From Assumptions to Insights: Designing Smarter Floorplans with Data

Have you ever walked through your office and wondered why it feels off, even when it looks great? Maybe it has modern furniture, lots of natural light, and a clean, open layout. But the meeting rooms are full of no-shows, quiet zones sit beside noisy breakout areas, and large boardrooms are occupied by one person on a Zoom call. Some days the office is empty, others it’s packed, and no one can seem to find an open place to collaborate. Meanwhile, the lights and AC are running across the entire floor regardless of usage.

These aren’t design flaws. They’re layout problems. And they come from planning spaces based on assumptions instead of data.

For years, companies have designed offices based on assumptions, making every decision based on what they believe will work, or what they think the space should be. This usually means planning layouts around hierarchy, tradition, or convenience, rather than how people actually use the space. Leadership decides where teams sit based on org charts. Executives get private offices while hybrid employees share bench seating. Teams that need to collaborate daily end up scattered across the floor. The resulting floorplan often reflects organizational structure, not day-to-day behavior or team needs.

This gap is starting to show. A 2023 CBRE study found that while 70 percent of companies are rethinking their layouts, fewer than 30 percent are using actual workplace data to guide those decisions. Meanwhile, JLL reports that 55 percent of organizations feel they have too much space. If that sounds familiar, it’s because many offices are running on guesswork. The result is wasted square footage, frustrated employees, and spaces that don’t work as intended.

The limits of traditional planning

Traditionally, office design has relied on tools like time studies, employee surveys, and interviews conducted by design and architecture firms. These methods can provide useful context, but they’re still static and subjective. They capture how people say they work, or how they worked during one short study period, not how they actually behave day to day.

Surveys are shaped by memory and opinion. Time studies show a snapshot in time. Neither captures the reality and flow of hybrid schedules, the way teams form and re-form, or the influence of layout on behavior. And none of them tell you what’s happening three months later when work patterns shift.

A better approach: workplace data

This is where workplace analytics shines. Companies need to gain continuous insight into how their offices are being used, without hardware, sensors, or privacy trade-offs. It is here that our platform helps. using the existing Wi-Fi infrastructure to anonymously detect occupancy, movement, and usage patterns across spaces and time.It’s passive, secure, and doesn’t require employees to swipe badges, install apps, or carry any wearable devices.

What you get is a clear picture of what’s working and what isn’t. You can see which areas are crowded, which are quiet, and which are almost always empty. You can understand how teams move and where bottlenecks or distractions are happening. And because it’s ongoing, you’re not limited to a one-time study. You’re able to design for todays’ needs and adapt as needs evolve and change over time.

A before-and-after story

Take a common scenario. A mid-sized tech company returns to the office with a hybrid model but keeps its old layout. Product and marketing, two teams that collaborate heavily, are seated at opposite ends of the floor. A breakout area intended for casual meetings is right beside a quiet zone. Most meetings are happening in small groups, but the space is dominated by large boardrooms that sit empty. The office looks busy on certain days but remains underutilized overall.

To the eye, the layout seems fine. But the data tells a different story. InnerSpace reveals high levels of movement between marketing and product that result in lost time and frustration. It shows that people avoid the quiet zone because of the nearby noise, even though it’s designated for heads-down work. Meeting room bookings confirm that smaller rooms are overbooked while the larger ones sit mostly unused. And some spaces show less than 20 percent occupancy, despite being fully lit, cooled, and cleaned daily.

With this data, the company redesigns its layout to reflect actual behavior. Collaborative teams are brought closer together. Quiet zones are relocated to low-traffic areas.

Meeting rooms are resized and redistributed based on real demand. Underused zones are repurposed as touchdown spaces for hybrid employees. The redesign isn’t driven by aesthetics or hierarchy, it’s driven by how people work.

Office Layout: Before vs. After Data

Designing for what’s next

The most effective workplaces aren’t just built for today, they’re built to adapt. As hybrid work continues to shape how and where teams operate, offices must evolve alongside those changing needs. Static layouts won’t work in a dynamic environment.

With continuous data from InnerSpace, companies can actively monitor performance and make layout adjustments as hybrid policies shift or team structures evolve. Balancing employee needs with intentional office design becomes an ongoing process, not a one-time project. The workplace becomes a living system: flexible, responsive, and always improving.

After the redesign, employee satisfaction improves. Collaboration becomes easier and more intentional. Teams feel supported in the space, and leadership gains confidence that their hybrid model is working not just in theory, but in practice. Companies can also make more informed decisions about where to invest, based on actual utilization. This leads to smarter space planning, better real estate ROI, and more efficient services like cleaning and maintenance that align with real usage.

You can’t improve what you can’t see. Ongoing, passive workplace data helps you make layout decisions that reflect how people actually work, not just how the space was designed to function.

Where to start

Creating a better office isn’t about chasing design trends or getting it perfect on the first try. It’s about understanding how people move, meet, and focus, then designing around that. With the right data, you don’t have to guess. You can make intentional, informed decisions that support both your business goals and your people.

And as needs change, so should your workspaces . That’s the real power of data-driven design: it doesn’t just fix the present . It helps you plan for the future.