What is Occupancy Planning?

Picture this: A brand-new office building stands gleaming, its modern design a testament to careful planning and substantial investment. A company eagerly moves in, ready to start their next chapter.

But what happens next?

As months pass, the organization evolves - teams expand, departments restructure, and work patterns shift. Who ensures this dynamic workplace adapts to the organization's changing needs?

This is where occupancy planning comes into play.

In this post, we will explore the field of occupancy planning and the day-to-day responsibilities of an Occupancy Planner (OP).

What does an Occupancy Planner do?

Occupancy planners ensure that the workplace adapts to support business objectives and employee needs as they continuously evolve.

In practical terms, occupancy planners ensure that

Everyone has a place to work
Teams that need to work together are near each other, referred to as an adjacency requirement
There are enough meeting rooms and communal areas to support onsite collaboration
Develop occupancy strategies to support changes in the real estate portfolio

Sample Requests and Deliverables

Occupancy Planning is both proactive and reactive at times.

Strategic Alignment

Physical Space Conversions

There may come a time when the physical workspace requires a specific change to align with business needs.

An Occupancy Planner may be responsible for the following tasks:

Evaluating the feasibility of the request through a test fit
Preparing a business case to secure funding
Submitting the request along with necessary documentation for delivery

Request

“We have a director transferring from Denver, CO in 4 weeks and will require an office. Can you please convert the huddle room in our area to a private office?”

In this scenario, an Occupancy Planner (OP) prepares a drawing, commonly referred to as a test fit, to assess the feasibility of the request while ensuring compliance with life safety regulations.

This drawing also serves as a basis for ordering and installing furniture, as well as updating the organization’s Computer-Aided Facility Management (CAFM) system.

*A test fit is prepared by an Occupancy Planner to evaluate the feasibility of converting a huddle room to a private office.*

Densifications

As organizations grow, there may come a point where they need to add additional workspaces to the floor. A+D partners may proactively plan for growth areas during the development of a new workspace, such as open collaboration areas, to create future flexibility for the organization.

When a floor consistently experiences high utilization or additional growth is on the horizon, an OP may recommend densifying the floor by adding additional workspaces.

Request

“We are hiring 3 additional employees this quarter and are out of space. We need 3 additional seats by the end of June.”

In this scenario, the requestor doesn’t explicitly ask for 3 additional workstations but signals that they are out of workspace due to an increase in headcount.

The OP’s objective is to evaluate the current vacancy near the team's current location and negotiate space trades among teams, if possible.

If space trades are not an option, an OP may suggest adding additional workstations or shuffling the floor to redistribute vacancy to address the increase in employee headcount.