, not something they navigated reactively. The shift was not about forcing attendance. It was about operational clarity. We want our employees to use Kadence to support our in-person culture. To have a tool that would help boost creativity, collaboration, conversation, and connection! Bryony Gilhooly Head of People Operations, MOO #### Why Spreading Attendance Rarely Works When midweek overcrowding becomes visible, many organizations try to smooth demand by encouraging people to attend on quieter days. On paper, this looks efficient. In practice, it rarely changes outcomes. Attendance is driven by coordination, not preference. [Teams come in when collaboration has the highest value.]() Asking individuals to attend on quieter days without changing how teams coordinate simply creates low-value office days, not better balance. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() Empty Fridays are not necessarily a failure. They are a signal. They show where space is consistently underused and where real estate assumptions no longer reflect reality. With visibility into real usage patterns, organizations can act on that signal. Some reduce their [real estate footprint]() without compromising collaboration. Others reconfigure space to support different types of work on quieter days. In many cases, the answer is not to force demand where it does not exist, but to right-size the workplace around how it is actually used. Kadence enables this shift by turning attendance patterns into operational insight. Leaders stop trying to fix behavior and start making structural decisions that reduce waste and improve experience. A stylized design of the Kadence Agent reflecting average weekday occupancy per month data. #### What Tuesday Is Really Telling You A busy Tuesday is not a failure of policy or commitment. It is feedback. It tells you when collaboration matters most. It shows you where your workplace is under the greatest strain. It reveals how well your operations align with how teams actually work. By 2026, the challenge is no longer how to force people into the office on quieter days. It is how to operate the workplace so peak days work well and every square metre delivers value. If you want to understand what your attendance patterns are telling you and how to run your workplace around real demand, [book a demo with our workplace operations experts](). --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Is Workplace Operations Management? | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/workplace-operations-management-explained/ Description: Workplace operations management explained: how it differs from workplace management, what managers do, the skills it needs, its benefits and its challenges. [News]() · [Space Optimization]() · August 26, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### What Is Workplace Operations Management? Role, Skills and Benefits [Workplace operations management]() is the work of making the office function for the people in it and for the business. It coordinates people, space and technology, from meeting room bookings to the bigger picture of productivity and [employee experience](), so decisions about the workplace rest on evidence rather than guesswork. With [hybrid work]() now the baseline, the job is no longer about filling desks. It shapes how employees feel, how teams collaborate and how the company performs. A [workplace operations platform]() gives managers a real-time view of what is actually happening in the office. #### What is workplace operations management? Workplace operations management is the strategic coordination of people, space and technology so the office supports business outcomes. It covers space use, employee experience and day-to-day operations, and it relies on usage data to decide how the office should change. It is broader than facilities work, which keeps the building running. People often use workplace management and workplace operations management as if they mean the same thing. They do not. Workplace management usually means keeping the lights on: booking desks, managing supplies and handling facilities tasks. Workplace operations management connects the office environment to business outcomes. Think of it like a car. Workplace management keeps the car running. Workplace operations management tunes the engine, checks the tires and plans the route so you arrive efficiently. #### What does a workplace operations manager do? A workplace operations manager balances three areas: space optimization, employee experience and operational oversight. In practice, that means tracking how space is used, making hybrid work work for employees, and handling vendors, facilities and daily disruptions. The role mixes juggling priorities, solving problems and anticipating what teams need next. The three areas of a workplace operations manager's role: space optimization, employee experience and operational oversight - **Space optimization** means knowing which areas of the office are busy and which are empty. [Space management]() tools show where people work, which spaces are underused and where changes could make the office more collaborative. - **Employee experience** means making hybrid work actually work: spotting patterns in booking data, making sure policies make sense and adjusting the office so it supports productivity and culture. - **Operational oversight** covers everything else, including vendors, facilities and the daily hiccups of any office. Small disruptions can ripple through the day, so attention to detail matters. A typical week includes: - Tracking space usage and occupancy trends - Coordinating with vendors and facilities teams - Supporting hybrid workplace strategies - Using data to make smarter decisions about layouts and workflows #### What skills does workplace operations management require? Workplace operations management needs technical, analytical and people skills. A manager has to read the data, turn it into action and explain it so leadership and teams understand it. Project management keeps initiatives moving, and knowledge of hybrid work keeps policies workable for the people who follow them. Great managers also have a strong sense of employee experience. They anticipate needs, design spaces for collaboration and set policies that keep people engaged. The core skills are: - Analytical thinking for data-driven decisions - Communication skills to coordinate across teams - Project management for office initiatives - Knowledge of hybrid workplace strategies - A sharp sense of employee experience #### What are the business benefits? When workplace operations management is done well, employees get a smoother experience, managers gain visibility into office use and the company saves money. The biggest savings come from space: usage data reveals consistently underused areas, and reconfiguring them improves engagement while reducing wasted real estate. In Kadence, Insights is the reporting that surfaces those underused spaces. Other benefits include: - More productive workflows - Happier, more engaged employees - Smarter use of office space - Continuous insights for ongoing improvement The [workplace analytics metrics guide]() explains which measures to track to prove these gains. #### What challenges do workplace operations managers face? The common challenges are balancing hybrid flexibility with efficiency, integrating data from several platforms, collecting insights without it feeling like surveillance, and keeping up as the workplace changes. Each one is a trade-off between what employees want, what the business needs and what the data can show. - Balancing hybrid work with operational efficiency - Integrating multiple data sources - Gathering insights while maintaining trust - Adapting to shifting workforce behaviors The trust point deserves care: collecting insights without it feeling like surveillance requires balance. And because the workplace keeps evolving, managers need to stay agile. #### How does Kadence support workplace operations management? Kadence moves workplace operations management from reactive to proactive. As described in August 2025, the platform captures real-time occupancy data showing which spaces are busy, which are empty and how teams use the office. Managers can then spot issues early, adjust policies and optimize the office for both efficiency and employee experience. Kadence natural language analytics, asking questions about workplace data in plain language In August 2025, [Insights Plus offered customizable analytics]() on collaboration, hybrid compliance and engagement. Day-to-day booking and coordination now sit in Kadence [WorkOps](). Real-time data combined with actionable insights keeps the office aligned with business goals. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What is next for workplace operations? Four trends stood out in August 2025: AI that gives predictive insights, hybrid strategy built into office design, real estate consolidation guided by data, and integrated platforms that simplify operations. Together they push workplace operations toward planning ahead rather than reacting. Kadence AI booking recommendations [Artificial intelligence provides predictive insights]() that help managers plan before problems happen. Because hybrid work is the baseline, office design and policies need to balance flexibility with efficiency. Many organizations are consolidating real estate, and analytics make sure smaller spaces are used well. Trends to watch: - AI-powered predictive insights for proactive planning - Hybrid strategies embedded in office design - Data-driven real estate consolidation - Integrated platforms for simpler operations #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between workplace management and workplace operations management? Workplace management keeps the office running day to day: [desk bookings](), supplies and facilities tasks. Workplace operations management is strategic. It connects the office environment to business outcomes, using data on space, people and technology to decide how the workplace should change. ##### What are the main responsibilities of a workplace operations manager? Space optimization, employee experience and operational oversight. That covers tracking space usage and occupancy trends, coordinating with vendors and facilities teams, supporting hybrid workplace strategies and using data to improve layouts and workflows. ##### How does workplace operations management reduce costs? Usage data reveals spaces that are consistently underused. Reconfiguring those areas, for example for collaboration, improves engagement and reduces wasted real estate. The same data supports real estate consolidation decisions. ##### Which skills matter most for workplace operations managers? Analytical thinking, communication across teams, project management, knowledge of hybrid workplace strategies and a sharp sense of employee experience. Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Kadence MCP Now in Your Favorite AI Assistant]() Book desks, run the office, and get answers about your space in plain language, without leaving the assistant you already have open. Most AI in workplace software so far has been additive: a text box in the corner of a product, answering questions about the product it sits inside. That is useful, and it is \[…\] - [What Is Stack Planning? How It Powers Smarter Workplace Decisions]() Stack planning shows how teams occupy floors and buildings so leaders can test moves, mergers and consolidations before making them. Here is how it works and why it matters. - [Office Space Utilization and Occupancy Planning: A Workplace Leader's Guide]() Office space utilization measures how much of an office is used, and how, over time. Here is how to measure it reliably and turn it into occupancy planning and floor plan decisions. Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## What Is a Workplace Operations Platform? | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/workplace-operations-platform/ Description: A workplace operations platform connects space, bookings, policies and data so leaders can run the office efficiently. Functions, benefits and challenges. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · August 18, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Jamie Addis]() ### What Is a Workplace Operations Platform? The Backbone of the Modern Workplace Workplace Operations A workplace operations platform is software that brings space, bookings, policies and workplace data into one system, so leaders can run the office efficiently and make decisions from real usage. Workplace operations itself is the strategic practice of orchestrating people, space and technology to support employee experience and business outcomes. Offices are no longer just buildings filled with desks. They are complex ecosystems where people, technology and space intersect, which has made workplace operations one of the most important functions in business. Many organizations still treat it as facilities upkeep or scheduling. It is much broader than that. #### What is workplace operations? Workplace operations is the intersection of people, space, technology and organizational strategy. It covers every process and decision that keeps the workplace running smoothly. Unlike traditional [facilities management]() or HR, it is holistic: it aligns workplace design, technology, policies and employee experience to achieve measurable business results, not just working coffee machines and booked rooms. A strong workplace operations strategy answers questions like: - How can we use office space most efficiently while supporting collaboration? - How do we ensure employees have the tools and environment to do their best work? - What data can guide decisions to improve culture, productivity and operational efficiency? For the role itself, see [what workplace operations management involves](). Booking a meeting room across multiple days in Kadence. #### Why does workplace operations matter? Every organization needs a workplace that works for its employees, teams and leaders. Workplace operations aligns processes, technology and people so the office supports collaboration, focus and productivity. It also shapes strategy: it informs decisions about office layouts, hybrid policies and resource allocation, which helps improve engagement, reduce operational costs and increase efficiency. For enterprise real estate and facilities leaders, this is where portfolio decisions start. Without reliable data on how space is used, decisions about layouts, consolidation and [hybrid policy]() rest on assumptions. #### What does a workplace operations platform do? A workplace operations platform turns the day-to-day running of the office into one connected system. It handles [space allocation](), bookings and policies, and it collects the usage data that shows whether the workplace is working. The core functions fall into four areas, from [space management]() to policy alignment, described below with the Kadence features shown in August 2025. Bulk uploading existing spaces from a template in Kadence. ##### Space management and optimization Office space is a finite resource, and how it is used directly affects collaboration, focus and employee satisfaction. [Space management]() means allocating space strategically based on real usage patterns and team needs, including desk allocation, meeting room planning and common area design. A stylized design of Neighborhood scheduling inside Kadence settings. ##### Employee experience and strategy compliance Employees expect flexibility, comfort and choice. Workplace operations manages the policies and practices that support those expectations while making sure teams follow organizational strategy. Features such as workplace events help strike this balance, which improves engagement, reduces friction and strengthens retention. Stylized image of survey feedback in Kadence Workplace Events ##### Technology integration and data-driven decisions Modern workplaces generate large amounts of data, and a platform turns it into [actionable occupancy insight](). Organizations can predict meeting room demand, track space utilization and identify collaboration patterns, so leaders can make informed decisions quickly and confidently. **Space utilization** is the share of available space, such as desks or rooms, that is actually used over a period. A stylized design of the Kadence Agent reflecting average weekday occupancy per month data. ##### Operational efficiency and policy alignment The right platform streamlines processes across teams. It makes sure policies, from hybrid work schedules to safety protocols, are implemented consistently and efficiently. Removing operational friction lets teams focus on outcomes rather than administrative tasks. A stylized design of shift work settings in Kadence. #### What are the business benefits of workplace operations? Investing in workplace operations pays off in productivity, real estate cost, engagement and leadership insight. Employees get the right environment and tools, so they spend less time on logistics. Data-driven space planning reduces wasted space and overhead. Leaders gain the evidence they need for office investments, team structures and operational policy. - **Increased productivity:** employees have the right environment and tools to focus on work rather than logistics. - **Optimized real estate costs:** data-driven space planning keeps offices used efficiently, reducing wasted space and lowering overhead. - **Enhanced employee engagement:** workplaces designed around employee needs strengthen culture and retention. - **Strategic insights for leadership:** leaders can make informed decisions about office investments, team structures and operational policies. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### What are the common challenges in workplace operations? The most common challenges are running many locations consistently, working across fragmented tools, balancing data with trust, and scaling as the workforce changes. Each one gets harder without a single source of workplace data, because leaders cannot see the whole picture or compare sites on the same terms. - **Managing multiple locations:** keeping standards consistent while adapting to local needs. - **Fragmented tools and data:** multiple systems create silos and prevent a complete view of workplace performance. - **Balancing monitoring and autonomy:** data is important, but employees need trust and freedom to work effectively. - **Scaling operations:** growing organizations need processes that adapt to workforce change without adding administrative burden. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How does Kadence work as a workplace operations platform? Kadence addresses these challenges with a centralized workplace operations platform. It brings data from across the workplace, including space utilization, employee activity and technology usage, into a single view, so organizations can make informed, data-driven decisions. Kadence offers this through [WorkOps](), for day-to-day operations, and [SpaceOps](), for space planning. With Kadence, organizations can: - Optimize office layouts based on real usage patterns - Improve employee experience without intrusive monitoring - Keep teams aligned with workplace strategy - Predict trends and adjust proactively A stylized design of Kadence's Natural Language Analytics. #### Where is workplace operations heading? Workplace operations will keep evolving as technology, employee expectations and business needs change. Automation, AI-driven insights and smarter collaboration tools will make workplaces more adaptive, efficient and human-centered. Organizations that treat operations as a strategic function will improve efficiency, create environments where employees thrive, and get more value from their resources. Workplace operations is no longer a back-office task. It is a strategic function that aligns people, space and technology to deliver measurable business outcomes. The [Kadence platform guide]() explains how the pieces fit together. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What is the difference between workplace operations and facilities management? Facilities management keeps buildings and services running. Workplace operations is broader: it aligns workplace design, technology, policies and employee experience with business strategy and measurable results. ##### What should a workplace operations platform include? Space management, bookings and scheduling, policy and [hybrid coordination](), employee experience tools such as events, and analytics that turn usage data into decisions, all in one view. ##### Who uses a workplace operations platform? Workplace, facilities, real estate, HR and IT leaders use it to plan space and set policy. Employees use it to book desks and rooms and coordinate with their teams. To see how Kadence can support your workplace operations, [book a demo with our experts](). Jamie Addis Jamie Addis Jamie leads Product & Engineering at Kadence. He loves helping customers use Kadence to shape the future of work in their organisations. Outside of work, you’ll find him in the family whirlwind of raising two kids, coaching youth rugby at his local club and occasionally obsessing over the perfect coffee. [Read More from Jamie Addis]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## WPP Return to Office Policy: Leadership vs Workforce | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/wpp-return-to-office/ Description: WPP's January 2025 return to office push met an employee petition. The risks of one global RTO policy, and how agencies can build a hybrid strategy. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · January 13, 2025 · Updated September 29, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### WPP Return to Office Policy: A Growing Divide Between Leadership and Workforce WPP office The WPP [return to office]() policy became a flashpoint in January 2025, when the global advertising group’s push for stricter office attendance met an employee petition. As one of the largest global advertising agencies, WPP’s decision carried weight across the creative and agency industries. It also exposed a growing divide between what leadership wanted and what the workforce expected. The case shows how hard it is to set one return-to-office (RTO) policy for a global workforce with different laws, commutes and cultural norms. #### What happened with WPP’s return to office policy? In January 2025, [WPP’s push for stricter return-to-office policies]() sparked backlash, with employees launching a petition against the move. The debate was not just about desks and chairs. It was about how a global agency navigates [hybrid work]() while respecting diverse cultural norms, labor laws and operational realities in every region. A **return-to-office (RTO) policy** sets how many days, or which days, employees are expected to work from the office. #### Why is one global RTO policy so hard to set? A single global policy has to work in very different places. With offices in London, New York, Shanghai, São Paulo and Mumbai, WPP’s policies must account for vastly different regional work cultures, labor laws and commuting realities. A rule that feels reasonable in one city can feel like a step backward in another, and employees notice. Labor law is a clear example. [Labor laws in France]() enforce a “right to disconnect,” protecting employees from work-related communications outside office hours. In the UK, hybrid work legislation promotes flexibility. In Germany, strict labor protections make blanket RTO policies harder to enforce, while in India employees may expect more flexibility to manage family responsibilities. The **right to disconnect** is a legal protection that lets employees ignore work-related communications outside their working hours. Employees in these regions may see stricter RTO mandates as a step backward. That is the core challenge in creating a unified global policy. #### Why do agency leaders want people back in the office? For agency leaders, the case for RTO usually rests on collaboration, culture and creativity. WPP CEO Mark Read emphasized the value of in-person interaction. Leadership sees in-office time as critical for brainstorming sessions, project kickoffs and team camaraderie, the moments where creative work often starts. Mark Read, CEO of WPP Mark Read, CEO of WPP That case for in-person time does not rule out hybrid work. It highlights the importance of balance. Agencies thrive on creativity, but that creativity depends on a workforce that feels valued and trusted, which is something hybrid models are well placed to support. #### What were WPP employees concerned about? Employees at WPP, and across the agency world, said rigid RTO policies ignored the realities of modern work. In London and São Paulo, long commutes add hours to the workday and cut into family and personal time. In New York, younger employees may see hybrid work as a non-negotiable part of their career decisions. [Kadence’s own data]() showed employees favoring a two-day in-office model, with three days remote, as the best hybrid balance. That model keeps the benefits of face-to-face collaboration while leaving room for focused, independent work. Kadence Wrapped 2024: across major cities, hybrid workers settled into a rhythm of two days a week in the office Without nuanced, localized approaches, WPP risked alienating its workforce and creating friction across its global offices. #### What are the risks of rigid RTO policies for global agencies? Rigid RTO policies carry three main risks for a global agency: losing talent to more flexible competitors, paying for expensive offices that sit underused, and weakening the team culture the policy was meant to protect. Each risk grows with the number of cities and cultures a single policy has to cover. **Talent retention.** According to an [ADP survey](), 64% of employees said they would consider leaving a job that lacked flexibility. Agencies like Publicis and Omnicom, which continued to embrace hybrid models, could attract creative talent dissatisfied with WPP’s policies. **Operational cost.** Maintaining office space in high-cost cities like London and New York strains budgets, especially if that space stays underutilized. Hybrid models let companies [right-size office footprints]() and invest in tools that support remote collaboration instead. **Agency culture.** Stricter mandates could harm the culture they are meant to protect. Global agencies rely heavily on cohesive [team dynamics](), so any policy that strains them is a crucial consideration. #### How can a global agency build a hybrid strategy that works? A global hybrid strategy works when it is consistent in principle and local in practice. Agencies like WPP need a nuanced approach that reflects their global footprint: policies tuned to local law and culture, technology that keeps teams connected across offices, and data that shows whether each policy is working as intended. - **Regional flexibility:** tailor policies to local labor laws and norms, such as France’s right to disconnect or expectations for work-life balance in India. - **Technology investment:** equip teams with collaboration tools so communication works whether employees are in the office or remote. - **Data-driven decisions:** use [workplace analytics]() to track office usage and [hybrid policy]() adherence, so leaders can see whether policies work as intended in each location. For enterprise real estate and HR leaders, the governance point matters most. A global policy framework can set shared principles, while each region sets attendance expectations that fit its laws, commutes and teams. The [hybrid work strategy guide]() covers how to structure this. #### What did the WPP case signal for hybrid work? WPP’s return-to-office mandate was a litmus test for hybrid work in global agencies. Leadership saw the move as a way to foster creativity and culture, but it risked alienating employees, particularly in regions where flexibility had become the norm. The agency world thrives on innovation, and innovation requires a workforce that feels empowered, not constrained. As WPP’s global peers continued to evolve their hybrid strategies, the open question in January 2025 was whether rigid policies would drive the industry forward or leave agencies struggling to attract and retain talent. The data and employee sentiment at the time suggested that flexibility is a necessity, not a perk. The [return-to-office guide]() looks at how other employers have approached the same decision. #### Frequently asked questions ##### Why did WPP employees push back on the return to office policy? In January 2025, employees launched a petition against WPP’s stricter RTO push. Concerns included long commutes in cities such as London and São Paulo and the loss of flexibility many had come to expect. ##### Why is a single RTO policy hard for global companies? Labor laws, commuting patterns and cultural norms differ by country. France enforces a right to disconnect, the UK promotes flexibility, and Germany’s labor protections make blanket policies harder to enforce. ##### How can agencies balance creativity and flexibility? Use in-office time for the work that benefits from it, such as brainstorming and project kickoffs, localize policies by region, and track office usage to check that the policy works. Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Your Workplace Operating Model Determines Your Real Estate Cost - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/your-workplace-operating-model-determines-your-real-estate-cost/ Description: Your workplace operating model shapes your real estate cost. Here is how to name yours, and why it matters. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · July 14, 2026 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Your Workplace Operating Model Determines Your Real Estate Cost Workplace Operating Model Most enterprise leaders can tell you their headcount, their cost per square foot, and their target occupancy. Far fewer can tell you, in a single sentence, how their organization actually allocates space. They know the floor is busy on Tuesdays and quiet on Fridays. They know real estate is one of their largest fixed costs. What they often cannot name is the workplace operating model sitting underneath all of it, the set of rules that decides who sits where, on which days, and why. That gap matters more than it looks. Your workplace operating model is the single biggest determinant of two things finance cares about a great deal: how much space you are paying for, and how much risk you carry every time you need to change that space. It shapes your capital efficiency more than any individual lease decision does. And because it is so rarely named, it is rarely managed. #### Calculate the ROI of Your Workplace Operations Our brand-new ROI Calculator is here to help you visualize your success in seconds. [Calculate Your ROI]() #### The One-to-One World Is Over For decades the answer was simple. One person, one desk. Every employee had a seat and every team had a floor, and the planning tools of the era, from AutoCAD to legacy IWMS, were built for exactly that. The floorplan was stable, and a desk belonged to a person for years at a time. That world has gone. [CBRE’s 2026 occupancy research finds that almost no organizations still target a true one-to-one ratio](), with a large share now planning for somewhere between one and one and a half people per seat. Desk sharing has moved from the exception to the default. Here is the part that gets underestimated. The moment you drop below one desk per person, planning stops scaling in a straight line. At one-to-one, allocation is arithmetic. Below it, allocation becomes a forecasting problem, because you are now betting on who shows up, when, and in what numbers. The tools built for the arithmetic world do not handle the forecasting one. They do not break loudly. They break quietly, one over-subscribed Tuesday at a time. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How Enterprises Allocate Space Once you start looking, most enterprises fall into one of a handful of operating models. Each is worth naming, because each predicts a different kind of pain. The first is the fully assigned office: one person, one desk, in every day. This is the world of law firms, financial services, and government. The pain is not dramatic, it is constant. It is a steady stream of moves, additions, and changes that dated workflows handle slowly, alongside a floorplan that drifts out of date because IT, HR, security, and facilities all read from it while none of them update the same record. When a restack finally comes it touches everyone, and reaching even a draft plan can take months. The second keeps assigned desks but layers hybrid on top, often in space-rich enterprises that held on to assigned seating to keep sought-after talent comfortable. It is the least stable of the models. Even the largest technology firms have struggled with it in public: [Meta moved away from assigned desks toward desk sharing and has been openly unsure the trade was worth it](). > We have not yet figured out hybrid work. > > > > > > Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, Meta Assigned desks leave empty chairs, shared desks fill with unfamiliar faces, and no option is clean. The challenge in this model is constant rebalancing around shifting project teams, usually with little reliable occupancy data to work from. The third is [zoned hotelling](): each team gets a permanent neighborhood, but desks within it are unassigned. This is fast becoming the typical modern enterprise setup. The hard problem is no longer processing moves, it is sizing. How many desks does a team need when attendance shifts week to week? Get it wrong and people cannot sit together, a failure that arrives slowly and then all at once. It plays out under three pressures at once: cost wants the ratio lower, policy wants attendance higher, and behavior refuses to sit still. The fourth pushes the ratio further. Space-maximizing models time-share whole neighborhoods or individual desks across teams and days, or run desks in shifts across a single day. They are common where real estate is expensive and the numbers have been run hard: city-center financial and professional services, and shift-based operations like contact centers. The pain is the same shape as the assigned models but intensified, because changes now cascade across people, desks, and time. The fifth is the newest, and the one I would watch most closely. Earn a desk is a mixed model: some employees, by seniority or attendance, hold an assigned desk while everyone else hot-desks within neighborhoods. The attendance variant is the interesting one. It nudges people in without a blunt mandate, but it creates continuous churn as employees cross and drop below the threshold, and it turns a simple question, how many desks will we need, into a live forecasting problem tied to policy. SpaceOps AI space planning agent interface showing floor plan consolidation and stack planning dashboard. #### The Cost You Are Not Pricing Across every one of these models, one cost runs underneath and almost never appears on anyone’s budget: moves, additions, and changes. Individually each is small. In aggregate, across a large estate, this is a significant and recurring operational load, absorbed quietly by facilities teams maintaining fragile spreadsheets rather than priced as the ongoing cost it really is. The models differ in how much of it they generate, but almost all of them generate more than their tooling was ever designed to absorb. There is a second cost that hides in plain sight. The floorplan is the source of truth for an entire chain of teams. IT allocates equipment from it, HR onboards from it, security sets access from it, and finance reports from it. When the underlying tools are old and siloed, the floorplan is always slightly wrong, and every team downstream inherits the error. #### Why This Is a Portfolio Question Name your model and the strategic picture sharpens immediately. Each model implies a different relationship between headcount, attendance, and space, which means each implies a different set of levers for reducing cost and a different risk profile when you pull them. You cannot model a restack, test a policy change, or right-size a portfolio you have not first described. This is where legacy tooling reaches its ceiling and where a Workplace Operating System earns its place. The work is portfolio optimization first: understanding how your model behaves, modeling what happens when you change the ratio or the threshold or the footprint, and grounding those decisions in real occupancy data rather than instinct. [SpaceOps]() exists for exactly this, scenario modeling and stack planning for leaders who need decision-grade intelligence about their portfolio, not another tool for booking a desk. We have built advanced modeling alongside customers facing precisely these questions, and the pattern is consistent. The organizations that can name and model their workplace operating model make faster, cheaper, and lower-risk space decisions than those flying on a floorplan they do not fully trust. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() So start by naming your model. It is the cheapest and highest-leverage step most enterprises have not yet taken. From there, the questions that used to take a quarter of project management effort, what the floor looks like at a different ratio, under a different policy, with a different headcount, become questions you can answer with data. If you want to see what that looks like for your own portfolio, [book a demo with our workplace operations experts](). Or if you would rather start with the numbers, [our ROI calculator]() will estimate what a better-modeled portfolio is worth against your current footprint. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() Speak With Our Workplace Operations Experts Ditch manual reporting and get deeper workplace insights. Speak with our team today. [Get In Touch]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Zuckerberg Says Hybrid Passes The Performance Test—That’s Why Meta Isn’t Changing Course - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/news/zuckerberg-says-hybrid-passes-the-performance-test-thats-why-meta-isnt-changing-course/ Description: Meta has made its decision: hybrid is here to stay. Find out why Zuckerberg knows giving his employees flexibility yields greater results. [News]() · [Future Of Work]() · February 4, 2025 · [Dan Bladen]() ### Zuckerberg Says Hybrid Passes The Performance Test—That’s Why Meta Isn’t Changing Course After years of debate over remote vs. office work, Meta has made its decision: hybrid is here to stay. CEO Mark Zuckerberg [recently confirmed that there will be no changes]() to the company’s return-to-office ([RTO]()) policy—a significant move at a time when many companies are still tightening their grip on [in-office attendance](). “Basic summary: no change… There’s a lot of things going on in the world… I think the status quo is fine. Carry on.” Mark Zuckerberg CEO, Meta Zuckerberg delivered the statement at a Q&A with staff. His response was met with applause. The message is clear: **hybrid isn’t an experiment anymore. It’s a proven model.** #### The Productivity Question: Answered For years, companies have gone back and forth on whether [hybrid work]() hurts productivity. But Meta’s stance suggests they’ve seen enough data to know: performance isn’t suffering. If it were, they wouldn’t hesitate to change course. We’ve seen companies like Amazon and Google dial up their office requirements, while others (like Zoom, ironically) have walked back their remote policies. But Meta? **They’re holding the line at hybrid.** Employees are still required to be in the office three days a week, but beyond that, flexibility remains. Why? Because it’s working. The data backs this up. A recent study found that [85% of business leaders]() struggle to trust that employees are productive in hybrid setups. But the numbers tell a different story: [61% of those surveyed]() reported improved productivity thanks to hybrid arrangements. The reality? Productivity isn’t about physical presence—it’s about giving people autonomy and the right tools to succeed. Employees are coming in when they need to, collaboration is happening, and the company isn’t seeing a productivity drop that would justify forcing people back five days a week. Employees are coming in when they need to, collaboration is happening, and the company isn’t seeing a productivity drop that would justify forcing people back five days a week. Simply put: **hybrid has passed the performance test.** [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### The Real-World Data Backs It Up At Kadence, we [track how teams actually use hybrid work](), and here’s what the numbers show: - Two days in the office is still the most common pattern, but… - Attendance is creeping up, with the average now between two and three days per week. - Three days could soon become the new normal—not because companies are forcing it, but because it’s proving to be the sweet spot for productivity and collaboration. Why? Because when hybrid is done right, it gives employees flexibility without sacrificing performance. A structured three-day office rhythm helps teams coordinate their in-person days, making collaboration more intentional and effective. It’s about effectively deploying a [hybrid strategy](). That means ensuring teams have clear guidelines on when and how to collaborate, leveraging [smart scheduling tools](), and designing [office spaces]() that make in-person time more productive and engaging. Companies that succeed with hybrid aren’t just offering flexibility; they’re actively shaping an environment where both business performance and employee satisfaction thrive. Featured Content Free Hybrid Work Policy Template Streamline your team’s success—download our free Hybrid Work Policy Template today! [Download Template]() #### What Meta’s Move Tells Us About The Future Of Work Meta’s decision to hold steady on hybrid work isn’t just about keeping employees happy—it’s a clear signal that flexibility and performance aren’t mutually exclusive. Other companies should take note. If a business as large and complex as Meta can maintain strong performance under hybrid, then the argument that “people must be in the office to be productive” holds less weight. Here’s what we’re seeing: 1. **Hybrid work doesn’t just work—it works well.** Meta wouldn’t keep this model if it wasn’t delivering results. 2. **Mandates aren’t necessary when performance is strong.** The companies pushing for full-time office returns are often the ones struggling to measure (or trust) productivity. 3. **The market is settling on three office days as the ideal hybrid structure.** It balances team collaboration with focused work and gives employees enough flexibility to avoid burnout. #### Some Final Thoughts For years, the debate around remote vs. office work has been framed as a trade-off: flexibility vs. productivity, autonomy vs. control. But the companies sticking with hybrid—Meta included—are showing that **it’s not a compromise. It’s an advantage.** Hybrid isn’t just something employees want. It’s something that works. And that’s why companies that measure success by results—not by attendance—are keeping it. For businesses still wrestling with their RTO strategy, the question isn’t “Should we allow hybrid work?” It’s “Are we measuring success in the right way?” Because if performance is strong, why change something that’s already working? [Book a demo]() with one of our hybrid experts today to see how we can help boost your company’s performance. --- Dan Bladen Dan Bladen CEO & Co-Founder Dan is at the helm of Kadence with a sole mission to turn workplaces into vibrant, happy spaces where everyone can thrive. When he’s not busy changing the world of work, you’ll find Dan soaking up the natural, untamed beauty of California’s outdoors with his family on camping adventures. [Read More from Dan Bladen]() See Kadence In Action Start your 14-day free trial today [Try For Free]() #### Related - [Cutting Headcount Is Not Redesigning Work]() I spent an hour last week with twenty workplace and real estate leaders from Europe and North America, along with Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and executive-in-residence at Charter. He’s also an advisor and investor in Kadence. A few things are worth carrying back to your teams. Most of what’s being called AI transformation \[…\] - [Local Council Office Consolidation Needs Better Evidence]() Most councils decide to consolidate office space before they can prove it is the right call. The saving appears in the medium term financial plan, a target is attached to it, and the estates team is then asked to produce evidence for a decision that has effectively already been announced. That sequence is normal across \[…\] - [Why University Utilization Figures Mislead]() Ask a university what its space utilization is and you will usually get a single figure. Ask what that figure is made of and the answer becomes much less stable, because in a university more than in almost any other kind of organization, a utilization number is an average taken across spaces that behave in \[…\] Next step #### See it on your own floors. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Newsroom - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/newsroom/ Description: Kadence company news and press releases, including the $20M raise, the SpaceOps launch and the AI-driven visitor management system. newsroom ### Kadence Newsroom Archilogic Partnership Kadence News | March 4, 2026 #### [Kadence Partners With Archilogic To Power Intelligent Workplaces]() [Read More]() Kadence News | January 28, 2026 #### [Kadence Introduces AI-Driven Visitor Management System to Power Modern Workplace Operations]() [Read More]() Tracy Hawkins OpenAI Kadence News | November 19, 2025 #### [Tracy Hawkins Of OpenAI Joins Kadence’s Advisory Board]() [Read More]() Kadence News | October 3, 2025 #### [Introducing Kadence SpaceOps: The AI Platform To Plan, Move, And Optimize Office Spaces]() [Read More]() Kadence News | July 22, 2025 #### [Kadence Raises $20M To Transform How Enterprises Run The Modern Workplace]() [Read More]() Kadence News | June 13, 2025 #### [Midwich Group Expands Strategic Partnership With Kadence To Accelerate The Future Of Work]() [Read More]() [Discover More]() Try Kadence #### Get Started With Kadence Today Let Kadence take the hassle out of hybrid working. Book a customized demo today. [Book Demo]() ## Workplace Management for Non-Profits | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/non-profit/ Description: Workplace management software for non-profits: let staff book the space you have, rotate teams through shared desks fairly and run it with little admin time. Non-profits ### Workplace Management for Non-Profits Share limited space fairly, without a team to run it. Non-profits often have fewer desks than people and little time to manage them. Kadence lets staff book what exists, rotates teams through shared space on their days, and runs the bookings in the background once it is set up. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative: a head office with 24 desks for 40 people, where teams rotate through the desks on set days: Mon Fundraising and Programs, 22 of 24; Tue Operations and Comms, 19 of 24; Wed Fundraising and Operations, 23 of 24; Thu Programs and Comms, 21 of 24; Fri Open desks, 11 of 24. Trusted in non-profits - RSPB - Five Good Friends - California Alliance of Child and Family Services Fair booking #### Teams rotate through shared space on their days. Assign teams to neighborhoods on chosen days, enforce closure and capacity controls automatically, and let room displays release no-shows instantly. - Neighborhoods on chosen days - Closure and capacity rules applied automatically - Room displays that auto-release no-shows WorkOps · Space management Room occupancy on Floor 3 with auto-release on and a live team view. Low admin #### Set it up once, and the bookings run themselves. HRIS keeps the roster current and cancels bookings on leave, desk assignment starts before day one, and move sheets are generated automatically. - HRIS-driven roster - Bookings cancelled on leave - Auto-generated move sheets WorkOps · Moves, adds and changes New starters pulled from Workday with desks assigned and a floorplan update pending. Privacy #### Staff data handled with care. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, GDPR and CCPA aligned, with role-based access for building admins, schedulers and employees. - Encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest - GDPR and CCPA aligned - Role-based access Security SOC 2 certification. #### Kadence in non-profits Customer story · Non-profit ##### RSPB accommodated 2,500 employees on flexible desking without major portfolio changes. **2,500** employees accommodated without major portfolio changes [Read the story]() Customer story · Non-profit ##### Five Good Friends cut office space expenses by 15%. **15%** savings on office space expenses [Read the story]() Customer story · Non-profit ##### A UK nonprofit used occupancy data to reconfigure its office space. **46%** daily employee occupancy at the end of March, after three months of growth [Read the story]() Reviews on G2 · Non-profits #### In their own words. [All Kadence reviews on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “It's so much more than a facilities management system; it makes sure the people who need to be in the same room are there while allowing them flexibility we are all now used to.” **Jo R.** Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) · G2 review, May 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “The system is easy to use, was quick to roll out to our staff base, without the need for lots of training” **stuart H.** Head Of Facilities Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) · G2 review, February 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() By industry - [Financial services →]() - [Technology →]() - [Legal →]() - [Business services →]() - [Commercial real estate →]() - [Consumer goods →]() - [Energy and utilities →]() - [Government →]() - [Healthcare and pharma →]() - [Higher education →]() - [Manufacturing →]() - [Media and entertainment →]() - [Retail →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Office Hoteling Software for Desks and Offices | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/office-hoteling-software/ Description: Office hoteling software to reserve desks and private offices ahead, with booking windows, priority access, check-in and auto-release, in Kadence WorkOps. Office hoteling ### Office hoteling software for shared desks and offices. Office hoteling software lets people reserve a desk or private office before they arrive, check in when they get there and lose the space if they do not. Kadence runs hoteling on your floor plan, with booking windows, priority access, credits and auto-release set by your workplace team. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative desk booking at Liberty Plaza: two six-desk neighborhoods, four colleagues settling into Product, and a weekly schedule with Product in Tuesday and Wednesday, Engineering Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and Finance Monday and Friday; team day is Tuesday, with nine of twelve in. | Team schedule | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Product team | No team day | In office | In office | No team day | No team day | | Eng team | No team day | In office | In office | No team day | In office | | Finance team | In office | No team day | No team day | No team day | In office | [Explore WorkOps]() [Everyday desk booking and team days]() Hoteling vs hot desking #### Three ways to seat people Most offices mix all three. Kadence runs them side by side on one floor plan, so each team gets the model that suits it. [Hot desking and hoteling explained]() - **Hoteling** People reserve a desk or office ahead, check in on arrival, and unused bookings are released. - **Hot desking** People take any free desk on the day, first come, first served, with no reservation. - **Assigned seating** Each person has a permanent desk or office, used or not. Check-in and auto-release #### Reserved space gets used, or goes back. A reservation is only useful if the person comes in. Kadence checks people in and releases bookings nobody claims, so the next person can use the space. - Check in from the app, the Kadence Agent on the office network, a kiosk, a room display, badge data or the API - Unclaimed bookings released automatically - Automatic Bookings for people who arrive without one [Workplace occupancy]() WorkOps · Check-in The Kadence Agent on a laptop shows Desk 604 checked in for today. Assigned and bookable #### Fixed seats and hoteling on one floor plan. Give some people permanent desks or offices and make the rest reservable. Neighborhoods keep each team's bookable desks together. - Team neighborhoods and assigned desks - Neighborhood Scheduler for shared or rotating floors - Preferred desks so people find their usual spot fast WorkOps · Neighborhoods Kadence floor plan with team neighborhoods on the 2nd floor and a weekly team schedule More than desks #### Reserve offices, rooms and more. Hoteling covers every shared space. Make private offices, pods, lockers and parking bookable alongside desks and meeting rooms. - Private offices, pods, lockers and parking - A link or QR code that opens a specific space to book - Meeting rooms with two-way Outlook and Google Calendar sync [Room booking software]() WorkOps · Spaces Floor 3 desks by team, with room occupancy and auto-release switched on. Booking rules #### Fair access, set by your workplace team Hoteling works when everyone trusts the rules. Set them once, and Kadence applies them to every booking. - ##### Booking windows Set how far ahead people can book, and the maximum and default length of a booking. - ##### Priority access Give selected groups first access to spaces before they open to everyone. - ##### Booking credits Control how much space each person or team can book. - ##### Recurring and multi-day bookings Book the same desk or office on repeat, or across several days at once, and cap how far a series can run. - ##### Booking on behalf of others The Booking Scheduler role lets assistants and coordinators book for the people they support. - ##### Closures Close a building for holidays or events. WorkOps Pro adds floor, neighborhood and space closures. Professional services #### Hoteling for law firms and financial services Firms with partners, assistants, client meetings and attendance policies need more than a desk map. These Kadence settings fit how they work. - ##### Law firms - Keep assigned offices where they are needed and make the rest bookable. - Assistants book desks, offices and rooms for the lawyers they support. - Lawyers visiting from another office book a desk or office there on the same app. - Hold rooms for client meetings, and release the ones nobody checks in to. [Workplace management for law firms]() - ##### Financial services - Report on attendance policy from presence data, not bookings alone. - Give priority access to teams that must be in on set days. - Booking exports show who created each booking and who checked in. - Keep workplace data in the US or EU region. [Workplace management for financial services]() When teams adopt hoteling #### The moments that make hoteling worth it - ##### Fewer desks than people After a consolidation, hoteling shares the desks you keep. Auto-release and check-in keep reserved desks in use. - ##### A lease decision is coming Hoteling records who reserved and who came in, by floor and by day. That shows how many desks you need before you renew. - ##### Your booking system is up for renewal Load spaces, neighborhoods and assignments by bulk CSV upload, and people through SSO and SCIM directory sync. Customer story · Manufacturing #### Axalta moved into an office half the size and made all of it bookable. **½** the previous office footprint > “Kadence can roll with the punches and come up with the smart solutions we need to make hybrid work for everyone.” > > Rica Lade, Executive Coordinator, Axalta [Read the Axalta story]() FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is office hoteling software?** Office hoteling software lets employees reserve a desk, private office or other workspace before they come in, check in when they arrive and release it if they do not. Workplace teams use it to share fewer desks among more people, set fair booking rules and see how reserved space is actually used. **What is the difference between hoteling and hot desking?** Both share desks instead of giving each person one. [Hot desking and hoteling]() differ in timing: hot desking is first come, first served on the day, while hoteling means reserving ahead and checking in on arrival. Kadence supports both on the same floor plan, alongside assigned desks. **How does a hoteling reservation system work?** An employee picks a desk or office on the floor plan, from the app, Teams or Slack, for one day, several days or on repeat. Booking rules decide how far ahead they can book and who gets priority. On the day, they check in. If they do not, the booking is released for someone else. **Can employees reserve private offices as well as desks?** Yes. In Kadence, private offices, pods, lockers and parking are bookable spaces, as well as desks and meeting rooms. Employees reserve them on the same floor plan, for a day, several days or on repeat, and a link or QR code can open a specific space for booking. **How does hoteling software prevent no-shows?** It asks people to confirm they came in. Kadence takes check-ins from the app, the Kadence Agent on the office network, kiosks, room displays, badge data or the API. Unchecked bookings are [auto-released](), and Automatic Bookings records people who arrive without one, so occupancy data stays accurate. **What should law firms and financial services firms look for in hoteling software?** Look for a mix of assigned and bookable offices on one floor plan, booking on behalf of others for assistants, priority access for teams that must be in, presence-based attendance reporting, exports that show who booked and who checked in, and a choice of data region. Kadence covers each of these. #### Explore more ##### In the glossary - [Hot desking and hoteling]() - [Auto-release]() - [Desk check-in]() - [Ghost booking]() - [No-show rate]() - [Booking policy]() - [Fixed vs rolling booking window]() - [Desk ratio]() - [Neighborhood]() - [Assigned desk]() ##### Products, templates and stories - [Desk booking software]() - [Room booking software]() - [Workplace occupancy]() - [Desk booking policy template]() - [Guide: flexible office models]() - [Desk hoteling at a US medical lab company]() - [RSPB's flexible desking]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Team Coordination Software for Better Scheduling | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/people-coordination/ Description: Kadence team coordination software helps teams align schedules, plan in-office time, and coordinate work more effectively across locations. People Coordination ### Help teams plan their time together. See when colleagues will be in, schedule team days, and coordinate office time before anyone starts their commute. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative find your people at Level 2 · Team space: Morgan joins Mon and Wed; Sam joins Wed and Fri; Riley joins Tue and Wed. Wednesday · Connect in person. #### Key Features Coordinate Your In-Person Team Days Easily Announcements #### Keep Your Teams Informed Send workplace announcements to any team, in any location. Whether promoting a social event or informing your teams of important company announcements enable you to send messages with confidence. - Send one announcement to multiple platforms such as Slack, MS Teams, and the Kadence Mobile App - Schedule announcements about building closures, fire drills, and other important notifications ahead of time Kadence Kadence: Keep Your Teams Informed Hybrid Schedules #### Stay In Sync With Your Teammates Stay up-to-date with your teammates’ schedules so you can easily make better plans for your workday and ensure efficient collaboration with your team. - Know when your team is going into the office and when they’ve canceled at the last minute via Slack & MS Teams notifications - Align your teams around a common purpose by making it easy for them to connect with one another Kadence Use Slack or Microsoft Teams to reschedule bookings Team Day Planning #### Schedule Team Days In Seconds With Team Kadences Transform the way you bring your teams together by notifying team members about in-office days. - Enable team managers to set suggested in-office days based on the needs of the company and individual schedules - Optimize resource allocation and efficiency by minimizing team booking conflicts and reducing underutilized spaces Kadence Coordinate Team Days with Team Kadences Smart Booking Suggestions #### Make Smarter Choices With Your Time Spend time working with the people that matter and on the tasks that count. - Be more productive with your time by knowing where you need to be and when - Get automated Smart Booking Suggestion straight to your mobile device via email, Slack or Microsoft Teams Kadence Smart Suggestion notification reminders Office Activity #### See Who’s In The Office Before You Commute Say goodbye to the dread of wasted commutes! Get a clear view of team bookings each week, allowing you to decide whether commuting is necessary on any work day. - Decide when you want to go into the office by seeing how busy the office is on any day that week - Make better plans faster on how to facilitate your office spaces during busy or quiet periods during the week Kadence Layout of Kadence's Office Activity Workplace Policies #### Measure The Success Of Your Mixed Work Approach Improve how you handle your workspace and your hybrid work policies by checking out all the space booking cancellations. - Check the efficiency of your hybrid working policies by seeing how many no-shows or cancellations there are - Plan for the needs of your teams ahead of time by visualizing past booking trends Kadence 148 bookings, 66% check-ins, 32% no-shows, and Wednesday is the most popular day #### MORE FEATURES Everything You Need To Coordinate Your Teams - Team Activity See where your team are working and when they’re planning to be in the office in one single view - Smart Booking Suggestions Get notified with a booking suggestion everytime your starred colleagues are heading to the office - Personal Kadence Let Kadence know when you’re going into the office by plotting it on your weekly schedule - Slack & MIcrosoft Teams Use Slack or Microsoft teams to coordinate with your team and book spaces in advance - Quick Book Check out what spaces are available in real-time and book for the exact times you need - Employee Directory See an entire list of all of your employee’s profiles and ‘Star’ them to follow their schedule - Friend Finder See where your team are sitting in the office so you can book the nearest space available nearby - Notifications Save a commute to the office by getting notified when a teammate has canceled their booking > Kadence has revolutionized our workspace! It effortlessly lets us see who’s in the office each day, streamlining our hybrid coordination like never before. #### StageTEN Director of Operations GWI’s Solution For A Productive Return To The Office Discover how we helped GWI transform their hybrid workplace and drives team productivity with smarter collaboration. [Learn More]() FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is Team Coordination?** Team coordination refers to the process of working together as a team to achieve common goals. It involves organizing and communicating with team members to ensure everyone is on the same page and working towards the same objectives. Team coordination includes tasks like [booking desks]() and [scheduling rooms]() for your meetings, assigning roles, sharing information, and collaborating effectively. It helps team members stay organized, collaborate efficiently, and achieve success in their shared projects. Think of it as a way to bring everyone together and ensure everyone is working towards a common goal. **How do you manage Team Coordination?** Managing team coordination involves several key aspects. First, it’s important to establish clear goals and expectations for the team. This helps everyone understand what they need to accomplish and how they can contribute. Communication is also crucial. Regularly sharing updates, progress, and any challenges helps keep everyone informed and aligned. Delegating tasks and responsibilities ensures that each team member knows what they are responsible for. Additionally, using tools and technologies like Hybrid Workplace Platforms can help streamline coordination and keep everyone organized. Regular check-ins and meetings provide opportunities to discuss progress, address any issues, and make necessary adjustments. Overall, effective team coordination requires clear communication, defined roles, and the use of appropriate tools and strategies to keep everyone on track. **Why is coordination important to a team?** Team Coordination is crucial for a team because it helps everyone work together smoothly towards a shared goal. When team members coordinate effectively, they can avoid confusion and misunderstandings. It ensures that everyone understands their roles and responsibilities, which leads to efficient task completion. Good coordination also promotes effective communication, allowing team members to share ideas, ask questions, and provide support to one another. It fosters collaboration and helps in problem-solving, making the team stronger and more productive. Overall, coordination is essential for a team’s success as it promotes teamwork, clarity, and productivity. #### Explore more - [Slack]() - [Microsoft Teams]() - [booking desks]() - [scheduling rooms]() Next step #### Start Working Smarter With Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Pricing | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/pricing/ Description: Kadence pricing: WorkOps Team and WorkOps Pro for the daily workplace, SpaceOps for the portfolio, and every live feature by plan. Get a quote for your buildings, floors and teams. Pricing ### Two products. One proposal for your estate. WorkOps runs the day. SpaceOps decides the portfolio. WorkOps comes in two tiers, Team and Pro. WorkOps Team #### AI-powered workplace operations. - Desk, room and space booking with two-way calendar sync - Kadence AI in Microsoft Teams and Slack - Automatic check-in with the Kadence Agent - Visitor management with host notifications - Workplace Insights: attendance, occupancy and heatmaps - Kadence MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot (early access) [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() WorkOps Pro #### Everything in Team, plus moves, visitors and rooms at scale. Everything in Team, plus: - Kadence Room Displays, including on Neat - Visitor kiosk, QR check-in and badge printing - Move Manager with bulk auto-assign - HRIS integration: Workday, BambooHR and HiBob - Workplace events, employee surveys and Insights Plus dashboards - Custom roles and advanced closure management Add-ons: editable floor plans and VMS Documents. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() SpaceOps #### AI-powered workplace intelligence to forecast and execute change. - AI planning agent: ask in plain language - Stack planning with auto-stack - Scenario planning, side by side - Space planning down to the seat - Guided workflows to restack, consolidate or find space - Publish approved plans to WorkOps - Floor plan editing, included [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Enterprise Bundle WorkOps Pro + SpaceOps Combines WorkOps and SpaceOps to drive unparalleled workplace performance. [Get a quote]() [See every feature 85]() Trusted by leading organizations globally - MIT - University of Cambridge - Intel - Boeing - Bombardier - Dow Jones - NHS - BDO - Willis Towers Watson - Ashurst Perkins Coie - Starling Bank - TrueLayer - Trainline - Softchoice - BambooHR Compare plans #### Every live feature, by plan. 85 features customers use today. Open a group to see what each plan includes. ##### WorkOps **Desk and space booking 21** | Feature | Team | Pro | | --- | --- | --- | | Desk booking: advance, recurring and on-demand Book desks ahead, on repeat or on the day from web, mobile, Teams or Slack. | Included | Included | | Multi-day bookings Book a desk or space across several days in one go. | Included | Included | | Edit bookings on web and mobile Change the time, space or details of a booking without canceling it. | Included | Included | | Preferred desks Employees save favorite desks so booking is faster and more consistent. | Included | Included | | Multiple work statuses per day Set office, remote or other statuses for different parts of one day. | Included | Included | | Remote working status Show when you are working remotely so teams can plan around it. | Included | Included | | Priority booking access Give selected groups first access to spaces before general release. | Included | Included | | Booking credits Control how much space each person or team can book. | Included | Included | | Booking rules and windows Set maximum and default booking durations and a fixed booking-in-advance window. | Included | Included | | Recurring booking end-date controls Admins cap how far recurring bookings can run. | Included | Included | | Lockers, pods, parking and private offices Book more than desks and rooms. | Included | Included | | Booking links and QR codes Share a link or QR code that opens straight to a specific space to book. | Included | Included | | Auto-release and check-in Unused bookings are released automatically so space is not wasted. | Included | Included | | Team neighborhoods and assigned desks Assign teams to zones and people to permanent desks. | Included | Included | | Neighborhood Scheduler Assign teams to neighborhoods by date, for rotating or shared floors. | Included | Included | | Bulk CSV upload for spaces Create and edit spaces, neighborhoods and assignments in bulk from a spreadsheet. | Included | Included | | Wayfinding and floor plan search Search the floor plan to find a person, desk or room and see where it is. | Included | Included | | Closure management Close buildings for holidays or events. Pro adds floor, neighborhood and space closures. | Buildings only | Included | | Kadence Flex on-demand workspaces Book coworking desks and rooms worldwide through the LiquidSpace network. | Included | Included | | Booking Scheduler role Let assistants or coordinators book on behalf of others. | Included | Included | | Native Android app and new iOS booking flow Faster, rebuilt mobile booking on both platforms. | Included | Included | **Rooms and calendar 7** | Feature | Team | Pro | | --- | --- | --- | | Room booking with two-way calendar sync Book rooms in Kadence, Outlook or Google Calendar with live sync both ways. | Included | Included | | Recurring room bookings Book the same room on a repeating schedule. | Included | Included | | Room booking editing Change a room booking in place. | Included | Included | | Outlook add-in Find and book rooms from inside Outlook. | Included | Included | | Kadence Room Displays Door-side screens show live availability, allow one-tap booking and check-in, release no-shows and raise tickets. | Not included | Included | | Room displays on Neat devices Run Kadence room displays and kiosks on Neat hardware. | Not included | Included | | Catering and ticketing Order catering with a room booking and report facility issues. | Included | Included | **Visitors 8** | Feature | Team | Pro | | --- | --- | --- | | Visitor management Invite, register and track visitors with host notifications and central logs. | Included | Included | | Visitor kiosk and QR check-in Visitors check themselves in at an iPad, Android or Neat kiosk, or by QR code. | Not included | Included | | Walk-in visitors and visitor check-out Handle walk-in visitors and record when they leave. | Included | Included | | Badge printing and visitor photos Print visitor badges at the kiosk, with photos and multiple badge profiles. | Not included | Included | | VMS Documents Visitors sign NDAs and policies digitally at check-in. | Not included | Paid add-on | | Employee check-in at the kiosk Employees can also check in at the visitor kiosk. | Not included | Included | | Kiosk branding Apply brand colors to the kiosk experience. | Not included | Included | | Multiple hosts per visitor Notify several hosts for one guest. | Included | Included | **Moves and floor plans 4** | Feature | Team | Pro | | --- | --- | --- | | Move Manager Plan and run new starters, leavers, ad-hoc assignments and team relocations, with recommendations and auto-assign. | Not included | Included | | Bulk auto-assign and bulk move uploads Seat many people at once from recommendations or a spreadsheet. | Not included | Included | | Move notifications and personal move sheets Employees get emails and a personal sheet telling them where they are moving. | Not included | Included | | Editable floor plans Edit floor plans in the browser, review the impact and activate changes, with version rollback. Included with SpaceOps. | Not included | Paid add-on | **People data and HRIS 6** | Feature | Team | Pro | | --- | --- | --- | | HRIS integration Sync new starters, leavers and leave dates from Workday, BambooHR or HiBob to drive seating. | Not included | Included | | Automatic leaver removal People who leave are removed from seats automatically. | Not included | Included | | HRIS fields via API Customers with other HR systems can push HR fields in by API. | Not included | Included | | Directory sync and attribute-based teams Build teams from directory attributes, with manual members and custom attribute mapping. | Included | Included | | Google Workspace attribute and photo sync Pull custom attributes and profile photos from Google Workspace. | Included | Included | | SFTP directory sync Sync people data by secure file drop when API sync is not an option. | Included | Included | **Employee experience 6** | Feature | Team | Pro | | --- | --- | --- | | Workplace events with RSVP Publish office events and let people RSVP on web and mobile. | Not included | Included | | Employee surveys Run pulse and event surveys inside Kadence. | Not included | Included | | Workplace announcements Send announcements to Slack, Teams, email and the mobile app. | Included | Included | | Team coordination Starred colleagues, Team Kadence, smart suggestions and notifications help people come in on the same days. | Included | Included | | Incognito mode Employees can hide their location from colleagues. | Included | Included | | 38 languages Use Kadence in 38 languages. | Included | Included | **Presence and automatic check-in 5** | Feature | Team | Pro | | --- | --- | --- | | Kadence Agent Wi-Fi auto check-in The desktop agent detects office presence and checks people in, no sensors needed. | Included | Included | | Automatic bookings Creates a booking when someone turns up without one, for accurate occupancy. | Included | Included | | Enhanced network detection Floor-level, VPN-aware presence using internal network signals. | Included | Included | | Agent auto login (Entra, Okta) The agent signs in automatically, silently on Windows with Entra. | Included | Included | | Check-in from other signals Check-ins from the kiosk, room displays, badge data or the public API. | Included | Included | **Analytics 4** | Feature | Team | Pro | | --- | --- | --- | | Workplace Insights Attendance, occupancy, no-shows, heatmaps, average weekly hours and CSV export. | Included | Included | | Choose what counts as in-office Decide whether lockers and parking count toward attendance. | Included | Included | | Insights Plus custom dashboards Custom dashboards, including policy compliance reporting. | Paid add-on | Included | | Bookings export with audit detail Exports show who created a booking and who checked in. | Included | Included | ##### Platform, AI and security **AI and assistants 2** | Feature | Team | Pro | | --- | --- | --- | | Kadence MCP server Early access Book desks, rooms, parking and visitors, check in and ask space questions from Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot, with per-user OAuth 2.1 and existing permissions. An admin turns it on. | Included | Included | | Kadence AI in Teams and Slack Book desks and rooms by chatting with Kadence in Teams or Slack. | Included | Included | **Integrations 4** | Feature | Team | Pro | | --- | --- | --- | | Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365, Slack and Google Calendar apps Use Kadence inside the tools people already work in. | Included | Included | | Public REST API with API keys Build custom integrations and data pipelines. | Included | Included | | Outbound webhooks Send real-time events to other systems such as security or badge tools. | Included | Included | | Audit Export API Stream audit logs to a SIEM with 180 days of history. | Included | Included | **Admin and security 8** | Feature | Team | Pro | | --- | --- | --- | | SSO and SCIM directory sync Sign in with Okta, Entra, Google, OneLogin, JumpCloud and more, and provision users automatically. | Included | Included | | Mandatory SSO and passkey sign-in Require SSO, or let people sign in with passkeys. | Included | Included | | Custom roles and permissions Build roles with exactly the permissions each admin needs. | Not included | Included | | Building-scoped admins Limit Building Admins to specific buildings. | Included | Included | | Regional data hosting (US and EU) Keep customer data in the chosen region. | Included | Included | | SOC 2 Type II and Cyber Essentials Independent security certifications for procurement. | Included | Included | | PII data retention controls Set how long personal data is kept. | Included | Included | | Default notification settings Admins set default notifications for everyone. | Included | Included | ##### SpaceOps add-on Every feature below is included with SpaceOps. **Planning 5** | Feature | SpaceOps | | --- | --- | | AI planning agent Ask in plain language to build or change stack and space plans. | Included | | Stack planning with auto-stack Place teams on floors automatically, then drag, lock or close floors. | Included | | Scenario planning Compare several scenarios side by side before committing. | Included | | Space planning to seat level Go from the stack plan down to seating layouts on real floor plans. WorkOps includes basic space planning. | Included | | Guided workflows Step-by-step flows to restack a building, consolidate floors or find space for a team. | Included | **Execution and outputs 3** | Feature | SpaceOps | | --- | --- | | Publish plans to WorkOps Push an approved plan into live neighborhoods and assignments. | Included | | Share-ready PDF exports Export plans as PDFs for stakeholders. | Included | | Floor plan import and editing Import plans and edit them, included with SpaceOps. | Included | **Data 2** | Feature | SpaceOps | | --- | --- | | Occupancy and visitor data as planning input Plans use real WorkOps attendance, occupancy and visitor data. | Included | | Data API integrations Bring workplace data in, or push it out, by API. Available with WorkOps and SpaceOps. | Included | Got questions? #### A global team of workplace experts. Serving leading organizations around the world. Our experts will help you set off on the right foot with all the support needed to get started: - Tailored advice on flexible work solutions that cater to your workforce - Best practices and recommendations to drive office adoption - Insights on office usage and work patterns to drive space efficiency - Customized onboarding training for your Kadence rollout [Let’s talk]() What a quote covers #### Scope, rollout and support, line by line. - Buildings, floors and seats in scope - WorkOps Team or Pro, SpaceOps, or the Enterprise Bundle - Integrations: Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google, Okta, Workday, HRIS, badge and sensor systems - Rollout by building or region, onboarding and adoption measurement - Implementation, customer success and the security review [Get a quote]() **What is the difference between WorkOps Team and WorkOps Pro?** WorkOps Team covers booking, analytics, integrations and the Kadence MCP server (in early access). WorkOps Pro adds workplace events, the visitor kiosk, surveys, advanced closure management, HRIS integration, Move Manager, room displays and Insights Plus. Editable floor plans and VMS Documents are paid add-ons, and Team can add Insights Plus. **How does SpaceOps fit with WorkOps?** SpaceOps works with WorkOps Team or Pro and includes floor plan editing. The Enterprise Bundle combines WorkOps Pro and SpaceOps. **How is Kadence billed?** Active-user billing: you are charged for people who make a booking within the month, so the bill follows real use and scales as you roll out. Contracts run a minimum of one year, billed annually. **Is there a set-up cost?** No. Onboarding and implementation are $0 on every plan. Quotes are available in your local currency. **What does the proposal cover?** The products in scope (WorkOps Team or Pro, SpaceOps or the Enterprise Bundle), buildings and floors, integrations, the rollout sequence, onboarding, customer success and the security review. [Business case first? See what your office could save A few questions, a three-year number your CFO can check.]() ## Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/privacy-policy/ Description: Kadence privacy and data protection documents: the Privacy Policy, Data Subjects Policy, Data Policy and Retention Schedule, and the Data Processing Addendum. ### Privacy And Data Protection #### [Privacy Policy]() #### [Data Subjects Policy]() #### [Data Policy And Retention Schedule]() #### [Data Processing Addendum]() ## Website Privacy Policy | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/privacy-policygdpr/ Description: How Kadence collects, uses and protects personal information from visitors to kadence.co. ### Privacy Policy Effective Date: April 17, 2025 #### **Introduction** At Kadence (“Kadence,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), your privacy is our priority. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our public website www.kadence.co (“Website”). Note: This policy applies solely to our public-facing Website. If you are using our SaaS product platform (“Platform”), a separate privacy framework governs how data is collected, processed, and used within that environment. This is covered in our [DPA](). We do not use cookies or marketing tracking on the Platform, and data submitted through it is never used for advertising. By using our Website, you consent to the data practices described in this policy. If you disagree with any part of this policy, please refrain from using the Website. #### **1. Information We Collect** We collect personal information from various sources, including directly from you, automatically when you use our Website, and from third-party partners. Categories of personal information we may collect include: - Identifiers: Full name, email address, IP address, mailing address, phone number - Commercial information: Records of products or services purchased, obtained, or considered - Internet or other electronic network activity: Browser type, browsing history, search history, website interactions, cookies - Employment-related information: Job title, company name, work schedule - Geolocation data: Approximate location derived from IP address Sources of personal data: - Directly from you (e.g., web forms, account registration) - Automatically through cookies and tracking tools - Third parties (e.g., analytics providers, data enrichment services) #### **2. Legal Basis for Processing (where applicable)** Under laws such as the GDPR and UK GDPR, we rely on the following legal bases for processing personal data: - Consent: You have given explicit consent - Contract: Necessary to fulfill a contract or pre-contractual obligations - Legal obligation: Required to comply with applicable laws - Legitimate interests: To operate, improve, and secure our services #### **3. How We Use Your Data** We use the personal information we collect for various business and operational purposes, including to: - Provide, maintain, and improve our Website and services - Process payments and fulfill orders - Communicate with you about products, services, or account-related matters - Send promotional materials and conduct marketing (Website only) - Analyze and monitor usage patterns and user behavior - Detect, investigate, and prevent fraud and security incidents - Comply with legal obligations #### **4. Use of Cookies (Website Only)** We use cookies and similar technologies to: - Analyze website usage and traffic - Customize your browsing experience - Measure the effectiveness of our advertisements - Store user preferences and authentication status You can set your browser to refuse cookies or alert you when cookies are being sent. Note that disabling cookies may limit certain functionalities. **Cookies are not used on the Kadence platform** #### **5. Sharing of Personal Information** **We do not sell your personal information.** We may share your data with: - Service providers: Hosting, infrastructure, customer support, analytics, and marketing providers - Payment processors: To facilitate transactions (only relevant to the Platform) - Affiliates and subsidiaries: For internal operations and legal compliance - Legal authorities: When required to comply with legal obligations or to protect rights #### **6. Data Retention** We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, including: - Website data: Retained until deletion is requested - Platform data: Retained while the account is active, and for 30 days after closure We may retain some information longer to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, or enforce agreements. #### **7. Your Privacy Rights** Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights: - Access to personal data (CA, EU, UK, AU) - Request deletion (CA, EU, UK) - Correct inaccuracies (CA, EU, UK, AU) - Withdraw consent (EU, UK, CA) - Object to or restrict processing (EU, UK) - Data portability (EU, UK) - Remain anonymous or use pseudonyms (AU) - Opt-out of marketing (CA, EU, AU) - Lodge a complaint with a regulator (CA, EU, UK, AU) To exercise these rights, email privacy@kadence.co with your name and the nature of your request. We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling your request. #### **8. Children’s Privacy** Our Website is not intended for children under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal data from children. #### **9. Data Transfers** We operate globally and may transfer your information to countries including the United States, United Kingdom, European Union member states, and Canada. These countries may have different data protection laws than your jurisdiction. We implement appropriate safeguards (such as Standard Contractual Clauses) to ensure your personal information remains protected. #### **10. Data Security** We implement technical and organizational measures to safeguard your data, including: - Encryption in transit and at rest - Secure socket layer (SSL) technology - Firewalls and access controls - Employee confidentiality training - Regular audits and vendor assessments #### **11. Do Not Track** Some browsers offer a “Do Not Track” feature. Our Website does not currently respond to these signals. #### **12. Third-Party Website Links** Our Website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of those third-party sites. We encourage you to read their privacy policies. #### **13. Changes to This Policy** We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. If we make significant changes, we will notify you through our Website or by other appropriate means. Last updated: April 2025 #### **13. Contact Us** Data Protection Officer Kadence, Inc. Email: privacy@kadence.co Phone: 415-758-4757 If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact: - OAIC (Australia) - Office of the Privacy Commissioner (Canada) - Your local data protection authority (EU/UK) ## Product Updates - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/ Description: Kadence release notes: new features and improvements, newest first. ### Product Updates April 30, 2026 #### [Meet SpaceOps. AI Built to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() We’ve just launched SpaceOps, AI built specifically to plan, model, schedule, and execute workplace change. What’s new in SpaceOps Conversational AI planning – Tell SpaceOps what you’re trying to do. Reducing your footprint by two floors? Absorbing 300 new starters? It asks the right questions, pulls in your real occupancy data, and \[…\] [Read update: Meet SpaceOps. AI Built to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change]() March 18, 2026 #### [Kadence Room Displays Bring Live Availability and Real Workplace Intelligence to Every Door]() Most room displays show you what’s booked. That’s not the same as showing you what’s actually happening. Ghost meetings, no-shows, and empty-but-blocked rooms cost enterprises more than they realise — and a panel on the wall that just mirrors your calendar isn’t going to fix it. That’s why we built Kadence Room Displays as part \[…\] [Read update: Kadence Room Displays Bring Live Availability and Real Workplace Intelligence to Every Door]() January 17, 2026 #### [Kadence’s New Visitor Management System Brings Enterprise-Grade Operations to Every Office]() Managing visitors shouldn’t mean managing inconsistency. But when every office runs its own process — different check-in flows, different badge setups, different compliance steps — the gaps show up fast. That’s why we rebuilt Visitor Management as a core capability of the Kadence platform. Now, workplace and security teams can standardize visitor operations globally, scale \[…\] [Read update: Kadence’s New Visitor Management System Brings Enterprise-Grade Operations to Every Office]() November 4, 2025 #### [Kadence’s New Outlook Plug-in Simplifies Meeting Room Management]() Booking a meeting room shouldn’t slow your team down. But between switching tools, chasing availability, and fixing double bookings, it often does. That’s why we built a plug-in for Outlook, connecting Kadence directly with Microsoft Outlook so employees can find, filter, and book rooms without ever leaving their calendar. Now your teams can: It’s the \[…\] [Read update: Kadence’s New Outlook Plug-in Simplifies Meeting Room Management]() October 13, 2025 #### [The Kadence Agent Is Now Available On ChromeOS]() Workplace leaders can now get the same accurate, real-time attendance data from every device, including Chromebooks. This new ChromeOS-compatible version of the Kadence Agent brings automatic bookings, check-ins, and presence detection to a wider range of teams, ensuring your workplace data is complete, reliable, and ready to drive smarter decisions. Download the Kadence Agent for \[…\] [Read update: The Kadence Agent Is Now Available On ChromeOS]() September 18, 2025 #### [Accurate Occupancy Data With Automatic Bookings]() We’ve expanded Kadence Agent with Automatic Bookings, giving enterprises accurate, real-time occupancy data without manual effort. Automatic Bookings ensure every square foot and every employee hour is accounted for. By eliminating false bookings and missed check-ins, enterprises gain clean, reliable data to optimize portfolio strategy, ensure compliance, and maximize ROI. Leaders can plan with confidence, \[…\] [Read update: Accurate Occupancy Data With Automatic Bookings]() August 6, 2025 #### [Enhanced Bulk Uploads For Scalable Space Management]() We’ve expanded our bulk CSV upload capabilities to support not just creation, but full-scale editing and continuous management of your workplace setup. Global and Building Admins can efficiently update spaces, neighborhoods, and related settings, including assigning users, managing amenities, adjusting capacities, and applying booking rules, all from a single upload. This enhancement is built for \[…\] [Read update: Enhanced Bulk Uploads For Scalable Space Management]() June 20, 2025 #### [Global Language Support]() Expanding Support For Global Teams With 30 New Languages Kadence now offers native platform support for 30 new languages, delivering a seamless, intuitive experience for every employee, in every office, and in every region. Transforming Kadence into a truly global platform—ready for fast rollouts, the addition of 30 new languages increases onboarding and adoption, as \[…\] [Read update: Global Language Support]() May 15, 2025 #### [Introducing Employee Surveys]() Turn Employee Feedback Into Action With Surveys Introducing Employee Surveys—giving workplace leaders a powerful way to gather real employee insight. Whether it’s evaluating hybrid compliance, justifying office space investments, or measuring the success of your events, you need feedback from the people who are actually experiencing it! Employee Surveys simplify reaching the right people, at the \[…\] [Read update: Introducing Employee Surveys]() April 10, 2025 #### [Release 3.9.0]() Customized Workplace Analytics Built By Our Data Science Team Introducing Insights Plus, a powerful add-on that delivers bespoke, customizable workplace analytics for your organization. Designed in collaboration with our data science team, Insights Plus provides workplace and HR leaders with automated reporting embedded within Kadence, helping you to: Say goodbye to manual reporting and fragmented \[…\] [Read update: Release 3.9.0]() [Page 1]() [Page 2]() [Page 3]() [Next]() #### Sign Up For Product Updates Get Kadence product release updates straight to your inbox. [Sign up for updates]() ## Accurate Occupancy Data With Automatic Bookings - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/accurate-occupancy-data-with-automatic-bookings/ Description: We’ve expanded Kadence Agent with Automatic Bookings, giving enterprises accurate, real-time occupancy data without manual effort. Automatic Bookings ensure every square foot and every employee hour is accounted for. By eliminating false bookings and missed check-ins, enterprises gain clean, reliable data to optimize portfolio strategy, ensure compliance, and maximize ROI. Leaders can plan with confidence, […] [All product updates]() ### Accurate Occupancy Data With Automatic Bookings Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · September 18, 2025 New We’ve expanded Kadence Agent with **Automatic Bookings**, giving enterprises accurate, real-time occupancy data without manual effort. - **Seamless presence capture**: Every on-site arrival, employee, visitor, or contractor is logged instantly. - **Frictionless check-in**: No QR codes, no missed reservations, no ghost data. - **Trusted single source of truth**: Occupancy data flows directly into your workplace operations platform. Automatic Bookings ensure every square foot and every employee hour is accounted for. By eliminating false bookings and missed check-ins, enterprises gain clean, reliable data to optimize portfolio strategy, ensure compliance, and maximize ROI. Leaders can plan with confidence, knowing they have a real-time command center for people and space. Check out our full setup guide [here]() or contact your Customer Success Manager to activate Automatic Bookings and unlock accurate occupancy data across your enterprise. A stylized design of the Kadence Agent reflecting average weekday occupancy per month data. \*Available on the Kadence web app. ## Enhanced Bulk Uploads For Scalable Space Management - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/enhanced-bulk-uploads-for-scalable-space-management/ Description: We’ve expanded our bulk CSV upload capabilities to support not just creation, but full-scale editing and continuous management of your workplace setup. Global and Building Admins can efficiently update spaces, neighborhoods, and related settings, including assigning users, managing amenities, adjusting capacities, and applying booking rules, all from a single upload. This enhancement is built for […] [All product updates]() ### Enhanced Bulk Uploads For Scalable Space Management Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · August 6, 2025 New We’ve expanded our bulk CSV upload capabilities to support not just creation, but full-scale editing and continuous management of your workplace setup. Global and Building Admins can efficiently update spaces, neighborhoods, and related settings, including assigning users, managing amenities, adjusting capacities, and applying booking rules, all from a single upload. This enhancement is built for enterprise organizations managing dynamic environments at scale. It removes the need for repetitive UI tasks or support involvement, enabling faster onboarding and more agile operations across your footprint. [See how it works]() The bulk uploads settings in the Kadence Web app. \*Available on the Kadence web app. New #### Simplify Extended Bookings With Multi-Day Bookings Managing extended or overnight work schedules just became seamless. With Multi-Day Booking Support, users can reserve desks, rooms, or other resources across multiple days in a single booking. Admins maintain full control over availability by building or resource. This eliminates the need for multiple daily bookings, especially for shift-based work. Users can set an end date during booking, and everything is reflected accurately across calendars, schedules, analytics, and exports. [Learn more]() The space booking screen inside the Kadence platform. \*Available on the Kadence web app. New #### Flexible Team Creation With Custom Directory Attribute Mapping Kadence now supports custom attribute mapping for directory sync, giving organizations more flexibility in managing teams and user profiles. Admins can automatically create teams using combinations of attributes like department and location, enrich profiles with additional data, and manage team visibility as needed. This solves a common challenge for large organizations where group-based mapping does not reflect real-world structures. Admins can define rules that match their internal logic and rely on automation to handle the rest. Setup is supported by updated documentation to simplify configuration and keep directory data in sync. [Learn more]() Attribute mapping example \*Available on the Kadence web app. New #### Precision Booking With Deep Linking Enhancements Kadence booking links are now more powerful and accurate. Admins can add `floorId`, `spaceId`, and `type` parameters to link directly to specific desks, rooms, floors, or other resource types. Previously, links only supported basic location and time. Now, you can enable: - QR codes on desks or rooms that open pre-filled booking pages - Internal shortcuts to commonly used spaces or resource types These upgrades improve user experience and support better signage and navigation. [Learn more]() A QR code for booking a space on Kadence. \*Available on the Kadence web app. Improvement #### Fairer Space Access With Global Booking Duration Controls Global Admins can now set maximum booking durations for each resource type, such as desks, rooms, or parking, within Global Settings. This helps prevent extended reservations that limit access for others. As multi-day bookings become available, this control reduces the risk of misuse, such as reserving multiple days with a single credit. Admins can apply global rules while still allowing local overrides for specific needs. These limits apply across all booking flows and APIs for consistent enforcement. [Learn more]() Maximum booking durations toggle in Kadence settings. \*Available on the Kadence web app. Improvement #### Tailored Booking Defaults For Every Space Type Admins now have full control over default booking durations per resource type. Choose between an Automatic option based on user working hours or a Custom setting with fixed time inputs. Previously, defaults were locked by resource type and lacked flexibility. Now, Admins can define realistic starting points, like full-day desk use or shorter pod sessions, to match real usage patterns. Users can still adjust durations manually within any constraints set by admins. Default booking duration toggle in Kadence settings. \*Available on the Kadence web app. ## Global Language Support - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/global-language-support/ Description: Expanding Support For Global Teams With 30 New Languages Kadence now offers native platform support for 30 new languages, delivering a seamless, intuitive experience for every employee, in every office, and in every region. Transforming Kadence into a truly global platform—ready for fast rollouts, the addition of 30 new languages increases onboarding and adoption, as […] [All product updates]() ### Global Language Support Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · June 20, 2025 New **Expanding Support For Global Teams With 30 New Languages** Kadence now offers native platform support for 30 new languages, delivering a seamless, intuitive experience for every employee, in every office, and in every region. Transforming Kadence into a *truly global platform*—ready for fast rollouts, the addition of 30 new languages increases onboarding and adoption, as well as low support costs across all your operating markets. - **38 fully integrated languages**, from German to Vietnamese to Ukrainian - **Localized across every touchpoint**: desktop, mobile, notifications, and in-app messages - **No additional setup required**—language preferences are set at the user level [See list of available languages]() Kadence's language selector within the settings menu \*Available on the Kadence web app, iOS, and Android platforms. Improvement **Faster Automatic Check-ins And More With New Kadence Agent Improvements** Through the downloadable Kadence Agent, Automatic Check-ins are the easiest way to get the most accurate presence detection data, whilst making it a frictionless experience for employees coming to the office. [Discover how to set up Automatic Check-ins here](). With this string of new updates, we’re making the Kadence Agent a whole lot smarter, so it’s easier for you to detect presence occupancy inside your office. We’re making software updates automatic so the Kadence Agent stays up to date with any new features we deploy. We’re speeding up automatic check-ins so you can check in when your computer wakes from sleep mode, or if you arrive ahead of your booking time. We’ve also included the ability to manage your notifications inside the Kadence Agent. The Kadence Agent system trap app modal \*Available on the Kadence web app. Improvement **Improved Visibility Of Space Restrictions And Assignments** We’ve improved the floor plan and booking interface to give users and admins greater clarity and control. Assigned desks, restricted areas, and booking rules are now clearly indicated with intuitive icons, tooltips, and consistent color cues, making it easy to see what’s available, what’s blocked, and what’s reserved. This solves confusion caused by missing visual cues, especially for admins who can override booking rules. With this update, everyone can book with greater confidence and fewer errors, reducing support issues and improving workplace management. Kadence's interactive floorplan showing better space restriction visibility \*Available on the Kadence web app, iOS, and Android platforms. ## Kadence Room Displays Bring Live Availability and Real Workplace Intelligence to Every Door - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/kadence-room-displays-bring-live-availability-and-real-workplace-intelligence-to-every-door/ Description: Most room displays show you what’s booked. That’s not the same as showing you what’s actually happening. Ghost meetings, no-shows, and empty-but-blocked rooms cost enterprises more than they realise — and a panel on the wall that just mirrors your calendar isn’t going to fix it. That’s why we built Kadence Room Displays as part […] [All product updates]() ### Kadence Room Displays Bring Live Availability and Real Workplace Intelligence to Every Door Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · March 18, 2026 New Most room displays show you what’s booked. That’s not the same as showing you what’s actually happening. Ghost meetings, no-shows, and empty-but-blocked rooms cost enterprises more than they realise — and a panel on the wall that just mirrors your calendar isn’t going to fix it. That’s why we built Kadence Room Displays as part of the platform, not bolted on top of it. Now your teams can: - **See live availability at a glance** — walk up, know instantly, no app needed - **Book in one tap** with instant sync to Outlook and Google Calendar - **Find-A-Room Nearby** if their space is taken, without leaving the door - **Check in to confirm occupancy** so unused rooms are released automatically - **Raise a support ticket on the spot** if something in the room needs fixing And for workplace leaders, every interaction becomes a data point — feeding real utilization insights directly into the Kadence platform across every office. Room Displays aren’t just a sign on the wall. They’re where your workplace platform meets physical reality. [Learn more about Kadence Room Displays]() Kadence Room Display tablet mounted outside a meeting room showing live availability, time remaining, and a one-tap Book button, powered by Kadence. ## Kadence’s New Outlook Plug-in Simplifies Meeting Room Management - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/kadences-new-outlook-plug-in-simplifies-meeting-room-management/ Description: Booking a meeting room shouldn’t slow your team down. But between switching tools, chasing availability, and fixing double bookings, it often does. That’s why we built a plug-in for Outlook, connecting Kadence directly with Microsoft Outlook so employees can find, filter, and book rooms without ever leaving their calendar. Now your teams can: It’s the […] [All product updates]() ### Kadence’s New Outlook Plug-in Simplifies Meeting Room Management Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · November 4, 2025 New Booking a meeting room shouldn’t slow your team down. But between switching tools, chasing availability, and fixing double bookings, it often does. That’s why we built a plug-in for Outlook, connecting Kadence directly with Microsoft Outlook so employees can find, filter, and book rooms without ever leaving their calendar. Now your teams can: - **Book rooms in half the time** all within Outlook - **Eliminate booking errors** with real-time two-way sync - **Standardize processes globally** for consistent data and governance - **Boost adoption instantly** no new platform to learn It’s the fastest way to bring clarity, confidence, and control to every meeting room across your organization. [Download the Kadence Outlook Plug-in Here]() The Kadence Room Meeting Room Booking Plug-in for Outlook. ## Kadence’s New Visitor Management System Brings Enterprise-Grade Operations to Every Office - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/kadences-new-visitor-management-system-brings-enterprise-grade-operations-to-every-office/ Description: Managing visitors shouldn’t mean managing inconsistency. But when every office runs its own process — different check-in flows, different badge setups, different compliance steps — the gaps show up fast. That’s why we rebuilt Visitor Management as a core capability of the Kadence platform. Now, workplace and security teams can standardize visitor operations globally, scale […] [All product updates]() ### Kadence’s New Visitor Management System Brings Enterprise-Grade Operations to Every Office Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · January 17, 2026 New Managing visitors shouldn’t mean managing inconsistency. But when every office runs its own process — different check-in flows, different badge setups, different compliance steps — the gaps show up fast. That’s why we rebuilt Visitor Management as a core capability of the Kadence platform. Now, workplace and security teams can standardize visitor operations globally, scale entry without front-desk dependency, and keep audit-ready records by default — all from one place. Now your teams can: - **Remove front-desk bottlenecks** with self-service kiosks and QR-based check-in - **Standardize visitor workflows globally** with policies set once and enforced everywhere - **Automate compliance steps** including digital NDAs, host notifications, and arrival coordination with Kadence AI - **Stay audit-ready by default** with encrypted, centralized visitor logs across every location - **See the full picture** as visitor activity feeds directly into SpaceOps alongside employee attendance data Visitor management isn’t a front-desk task. It’s part of how your workplace actually operates. Kadence is built for that reality. [Learn more about the new Visitor Management System]() Visitor self-check-in kiosk screen showing a welcome message for Central HQ, with check-in and check-out options, powered by Kadence. ## Meet SpaceOps. AI Built to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/meet-spaceops-the-first-ai-built-to-plan-schedule-and-execute-workplace-change/ Description: We’ve just launched SpaceOps, AI built specifically to plan, model, schedule, and execute workplace change. What’s new in SpaceOps Conversational AI planning – Tell SpaceOps what you’re trying to do. Reducing your footprint by two floors? Absorbing 300 new starters? It asks the right questions, pulls in your real occupancy data, and […] [All product updates]() ### Meet SpaceOps. AI Built to Plan, Schedule, and Execute Workplace Change Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · April 30, 2026 New We’ve just launched SpaceOps, AI built specifically to plan, model, schedule, and execute workplace change. **What’s new in SpaceOps** **Conversational AI planning** – Tell SpaceOps what you’re trying to do. Reducing your footprint by two floors? Absorbing 300 new starters? It asks the right questions, pulls in your real occupancy data, and builds a plan you can defend. No spreadsheets. No consultants. **Space planning** – Take a completed stack plan all the way to a detailed seating layout. The AI agent understands your floor plans, headcount, and team structure, and builds out zone assignments and desk placements through conversation. A live floor plan updates in the sidebar as you go. **Scenario modeling** – Run multiple versions of the same change side by side. Adjust headcount assumptions, swap floor allocations, stress-test the numbers, then compare before committing to anything. **Stack planning** – AI-optimized team distribution across your floors, informed by actual usage patterns. Not what your directory says your headcount is, but who’s actually using the building and how often. Auto-stack suggestions with full override control. **Floor plan import and editing** – Import your floor plans directly inside SpaceOps. Rearrange desks, define zones, update layouts. Draft changes stay provisional until you’re ready to publish. **Execution** – When the plan is ready, SpaceOps publishes it. Floor configurations update in Kadence, team assignments go live, and the change is handed to WorkOps Pro to manage on the day. One button. No manual steps. No re-entering anything you’ve already decided. **Share-ready exports** – Export your stack plan or floor plan assignment as a polished, presentation-ready document. Built for stakeholder reviews and approval conversations. [Learn more about SpaceOps →]() SpaceOps agent showing a building expansion move summary — 247 people moving across 8 teams, with per-team briefings drafted and a Sunday move window scheduled in Kadence. ## Product Updates - Page 2 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/page/2/ Description: Kadence release notes: new features and improvements, newest first. Page 2 of 3. ### Product Updates March 11, 2025 #### [Release 3.8.1]() Automatically Check In Via WiFi Through The Kadence Agent We’re excited to introduce the Kadence Agent, an intelligent presence management tool designed for the modern workplace. With the Kadence Agent, you can now enjoy automatic WiFi check-ins, eliminating the need for manual input and ensuring accurate attendance monitoring across all your office locations. Key Features: \[…\] [Read update: Release 3.8.1]() March 5, 2025 #### [Release 3.8.0]() Improved Booking Flow With Smarter Working Hours Update When booking on behalf of someone else, their preferred working hours will now be applied automatically instead of the host’s. This ensures that meetings are scheduled at times that work for them, reducing conflicts and manual adjustments, resulting in a smoother, more reliable booking experience for everyone. \[…\] [Read update: Release 3.8.0]() January 17, 2025 #### [Release 3.7.0]() New Booking Superpowers For Global Administrators And Coordinators Great news! As a Global Administrator or Coordinator, you’re no longer limited to standard booking rules. \*Available on the Kadence web & Mobile app integrations. [Read update: Release 3.7.0]() November 8, 2024 #### [Release 3.6.0]() Remote Working Status In today’s mix of office and remote work, team managers struggle to know when their remote employees are available to collaborate without wasting office space. Often, employees book desks or rooms they won’t use just to show they’re around. This causes two problems: it gives false information about office use and stops \[…\] [Read update: Release 3.6.0]() September 17, 2024 #### [Release 3.5.0]() Kadence AI Seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Teams and Slack, Kadence AI enables you to discover where your team are sitting or when they’re going into the office. Book desks, rooms, lockers, private pods and parking spaces for you and others, as well as enable you to amend your bookings. Kadence AI is a natural language \[…\] [Read update: Release 3.5.0]() August 8, 2024 #### [Release 3.4.0]() Additional Space Types Lockers, pods, and parking spaces have now been added as bookable space types to the Kadence platform. All of these new space types can be configured in all the same ways you could with desks in the past. Create a neighborhood of lockers, repeat a booking for a parking spot, and set \[…\] [Read update: Release 3.4.0]() June 12, 2024 #### [Release 3.3.0]() Maximum Booking Durations You know those popular areas of the office? The one’s with all the snacks and trendy office furniture nearby? It’s almost impossible to find available spaces because they’re always booked. Well, now you can set Maximum Booking Durations to make sure everyone gets the opportunity to make bookings in those exclusive areas. And \[…\] [Read update: Release 3.3.0]() April 17, 2024 #### [Release 3.2.0]() PII Retention This change introduces a global setting that can only be accessed by a Global Admin. The setting allows administrators to configure the retention period for Personally Identifiable Information (PII). The retention period will be specified in days. The retention period will also begin on the day of the space booking and will only \[…\] [Read update: Release 3.2.0]() April 9, 2024 #### [Release 3.1.0]() Workplace Announcements With Workplace Announcements, you can create, schedule, and instantly send notifications to any team, in any location. Whether promoting a social event or informing your employees of important company information, Workplace announcements enable you to send messages with confidence. Explore more here \*Available on the Kadence web app Request And Accept Starred \[…\] [Read update: Release 3.1.0]() February 19, 2024 #### [Release 3.0.0]() Kadence Flex Kadence Flex connects you to the biggest international marketplace for flexible office space suitable for your hybrid teams. Oversee your entire hybrid workforce and office space through a single platform. Reserve a hot desk, a meeting room, or a private office space in any global location and save significantly on office space expenses \[…\] [Read update: Release 3.0.0]() [Previous]() [Page 1]() [Page 2]() [Page 3]() [Next]() #### Sign Up For Product Updates Get Kadence product release updates straight to your inbox. [Sign up for updates]() ## Product Updates - Page 3 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/page/3/ Description: Kadence release notes: new features and improvements, newest first. Page 3 of 3. ### Product Updates January 22, 2024 #### [Release 2.3.0]() Advanced Booking Window By Space Type Particular spaces such as Conference Rooms are vital resources for Hybrid Workplaces, and without a way of monitoring how they’re used and booked it can be easy for individuals to misuse or hog these resources. Beforehand Kadence allowed you to set a booking in advance window that affected every \[…\] [Read update: Release 2.3.0]() [Previous]() [Page 1]() [Page 2]() [Page 3]() #### Sign Up For Product Updates Get Kadence product release updates straight to your inbox. [Sign up for updates]() ## Release 2.3.0 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/release-2-3-0/ Description: Advanced Booking Window By Space Type Particular spaces such as Conference Rooms are vital resources for Hybrid Workplaces, and without a way of monitoring how they’re used and booked it can be easy for individuals to misuse or hog these resources. Beforehand Kadence allowed you to set a booking in advance window that affected every […] [All product updates]() ### Release 2.3.0 Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · January 22, 2024 New **Advanced Booking Window By Space Type** Particular spaces such as Conference Rooms are vital resources for Hybrid Workplaces, and without a way of monitoring how they’re used and booked it can be easy for individuals to misuse or hog these resources. Beforehand Kadence allowed you to set a booking in advance window that affected every space globally. Now with Kadence you can create an Advanced Booking Window for each individual space type allowing you to choose how far in advance your teams can book each space type separately. Advanced space booking window to help hybrid workplaces manage their bookings and spaces \*Available on the Kadence web app New **Ticketing** This new feature allows users to raise issues with equipment, amenities, spaces, and other problems through the Kadence platform whenever they arise. Simply create custom ticket categories in the Kadence web app and choose an email recipient for the raised ticket to go to whether that is your on-site maintenance person or a ticketing platform you already use. Use the Kadence Hybrid Operating Platform to raise tickets so you can store them in one place \*Available on the Kadence web app New **Co-Branding** Enhance the hybrid workplace experience for your teams by customizing Kadence with your own brand. Upload your own Logo to the Kadence Hybrid Operating Platform to give your team the best hybrid working experience \*Available on the Kadence web app Improved **Insights Improvements** Our recent [Workplace Insights]() improvements burst onto the scene last month giving Facility Managers all the booking and attendance data they needed within one centralized platform. As a bonus, we wanted to give Team Managers Workplace Insights too so they can visualize, track, and understand their team’s bookings all in one place. Enable Team Managers to understand their team's booking and attendance metrics through Kadence \*Available on the Kadence web app ## Release 3.0.0 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/release-3-0-0/ Description: Kadence Flex Kadence Flex connects you to the biggest international marketplace for flexible office space suitable for your hybrid teams. Oversee your entire hybrid workforce and office space through a single platform. Reserve a hot desk, a meeting room, or a private office space in any global location and save significantly on office space expenses […] [All product updates]() ### Release 3.0.0 Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · February 19, 2024 New **Kadence Flex** [Kadence Flex]() connects you to the biggest international marketplace for flexible office space suitable for your hybrid teams. Oversee your entire hybrid workforce and office space through a single platform. Reserve a hot desk, a meeting room, or a private office space in any global location and save significantly on office space expenses by paying only for the flexible space you require. The introduction of Kadence Flex also boasts an entirely new booking flow. Now it’s easier than ever to find the hot desks, and meeting rooms you need for whenever you need them. - An entirely new booking flow within the Kadence Platform - Get access to thousands of bookable workspaces wherever you are - Manage budgets and permissions per team and individuals - Get visibility into your team’s schedules and get notified whenever they’ve booked to go into an office so you can book a space and join them - Track all of your booking data and attendance metrics across all of your office locations in one centralized platform \*Available on the Kadence web app ## Release 3.1.0 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/release-3-1-0/ Description: Workplace Announcements With Workplace Announcements, you can create, schedule, and instantly send notifications to any team, in any location. Whether promoting a social event or informing your employees of important company information, Workplace announcements enable you to send messages with confidence. Explore more here *Available on the Kadence web app Request And Accept Starred […] [All product updates]() ### Release 3.1.0 Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · April 9, 2024 New **Workplace Announcements** With Workplace Announcements, you can create, schedule, and instantly send notifications to any team, in any location. Whether promoting a social event or informing your employees of important company information, Workplace announcements enable you to send messages with confidence. - Prepare and send one announcement to multiple platforms including Slack, Microsoft Teams, Email, and Mobile. - Promote social events and gatherings to give your team extra encouragement to come to the office. - Choose who you want the announcements to go to and segment by Teams, Preferred Building, or by Booking. - Plan your announcements now, to go out in the future, letting teams know of building closures, fire drills, and other important notifications ahead of time. [Explore more here]() \*Available on the Kadence web app Improved **Request And Accept Starred Colleagues** With the newly improved starred colleagues feature, admins can now configure policies and manage privacy settings effortlessly, while employees enjoy the freedom to accept/ignore starred colleague requests. - Status dashboard showing that a “starred colleague” request has been sent or pending - Email notifications alerting employees that they have received a “starred colleague” request - Individual employees will have the option to override the company’s default settings \*Available on the Kadence web app ## Introducing Employee Surveys - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/release-3-10-0/ Description: Turn Employee Feedback Into Action With Surveys Introducing Employee Surveys—giving workplace leaders a powerful way to gather real employee insight. Whether it’s evaluating hybrid compliance, justifying office space investments, or measuring the success of your events, you need feedback from the people who are actually experiencing it! Employee Surveys simplify reaching the right people, at the […] [All product updates]() ### Introducing Employee Surveys Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · May 15, 2025 New **Turn Employee Feedback Into Action With Surveys** Introducing Employee Surveys—giving workplace leaders a powerful way to gather real employee insight. Whether it’s evaluating hybrid compliance, justifying office space investments, or measuring the success of your events, you need feedback from the people who are actually experiencing it! Employee Surveys simplify reaching the right people, at the right times with the right questions to get the answers that matter — fast! - Create and send surveys all within Kadence - Target the right people automatically - Understand how your office is working with instant feedback Available on all plans. The ready to share your survey screen on the Kadence web app \*Available on the Kadence web app. Improvement **Fairer Access To High-Demand Resources** To make high-demand resource booking more equitable (parking, private pods, lockers etc), especially for employees with early routines or family responsibilities, Kadence now lets you set a specific time each day when advance bookings open — rather than defaulting to midnight. For example, with a 7-day window and a 9:00 AM release time, users can book a resource for 7 days time starting at 9:00 AM today. This improves fairness, reduces frustration, and gives organizations more control over when bookings become available. Resource settings inside the Kadence web app. \*Available on the Kadence web app. Improvement **Starred Colleagues Now On Android** Android users can now enjoy starring their favorite colleagues to get notified when they make a booking, or when they cancel. This will enable you to book nearby that day or reschedule coming into the office based on when your [starred colleagues]() are there. The Starred Colleagues screen on the Android Kadence App \*Available on the Kadence Android app. ## Release 3.2.0 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/release-3-2-0/ Description: PII Retention This change introduces a global setting that can only be accessed by a Global Admin. The setting allows administrators to configure the retention period for Personally Identifiable Information (PII). The retention period will be specified in days. The retention period will also begin on the day of the space booking and will only […] [All product updates]() ### Release 3.2.0 Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · April 17, 2024 New **PII Retention** > This change introduces a global setting that can only be accessed by a Global Admin. The setting allows administrators to configure the retention period for Personally Identifiable Information (PII). The retention period will be specified in days. > > > > > The retention period will also begin on the day of the space booking and will only apply to data fully controlled by Kadence. For example, data retention for room bookings will be managed within Microsoft 365, as it serves as the system of record for these types of bookings. Once the retention period has ended, all PII (names and email addresses) will be removed from the space booking. However, the booking itself will remain to provide historical occupancy insights and analytics. \*Available to Global Admins on the Kadence web app ## Release 3.3.0 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/release-3-3-0/ Description: Maximum Booking Durations You know those popular areas of the office? The one’s with all the snacks and trendy office furniture nearby? It’s almost impossible to find available spaces because they’re always booked. Well, now you can set Maximum Booking Durations to make sure everyone gets the opportunity to make bookings in those exclusive areas. And […] [All product updates]() ### Release 3.3.0 Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · June 12, 2024 New **Maximum Booking Durations** You know those popular areas of the office? The one’s with all the snacks and trendy office furniture nearby? It’s almost impossible to find available spaces because they’re always booked. Well, now you can set **Maximum Booking Durations** to make sure everyone gets the opportunity to make bookings in those exclusive areas. And speaking of trendy office furniture, this feature is super handy if you want to limit the time your employees sit on particular seats like stools or high seats for health and safety compliance. \*Available on the Kadence web app New **Limit Concurrent Bookings** Speaking of exclusive areas of the office, and those times that a desk looks available but it’s already been booked by someone else? Now Office Managers can **Limit Concurrent Bookings** to ensure their teams are not over-booking desks that they do not need. Stopping people booking multiple desks for their teammates who may or may not show up, and ensuring that everyone in the office who needs a space gets one. \*Available on the Kadence web app Improvement **Workplace Insights** Minor styling, wording & calculation tweaks to Insights to make it more usable. Improvement **Kadence Announcements** Completing the original scope of the Kadence Announcements that was released in 3.2.0. This primarily gives users the ability to edit already scheduled/sent announcements and the ability to set ‘excluded’ users in the target audience of an announcement. Improvement **Give Employees The Ability To Bulk-Select Their Own Bookings** Admins can currently bulk select and cancel bookings on the bookings list page. This will give employees the ability to bulk select & cancel their own bookings. e.g. ‘John’ is off on holiday next week and wants to cancel all of his bookings – right now to achieve this he needs to manually cancel each of his bookings. Improvement **Neighborhood Names To Be Unique By Floor And Not By Building** At the moment there is a restriction that a neighborhood in a building must be unique e.g. you can’t have a ‘Finance’ neighborhood on ‘Floor 1′ and another ‘Finance’ neighborhood on ‘Floor 2’. The purpose of this is to remove this restriction so that names need only be unique on a floor basis. Improvement **Show A User’s Colleagues By Default In The Booking Flow** In the booking flow – users can click a button to view where their colleagues are sitting on the floorplan (like in the office view). By default this is turned off, meaning users will only see availability by default, not who is sitting where. Improvement **Remove The Restriction On The Number Of Neighborhoods A Team Can Be Assigned** Currently, there’s an arbitrary limit where teams can only be assigned to 20 neighborhoods. We should remove this restriction so teams can be assigned to an infinite number of neighborhoods. Improvement **Prevent The ‘Welcome To Kadence’ Screen From Displaying When Onboarding** Currently the user experience for the ‘Welcome to Kadence’ is poor. When global admins log in for the first time they need to complete standard user onboarding, they are then presented with the ‘Welcome to Kadence’ screen & checklist of items to complete. When this screen is visible they can’t navigate anywhere else in the application. Improvement **Update Neighborhood Hover Color On Floorplans** Right now the hover color of floorplans is so faint that it’s almost impossible to see in both the new booking flow and the building floor screens. Improvement **Add A ‘Add Another’ Check Box To The ‘Add Amenity’ Modal** At the moment if the user wants to add a lot of amenities they need to keep clicking on the ‘Add amenity’ button in settings to reshow the ‘Add amenity’ modal. This aims to remove one button click for every amenity added. Improvement **Improve Password Error Message** This will improve the error messages presented to users when attempting to set up an account for the first time or resetting their password. This is not a perfect solution, but is a first step before adding more UX changes to the set password screen(s). To create a strong password use at least 12 characters, mix uppercase, lowercase, numbers, & symbols. Avoid personal information, common passwords, and sequences. If your password is rejected please try again. ## Release 3.4.0 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/release-3-4-0/ Description: Additional Space Types Lockers, pods, and parking spaces have now been added as bookable space types to the Kadence platform. All of these new space types can be configured in all the same ways you could with desks in the past. Create a neighborhood of lockers, repeat a booking for a parking spot, and set […] [All product updates]() ### Release 3.4.0 Team Kadence · August 8, 2024 New **Additional Space Types** Lockers, pods, and parking spaces have now been added as bookable space types to the Kadence platform. All of these new space types can be configured in all the same ways you could with desks in the past. Create a neighborhood of lockers, repeat a booking for a parking spot, and set maximum booking durations for private pods are some of the things you’re now able to do. The scale of autonomy you now have with space management is endless enabling users to manage their spaces in all of the ways they want to. \*Available on the Kadence web app New **Booking Credits** You can now restrict access to spaces that are in high demand to enable fair, and equal bookings across your organization. By implementing a transactional credit system users can only make bookings for these high-demand spaces when they have enough credits remaining to do so. \*Available on the Kadence web app New **Portuguese** Add the ability for users to select Portuguese as their language within Kadence. New **Starred Colleagues – Request To Follow (iOS)** Gives users the ability to ‘Request to Follow’ colleagues on mobile and mirrors the functionality that was added on iOS. Improvement **Show Room Bookings On The Homepage Dashboard** On the Homepage Dashboard, only organizers see their room bookings. This improvement will also list room bookings on the Homepage for attendees/participants. Improvement **Assigned Desk Settings** Adding a tooltip to the ‘Allow access on the following days’ label to provide more information on how assigned users work so users can make more informed decisions when configuring access. Improvement **Add An Empty State To The ‘Who’s In’ Modal** On the Homepage Dashboard, when the user clicks on the office activity chart, a modal is displayed to show users ‘who is in’ during the week. When no one is in we need to display an empty state. Improvement **Reorder The ‘Starred Colleagues’ Setting Options (Allow, Request, Disable)** Reorder the setting options for ‘Starred Colleagues’ so that they appear in the following order: 1. Disable 2. Allow users to accept/ignore star requests 3. Allow anyone to star anyone Improvement **Assign Desks Without Automatically Making Bookings** Allow desks to be restricted to one or more individuals without having perpetual bookings made. Improvement **Adjust The Scale On ‘Team Office Use Trends’** Within Kadence Insights, the “Team office use trends” graph is fixed to show 100% on the Y axis. This change makes the height of the Y-axis dynamic based on the content that is being displayed (rounded to the nearest 25%). e.g. the trend line hits a maximum of 40% – the Y-axis will be set at 50%. Improvement **Allow Users To Add Hyperlinks To Announcements** An upgrade to our newly released Workplace Announcement feature now enables users to add hyper links for anything they like. Improvement **Allow Users To Collapse Neighborhoods** Give users the ability to collapse and expand all neighbourhoods on a floor plan. ## Release 3.5.0 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/release-3-5-0/ Description: Kadence AI Seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Teams and Slack, Kadence AI enables you to discover where your team are sitting or when they’re going into the office. Book desks, rooms, lockers, private pods and parking spaces for you and others, as well as enable you to amend your bookings. Kadence AI is a natural language […] [All product updates]() ### Release 3.5.0 Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · September 17, 2024 New **Kadence AI** Seamlessly integrated with Microsoft Teams and Slack, [Kadence AI]() enables you to discover where your team are sitting or when they’re going into the office. Book desks, rooms, lockers, private pods and parking spaces for you and others, as well as enable you to amend your bookings. Kadence AI is a natural language interface helping you feel like you have your very own assistant on a daily basis. Simply ask Kadence AI what you need, and consider it done! An illustration of a chat with Kadence AI in Microsoft Teams. \*Available on the Kadence web & Mobile app integrations. New **Room Booking Comparison Dashboard** The current booking process is inflexible, only allowing you to book a specific room at a set time. While the live office shows availability for individual rooms, it doesn’t provide a comprehensive view. Now with Kadence, you’ll see a calendar comparison feature allowing you to compare, and choose the most suitable [rooms]() that meet your needs. The room booking comparison dashboard on the Kadence Web app \*Available on the Kadence web app New **Room Booking Service Accounts** A number of multi-tenant customers have ‘non-standard’ directory setups making it impossible for their users in Kadence to book rooms. With this new addition to Kadence, these users can quickly set up a Rooms Service account without having to rely on calendar access to underlying [Microsoft or Google calendars](). For the first time, you will now be able to find, compare, and book rooms. Add catering to your room booking. Choose the amenities you need and see all of your room usage data inside Kadence. Improvement **Disable User Check-In/Only Allow Check-Ins Via Public API** Preventing users from checking in ‘manually’ over the web app or mobile apps, even when they’re not in the office, now it’s possible is frustrating. It skews your usage data, and it doesn’t contribute to a thriving office environment. With this new improvement, you can disable manual check-ins by only allowing check-ins via your door access system, wifi setup, or any other method you have in place to ensure that users can only check in once they’re in the building. Improvement **Set Up Kadence For Longer In Advance** Currently, you can only see your booking plan for the next 8 days, which can make it difficult to know your plans further in advance. Now with this improvement, you can add more days to your schedule enabling you to see what’s coming up beyond 8 days, and plan further in advance so you’re teammates can stay in the loop. Improvement **Notify Users Of Starred Colleague ‘Follow’ Requests** This improvement notifies the user that someone wants to ‘star’ them so that they are aware and can approve or ignore it. Improvement **Priority Booking – Allow ‘Book On Day’** This encompasses two changes; 1. The ability to set 0 day(s) as an option (currently we are restricted to a minimum of 1 day). 2. The ability to select a time of day to which the space becomes available for booking in 15-minute increments. (We currently only support midnight). Improvement **Add A ‘One-Time Booking’ To Booking Filter Types** This improvement adds a “1-Time booking” option to a booking type filter. Improvement **Add A ‘Team’ Field To The Directory CSV Download** Thid improvement adds a ‘Team’ field to the Directory CSV download. Improvement **Edit Space = Change The Description For ‘Blocked’ Spaces** The slight improvement involves rewording the description of the toggle on the edit space screen to disable bookings for that particular space. Improvement **Instant Messenger – Add The Floor Name To The Starred Colleagues Notifications** Add a “Floor” into the starred colleague notifications to match all of the ‘other’ notifications, letting users know ‘where’ in a building their colleague is, not just the building, neighborhood and space. Improvement **Maintain The Filters On The Bookings Page** Before, after you selected your booking choices, and went through to the check-in screen, but scrolled back to make a change, the filters disappeared resulting in having to fill out your choices again. Now, Kadence keeps the same filters on the booking page selected, so if you have to go back to the bookings page after actioning a check-in, you don’t need to fill everything out again. Improvement **Show ‘Turn On’ Modal For Basic/Advanced Parking** This improvement prevents confusion by displaying a ‘turn on’ modal when any building has basic parking enabled or when global advanced parking is already turned on. ## Release 3.6.0 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/release-3-6-0/ Description: Remote Working Status In today’s mix of office and remote work, team managers struggle to know when their remote employees are available to collaborate without wasting office space. Often, employees book desks or rooms they won’t use just to show they’re around. This causes two problems: it gives false information about office use and stops […] [All product updates]() ### Release 3.6.0 Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · November 8, 2024 New **Remote Working Status** In today’s mix of office and remote work, team managers struggle to know when their remote employees are available to collaborate without wasting office space. Often, employees book desks or rooms they won’t use just to show they’re around. This causes two problems: it gives false information about office use and stops others from using those spaces. Our new Remote Working Status feature solves this. It lets employees easily check in, and show they’re available to collaborate from anywhere. This way, facility managers can see who’s around without using up office resources. Checking into your remote working day on October 22nd. \*Available on the Kadence web & Mobile app integrations. Improvements **Workplace Announcements Improvements** We wanted to improve the user experience and help you find a better way to help you manage your announcements inbox. With this small improvement, we’ve made it possible for you to select multiple announcements at once, mark as read or delete! Kadence's Workplace Announcements inbox Improvements **Public API – Room Booking And Check-In** Imagine a world where booking a meeting room was a time-consuming hassle, with employees struggling to find available spaces and often double-booking rooms, leading to frustration and wasted productivity. This new Public API for Room Booking and checking in, integrates with any method your company prefers, whether it’s Badging, Access control or over your companies WIFI. With this powerful solution, office workers can now effortlessly reserve and check into meeting rooms on-the-go, boosting efficiency, eliminating conflicts, and transforming the workplace into a hub of seamless collaboration. A view of a room booking made through kadence's API. \*Available on the Kadence web & Mobile app integrations. Improvements **Know Which Building Your Starred Colleague Is Working From** Currently from the starred colleague’s widget on the Homepage Dashboard, you can tell which office your colleagues are going to (and if they are going to a different office than yours). This improvement now caters better for companies that have multiple offices, instantly showing users if their Starred Colleagues are going to a different office that isn’t their preferred office. My starred colleagues showing you where your favorite teammates are working this week or next week. \*Available on the Kadence web app & iOS. Improvements **Ability To Search For Buildings** For non-Liquid space customers, users can now search for any buildings they want to make a booking in. The Kadence interface that shows how users can search for and make a booking inside their company's buildings. \*Available on the Kadence web app. Improvements **New Space-Type : Private Office** In one of our latest releases, we shipped Additional Space-Types enabling users to book Private pods, Lockers, and Parking Spaces. Now, users will be able to add Private Offices to their floorplans too. The Kadence interface that shows the ability to book a desk, a private office, on an onsite booking. \*Available on the Kadence web & Mobile app. Improvements **Add Your Location When Raising A Ticket** We wanted to improve the user experience for our Ticketing feature to provide more accurate data for your IT or Facility Managers. Now, when raising a ticket, users can add their location information to let the recipient know exactly where the problem is. The Kadence ticketing interface form. \*Available on the Kadence web app. ## Release 3.7.0 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/release-3-7-0/ Description: New Booking Superpowers For Global Administrators And Coordinators Great news! As a Global Administrator or Coordinator, you’re no longer limited to standard booking rules. *Available on the Kadence web & Mobile app integrations. [All product updates]() ### Release 3.7.0 Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · January 17, 2025 Improvement **New Booking Superpowers For Global Administrators And Coordinators** Great news! As a Global Administrator or Coordinator, you’re no longer limited to standard booking rules. - Plan ahead by booking up to 18 months in advance - Book anywhere and enjoy unrestricted access to all neighborhoods and spaces - Stay flexible and book spaces for as long as you need \*Available on the Kadence web & Mobile app integrations. ## Release 3.8.0 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/release-3-8-0/ Description: Improved Booking Flow With Smarter Working Hours Update When booking on behalf of someone else, their preferred working hours will now be applied automatically instead of the host’s. This ensures that meetings are scheduled at times that work for them, reducing conflicts and manual adjustments, resulting in a smoother, more reliable booking experience for everyone. […] [All product updates]() ### Release 3.8.0 Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · March 5, 2025 Improvement **Improved Booking Flow With Smarter Working Hours Update** When booking on behalf of someone else, their preferred working hours will now be applied automatically instead of the host’s. This ensures that meetings are scheduled at times that work for them, reducing conflicts and manual adjustments, resulting in a smoother, more reliable booking experience for everyone. The space booking flow of the Kadence web app \*Available on the Kadence web app. Improvement **Add Multiple Hosts To A Guest Booking** Now, you can add multiple hosts to a guest booking, ensuring everyone involved gets confirmation emails and arrival notifications (via email & IM). This solves common issues where the wrong person receives notifications—like a recruiter booking a guest, but the team lead conducting the interview. It also ensures that if one host is unavailable, someone else can greet the guest, streamlining coordination for interviews, customer meetings, and more. This update makes visitor management more seamless, reducing friction for larger organizations. Adding multiple hosts to a guest booking on the Kadence web app \*Available on the Kadence web app. ## Release 3.8.1 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/release-3-8-1/ Description: Automatically Check In Via WiFi Through The Kadence Agent We’re excited to introduce the Kadence Agent, an intelligent presence management tool designed for the modern workplace. With the Kadence Agent, you can now enjoy automatic WiFi check-ins, eliminating the need for manual input and ensuring accurate attendance monitoring across all your office locations. Key Features: […] [All product updates]() ### Release 3.8.1 Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · March 11, 2025 New **Automatically Check In Via WiFi Through The Kadence Agent** We’re excited to introduce the Kadence Agent, an intelligent presence management tool designed for the modern workplace. With the Kadence Agent, you can now enjoy automatic WiFi check-ins, eliminating the need for manual input and ensuring accurate attendance monitoring across all your office locations. Key Features: - Automatic WiFi Check-in: Effortlessly log your office presence without manual input - Smart Booking Recognition: Seamlessly integrates with your existing space reservations - Privacy-First Design: Deploy without sensors for non-invasive monitoring - Cross-Platform Compatibility: Works seamlessly on both Mac and Windows The Kadence Agent is more than just a check-in tool; it’s also part of our [Kadence Sense]() ecosystem. Kadence Sense harnesses your office’s WiFi networks, Ethernet connections, and other existing systems and acts as a Presence Intelligence Engine, designed to fuel your workplace insights with the most accurate office utilization data there is. Kadence Sense transforms raw data into actionable insights, empowering both employees and organizations to make smarter decisions about workspace utilization, resource allocation, and hybrid work strategies. [Get in touch]() with your customer success manager to find out more. The Kadence Agent System Tray Application on MAC OS \*Available on the Kadence web app. ## Release 3.9.0 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/release-3-9-0/ Description: Customized Workplace Analytics Built By Our Data Science Team Introducing Insights Plus, a powerful add-on that delivers bespoke, customizable workplace analytics for your organization. Designed in collaboration with our data science team, Insights Plus provides workplace and HR leaders with automated reporting embedded within Kadence, helping you to: Say goodbye to manual reporting and fragmented […] [All product updates]() ### Release 3.9.0 Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · April 10, 2025 New **Customized Workplace Analytics Built By Our Data Science Team** [Introducing Insights Plus](), a powerful add-on that delivers bespoke, customizable workplace analytics for your organization. Designed in collaboration with our data science team, Insights Plus provides workplace and HR leaders with automated reporting embedded within Kadence, helping you to: - Save time by getting automated, executive-ready reports - Reduce costs by highlighting space inefficiencies and opportunities - Assess hybrid policy effectiveness through valuable insights on collaboration patterns Say goodbye to manual reporting and fragmented data, and get the answers to the questions that matter most to your business! Insights Plus is available today as a premium add-on. Talk to your Customer Success Manager to schedule a walkthrough – [get in touch]() to find out more! \*Available on the Kadence web app. Improvement **Streamlined Bookings For Pods & Parking** Managing shared spaces just got even easier! Admins can now turn on repeat bookings for pods and parking, enabling employees to reserve these space types on a recurring basis. This improvement will ensure they always have a space for meetings or a spot for their ride when they need. Additionally, auto-release for parking automatically frees up unused spots, making parking more accessible for everyone, and a smoother experience when managing office resources. The resource sections under settings in the kadence Web app. \*Available on the Kadence web app. Improvement **Improved Reporting In Bookings** The updated bookings CSV export now indicates whether a booking is assigned or recurring, so you can instantly see where reservations come from — without messy spreadsheets or complex VLOOKUPs. Admins can now view at a glance where employees are checking in and out from — via the mobile app, web app or Kadence Agent. This eliminates manual data collection, making reporting effortless for managing bookings. The bookings reporting section within the Kadence web app. \*Available on the Kadence web app. Improved **Improved Directory Experience:** **Find Colleagues & Manage Bookings With Ease** We’re making it easier to find the right people and stay on top of your bookings. By adding profile pictures in the admin directory, you’ll be able to instantly recognize team members—no more wasting time scrolling through similar names. Additionally, employees can now filter their bookings to easily separate desk bookings from room bookings. Less hassle and more clarity—helping your team stay organized and work smarter! The Marketing Team profile page within the Kadence web app. \*Available on the Kadence web app. ## The Kadence Agent Is Now Available On ChromeOS - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product-updates/the-kadence-agent-is-now-available-on-chromeos/ Description: Workplace leaders can now get the same accurate, real-time attendance data from every device, including Chromebooks. This new ChromeOS-compatible version of the Kadence Agent brings automatic bookings, check-ins, and presence detection to a wider range of teams, ensuring your workplace data is complete, reliable, and ready to drive smarter decisions. Download the Kadence Agent for […] [All product updates]() ### The Kadence Agent Is Now Available On ChromeOS Luke Christian-Farman · Product Marketing Manager · October 13, 2025 New Workplace leaders can now get the same accurate, real-time attendance data from every device, including Chromebooks. This new ChromeOS-compatible version of the Kadence Agent brings automatic bookings, check-ins, and presence detection to a wider range of teams, ensuring your workplace data is complete, reliable, and ready to drive smarter decisions. [Download the Kadence Agent for ChromeOS here.]() The Kadence Agent Desktop App on a Chromebook. ## Product - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/product/ Description: Manage desk and room bookings, coordinate teams, and make better use of office space. Explore Kadence SpaceOps, WorkOps, and the products that support your workplace. Product ### Bring people, space, and workplace plans together. Manage desk and room bookings, coordinate teams, and make better use of office space. Explore Kadence SpaceOps, WorkOps, and the products that support your workplace. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Six Kadence products connect in sequence, bringing daily workplace operations in WorkOps together with workplace planning in SpaceOps. [Explore WorkOps]() [Explore SpaceOps]() [Explore integrations]() #### Explore the Kadence platform - [SpaceOps]() - [WorkOps]() - [Desk booking]() - [Room booking]() - [Space management]() - [Visitor management]() - [Workplace analytics]() - [Kadence AI]() - [Scenario planning]() - [Microsoft Teams]() - [Slack]() - [Google Calendar]() - [Microsoft Outlook]() - [Mobile app]() - [Public API]() - [Kadence MCP]() - [Neat]() - [Multi-language]() Product #### Smart Suggestions When you’re busy, and on the move, saving time is essential. By getting Smart Suggestions about when your team members are going into the office, you can spend time working with the people that matter, working on the tasks that count. - Get notified of the best day to schedule meetings based on your team member or starred colleague’s schedules - Prioritize when you need to commute to the office to avoid wasted travel costs and time Kadence Kadence: Smart Suggestions Product #### Space Booking Automation When you need to load-balance your office spaces to boost individual and team productivity, easily assign desks to individuals, and neighborhoods to teams on specific days of the week using an intuitive space automation schedule. [Store data]() Kadence Kadence: Space Booking Automation Product #### Auto Check-Ins Take your workplace analytics to the next level with an API-driven check-in system that eliminates a manual process, enhances visitor experience and safety, and allows for easy data collection and analysis. - Save time by automatically checking users into their bookings through your badging system or company wifi - Inform future space planning decisions by understanding how they’re used in the past Kadence Kadence: Auto Check-Ins Product #### Optimized Space Utilization Never worry about capacity limits again. Ensure your spaces are not overbooked or underutilized by setting an onsite capacity limit. - Facilitate team productivity with fewer distractions to interruptions - Make your workplace a safe place to be by ensuring compliance with health & safety guidelines Kadence Kadence: Optimized Space Utilization #### Quick and Flexible space booking 1. ##### Choose an Office Choose the office you want to be your workplace with your team 2. ##### Select a Space Select an empty area that has not been booked by another user 3. ##### Choose your time Adjust your work time with the team, set the right date, don’t get it wrong #### More features to help you manage your hybrid workplace better - Multi-language support Book on mobile and web with additional language support upon request. - Single sign-on Seamless user experience to roll out desk booking quickly across the entire organization. - API Data export Easily export employee and bookings data for contact tracing. - Dedicated customer support Our all-star customer experience team is always ready to help you. FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What are the benefits of automating check-ins?** By automating your check-in process (through integrating with a badging system or wifi), you can create a frictionless experience for your employees by making check-in simple and easy to boost user adoption – so that you can spend less time worrying about wasted spaces and more time on your people. This process will also ensure you are getting more accurate data by knowing exactly how your spaces are used, and who is using them to make better space planning decisions. **What are the different types of smart suggestions?** you can create a frictionless experience for your employees by making check-in simple and easy to boost user adoption – so that you can spend less time worrying about wasted spaces and more time on your people. This process will also ensure you are getting more accurate data by knowing exactly how your spaces are used, and who is using them to make better space planning decisions. **How many Smart Suggestions will I get in a week?** So that you can spend less time worrying about wasted spaces and more time on your people. This process will also ensure you are getting more accurate data by knowing exactly how your spaces are used, and who is using them to make better space planning decisions. **How will I know when the office is at capacity?** This process will also ensure you are getting more accurate data by knowing exactly how your spaces are used #### Explore more - [Pricing]() Next step #### Start working smarter with Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Management for Facilities Teams | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/real-estate-facility-managers/ Description: Workplace management software for facilities teams: run desks, rooms, visitors and parking in one system, with closures and capacity enforced automatically. For facilities and workplace teams ### Workplace Management for Facilities Teams Run every building from one system, without the ticket queue. Desks, rooms, visitors, neighborhoods and check-ins across the estate, with closures and capacity enforced automatically and the usage data to plan the next change. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative facilities occupancy: Facilities 86%, Workplace 73%, Guest services 59%. A floor plate shows the three team neighborhoods on Workplace hub · Level 1. Every space, one place #### Desks, rooms, parking and neighborhoods, managed together. Assign teams to neighborhoods on chosen days, enforce closure and capacity controls automatically, and let room displays release no-shows instantly. - Unified booking for desks, rooms and car parking - Closure and capacity rules applied automatically - Room displays that auto-release no-shows WorkOps · Space management Room occupancy on Floor 3 with auto-release on and a live team view. Moves, adds and changes #### Stop managing desk changes by spreadsheet. HRIS triggers desk assignment workflows before day one. Floor-plan-driven moves, additions and changes in one step, with move sheets generated automatically. - HRIS-triggered desk assignment - Floorplan-driven MAC in one step - Auto-generated move sheets, no email chain WorkOps · Moves, adds and changes New starters pulled from Workday with desks assigned and a floorplan update pending. Visitors #### Governed arrivals across every building. Pre-registration, kiosk check-in and badge printing on arrival. A complete, timestamped digital log exportable for any audit, and every check-in feeding presence data. - Pre-registration and kiosk check-in - Badge printing and host notification - Exportable audit log WorkOps · Visitor management Visitor check-in today: pre-registration sent via Teams, kiosk check-in, NDA signed, badge printed. Customer story · Government #### Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence. **Minutes** for reports that took days [Read the story]() FAQ #### Questions from facilities teams **What is a workplace management system?** A single system for how the office runs day to day: bookings, neighborhoods, visitors, check-ins and the usage data behind them. Kadence adds the planning layer on top, so the same data drives portfolio decisions. **How is Kadence different from a legacy IWMS or CAFM tool?** Kadence is a modern IWMS. A legacy IWMS manages leases, assets and maintenance; CAFM focuses on facilities and space. Kadence runs the daily workplace and plans and executes change on live occupancy, and it can connect to your existing system of record rather than replacing it. **Do we need sensors?** No. Presence comes from Wi-Fi, badge, kiosk and room-display signals plus bookings. Sensors can be added where you already have them. By team - [IT and security →]() - [People and HR →]() - [Real estate →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Management for Real Estate Teams | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/real-estate/ Description: Workplace management software for real estate teams: measure occupancy in every building, compare consolidation scenarios and turn the plan into moves. For real estate teams ### Workplace Management for Real Estate Teams Decide the portfolio on evidence, and execute it in weeks. Kadence gives corporate real estate teams measured occupancy across every building, scenarios with a cost line, and the stack plans and move lists to make the change happen. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative real estate occupancy: Property 71%, Strategy 56%, Operations 83%. A floor plate shows the three team neighborhoods on Portfolio HQ · Level 4. Occupancy you can defend #### Know how each floor is really used before a lease event. Bookings, badge data, Wi-Fi presence and check-ins in one dataset, per floor, per building, per team, on peak days and on average. No sensor deployment required. - Occupancy and utilization by floor and building - Peak-day analysis, not averages - Reports in minutes for leadership and finance WorkOps · Presence data Floor 4 actual presence: Wi-Fi detection, badge, kiosk and meeting-room check-ins against booking data. Scenarios with a cost line #### Consolidate, sublease, merge or absorb growth: compare the options. Tell SpaceOps what you need in plain language. It models the scenarios on your live occupancy, compares trade-offs, and recommends a path with its impact on space, cost and team productivity. - Consolidation, growth and downsizing scenarios with lease options - Absorb headcount without a new lease - Impact on space, cost and team productivity per scenario SpaceOps · Scenario SpaceOps recommends moving Finance to Floor 4 with the estimated impact. From plan to execution #### A stack plan, a sequenced move and the floors released. Once a scenario is approved, SpaceOps builds the stack, sequences the moves against the booking calendar, resolves conflicts and applies desk assignments and neighborhoods in the platform. - Stack and restack planning - Move sequencing with conflict detection - Go-live automation written back to the daily system SpaceOps · Stack planning Stack planning: the Sales team auto-stacked onto Level 2. Customer story · Healthcare #### Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy. **80%** smaller real estate footprint [Read the story]() FAQ #### Questions from real estate teams **Do we need to replace our legacy IWMS?** No. Kadence is a modern IWMS that can run alongside a legacy IWMS such as Archibus or Eptura as the planning and execution layer. Leases and assets stay where they are. **Where does the occupancy data come from?** Desk and room bookings, Wi-Fi connections, badge swipes, sensors where you have them, and kiosk or room-display check-ins. Kadence layers them so the picture reflects who was actually in the building. **How fast can we model a consolidation?** Scenarios run in minutes on the occupancy data WorkOps is already collecting. Customers typically go live in days, not months. By team - [Facilities →]() - [IT and security →]() - [People and HR →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Management for Retail | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/retail/ Description: Workplace management software for retail head offices: one booking system and one set of rules across every site, with a single view of how each office is used. Retail ### Workplace Management for Retail Head office and regional hubs, run as one workplace. Retail head offices and regional support teams share space across sites and seasons. Kadence gives every site the same booking and the same rules, with one view of how each office is used. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative: weekly occupancy at three offices on one set of rules: Head office, London, peaking at 71%; Northern hub, Leeds, peaking at 55%; Support office, Coventry, peaking at 52%. Trusted in retail - Trainline - Motorway Every site #### Head office and every hub on one system. Room reservations, desk policies and visitor flows work the same in every office, with one set of metrics on attendance, room recovery and desk usage by floor, team and location. - Consistent policy across offices - Metrics by floor, team and location - Data residency: choose where your data lives WorkOps · Multi-office Room booking synced across London, Berlin and Copenhagen with employee occupancy. Shared space #### Desks, rooms and parking at every site. Assign teams to neighborhoods on chosen days, enforce closure and capacity controls automatically, and let room displays release no-shows instantly. - Unified booking for desks, rooms and car parking - Closure and capacity rules applied automatically - Room displays that auto-release no-shows WorkOps · Space management Room occupancy on Floor 3 with auto-release on and a live team view. Occupancy you can defend #### See which offices earn their space. Bookings, badge data, Wi-Fi presence and check-ins in one dataset, per floor, per building, per team, on peak days and on average. - Occupancy and utilization by floor and building - Peak-day analysis, not averages - Reports in minutes for leadership and finance WorkOps · Presence data Floor 4 actual presence: Wi-Fi detection, badge, kiosk and meeting-room check-ins against booking data. Reviews on G2 · Retail #### In their own words. [All Kadence reviews on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “Kadence is helping us manage what staff come into the office on what days. We have more employees than desks so it is an essential tool for us” **Verified User in Retail** Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) · G2 review, July 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() By industry - [Financial services →]() - [Technology →]() - [Legal →]() - [Business services →]() - [Commercial real estate →]() - [Consumer goods →]() - [Energy and utilities →]() - [Government →]() - [Healthcare and pharma →]() - [Higher education →]() - [Manufacturing →]() - [Media and entertainment →]() - [Non-profits →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## ROI calculator | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/roi-calculator/ Description: Defend the space you keep. Build a transparent business case for your next lease decision. ROI calculator ### Defend the space you keep. Answer a few questions about your office. See how much space you could give back, what it saves and how fast it pays back, with every number a CFO can check. [Build your business case]() Loading the calculator… #### Your workplace Currency Building 1 How much office space do you lease? sq ft What do you pay in rent each year? $ $42.75 per sq ft a year How many people work there? people On a typical day, how many come in? 60% Your busiest regular day, if you know it. **Add a lease expiry or break date** Lease event Only used to show when savings start. How many people share each desk? 1.2 12 people for every 10 desks. Kadence helps you plan this ratio safely. **Fine-tune the assumptions** Space per desk, including circulation sq ft How much floor each desk needs once walkways are counted. Average floor size sq ft Used to turn released space into floors. Move and fit-out cost $ / sq ft One-off cost for the space you give back. Headcount growth over three years % Growth you would otherwise need new space for. Implementation and services one-off Leave blank until you have a quote. Kadence software a year Leave blank until you have a quote. Or target a space release % Setting this replaces the desk-sharing estimate. Scenario factors Conservative: space factor × Conservative: cost factor × Upside: space factor × Upside: cost factor × #### Three-year net savings $999,000 Base case · before software and implementation 1.2 of 6 floors released Space you can give back 12,000 sq ft 1.2 floors Rent saved every year $513,000 from the space released Pays back in 12.6 months after move and fit-out **See the full breakdown** Illustrative model, not a quote. Three full years, no discounting. Share links include the numbers you enter. **Add people benefits (modeled, never counted as cash)** Enter your own values per employee. These estimates never enter the headline. Retention: annual value per employee Productivity: annual value per employee #### How the maths works Every figure is shown so your finance team can check it. Amounts use the currency you pick, with no exchange rates. Enter areas in square feet or square meters (1 m² = 10.7639 sq ft); the model runs in square feet and shows results in the unit you pick. The example is an illustrative 60,000 sq ft office, not a benchmark. **Required space** Headcount × attendance percentage ÷ 100 × sq ft per desk including circulation ÷ people per desk. Base release is current area minus required space, with a minimum of zero. Editing release percentage instead applies that percentage to each building. The linked ratio is total attendance-weighted desk area ÷ retained portfolio area; it is unavailable at zero retained area or zero attendance. **Scenarios** Base uses your inputs. Conservative multiplies released area by 0.7 and one-off costs by 1.25. Upside multiplies released area by 1.2 and one-off costs by 0.9. These editable assumptions cap release at each building’s area. **Floors** Released sq ft ÷ average floor plate. Whole floors round down; the fractional equivalent is also shown. Portfolio whole floors round down the portfolio total, so they can differ from the sum of whole floors by building. **Annual cash saved** For each building: released sq ft × (annual rent ÷ rentable sq ft). Add the buildings together. Rent per sq ft and annual rent are linked. Savings land from the lease event entered, or at the next lease event. Dates do not prorate the three-year model. **Expansion avoided** Growth headcount = current headcount × planned three-year growth percentage ÷ 100. Per building: growth headcount × current sq ft per person × annual rent per sq ft. Add once to the three-year result, exactly as specified; do not multiply by three. Zero growth means zero cost avoided. **One-off costs** (Released sq ft × move and fit-out cost per sq ft + combined implementation and services quote) × scenario one-off factor. A blank quote is excluded and labeled. **Software** Annual Kadence software cost × three. Blank means your quote is pending; the net is labeled excluding software. Enter zero only if the confirmed cost is zero. **Three-year net** Annual cash saved × three + expansion avoided − one-off costs − three-year software cost. No discounting, tax, inflation or lease-date proration. The headline always shows base; the scenario toggle changes the supporting results. **Payback** One-off costs ÷ (annual cash saved ÷ 12). No cash saved means n/a. This is the specified cash payback, excluding ongoing software. **Modeled benefits** Your own annual monetary value per employee × headcount × three, separately for retention and productivity. Both start blank, and neither enters cash savings or net. Next step #### Bring your lease decision to the conversation. Review your assumptions, rollout and software quote with a workplace strategist. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Meeting Room Booking System & Scheduling Software | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/room-booking-software/ Description: Kadence's meeting room booking system syncs both ways with Outlook and Google Calendar, runs room displays on iPad, Android or Neat, and releases no-show rooms. Room booking ### Seamless room booking and management. Kadence room booking, part of WorkOps, connects calendar bookings, check-ins, and automatic room release so workplace leaders can see how meeting space is used. [Book a demo]() [Take the product tour (opens in a new tab)]() Illustrative room booking with Kadence AI: an employee asks for a room for six at 11:00 with a screen, Kadence books Room 4 on Level 2 of London Central HQ from 11:00 to 11:30 and adds it to their calendar, and the room shows as booked with auto-release after 15 minutes without check-in. [Explore WorkOps]() Meeting room booking system #### What is a meeting room booking system? A [meeting room booking system]() shows which rooms are free and lets people book them from their calendar, a phone or a screen by the door. Kadence [syncs both ways]() with Outlook and Google Calendar, checks meetings in, and releases rooms nobody uses, so your room data shows real demand. #### How it works 1. ##### 1. Find the right room Kadence AI surfaces the best available room inside Outlook, Teams, or the Kadence app. 2. ##### 2. Book in one click The room goes into the meeting invite and syncs both ways with Outlook and Google Calendar. 3. ##### 3. Check in at the door Room Displays and mobile check-in on your phone confirm the meeting is live. 4. ##### 4. No-shows free the room No-shows trigger automatic room release, and every booking and check-in feeds Kadence analytics. Room booking #### Sync Your Office to Your Calendar Let employees book a room without learning another tool. Kadence works inside Outlook, Teams, and Google Workspace and recommends rooms for the meeting they need. - Native Outlook & Google Workspace integration - AI room recommendations for every meeting - Ad-hoc booking from mobile, browser, or room display WorkOps · Room booking Book the Right Room Without Leaving Your Calendar Works inside - Microsoft Outlook - Microsoft Teams - Google Workspace Room booking #### Turn Idle Square Footage into Actionable Data Stop empty meetings from holding up available rooms. Detect no-shows and release the space, with check-in rules your workplace team controls. - Real-time no-show detection and automated room release - Check-in enforcement via display, mobile, or sensor - Configurable grace windows by room type, location, or team WorkOps · Room booking Stop Ghost Meetings Before They Waste Another Room Room booking #### Room Displays That Run on Hardware You Already Own Use the tablets your IT team already manages, or Neat devices. Kadence room displays support check-in and room release while feeding activity into workplace analytics. - Runs on any iOS or Android tablet, or on Neat devices - AI-powered check-in and automatic room release - Feeds live data directly into Kadence analytics [Room displays on Neat]() WorkOps · Room displays Kadence Room Display tablet mounted outside a meeting room showing live availability, time remaining, and a one-tap Book button. Runs on Room booking #### Turn Room Data into Real Estate Decisions Bring evidence to decisions about the space you keep. Connect meeting room use with desk and occupancy data to support space planning and lease decisions. - Portfolio-wide utilization dashboards across all locations - Room data connected to desk and occupancy intelligence - Export-ready reporting for space planning and lease decisions WorkOps · Room booking Turn Room Data into Real Estate Decisions #### Kadence comes with - **Outlook & Google Workspace booking** Two-way calendar sync, so rooms book from the calendar people already use. - **AI room recommendations** Kadence AI suggests the right room for the meeting. - **Ad-hoc mobile and display booking** Book on the spot from a phone or the room display. - **Automated no-show release** Rooms nobody checks into are released for others. - **Room displays on your own hardware** Any iOS or Android tablet, or Neat devices. No proprietary hardware. - **Recurring room bookings** Book the same room on a repeating schedule. - **Catering & amenities requests** Order catering with the booking and report room issues. - **Global booking policy governance** Set policies once and apply location-level overrides. Meeting room scheduling #### Meeting room scheduling in Outlook, Teams and Google Calendar Most meetings start in a calendar. Kadence puts room booking there, so people do not learn another tool and every booking stays in sync. Microsoft 365 organizations also get the Outlook add-in and Kadence in Teams. - **Outlook add-in** Find and book rooms without leaving [Outlook](). - **Two-way calendar sync** Book in Kadence, Outlook or [Google Calendar](). Changes sync both ways. - **Kadence AI in Teams and Slack** Ask Kadence to find and book a room in a [Microsoft Teams]() or Slack chat. - **Recurring and editable bookings** Hold the same room on a repeating schedule, and change a booking in place without canceling it. - **Book by the minute** Book a room for exactly the time you need, or grab one on the spot from a phone or the room display. Occupancy you can trust #### Room check-in and auto-release keep room data honest [Ghost meetings]() make rooms look full when they are empty. Room displays and mobile check-in confirm each meeting. When nobody checks in, [auto-release]() frees the room and Kadence records the no-show, so [meeting room utilization]() reports show real use. [**20% to 38%** The University of Exeter's average share of meeting rooms in use per day, across 14 buildings on Kadence.]() - **Check in at the door** A [room display]() shows live availability and lets people check in with one tap. - **Check in on mobile** People can check in early from the Kadence app on their way to the room. - **No-shows released** Rooms nobody checks into go back to the pool for others to book. - **One view of every room** Bookings, check-ins and no-shows feed Workplace Insights alongside desk and occupancy data. Built for IT and workplace teams #### Roll out room booking across every site Workplace teams set the room rules. IT connects calendars, identity and devices. Both can go live building by building. 1. 01 ##### Connect calendars Link Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Rooms sync both ways with Outlook or Google Calendar. 2. 02 ##### Load rooms and floors Add rooms, floors and other spaces in bulk from a spreadsheet. Building admins manage only their own offices. 3. 03 ##### Mount the displays Run room displays on iPads, Android tablets or [Neat devices]() your IT team already manages. Room displays are part of WorkOps Pro. 4. 04 ##### Sign in once [SSO]() and [SCIM]() with Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google and others keep people and permissions in sync. FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is conference room booking software?** Conference room booking software lets employees find, book, and manage meeting rooms — while giving workplace leaders visibility and control over how spaces are actually used. **How does Kadence integrate with Microsoft and Google?** Kadence provides two-way sync with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, so employees book directly from their existing calendars without switching tools. **How does Kadence prevent ghost meetings?** Kadence detects no-shows in real time and automatically releases rooms based on configurable check-in policies — enforceable via display, mobile, or sensor. **Do I need new hardware for room displays?** No. Kadence Room Displays run on standard iOS and Android tablets. No proprietary hardware or new vendor required. **Can we manage booking policies across multiple offices?** Yes. Set global policies once and apply location-level overrides — giving central IT and Facilities full governance with local flexibility. **How does room data connect to real estate decisions?** Kadence captures actual utilization behavior and surfaces it in portfolio-level analytics, giving CRE and Facilities leaders evidence for lease decisions and space planning. **Is a meeting room booking system the same as conference room booking software?** Yes. Both terms describe the same tool, and Kadence covers both. Whatever you call it, a room booking system should show live availability, sync with Outlook or Google Calendar, check meetings in and release rooms when nobody shows up. It should also report how rooms are used in every office. **Can I book a meeting room from Outlook?** Yes. The Kadence Outlook add-in finds and books rooms from inside Outlook, and rooms booked in Outlook, Google Calendar or Kadence sync both ways. A recurring meeting can hold the same room on a repeating schedule, and you can edit a room booking in place without canceling it. **What should meeting room scheduling software include?** Look for two-way calendar sync, booking from Teams or Slack, room displays at the door, check-in with automatic release of no-shows, recurring and editable bookings, catering and issue reporting, and reports by building. For an enterprise rollout, add SSO and SCIM, building-level admins and data hosting in your region. **How do room displays release no-show meetings?** The display by the door shows live availability and lets people check in with one tap. If nobody checks in, Kadence releases the room automatically so others can book it. The display can also book a free room on the spot and raise a ticket when something in the room needs fixing. #### Explore more - [Discover Plans]() - [Explore workplace activity]() - [Outlook room booking]() - [Google Calendar room booking]() - [Room displays on Neat]() - [Desk booking software]() Next step #### Transform How Your Organization Uses Meeting Space Join workplace leaders running smarter, more efficient room operations with AI-powered booking, real-time displays, and actionable utilization data. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Scenario Planning Software | Kadence SpaceOps Canonical: https://kadence.co/scenario-planning/ Description: Use Kadence SpaceOps scenario planning software to evaluate office scenarios, forecast space needs, and make smarter workplace decisions with AI-driven insights. Scenario planning ### Test the workplace change before you commit. Run scenarios for where teams will fit before moving people or making a lease decision. Kadence SpaceOps brings scenario planning, stack planning, and move management together so you can compare options for your portfolio. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative scenario: merge Marketing and Sales on Floor 4. Before, Sales works on Floor 4 and Marketing on Floor 5, next to Product. After, Marketing moves down to join Sales on Floor 4. Floor 5 stays in use with Product, and the area Marketing leaves becomes space for next year's headcount growth, with 62 desks freed for reuse. [Explore SpaceOps]() Stack Planning #### Visualize Space Allocation For Smarter Planning See where teams fit across the space you already have. Compare department allocations and test layouts before deciding what to change. Create office spaces that reflect how teams actually work, and optimize every square foot for cost and performance. SpaceOps · Scenario planning Kadence scenario planning: Visualize Space Allocation For Smarter Planning Scenario Planning #### AI-Powered Office Scenario Planning Software For Maximum Utilization Bring a clear comparison to the next real estate decision. Test changes in headcount or workplace policy and see the impact on space, cost, and teams before committing. Model growth or downsizing with lease options, and identify underused areas for reallocation opportunities. SpaceOps · Scenario planning Kadence scenario planning: AI-Powered Office Scenario Planning Software For Maximum Utilization Move Management #### Stress-Free Move Management Made Simple Turn the chosen plan into a coordinated move. Keep employee desk changes and floor layouts connected so workplace teams can manage the move in one place. Plan office moves or employee desk changes all in one place, and link every move directly to updated floor layouts in real time. Delegate moves and assignments to other team members, so managers can seat their own teams. SpaceOps · Scenario planning Kadence scenario planning: Stress-Free Move Management Made Simple Customer story · Technology #### MOO saw office occupancy often exceed 70% after six months with Kadence. **70%** occupancy often exceeded on individual days, after six months > “We want our employees to use Kadence to support our in-person culture. To have a tool that would help boost creativity, collaboration, conversation, and connection!” > > Bryony Gilhooly, Head of People Operations, MOO [Read the MOO story]() Key features #### All You Need For Your Real Estate Portfolio [Discover plans]() - Interactive Floor Plans: Use scenario planning software to forecast office usage and space utilization ahead of time - Data Export: Prioritize real estate spend by reporting on space management utilization - Customized Seating: Create, edit, and manage Office Neighborhoods and Assigned Desks - Dedicated Customer Support: Our All-star Customer Experience team is always around to help - Give Instant Feedback: Give direct feedback to Kadence on improvements in the app - Auto-Release: Automatically free up ‘No-Show’ bookings back into the system to reduce wasted space - Guest And Onsite Booking: Invite guests and get notified of their arrival - Capacity Limits: Set the occupancy limit for each floor on any day FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is Scenario Planning Software?** Scenario planning in facility management and commercial real estate helps optimize space, forecast demand, and prepare for future change. With software like Kadence SpaceOps, leaders can model “what-if” scenarios, align real estate strategy with business goals, and cut waste from underused space. From hybrid policies to M&A, scenario planning makes workplaces more efficient, flexible, and resilient. **Why is scenario planning necessary?** Scenario planning helps real estate leaders forecast space demand, evaluate lease decisions, and adapt to changing business needs. It reduces risk and ensures real estate investments align with long-term strategy. **Who benefits from scenario planning tools?** CFOs, COOs, facilities managers, and HR leaders all benefit from scenario planning. Kadence gives finance teams accurate forecasts, operations leaders seamless move execution, and HR leaders the data to design offices that support hybrid work, employee performance, and culture. **What scenarios can Kadence SpaceOps help model?** Kadence supports modeling seat reallocations, office consolidations, mergers, acquisitions, and hybrid policy changes. Leaders can test different outcomes in a sandbox environment, compare results against live data, and choose the most efficient, cost-effective configuration before making real estate commitments. #### Explore more - [Calculate Your ROI]() - [How MOO Boosts Office Utilization To 70% With Kadence]() Next step #### Start Working Smarter With Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Plan Your Space, Prove Your Office ROI | Kadence Demo Canonical: https://kadence.co/schedule-demo/ Description: Plan your space and prove your office ROI. Book a 30-minute Kadence demo tailored to your offices. ### Plan Your Space, Prove Your Office ROI From space planning to team scheduling, see how Kadence empowers you to deliver a more connected workplace experience. Book a 30-minute demo tailored to your offices: - See where space is going to waste without compromising employee experience - Benchmark your office utilization against companies like yours - Get a clear ROI estimate and a rollout plan 80% user adoption · 4x space efficiency · 60% boost in team collaboration - Ashurst Perkins Coie - Boeing - Intel - BDO - Starling Bank - Shipt - Trainline - NHS - G2 badge 1 - G2 badge 2 - G2 badge 3 - G2 badge 4 - G2 badge 5 - G2 badge 6 #### Book a demo Takes 30 seconds. Pick a time on the next screen. Loading the form… Kadence uses the information you provide to us to contact you about our products and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time. Please refer to our [privacy policy]() for information on our privacy practices and commitment to protecting your privacy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google [Privacy Policy]() and [Terms of Service]() apply. Case studies #### Case studies - RCS England ##### From Mandates To Culture: How RCS England Turned Attendance Into A Voluntary Win What started as a solution for managing desks turned into a cultural shift in how people wanted to work. With Kadence, RCS England created an office experience that made in-person days feel natural, coordinated, and worth the trip, leading 85% of employees to exceed their minimum in-office policy without enforcement. Higher Education · 200+ · United Kingdom [Read case study: RCS England →]() - Wavex ##### How Wavex Achieved 4x Space Efficiency With Kadence Kadence helped Wavex manage all of their employees with just 18 desks, creating a frictionless hybrid workplace without sensors, spreadsheets, or scheduling headaches. Technology · 80+ Employees · United Kingdom [Read case study: Wavex →]() - MOO ##### MOO: Boosting Office Utilization To 70% With Kadence The team at MOO partnered with Kadence to elevate their hybrid experience in their London office. Technology · 500+ · United Kingdom [Read case study: MOO →]() - Karger ##### From Fixed Desks To Flexibility: How Karger Reduced Office Space By 80% Karger, a leading medical and scientific publishing company, has successfully leveraged Kadence to transform their workplace dynamics, dramatically reduce real estate costs, and efficiently manage their transition to a flexible work model. Healthcare · 200+ · Switzerland [Read case study: Karger →]() #### Enterprise-Grade By Default Workplace management you can trust — backed by the enterprise-grade certifications and data controls to match. - **SOC 2 Type II** Audited controls for security and confidentiality - **ISO 27001** Certified information security management - **GDPR Compliant** Built for data protection requirements end-to-end FAQ #### Got questions? We’ve got answers. **Who should join the demo?** Most teams bring whoever owns the workplace, facilities, real-estate or workplace-experience strategy. We’ll tailor the session to the people in the room. **What will we cover** A live walkthrough mapped to your priorities: desk and room booking, visitor management, scheduling and the analytics behind space decisions. No generic slide tour — we’ll use your floor layout and team scenarios where we can. **What tools does Kadence integrate with?** Kadence works inside the tools you already use — Microsoft Teams, Outlook and Google Workspace calendars, plus SSO through Okta, Microsoft Entra, Google and [more integrations here]() **How secure is my data?** Kadence is SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certified, GDPR compliant, and supports UK, EU and US data residency. Your security team can review our controls and documentation before you commit to anything. ## Kadence Security Whitepaper Canonical: https://kadence.co/security-whitepaper/ Description: This whitepaper outlines the security protocols Kadence uses to secure our system and protect our user’s privacy. Security Whitepaper ### Kadence security whitepaper This whitepaper outlines the security protocols Kadence uses to secure our system and protect our user’s privacy. [Security overview]() The security whitepaper document lists security and data-protection topics with a sequential contents checklist and Kadence’s SOC 2 and Cyber Essentials badges. **This whitepaper outlines the security protocols Kadence uses to secure our system and protect our user’s privacy.** The way we work has changed forever. Kadence is on a mission to improve synchronization of people, space and time, creating the best conditions for people to thrive in the new era of work. Kadence provides workplace leaders with an operating system to empower teams to make the best choices about how, when and where to do their best work, delivering data-driven insights into how people use spaces like desks and rooms. #### Reliability We are constantly monitoring our system and responding rapidly to any interruptions or issues. This allows us to commit to a system availability of 99.9% via our standard SLA, which equates to a maximum of 8 hours 46 minutes of downtime per year. #### Data storage & residency Our Cloud platform is hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and provides a strong level of security in retaining our data. For more information about secure data storage, please refer to [AWS security]() and [AWS Certifications](). All of our production data centres are hosted in the EU. #### Data encryption All of our customer data is encrypted in transit and at rest with all connections to our Cloud platform and protected via HTTPS/TLS 1.2+. All passwords are salted and hashed using a one-way encryption algorithm for further protection, should an attacker gain access to a running instance. It is not possible to recover a stored password, these can only be reset through our ‘Forgotten Password’ process. #### Data Tenantisation Our multi-tenancy solution achieves data isolation with the use of row-based separation. We have strict control measures in place to eliminate the risk of customer data being exposed beyond its own tenant. #### Data privacy We take our responsibilities towards your data seriously; we will only store data that is absolutely necessary for the functioning of our solution. When a user is removed from the platform, all of their personally identifiable information will be permanently and irretrievably removed. We then anonymise all their usage data for trend and historical analysis. Our Data Privacy and GDPR policies are all available [here]() #### Data removal & decommissioning All customer data is held in the AWS Data Centres in the EU. AWS has high standards in relation to installing and decommissioning hardware with decommissions media using techniques detailed in NIST 800-88. More information on this can be obtained [here]() #### Penetration testing All our systems are penetration-tested annually by independent third party specialists. Any vulnerabilities discovered are tracked and addressed as a matter of urgency. Access to our latest penetration test reports are available on request. All our mobile applications are tested to the OWASP MASVS standard. #### Development & deployment process At Kadence, we have robust development and deployment processes that ensure not only high quality code, but also high level of security for our product. Highlights of this process include: - Static analysis of our code to catch issues before committing to our codebase. - All code is peer reviewed and tested. - Automated unit and integration tests to catch issues before deployment. - Complete isolation of production, staging and development environments with principles of least privilege applied to each. - Regular patching of all infrastructure to ensure we have addressed all known security issues with our technology stack. An independent SSL report on infrastructure is available [here]() #### API Access Access to our API is controlled through rate limited API tokens. These tokens are unique to each tenant and are granted specific scopes at the creation time. It is possible to add and remove specific scopes, or decommission a token at any time through our Cloud platform. #### Certifications Kadence has successfully achieved SOC 2 Type II compliance and audit attestation. We have continual monitoring of our systems, platform, and security controls and are notified if anything drops out of compliance. We have also received Cyber Essentials certification. In addition, all of our infrastructure partners are SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certified. #### Disaster recovery & Incident response Kadence has detailed plans in place to enable disaster recovery and business continuity in the event of a significant incident. These plans can be made available to customers upon request. #### Network architecture Kadence network architecture ## Security and trust | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/security/ Description: SOC 2, Cyber Essentials, SSO and directory sync, GDPR and CCPA, encryption in transit and at rest, annual penetration testing. The evidence for your security review. Security and trust ### Secure, tested and controlled. Kadence runs enterprise-grade security practice to protect customer data: SOC 2 and Cyber Essentials, single sign-on and directory sync, data encrypted in transit and at rest, and third-party penetration tests at least annually. The evidence lives here. [Book a demo]() [Trust portal (opens in a new tab)]() AICPA SOC 2 Cyber Essentials certified - Okta - Microsoft Azure - Workday - JumpCloud #### Single sign-on and directory sync Kadence integrates with the identity platforms your teams already use. SSO and directory sync reduce every login to one step, for security and convenience. AICPA SOC 2 #### SOC 2 and Cyber Essentials Kadence is SOC 2 compliant and maintains Cyber Essentials certification. Our infrastructure partners are SOC 2 compliant and ISO 27001 certified, and are continuously monitored. GDPR #### GDPR and CCPA We store only the data necessary for the solution to function. All data is encrypted in transit via HTTPS and TLS 1.2 or later, and at rest. More controls #### How the platform is kept secure. - ##### Penetration testing All systems are penetration-tested at least annually by third-party specialists. All mobile apps are tested to the OWASP MASVS standard. - ##### Security training Consistent, current security training for all staff, keeping the team informed of new threats and best practice. - ##### Continuous control monitoring Security controls are monitored across the organization through automated alerts and evidence collection supported by Drata. - ##### Dedicated customer support The Kadence customer experience team is always ready to help. Evidence #### What your review can read today. - ##### Trust portal Kadence's dedicated trust portal, at trust.kadence.co. [Open the trust portal (opens in a new tab) →]() - ##### Security whitepaper The security protocols Kadence uses to protect customer data: reliability, encryption, data residency, penetration testing and incident response. [Open security whitepaper →]() - ##### Sub-processors The current list of sub-processors and where data is processed. [Open sub-processors →]() - ##### Privacy policy How personal data is collected, used and protected. [Open privacy policy →]() - ##### Implementation How a rollout works: the stages, who owns each and what your team provides. [Open implementation →]() - ##### Contact us For anything your review needs that is not covered here, contact the team. [Open contact us →]() Statements as published on kadence.co/security in September 2026. Kadence does not claim its infrastructure providers' ISO 27001 certification as its own. Next step #### Start the security review with us. Book a demo and bring your security questions. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Slack Desk Booking Integration | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/slack-desk-booking-integration/ Description: Kadence Slack desk booking lets employees reserve desks, schedule time, and coordinate with teammates directly inside Slack. Slack Desk Booking Integration ### Keep workplace plans together in Slack. Book desks, manage bookings, and see when teammates are heading to the office—all within Slack. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative Slack direct message with the Kadence app: book a desk at the head office tomorrow, see which teammates are in, move to a desk next to Priya, book a room for five in the afternoon, and send a visitor invite to Alex Morgan. [Explore WorkOps]() [Explore SpaceOps]() [Explore integrations]() Slack Booking Notifications #### Never Miss A Booking Again Streamline your check-in process by sending timely notifications, ensuring your team stays organized and efficient, no matter where they are. - Boost attendance by making ‘check-ins’ easier for your teams - Get ‘Check-in’ reminders from wherever you are Kadence Kadence: Never Miss A Booking Again Kadence AI #### The Power Of Kadence AI All Inside Slack Discover when your teammates are heading to the office, find and book available desks and rooms for you and your team, and invite visitors to your office all within the tool your team uses the most. Just ask Kadence. Kadence Kadence: The Power Of Kadence AI All Inside Slack Zero Setup #### One Less App To Download Transform the way you work by consolidating all of your Slack Desk Bookings and Teammate Scheduling Activity in one place. By using the tool your team already uses, you can quickly get up and running saving you valuable time and boosting productivity. - Easily make Slack desk booking integration available to your entire organization - Get going instantly with zero setup, passwords, or training Kadence This is an image of a Kadence logo and a Slack logo Weekly Overview #### Communicate And Collaborate In One Place Easily see which teammates are going into the office and communicate with one another all in one central place. No more guesswork or miscommunication, just clear and productive weekly plans at your fingertips. - Connect with your teammates, and coordinate your plan by easily booking a space straight from Slack - Know what’s coming up by viewing your schedule in one place Kadence This is an image of a Slack desk booking integration for Kadence Manage Bookings #### Check In Or View Your Booking In One Click Save valuable time and stress by using Slack Desk Booking as your go-to place for all of your bookings. Whether you’re on the go or in the office, experience profound flexibility and ease without a second thought. - Use Slack to coordinate with your teammates, and manage your bookings without using multiple apps - View your booking to make any changes straight from Slack Kadence This is an image of a floor plan with its building details along with a check-in notification with a slack logo WORKPLACE ANNOUNCEMENTS #### Send One Announcement To Multiple Platforms Use Kadence to create, and schedule important workplace announcements so your Slack users can stay up-to-date. - Highlight the importance of a message by marking it as high-priority - Plan announcements about team gatherings and building closures ahead of time - Customize your announcements based on team, booking, or office location Kadence Kadence: Send One Announcement To Multiple Platforms From Slack's co-founder > “Companies around the world are reimagining the way they work. And as work becomes more agile, it’s important that teams find a rhythm for meeting in person for collaboration and creativity. Kadence is an important part of helping companies make agile work a success, and I’m excited to be involved.” [**Cal Henderson**]() Co-founder, Slack · Kadence investor since 2022 FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is Slack Desk Booking?** Slack Desk Booking is a super easy-to-use tool that helps you book your workspace and see when your teammates are going to be in the office within your Slack environment. Imagine having your own personal assistant that notifies you if a teammate is going to the office or when you need to check into your booking. The best part? It works right within Slack, which you’re already using, so there’s no new software to learn. It’s all about making your work life smoother and more efficient. [Discover more]() **What is the difference between Slack and Microsoft Teams?** Slack and Microsoft Teams are both powerful collaboration tools, but they each have their unique strengths. Slack is known for its simplicity, user-friendly interface, and seamless integrations with other applications. It’s perfect if you’re looking for a straightforward, easy-to-use tool for communication within your team. On the other hand, Microsoft Teams is deeply integrated with Microsoft’s suite of Office products and is a great choice if your organization heavily uses these tools. It also offers robust features for video conferencing and file sharing. Both are fantastic options that can significantly enhance team collaboration and productivity! **How does Kadence’s Team Coordination work in Slack?** At Kadence, we’ve integrated our team coordination seamlessly with Slack, making it easier than ever to get notified when your teammates are going to the office via instant messenger. View where a teammate is working so you can book a space nearby, manage your booking or reschedule if a teammate changes their plans, and get a personal schedule overview of your Slack Desk Bookings as well as who else is heading into the office that week. **How do I get started with Slack Desk Booking?** Getting started with Slack Desk Booking integration with Kadence is a breeze. You can do it in just a few simple steps. 1. First, enable the integration within the Kadence web app by navigating to “Settings”, then “Integrations” 2. Under “Slack Integration” click “Add to Slack”\< 3. Log in to Slack and allow the requested permissions for the Kadence app 4. From there open up the Slack application and head to ‘Apps’ and click ‘Add apps’ 5. Type ‘Kadence’ into the search bar and click on the Kadence app to add it to your Slack #### Explore more - [See It In Action]() - [Discover more]() Next step #### Start Working Smarter With Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Smart Office Space Software - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/smart-workplace/ Description: Transform your organization into a smart office space to help boost team productivity and streamline your office space management. Smart Workplace ### Make everyday workplace coordination simpler. Use Kadence AI, booking suggestions, automated check-ins, and capacity controls to help people find the space and time they need. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative smart workplace occupancy: Design 67%, Product 83%, Engineering 50%. A floor plate shows the three team neighborhoods on Level 3 · Suggested neighborhoods. #### Solution Smart Office Space Software for Hybrid Teams Kadence AI #### Use AI to book the spaces you need Now everyone has an assistant. Book desks and conference rooms, invite visitors and coordinate your team’s movements just by asking Kadence. - Book multiple desks or reserve available meeting rooms in a single prompt via MS Teams or Slack. - Discover your teammates’ next office visit with a quick personalized response. Kadence Kadence AI Desk Booking Software Smart Suggestions #### Find the best times for collaboration When you’re busy and on the move, saving time is essential. By getting smart suggestions about when your teammates are going into the office to spend time working with the people that matter. - Get notified of the best day to schedule meetings based on your team members’ schedules - Prioritize when you need to commute to the office to avoid wasted travel costs and time Kadence This is an image of a smart booking notification in the Hybrid Management Software to let you know 2 of your starred colleagues have booked to be in one liberty plaza and to book a space if you want to join them Automated space booking #### Load-balance your office spaces Assign neighborhoods to teams on specific days of the week to load-balance office traffic and make the most of your office spaces. - Meet employee space demands by assigning individuals and teams to desks and neighborhoods on the days you choose - Recapture unused spaces by auto-releasing canceled bookings or no-shows back into the pool. Kadence Assign individuals to a desk and plot it on a weekly schedule. Auto Check-Ins #### Make your check-in process automatic Take your workplace analytics to the next level with an API-driven check-in system that eliminates a manual process, enhances visitor experience. - Save time by automatically checking teams into their bookings through their badging system or company wifi. - Inform future space planning decisions by understanding how spaces are used in the past. Kadence This is an image of a pink check-in notification to let you know you've been checked into desk 2 on 16th June Optimized Space Utilization #### Streamline capacity limits and space usage Never worry about capacity limits again. Ensure your smart office space is not overbooked or underutilized by setting an on-site capacity limit. - Facilitate team productivity with fewer distractions to interruptions - Make your workplace safe by ensuring compliance with health & safety guidelines Kadence This is an image of a smart booking suggestion that says Andy, Jane and Mike are at One Liberty Plaza tomorrow FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What are the benefits of automating check-ins?** By automating your check-in process (through integrating with a badging system or wifi), you can create a frictionless experience for your employees, boosting user adoption. By making check-in simple and easy, you can spend less time worrying about wasted spaces and more time on your people. This process will also ensure an increase in accuracy in data around *who* is using and *how* your spaces being used, allowing for better space planning decisions in the future. Discover more with our [Public API]() **What are the different types of smart suggestions?** **People:** You will get notified when your teammates or starred colleagues are planning to be in the office, allowing you to easily schedule face-to-face meetings. **Office capacity:** Get notified when your office is reaching its capacity so you can save time on commuting and plan your work week more effectively. **How many Smart Suggestions will I get in a week?** Kadence will provide you with up to three personalized suggestions each week, carefully selected to help you achieve maximum productivity. Plus, our platform goes the extra mile by prioritizing the most important suggestions, ensuring that you can streamline your workflow and focus on what matters most. **How will I know when the office is at capacity?** With Smart Suggestions, you can rest assured that you’ll never struggle to find a workspace again. Our tool utilizes cutting-edge AI technology to monitor your preferred office’s capacity and lets you know when it reaches 80%. This means that you can quickly and easily secure a workspace in advance, allowing you to make the most of your workday and achieve better results in less time. #### Explore more - [Public API]() Next step #### Start working smarter with Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Office Space Management Software for Enterprises | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/space-management/ Description: Kadence space management software turns real occupancy data into stack plans, scenarios and moves, so you find hidden capacity before a lease event. Space management ### Space management for decisions you can explain. See which space is used and which sits empty before you decide what to change. Bring bookings, attendance, occupancy trends, and planning together to help you drive performance from your workplace. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative Q3 occupancy across four buildings: 148 bookings, 66% check-ins recorded automatically by Kadence Sense smart check-ins from badge and Wi-Fi signals, 32% no-shows. Wednesday is the most popular day. Neighborhood occupancy: Product 82%, Engineering 61%, Sales 48%, Finance 35%, Ops 90%. Attendance is up 12% versus Q2. [Explore SpaceOps]() #### From occupancy data to a space plan Kadence space management software connects how your offices are used today with how you plan them next. WorkOps runs desk and room booking, team neighborhoods and assigned desks, and records who actually came in. SpaceOps turns that occupancy data into stack plans, scenarios and moves, so you can find hidden capacity before you renew, exit or sign a lease. 1. ##### Measure real use [Kadence Sense]() checks people in from the Kadence Agent, office network detection, badge data and kiosks. [Workplace Insights]() shows attendance, occupancy and no-shows by building, floor and team. 2. ##### Find hidden capacity Compare booked space with used space. Spot quiet floors, [peak days]() and teams that have outgrown their neighborhoods, and find the [hidden capacity]() in the office you already have. 3. ##### Plan the change In SpaceOps, ask the AI planning agent for a [stack plan]() in plain language, or use guided workflows to restack a building or consolidate floors. [Compare scenarios]() side by side before you commit. 4. ##### Make the move Publish the approved plan to live neighborhoods and assigned desks. [Move Manager]() seats new starters, leavers and team moves, and tells each person where they are moving. Workplace Optimization #### Drive performance from wall to wall Find room for your teams in the office you already have. See desk and room bookings, busy days, and attendance trends in one place. - Balance busy days with team neighborhoods - Free up no-show desks and rooms automatically SpaceOps · Space management Kadence space management: desk and room booking data and analytics Workplace Analytics #### Use Data To Drive Workplace Strategies Give real estate decisions a clear evidence base. See attendance, occupancy, no-shows, and heatmaps across your buildings, and spot underused space before a lease renewal or a layout change. - Build custom dashboards, including policy compliance reports, with [Insights Plus](). - Bring Kadence into Claude, ChatGPT, or Copilot with the [Kadence MCP server](), now in early access. SpaceOps · Space management Kadence space management: Use Data To Drive Workplace Strategies Scenario Planning #### AI-Powered Scenario Planning For Maximum Utilization Work out how a change in headcount or office policy would affect space before committing. Compare scenarios for space, cost, and team productivity. It’s like having your own occupancy planner. SpaceOps · Space management Kadence space management: AI-Powered Scenario Planning For Maximum Utilization Space Efficiency #### Optimize Space Allocation For Maximum Efficiency Match the space and services you provide to how the office is used. See busy and quiet periods by building, floor, desk, or meeting room. SpaceOps · Space management Kadence space management: Optimize Space Allocation For Maximum Efficiency Kadence Sense #### Workplace Occupancy Without The Hardware Understand office attendance without installing dedicated sensors. Kadence Sense provides occupancy data to help you assess office use and identify opportunities to reduce wasted space. SpaceOps · Space management The Kadence Agent modal on Desktop Lease events and consolidations #### Make stay-vs-go and consolidation decisions with evidence A [lease event]() is when space data matters most. Whether you stay, restack, consolidate or move, Kadence shows how much space your teams really use and lets you test each option before you commit. - **Stay or go.** Compare the space your teams need with the space you hold before an expiry or break option. [Stay vs go decisions]() - **Consolidate.** Find the floors or buildings you can release, then plan where each team goes. [Office consolidation]() - **Restack.** Use guided workflows to restack a building, then publish the plan to live neighborhoods and assigned desks. [Restacks]() - **Grow in place.** Find room for new headcount in the office you already have before you add space. [Hidden capacity]() Customer stories #### Real estate decisions backed by occupancy data Customer story · Karger ##### Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy. - **80%**: smaller real estate footprint - **30–40%**: measured occupancy before the decision - **1.5**: floors after consolidation > “Kadence gave us that confidence. On a regular basis, we know how many people are coming into the building, and therefore we are not going to be in a position where people come into the office and have nowhere to sit.” > > > > **Adrian Harper** Head of Digital Landscape, Karger [Read the Karger story]() Customer story · University of Exeter ##### The University of Exeter nearly doubled meeting-room use across 14 buildings without adding a square meter. [Read the University of Exeter story]() Customer story · RCS England ##### RCS England consolidated two floors into one and saved over £40,000 a year. [Read the RCS England story]() Key features #### All You Need For Your Office Space Management Real Estate Portfolio [Discover plans]() - Interactive Floor Plans: Forecast office usage and space utilization ahead of time - Data Export: Prioritize real estate spend by reporting on space management utilization - Customized Seating: Create, edit, and manage Office Neighborhoods and Assigned Desks - Dedicated Customer Support: Our All-star Customer Experience team is always around to help - Give Instant Feedback: Give direct feedback to Kadence on improvements in the app - Auto-Release: Automatically free up ‘No-Show’ bookings back into the system to reduce wasted space - Guest And Onsite Booking: Invite guests and get notified of their arrival - Capacity Limits: Set the occupancy limit for each floor on any day FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is Office Space Management Software?** Office space management software helps you see how your buildings are used and plan how to use them better. It brings desk and room bookings, team neighborhoods, assigned desks, occupancy data and floor plans into one place. Kadence adds space planning on top, so the same data drives stack plans, scenarios and moves. **Why is Office Space Management necessary?** Office space is a major cost, and hybrid work has made demand uneven. Without good data, teams crowd in on peak days while whole floors sit empty. Space management shows where space is used and where it is wasted, so you can rebalance teams, avoid leasing more than you need and plan changes with evidence. **What are the three basic elements of Space Management?** The three basic elements are measuring, analyzing and planning. First, record how space is booked and used, ideally from check-ins and presence data rather than bookings alone. Second, analyze trends such as peak days, no-shows and quiet floors. Third, use what you find to plan changes, from team neighborhoods to restacks and lease decisions. **What are the benefits of a Space Management Software?** The main benefits are lower real estate costs, less wasted space and better office days. With Kadence, you see how space is used over time, check whether your attendance policy works, find hidden capacity and test changes before you commit. People also find desks near the colleagues they came in to see. **What is the first step in Space Management?** Start by measuring how your space is actually used. List your buildings, floors and space types, then collect a few weeks of booking, check-in and attendance data. Kadence Sense can check people in automatically from office Wi-Fi and network signals, so your baseline shows who came in, not only who booked. **What is the difference between space management and space planning software?** Space management runs the office you have today: bookings, neighborhoods, assigned desks and occupancy data. Space planning decides what the office should look like next: stack plans, scenarios, restacks and moves. In Kadence, WorkOps handles space management and SpaceOps handles space planning, and both use the same workplace data. **How does Kadence help with a lease event or office consolidation?** Before a lease expiry, break option or consolidation, Kadence shows how much space each team really uses, including on peak days. In SpaceOps, you model the change with stack plans and compare scenarios side by side. When you decide, publish the plan to live neighborhoods and assigned desks, and use Move Manager to seat people. **Does Kadence space management need occupancy sensors?** No. Kadence Sense checks people in through the Kadence Agent, a desktop app for Windows, Mac, ChromeOS and Linux that detects the office network. Check-ins can also come from kiosks, room displays, badge data or the public API. Automatic Bookings records people who arrive without a booking, so walk-ins count too. **Can Kadence manage assigned desks and team neighborhoods?** Yes. Assign teams to neighborhoods and people to permanent desks, or use the Neighborhood Scheduler to share floors between teams on different days. Bulk CSV uploads create and edit spaces, neighborhoods and assignments from a spreadsheet. Auto-release frees desks and rooms that nobody checks in to, so they go back into use. #### Explore more - [Kadence Sense]() - [Calculate Your ROI]() - [How Karger reduced office space by 80%]() - [Conference Room Bookings]() - [Space management guide]() - [Workplace analytics]() - [Scenario planning]() - [Space planning software]() - [Move management software]() - [What is stack planning?]() - [What is scenario planning?]() - [Hidden capacity]() - [Office consolidation]() - [Stay vs go decision]() Next step #### Start Working Smarter With Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## AI Space Planning Software for Offices | Kadence SpaceOps Canonical: https://kadence.co/space-planning-software/ Description: Kadence SpaceOps is AI space planning software. Ask in plain language, build stack and seat-level plans on real floor plans, compare scenarios, then publish. SpaceOps ### Office space planning software with an AI planning agent. Space planning software decides which teams go on which floors and where each person sits. Kadence SpaceOps does it with an AI planning agent: ask for the change in plain language, compare scenarios side by side, take the plan down to seat level on real floor plans, then publish it to WorkOps. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Engineering, +36 people, Floor 6; Product, +18 people, Floor 5; Sales, +52 people, Floor 4; Finance, +24 people, Floor 3; Finance, +24 people, Floor 2; Reception, +12 people, Floor 1. Illustrative team headcounts. Scenario 01 of 03 Consolidate to 5 floors Annual occupancy cost ~~$4.2M~~ **$3.1M** Released 28.4k sq ft, one floor [Explore SpaceOps]() How it works #### From occupancy data to an approved plan 1. ##### Start from real use SpaceOps plans from WorkOps attendance, occupancy and visitor data, your teams and headcount, and your imported floor plans. 2. ##### Ask, then compare Tell the AI planning agent what you need. It builds stack and space plans, and you compare scenarios side by side before you commit. 3. ##### Approve and publish Take the chosen plan to seat level, export it as a PDF for stakeholders, and publish it to WorkOps as live neighborhoods and assignments. AI planning agent #### Ask for the change in plain language. Describe what you need, such as giving back a floor or making room for a new team. The AI planning agent builds or changes the stack and space plans, and you review the result. - Plain-English requests - Plans you can change or override - Uses your measured occupancy SpaceOps · Kadence AI SpaceOps stack plan for London HQ, with Kadence AI answering which teams are over-allocated. Stack planning #### Place teams on floors in one step. Auto-stack places teams on floors for you. Then drag teams, lock the ones that must stay and close floors to test a consolidation. - Auto-stack across a building - Drag, lock and close floors - Predicted headcount by day against capacity [What is stack planning?]() SpaceOps · Stack planning SpaceOps stack plan for Sydney: auto-stack places Sales, Marketing and Finance on levels, with predicted headcount per day. Seat-level planning #### Go from floors to desks on real floor plans. Take the stack plan down to seating layouts on your own floor plans, so every team has desks before anyone moves. - Seating layouts on imported floor plans - Teams placed down to each desk - Published to WorkOps when approved SpaceOps · Space planning Floor plan with AI-assisted seating: auto-assign places people on desks, with counts of unassigned people and spaces. Plans built on real data #### Plan for the people who come in. Plans use measured attendance and occupancy from WorkOps, not headcount alone. Check-ins from the Kadence Agent, badge data, kiosks and room displays show how each floor is used. - Occupancy by floor, team and day - No sensors required to start [Workplace occupancy]() SpaceOps · Occupancy Guided workflows #### Step-by-step plans for the moments that matter Most planning starts with a fixed date: a lease event, a consolidation or a hiring plan. Guided workflows take you through three of those jobs step by step. - ##### Restack a building Rebalance which teams sit on which floors as headcount and attendance change. [Restack]() - ##### Consolidate floors Find the floors you can give back and where their teams go, before a lease event. [Office consolidation]() - ##### Find space for a team Place a growing or new team in the space you already have, before you look for more. [Hidden capacity]() Data in, plans out #### What SpaceOps plans from, and what it produces ##### Inputs - **Occupancy and attendance** Measured use from WorkOps, including check-ins from the Kadence Agent, badge data, kiosks and room displays. - **Visitor data** Visitor volumes from Kadence visitor management. - **Teams and headcount** Teams and their headcount, so plans place real groups of people. - **Floor plans** Imported floor plans, editable in the browser, so plans use real walls, rooms and desks. ##### Outputs - **Stack plans** Teams placed on floors automatically, then dragged, locked or floors closed by hand. - **Seat-level space plans** Seating layouts on real floor plans, down to each desk. - **Scenario comparisons** Several options side by side, before anything changes. - **PDF exports and live changes** Share-ready PDFs for stakeholders, and approved plans published to WorkOps. Space planning vs CAD #### CAD draws the building. Space planning decides who goes where. CAD and drawing tools hold the geometry: walls, rooms and desk positions. They do not know who comes in, which teams need to sit together or how a floor is used on a Tuesday. SpaceOps starts from those drawings. It imports your floor plans, lets you edit them in the browser, and plans on top of them with real occupancy data. When you approve a plan, SpaceOps publishes it to WorkOps as the neighborhoods and desk assignments employees book from. [Then seat people with Move Manager]() Customer story · Healthcare #### Karger cut its real estate footprint by 80% on measured occupancy. **80%** smaller real estate footprint > “Kadence gave us that confidence. On a regular basis, we know how many people are coming into the building, and therefore we are not going to be in a position where people come into the office and have nowhere to sit.” > > Adrian Harper, Head of Digital Landscape, Karger [Read the Karger story]() FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is office space planning software?** Office space planning software helps real estate and workplace teams decide how floor area is used: which teams go on which floors, and where desks, rooms and shared areas sit. Modern tools plan from measured occupancy rather than headcount alone, and test options before anyone moves. The glossary explains [space planning]() in full. **What is AI space planning?** [AI space planning]() uses artificial intelligence to draft and test how teams are placed across buildings, floors and desks, from headcount, occupancy data and floor plans. In Kadence SpaceOps you ask the AI planning agent for a change in plain language, review the stack and space plans it builds, and approve the result. **Which companies offer AI-powered occupancy planning or space optimization tools?** Workplace software vendors, IWMS suites and real estate consultancies offer different forms of AI-assisted planning. Kadence SpaceOps is one: its AI planning agent builds stack and seat-level plans from plain-English requests, using occupancy data measured in Kadence WorkOps. When comparing tools, ask where the occupancy data comes from and how a plan gets put into effect. **How is space planning software different from CAD?** CAD tools draw the building: walls, rooms and desk positions. Space planning software decides who goes where in that drawing, using headcount and occupancy data, and compares options. SpaceOps imports your [floor plans]() and lets you edit them in the browser, so you do not need CAD skills to keep plans current. **What data does space planning software need?** At minimum, floor plans and the teams you need to place, with their headcount. Better plans also use measured occupancy and attendance, so you plan for how many people come in rather than how many are employed. SpaceOps takes these from Kadence WorkOps, including check-ins from the Kadence Agent, badge data, kiosks and room displays. **Can I compare scenarios before committing to a plan?** Yes. [Scenario planning]() in SpaceOps compares several options side by side, such as closing a floor, merging two teams or absorbing new hires, before you commit. Guided workflows walk you through a restack, a floor consolidation or finding space for a team. #### Explore more ##### In the glossary - [AI space planning]() - [Space planning]() - [Stack planning]() - [Scenario planning]() - [Block plan]() - [Test fit]() - [Headcount planning]() - [Occupancy planning]() - [Stay vs go decision]() - [Lease event]() ##### Products, guides and stories - [SpaceOps]() - [Scenario planning]() - [Move management software]() - [Corporate real estate]() - [Guide: office space planning]() - [How stack planning powers workplace decisions]() - [How the University of Exeter stacked its space]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## SpaceOps: AI-Powered Workplace Management and Space Planning | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/spaceops/ Description: SpaceOps is AI-powered workplace management: it brings floor plans, headcount and moves into one agentic platform to model, plan, stack and execute workplace change in hours, not weeks. SpaceOps ### Meet SpaceOps: AI‑powered workplace management. SpaceOps brings floor plans, headcount, and moves into one agentic platform. Model, plan, stack, and execute change in hours, not weeks. [Book a demo]() [Take the product tour (opens in a new tab)]() Planning to execution #### Five Tools. One Platform. Countless hours saved. SpaceOps is an AI agent that plans, models, and executes workplace change, turning scenarios into reality. - SpaceOps 01 Stack planning: the Sales team auto-stacked onto Level 2, with desks per floor and predicted headcount per day. ##### Stack planning AI drafts the plan. You decide. - SpaceOps 02 Scenario modeling: Kadence AI proposes moving Finance to Floor 4 with the estimated impact. ##### Scenario modeling Every option, every trade-off. - SpaceOps 03 Occupancy modeling: floor occupancy, neighborhood occupancy and room occupancy charts. ##### Occupancy modeling How your space is actually used. - SpaceOps 04 Space planning: AI Assist assigns people to spaces on a floor plan, with unassigned people and spaces counted. ##### Space planning AI assigns seats. You stay in control. - SpaceOps 05 Move scheduling: a move plan summary for Private Banking with a completion date and next steps for the manager. ##### Move scheduling Your approved plan becomes reality. How SpaceOps works #### Accelerate every workplace change with the power of SpaceOps. From scenario planning to move management, without the manual handoffs. AI informs your strategy and gives you the power to execute at the speed your organization needs. Generate scenarios in minutes, decide what’s right for you, and let SpaceOps automate the move. SpaceOps · Kadence AI San Francisco HQ Reduce our office footprint by 2 floors in San Francisco. Floors 4 and 5 are averaging 34% occupancy. That’s your lowest across the building. Here’s how Engineering actually uses the space right now. Team size **311**+6% from last year Avg daily attendance **254** 81% of team Teams on floor *Engineering* *Legal* *Finance* *Product* *Design* Floor 4: 31% · Floor 5: 37% Plans built on real data #### See how the office is used before you change it. Kadence Sense combines bookings, badge data, Wi-Fi and check-ins into sensorless occupancy, giving you the power to know what’s actually happening in your offices before you make moves. - Occupancy by floor, team and day - Headcount forecast against capacity SpaceOps · Occupancy Ask for the change you need #### Tell SpaceOps what you want to achieve, in plain language. It models scenarios, compares trade-offs, and recommends the best path forward: close one floor now, close two and keep Engineering with Product, or take the maximum reduction. - Three scenarios in minutes - Cost, desks, teams and floors per option - A recommendation you can override SpaceOps · Scenario SpaceOps proposes moving Finance to Floor 4 with the estimated impact. From plan to execution #### Approve the plan. SpaceOps turns it into action. Once you approve a plan, SpaceOps turns it into action, applying desk assignments, neighborhoods, and floor configurations within the platform. - Move sequencing with conflict detection - New starters seated in the same pass - Facilities notified of what the floor needs SpaceOps · Move scheduling Move plan summary for Private Banking with a completion date and next steps. The Kadence loop #### Unified platform. AI powered. WorkOps generates the live occupancy intelligence that powers every SpaceOps planning decision. SpaceOps applies changes directly back into WorkOps, so the plan you approve is the workplace your employees experience. #### One Place For **Everything Workplace** Plan, coordinate and execute change across your people, spaces and operations. Tap any item to see it in action #### WorkOps · System of Record #### WorkOps Day to Day Operations System of Record ##### Desk & Room Booking ##### Visitor Management ##### Live Occupancy Analytics ##### Attendance Tracking ##### Move Management ##### Space Management #### The Kadence Loop **Kadence**One platform, one dataset Occupancy Data Change Executed #### SpaceOps · System of Action #### SpaceOps Change Orchestration System of Action ##### Floor Design & Desk Assignment ##### Stack Planning ##### Scenario Modeling ##### Occupancy Modeling ##### Move Scheduling ##### Automated Go‑Live Execution 40% #### Add-ons #### Add-ons Extend Kadence with additional capabilities. **Lease Management**Portfolio leases and renewals **Asset Management**Track and move workplace assets **Compliance Management**Access zones and rule packs Integrations #### Connects to the tools you already use ##### Workplace communication - Microsoft Teams - Slack ##### Calendar sync - Google Calendar - Microsoft Outlook ##### Single sign-on - Okta - Microsoft Entra ID - Google Workspace - OneLogin - JumpCloud ##### HR systems - Workday - BambooHR - HiBob ##### Service desk - ServiceNow - Jira - Zendesk - Freshdesk ##### Meeting room hardware - Neat - iPad - Android tablets ##### Flexible workspace - LiquidSpace ##### Badging & access - Badge feeds via API - Badge file via SFTP ##### API - Public REST API - Webhooks - SCIM provisioning ##### AI assistants · Kadence MCP - ChatGPT - Claude - Microsoft Copilot - Gemini - Grok Select any item to see it in action Why SpaceOps #### Work has changed. Your tools should too. You can choose to rely on legacy systems, bring in consultants, or just use SpaceOps. | Capability | Kadence SpaceOps | Legacy workplace systems | Consultants | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Agentic AI | Explain what you need in plain language | Build reports manually | Manual briefing process required | | Occupancy modeling, stack planning, scenario modeling and space planning | One platform with every stage connected | Separate tools, separate budgets | Separate engagements, separate fees | | Occupancy data source | Your actual space usage, no sensors required | Sensors, badges, or spreadsheets | Interviews and assumptions | | Re-plan when things change | Re-run plans in minutes, unlimited times | Manually rebuild every time | New engagement, new fee | | Implementation time | Days for Kadence customers | Weeks to months | 8 to 12 weeks per project | | No specialists required | Designed for workplace leaders | Requires trained admin or IWMS specialist | Requires a consultant every time | Guide #### 10 Space Planning Fears: What Leaders Can Do About Them When teams change, attendance shifts, or office footprints need to shrink, every planning decision carries risk. Use this guide to identify space planning challenges and see how SpaceOps helps you turn them into clear, executable plans. FAQ #### Got questions about SpaceOps? **What is SpaceOps in workplace management?** SpaceOps is an AI-powered space planning and workplace management platform that helps organizations optimize how their office space is used. It combines real-time occupancy data and AI-powered planning tools to help space and facilities teams make smarter decisions. **How does SpaceOps help organizations plan and manage office space?** SpaceOps gives space teams a single platform to visualize occupancy, model space scenarios, and act on workplace data. From floor plan management to utilization reporting, SpaceOps helps organizations right-size their real estate, reduce wasted space, and plan for workplace change with confidence. **What are the benefits and ROI of using SpaceOps?** Organizations using SpaceOps reduce real estate costs by identifying underutilized space, improve employee experience by aligning space supply with demand, and save hours of manual planning work through AI-powered automation. The result: faster decisions, lower overhead, and a workplace that works harder for the business. **How is SpaceOps different from legacy IWMS platforms?** Unlike legacy IWMS platforms that are complex, expensive, and slow to implement, SpaceOps is built for the speed of modern workplace change. It’s intuitive enough for space teams to use daily, flexible enough to adapt as your workplace evolves, and powered by AI, not just data dashboards. **How much does Kadence SpaceOps cost?** Kadence SpaceOps is priced based on the size of your organization and the features you need. Whether you’re managing a single office or a global portfolio, there’s a plan built for your scale. Refer to [pricing plans here]() or [get in touch with our team]() for a custom quote tailored to your needs. **Is there a free trial or demo available for SpaceOps?** You can book a [personalized demo]() with our team to see SpaceOps in action with your own workplace context. We’ll walk you through the platform, answer your questions, and help you understand the ROI before you commit. **How is SpaceOps different from a floor planning software?** SpaceOps manages the entire lifecycle of workplace change — from stack planning and move orchestration to post-move analytics. **How does AI support SpaceOps?** AI assists with demand modeling, capacity forecasting, and scenario optimization while maintaining full governance and manual control. Next step #### See SpaceOps on your portfolio. Bring a floor you are unsure about. We run the scenario on your numbers. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Sub-processors - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/sub-processors/ Description: Sub-Processors Sub Processors ### Sub-Processors [Security overview]() The sub-processors document lists providers, processing purposes, locations and transfers with a sequential contents checklist and Kadence’s SOC 2 and Cyber Essentials badges. | Sub-Processor | Data Location | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | Amazon Web Services | EU | Data hosting and infrastructure platform | | Work OS | USA | Automated user provisioning tool | | Intercom | EU | Support ticketing and communications tool. | | Microsoft | UK | AI model deployment and data processing for optional AI Chatbot | | LangSmith | EU | Data collection and processing for optional AI Chatbot | | Plausible | EU | Anonymized and aggregated product analytic data collection | | Explo | EU | Delivers analytics and reports for insights into workplace trends and product usage | | Omni | EU | Delivers analytics and reports for insights into workplace trends and product usage | | Kombo | EU | Connects Kadence to your HR systems, allowing employee and absence data to sync automatically | | Archilogic | EU | Adds floor plan editing capabilities to Kadence, so workplace teams can update and manage office layouts directly in the platform | | DocuSign | EU | Electronic signature processing for Kadence Visitor Management | Where Personal Data originating from EEA, UK, or Switzerland is transferred to Kadence, Kadence relies on adequacy decisions for Canada and Switzerland to provide an appropriate safeguard for the transfer. Where customer Personal Data originating from EEA, UK, or Switzerland is transferred between Kadence group companies, we have an Intragroup Data Transfer Agreement in place, which has been updated to reflect the new Standard Contractual Clauses. The transfers of customer Personal Data to sub-processors established in third countries outside the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, or the processing of Personal Data in such third countries, is governed by the new Standard Contractual Clauses. ## Workplace Management for Technology Companies | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/technology/ Description: Workplace management software for technology companies: roll out on your directory, drive daily adoption and coordinate teams across hubs and time zones. Technology ### Workplace Management for Technology Companies Run the workplace like a high-performance system. Deploy in days, adopt from day one, and coordinate teams across hubs and time zones with AI that knows when people need to be in together. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative: Engineering, Product and Design attendance by weekday at the Berlin hub. Wednesday has the most overlap, 10 of 11 people, and Kadence posts the team day in Slack. Trusted in technology - Intel - Softchoice - MOO - Wavex - Care.com - Virtus Data Centres Rollout #### Live in days, adopted from day one. Kadence launches on your existing directory and floor plans with near-zero training overhead. Built for daily use, so utilization ramps fast. - Deploy in days, not months - Teams and Slack native - SSO with Okta, Google and Azure AD WorkOps · Team coordination Team today view showing who is in and where. One platform #### Desks, rooms, attendance and analytics without the disconnected tools. One platform for daily operations and the real estate decisions on top, with AI-powered data on space usage, collaboration time and team presence by team and location. - Unified workplace operations - Presence by team and location - Workspace strategy aligned to growth WorkOps · Presence data Actual presence on Floor 4 against booking data. Scale #### Singapore, Berlin and San Francisco on one system. Consistent booking and team coordination across every location, so remote-first, hub-centric and HQ-based teams get the same experience and ops gets instant global insight. - Consistent UX across hubs - Instant global insights - Presence tracking via check-in, Wi-Fi or policy WorkOps · Multi-office Room booking across multiple cities. #### Kadence for technology companies Customer story · Technology ##### Softchoice made hybrid work simple across its organization with shared team schedules. **Team coordination** shared visibility of colleagues’ schedules [Read the story]() Customer story · Technology ##### MOO saw office occupancy often exceed 70% after six months with Kadence. **70%** occupancy often exceeded on individual days, after six months [Read the story]() Customer story · Technology ##### Wavex reached 4x desk efficiency in its new London HQ and saved over £20,000. **4×** desk efficiency [Read the story]() Reviews on G2 · Technology #### In their own words. [All Kadence reviews on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “We have deployed the app across 15 offices in the US and Canada. It is very intuitive and was easily adopted by our employees.” **Chris P.** Workplace Technology Lead Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) · G2 review, May 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “Kadence is allowing us to provide flexibility to our staff so that we can operate a hybrid home/office working model. It has also saved us on office space costs.” **Jonathan W.** Sales Director Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) · G2 review, September 2022 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() - > “Easy to use, easy to configure and integrate for auto check into our door access control system.” **Verified User in Computer Software** Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) · G2 review, February 2026 [Read the review on G2 ↗ (opens in a new tab)]() By industry - [Financial services →]() - [Legal →]() - [Business services →]() - [Commercial real estate →]() - [Consumer goods →]() - [Energy and utilities →]() - [Government →]() - [Healthcare and pharma →]() - [Higher education →]() - [Manufacturing →]() - [Media and entertainment →]() - [Non-profits →]() - [Retail →]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace templates: policies and checklists | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/templates/ Description: Free workplace templates: a hybrid work policy, a desk booking policy, an office move checklist and an RFP checklist for choosing a workplace platform. Templates ### Workplace templates and checklists Free, copyable templates for the documents workplace teams write most: the hybrid work policy, the desk booking policy, the office move plan and the requirements list for choosing a workplace platform. Each one explains how to use it and links to the terms behind it. - [Hybrid work policy template Attendance, anchor days, booking, check-in, accommodations, reporting and review, with a free PDF.]() - [Desk booking policy template Booking windows, durations, credits, check-in, auto-release and hot desking etiquette, rule by rule.]() - [Office move checklist Six phases from scope to after the move, with a downloadable spreadsheet.]() - [RFP requirements checklist 66 questions to put to every workplace platform vendor, with a downloadable spreadsheet.]() #### Questions ##### Are these workplace templates free? Yes. Every template on this page is free to copy and adapt, with no sign-up. The hybrid work policy also comes as a PDF, and the office move checklist and the RFP checklist download as spreadsheets that open in Excel or Google Sheets. ##### Can I edit the templates for my own company? Yes. Each template uses placeholders in square brackets, such as \[COMPANY NAME\] or \[BOOKING WINDOW\]. Replace them with your own rules, remove the sections you do not need, and check the final wording with your HR and legal teams before you publish it. ##### Which template should I start with? Start with the hybrid work policy if you are setting office expectations, the desk booking policy if people share desks, and the office move checklist if a move or consolidation is coming. If you are choosing a workplace platform, start with the RFP requirements checklist. Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Desk booking policy template for hot desking | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/templates/desk-booking-policy/ Description: A free desk booking and hot desking policy template: who can book, booking windows, durations, check-in, auto-release, etiquette and data use. [Templates]() · Workplace operations ### Desk booking policy template Short answer A desk booking policy sets the rules for shared desks: who can book which spaces, how far ahead, for how long, when people must check in and when unused bookings are released. This template gives you copyable wording for each rule, the etiquette that software cannot enforce, and the setting that enforces each rule in Kadence. [Read the template]() #### How to use this template 1. **Start from the problem.** Write down what is going wrong today: no-shows, people holding popular desks, nowhere to sit on busy days. Each rule should answer one problem. 2. **Fill in the placeholders.** Replace every \[PLACEHOLDER\] with your own window, durations and grace period. Leave out any rule you do not need. 3. **Configure before you publish.** Set each rule in your booking system first, so the policy describes what the system already does. 4. **Publish on one short page.** Share the rules and the etiquette together, and say what booking data is used for. 5. **Watch the data, then adjust.** Track no-shows, refused bookings and complaints about popular spaces, and change one rule at a time. #### The template Copy the sections you need and replace the \[PLACEHOLDERS\]. Under each section, "In Kadence" names the setting that enforces it. ##### 1. Purpose and scope One paragraph on why desks are shared and who the policy covers. At \[COMPANY NAME\], most desks are shared. This policy explains how to book desks and other spaces in \[BUILDINGS\], so everyone can find a place to work on the days they come in. It applies to all employees, contractors and visitors from other offices who use shared space. [Hot desking and hoteling]() · [Booking policy]() ##### 2. Who can book what Say which spaces are bookable, which are assigned, and which teams have their own areas. You can book desks, meeting rooms, \[PARKING / LOCKERS / PODS\] in \[BOOKING TOOL\]. Some desks are assigned to individuals and cannot be booked. \[TEAM NAME\] has priority access to its neighborhood on \[DAYS\] before it opens to everyone. In Kadence Admins assign people to permanent desks and teams to neighborhoods, and the Neighborhood Scheduler changes a team's neighborhood by date. Priority booking access gives selected groups first access to spaces before general release. Lockers, pods, parking and private offices can be bookable too. [Assigned desk]() · [Neighborhood]() · [Bookable and non-bookable space]() ##### 3. How far ahead you can book The booking window. Long enough to plan the week, short enough that nobody claims popular desks months ahead. You can book a desk up to \[BOOKING WINDOW\] ahead. \[POPULAR SPACE TYPE\] can be booked up to \[SHORTER WINDOW\] ahead. Recurring bookings can run until \[END DATE LIMIT\]. In Kadence Booking rules set how far ahead people can book. Recurring booking end-date controls cap how far a series can run. [Fixed and rolling booking windows]() ##### 4. How long you can book Maximum and default durations stop one booking from blocking a space all day. Desks are booked for \[DEFAULT DURATION\] by default, up to \[MAXIMUM DURATION\]. Meeting rooms can be booked for up to \[MAXIMUM ROOM DURATION\]. Focus pods can be booked for up to \[POD LIMIT\]. You can book a desk across several days in one booking when you visit for a few days in a row. In Kadence Booking rules set maximum and default booking durations. Multi-day bookings let people book a desk or space across several days in one go. ##### 5. Fair use Limits on how much one person or team can hold at once. You can hold up to \[NUMBER\] desk bookings at a time. Teams can book up to \[NUMBER\] desks for team days. Do not book desks for colleagues who may not come in. In Kadence Booking credits limit how much space each person or team can book. ##### 6. Check-in and auto-release The rule that does most to cut ghost bookings. Set a grace period and say what happens after it. Check in when you arrive, using \[CHECK-IN METHOD\]. If you do not check in within \[GRACE PERIOD\] of your booking's start time, the booking is released and the desk becomes free for others. Room bookings that are not checked in are released in the same way. In Kadence Kadence auto-releases desk, room and other space bookings that are not checked in, with check-in windows set by admins. The Kadence Agent checks people in automatically when it detects them on the office network, so people who are present are not released. [Desk check-in]() · [Auto-release]() · [Ghost booking]() · [No-show rate]() ##### 7. Booking for someone else Assistants and coordinators often book for others. Say who may. \[ROLE, e.g. executive assistants and office coordinators\] can book on behalf of colleagues. Everyone else books only for themselves. In Kadence The Booking Scheduler role lets assistants or coordinators book on behalf of others, and booking exports show who created each booking. ##### 8. Landing pads and walk-ins People visiting from other offices, and people who arrive without a booking, need a place too. Colleagues visiting from other offices can use the landing pad desks on \[FLOOR\], marked \[SIGNAGE\]. Book them like any other desk. If you arrive without a booking, book a free desk as soon as you sit down, so the space shows as taken. In Kadence Automatic Bookings records people who turn up without a booking, and floor plan search helps visiting colleagues find a person, desk or room. [Landing pad]() · [Walk-in usage]() ##### 9. Closures Holidays, works and events take space out of use. Say how people will hear about it. When a building, floor or area is closed for holidays, works or events, it cannot be booked. We announce closures \[NOTICE PERIOD\] ahead in \[CHANNEL\]. In Kadence Closure Management lets admins close buildings for holidays or events on every plan, and WorkOps Pro adds closures for floors, neighborhoods and individual spaces. Workplace announcements reach people through Slack, Microsoft Teams, email and the mobile app. [Closure management]() ##### 10. Hot desking etiquette The part software cannot enforce. Keep it to a few rules people will remember. Cancel your booking as soon as your plans change. Clear the desk at the end of the day: take your things, wipe down the surface and leave the screen and cables as you found them. Keep quiet in quiet zones, and take calls in phone booths or meeting rooms. Use lockers for anything you leave overnight. Do not reserve a desk with your belongings. ##### 11. Booking data and privacy Say what booking data is used for. Silence feeds suspicion that it tracks attendance. We use booking and check-in data to plan space, size neighborhoods and improve the office. \[WHO\] can see reports, which show \[TEAMS / BUILDINGS\]. You can hide your location from colleagues if you prefer. We keep booking data for \[RETENTION PERIOD\]. In Kadence Incognito mode lets employees hide their location from colleagues. PII data retention controls set how long personal data is kept. [Works council]() ##### 12. Review Rules that worked at one occupancy level may not work at the next. We review these rules every \[PERIOD\] using no-show rates, refused bookings and your feedback. Questions go to \[CONTACT\]. In Kadence Workplace Insights shows attendance, occupancy, no-shows and heatmaps, with CSV export. [Desk utilization]() · [Peak occupancy]() #### How Kadence helps Kadence enforces booking policy in the product: maximum and default booking durations, a fixed window for how far ahead people can book, booking credits that cap how much space a person or team can book, priority booking access for chosen teams, recurring booking end-date controls, and check-in with auto-release of unused bookings. People book from the web, mobile apps, Microsoft Teams, Slack and Outlook. [Desk booking software]() · [Room booking software]() · [Office hoteling software]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What should a hot desking policy include? A hot desking policy should say which spaces can be booked and by whom, how far ahead and for how long, how many bookings one person can hold, when people must check in, what happens to bookings that are not used, how closures are announced, the desk etiquette everyone follows, and what the booking data is used for. ##### What is good hot desking etiquette? Book only what you will use and cancel as soon as plans change. Clear the desk at the end of the day and wipe it down. Keep quiet in quiet zones and take calls in booths or rooms. Never hold a desk with your belongings; use a locker instead. ##### How far in advance should employees be able to book a desk? Long enough for people to plan their office days, and short enough that a few people cannot claim the most popular desks far ahead. Set a shorter window for scarce spaces. Then watch no-shows and refused bookings, and adjust one rule at a time. ##### Should unused desk bookings be released automatically? Yes, in most offices. A check-in rule with a short grace period frees desks that were booked but not used, so they show as available to others and your occupancy data stays accurate. Automatic check-in on the office network keeps people who are present from losing their desk. ##### Can a desk booking policy be enforced automatically? Most of it can. Booking windows, maximum durations, booking limits, priority access, recurring booking limits, check-in and auto-release are settings in a desk booking system. Etiquette, such as clearing the desk and keeping quiet zones quiet, still depends on the policy and on managers. #### Related terms - [Booking policy]() The rules for booking shared desks, rooms and other spaces: who can book, how far ahead, for how long and when bookings are released. - [Fixed vs rolling booking window]() A rolling window opens one new day each day, always the same distance ahead; a fixed window opens a whole period at once on a set day. - [Auto-release]() A booking rule that frees a desk or room automatically when nobody checks in within a set grace period. - [Landing pad]() A small set of drop-in desks for short stays, visiting colleagues or people between meetings, with no booking required. - [Closure management]() Blocking desks, rooms or floors for maintenance, events or emergencies, and automatically notifying or moving affected bookings. - [Hot desking and hoteling]() Two ways to share desks: hot desking is first come, first served; hoteling means reserving a desk in advance and checking in. - [Desk check-in]() Confirming that you are at the desk or room you booked, by app, QR code, badge or Wi-Fi presence, so unused bookings can be released. - [Ghost booking]() A desk or room that is booked but never used, so it shows as taken while it sits empty. [All templates]() · [RFP requirements checklist]() Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How to use this template]() 2. [The template]() 3. [How Kadence helps]() 4. [FAQ]() 5. [Related terms]() Next step #### Turn the policy into settings. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist: your rules, configured on your own floors. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Hybrid work policy template: free sample and PDF | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/templates/hybrid-work-policy/ Description: A free hybrid work policy template: attendance, anchor days, booking and check-in rules, accommodations, reporting and review. Copy it or download the PDF. [Templates]() · Hybrid work & policy ### Hybrid work policy template, and how to write one Short answer A hybrid work policy tells employees when they are expected in the office, how they book space, how meetings work across home and office, what support they can ask for and how attendance data is used. This template gives you the wording section by section, with placeholders to fill in, and a free PDF version. [Download the PDF template]() [Read the template]() PDF · 9 pages · free, no sign-up #### How to write a hybrid work policy 1. **Choose your hybrid model.** Decide how much the office sets the rhythm of work. The four models below run from fully office-centric to fully flexible. Pick one before you write a rule. 2. **Say what office time is for.** Name the work that is better together: planning, onboarding, client work, team rituals. People accept office days more readily when they know why they are coming in. 3. **Set the expectation.** Either name fixed anchor days or set a number of days a week. Then decide how teams agree their own team days. 4. **Write rules people can follow.** Booking, check-in and cancellation rules belong in the policy, and in the booking system that enforces them. 5. **Cover support, exceptions and data.** Explain how to ask for an exception, who approves it, and what attendance data is collected and who sees it. 6. **Publish, measure and review.** Share the policy in one place, measure attendance and occupancy against it, and set a date to review it. #### The four hybrid models | Model | In one line | What it looks like | | --- | --- | --- | | Traditional | Real work is in the office. | Presenteeism, command-and-control management, assigned seating. | | Controlled hybrid | The office sets the norm. | Mandated office days, flexibility by request, office rotas. | | Flexible hybrid | Collaborate in the office, focus at home. | Great autonomy, open-plan hot desking. | | Coordinated hybrid | Collaborate and work whenever, wherever. | A culture of trust, on-demand desk hoteling, activity-based settings. | The models run from employer-centric and role-oriented on the left to employee-centric and task-oriented on the right. They come from the PDF version of this template. #### The template Copy each section into your own document and replace the \[PLACEHOLDERS\]. You may call it a policy, guidance or a process; use whatever fits your other policies. ##### 1. Vision and scope Start with why. Focus on productivity, collaboration and wellbeing, and say how the approach supports personal balance and business goals. At \[COMPANY NAME\], we work in a hybrid model. You have the flexibility to work both remotely and in the office. Our goal is to build teamwork and connection while giving you the flexibility to work from home when possible. Office days bring the team together for face-to-face work: key meetings, planning, onboarding and time together as a team. This policy applies to everyone unless your contract states that you work remotely or has specific terms that differ. [Hybrid work model]() · [Hybrid work policy]() ##### 2. Attendance expectations Be specific. A number of days or named days, core hours, and what is expected on remote days. We expect you to work in the office \[NUMBER\] days a week. \[OR: on our anchor days, set out in section 3.\] The remaining days are available for remote work. Core hours on office days are \[09:00 to 17:30\]. We stay flexible for childcare, medical and similar commitments. Working hours: your remote working hours should mirror your office hours, unless your team lead agrees otherwise. Take regular screen breaks and a proper lunch break. Punctuality: be on time for work and meetings. If something unexpected comes up, especially before a meeting or a client commitment, tell your team as soon as you can. Collaboration: taking part in meetings and sharing ideas matters just as much remotely. We use \[MICROSOFT TEAMS / GOOGLE MEET / ZOOM\] to stay connected. [Attendance policy]() · [Office attendance]() ##### 3. Anchor days and team days Shared days are what make office time useful. Name them, or let each team choose its own. \[DAY\] and \[DAY\] are our anchor days: the days we ask everyone to be in the office. Plan key meetings face to face on these days. Each team agrees at least one in-person team day a week and shares it in \[BOOKING TOOL\], so everyone can plan around it. Managers overlap with their team members in the office regularly, to support learning and development. [Anchor days]() · [Team days]() · [Hybrid coordination]() ##### 4. Booking desks and rooms If people share desks, the policy needs booking rules. Keep them short and let the booking system enforce them. Book a desk in \[BOOKING TOOL\] before you come in. You can book up to \[BOOKING WINDOW\] ahead. If your plans change, cancel your booking so a colleague can use the space. Meeting organizers book a room with the right equipment, and check that video conferencing works for both in-office and remote attendees. \[TEAM NAME\] has its own neighborhood on \[FLOOR\]. Sit with your team on team days. [Booking policy]() · [Neighborhood]() · [Desk booking policy template]() ##### 5. Check-in Check-in keeps booked space honest and attendance data accurate. Say how it works and what happens to no-shows. Check in to your desk or room when you arrive, using \[CHECK-IN METHOD: the app, a QR code, the room display or automatic check-in on the office network\]. Bookings that are not checked in within \[GRACE PERIOD\] of the start time are released, so others can use the space. \[IF AUTOMATIC CHECK-IN IS USED:\] When you connect to the office network, you are checked in automatically. It records that you are in the office; it does not track what you do. [Desk check-in]() · [Auto-release]() · [Ghost booking]() ##### 6. Hybrid meeting etiquette Meetings are where hybrid work most often fails remote attendees. Set the norms in writing. Preparation: the organizer books a room with the right amenities and makes sure video conferencing is ready for both in-office and remote attendees. Agenda: for larger meetings, share an agenda in advance so everyone knows the topics and goals. Inclusive participation: the chair invites both in-room and remote attendees to speak. Use your camera as much as you can, so we stay connected as a team. Recap: share a short summary in the team channel for anyone who could not attend. [Hybrid meeting]() · [Proximity bias]() ##### 7. Accommodations, wellbeing and support Say how to ask for an exception, who decides, and what support is available. Quiet workers should not become invisible. If you need an accommodation or an exception to this policy, for health, caring responsibilities or another reason, talk to \[YOUR MANAGER / HR\]. \[ROLE\] approves exceptions, and we review them every \[PERIOD\]. We are here to support your hybrid working. If you are finding it hard to meet your goals, talk to your manager. Staying connected, keeping a routine and taking breaks all help your wellbeing when you work remotely. Look after your physical health with an ergonomic setup and movement during the day. Anything you share with your manager about remote work challenges is kept confidential. For more guidance, see our \[HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY\]. [Flexible working]() ##### 8. Security and safety Remote days move equipment and data out of the office. Cover both. Keep company equipment, such as laptops, safe. You are responsible for keeping data and information secure. Do not discuss sensitive information or show confidential data on screen when others are nearby. Always lock your screen when you step away. See our \[DATA PRIVACY POLICY\]. We carry out a home working risk assessment so that everyone has the equipment and a safe place to work. It covers the home environment, display screen equipment, fire safety, first aid and mental wellbeing. Everyone should have a suitable workstation, including a chair, desk and IT equipment. We provide equipment; you address any issues the assessment finds in your home setup. ##### 9. Attendance data and compliance reporting If you measure attendance against the policy, say so plainly: what is collected, who sees it and what it is used for. We use desk bookings and check-ins to plan office space and to see how well our office days work for each team. We report attendance by \[TEAM / DEPARTMENT / BUILDING\]. \[WHO\] can see reports. \[MANAGERS SEE THEIR OWN TEAM / NO ONE SEES INDIVIDUAL RECORDS\]. We keep this data for \[RETENTION PERIOD\] and use it only for workplace planning and this policy. We do not use it to monitor your work. In Kadence Workplace Insights reports attendance from check-ins, including automatic check-ins from the Kadence Agent on the office network. Admins choose whether lockers and parking count toward attendance. Insights Plus custom dashboards, part of WorkOps Pro or available as an add-on, include policy compliance reporting. PII data retention controls set how long personal data is kept. [Hybrid policy compliance]() · [Works council]() · [Presence data]() ##### 10. Review cadence A hybrid policy is never finished. Put the next review date in the policy itself. We review this policy every \[PERIOD\], and whenever our offices change. Each review looks at attendance and occupancy data, booking and no-show trends, and feedback from employees. We announce changes \[NOTICE PERIOD\] before they take effect. Questions about this policy go to \[CONTACT\]. [Occupancy rate]() · [No-show rate]() · [Workplace KPIs]() #### How Kadence helps Kadence helps put a hybrid policy into practice. Employees set their work status and see who is going in, managers set recurring team days, and admins use booking rules, booking windows and auto-release to match the policy. The Kadence Agent checks people in when it detects them on the office Wi-Fi. Workplace Insights shows attendance and occupancy by team, and Insights Plus custom dashboards (WorkOps Pro or add-on) include policy compliance reporting. [Hybrid working coordination]() · [Workplace analytics]() · [Workplace occupancy]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### Is this hybrid work policy template free? Yes. You can copy every section from this page, or download the PDF version with no sign-up. Replace the placeholders in square brackets with your own days, hours, tools and contacts, then check the result with your HR and legal teams before you publish it. ##### What sections does a hybrid work policy need? Most policies cover the vision and scope, attendance expectations, anchor or team days, booking and check-in rules, hybrid meeting etiquette, accommodations and support, security, how attendance data is used, and when the policy will be reviewed. This template has wording for each one. ##### Should a hybrid policy set fixed office days or a number of days? Fixed anchor days make sure people overlap, which is usually the point of office time. A number of days gives more freedom but can leave the office half empty on some days. Many policies combine both: one or two shared anchor days plus team days that each team chooses. ##### How do you track compliance with a hybrid work policy fairly? Measure from data people already create, such as desk bookings and check-ins, and report by team rather than singling out individuals. Tell employees what is collected and why, and involve your works council where you have one. Use the results to fix the policy and the office, not only to chase attendance. ##### How often should you review a hybrid work policy? Set a regular review in the policy itself, and review it again whenever your offices change, for example after a move, a consolidation or a new lease. Use attendance, occupancy and no-show data, plus employee feedback, to decide what to change. #### Related terms - [Hybrid work policy]() The written rules for how hybrid work runs: office days, booking, meetings, manager duties and how success is measured. - [Hybrid work model]() The specific rules an organization uses to decide where and when people work, from flexible to office-first. - [Anchor days]() Set days each week when a team or company agrees to be in the office together, with the other days flexible. - [Office attendance policy]() A rule that sets how often employees are expected in the office, such as a number of days per week or month. - [Hybrid policy compliance]() Reporting on whether individuals and teams meet the organization's in-office expectations over time, such as 45 of 52 weeks. - [Booking policy]() The rules for booking shared desks, rooms and other spaces: who can book, how far ahead, for how long and when bookings are released. - [Team days]() A recurring day when a hybrid team agrees to be in the office together, usually set by the team or its manager. - [Return to office (RTO)]() An employer requirement that remote or hybrid staff spend more time in the office, either full time or on set days. [All templates]() · [RFP requirements checklist]() Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How to write a hybrid work policy]() 2. [The four hybrid models]() 3. [The template]() 4. [How Kadence helps]() 5. [FAQ]() 6. [Related terms]() Next step #### Turn the policy into settings. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist: your rules, configured on your own floors. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Office move checklist: a phase-by-phase template | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/templates/office-move-checklist/ Description: A free office move and relocation checklist, phase by phase: scope and plan of record, seating, communication, IT and access, move day and after the move. [Templates]() · Moves & change ### Office move checklist Short answer An office move checklist lists every task between deciding to move and settling into the new space: setting the scope and plan of record, planning seating, telling people, preparing IT and access, running move day and checking the result. Use this one for a relocation, a consolidation or an internal move between floors. [Download the checklist (CSV)]() [Read the checklist]() Opens in Excel or Google Sheets #### How to use this checklist 1. **Name one owner.** One person owns the move and the plan of record. Everyone else works from their version. 2. **Work through the phases in order.** Each phase depends on the one before. Seating cannot be final until the scope is, and people cannot be told until seating is. 3. **Give every task an owner and a date.** Download the spreadsheet, add owners and due dates, and share it with IT, facilities and HR. 4. **Measure before and after.** Measure how the space is used before you plan the move, and again after it, so you can show whether it worked. #### The checklist Six phases. Copy a phase into your own plan, or download the whole checklist as a spreadsheet. "In Kadence" notes show where a step can be done in the product. ##### 1. Set the scope and the plan of record Agree why you are moving, what done looks like and which plan everyone works from. - Name the move owner and the sponsor who signs off. - Write down why you are moving: lease event, consolidation, growth or restack. - Agree the budget and what counts as done. - Measure how the current space is used, by team and by day, before you size the new space. - Build the space roster: every person, team, desk and assigned seat. - Decide which plan is the plan of record, and who may change it. - Check lease notice dates and restoration obligations for the space you leave. In Kadence SpaceOps builds stack and space plans on real WorkOps attendance and occupancy data, compares scenarios side by side and exports share-ready PDFs for stakeholders. [Plan of record]() · [Space roster]() · [Lease event]() · [Utilization study]() ##### 2. Plan the new space and seating Seat teams for how they work together, and plan for the busiest days, not the average. - Get floor plans for the new space in a format you can edit. - Set team adjacencies and neighborhoods. - Decide which desks are assigned and which are bookable, and the desk ratio for each team. - Plan for peak days, not average days. - Plan swing space if the move happens in stages. - Seat new starters, and free the seats of leavers, who fall inside the move window. - Get sign-off on the seating plan and lock it as the plan of record. In Kadence Move Manager (WorkOps Pro) plans new starters, leavers, ad-hoc assignments and team relocations, with seat recommendations, bulk auto-assign and bulk move uploads. The HRIS integration syncs starters, leavers and leave dates. In SpaceOps, an approved plan is published to WorkOps as live neighborhoods and assignments. [Swing space]() · [Team adjacency]() · [Desk ratio]() · [Joiners, movers and leavers]() ##### 3. Tell people People forgive a lot if they hear early, from their manager, with the details that affect them. - Brief managers first, so they can answer their team's questions. - Announce why you are moving, the date and what changes for each person. - Tell each person where they will sit, with a floor plan. - Publish a short FAQ: parking, lockers, access badges, accessibility and travel. - Tell visitors, suppliers and couriers about the new address and reception. In Kadence Move notifications email each employee, and a personal move sheet tells them where they are moving. Workplace announcements reach people through Slack, Microsoft Teams, email and the mobile app. ##### 4. Prepare IT, facilities and access Day one goes well when the building is ready before the people are. - Test network, Wi-Fi, meeting room video and screens in the new space. - Issue access badges for the new site. - Set up room names and calendars, so bookings work on day one. - Close the old space for booking from the move date. - Update floor plans and wayfinding signs. - Book movers, crates and labels, and agree a packing schedule. - Plan visitor reception at the new site. In Kadence Closure Management closes buildings, and on WorkOps Pro floors, neighborhoods or individual spaces, so nobody books space that is out of use. With editable floor plans (a paid add-on, included with SpaceOps), admins edit floor plans in the browser and activate the changes. Room booking syncs both ways with Outlook and Google Calendar. [Closure management]() · [Wayfinding]() · [Visitor management system]() ##### 5. Move day Keep one up-to-date seating list and one issue list, each with an owner. - Put a named lead on each floor with the latest seating list. - Check crates and equipment against labels as they arrive. - Run a help desk at the new site for IT and access issues. - Check that every desk, room and screen works before people arrive. - Log every issue with an owner and a deadline. In Kadence Floor plan search helps people find a person, desk or room on the web and in the mobile apps, and ticketing lets them report facility issues. ##### 6. After the move The move is done when the data matches the floor and the space works for the people in it. - Check that seat assignments in the system match where people actually sit. - Measure attendance and occupancy in the new space against the plan. - Fix hot spots: overbooked neighborhoods, unused rooms, missing equipment. - Ask employees for feedback. - Record the full cost of the move. - Close out the old space and its lease obligations. In Kadence Workplace Insights shows attendance, occupancy, no-shows and heatmaps with CSV export. Employee surveys (WorkOps Pro) collect feedback inside Kadence. [Post-occupancy evaluation]() · [Cost per move]() · [Occupancy rate]() #### How Kadence helps Kadence Move Manager (WorkOps Pro) plans and executes new starters, leavers, ad-hoc assignments and team relocations, with seat recommendations, bulk auto-assign and bulk move uploads. Employees get move emails and a personal move sheet. In SpaceOps, stack and space plans built on real occupancy data are published to WorkOps as live neighborhoods and assignments. [Move management software]() · [SpaceOps]() · [Space management]() #### Frequently asked questions ##### What should an office move checklist include? It should cover six phases: setting the scope and the plan of record, planning the new space and seating, telling people, preparing IT, facilities and access, running move day, and checking the result after the move. Each task needs an owner and a due date, and one person should own the whole plan. ##### How far in advance should you plan an office move? Start as soon as the trigger is known, usually a lease event or a decision to consolidate. Lease notice dates, fit-out and IT work in the new space set the real deadline, so work back from the move date and check notice periods first. ##### What is the difference between an office relocation and an internal move? An office relocation moves people to a different building or address. An internal move changes where people sit inside buildings you already occupy, such as a restack between floors. Both need a plan of record, a seating plan and clear communication; a relocation adds leases, movers and new access. ##### Who should own an office move? One named move owner, usually in workplace, facilities or real estate, with a sponsor who signs off decisions. IT, HR, facilities and team managers each own their tasks, but one person keeps the plan of record and decides changes, so everyone works from the same version. ##### How do you tell employees where they are moving? Brief managers first, then tell each person their new floor and seat, with a floor plan, before move day. Include the details that matter to them: parking, lockers, access badges and accessibility. A personal move sheet sent by email works better than a single shared spreadsheet. #### Related terms - [Move management]() Planning, sequencing and carrying out workplace moves, from one desk change to a whole-team relocation. - [Plan of record]() The approved, current version of a stack, block or move plan that every team works from. - [Space roster]() The authoritative list of who is assigned to which seat, zone or space at a point in time. - [Swing space]() Temporary workspace people use while their permanent space is refurbished, reconfigured or not yet ready. - [Office relocation]() Moving an office or department to another building, planned around the lease date, real attendance and a clear move schedule. - [Restack]() Reassigning teams across the floors of a building to free space, absorb growth or improve adjacency, done as a sequence of moves. - [Office consolidation]() Moving teams from several floors, buildings or sites into less space, then giving up or repurposing the space that is freed. - [Cost per move]() The average cost of relocating one person inside the workplace: total move costs divided by people moved. [All templates]() · [RFP requirements checklist]() Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed October 1, 2026 On this page 1. [How to use this checklist]() 2. [The checklist]() 3. [How Kadence helps]() 4. [FAQ]() 5. [Related terms]() Next step #### Plan your next move on real data. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist: your next move, planned and seated on your own floors. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Terms of Service - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/terms-conditions/ Description: Kadence's Terms of Service for customers of its workplace management platform. ### Terms of Service **1. 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PAYMENT OF FEES** **7.1** Customer will pay Kadence any applicable fees described in the Order Form plus any applicable sales or value added taxes for the Services and Implementation Services in accordance with the terms therein (the “**Fees**”). If Customer’s use of the Services differs from the Service Capacity set forth on the Order Form or otherwise requires the payment of adjusted fees (per the terms of this Agreement), Customer shall be billed for such usage and Customer agrees to pay the adjusted fees in the manner provided herein. Kadence reserves the right to change the Fees or applicable charges and to institute new charges and Fees at the end of the Initial Service Term (as specified in the Order Form) or the current renewal term, upon thirty (30) days prior notice to Customer (which may be sent by email). 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TERM AND TERMINATION** **8.1** Subject to earlier termination as provided below, this Agreement is for the Initial Service Term and shall be automatically renewed for additional periods of the same duration as the Initial Service Term (collectively, the “**Term**”), unless either party requests termination at least thirty (30) days prior to the end of the then-current term. In the event that the Customer wishes to terminate earlier than the Initial Service Term, then the Customer agrees to pay Kadence an early termination fee equal to the lesser of (a) fees that would have been due for the remainder of the Initial Service Term and (b) 6-months of fees. **8.2** In addition to any other remedies it may have, either party may also terminate this Agreement upon thirty (30) days’ notice (or fifteen (15) days in the event of non-payment), if the other party materially breaches any of the terms or conditions of this Agreement and fails to remedy such breach within the thirty (30) day notice period after written notice of such breach, provided, however, that if such breach is capable of remedy but cannot be remedied within such period and the breaching party initiates actions to remedy the breach and thereafter diligently pursues such actions, the breaching party shall have such additional period as is necessary in the circumstances to cure the breach. Customer will pay in full for the Services up to and including the last day on which the Services are provided, provided that if this Agreement is terminated part way through the Term due to Kadence’s material breach, Kadence shall refund Customer for the pro-rata amount of any fees paid in advance that relate to the terminated part of the Term. Upon any termination, Kadence will make all Customer Data available to Customer for electronic retrieval for a period of thirty (30) days, but thereafter Kadence shall delete stored Customer Data. All sections of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination will survive termination, including accrued rights to payment, confidentiality obligations, warranty disclaimers, and limitations of liability. **9. WARRANTY AND DISCLAIMER** Kadence shall perform the Implementation Services and any support services in a professional and workmanlike manner. In the event of a breach of the foregoing warranty, Customer shall notify Kadence in writing of the alleged deficient services and Kadence will use commercially reasonable efforts to re-perform such deficient services. The foregoing shall be Kadence’s sole obligation and exclusive liability, and Customer’s sole and exclusive remedy, for any breach of the warranty in this Section 9. TO THE EXTENT ALLOWABLE BY APPLICABLE LAW, KADENCE DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE SERVICES AND EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH IN THIS SECTION 9, THE SERVICES (TOGETHER WITH ALL DATA, CONTENT AND INFORMATION MADE AVAILABLE THEREON), IMPLEMENTATION SERVICES AND SUPPORT SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” AND KADENCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. **10. FORCE MAJEURE** In no event shall either party be liable to the other party, or be deemed to have breached this Agreement, for any failure or delay in performing its obligations under this Agreement (except for non-payment), if and to the extent such failure or delay is caused by any circumstances beyond such party’s reasonable control, including internet and online system failure, power failure, acts of God, flood, fire, earthquake, pandemic, epidemic, explosion, war, terrorism, invasion, riot or other civil unrest, strikes, labor stoppages or slowdowns or other industrial disturbances (excluding those involving the workforce of the party attempting to rely on this Section 10), or passage of law or any action taken by a governmental or public authority, including imposing an embargo or blackout. **11. INDEMNIFICATION** **11.1** Kadence will defend Customer against any claim, demand, action, suit, or proceeding (“**Claim**”) made or brought against Customer by a third party alleging that the use of the Services in accordance with this Agreement infringes or misappropriates a third party’s patent, copyright, trade mark or trade secret (other than any such infringement or misappropriation resulting from use of a Third Party Service or any AI Content) and will, subject to Section 13, indemnify Customer for any damages finally awarded by a court of competent jurisdiction against Customer (or any settlement approved by Kadence in writing) in connection with any such Claim. If the use of the Services by Customer has become, or in Kadence’s opinion is likely to become, the subject of any Claim of infringement, Kadence may at its option and expense: (a) procure for Customer the right to continue using and receiving the Services as set forth hereunder; (b) replace or modify the Services to make them non-infringing (with comparable functionality); or (c) if the options in sub-sections (a) or (b) are not reasonably practicable, terminate this Agreement and provide a pro rata refund of any prepaid Fees corresponding to the terminated portion of the applicable subscription term. Kadence will have no liability or obligation with respect to any Claim to the extent such Claim is caused by: (i) use of the Services other than as permitted hereunder; (ii) compliance with designs, guidelines, plans or specifications provided by Customer; (iii) use by Customer of any version of any downloadable component of the Services other than the latest version made available to Customer; (iv) modification of the Services by any party other than Kadence without Kadence’s express written consent; (v) Customer Data or Customer Confidential Information; (vi) the combination, operation or use of the Services with other applications, portions of applications, product(s) or services where the Services would not by itself be infringing; or (vii) continued use of the Services after Customer was aware of the Claim or Kadence had notified it of the possibility of the Claim (sub-sections (i) through (vii), “**Excluded Claims**”). This section represents Customer’s exclusive remedy for infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property. **11.2** Customer will defend Kadence against any Claim made or brought against Kadence by a third party arising out of (a) Kadence’s use of the Customer Data in accordance with this Agreement, and (b) the Excluded Claims, and Customer will indemnify Kadence for any damages finally awarded against Kadence (or any settlement approved by Customer) in connection with any such Claim. **11.3** In connection with any Claim: (i) the indemnified party will promptly notify the indemnifying party of such Claim in writing; (ii) the indemnifying party will have the sole and exclusive authority to defend and/or settle such Claim (provided that it may not settle any Claim without the indemnified party’s prior written consent, which will not be unreasonably withheld, conditioned or delayed where it unconditionally releases the indemnified party of all associated liability); and (iii) the indemnified party reasonably cooperates with the indemnifying party in connection therewith. **12. AI GENERATED OUTPUT** Customer acknowledges and agrees that certain content, information, recommendations, suggestions or other output generated and returned by the Services, including use of the chatbot made available through the Services may be generated using artificial intelligence (“**AI**”) tools (such content, “**AI Content**”). In relying on AI tools, in addition to the limitations and restrictions set forth in this Agreement, there are numerous limitations that apply with respect to AI Content due to the fact that it is automatically generated, including that (a) it may contain errors or misleading information, (b) AI systems are based on predefined rules and algorithms that lack the ability to think creatively and come up with new ideas and can result in repetitive or formulaic content, (c) AI systems can struggle with understanding the nuances of language, including slang, idioms, and cultural references, which can result in AI Content that is out of context or does not make sense, (d) AI systems do not have emotions and cannot understand or convey emotions in the way humans can, which can result in AI Content that lacks the empathy and emotion that humans are able to convey, (e) AI systems can perpetuate biases that are present in the data used to train them, which can result in AI Content that is discriminatory or offensive, (f) AI systems can struggle with complex tasks that require reasoning, judgment and decision-making, (g) AI systems require large amounts of data to train and generate content, and the data used to train AI systems may be of poor quality or biased, which will negatively impact the accuracy and quality of the generated AI Content, and (h) AI Content can lack the personal touch that comes with content created by humans, which can make it seem cold and impersonal. Customer agrees that it is responsible for evaluating, and bearing all risks associated with, the use of any content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any AI Content. **13. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY** TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, EXCEPT FOR CUSTOMER’S BREACH OF SECTION 3.1 OR SECTION 7.1, NEITHER PARTY SHALL BE LIABLE TO THE OTHER PARTY OR ANY PARTY CLAIMING THROUGH THE OTHER PARTY FOR (A) ANY INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, LOSS OF SALES, LOSS OF BUSINESS OR REVENUE) ARISING OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT OR ANY DELAY OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICES OR (B) ANY DAMAGES IN EXCESS OF THE AGGREGATE FEES PAID OR PAYABLE TO THE COMPANY HEREUNDER IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTH PERIOD PRIOR TO THE DATE THE CLAIM FIRST AROSE, IN EACH CASE WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, AND EVEN IF EITHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGES. **14. MISCELLANEOUS** If any provision of this Agreement is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that this Agreement will otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable. Neither party may transfer or assign any of its rights and obligations under this Agreement without the other party’s consent except that either party may transfer or assign this Agreement in connection with a merger or sale of all or substantially all of such party’s assets. This Agreement is the complete and exclusive statement of the mutual understanding of the parties and supersedes and cancels all previous written and oral agreements, communications and other understandings relating to the subject matter of this Agreement. In the event of any conflict between the terms of an Order Form and these Terms and Conditions, the terms of the Order Form shall govern but only with respect to the Services subject to such Order Form. All waivers and modifications to this Agreement must be in a writing signed by both parties, except as otherwise provided herein. Each party acknowledges that, in entering into this Agreement, it does not rely on any statement, representation, assurance or warranty of any person (whether a party to this Agreement or not) other than as expressly set out in this Agreement. No agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment is created as a result of this Agreement and Customer does not have any authority of any kind to bind Kadence in any respect whatsoever. In any action or proceeding to enforce rights under this Agreement, the prevailing party will be entitled to recover costs and attorneys’ fees. All notices under this Agreement will be in writing and will be deemed to have been duly given when received, if personally delivered; when receipt is electronically confirmed, if transmitted by facsimile or email; the day after it is sent, if sent for next day delivery by recognized overnight delivery service; and upon receipt, if sent by certified or registered mail, return receipt requested. This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of New York without regard to its conflict of laws provisions. All disputes arising out of or in connection with these Terms shall be settled by arbitration at a mutually agreed upon location before a neutral single arbitrator, whose decision will be final and binding and the arbitral proceedings will be administered by JAMS under its Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures then in effect. Judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. The parties undertake to keep confidential all awards in their arbitration, together with all materials in the proceedings created for the purpose of the arbitration and all other documents produced by another party in the proceedings not otherwise in the public domain, save and to the extent that disclosure may be required of a party by legal duty, to protect or pursue a legal right or to enforce or challenge an award in legal proceedings before a court or other judicial authority. Notwithstanding the foregoing, either party hereto shall be entitled to seek injunctive or equitable relief from a court of competent jurisdiction without the necessity of posting bond or proving actual damages. ## Terms & Conditions | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/terms/ Description: Terms & Conditions ### Terms #### [Standard Service Level Agreement]() #### [Enhanced Service Level Agreement]() #### [Enterprise Enhanced Service Level Agreement]() #### [Client Terms And Conditions]() #### [Privacy And Data Protection]() ## Product Tutorials - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/ Description: Here are a series of Kadence tutorials you need to create the best hybrid experience for your teams. ### Product Tutorials Here are a series of Kadence tutorials you need to create the best hybrid experience for your teams. #### [Book A Desk Tailored To Your Schedule With Individual Working Hours]() [Watch video: Book A Desk Tailored To Your Schedule With Individual Working Hours]() #### [Boost Employee Productivity With My Schedule By Kadence]() [Watch video: Boost Employee Productivity With My Schedule By Kadence]() #### [Creating A Building In Kadence]() [Watch video: Creating A Building In Kadence]() #### [Customer webinar series: Kadence like a boss #1]() [Watch video: Customer webinar series: Kadence like a boss #1]() #### [Employee Schedule Coordination With My Starred Colleagues By Kadence]() [Watch video: Employee Schedule Coordination With My Starred Colleagues By Kadence]() #### [Hybrid Team Scheduling With Team Kadences]() [Watch video: Hybrid Team Scheduling With Team Kadences]() #### [Kadence Conference Room Booking Demo (Mobile)]() [Watch video: Kadence Conference Room Booking Demo (Mobile)]() #### [Kadence Conference Room Booking Demo (Web App)]() [Watch video: Kadence Conference Room Booking Demo (Web App)]() #### [Kadence Homepage & Starred Colleagues Demo]() [Watch video: Kadence Homepage & Starred Colleagues Demo]() #### [Kadence + Microsoft Teams Demo]() A quick tutorial demo video showing you how to use the Kadence web app in Microsoft Teams to book a desk, reserve a room, invite visitors onsite, and see where your colleagues are working in the office. [Watch video: Kadence + Microsoft Teams Demo]() #### [Kadence Mobile App Demo]() A quick tutorial demo video showing you how to use the Kadence mobile app to find a space near your teammates, book a space or everything else you need to know to navigate through your working day. [Watch video: Kadence Mobile App Demo]() #### [Kadence Room Booking With Google And Microsoft Outlook Demo]() A quick tutorial demo video showing you how to use the Kadence web app to book a room using Google, and Microsoft Outlook Calendar. [Watch video: Kadence Room Booking With Google And Microsoft Outlook Demo]() #### [Kadence + Slack Desk Booking Demo]() [Watch video: Kadence + Slack Desk Booking Demo]() #### [Kadence Web App Demo]() A quick tutorial demo video showing you how to use the Kadence web app to find and book a space, find a teammate and everything else you need to know to navigate through your working day. [Watch video: Kadence Web App Demo]() #### [Live Office View Demo]() [Watch video: Live Office View Demo]() #### [Public Check-In API Demo]() [Watch video: Public Check-In API Demo]() #### [Quick Book By The Minute Demo]() [Watch video: Quick Book By The Minute Demo]() #### [Room Booking Comparison Dashboard]() Discover how you can find, and book the right room fast by comparing all of your meeting room's schedule in one single view. [Watch video: Room Booking Comparison Dashboard]() #### [Room Booking Service Accounts]() Discover how you can now start booking rooms through Kadence by setting up a service account. [Watch video: Room Booking Service Accounts]() #### [See Who’s In The Office With My Office Activity By Kadence]() [Watch video: See Who’s In The Office With My Office Activity By Kadence]() #### [Smart Suggestions Demo]() [Watch video: Smart Suggestions Demo]() #### [Workplace Events Demo]() Take a tour through Kadence's latest Workplace Events feature with CEO and Founder, Dan Bladen. [Watch video: Workplace Events Demo]() ## Book A Desk Tailored To Your Schedule With Individual Working Hours - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/book-a-desk-tailored-to-your-schedule-with-individual-working-hours/ Description: Book A Desk Tailored To Your Schedule With Individual Working Hours [All videos]() ### Book A Desk Tailored To Your Schedule With Individual Working Hours [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Boost Employee Productivity With My Schedule By Kadence - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/boost-employee-productivity-with-my-schedule-by-kadence/ Description: Boost Employee Productivity With My Schedule By Kadence [All videos]() ### Boost Employee Productivity With My Schedule By Kadence [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Creating A Building In Kadence - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/creating-a-building-in-kadence/ Description: Creating A Building In Kadence [All videos]() ### Creating A Building In Kadence [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Customer webinar series: Kadence like a boss #1 - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/customer-webinar-series-kadence-like-a-boss-1/ Description: Customer webinar series: Kadence like a boss #1 [All videos]() ### Customer webinar series: Kadence like a boss #1 [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Employee Schedule Coordination With My Starred Colleagues By Kadence - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/employee-schedule-coordination-with-my-starred-colleagues-by-kadence/ Description: Employee Schedule Coordination With My Starred Colleagues By Kadence [All videos]() ### Employee Schedule Coordination With My Starred Colleagues By Kadence [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Hybrid Team Scheduling With Team Kadences - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/hybrid-team-scheduling-with-team-kadences-9/ Description: Hybrid Team Scheduling With Team Kadences [All videos]() ### Hybrid Team Scheduling With Team Kadences [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Kadence Conference Room Booking Demo (Mobile) - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/kadence-conference-room-booking-demo-mobile/ Description: Kadence Conference Room Booking Demo (Mobile) [All videos]() ### Kadence Conference Room Booking Demo (Mobile) [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Kadence Conference Room Booking Demo (Web App) - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/kadence-conference-room-booking-demo-web-app/ Description: Kadence Conference Room Booking Demo (Web App) [All videos]() ### Kadence Conference Room Booking Demo (Web App) [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Kadence Homepage & Starred Colleagues Demo - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/kadence-homepage-starred-colleagues-demo/ Description: Kadence Homepage & Starred Colleagues Demo [All videos]() ### Kadence Homepage & Starred Colleagues Demo [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Kadence + Microsoft Teams Demo - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/kadence-microsoft-teams-demo/ Description: A quick tutorial demo video showing you how to use the Kadence web app in Microsoft Teams to book a desk, reserve a room, invite visitors onsite, and see where your colleagues are working in the office. [All videos]() ### Kadence + Microsoft Teams Demo A quick tutorial demo video showing you how to use the Kadence web app in Microsoft Teams to book a desk, reserve a room, invite visitors onsite, and see where your colleagues are working in the office. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Kadence Mobile App Demo - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/kadence-mobile-app-demo/ Description: A quick tutorial demo video showing you how to use the Kadence mobile app to find a space near your teammates, book a space or everything else you need to know to navigate through your working day. [All videos]() ### Kadence Mobile App Demo A quick tutorial demo video showing you how to use the Kadence mobile app to find a space near your teammates, book a space or everything else you need to know to navigate through your working day. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Kadence Room Booking With Google And Microsoft Outlook Demo - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/kadence-room-booking-with-google-and-microsoft-outlook-demo/ Description: A quick tutorial demo video showing you how to use the Kadence web app to book a room using Google, and Microsoft Outlook Calendar. [All videos]() ### Kadence Room Booking With Google And Microsoft Outlook Demo A quick tutorial demo video showing you how to use the Kadence web app to book a room using Google, and Microsoft Outlook Calendar. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Kadence + Slack Desk Booking Demo - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/kadence-slack-desk-booking-demo/ Description: Kadence + Slack Desk Booking Demo [All videos]() ### Kadence + Slack Desk Booking Demo [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Kadence Web App Demo - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/kadence-web-app-demo/ Description: A quick tutorial demo video showing you how to use the Kadence web app to find and book a space, find a teammate and everything else you need to know to navigate through your working day. [All videos]() ### Kadence Web App Demo A quick tutorial demo video showing you how to use the Kadence web app to find and book a space, find a teammate and everything else you need to know to navigate through your working day. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Live Office View Demo - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/live-office-view-demo/ Description: Live Office View Demo [All videos]() ### Live Office View Demo [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Public Check-In API Demo - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/public-check-in-api-demo/ Description: Public Check-In API Demo [All videos]() ### Public Check-In API Demo [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Quick Book By The Minute Demo - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/quick-book-by-the-minute-demo/ Description: Quick Book By The Minute Demo [All videos]() ### Quick Book By The Minute Demo [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Room Booking Comparison Dashboard - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/room-booking-comparison-dashboard/ Description: Discover how you can find, and book the right room fast by comparing all of your meeting room's schedule in one single view. [All videos]() ### Room Booking Comparison Dashboard Discover how you can find, and book the right room fast by comparing all of your meeting room's schedule in one single view. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Room Booking Service Accounts - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/room-booking-service-accounts/ Description: Discover how you can now start booking rooms through Kadence by setting up a service account. [All videos]() ### Room Booking Service Accounts Discover how you can now start booking rooms through Kadence by setting up a service account. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## See Who’s In The Office With My Office Activity By Kadence - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/see-whos-in-the-office-with-my-office-activity-by-kadence/ Description: See Who’s In The Office With My Office Activity By Kadence [All videos]() ### See Who’s In The Office With My Office Activity By Kadence [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Smart Suggestions Demo - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/smart-suggestions-demo/ Description: Smart Suggestions Demo [All videos]() ### Smart Suggestions Demo [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Workplace Events Demo - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/videos/workplace-events/ Description: Take a tour through Kadence's latest Workplace Events feature with CEO and Founder, Dan Bladen. [All videos]() ### Workplace Events Demo Take a tour through Kadence's latest Workplace Events feature with CEO and Founder, Dan Bladen. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() ## Request a Customized Demo of Kadence Visitor Management System Canonical: https://kadence.co/visitor-management-demo/ Description: Faster check-ins and a better visitor experience. Book a Kadence visitor management demo tailored to your offices. ### Faster Check-Ins, Better Visitor Experience Stop relying on paper logs and inconsistent front-desk processes. Discover how Kadence empowers you to deliver a more connected visitor experience. Book a demo tailored to your offices: - Self-service visitor kiosks for autonomous entry - QR-based check-in for guests - Digital NDAs and safe acknowledgements 80% user adoption · 2x security efficiency · 20+ front-desk hours saved weekly - Ashurst Perkins Coie - Boeing - Intel - BDO - Starling Bank - Shipt - Trainline - NHS - G2 badge 1 - G2 badge 2 - G2 badge 3 - G2 badge 4 - G2 badge 5 - G2 badge 6 #### Book a demo Takes 30 seconds. Pick a time on the next screen. Loading the form… Kadence uses the information you provide to us to contact you about our products and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time. Please refer to our [privacy policy]() for information on our privacy practices and commitment to protecting your privacy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google [Privacy Policy]() and [Terms of Service]() apply. How it works #### How Kadence Visitor Management System Works 1. 01 ##### Invite and Prepare Visitors with Kadence AI Kadence AI handles visitor invitations and ensures hosts and spaces are ready before arrival 2. 02 ##### Check In Seamlessly with Visitor Kiosks Visitors arrive and check in using self-service kiosks 3. 03 ##### Monitor Occupancy and Stay Audit-Ready Track who is onsite in real time, and maintain centralized visitor logs Who Benefits #### Creating the Best Experience For Everyone - ##### Reception No manual registers or logbooks. Faster, smoother check-ins. - ##### Security Replace paper logs and fragmented tools with compliant records that are always retrievable. - ##### Hosts Automated visitor experience with AI-assisted invites and instant notifications. - ##### Operations Centralized system with multi-site controls and reporting. #### Enterprise-Grade By Default Workplace management you can trust — backed by the enterprise-grade certifications and data controls to match. - **SOC 2 Type II** Audited controls for security and confidentiality - **ISO 27001** Certified information security management - **GDPR Compliant** Built for data protection requirements end-to-end #### Helping Companies Redefine Their Workplace Create a workplace that connects teams, inspires collaboration, and helps your people do their best work. - **Users Globally**: 300,000+ - **Visitors Served**: 10,000+ - **Spaces Booked**: 5M+ - **Languages Supported**: 38 - RCS England > “Kadence has become second nature, like getting a coffee. It’s woven into how we work.” — Project Manager [Discover More: RCS England →]() - Denbighshire County Council > “Kadence takes away the guesswork. We finally have the evidence to make the right decisions for our people and our spaces.” — Denbighshire County Council [Discover More: Denbighshire County Council →]() - Wavex > “Some teams have assigned days and neighborhoods, others coordinate dynamically – it all works seamlessly. Kadence gave us structure without micromanagement!” [Discover More: Wavex →]() - MOO > “I love how you can see who's coming into the office. I can see who's on my team and where they're sitting, and I can choose who I want to sit next to by booking any available space nearby!” [Discover More: MOO →]() ## Enterprise Visitor Management System for Offices | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/visitor-management-system/ Description: Kadence visitor management system: invites, kiosk and QR check-in, badge printing with photos, NDA signing and host alerts, with one log for every office. Visitor management ### Visitor management that works across every office. Give visitors a smooth arrival and workplace teams a clear record of who is on-site. The Kadence visitor management system, part of WorkOps, brings check-in, host notifications, and visitor policies into one system across your locations. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative visitor flow: a host asks Kadence AI to find a meeting room and register Alex Morgan as a visitor, and the invite is sent. At the front desk, Alex enters their name on the kiosk, takes a photo and signs the NDA, a visitor badge prints with Alex's photo, and the host is notified. [Explore WorkOps]() Visitor management system #### What does a visitor management system do? A [visitor management system]() records who visits your offices, from invitation to check-out. With Kadence, hosts invite guests ahead of time, visitors check in at a kiosk or with a QR code, a badge prints with their photo, hosts get notified, and every visit lands in one log across all your sites. #### Deliver a World-Class Visitor Management Experience Across Your Global Workplace Kadence is built for global organizations that need more than a sign-in app. From self-service kiosks to centralized governance and AI-driven automation, Kadence runs visitor management operations as part of a single workplace platform. [Watch on YouTube (opens a new tab)]() #### How Kadence Visitor Management System Works 1. 01 ##### Invite and Prepare Visitors with Kadence AI Kadence AI handles visitor invitations and ensures hosts and spaces are ready before arrival 2. 02 ##### Check In Seamlessly with Visitor Kiosks Visitors arrive and check in using self-service kiosks 3. 03 ##### Monitor Occupancy and Stay Audit-Ready Track who is onsite in real time, and maintain centralized visitor logs Visitor management #### Kiosks That Remove Front-Desk Bottlenecks Keep arrivals moving when the front desk is busy. Self-service check-in helps workplace teams welcome visitors without adding staff. - Self-serve QR check-in + badge printing - Built for high-volume, unattended entry - Fewer queues WorkOps · Visitor management Kadence visitor management: Kiosks That Remove Front-Desk Bottlenecks Visitor management #### Standardize Visitor Workflows Across Every Location Give every office a consistent process, with room for local requirements. Manage visitor policies centrally and apply location-level controls. - Set policies once, enforce globally - Location-level controls with centralized oversight - Consistent check-in experience everywhere WorkOps · Visitor management Kadence visitor management: Standardize Visitor Workflows Across Every Location Visitor management #### Automate Visitor Management with Kadence AI Help hosts prepare before a visitor walks through the door. Kadence AI connects invitations, host notifications, and pre-arrival documents. - AI-assisted invites - Automatic host notifications - Manage NDA + document signing ahead of arrival WorkOps · Visitor management Kadence visitor management: Automate Visitor Management with Kadence AI Visitor management #### Audit-Ready Visitor Records by Default Give security and workplace teams visitor records they can retrieve when they need them. Keep identity checks, signed documents, and location policies together. - Identity capture + document signing enforced - Centralized logs for audits and incident response - Regional policies applied automatically WorkOps · Visitor management Kadence visitor management: Audit-Ready Visitor Records by Default Workplace activity #### A Complete View Of Workplace Activity Built natively into the Kadence platform, Visitor Management feeds directly into SpaceOps, enriching workplace intelligence with real-world presence data. - Track employee and visitor presence in one view - Understand peak days, arrivals, and space demand - Plan staffing, services, and space with greater accuracy [Learn more]() SpaceOps · Workplace activity Visitor and employee presence in Kadence workplace activity Key features #### Key features of the Kadence visitor management system Visitor management is part of WorkOps. Kiosk features are in WorkOps Pro, and VMS Documents is a paid add-on. - **Visitor kiosk and QR check-in** Visitors check themselves in at an iPad, Android or Neat kiosk, or by QR code. WorkOps Pro. - **Badge printing and visitor photos** Print visitor badges at the kiosk, with photos and multiple badge profiles. WorkOps Pro. - **VMS Documents (NDA signing)** Visitors sign NDAs and policies digitally at check-in. Paid add-on. - **Host notifications** Hosts get notified when their guest arrives, and one guest can notify several hosts. - **Ad-hoc visitors and visitor check-out** Handle walk-in visitors and record when they leave. - **Employee check-in at kiosk** Employees can check in at the visitor kiosk too. WorkOps Pro. - **Kiosk branding** Apply your brand colors to the kiosk experience. WorkOps Pro. - See what each plan includes. [Discover plans]() Audit-ready data #### Check-in data security, IT and workplace teams can use Paper sign-in sheets miss people and cannot be searched. Kadence records each visit from check-in to check-out, counts employees who check in at the kiosk, and passes events to the systems your security and IT teams already run. [Read about Kadence security]() - **One log for every site** Each visit is timestamped from check-in to check-out and can be exported for audits. - **Employees count too** Staff who check in at the visitor kiosk are counted in attendance, alongside [Kadence Sense]() presence data. - **Events to your security tools** Outbound webhooks send real-time events to security or badge systems. The Audit Export API streams audit logs to your SIEM with 180 days of history. - **Plans built on real visits** Visitor data feeds [SpaceOps](), so space plans reflect who actually uses each office. Built for IT and workplace teams #### Roll out visitor management across every office Workplace teams own the front desk. IT owns identity, devices and data. Kadence lets both set up one site at a time and keep every site consistent. 1. 01 ##### Connect identity [SSO]() and [SCIM]() with Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google and others, so every host is in Kadence from day one. 2. 02 ##### Set up each front desk Run the kiosk on an iPad, Android tablet or [Neat device](). Add your brand colors and badge profiles. 3. 03 ##### Set policies centrally Give each building its own admins, ask visitors to sign NDAs with VMS Documents, and set how long personal data is kept. 4. 04 ##### Connect your systems Send visit events to security tools with webhooks. Kadence holds [SOC 2 Type II and Cyber Essentials]() and hosts data in the US or EU. FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is a visitor management system?** Visitor Management System is a crucial tool that enables your organization to efficiently invite, keep track of, and monitor individuals who visit your office. You can also customize your own policies, and procedures to meet your specific needs and requirements. **Why use a visitor management system?** Visitor Management System helps streamline visitor sign-ins by eliminating the need for manual processes. This not only speeds up complicated compliance needs but also greatly enhances security in your workplace by knowing exactly who’s on-site. See how Kadence AI helps you instantly invite visitors, and book them a desk, just by using a single prompt. **Does the system support multi-region governance?** Yes. Global administrators can set universal policies while still enabling site-level exceptions to meet regional or building-specific requirements. **Can we require NDAs or safety content before check-in?** Yes. With VMS Documents, a paid add-on, visitors sign NDAs and site policies digitally at check-in. Signed documents are stored automatically with your visitor records, so you can show who signed what during an audit. **Is badge printing available?** Yes. The kiosk prints a badge for each visitor at check-in, with their photo, and you can set up multiple badge profiles. Badge printing and the visitor kiosk are part of WorkOps Pro. **Can kiosks operate without staff present?** Yes. Kiosks support fully autonomous check-in, making them ideal for hybrid workplaces, peak-time overflow, or low-staffed front desks. **How secure is visitor data?** Kadence holds SOC 2 Type II and Cyber Essentials certification, hosts data in the US or EU, and lets admins set how long personal data is kept. Visitor records sit in one central log, and the Audit Export API can stream audit logs to your SIEM with 180 days of history. **Can I see a demo of the Kadence visitor management system?** Yes. Book a demo and a Kadence expert will walk you through the full visitor flow: the invitation, kiosk or QR check-in, badge printing with a photo, NDA signing and host notifications. You can also watch the short product video on this page first. **Can walk-in visitors check in without an invitation?** Yes. Kadence handles ad-hoc, walk-in visitors as well as invited guests. Visitor check-out records when each guest leaves, so your log shows who is on site at any time, in every office. **Which devices can run the visitor kiosk?** The Kadence visitor kiosk runs on iPad, Android tablets and Neat devices. Visitors check in on screen or by scanning a QR code, and employees can check in at the same kiosk. You can apply your brand colors to the kiosk, so it matches your front desk. #### Explore more - [Kadence AI]() - [Kiosks and room displays on Neat]() - [Security]() - [SpaceOps]() - [Room booking software]() Next step #### Transform Your Visitor Experience Join enterprise leaders running safer, more consistent, and more efficient visitor experiences at scale. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Wall Of Love - Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/wall-of-love/ Description: What customers say about Kadence: reviews and video testimonials from start-ups to multinational corporations, and how Softchoice boosted hybrid productivity. CUSTOMER STORIES ### Why Leading Companies Are Choosing Kadence From exciting start-ups to multinational corporations, workplaces around the world absolutely love relying on Kadence. [Book Demo]() #### How Softchoice Boosted Hybrid Productivity With Less Space Discover how we helped Softchoice create a seamless hybrid working experience that drives productivity and team engagement. [Read More]() **Dustin Haynes** Properties Manager > We could not run our businesses without Kadence! The platform’s seamless syncing with our calendars has made coordinating schedules and booking spaces a seamless experience. **Mags Soloman** Office Manager **Peter C** Facilities Manager > Simplicity, ease of use, very intuitive. The ability to sync across Teams, Outllook and also on IOS and Android devices. The tools to allow you to see who is in the office and enable collaborative working. Great admin tools to see who is in the office and what is being used. [Read review on G2]() **Martin K.** Facilities Manager > Judge Business School goes Hybrid Working in tandem with Kadence! I like the look the feel and the simplicity. [Read review on G2]() **Maud S.** London > Very user friendly tool. Our account manager is always happy to take back our suggestions to the roadmap! Extremely good value for money. Great reporting and easy to read too. [Read review on G2]() **Julian D-Alberti** Head of IT > The workplace insights are invaluable to our decision-making! The platform’s integrations are so simple to set up, helping us create the most efficient use of our space moving forward. It has been universally well received by all of our colleagues. **Office Manager** > It was clear to us how easy it is to roll out with Kadence, and we were confident that our entire staff would be able to use the app without much hassle! **Heather Rae Stafford** Assistant Vice President > Kadence has helped our company return to work safely and efficiently. We are in the office three days a week and our employees love how easy Kadence is to use and that they can use it from the app on their phone. [Read review on G2]() **Marta Torba** Operations and Events Manager > Kadence is a must-have for any hybrid workplace! The platform has helped us optimize our office footprint and maintain compliance with health regulations, while also boosting employee engagement and productivity! #### Case Studies Non-profit A New Way Of Working With Kadence Team Coordination | 150+ employees B ringing employees back to the office was no easy task for this UK-based non-profit organization. Since the pandemic… [Read Story]() Technology How Softchoice Boosted Productivity With Less Space Space Optimization | 2000+ employees Headquartered in Toronto, Softchoice is a leading technology solutions provider that equips organizations to be agile… [Read Story]() Healthcare Embracing Coordinated Hybrid With A Downsized Workspace Desk Booking | 700+ employees Headquartered in the US, this medical lab and diagnostic solution company is a leader in healthcare information technology. When Covid hit, like many other organizations… [Read Story]() Public Services MOPAC: Implementing Desk Booking With 83% User Adoption Desk Booking | 200+ employees The team at Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime (MOPAC) partnered with Kadence to quickly implement a post-pandemic return to office solution in… [Read Story]() Non-profit How RSPB Achieved MoM Growth In Flexible Desk Bookings Desk Booking | 2,500+ employees Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is the UK’s largest nature conservation charity… [Read Story]() Technology MOO: Boosting Office Utilization To 70% With Kadence Desk Booking | 500+ employees The team at MOO partnered with Kadence to elevate their hybrid experience in their London office. … [Read Story]() Healthcare How Five Good Friends Cut Office Costs By 15% Desk Booking | 250+ employees Five Good Friends observed a significant boost in productivity with the implementation of a streamlined space booking process that supported their teams. … [Read Story]() Manufacturing How Kadence Helped Axalta Adapt As More People Returned To The Office Desk Booking | 200+ employees Kadence has transformed Axalta’s return to office efficiency in a space half the size of their previous location, achieving over 70% user adoption… [Read Story]() Market Research GWI’s Solution For A Productive Return To The Office Desk Booking | 500+ employees Global Web [Read Story]() [More customer stories]() try kadence #### Start Working Smarter With Kadence Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book Demo]() [Get Quote]() ## Why Kadence: Connect People, Spaces and Workplace Decisions Canonical: https://kadence.co/why-kadence/ Description: Kadence brings desk booking, workplace coordination and space insights into one platform, so people find what they need and teams see how space is used. Why Kadence ### Connect your people, spaces, and workplace decisions. Bring desk booking, workplace coordination, and space insights together in one platform. Help your people find what they need, and your workplace team understand how space is used. [Let’s Talk]() One Kadence platform connects desk booking, room booking, visitor management, workplace analytics, space management and scenario planning. #### Designed For The Future Of Work All-In-One Platform #### One Platform To Orchestrate Your Workplace From desk booking to workplace analytics and events, Kadence doesn’t just support the workplace — it powers the rhythm of how it runs. Whether it’s guiding employees to where they need to be, helping leaders understand how space is used — Kadence is the operating system that brings clarity and rhythm to your work environment. A stylized image of Kadence's Desk Booking Coordination Interface User Experience #### Design With Your People In Mind Kadence is a people-first platform, built to help teams work smarter, not harder. This is why we’ve designed every aspect of Kadence with the goal of making life easier for people and helping them reach their full potential. We are dedicated to building a more efficient and sustainable way of working for the future. As such, we build on user feedback and constantly expand and improve our platform. [See It In Action]() An example of asking Kadence AI to book an available desk near your teammate. Cost Savings #### Optimized Spaces With Actionable Insights Kadence revolutionizes the way work happens by coordinating companies’ most expensive resources: people and spaces. Our analytics features are designed to provide a deeper understanding of your hybrid workplace, allowing you to make the best possible use of your space. [Discover More]() Kadence Workplace Insights layout Dedicated Customer Support #### We’re Part Of Your Team Every company is unique. That’s why we work closely with you, aligning ourselves with your goals, needs, and values to build a perfect fit solution. Our customer experience team is here to provide an effortless onboarding experience so that you’re up and running in no time. We’ll provide you with all the support and resources you need to help your teams flourish. [Read Success Story]() Kadence Office Neighborhoods Schedule Our Investors #### Backed By Leading Investors - High Alpha - Kickstart - Manta Ray - Sequence Equity - Shadow Ventures - Sovereign’s Capital - 515 Ventures - Firsthand Alliance - Four Cities - Ignite by Midwich - Techstars - Vectr7 Investors and advisors #### The people behind Kadence Kadence is a workplace management platform that brings desk and room booking, space management and workplace analytics together for enterprise real estate and workplace teams. Here is what the founders and workplace leaders who invest in and advise Kadence say about it. > “Companies around the world are reimagining the way they work. And as work becomes more agile, it’s important that teams find a rhythm for meeting in person for collaboration and creativity. Kadence is an important part of helping companies make agile work a success, and I’m excited to be involved.” [**Cal Henderson**]() Co-founder, Slack · Kadence investor since 2022 Co-founded Slack and was its CTO for 15 years, through its NYSE listing and $27.7B acquisition by Salesforce (2021). Now advises and invests in software founders. > “During my last few years running Pluralsight, I experienced first-hand the massive challenge of running a large, globally distributed team. Kadence solves all of that with an AI-powered, global platform that drives measurable performance in today’s work environment, and I’m looking forward to partnering with Dan and the leadership team on their next chapter.” [**Aaron Skonnard**]() Co-founder & former CEO, Pluralsight · Kadence Board Director Co-founded Pluralsight in 2004 and led it as CEO through its 2018 IPO and later sale to Vista Equity Partners. Now an investor and board member. [High Alpha, Kadence Series A press release](), July 2025 > “It’s great to see how Dan Bladen Dave Cairns and the team are using AI to super power the critical and often complicated tasks our workplace operations teams do for their internal customers. > > > > This is the future and it’s amazing to see the innovation of Kadence who are embracing technologies that will elevate the work of professionals in our industry.” [**Tracy Hawkins**]() VP, Real Estate & Workplace at OpenAI · Kadence Strategic Advisor Leads real estate and workplace at OpenAI since 2024. Previously led global real estate and workplace at Twitter, then Grammarly. CoreNet NorCal Past President. [Tracy Hawkins on LinkedIn](), April 2026 > “Kadence is building the operating platform that modern workplaces desperately need, with optimized real estate, elevated workplace experiences, improved team coordination and ultimately a better way to manage hybrid work.” [**Frederic Kerrest**]() Co-founder & Vice Chairperson, Okta · 515 Ventures Co-founded Okta and was COO from 2009 to 2023; Vice Chairperson since 2023. Founder of Windproof Partners and author of Zero to IPO. [Frederic Kerrest on LinkedIn](), July 2025 > “At Aruba we built networks around a simple truth: people move, and the infrastructure has to keep up. Kadence brings that same thinking to workplace management, giving real estate teams a live view of how space is used and what to change next.” [**Keerti Melkote**]() CEO, Anyscale · Co-founder, Aruba Networks · Former Kadence Chairman Founded Aruba Networks in 2002, took it public and sold it to HPE for $3B (2015), later running HPE’s Intelligent Edge. CEO of AI infrastructure company Anyscale since 2024. > “AI is the category shift in workplace management, and Kadence is built for it. Legacy workplace software assumed a fixed office. Kadence uses AI to plan space and coordinate teams, wherever people choose to work.” [**Keith Teare**]() Co-founder of TechCrunch, RealNames and Easynet; Founder & CEO, SignalRank · Kadence Advisor Early internet entrepreneur behind Cyberia (the UK’s first internet cafe), Easynet and RealNames. Co-founded Accelerated Digital Ventures, which led Chargifi’s 2018 round. > “High Alpha led Kadence’s Series A because Dan and the team are solving a problem every enterprise has: getting the most from its people and its spaces. Kadence is building the modern workplace management platform, and we’re excited to help it scale.” [**Scott Dorsey**]() Co-founder & Managing Partner, High Alpha · Kadence’s Series A lead Co-founded ExactTarget and led it as CEO through its 2012 NYSE IPO and $2.5B sale to Salesforce (2013). Co-founded venture studio High Alpha in 2015. #### Proven Solutions For Leading Organizations [Why Kadence]() [Why Kadence]() [Why Kadence]() [Why Kadence]() [Why Kadence]() Get started #### The Workplace Operations For Modern Work Elevate your employee experience with Kadence – get started today. [Let's Talk]() ## WorkOps: run all workplace operations from one platform | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/workops/ Description: WorkOps brings desks, rooms and people into one place: space booking, visitor management, insights and analytics on a single platform. WorkOps ### Run all workplace operations from one platform. WorkOps brings desks, rooms and people into one place. From space booking and visitor management to insights and analytics, run your whole workplace on a single platform. [Book a demo]() [Take the product tour (opens in a new tab)]() Illustrative WorkOps dashboard, Today's office at New York HQ: office occupancy at desks 90%, rooms 58%, parking 32%; a live floor plan where 13 people check in at their desks; capacity 67% (up 5% on last week), 348 desks booked (down 12%) and 16 rooms booked (up 24%). Works inside Microsoft Teams and Slack, with people checked in on Wi-Fi. Trusted by forward-thinking organizations - MIT - University of Cambridge - Intel - Dow Jones - NHS - BDO - Bombardier - Willis Towers Watson - [Space]() - [People]() - [Moves]() - [Visitors]() - [Occupancy]() Space #### One place to manage every space. Unified management and booking for desks, rooms, parking and team neighborhoods. - Assign teams to neighborhoods on the days they come in - Closure and capacity controls enforced automatically - Room displays release no-shows automatically [Discover space management]() WorkOps · Space management WorkOps space management: Floor 3 desks by team, with room occupancy and auto-release switched on. Works inside - Microsoft Teams - Slack - Google Workspace - Microsoft Outlook People #### Teams working in lockstep. Give every employee a view of who is coming in before the day starts. - Live view of who is in and where they sit - Smart suggestions for in-person team days - Your HRIS assigns desks and cancels bookings on leave [Discover team scheduling]() WorkOps · Team coordination Team scheduling: who is in on Thursday and the day with the most overlap this week. Moves, additions and changes #### Stop managing desk changes manually. WorkOps connects your HRIS, floor plans and desk assignments before day one. - Your HRIS starts desk assignment for new starters - Moves, additions and changes from the floor plan in one step - Move sheets made for you: no spreadsheet, no email chain WorkOps · Moves, adds and changes Moves and changes: new starters from the HRIS assigned desks, with the floor plan updated. Visitors #### Seamless visitor management across every building. Replace paper logs and legacy systems with an arrival your visitors and hosts will enjoy. - Pre-registration, kiosk check-in and badge printing on arrival - A complete digital log, timestamped and exportable for any audit - Every check-in feeds Kadence Sense as a presence signal [Discover visitor management]() WorkOps · Visitor management Visitor check-in today: pre-registration sent in Teams, kiosk check-in, NDA signed and badge printed. Occupancy #### Turn occupancy data into space intelligence. Kadence Sense turns the systems you already run into real presence data across your buildings. Hardware sensors are optional. - Automatic check-in from Wi-Fi, badge, kiosk and room displays - Utilization dashboards built on actual presence, not bookings - Every signal feeds SpaceOps, from daily data to portfolio decisions [Discover Kadence Sense]() WorkOps · Kadence Sense Floor 4 actual presence: Wi-Fi, badge, kiosk and room check-ins against booking data. #### Key features of WorkOps - **Single sign-on** Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, Google and other major providers, with SCIM user provisioning. - **Role-based access** Building admin, booking scheduler and employee roles, or custom roles for each admin. - **Wayfinding and floor plan search** Find any colleague, desk or parking space on the floor plan. - **Insights Plus dashboards** Custom analytics with policy compliance reporting and a data API. - **Events, surveys and announcements** Office events with RSVP, employee surveys and announcements that bring people in. - **Security and compliance** SOC 2 Type II and Cyber Essentials, with US or EU data hosting. - **On-demand workspaces** Book desks and rooms in coworking spaces worldwide with Kadence Flex. - All delivered as part of the Kadence workplace operations platform. [Book a demo]() [Discover plans]() The Kadence loop #### Unified platform. AI powered. WorkOps generates the live occupancy intelligence that powers every SpaceOps planning decision. SpaceOps applies changes directly back into WorkOps, so the plan you approve is the workplace your employees experience. #### One Place For **Everything Workplace** Plan, coordinate and execute change across your people, spaces and operations. Tap any item to see it in action #### WorkOps · System of Record #### WorkOps Day to Day Operations System of Record ##### Desk & Room Booking ##### Visitor Management ##### Live Occupancy Analytics ##### Attendance Tracking ##### Move Management ##### Space Management #### The Kadence Loop **Kadence**One platform, one dataset Occupancy Data Change Executed #### SpaceOps · System of Action #### SpaceOps Change Orchestration System of Action ##### Floor Design & Desk Assignment ##### Stack Planning ##### Scenario Modeling ##### Occupancy Modeling ##### Move Scheduling ##### Automated Go‑Live Execution 40% #### Add-ons #### Add-ons Extend Kadence with additional capabilities. **Lease Management**Portfolio leases and renewals **Asset Management**Track and move workplace assets **Compliance Management**Access zones and rule packs Integrations #### Connects to the tools you already use ##### Workplace communication - Microsoft Teams - Slack ##### Calendar sync - Google Calendar - Microsoft Outlook ##### Single sign-on - Okta - Microsoft Entra ID - Google Workspace - OneLogin - JumpCloud ##### HR systems - Workday - BambooHR - HiBob ##### Service desk - ServiceNow - Jira - Zendesk - Freshdesk ##### Meeting room hardware - Neat - iPad - Android tablets ##### Flexible workspace - LiquidSpace ##### Badging & access - Badge feeds via API - Badge file via SFTP ##### API - Public REST API - Webhooks - SCIM provisioning ##### AI assistants · Kadence MCP - ChatGPT - Claude - Microsoft Copilot - Gemini - Grok Select any item to see it in action FAQ #### Got questions about WorkOps? **Do I need both WorkOps and SpaceOps?** They work independently but are strongest together. Most customers start with WorkOps to run daily operations and build a reliable occupancy dataset. When you are ready to plan moves, consolidate floors or model scenarios, SpaceOps uses that same data. **Does my data stay connected between WorkOps and SpaceOps?** Yes. Both products run on a single shared dataset. Occupancy signals captured by WorkOps feed directly into SpaceOps planning models, and when SpaceOps executes a change it writes back into WorkOps instantly. No CSV exports, no syncing, no stale data. **How long does it take to get started?** WorkOps activates on your existing employee directory and floor plans. Most teams are live within days, with no specialist and no implementation project. SpaceOps can be added at any point. **Where does Kadence get its occupancy data?** Kadence Sense combines soft sensors from the systems you already run: bookings, badge data, Wi-Fi/network, rooms, authentication and Agent check-in. Together they provide sensor-grade occupancy you can defend to finance. Dedicated hardware sensors are optional when a floor needs denser coverage. Next step #### See WorkOps on your floor plan. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring your directory and a floor plan. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Analytics and Space Utilization Software | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/workplace-analytics/ Description: See attendance, occupancy, no-shows and heatmaps for every office. Build executive and policy compliance reports, export data or pull it through the API. Workplace analytics ### Workplace analytics that drive performance. Know which spaces people use before deciding what to keep or change. Kadence workplace analytics connects bookings, attendance, and utilization so workplace leaders can bring evidence to portfolio and policy decisions. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative workplace analytics for the Sales team. A report shows weekly check-ins and an occupancy heatmap, with Sales at 81% booked, 74% checked in and 98% booked on the peak day. The view then slides across to a floor plan of booked against used desks: 27 desks booked and used, 8 booked but not used (ghost bookings, space that could be freed for others) and 1 not booked. [Explore SpaceOps]() Book desks and rooms from Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot with the [Kadence MCP server (early access)](). What you can measure #### Workplace analytics software for every office Kadence workplace analytics turns bookings and check-ins into reports on how your offices are used. Workplace Insights, in every WorkOps plan, shows attendance, occupancy, no-shows, heatmaps and average weekly hours by building, floor and team. Insights Plus adds custom dashboards and policy compliance reporting for leadership. Reports are only as good as the data behind them. See how [Kadence Sense captures occupancy]() from check-ins rather than bookings alone. - **[Attendance]()**: How many people came in, by day, team and location, counted from check-ins. - **[Occupancy rate]()**: The share of desks, rooms or floor space in use, at a point in time or on average. - **[No-shows]()**: Bookings that nobody checked in to. They make space look busier than it is. - **[Peak days]()**: The busiest days in a normal week, which set the capacity you really need. - **[Heatmaps]()**: Floor plans colored by how often each desk, room or zone is used. - **Average weekly hours**: How long people spend in the office each week, on average. - **[Policy compliance]()**: Whether teams meet your in-office goal over time, reported in Insights Plus. Space Utilization #### Optimize Your Real Estate Footprint Bring evidence to your next lease decision. See where space is underused and how office demand changes across locations. Identify underused areas, justify lease renewals, and assess the cost of office space per employee—all while planning for future hybrid policy changes. - Occupancy Trends – Track occupancy patterns, check-in rates vs. bookings, and underused areas across offices. - Peak Office Trends – Monitor peak days, prevent overcrowding, and optimize workspace allocation. SpaceOps · Workplace analytics Graphs of Office occupancy insights Occupancy Insights #### Measure Hybrid Policy Compliance See whether workplace policy matches how teams come in. Compare attendance by team, department, and location before deciding what needs to change. - Team Attendance – Compare in-office attendance across teams, and track actual attendance vs. expected presence. - Hybrid Preferences – Identify preferred in-office days by department and region. SpaceOps · Workplace analytics Kadence workplace analytics: Measure Hybrid Policy Compliance Collaboration Trends #### Analyze Collaboration Patterns Plan team days around how people work together. Use booking and on-site collaboration patterns to inform when teams come in. Make informed decisions to foster better in-person collaboration and smarter team day scheduling. - Meeting Frequency – Track booking overlaps and meeting frequencies. - In-Office Engagement Trends – Identify which departments collaborate most on-site. SpaceOps · Workplace analytics Kadence workplace analytics: Analyze Collaboration Patterns Insights Plus #### Brings Your Data To Life Through Custom Reporting Spend less time piecing together reports across locations. Insights Plus brings workplace data into one view for the decisions your organization needs to make. Insights Plus consolidates all data into a single, comprehensive view across all locations—delivering workplace analytics that serve as your one source of truth for decision making. No guesswork—just clear, actionable insights. With support from our hybrid experts team, you can create custom analytics that align with your unique goals. [Insights Plus]() SpaceOps · Workplace analytics A stylized image of a workplace leader getting answers to specific workplace-related questions through Kadence's Insights Plus Analytics. Executive reporting #### Reports leaders can act on - ##### Executive dashboards Insights Plus custom dashboards bring every location into one view for leadership and portfolio reviews. - ##### Policy compliance Track attendance against your in-office goal by department, week by week, with Insights Plus. - ##### Exports with audit detail Export attendance and booking data as CSV. Booking exports show who created each booking and who checked in. - ##### API and webhooks Pull workplace data into your own reporting tools with the public REST API, or send real-time events with outbound webhooks. [Hybrid workplace API]() Key features #### All You Need For Effective Space Management [Discover plans]() - **Interactive Floor Plans.** Forecast office usage and space utilization ahead of time - **Data Export.** Prioritize real estate spend by reporting on space management utilization - **Customized Seating.** Create, edit, and manage Office Neighborhoods and Assigned Desks - **Dedicated Customer Support.** Our All-star Customer Experience team is always around to help - **Give Instant Feedback.** Give direct feedback to Kadence on improvements in the app - **Auto-Release.** Automatically free up ‘No-Show’ bookings back into the system to reduce wasted space - **Guest And Onsite Booking.** Invite guests and get notified of their arrival - **Capacity Limits.** Set the occupancy limit for each floor on any day FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is workplace analytics software?** Workplace analytics software turns bookings, check-ins and attendance data into reports on how offices are used. Workplace and real estate teams use it to see which spaces are busy or empty, whether attendance policies work and how much space they really need. Every WorkOps plan includes Workplace Insights, and Insights Plus adds custom dashboards. **What can I measure with Kadence workplace analytics?** Workplace Insights shows attendance, occupancy, no-shows, heatmaps and average weekly hours by building, floor and team. You choose whether lockers and parking count toward attendance. Insights Plus adds custom dashboards, including policy compliance reporting, and you can export the data as CSV for your own analysis. **What is space utilization software?** Space utilization software measures how much of your office capacity people actually use over time, not just how much is booked. Kadence measures use from check-ins, including automatic check-ins through the Kadence Agent, so empty bookings do not inflate the numbers. Heatmaps and peak-day views show where space sits idle and where it runs short. **How is workplace analytics different from occupancy tracking?** Occupancy tracking captures the data: who came in, when and where. Workplace analytics is what you do with that data: trends, comparisons and reports that support decisions. In Kadence, Kadence Sense captures presence through the Kadence Agent, network detection, badge data and kiosks, and Workplace Insights and Insights Plus turn it into reports. **Can I build executive and policy compliance reports?** Yes. Insights Plus lets you build custom dashboards that bring every location into one view for leadership reviews. It includes policy compliance reporting, so you can track attendance against your in-office goal by department over time. Insights Plus is included in WorkOps Pro and is also available as an add-on. **Can I export Kadence data or connect it to BI tools?** Yes. Export attendance and booking data as CSV, including who created each booking and who checked in. To feed your own reporting tools or data pipelines, use the Kadence public REST API with API keys. Outbound webhooks send real-time events to other systems as they happen. **How does Kadence handle ghost bookings in its reports?** A ghost booking is a desk or room that is booked but never used. Kadence reports no-shows separately, and auto-release frees unused bookings so other people can take the space. Because check-ins can come from the Kadence Agent, kiosks, room displays and badge data, reports reflect who actually turned up. #### Explore more - [Calculate Your ROI]() - [How Karger Reduced Office Space By 80%]() - [Workplace occupancy]() - [Space management]() - [Insights Plus]() - [Hybrid workplace API]() - [How Denbighshire County Council backed its consolidation with occupancy evidence]() - [What is workplace analytics?]() - [Occupancy vs utilization]() Next step #### Start Working Smarter With Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Employee Engagement Software for Office Events | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/workplace-events/ Description: Plan and manage workplace events with Kadence. Automate announcements, coordinate activities, track engagement, and create stronger team connections. Workplace Events ### Give teams a reason to come together. Plan workplace events, keep people informed, and track participation in the same platform your teams use to coordinate office time. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative make room for connection at Studio · Community lunch: Casey joins Wed and Fri; Jordan joins Tue and Fri; Avery joins Mon and Fri. Friday · Three RSVPs confirmed. #### Key Features Elevate Team Culture With Kadence Community Building #### Be Intentional About In-Person Meet-Ups Strengthen team engagement and a sense of belonging by planning events that build meaningful relationships and unity. From team lunches that foster meaningful connections to engaging company-wide events, Kadence helps you cultivate vibrant and motivated teams. Kadence An illustration of Kadence events asking people where they would like to go for dinner. Cross-Team Connections #### Drive Meaningful Connections Outside Of Work We believe in the power of shared experiences. Bring people together based on shared interests or locations, in or out of the office, remote or in-person. Our user-friendly interface makes it easy to schedule, manage, and track participation and engagement. Kadence An illustration of an invitation, the organizers, and attendees to an office Olympics event Campus Amenities #### Rediscover The Small Moments In Your Work Day Small moments matter, whether it’s a casual lunch with coworkers, or an after-work team drinks. The workplace extends beyond your desk. That’s why with Kadence you can view all the nearby amenities within one dashboard. Explore nearby restaurants, bars, or wellness facilities – we want to help you rediscover the small moments that make your workday more enjoyable. Kadence An illustration of buildings information with a slack notification Event Announcements #### Streamline Communications To Boost Engagement Announce new events each week to encourage everyone to come in. Integrate team activities effortlessly into your workflow, and keep attendees informed with updates and reminders via Slack or MS Teams to ensure a great in-person experience. Kadence An illustration of kadence events announcements and integrations. Event Analytics #### Maximize Engagement With Measurable Impact Monitor the number of events you organize and the attendance for each one. Measure team engagement, gather feedback, and gain insights to continuously improve team events. Kadence An illustration of kadence events analytics #### More features - Catering Set up dietary requirements on any invite for catering needs - Customized Events Curate events to match your team’s interests and culture - Polls & Feedback Create polls for event options, and gather feedback on how things went - Smart Suggestions Get notified when your starred colleagues are heading to the office - Buildings Profiles See exactly what’s happening near you at any particular building - Automated Communication Get important announcements, such as company-wide events - Easy Integrations Integrates with your calendar system allows for hassle-free planning and coordination. - Booking Resources Choose the amenities, and resources you need for any event > Company events can raise internal communications by 10% – meeting in person even once a quarter generates a lasting boost in employee connectivity. #### Harvard Business Review 5 Reasons Why Workplace Events Matters Efficiently managing and coordinating events is key to successful team and culture cohesion. Introducing our Workplace Events, designed to help companies and team managers bring their teams together. [Discover More]() FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is Kadence Events?** #### Kadence Events is a platform designed to enhance team culture by organizing and managing engaging events. It offers tools for [scheduling]() **How do you set up a work event in Kadence?** #### To set up a work event, first define the event’s purpose and objectives, then select a suitable date, time, and venue. Use Kadence Events to schedule the event, [book the appropriate resources]() **What makes an event successful?** **What are the most popular features in Kadence Events?** #### The most popular features in Kadence Events include customizable events that can be tailored to match team interests and culture. You can book the spaces you need, send invitations via email, [Slack](), [Microsoft Teams]() **What are the essential steps to ensure a successful event?** To ensure a successful event, follow these five crucial steps: 1. **Set Goals and Research:** Initially, determine the type of event and its purpose. 2. **Plan:** Begin the planning process after your goals are set and research is complete. 3. **Build a Team:** Assemble a team to help execute various aspects of the event. 4. **Promote and Follow Up:** Promote your event and maintain communication with participants. 5. **Evaluate:** After the event, assess what went well and what could be improved for future events. **What constitutes the fundamental elements of event management?** The seven key elements of event management include: 1. **Event Infrastructure:** This is the basic physical setup necessary for the event. 2. **Core Concept:** The central idea or theme of the event. 3. **Core People:** The individuals who play vital roles in planning and executing the event. 4. **Core Structure:** The organizational framework of the event. 5. **Target Audience:** The specific group of people the event is aimed at. #### Explore more - [Discover More]() - [scheduling]() - [book the appropriate resources]() - [Slack]() - [Microsoft Teams]() Next step #### Get Started With Kadence Today Let Kadence take the hassle out of hybrid working. Book a customized demo today. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Workplace Management Software for Hybrid Offices | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/workplace-management-software/ Description: Workplace management software runs desk and room booking, visitors, moves, occupancy data and space planning. See how Kadence WorkOps and SpaceOps cover it. WorkOps + SpaceOps ### Workplace management software for hybrid organizations. Workplace management software runs how people use the office and plans how the office should change. It covers desk and room booking, visitors, moves, occupancy data and space planning. Kadence covers all of it in two connected products: WorkOps runs the day, and SpaceOps plans the change on the same data. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Six Kadence products connect in sequence, bringing daily workplace operations in WorkOps together with workplace planning in SpaceOps. [Explore WorkOps]() [Explore SpaceOps]() What it covers #### What workplace management software covers Many organizations buy these jobs from different vendors. A full platform does all eight on one set of people, space and occupancy data. - ##### Desk booking and hoteling Book desks ahead, on repeat or on the day from web, mobile, Teams or Slack, with neighborhoods and assigned desks on the same floor plan. [Desk booking software]() - ##### Room booking Book rooms in Kadence, Outlook or Google Calendar with live two-way sync, and release rooms nobody checks in to. [Room booking software]() - ##### Visitor management Invite and register visitors, check them in at a kiosk or by QR code, print badges and notify hosts. [Visitor management]() - ##### Occupancy and presence data The Kadence Agent checks people in when they reach the office network, so occupancy shows who came in, not only who booked. [Workplace occupancy]() - ##### Workplace analytics Attendance, occupancy, no-shows and heatmaps by building, floor and team, with custom dashboards in Insights Plus and CSV export. [Workplace analytics]() - ##### Moves, adds and changes Seat new starters, clear leavers and relocate teams with Move Manager, driven by your HR system. [Move management software]() - ##### Space and stack planning Build stack and seat-level plans with an AI planning agent, and compare scenarios before anyone moves. [Space planning software]() - ##### Integrations and identity Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Slack, Google Calendar, SSO and SCIM directory sync, plus a REST API and webhooks. [Integrations]() How Kadence maps to the category #### WorkOps runs the workplace. SpaceOps plans what changes. WorkOps handles booking, visitors, check-in and moves every day, and records how each floor is used. SpaceOps uses that occupancy data to plan restacks, consolidations and growth, then publishes the approved plan back to WorkOps as live neighborhoods and desk assignments. #### One Place For **Everything Workplace** Plan, coordinate and execute change across your people, spaces and operations. Tap any item to see it in action #### WorkOps · System of Record #### WorkOps Day to Day Operations System of Record ##### Desk & Room Booking ##### Visitor Management ##### Live Occupancy Analytics ##### Attendance Tracking ##### Move Management ##### Space Management #### The Kadence Loop **Kadence**One platform, one dataset Occupancy Data Change Executed #### SpaceOps · System of Action #### SpaceOps Change Orchestration System of Action ##### Floor Design & Desk Assignment ##### Stack Planning ##### Scenario Modeling ##### Occupancy Modeling ##### Move Scheduling ##### Automated Go‑Live Execution 40% #### Add-ons #### Add-ons Extend Kadence with additional capabilities. **Lease Management**Portfolio leases and renewals **Asset Management**Track and move workplace assets **Compliance Management**Access zones and rule packs Integrations #### Connects to the tools you already use ##### Workplace communication - Microsoft Teams - Slack ##### Calendar sync - Google Calendar - Microsoft Outlook ##### Single sign-on - Okta - Microsoft Entra ID - Google Workspace - OneLogin - JumpCloud ##### HR systems - Workday - BambooHR - HiBob ##### Service desk - ServiceNow - Jira - Zendesk - Freshdesk ##### Meeting room hardware - Neat - iPad - Android tablets ##### Flexible workspace - LiquidSpace ##### Badging & access - Badge feeds via API - Badge file via SFTP ##### API - Public REST API - Webhooks - SCIM provisioning ##### AI assistants · Kadence MCP - ChatGPT - Claude - Microsoft Copilot - Gemini - Grok Select any item to see it in action Who it is for #### Built for the teams who answer for the office Real estate and workplace teams own it. IT co-owns the identity and integrations. Finance and operations leaders sign off on what the data shows. - **Real estate and space planning** Portfolio decisions on measured occupancy, with stack and scenario plans you can take to finance. [Corporate real estate]() - **Workplace and facilities operations** One system for desks, rooms, visitors, moves and closures across every building. [Facilities teams]() - **IT** SSO with Okta, Microsoft Entra ID and Google, SCIM provisioning, Teams and Slack apps, and the Kadence Agent for automatic check-in. [IT teams]() - **Finance and operations leaders** Utilization evidence behind lease, renewal and consolidation decisions. [ROI calculator]() When teams buy #### The moments that start a search Most organizations look for a new workplace platform when a date is fixed: a contract end, a lease event or a move. - ##### Your contract is up for renewal Switching is a migration, not a rebuild. Kadence loads spaces, neighborhoods and assignments by bulk CSV upload, and people through SSO and SCIM directory sync. [Buyer's guide: choosing and switching]() - ##### A lease event is coming Before you renew, give back a floor or sign for more space, measured occupancy shows how much of the office your teams use, by floor and by day. [Lease event]() - ##### Teams are moving or consolidating SpaceOps plans the stack and the seating. Move Manager in WorkOps seats each person and tells them where they are going. [Office consolidation]() - ##### Leaders want numbers they can trust Bookings alone overstate or understate use. Presence data from the Kadence Agent records who came in, so attendance and utilization reports hold up. [Presence data]() How to evaluate #### What to check before you choose Ask every vendor the same questions. The buyer's guide has the full requirements checklist. [Read the buyer's guide]() 1. Occupancy you can defend: does it measure presence, or only bookings? 2. Works where people already work: Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Slack, Google Calendar and mobile apps. 3. Identity and provisioning: SSO, SCIM and directory sync, so IT does not manage a second user list. 4. People data: HR system sync for joiners, movers and leavers. 5. Planning on the same data: stack plans, scenarios and moves without exporting to spreadsheets. 6. Reporting: dashboards, exports and an API your BI tools can use. 7. Switching: how your spaces, people and bookings move from the system you use today. Customer story · Government #### Denbighshire County Council backed its office consolidation with occupancy evidence. **Minutes** for reports that took days > “Kadence takes away the guesswork. We finally have the evidence to make the right decisions for our people and our spaces.” > > Dan Ick, Denbighshire County Council [Read the Denbighshire story]() FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is workplace management software?** Workplace management software is software that runs how an organization uses its offices. It handles desk and room booking, visitors, check-in and attendance, and it reports how space is used so real estate decisions rest on real demand. Fuller platforms add moves and space planning on the same data. The glossary has the full definition of a [workplace management system](). **What is the difference between workplace management software and an IWMS?** An [integrated workplace management system (IWMS)]() is a broad suite for real estate and facilities, often covering leases, capital projects and maintenance. Workplace management software focuses on how people use the office day to day and how that space should change. Kadence is a modern IWMS: booking, visitors, occupancy, space planning and moves in one platform. It can also run alongside a legacy IWMS and supply it with occupancy data. **What features should a workplace management platform include?** Look for desk and room booking inside Teams, Outlook, Slack and Google Calendar; visitor management; automatic check-in so occupancy reflects who came in; analytics by building, floor and team; moves, adds and changes tied to your HR system; space and scenario planning; and SSO with SCIM provisioning. The [buyer's guide]() turns these into questions for vendors. **Who uses a workplace management system?** Workplace, facilities and real estate teams run it. Space and occupancy planners use its data to plan floors and buildings. IT owns the identity, directory and app integrations. Employees use it to book desks and rooms and to see when their team is in. Finance and operations leaders use its reports to back lease and consolidation decisions. **How do you switch workplace management software?** Plan the switch around your contract end date. Export spaces, neighborhoods and assignments from the current system and load them into Kadence by bulk CSV upload. Connect SSO and SCIM so people arrive automatically, then add calendars, Teams or Slack. The [implementation page]() sets out each step. #### Explore more ##### In the glossary - [Workplace management system]() - [Workplace operating system]() - [IWMS]() - [Workplace operations]() - [Space operations]() - [Occupancy vs utilization]() - [Presence data]() ##### Products, guides and stories - [WorkOps]() - [SpaceOps]() - [Office hoteling software]() - [Guide: the Kadence platform]() - [How to choose workplace management software]() - [Compare Kadence]() - [Customer stories]() - [Pricing]() Next step #### See how leaders run the modern workplace. Thirty minutes with a workplace strategist. Bring a floor you are unsure about. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() ## Office Occupancy Tracking Software You Can Trust | Kadence Canonical: https://kadence.co/workplace-occupancy/ Description: Kadence Sense checks people in from the Kadence Agent, network, badge and kiosk signals, so your occupancy data holds up in leadership reports. No sensors. Workplace Occupancy ### Office occupancy data you can trust. No-shows, walk-ins and people who never book leave holes in your numbers. Kadence Sense checks people in from signals you already run, so attendance reports hold up with leadership. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Illustrative video, badge, Wi-Fi and Ethernet signals converge in Kadence Sense to populate weekly workplace analytics at 66% occupancy without hardware sensors. #### Why occupancy data breaks, and how Kadence Sense fixes it Trusted Occupancy Data #### Bookings show who planned to come in, not who came Booked desks sit empty. People walk in without booking. Badge exports and HR lists rarely match, so someone spends days reconciling spreadsheets and leaders still question the result. Kadence Sense combines bookings, badge data, Wi-Fi and check-ins into sensorless occupancy, so you know what is actually happening in your offices. - No-shows: Kadence reports bookings that nobody checked in to, and auto-release frees the space. - Walk-ins: Automatic Bookings creates a booking when someone arrives without one. - People without the agent: check-ins from kiosks, room displays, badge data or the public API fill the gaps. Kadence A wireframe example of how Kadence Sense Works Automated Check-In #### Check people in from the signals you already have The Kadence Agent runs on Windows, Mac, ChromeOS and Linux. It detects the office network and checks people in, with no sensors to install and nothing for employees to tap. Enhanced Network Detection adds floor-level presence that works with VPNs. - Auto Login: the agent signs in with Microsoft Entra or Okta, silently on Windows with Entra, so employees have nothing to set up. - Your rules: choose whether lockers and parking count toward attendance. Kadence The Kadence Agent modal on Desktop Attendance Tracking #### Report on hybrid policy adherence with confidence When check-ins come from real presence, attendance reports show who came in, not just who booked. Track attendance against your policy by team, department or location, and refine the policy where it is not working. Insights Plus adds custom dashboards, including policy compliance reporting. - Team Attendance – Compare in-office attendance across teams, and track actual attendance vs. expected presence. - Hybrid Preferences – Identify preferred in-office days by department and region. Kadence Kadence: Monitor Hybrid Policy Compliance At Scale From Data To Decisions #### Occupancy data that feeds your space plans See attendance, occupancy, no-shows and heatmaps for every location in Workplace Insights, and export the data when you need it. When you are ready to plan, SpaceOps uses the same attendance and occupancy data to build stack plans and compare scenarios. Kadence Kadence: Unified View Of Workplace Occupancy #### Kadence comes with - Interactive Floor Plans: forecast office usage and space utilization ahead of time. - Data Export: prioritize real estate spend by reporting on space utilization. - Customized Seating: create, edit and manage office neighborhoods and assigned desks. - Dedicated Customer Support: our customer experience team is always around to help. - Give Instant Feedback: send feedback to Kadence from inside the app. - Auto-Release: free up no-show bookings automatically to reduce wasted space. - Guest And Onsite Booking: invite guests and get notified when they arrive. - Capacity Limits: set the occupancy limit for each floor on any day. #### The terms behind occupancy data you can trust Kadence measures office occupancy from presence data, not bookings alone. The Kadence Agent, network detection, kiosks, room displays, badge data and the public API each check a person in. Workplace Insights then reports attendance, occupancy and no-shows by building, floor and team, and Insights Plus turns them into leadership dashboards. - **[Presence data]():** the record of who was in the building and when, from network, badge and check-in signals. - **[Desktop presence agent]():** a laptop app that detects the office network and checks people in automatically. - **[Walk-in usage]():** desks and rooms used without a booking. If you miss it, reports undercount demand. - **[Occupancy rate]():** the share of desks, rooms or floor area in use, at a point in time or on average. - **[Multi-source occupancy]():** combining several signals so no single source has to be complete. - **[Occupancy confidence score]():** how far you can rely on a reading, based on how many sources agree. - **[Hybrid policy compliance]():** whether people and teams meet your in-office expectations over many weeks. #### Occupancy evidence in practice Karger measured occupancy through desk booking and check-in, saw it hold at 30 to 40%, and moved from fixed desks to one and a half floors: an 80% smaller footprint. [Read the Karger story]() Denbighshire County Council replaced days of manual reporting with Insights Plus dashboards, and used the evidence to right-size its estate and its hybrid policy. [Read the Denbighshire story]() FAQ #### Frequently asked questions **What is occupancy tracking software?** Occupancy tracking software records how many people use an office, and which floors, desks and rooms they use, over time. Kadence does this with Kadence Sense, which checks people in from the Kadence Agent, office network detection, kiosks, room displays, badge data or the API. [Workplace Insights]() then reports attendance, occupancy and no-shows by building, floor and team. **How does Kadence track office occupancy without sensors?** The Kadence Agent is a desktop app for Windows, Mac, ChromeOS and Linux. When a laptop joins the office network, the agent checks that person in. Enhanced Network Detection adds floor-level presence and works with VPNs. If someone arrives without a booking, Automatic Bookings creates one, so [walk-ins]() count too. You do not need to install sensors. **Why is our occupancy data hard to trust?** Most occupancy data comes from one source, and each source misses something. Bookings count no-shows as use and miss walk-ins. Badge data shows who entered the building, not which floor they used. Manual check-ins depend on people remembering. Kadence checks people in from several signals, so a gap in one source does not leave a gap in your report. See [multi-source occupancy](). **Can Kadence use our badge data?** Yes. Badge data can check people in to Kadence, alongside the Kadence Agent, kiosks, room displays and the public API. This helps you count people who do not run the agent. Outbound webhooks can also send Kadence events to your security or badge tools in real time. **How do we get the Kadence Agent to everyone?** The Kadence Agent runs on Windows, Mac, ChromeOS and Linux. On Windows and Mac, Agent Auto Login signs it in with Microsoft Entra or Okta, silently on Windows with Entra, so employees have nothing to set up. For anyone without it, check-ins from kiosks, room displays, badge data or the API still count toward occupancy. **Can we report on hybrid policy compliance with Kadence?** Yes. Workplace Insights shows attendance by team, department and location. Insights Plus adds custom dashboards, including [policy compliance]() reporting against your in-office goal. Because attendance comes from check-ins rather than bookings alone, reports show who came in, not only who planned to. Insights Plus is part of WorkOps Pro or available as an add-on. **Is occupancy tracking with Kadence private?** Kadence records check-ins to measure attendance and occupancy. Employees can turn on incognito mode to hide their location from colleagues. Admins decide how long personal data is kept, and can choose whether lockers and parking count toward attendance. Visit our [security page]() for more on how Kadence protects data. **What is the difference between occupancy and utilization?** Occupancy is the share of space in use at a given time. Utilization is the share of capacity people actually use over a period, such as the hours a desk is in use each week. Kadence reports both in Workplace Insights, from check-ins rather than bookings alone. See [occupancy vs utilization]() for worked examples. **Do we need occupancy planning software as well?** Occupancy tracking tells you how space is used today. Occupancy planning uses that data to decide what to change, such as where teams sit or whether to give up a floor. Kadence SpaceOps builds stack plans and compares scenarios from the same attendance and occupancy data. See [space management]() and [scenario planning](). #### Explore more - [Workplace Analytics]() - [Space management]() - [Scenario planning]() - [Hybrid work software]() - [Presence data]() - [Desktop presence agent]() - [Multi-source occupancy]() - [Occupancy confidence score]() - [Walk-in usage]() - [Occupancy rate]() - [Hybrid policy compliance]() Next step #### Start Working Smarter With Kadence Book a demo, and see Kadence in action. Find out how we can help create smarter, more productive workplace for your people. [Book a demo]() [Get a quote]() Release sha256: 9067828ebea4d62f1009b2c9c81f957f057b9c47c4b7f283f691652dfbeb2063