What Kind of Data do I Need to Make Decisions About my Workspace?

The pandemic changed the nature of work in every industry, and now is a great time to take account of where your workspace and your team are, so you can more forward and develop and implement your organizational strategies to best support your teams.

How each organization will do that will vary, but do ensure that you're able to allocate resources, ensure workforce effectiveness, and create a plan that will support their business in a changing world, you will need evidence-based data.

Data is overwhelming. Where do I start gathering?

The type of data is determined by the types of questions you need answers to, so it will likely vary, depending on what you're looking to find out. If you're wondering how to increase efficiency in your space, you'll want to look at workplace data analytics to understand your office usage to start. If you want to know how much your team would like to be in the office or working remotely, you'll want to gather hybrid workplace analytics via a survey. 

Working with a variety of types of data from different sources will help you make strategic decisions and develop strategies to move your teams forward, and once you have data to make strategic decisions now, you can use them to benchmark as your organization continues to evolve and grow.

How do I get the data?

There are two main types of data: qualitative, and quantitative. Qualitative is largely anecdotal and based on gathering data from stories and conversations, while quantitative consists of numbers and metrics. Working with an organization who is experienced in collecting data from a variety of sources efficiently, is your best way to maximize value and save time on a workspace analysis.

Let's talk about types of data: qualitative and quantitative.

Qualitative data connection can be gathered in a number of ways, including through focus groups, surveys, interviews, feedback, and other forms of communication that involve gathering information from employees. Using open ended questions in surveys and focus groups are a great way to gather qualitative data.

Quantitative data collection uses different data sources to monitor workplaces. Potential sources include phone usage, badge data to see how many people are in every day, booking systems to check in on room usage. Our experts agree that data collection that involves Wi-Fi access points that oversees multiple data points are the most efficient and can reduce costs in the long run.

To make well-rounded, strategic decisions, more data is always better, and data from a variety of sources will provide you with the useful information and insights you need to create an effective strategy to move forward. And with Wi-Fi access points, it covers 100% of your office real estate footprint. For the most accurate and comprehensive data vs. sensors on the market.

Find out where you were before COVID.

We all know that COVID changed work forever, but going back and looking at the data you have from before COVID will help you to focus on what your office was like before the disruption of the pandemic, and consider things you might have changed then too. A few questions to consider from BC (Before COVID).

• What were employees struggling with before COVID?
• Was our space adequate for the team at that time? Were there any pain points in our space usage?
• How was productivity?

Attempting to revisit the answers to these questions is a good benchmarking activity, since you may not have a lot of useful space usage information from the past two years to support decision-making since so many organizations and industries have been in flux.

Understand where your organization is now, and then look forward.

Good leaders know how important it is to look forward, and it starts with understanding where your organization is now, through data analysis on space usage and employee productivity, and considering what needs to change and what should remain consistent to reach your future goals. Where are you hoping to lead your organization? What are you aiming to achieve? Do you imagine your team growing in the future? Will the technology you use change? What information do you need now to get your organization where you want it to be in its next phase?

Be open to the data surprising you.

Susan Chang, Senior Vice President, Workplace Consulting at JLL believes that making the assumption that all employees in certain industries work the same, have the same usage habits and need the same types of space can result in organizations making the wrong decisions and creating an office that doesn't work for their teams.

Want to learn more about avoiding assumptions in your space? Click here to receive our webinar record with Susan Chang. 

The data you end up with might tell you a story that doesn't match your expectations, and that is one of the key reasons why it's important to gather it. There's great value in knowing with the metrics and analysis when you make choices around something so important as your workplace and not letting assumptions lead.

What do I do once I have the data?

Gathering a lot of data is important to making strategic decisions, especially when it comes to making investments and taking on big projects in your office, but sorting through a lot of workforce data can be overwhelming.

Working with a consultant or expert on workplace analytics who can distill the information you collect into valuable information and support you by summarizing the information alongside industry trends will give you the space and support to make more strategic decisions.

Decide where you want to go, but be open to changing direction.

It's inevitable that organizations who make strategic decisions around workplace space usage, hybrid work, will have to continue to make decisions to determine how impactful their implementation has been. It's important to keep lines of communication open with your employees and teams, and having data to back up your decisions, even if they must be tweaked as you receive new information is important.

Collaborating with experts who understand how to get and utilize the data you need to support your employees now grow your organization will help reduce risk and give you the insights you need to monitor productivity in your space and ensure it's being used efficiently for your teams.

Ready to get started?

We'd love to talk to you about InnerSpace. We're experts in #indoorology, and we can't wait to show you how we can support your office space decisions with data.

We can help you get what you need to support your teams, reduce costs, and grow your organization with technology that measures and collects data from a variety of sources simultaneously, to ensure your project stays on track and provides you with what you need to make data driven decisions for your company.