Occupancy sensors is an efficient way to analyse how building and office spaces are utilised. Using data give teams greater visibility on what can be done to optimise working practices, inform future designs and ultimately boost employee productivity.
Here’s a breakdown to decide what occupancy sensors is right for your organisation.
Where to start
We recommend to start with defining your goals and the metrics you want to measure. This will then help you determine the right type of occupancy sensor(s) needed as well as the data points to monitor and report on. Some key occupancy metrics you may want to measure are:
- Average utilisation rates
- Peak vs. off peak utilisation
- Person to desk ratio
- Meeting room size and occupancy rates (are they fit for purpose?)
Choosing the right workspace occupancy sensors
1.Desk and phone booth sensors
Use case
- Compare how teams or departments use desk space
- Increase your person to desk ratio
- Compare utilisation across other locations and floors
How it works
- How it captures data – These sensors are passive infrared sensors (PIR) which is triggered by both motion and heat. They provide data on whether someone is present at a desk or phone booth for more than 10 minutes
- Accuracy is measured by the field of focus and for desk sensors this is metre by half metre coverage of an area i.e. a narrow focus and detection
- Anonymised – No personal or health information of an individual is captured. The data is anonymised to illustrate overall utilisation and are GDPR compliant
- Secure – Data immediately encrypted and transmitted to a cloud based platform where users have instant visibility of occupancy
- Placement – Discretely placed under desks out of sight and not disruptive to employees
- Size – W4cm x H4cm x D1.5cm
- Power – Our sensors have a 2 year battery life expectancy
2. Meeting room presence sensors
Use case
- Understand whether meeting rooms are the right size and how they are being utilised in order to inform refit designs
How it works
- How it captures data – These sensors are passive infrared sensors (PIR) which is triggered by both motion and heat. They provide data on whether someone is present in a room and detects people going in and out
- Accuracy is measured by the field of focus and covers a wide area
- Anonymised – No personal or health information of an individual is captured. The data is anonymised to illustrate overall utilisation and are GDPR compliant
- Secure – Data immediately encrypted and transmitted to a cloud based platform where users have instant visibility of occupancy
- Placement -Discretely placed on ceiling or over doors out of sight and not disruptive to employees who are using the rooms
- Size – W8cm x H8cm x D1.5cm
- Powered – Power over Ethernet (PoE) or through mains power
3. Meeting room counter sensors
Use case
-
Measure the usage of large meeting rooms with a capacity of 5+ to understand how many people are occupying them
- Understand if meeting rooms are right sized or if 1-2 people are regularly using a large board style rooms
- Understand the number of no shows when rooms are booked
How it works
- How it captures data – Counters sensors uses object recognition to gather data on presence and the number of people using a room at any given time. They count people going in one direction e.g. in or out
- Accuracy – Covers a wide area of focus
- Anonymised – No personal or health information of an individual is captured. The data is anonymised to illustrate overall utilisation and are GDPR compliant
- Secure – Data immediately encrypted and transmitted to a cloud based platform where users have instant visibility of number of people on a room
- Placement – Discretely placed over doors out of sight and not disruptive to employees who are using the rooms
- Powered – Power over ethernet (PoE) or through mains power
4. People counter sensors
Use case
- Understand the footfall of specific areas of a building or location such as shared spaces, breakout areas or stairways
How it works
- How it captures data – People counter sensors uses object recognition and captures footfall data of people going in any direction
- Accuracy is measured by the field of focus and covers a wide area
- Anonymous – No personal or health information of an individual is captured. The data is anonymised to illustrate overall utilisation and are GDPR compliant
- Secure – Data immediately encrypted and transmitted to a cloud based platform where users have instant visibility of number of people in a given area
- Placement – Discretely placed on ceilings or over doors out of sight and not disruptive to employees who are using the rooms
- Size – W8cm x H8cm x D1.5cm
- Powered -Power over ethernet (PoE) or through mains power
Why choose occupancy sensors
By taking away the guesswork, corporate real estate, facility and workplace teams are better equipped to make decisions on future strategies and accommodate a growing workforce as well as:
- Align business goals and costs with other departments and business unit leaders to better utilised workspaces
- Be in control and understand how building, floor space, meeting rooms and desks are utilised across locations and teams
- Influence stakeholder conversations with data driven recommendations on how to optimise workspaces to boost employee productivity
- Future proof building or workspace redesigns and create fit for purpose spaces
- Accurately measure person to desk ratio and easily find space for new joiners
- Benchmark with real data to drive down space wastage costs
- Support agile working practices by pinpointing peak hours and encourage work from home
- Make life easier for employees with real time feeds of available desk or meeting rooms across all locations
Note: features will vary depending on your chosen supplier, above is an overview of the sensors we offer.
Need to measure how your workspaces are utilised?
Find out more about how our occupancy analytics engine can help you measure space utilisation.
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