Desk Utilization, Occupancy, & Attendance

In the era of hybrid work, understanding how your office space is used is crucial for both efficiency and employee experience. Three key space analytics metrics often discussed are desk utilization, occupancy, and attendance. These terms are related but measure different aspects of workplace usage, and they are not interchangeableofficespacesoftware.com. Many companies have discovered that focusing on just one metric (like simple occupancy rates) is no longer sufficient in flexible workplacesabakusanalytics.com. This resource page will clarify the difference between desk utilization, occupancy, and attendance, explain when to use each metric, highlight common reporting mistakes, and answer frequently asked questions. Throughout, we’ll also note how Gather Sciences tracks and interprets these metrics in its software to support a Balanced Hybrid™ approach to hybrid work (Gather’s data-driven framework for optimizing in-office and remote work)frazierdeeter.com.Comparison of Key MetricsTo get started, the table below provides a quick comparison of Desk Utilization vs. Occupancy vs. Attendance:MetricWhat It MeasuresData SourcesWhen to Use ItDesk UtilizationHow effectively desks/workstations are used. Often expressed as a percentage of desks occupied (on average or over time)matterport.com. It reflects frequency of use per desk (e.g. how often a given desk is occupied in a day or week).Desk booking systems, seat sensors, or observation of desk usage patterns. Can also use software that logs desk check-ins or computer logins at workstations.Planning desk density (e.g., determining how many employees can share desks), evaluating hot-desking success, and identifying underused vs. overcrowded areas of the floor plan. Use this when you need to optimize the number of desks or rearrange layouts based on actual usage.OccupancyHow many people are present in a space at a given time, relative to capacityabakusanalytics.comabakusanalytics.com. Often called occupancy rate when expressed as a percentage of capacity used. It’s essentially a snapshot of space usage – for example, 50 people in a room that seats 100 is 50% occupancy.Entry badge swipes, door/turnstile counts, occupancy sensors (people counters), Wi-Fi or network logins (for real-time presence), and camera analytics. These capture headcounts or live utilization of space.Managing space capacity and safety (ensuring you don’t exceed fire code or COVID-era limits), real-time facilities management (e.g. adjusting HVAC or cleaning based on how many people are in), and comparing space usage across floors or sites. Use occupancy to understand how crowded or utilized a space is at peak times and whether you have too much or too little space.AttendanceThe total number of unique people who come into the office over a period (day, week, etc.)cbre.com. Unlike occupancy (which is instant), attendance counts individuals – e.g. 100 employees visited this week, even if not all at once. It reflects office footfall or presence over time.Badge access logs (entry records), sign-in systems, or other access control data that track each person’s visit. Some organizations also use network login data or schedules to count who came on a given day.Hybrid work policy tracking (e.g., are people coming in on their expected in-office days?), workplace engagement (how many employees use the office regularly), and trend analysis (office foot traffic over time). Use attendance to gauge overall office utilization trends, such as average daily attendance versus total workforce, and to inform decisions about rightsizing office space (e.g., if only 30% of employees come in daily, you may reduce space).In summary: desk utilization focuses on how intensively each workstation is used, occupancy measures how full a space is at a moment, and attendance tracks how many people come through the office over time. These metrics complement each other. For example, an office could have low average occupancy at any moment but high weekly attendance (many people visiting, just at different times), or conversely a high peak occupancy with moderate attendance. Using them together gives a more complete picture. As one analysis noted, even if occupancy is high, the effective utilization of space can be low if people aren’t using the space efficientlyabakusanalytics.com. That’s why Gather Sciences’ platform combines multiple data points (sensors, badges, bookings, etc.) to present both occupancy and utilization insights in one place – helping you see not just how many people are present, but how they use the space.When to Use Each MetricEach metric has its ideal applications. In a modern hybrid workplace, you’ll likely use all three metrics for different decision-making scenarios. Below, we outline when to use desk utilization, occupancy, and attendance:Desk UtilizationUse desk utilization metrics when you need to make decisions about desk supply and seating arrangements. For example:Planning desk sharing or density – If your average desk utilization is well below 100%, you might implement hot-desking or hoteling. For instance, if on average only 50% of desks are occupied, you could move to a 2:1 employee-to-desk ratio without harming operations. This helps right-size the number of workstations to actual demand.Optimizing floor layout – Identify which departments or areas have consistently low or high desk usage. Underutilized clusters of desks could be repurposed (e.g. turned into collaboration zones), and high-use areas might need more space or alternate arrangements. Tracking desk utilization can reveal if certain teams need dedicated spaces or if some desks are never touched, indicating an opportunity to consolidatelambentspaces.com.Justifying workplace changes – When proposing changes like a desk booking system or a desk-to-employee sharing ratio, utilization data provides evidence. If Gather Sciences reports show certain days have 80%+ desk occupancy but others are near-empty, you can introduce scheduling or desk sharing policies to balance that out.OccupancyUse occupancy metrics when focusing on space capacity and real-time usage of the workplace:Rightsizing and real estate decisions – Occupancy (especially peak occupancy) tells you if your space is too crowded or too empty. For example, if peak occupancy never exceeds 40% of capacity, you might have more office space than needed. Conversely, regularly hitting 100% occupancy midday means demand is outpacing supply (possibly causing overcrowding). Occupancy data is key for real estate planning and portfolio optimization – ensuring you have neither too much vacant space nor a space crunch.Evaluating space utilization effectiveness – Occupancy paired with capacity lets you calculate utilization rates (e.g. average occupancy divided by capacity). Workplace strategists often target a utilization sweet spot (for instance, a 65–70% average occupancy rate is often seen as efficient without being overcrowded)cbre.comcbre.com. Use occupancy metrics to gauge how well used a given floor or building is during normal operations.Operational and safety use – Facility managers rely on occupancy counts for things like adjusting HVAC, cleaning, or security staffing. If only 10% occupancy on Fridays, you might close certain floors to save energy. If occupancy is spiking in a meeting area, you might deploy extra cleaning or ensure compliance with fire codes. Real-time occupancy sensors integrated into software (like Gather Sciences’ occupancy dashboard) can even trigger alerts or adjustments automatically when certain thresholds are exceeded.AttendanceUse attendance metrics to understand people’s work patterns and policy adherence over time:Measuring hybrid work engagement – Attendance answers “how many people came in?” over a day or week. If you’ve asked employees to come in 3 days a week, attendance records will show how many actually do. For example, a policy might result in a show-up rate of 60% (i.e., 60% of staff come in on a given day)cbre.com. If attendance is lower than expected, that could indicate low engagement with the office or issues with the hybrid policy.Trend analysis & planning – Tracking attendance over weeks and months helps in spotting trends. Perhaps you find Tuesdays and Wednesdays have the highest attendance (a common pattern, as mid-week days are often 1.5–2× busier than Mondays or Fridaysmatterport.com). Knowing this, you can plan company events or all-hands meetings on those high-attendance days. It also helps anticipate needs: e.g., if only 20% of employees are in on Fridays, you might scale down services that day.Informing amenities and services – The number of unique visitors per day informs how you provide services. For example, if 100 employees attend on average but 180 attend on peak days, you need to ensure the café, reception, or parking can handle those peaks. Gather Sciences’ software can combine badge data and sensor data to show not just how many entries happen, but also how those translate to unique daily attendance versus repeat entries, giving a clear picture of office foot traffic.By using each metric in the right context, you get a holistic view of workplace usage. In fact, many organizations combine them: occupancy data shows real-time space usage, while attendance shows overall demand, and desk utilization pinpoints efficiency at the workspace level. This multi-metric approach is central to a Balanced Hybrid™ strategy, ensuring that decisions account for people’s behavior patterns (attendance), space capacity (occupancy), and efficient design (utilization).Common Reporting MistakesEven with good data, it’s easy to misinterpret these metrics. Here are some common reporting mistakes and pitfalls to avoid:Confusing “occupancy” with “attendance.” It’s a frequent mistake to take an occupancy percentage and treat it like attendance, or vice versa. For example, seeing a 50% occupancy rate and assuming only half your workforce showed up. In reality, that 50% might have been a peak snapshot; across the whole day, a larger percentage of employees may have come in (just not all at the same time). Occupancy is a momentary measure, whereas attendance counts unique people over time. Misunderstanding this difference can lead to bad calls – like overestimating space needs because you thought only 50 people visited (when actually 80 did, just not concurrently). Always distinguish between “how many people at once” vs. “how many people in total.”Relying solely on badge swipe data for occupancy. Badge entry data is a common source for attendance, but it has limitations. Badge data is essentially an attendance measure, not a true occupancy or utilization measurevergesense.com. It tells you someone entered, but not how long they stayed or which space they usedvergesense.com. It also misses people who “tailgate” (follow a colleague in without badging) – studies find up to 20% of people may not badge in reliablyvergesense.com. If you base occupancy reports solely on badge swipes, you might undercount actual presence and completely miss intra-day patterns (e.g., someone who comes for 1 hour vs. 8 hours both count the same in badge logs). Solution: Use integrated systems – for instance, Gather Sciences’ approach combines badge data with sensor data. This provides more accurate occupancy counts and even insights into how different spaces (desks, meeting rooms) are utilized, beyond just entry/exit numbers.Focusing only on peak or only on average, instead of both. Some reports fixate on the peak occupancy (“We hit 90% capacity at 11 AM, panic!”) while ignoring that the daily average was 50%. Others do the opposite, citing a low average utilization and ignoring that certain times are uncomfortably full. Both perspectives are important. A common mistake is not examining the gap between peak and average. In hybrid offices, it’s typical for mid-week peaks to be much higher than the weekly averagematterport.com. If you only look at averages, you might downsize too much and make peak days miserable; if you only look at peaks, you might waste money designing for a crowd that’s rarely there. The remedy is to plan with both metrics: perhaps design for the average but have flexible options (e.g., overflow spaces or staggered schedules) for peaks. Gather’s analytics can display peak vs. average utilization so you can plan a balanced approach.Using metrics without context or qualitative insight. Numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. A site might have 30% attendance rate – is that bad? Not if your company intentionally allows lots of remote work and those who do come in find ample space. Conversely, 90% desk utilization sounds great for efficiency, but it could mean people struggle to find a desk (too few desks). Don’t fall into the trap of “higher is always better” or vice versa without context. Always interpret metrics alongside other information: employee feedback (are people complaining about space or satisfaction?), the nature of work (some roles need more in-office time), and company goals. This is where the Balanced Hybrid™ philosophy is valuable – it reminds us to consider People, Pattern, Place, Purpose together, not any single number in isolation. Avoid overly rigid targets (like “we must hit 80% utilization or the space is failing”); instead, use the metrics to ask the right questions about why the numbers look as they do.By steering clear of these mistakes, you’ll make more informed, nuanced decisions. It often helps to use a comprehensive tool (such as Gather Sciences’ workspace analytics) that validates one data source against another (for example, does sensor-counted occupancy align with badge-counted attendance?) to ensure accuracy and provide context. Remember that metrics are a means to insight, not an end in themselves.FAQsBelow we answer some frequently asked questions about desk utilization, occupancy, and attendance tracking:What is the difference between desk utilization and occupancy?Desk utilization measures how intensively individual desks or workstations are used, while occupancy measures how many people are in a space at a given time. For example, desk utilization might tell you that on average 60% of your desks are occupied during the day (and which desks see the most use), whereas occupancy might tell you that at 11:00 AM you reached 50 people in the office out of a capacity of 100 (50% occupancy). Another way to put it: occupancy is about presence (heads count in the space), desk utilization is about efficiency of desk usage (how often each seat is actually sat in). Occupancy is usually a snapshot percentage of space filled, whereas desk utilization often considers usage over a period (e.g., over the day or week). Both metrics are related – high occupancy usually means many desks are in use – but it’s possible to have moderate occupancy yet uneven desk utilization (e.g., people only sit in certain areas of an office, leaving other desks always empty). The key difference is what’s being measured: occupancy = people vs. space capacity; desk utilization = usage of individual workstations over timeabakusanalytics.com.Is badge data accurate for measuring office attendance?Using employee badge swipe data (door access records) is a common, convenient way to track attendance – but it has limitations in accuracy. Badge data will tell you how many people entered the office (and sometimes at what times), which indeed gives a measure of daily attendance. In fact, many companies use “badge counts” as a quick proxy for office attendance. However, badge data is not 100% reliable. Not everyone always badges in/out properly – for instance, people may hold the door for others (so only one badge swipe occurs for two people), or they might use side entrances. Studies have found that even with strict policies, a significant portion of entries (e.g. ~20%) may go unrecorded due to tailgatingvergesense.com. Additionally, badge data doesn’t reveal duration or location: if someone badges in at 9 AM and leaves at 5 PM, or comes for a 30-minute meeting, the badge system simply knows they entered (maybe that they exited, if it tracks exits). It won’t tell if they sat at a desk, went to a conference room, or how long they stayed in each area. In short, badge data is a decent measure of attendance (how many unique people showed up that day), but it’s not great for real-time occupancy or detailed utilizationvergesense.com. For higher accuracy, companies use additional methods: occupancy sensors can count people in real time, and Wi-Fi or network login data can help verify if someone is present onsite. Gather Sciences’ platform often integrates badge data with sensor inputs – using badges for the who and when, and sensors for the where and how long. So, badge data is a useful starting point (and generally accurate enough to see broad attendance trends), but on its own it can miss nuances. Always consider supplementing it with other data if precise occupancy or usage metrics are needed.How do you calculate desk utilization?Desk utilization can be calculated in a couple of ways, depending on what exactly you want to measure. A simple formula is:\text{Desk Utilization (%) = (Number of people on site ÷ Total available desks) × 100}This gives a high-level utilization percentage of desks used, assuming one person generally uses one desk at a timematterport.com. For example, if you have 150 desks and 120 people came into the office today, a quick calculation would be (120 ÷ 150) × 100 = 80% desk utilizationmatterport.com for that day. This essentially treats daily peak attendance vs. desks as the utilization rate.For a more granular view, you might track utilization per desk: e.g., over a week, each desk could be occupied X hours out of the total work hours available. In that case you’d do, for each desk: (hours occupied ÷ total hours) × 100%. Modern workplace analytics tools (like those from Gather Sciences) often do this automatically by analyzing sensor data or check-ins – producing an average utilization rate across all desks.In summary, the easiest approach is to divide the number of people using desks by the number of desks (at a given time or average per day). If you consistently see something like 50 people for 100 desks, that’s 50% utilization. If it’s near 100%, your desks are highly utilized (and perhaps in short supply). If it’s very low, you have many empty desks and could consider consolidating. Remember, you can calculate this for peak times, daily averages, or even by department area to see where utilization is high or low.Can I use utilization data to optimize floor layouts?Absolutely. Utilization data is a goldmine for optimizing your office layout. By seeing how different spaces are used, you can make informed changes. For example, if desk utilization data shows a cluster of desks is barely used, you might convert that section into a different use – like a lounge, focus pods, or a small meeting room – instead of leaving it as a sea of empty deskslambentspaces.com. Conversely, if certain desks or areas are always occupied (high utilization), you know those spots are in demand – perhaps because of proximity to windows or team co-location – and you can replicate those features elsewhere.Beyond desks, broader space utilization metrics (including meeting room usage, traffic patterns, etc.) help refine layouts. You might discover through occupancy sensors that one side of the floor has consistently higher occupancy; perhaps the café or a popular team is over there, drawing people. You could decide to distribute amenities more evenly or rearrange team neighborhoods to balance the load. If collaboration spaces are highly utilized but individual desk usage is low, maybe you reduce desk count and add more meeting areas.In practice, companies often run pilot layouts and then check the utilization data. For instance, if a new “open collaboration zone” isn’t being used (utilization stays low), it might be a sign the design isn’t inviting or the location is wrong – so you iterate. On the other hand, a well-utilized space indicates a successful layout element.In short, yes – use the data to drive layout decisions. It takes the guesswork out of office design. Rather than relying on what people say they need, you’re looking at what they actually use. This is exactly how Gather Sciences approaches workspace strategy: by providing utilization heatmaps and reports, so workplace teams can literally see which areas are hot or cold. Over time, continuously optimizing the layout with this data will lead to an office that is both efficient and better liked by employees.Do I need sensors to measure occupancy?Not necessarily, but they help a lot. Occupancy can be measured in several ways, and sensors are one of the most accurate methods. If you don’t use sensors, you’ll rely on proxies like badge data, Wi-Fi connections, or manual headcounts. These can give you a ballpark: for example, badge logs might tell you 100 people entered the building today, and Wi-Fi data might show 60 devices connected at noon, etc. This is useful, but there are gaps – people might not badge out (so you don’t know if they left), or someone might connect two devices to Wi-Fi (making occupancy look higher). Occupancy sensors, on the other hand, directly count people in a space in real-time (often via infrared or imaging technology) and can provide continuous occupancy readings.The need for sensors really depends on how precise and real-time you want the data. If you just want rough daily attendance and peak info, badge or network data might suffice. But if you want to optimize space in real-time or measure exact utilization, sensors are the way to go. For instance, sensors can tell you that Conference Room A was occupied 5 hours out of 8 (62.5% occupancy for that room today), or that the 3rd floor had 30 people at 2 PM. Badge data alone can’t capture that level of detail – as a critique from workplace analysts notes, badges “do not measure real-time occupancy or space utilization” effectivelyafreespace.com.However, there’s also a middle path: IoT integration. Platforms like Gather Sciences integrate with badge systems and other IoT sources (sensors, smart building systems). This means you might not need a sensor at every desk if you have some sensors at choke points, plus badge data, etc. The software can fuse these data points to estimate occupancy throughout the day.In summary, you don’t strictly “need” sensors to get started – you can measure occupancy with existing data streams – but sensors provide a level of accuracy and insight that other methods can’t match (especially for larger offices or nuanced uses like detecting if a space is passively occupied by someone’s stuff). Many companies start with badge data and later add sensors for finer analysis. The decision may come down to budget and the value of real-time precision for your use case.How does hybrid work affect space reporting?Hybrid work has dramatically changed office space reporting. In the old fully in-office model, reporting was straightforward – you might say “We have 95% occupancy (almost all desks filled) on weekdays” and attendance was basically everyone except those out sick or on vacation. Now, with hybrid schedules, office usage is far more dynamic and inconsistent. Here are a few ways hybrid work affects reporting:Daily and weekly variability: Instead of a steady state, you see spikes and lulls. For example, your reports might show Tuesdays and Wednesdays are consistently the highest occupancy days, while Mondays and Fridays are very low. You have to report averages and peaks and maybe even by day of week. This was less of an issue pre-hybrid when every day was similar. In hybrid, the concept of a single “occupancy rate” for the office is less meaningful – you need to break it down by day and time to really understand usage.Lower averages, but need for peak readiness: Most hybrid offices have lower average occupancy/utilization than before (since not everyone is in daily). Global data shows many companies now see actual utilization around 30–40% on averagecbre.com. Yet, those averages hide the peak times when many people do come in. Reporting needs to highlight that contrast. It’s not uncommon to have, say, 20% occupancy on Monday, 60% on Wednesday, etc. Thus hybrid reports often include metrics like peak day utilization vs. average, office show-up rate (what % of employees come in on a given day)cbre.com, etc., rather than a single static number.New metrics like “presence” and “experience”: Because hybrid is about balancing remote and in-office, companies are looking beyond just raw counts. They ask questions like: “Are the right people coming in on the same days?” or “Are our spaces supporting those who come in?” In response, reporting may include attendance by team/department, collaboration space utilization (are hybrid collaboration zones being used when people do come in?), and even employee feedback metrics. A purely numbers-based report might miss whether hybrid is “working” for people. The Balanced Hybrid™ approach championed by Gather Sciences, for instance, suggests measuring not just utilization, but also things like purposeful usage (are people coming in for planned collaboration) and employee sentiment. So, space reporting in a hybrid world becomes more multidimensional – mixing quantitative data with qualitative insights.More frequent adjustments: In pre-hybrid times, space usage patterns were stable, so reporting was more periodic and changes were rare. With hybrid, patterns can shift if policies change or seasons change (e.g., a push to return might spike attendance for a month). Workplace strategists now monitor reports more continuously and update seating plans or guidelines in near-real-time. The reporting often feeds an iterative process: measure, adjust, measure again. For example, if a report shows a certain neighborhood is always empty, you might reassign those desks to a different team and then watch the report next month to see if utilization improved.In essence, hybrid work makes space reporting more complex but also more crucial. You’re tracking a moving target of office usage. The benefit is it forces organizations to be data-driven – guessing is not enough when people’s schedules are flexible. That’s why many have turned to advanced hybrid analytics platforms like Gather Sciences, which are built to handle this dynamic environment (providing on-demand stats like daily attendance, peak vs. average occupancy, etc., and even predictive insights). Hybrid work means your space reports become key to understanding if your office is the right size and if your hybrid strategy is balanced. As one facilities director put it, occupancy rate alone can’t guide decisions in hybrid – you need richer utilization data to adapt effectivelyabakusanalytics.com. The upside is, armed with these insights, companies can create a workspace that truly fits their new way of working – often leading to savings (by cutting excess space) and improvements in employee experience (by tailoring the office to actual usage patterns).