From insight to impact: how data-driven workplace experiences drive results

At a time when knowledge workers can work from anywhere, the in-office experience has become a central focus for many organisations looking to enhance employee engagement, productivity and collaboration. While some workplace leaders are basing their workplace experience decisions on assumptions, others are turning to data analytics to craft workplace experiences that are tailored to the unique requirements of their workforce.

Research has found that workplace experience is linked to employee wellbeing and organisational outcomes. A US employee engagement survey conducted by Gallup in the second quarter of 2024 showed that only 32 per cent of US employees are fully engaged in their work. Although this figure showed a slight rise from employee engagement in the first quarter of the year, it concluded that employee engagement in the US has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Further research from Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2024 report shows that when organisations increase the number of engaged employees, they improve a host of organisational outcomes, including profit, retention rates and customer satisfaction.

Bridging the gap between home and office

Employee experience is vital to creating a foundation for organisational success. Yet often employees report a better experience working from home than they do in the office. A recent report by Leesman called ‘The Power of Place’ found that ‘the average home supports the average worker better than the average office’. When employees are expected to work in a large generic environment over which they have little to no control, a wellbeing deficit grows. A survey published in May 2024 led by Charu Srivastava of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design revealed that although perceived work performance is significantly higher at the office, comfort and wellbeing were significantly higher at home.

‘When employees are expected to work in a large generic environment over which they have little to no control, a wellbeing deficit grows’

How can data, then, bridge this gap to create in-office employee experiences that are comfortable and make the office more valuable? There are a host of digital technologies that are looking to enhance the in-office experience, ranging from air quality and environmental monitoring for employee comfort all the way to smart office automations, including automatic temperature and lighting adjustments based on outside factors including the time of day, the weather conditions, and in-office occupancy levels. Whilst home sets a high bar for comfort, the workplace offers a range of other valuable benefits, including increased opportunities for collaboration and access to a wider range of resources. Even so, improving comfort in the office could go a long way in bridging the gap between these two environments.

Securing success

A seamless and tailored workplace experience cannot exist in siloes. It requires digital systems to talk to each other to understand the workflow and preferences of each individual employee. Using analytics from a building’s actual physical space, gathered by tools such as access control and layered onto systems like room booking and HR platforms, provides real-time data insights that enable organisations to see how the space is being used in actuality.

The workplace experience extends beyond the time spent sat at a desk; it starts from the moment an individual is making the decision to come into the office. Employees want to know which of their colleagues will be in the office on specific days, whether meeting rooms will be free at certain times, and if there will be sufficient space to do the tasks they need to do, in the way that they like to work – the answers to these questions will determine the value of the experience they have when they are in the office.

Access to these kinds of insights allow employers to see how space is actually being used, rather than seeing data that shows how someone intended to use the space based on bookings. It further allows employees to effectively plan and manage their schedules, resulting in a friction-free experience and empowering them to pick days to come into the office that will be most valuable to them, rather than being mandated to come in on specific days.

‘A seamless and tailored workplace experience cannot exist in siloes’

Using data in the right way is crucial when it comes to gathering objective insights to better the employee experience. The risk of data overload can present a series of challenges to properly leveraging the potential of using data to improve workplace experiences. Processing large volumes of data typically requires the expertise of data analytics teams to make sense of the information collected. Other concerns stem from a more ethical root and relate to privacy worries over the quantity of employee data that should be collected, alongside how it is then used. Data collection requires a human-centric approach where employees are aware of the information they are sharing and receive a benefit in return.

Simplifying access, empowering employees

To ensure employee buy-in to sharing their data, the process should be barrier-free and deliver tangible benefits. This requires a simple and intuitive solution, such as a well-designed workplace app. Workplace experience technology company Accessia has made the seamlessness of the employee experience a priority in its solution, considering the employee journey in its entirety. A keyless, hands-free mobile access to workplace spaces and services allows for frictionless access for employees, while the intuitive workplace app enables them to plan their days around which spaces they’ll need to use and if the colleagues they need to talk to will be in the office before they even step foot in the building. The solution uses location services running in the background – gathering data from your phone rather than relying solely on badge swipe data – allowing for a more seamless experience, improving both wayfinding and security capabilities and reducing the need for a physical access card. With a focus on privacy and security, Accessia’s solution champions transparency when it comes to data collection. For the user, the overall experience is friction-free and benefit driven.

By utilising access control plus mobile location analytics, organisations are afforded the ability to create secure and value-driven experiences for their employees. Using workplace apps that eliminate the need for a manual entry process to office spaces makes the access experience smooth and efficient. For organisations that are adopting hybrid and flexible work models, this enhanced access control data can help in providing a map of where employees are working, who they are working with, and which spaces and meeting rooms are available and ensuring the efficient use of space. For facilities management and operations teams, access to this level of data ensures that the right types of rooms and spaces with the right capacity are being provided.

When integrated with other in-office smart technologies, access control and location services technology can be the key to tailoring workplace experience by creating efficient, personalised and collaborative working environments for employees, greatly enhancing their digital and in-person experience. By leveraging data insights, organisations can tailor the workplace experience to meet employee needs, not only optimising how employees interact with systems but also boosting employee engagement, a key factor in creating a connected workplace experience.

Sources:

State of the Global Workplace: 2024 Report, 2024, Gallup

U.S. Employee Engagement Inches Up Slightly After 11-Year Low, 2024, Gallup

Power of Place: The difference between average and outstanding, 2024, Leesman

Impact of workplace design on perceived work performance and well-being: Home versus office, 2024, Journal of Environmental Psychology