Workplace Occupancy Software: The Heart of a Flexible Work Environment

Are you ready to unlock the true potential of your office space? With workplace occupancy software, you can totally transform how you manage your work environment.

Picture this: a powerful tool at your fingertips that gives you useful data about your office—highlighting busy areas and quiet corners. This software offers real-time insights to help you create a flexible, efficient, and enjoyable work environment for everyone.

As an HR leader, you know the importance of a workspace that meets your employees' needs while driving productivity. Here’s how it all works.

What is workplace occupancy software?

Workplace occupancy software is a tool designed to give you insights into how your office spaces are being utilised.

Fitting in nicely with your existing tools—like Microsoft Teams/Outlook, Google Calendar, and Slack—you can track attendance and occupancy levels without breaking a sweat. It helps you understand not just who’s in the office, but also when and where they prefer to work.

Unlike systems that use sensors to automatically monitor the location of people, Blinktime’s software relies on desk bookings and scheduling. This means employees voluntarily enter their information into the system, allowing you to track attendance and occupancy levels effortlessly. So you don't need to use any complex devices or intrusive technology to make it work.

Key features of workplace management software

Workplace management software is designed to streamline various aspects of office operations, making it easier to manage space usage. That could include meeting rooms, visitors, catering orders, or security compliance. Here are some key features that you might find in these indispensable tools:

• Space booking and management: Employees can book desks, meeting rooms, and other workspaces, making sure they have the right environment for their tasks. This feature helps in optimising space usage and reducing conflicts over workspace allocation.
• Meeting room management: This feature handles everything from sending invitations to registering visitors and arranging catering services. It means that meetings run smoothly and that all participants have what they need.
• Visitor management: Providing a nice, inviting experience for visitors, this feature includes customisable visitor flows and notifications, making for strong security and a positive first impression.
• Security compliance: Helping all aspects of workplace management stay secure and compliant with regulations, this feature is great for maintaining a safe and legal work environment.
• Data analytics: Offering valuable insights into space usage, meeting room utilisation, and other workplace metrics, data analytics helps in making informed decisions that enhance overall efficiency.

Benefits for HR leaders and managers

Using software to manage workplace occupancy means you can really dial down your resource allocation and space management effectively. With real-time analytics, you can see occupancy patterns and make decisions about how to use your office space wisely. This leads to better resource utilisation and a more streamlined workflow.

Managing a hybrid workspace with workplace occupancy software can certainly make things easier. With people going in and out of multiple locations at different times of day, hybrid work environments can get complicated. So being able to identify people's whereabouts throughout the business can be super useful.

When you understand your employees’ preferences, you can create a more flexible work environment that resonates with modern work styles. Knowing when and where your team likes to work helps you tailor the office to fit those habits, boosting morale and productivity. With this approach, you’re not just improving employee satisfaction—you’re also optimising your office’s overall performance.

Put all that brilliant data together and you can implement a modern hybrid work policy that works for everyone.

Real-time data analytics and insights

The real power of occupancy software is in the insights it gives you. With a system like this monitoring office occupancy, it turns raw data into useful info you can act on. You can see trends over time and spot patterns you might have missed.

For example, you might learn that:

• Your open-plan area is only 40% full most days
• Meeting rooms for 8+ people are rarely used to capacity
• The quiet work areas are always busy in the afternoons

If you notice that a certain meeting space is consistently booked while others remain empty, you can reconsider your space allocation throughout your office space. Maybe it’s time to convert that underused room into a collaborative area or a quiet zone for focused work.

Imagine a company that realises their open-plan design is causing distractions and reduced productivity near high-traffic areas. By analysing occupancy trends, they decide to create more enclosed spaces for quiet work and focus areas. Employees love the change, reporting higher satisfaction levels and better performance as a result.

The insights you gain from occupancy data like this can truly help shape a workspace that works for everyone.

Meeting and visitor management

Great meeting and visitor management will help provide a positive experience for employees and visitors. Some of the workplace occupancy software we've seen contains features that can help in this area:

• Meeting room booking: Allowing employees to book meeting rooms and other workspaces ensures that they have the right environment for their meetings.
• Visitor registration: Providing a seamless experience for visitors, including customisable visitor flows and notifications, enhances security and makes a positive first impression.
• Catering services: Allowing kitchen staff and catering managers to build and adjust menus ensures that all catering needs are met efficiently.
• Digital signage: Providing digital signage for meeting rooms and other workspaces makes for better communication and wayfinding. This feature ensures that employees and visitors can easily find their way around the office.
• Integration with calendar systems: Integrating with calendar systems, such as Microsoft Exchange or Google Calendar, ensures that meeting room bookings and visitor registrations are coordinated to avoid scheduling conflicts.

With these features, you can create a welcoming environment for both employees and visitors. Bear in mind there are related services called building management systems which focus on the mechanical side of building management: air conditioning, lighting, fire systems and similar equipment. Businesses in larger buildings might use a building management system alongside our type of system, which instead deals with people.

Supporting employee well-being

Flexible workspace management goes beyond just deciding how space is used; it’s about creating an environment that supports your employees' well-being. 

When people feel comfortable in their surroundings, their satisfaction and mental health improve. Imagine a workplace where employees can choose to work in a lively collaboration space one day and a quiet nook the next. This kind of flexibility can reduce stress and help maintain a balance between zen moments and high-performance crunch.

And the dynamics of office layouts have a big impact on how people feel and work.

For instance, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that open office architectures can decrease face-to-face interaction by approximately 70%:

“Rather than prompting increasingly vibrant face-to-face collaboration, open architecture appeared to trigger a natural human response to socially withdraw from officemates and interact instead over email and IM (instant messaging).”

This highlights the potential drawbacks of open-plan designs, which can lead employees to rely more on digital communication than in-person discussions. But they are just potential drawbacks – what works for some won’t work for others. 

So using workplace occupancy software allows you to analyse space usage and make informed decisions based on how your workforce responds to their environment. 

If you notice that more people are opting for quieter spaces, you can adjust your setup to meet that demand. When you prioritise your team's well-being through thoughtful space management, you create a more supportive work environment that allows for engagement and creativity.

How office managers can use Blinktime workplace management software

Using Blinktime, office managers can transform workplace management into a more strategic and employee-centric process. Here’s what it can do for them and their business:

1) Monitor office attendance

• Check who is scheduled to be in the office on any given day.
• Allow colleagues to see which of their peers will be working nearby when they’re in.

2) Plan and book desks

• Employees can easily book their desks through integrated tools like calendars, Slack, or Teams.
• If an employee needs to collaborate with a specific team, they can book a desk in that team’s area, ensuring a productive work environment.

3) Review occupancy data

• Access the company dashboard to view attendance metrics, such as average desk utilisation and peak occupancy times.
• For instance, if data shows that Thursdays have the highest occupancy, the office manager can encourage team activities or meetings on that day to maximise in-person collaboration.

4) Adapt space usage

• Use insights to optimise office layouts and resource allocation.
• If certain areas are consistently underused, consider repurposing them into meeting rooms or quiet spaces, enhancing overall workplace efficiency.

5) Enhance the employee experience

• Create a flexible work environment that aligns with employee preferences based on real-time data.
• By understanding which spaces are popular, you can ensure that these areas are comfortable and equipped with the necessary resources.

Final thoughts

Workplace occupancy software is a great tool for tracking office attendance. But it’s also a vital resource for creating a work environment that supports both efficiency and employee well-being. 

Using real-time data, you can make smart decisions that enhance your office layout, ensure compliance with building rules, and keep employees happy. This flexibility not only boosts productivity but also helps improve cost efficiency by reducing wasted space.

Ready to transform your workplace experience? You can find out more about Blinktime in our FAQ, or press that blue button in the top right of the page to book a free demo.