Keeping Facilities on Track

by Beth Leibson

Tracking and analyzing workflow patterns – and using these data appropriately – can help companies cut real estate costs and increase their energy efficiency thus lowering their carbon footprint, says John Anderson, President and CEO of Framingham, Mass.-based PeopleCube, provider of intelligent workplace, resource and energy management technology. 

Facilities management and real estate executives at  average medium to large enterprise typically has no idea about its occupancy rate, suggests Anderson. Most think their company rate is fairly high, on the order of 80% to 90%. But, in reality, unless companies have tracked the data and realigned their space usage accordingly, most companies have occupancy rates of less than 50%.

Getting to Know Your Office 

If companies want to rethink their space usage, the first step is to understand the current situation. A FM needs to know which job function is in its office or a meeting room for how many hours out of the typical week. Sophisticated building automation systems and other electronic devices can collect and analyze these data. But there is a simpler, cheaper approach.

“I recommend companies hire a few college students for three weeks to walk around the facility three times a day for three weeks to see which desks are occupied,” says Anderson. This way companies get to know what types of employees they have. They might have a lot of nomads (such as salespeople, who spend more time in other people’s offices than their own) or pendulum workers (who split their time between two or three locations) – or maybe the company uses primarily people who sit at their desks, such as accountants or engineers.  

It is just as important to do “bed checks” on conference and meeting spaces as office spaces. “That’s how you find out about the conference room abuser who routinely books a 20-person conference room for a five-person meeting,” explains Anderson. 

While this approach provides a rough estimate, it can usually provide an adequate benchmark for a company to appreciate its current space usage and plan for the future.

Planning for the Future 

The next step is to think about where the company wants to go. Companies must consider whether – and how – they want to change their space allocation. “It’s all about risk assessment,” says Anderson. “If a company wants to grow its business and its people, does it want to build another building?” 

Often the answer to that question is no. Especially if the company can just as easily accommodate more staff members within its existing – or even less – office space. But closely linked to this issue is one of corporate culture.

“There are two schools of thought about office space,” explains Anderson. Some people believe that if someone is not sitting at her desk, she is not working. Others appreciate the need to meet with clients, attend meetings, or even telecommute. If a company sees face time as critical, then reallocating space simply won’t work.

Once a company has established that it is interested in changing its one-person-one-desk approach to space allocation, it faces a myriad other questions. Anderson proposes asking: Are you interested in expanding staff but not real estate? Do you want to offer telecommuting as an option to employees? Do you want to facilitate more teamwork, through increased – and perhaps enhanced – meeting spaces?

An office hoteling system by any other name – such as hot desking or flexible workspace – would smell as sweet, asserts Anderson.  This type of system enables mobile workers to book temporary office space as needed and allows companies to minimize and/or optimize their space use to reduce the cost of real estate, temperature control, and electricity. It also cuts down on commuting, facilitates telecommuting, and lessens our reliance on fossil fuels and carbon emissions. And, Anderson says, it is gaining momentum within large enterprises in the United States and Europe.

Real Estate Savings

In general, if a company reduces its real estate needs, it lowers its real estate costs. When companies avail themselves of hoteling, they can maintain the same workforce using a quarter, a third, or even half the former real estate holdings. And that adds up fast. 

Companies can also use occupancy data to reconfigure the same amount of space that they currently use – to optimize functioning . For instance, Anderson suggests, if a company offers telecommuting, it may find that employees are more apt to work from home on Mondays and Fridays (typically the worst commuting days) and schedule collaborative time on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Thus by assessing space usage, a company might find that it needs fewer private offices and more large meeting spaces in the middle of the week.

Don’t Go Blue, Go Green 

In addition to cutting real estate costs (and the concomitant HVAC and electricity costs), companies that analyze their space usage can also heat or cool a room automatically, based on the reservation schedule. In other words, FMs no longer heat or cool every room on every floor all day long; they adjust the temperature in a space only when  is being used.

This approach, of course, can also reduce maintenance costs; if lights are turned on less, for instance, the bulbs need fewer replacements. And if there are no meetings in Conference Room 2A, for instance, no one needs to wipe down the table,  mop the floor, or empty the trashcan. 

“Businesses are realizing that ‘going green’ is not only good for the environment, but it’s a smart business practice with the potential for significant cost savings,” said Anderson. “Facilities represent the second-largest expense for large organizations, and they are the biggest producer of emissions. Intelligent scheduling software results in greener workspaces, better space utilization, savings in real-estate expenses, and reduced energy costs.