Four measures not to confuse
| Measure | Question | Example source |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance | Did the person come on site that day? | Access badges, self-reporting, team schedules |
| Occupancy | How many people are present at a given moment? | Head counts, aggregated sensor data |
| Utilisation | Are desks and rooms actually used, and for how long? | Observation, bookings, desk or room sensors |
| Capacity | How many people can the space theoretically accommodate? | Plans, space programme |
A head office may show 60% attendance and 35% desk utilisation: the people on site are in meetings, moving around the building or in informal spaces. The diagnosis is not the same.
The average hides the peaks
A weekly average smooths out the days when the whole team comes in. A decision on floor area based on the average leaves people without a desk on peak days. We therefore analyse the average, the median, the significant peak, critical days, seasonality and variability by team. The simulator on the home page shows the gap.
How to measure
- Observation: counts at fixed times over several weeks; simple and robust.
- Existing data: room and desk bookings, access badges, network connections, as aggregated data.
- Sensors: useful on large sites or for continuous monitoring; must be justified by their purpose.
- Surveys and workshops: to understand why spaces are or are not used.
The legal framework for measurement
Usage data must not become a tool for monitoring individuals. No information personally concerning an employee may be collected by a system that has not been brought to his or her attention beforehand (French Labour Code, art. L1222-4). In companies with at least 50 employees, the works council (CSE) is informed and consulted, prior to the decision to implement them in the company, on the means or techniques that allow employees' activity to be monitored (art. L2312-38).
For premises access systems, the CNIL (France's data protection authority) points out in particular that they must not be used to monitor movements inside the premises, and that access data may only be kept for a limited period (three months according to its guidance sheet). To our knowledge, occupancy sensors are not covered by a dedicated CNIL guidance sheet: the principles of purpose limitation, data minimisation, aggregation and information apply, and the data protection officer is consulted.
Frequently asked questions
What occupancy rate is “normal”?
There is no normal rate that applies to every organisation. The right indicator depends on the activities, the attendance policy and the objective pursued; what matters is the gap between observed use and the brief.