Guesswork is expensive. Atlanta’s peak office attendance is just 65.7% of 2019 levels, and many cities are stuck near 50% each week. Stop paying for space you don’t use. Occuspace Macro and Micro sensors deliver live, anonymous occupancy data in minutes. No cameras. No personal info.
You’re likely paying for offices built for old attendance patterns. U.S. office vacancy hit 19.9% by March 2025. That’s up 1.7 percentage points year over year. It’s time to see what floors, rooms, and zones people actually use. Right-size your leases, cut wasted energy, and clean where it makes a difference.
Hybrid schedules bring new problems. Offices fill up Tuesday to Thursday. Monday and Friday see lower attendance. Without real-time data, you might overheat empty floors or clean unused rooms. Meeting spaces can stay booked but empty. Live occupancy analytics help you match resources to real demand.
Occupancy is a headcount right now. Utilization is how well you’re using space over time. You need both to make smart choices. Occupancy tells you, “Is this room full?” Utilization shows if that room’s earning its keep over weeks or months.
Measure by building, floor, zone, room, and even desk. Use consistent definitions so you can compare locations and benchmark against other teams.
Occupancy data drives immediate action. If a meeting room’s full, trigger ventilation or send an alert. Utilization data guides long-term choices. If a floor averages just 30% use, consolidate teams or sublease.
Use occupancy for operations. Utilization for your strategy.
See mid-week spikes? Give people flex desks and bookable focus rooms for busy days. If a zone stays quiet, up the share ratio or try team-based schedules. Look at which groups come in on which days. Match your room bookings to actual use. Tackle ghost meetings and open up more space.
You don’t need dozens of numbers. Focus on these:
Peak utilization tells you seat-sharing ratios and how much extra you need for busy periods. If you peak at 70%, raise ratios in underused zones.
Average daily peak shows how much space you really need. If you’re at 55% on average, you don’t need space for everyone all the time.
Time in target: Track time spent at comfy occupancy levels. Plan your HVAC and cleaning around those hours.
Density: Watch people per 1,000 ft² for comfort and air quality. Layer in CO₂ and temperature data for a clear picture.
Attendance pattern: Know your Tuesday-Thursday peaks. That’s when to invest in service and collaboration.
Booked vs. actual shows how often rooms are really used. Up to 30% of meetings are “ghosts” - booked but empty. Tie metrics to auto-release rules and clear up your calendars fast.
Right-sizing: Compare meeting sizes to room sizes. Track overcrowding or wasted space. Adjust your room mix to fit actual groups.
Turnover and dwell: See how often rooms open up and how long people stay. High turnover means quick meetings. Longer dwell? Think focus work or workshops. Tune your bookings.
Desk presence: Track the percent of time desks are in use. Under 25%? You can assign three people to each desk and save money.
Share ratio: See how many people use each desk during peak times. Adjust up if desks sit empty. Drop down if things get crowded.
Dwell time: Long stays mean focus zones. Fast turnover hints at active collaboration. Use this data to tweak layouts and furniture.
No single approach covers it all. Blend sources for a full picture, and double-check for accuracy.
Modern occupancy sensors use mmWave radar, thermal imaging, passive infrared (PIR), and time-of-flight. They count people, not identities. You get simple numbers, like “12 in room 3B for 45 minutes,” with no privacy headaches.
Occuspace Macro sensors cover big areas with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi sensing. Plug in and see numbers within minutes. Macro sensors are easy to scale - no batteries, no cabling, no fuss. Micro sensors are quick too: each sensor installs in 15 seconds, and they track up to 3+ people in small rooms. No special Wi-Fi needed.
mmWave radar sensors deliver up to 99% accuracy, day or night. They combine radar and PIR for instant results. PIR sensors spot motion using heat signatures and are the most common. Thermal sensors read heat, so they work even when people don’t move. No images, just data.
No cameras needed. You get privacy-by-design - no faces, no risk.
Doorway counters log ins and outs with high accuracy each time someone crosses a threshold. Over a full day, small errors can add up. If you miss one exit per hour, you’re off by eight people by day’s end.
Check net flow and reset daily with badge-swipe or audits. Flag big differences and fix drift quickly.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth analytics pick up device signals to estimate headcounts. Great for broad trends. But phones randomize MAC addresses and can skew numbers. Some info can still lead to tracking. Be careful.
Deduplicate signals and cross-check totals. Don’t store MAC addresses with identities.
Badge logs tell you who enters and when. They’re accurate for building entries and compliance. They don’t track dwell or which floor someone visits. Swiping in the lobby doesn’t show which workstation is busy.
Combine badge data with sensors for entry counts plus room-level detail.
Blend methods for confidence. Validate sensors with manual headcounts and entry-exit checks. Compare badge entries with sensor totals. Layer doorway counters and area sensors to avoid drift. Spot counts boost accuracy.
Coverage matters. Aim sensors at 80% or more of your space, especially high-traffic areas, to trust your numbers.
Placement is key. Proper height, angle, and coverage means better data. Poor placement causes misses. Mount sensors where they see everything you need.
Check for drift. Compare entry and exit tallies. If net counts swing more than ±10 people, adjust placement. Use alerts for quick fixes.
Use spot audits to check claims. Pick varied spaces, do manual counts for 30 minutes, and compare.
Monitor uptime and latency. Flag offline sensors and check dashboards for up-to-date insights.
Live utilization data powers smarter buildings. With real-time headcounts, your systems can adjust HVAC, lighting, and ventilation on the fly.
DCV cuts ventilation when few people are in a space, then ramps up quickly when more arrive. ASHRAE 90.1 calls for DCV in big rooms. ASHRAE 62.1 gives the rules for control and CO₂ setpoints.
This is a win-win. Meet codes, cut energy. Linking occupancy to HVAC brings fast savings.
Simulations show HVAC energy drops 9–33% with DCV versus old-school schedules. Lighting sensors add 10-90% savings by turning off lights in empty rooms.
Combine these for fast payback - often less than two years.
Track CO₂, PM2.5, TVOC, temperature, and humidity with headcounts. WELL v2 recommends under 900 ppm CO₂. RESET Air puts it at under 1,000 ppm. Hit these for comfort and sharp thinking.
Show headcount, CO₂, ventilation state, and overages together. When fewer people are in, CO₂ should drop. If not, tune your systems.
Pick sensors that protect privacy. Go camera-free with mmWave, thermal, or PIR. Phones randomize device addresses, so use Wi-Fi signals carefully. Skip storage of personal info. Be upfront about limits.
Write down data retention and keep data at the room or zone, not individual level. Delete raw data quickly; keep only summaries. Privacy-first sensors build trust in offices, schools, and hospitals.
Leaders want quick, clear views connecting usage to cost and comfort. Focus on:
Keep dashboards simple. Show the number, the trend, and what to do about it.
Benchmarks add context. Many cities average 50-55% attendance, with Tuesdays crowding the most. Your office might run higher or lower - adjust for your location and policies.
Ghost-meeting rates can hit 30% in hybrid offices. Use sensors to autorelease rooms and get that space back. IFMA World Workplace 2024 put average seat use at 58%. That means just over half of seats are usually filled.
Benchmarks are reference points, not finish lines. Fit your space to your real team patterns - not industry averages.
Camera-free sensors like mmWave, thermal, and PIR count people without personal details. They only report totals by room or zone. Sensors give you anonymous data - the most private way to measure space.
Sensors send live headcount to your building system. When more people show up, fresh air ramps up to keep CO₂ below target (like 900 ppm for WELL, or 1,000 ppm for RESET). When attendance drops, ventilation drops too. You can watch CO₂ and headcount to make sure it works.
Miscounts happen if sensors miss entries or exits - think blocked views or people walking close together. Errors add up over time. Check by comparing daily entries and exits. If numbers differ by over 10 people, reset counts or fix placements. Manual spot checks help too.
Trust badge data for total entry numbers and compliance. Use Wi-Fi for big-picture trends over wide areas. Use sensors for real-time room-by-room info and to power automation. Each source works best for certain questions. Blend them for a full view.
Occupancy sensors help you right-size space, cut energy, and boost comfort. Start in high-traffic spots - meeting rooms, lobbies, collaboration zones. Audit your data for accuracy. Connect sensors with automation for HVAC and lighting. Tackle ghost meetings and auto-release unused rooms. Track CO₂ along with headcount.
Occuspace works with HPE Aruba for simple setup in Aruba Central. Case studies show up to 32% space savings (about 14,000 ft² freed), $0.50/ft²/year in HVAC savings, and up to 30% lower custodial bills. See live occupancy and dwell insights in just a day or two. Book a demo to see how our camera-free sensors and HPE Aruba integration free up space, save you money, and simplify cleaning.
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