Proving the workplace business case
Workplace investment loses to projects that arrived with a number
Not because it is worth less, but because it is usually presented in a different currency. A capital committee comparing a warehouse automation case against “improved employee experience” is not making a judgement about workplaces. It is making a judgement about evidence.
The evidence a board paper needs
A measured baseline with a named method
“Utilisation is around 40%” invites a debate about the number. “Utilisation measured at 41% across four weeks by observation study, classified by activity” invites a debate about the decision.
A modelled change with visible assumptions
Committees do not reject assumptions. They reject hidden ones. State the policy, the peak, the sharing ratio and the growth assumption explicitly and the case becomes reviewable.
The full cost, including the part that is easy to omit
Rent saved is the attractive half. Fit-out, moves, churn and the interim period are the half that reappears in month four.
A commitment to re-measure
Offering to repeat the same measurement in twelve months is unusually persuasive, because it converts a claim into a testable one.
What not to claim
Productivity gains are the most tempting number in a workplace case and the least defensible.
Productivity has too many inputs to attribute to a building, and a committee that has seen one such claim fail will discount every subsequent one.
What is measurable is how much the workplace helps or hinders the work: enablement. It is a narrower claim and it holds, which makes it worth more in a paper than a larger claim that does not.
Get the board paper template
Four sections in the order a capital committee reads them, with what to write in each, and the one claim to leave out. Written to be filled in, not to be admired.
PDF, in English.
Questions we get asked
How is it priced?
By use. You pay per employee who completes a workplace profile, per month, on a graduated rate that steps down as numbers grow, billed annually in advance. Occupancy Observations is priced the same way per measured element ($0.09 per element at 1,000 elements on a two-year term). Occupancy Wi-Fi and sensor deployments are priced on request, and measurement on site comes with a preliminary quote within 24 hours that shows whether it is self-managed or managed.
The pricing page carries the current rates, the minimum and the two-year discount, and it is the authoritative source. Passport is the exception: it is not sold alone and comes with Dynamics at no extra charge. Start from the decision you have to make and take the solutions that answer it.
What is in the proposal?
Two lines: the subscription, and a one-off activation fee for bringing your environment live.
Occupancy is priced separately. Occupancy Observations is a platform subscription on a graduated rate per measured element per month ($0.09 per element at 1,000 elements on a two-year term), and Wi-Fi and sensors are priced on request. Measurement on site comes with a preliminary quote within 24 hours. It states whether the study is self-managed (Workplaced brings the platform live and you pay the activation fee, also called the service fee) or managed (Workplaced delivers the full study).
Anything a partner delivers alongside, such as rollout, advisory work or the space programme, is on the partner's proposal, not ours.
Can we start with a pilot?
Scope and price are agreed per case. We do not offer a free pilot: an unpaid study is rarely staffed properly, and the data comes back too thin to base a decision on. A paid study of a single building is the smallest thing worth doing.
Does occupancy tell us anything about productivity?
No. Occupancy says whether a space was in use at a given moment. It cannot say whether the work went well.
A desk with a bag on it is occupied and supports nothing. Observation studies also map activities, and Dynamics shows how employees experience their workplace, so an occupancy figure is always read next to evidence about the people.
What answers this
- Occupancy
Analyze: the measured baseline with a named method.
- Balance
Configure: the modelled change, costed per scenario.
- Taxonomy
The cost half that gets omitted.
- Productivity in the workplace
Why the claim fails, and what holds instead.