Analytics are important to any business, but especially a hybrid coworking space. Analytics can be useful in many ways, ranging from getting data on room usage or gaining insight on office utilization. All these can help you make informed decisions about your hybrid workspace, which is why you should pay attention and keep track of the data that concerns your hybrid workspace.
Understanding data and analytics
Workplace data and analytics are used to measure not only the behaviour of employees but also the data concerning the space itself, and how your team interacts with it. This data is then used to improve business performance by providing your team exactly what it needs to succeed.Â
Often, certain areas of the office go unused as a result of people constantly moving around and working from places other than the office. This is a problem, as space costs money, and if it isn’t utilized correctly, then you may find yourself losing a lot of revenue it. In fact, according to a survey by AECOM, workspaces (desks, offices and other types of workspace) are occupied only 42% of the time. On average, 40% of workspaces are empty at any point during the core working day, yet businesses are paying for this empty space.Â
It’s usually hard to tell how much of the office is empty, but that statistic alone should concern you, as a hybrid workspace will be even emptier than a regular one. Analytics can help you determine how to structure your workspace and optimize it for its best use.
How to collect data and analytics
A great tool for collecting data and analytics is Archie, a leading hybrid workspace management system. Not only is Archie able to automate all your hybrid workspace needs such as conference room bookings, desk bookings, check-ins, and so on, it can also use take all the data and create and showcase it in an effective and organized way.Â
Archie will automatically generate analytics for you that will be useful in your understanding of your hybrid workspace, especially during the beginning or during big changes. It will allow you to visualize everything in one spot, creating an ideal tool for all the analysis of your hybrid workspace.Â
Some things to look for in your analytics:Â
- The conference room usage. Which are used more than others and why.Â
- Â How many ghost meetings happen.Â
- What spaces are not as utilized, and why are employees avoiding them.Â
- Are employees using the spaces they are booking for the purpose of the space? For example, are if they book a conference room, are they booking it for a conference or for something else.Â
- Rooms that are overbooked, by whom and why.Â
- Which days or times are the busiest in terms of bookings.Â
- If your space has enough capacity for the demands of the employees.
Ways analytics can be used in a hybrid workspace
1. Reinventing the office space
The biggest and most important thing you can do when you have a set of analytics and data about your workspace, is reinventing it to benefit your team and make them more productive.
In 2019, Leesman, a firm that measures employee experiences, analyzed how the workplace affects employee productivity, pride and enjoyment. With 719,000 respondents in 4,771 workplaces worldwide, Leesman found that nearly 40% of employees felt their workplace did not enable them to work productively."
In a hybrid workplace there is really no room for error when it comes to the office space. When implementing a new hybrid work model into your company, you must make it a priority to analyze patterns based on the data you will be receiving and optimize your space according to what is best for your employees.Â
For example, if you find that more people are using conference rooms than private offices, you may want to consider turning private offices into more conference rooms. Analytics and data tools will be able to help you create an office space that will improve the wellbeing, productivity, and engagement of your team by helping you reconstruct the office space.
2. Learning about the usage of the space
With analytics, you will be able to get insight into how your space is being used by your team. By tracking the occupancy and utilization of your office space and the specifics of the rooms, you can then consult your real estate team and come up with a redesign plan that best serves your team and their needs.Â
In a hybrid work environment, one aspect that you need to consider is that offering assigned desks to people will result in them often being unused on the days that teams don’t come to the office. This will cause a big waste of space and money. A great solution to this problem is to skip the assigned desk spaces and instead opt for collaborative spaces such as hot desk areas. This will not only save you money and space, but it will also encourage your team to bond with each other by sitting in settings they might not be used to, allowing them to interact with coworkers they don’t usually interact with.
Tip: If you and your team still find that your office has too much space than necessary, one great option could be subleasing part of your space and gaining some revenue that way.
3. See utilization in real-time
With a workspace management software like Archie, you will be able to see real-time data on what spaces are in usage and which ones are not. The bonus is that you will not be the only one to be able to view this, but your team will too.Â
This is good, as it will allow them to understand which rooms are usually booked when, and create a pattern for their work on which you can base the analysis on. Building use will become fully transparent and everyone in the office will know who is using what space and when.Â
The information you get from this will help you determine a progression in the workplace and how everyone is adjusting to the hybrid work model.
4. Activity-based services
Another great thing you can do with analytics is to determine the best times for certain activities in your office. With data on what spaces are being used when and for how long, you have the opportunity to create times for certain activities.Â
For example, if you have cleaners for your office space, you can use the data your software has gathered to find the best time for them to come and clean certain spaces and areas. If a number of office spaces are not often used at the same time, you can assign cleaners to them while they are empty and avoid distractions to your other employees.Â
This activity-based model will allow your team to be happier and have higher job satisfaction due to order and no unnecessary interference.
Conclusion
Learning how to use analytics can be majorly beneficial to your hybrid workspace, by saving you tons of costs in the long run, and providing you with insightful information that you can use to create a space that provides comfort in an efficient way and encourages productivity on all levels.
