Workplace sensors are now ubiquitous. From tools to measure workplace occupancy and lighting levels to monitor temperature, noise, air quality and even collaboration patterns, social interaction and emotion, the office – and its occupants – are constantly under scrutiny.
Deloitte estimates that sensors in property will grow at a 78 per cent annual growth rate between 2015 and 2020, with a total of 1.3 billion sensors deployed by 2020.
George Orwell’s dystopian future has very much arrived. But, in many ways, sensors are nothing new. ‘The humble thermostat is a sensor,’ says Dr Kerstin Sailer, a reader in social and spatial networks at University College London. ‘Access cards that allow you through an office turnstile are sensors. These tools have been used for decades.’ What has changed is the technology itself and how we apply it, she says, moving from analysing data over a set period for a particular study to doing so on a long-term real-time basis.
Another change, it could be argued, is how people view the technology. Whereas in Orwell’s book 1984 omnipresent government surveillance was used to persecute individualism and independent thinking, today’s workplace sensors are used in completely the opposite way – to allow people to choose their best working environment and have their best working day. It’s something that is increasingly important as more organisations move towards activity-based working.
Using tools such as occupancy sensors in a workplace allows individuals to see where there are spaces free to work, which reduces their frustration in finding an empty desk, a common complaint in non-allocated desk environments, says Raj Krishnamurthy, founder and CEO of workplace sensor expert Workplace Fabric. ‘Organisations can also evaluate how and when their people interact with different spaces, and use these insights to inform the layout of their offices and the types of space to provide,’ he says. For example, occupancy sensor data can demonstrate whether there are spaces (desks, booths, or meeting rooms) that are less well-used than others at different times, enabling the organisation to analyse the reason why (typically poor temperature, light, noise, or air quality or a time-specific issue, such as the sun hitting a particular area at a certain time making it too hot or bright to work) and remediate appropriately. This allows workplace designers and managers to better understand the difference between planned use – how the designers anticipated people would use the space – and actual use – how people use it.
It was the drive for this insight that led publisher Sage to introduce workplace sensors in the 1, 208 sq m editorial department at its office in London’s Oliver Yard. The move followed the introduction of unallocated seating for the editorial team that includes open-plan working spaces, library spaces for quiet work, jump spaces, Skype pods, creative collaboration spaces, meeting rooms and a cafe.
Workplace Fabric installed its Freespace sensors in 250 individual spaces to measure how the new areas were being used. It found that some areas (in particular the meeting pods and jump spaces) were at times reaching 100 per cent occupancy. This knowledge has helped Sage to understand the exact nature of how space is used on the floor, and will be used on the roll-out of other floors.
Being able to see, in real time, which spaces are available, with landmarks to orient users is incredibly useful and is improving people’s experience of the space,’ says David Barnard, global IT manager at Sage Publishing.