The Return to Office executive order and mandate are part of an ongoing effort to address low utilization rates at federal facilities.
Federal government agencies spend $2 billion annually to operate and maintain federal office buildings and $5 billion on office leases, whether they’re being used or not. Before the mandate, only 12% of office space was being used, creating a lot of room for improvement. In fact, a reduction of 10% could mean a $1 billion in savings annually.
“These mandates are opportunities to cut costs and support returning federal workers, but agencies need new systems to help them track and manage their spaces,” said Michael Willette, director of federal sales for Eptura.
Meeting the mandates
Federal agencies must reach three main milestones to comply with the new mandates.
The first is compiling a complete and accurate digital inventory of federally used properties, including building data like floor plans and lease agreements.
Next, they need to collect occupancy data to know who’s coming into the office and accurately project capacity for different times, such as hourly and daily. The occupancy numbers must account for employees and visitors.
At this stage, they will have the data they need to meet the third milestone, which is generating sharable real-time occupancy reports.
At every step, agencies can leverage office space management systems for insights into how employees use workspaces and where there’re inefficiencies, according to Nick Stefanidakis, senior vice president of channel and alliances at Eptura.
Identifying opportunities for reconsolidation
Many federal agencies have struggled with measuring utilization, often relying on less reliable data from methods like cellphone tracking.
But modern space planning solutions automate the capture of occupancy data and calculation of utilization rates, helping agencies understand how employees and visitors are using spaces.
Agencies can accurately identify which facilities to consolidate or repurpose. Efficient space management means reduced lease costs, lower utility expenses, and more efficient use of maintenance resources.
“Occupancy data can help agencies identify which spaces people use and minimize dollars spent on maintaining underutilized spaces. Why heat and cool eight floors of space when you only need five?” said Stefanidakis.
Planning spaces for returning employees
With so many returning to the office, agencies need to find ways to arrange their spaces to support employees’ individual and team productivity.
Success starts by asking the right questions to collect the right data, according to Stefanidakis.
“What kind of space do you have? What resources are nearby? Which teams sit where? What buildings and floors are available? And is that the appropriate type of space that I need?”
In some cases, there could be seniority and security considerations.
“On the personnel side, understanding the roles and responsibilities of the employees at each location is important. Small cubicles work for a lot of people, but that won’t cut it for people who need spaces dedicated to working with classified or sensitive information.”
Just as important as who sits where is that everyone has a place to sit, he said.
Because utilization rates have been low, some agencies proactively reduced their real estate footprints. Now, some of those spaces have more people on the way back to the office than there are desks.
While they are going through the process of right-sizing their spaces, agencies can leverage a space planning platform to still maximize utilization, even with some employees temporarily on the hybrid work model. With automated booking for desks, lockers, and parking spots, agencies can ensure employees are using all available space.
Rolling out real-time reporting: Success starts now
A successful implementation depends on the quality and completeness of the initial data.
“The more time and effort you invest at the start, the sooner you can see results,” explains Willette.
Federal agencies can start by identifying and digitizing floor plans and office layouts. Ensuring the data is accurate and consistent is crucial, and this step includes removing any duplicate entries to avoid confusion, correcting any inaccuracies, and standardizing the data formats to facilitate easy integration into the space planning platform. Agencies will need to digitize paper-based blueprints.
The next step is verifying data accuracy and completeness, which can involve cross-referencing and review. An example of a possible discrepancy is when the office layout on file no longer matches the current configuration. Departments and teams might have moved desks or relocated themselves to unclaimed empty spots over the previous few years when there was less traffic and supervision in the office.
For many agencies, meeting the mandates means preparing for implementation as soon as possible, especially as many employees are already headed back to the office.
“Take stock of what data you have available today and what the gaps are. The sooner you start, the more time you have to get what you need.” said Stefanidakis.
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