Tracking space utilization is an important aspect of facility management. Even more so, in a hybrid model, given the entire workforce is not in the office.

But most managers fail to do it well. This is because they are not monitoring the right metrics to understand their space and how employees engage with it. So, to optimize your real-estate usage and cost, here are five space utilization metrics you must track.

  1. Capacity and Occupancy 

Capacity and occupancy are broad but very important space utilization metrics every facility manager must track. Capacity is the maximum number of employees you can accommodate in your workplace, while occupancy is the exact number of employees using the available office space.

Measuring capacity helps facility managers understand the potential of available space. And measuring occupancy helps you prevent under/overutilization of available space. Tracking both these space utilization metrics in parallel can help you prevent overcrowding and reduce the cost of operating and maintaining the space inventory.

Occupancy of a workplace can change at any moment, but capacity changes only with the change in physical space inventory. So, measuring occupancy at regular intervals is better for analyzing space usage trends. These trends can help you understand how your workforce interacts with their environment and make changes to accommodate them in advance.

  1. Average Peak Space Utilization

The average peak utilization metric is an important space utilization metric for a hybrid workplace. It simply shows the period when the office space is used the most. You can calculate this metric for a day, week, month, or year. The purpose is to tap into insight when most of your employees are available within the workplace. 

Tracking average peak space utilization over an extended period will make the capacity of your office clearer. You can see the highest spike in usage and decide if you need to invest in a bigger office or not. 

You can also calculate peak utilization per space. It shows instances when a part of your office is in heavy demand. The spaces could be desks, conference rooms, parking spots, or any part of your office that employees use. Then you can analyze trends and decide if you need more desks or conference rooms.

  1. Space Popularity

Some parts of your office are more popular among employees than others. It is essential to measure the space utilization metric called space popularity to understand which office spaces are always in high demand. For example, if you can find which workstations a group of employees use frequently, then you can easily reserve that pool of desks for that group of employees. 

An immediate benefit of measuring space popularity is that you can allocate spaces based on preferences and implement a much more stable resource scheduling, even in dynamic hybrid workplaces.

However, one must not confuse space popularity with average peak utilization by space. Space may not be popular among employees but may show spikes in usage due to work compulsions.

  1. Mobility Ratios

Hybrid workplaces are getting increasingly dynamic, especially with mobility programs and activity-based working. The metrics mentioned above tell you about the workforce and their space utilization but not the mobile workforce. 

The mobile workforce may still need to be in the office, but they may not always need access to desks or meeting rooms. That is why you need to monitor mobility ratios. It can help you measure the variable space demand of remote workers separately from regular workers. 

You can implement a much better hoteling/hot-desking arrangement for remote workers without affecting the work setup of the regular workforce. 

  1. Cost per Head

A company incurs a cost in accommodating employees into its workplace. As the name suggests, cost per head is a space utilization metric to calculate the per head cost of using available space inventory.

In typical workplaces, one can simply divide the office lease cost per square foot by the space allocated to each staff member, and they would get the cost per head. However, hybrid workplaces have dynamic space utilization, so you need to use the previous formula to calculate the cost and multiply it by the occupancy percentage. 

The cost per head metric will help you tap into the insights like how much money you have invested in maintaining your office and if you need to invest more. 

Wrapping Up

Space utilization metrics mentioned in this blog will help you optimize your physical space inventory for optimum usage without overspending on its maintenance. You can use workplace management software for accurate space usage insights and calculations. 

WorkInSync space management software allows you to keep track of the number of people in the office, which ultimately helps you in space planning. You can know the utilization rate and space occupancy as well with this software. 

To know more about the space utilization feature, and the space management software, get in touch with a product expert from WorkInSync today.