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The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to harness occupancy sensing in a commercial hot-desking environment. Hot-desking is a method of office resource management designed to reduce the real estate costs of professional practices. However, the shortcoming is often in the suitability and appropriateness of allocated work environments. The Internet of Things could produce new data sets in the office at a resolution, speed and validity of which that they could be factored into desk-allocation, distributing seats based on appropriate noise levels, stay length, equipment requirements, previous presence and proximity to others working on the same project, among many others.

The study utilises primary data from a commercial office environment in Central London (numerical building system data and semi-structured interviews) to feed a discrete events simulator. To test the hypothesis, the authors look at the potential for intelligent hot-desking to use “work type” data to improve the distribution of individuals in the office, increasing productivity through the creation of positive “work type environments” – where those working on specific tasks perform better when grouped with others doing the same task. The simulation runs for a typical work day, and the authors compare the intelligent hot-desking arrangement to a base case.

The study shows that sensor data can be used for desk allocation in a hot-desking environment utilising activity-based working, with results that outweigh the costs of occupancy detection. The authors are not only able to optimise desk utilisation based on quality occupancy data but also demonstrate how overall productivity increases as individuals are allocated desks of their preference as much as possible among other enabling optimisations that can be applied. Moreover, the authors explore how an increase in occupancy data collection in the private sector could have key advantages for the business as an organization and the city as a whole.

The research explores only one possible incarnation of intelligent hot-desking, and the authors presume that all data have already been collected, and while not insurmountable, they do not discuss the technical or cultural difficulties to this end. Furthermore, final examination of the productivity benefit – because of the difficulty in defining and measuring the concept – is exploratory rather than definitive. This research suggests that not only human-centric smart building research should be prioritised over energy or space-based themes but also large-scale private sector collection of occupancy data may be imminent, and its potential should be examined.

Findings strongly suggest that the hot-desking may cost more in lost productivity than it gains in reduced rental costs and as such many commercial offices should revaluate the transition, particularly with a view to facilitate intelligent hot-desking. Companies should begin to think strategically about the wider benefits of collecting occupancy data across their real estate portfolio, rather than reviewing use cases in silos. Finally, cities should consider scenarios of widespread collection of occupancy data in the private sector, examining the value these data have to city systems such as transport, and how the city might procure it for these ends.

This paper raises positive and negative social concerns. The value in occupancy data suggested herein, bringing with it the implication it should be collected en mass, has a noted concern that this brings privacy concerns. As such, policy and regulation should heed that current standards should be reviewed to ensure they are sufficient to protect those in offices from being unfairly discriminated, spied or exploited through occupancy data. However, the improved use of occupancy data improving workplaces could indeed make them more enjoyable places to work, and have the potential to become a staple in company’s corporate social responsibility policies.

This paper fulfils an identified need for better understanding the specific uses of occupancy data in the smart building mantra. Several sources suggest the current research focus on energy and rental costs is misguided when the holistic cost of an office is considered, and concepts related to staff – although less understood – may have an order of magnitude bigger impact. This research supports this hypothesis through the example of intelligent hot-desking. The value of this paper lies in redirecting industry and research towards the considering occupancy data in smart building uses cases including – but not limited to– intelligent hot-desking.

This study aims to explore an emerging collection of smart building technologies, known as smart workplace solutions (SWS), in the context of facilities management (FM).

This study is based on semi-structured interviews with facility managers in Finland, Norway and Sweden who have deployed SWSs in their organizations. SWS features, based on empirical data from a previous study, were also used to further analyse the interviews.

It analyses the benefits that SWSs bring from the facility management point of view. It is clear that the impetus for change and for deploying SWS in the context of FM is primarily driven by cost savings related to reductions in office space.

This research has been conducted with a focus on office buildings only. However, other building types can learn from the benefits that facility managers receive in the area of user-centred smart buildings.

SWSs are often seen as employee experience solutions that are only related to “soft” elements such as collaboration, innovation and learning. Understanding the FM business case can help make a more practical case for their deployment.

SWSs are an emerging area, and this study has collected data from facility managers who use them daily.

Generic use of the term “knowledge worker” has resulted in a generic approach to designing office environments for this group. The purpose of this paper is to probe the mobility patterns and motivations of knowledge workers in order to provide a classification of different types of knowledge worker.

The study was undertaken using a range of qualitative research methods including semi‐structured interviews with 20 knowledge workers representing different levels of mobility and experience, ethnographic studies in a media company, real estate business and a public relations firm, and a user workshop. A novel drawing exercise was introduced to elicit responses during the interview process.

Four knowledge worker “character types” emerged from the research: the Anchor and the Connector, who are mainly office‐based, and the Gatherer and the Navigator, who work more widely afield.

This is a small study revealing characteristics particular to the participating individuals and organisations. However, it has wider implications in that the more complex set of requirements revealed by the project requires a more responsive and service‐led approach to office design for knowledge workers and the development of new protocols of use within office space.

The originality/value lies in giving designers and facilities managers an insight into the different needs of knowledge workers, who are commonly treated as a homogeneous group. The typologies are an active tool for better brief‐making in design for creative facilities.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a sociological analysis of emergent sociospatial structures in a hot‐desking office environment, where space is used exchangeably. It considers hot‐desking as part of broader societal shifts in the ownership of space.

This analysis is based on an ethnographically‐oriented investigation, in which data collection methods used were participant‐observation and interviewing. The analysis uses Lefebvre's conceptualisation of the social production of space and draws on the urban sociology literature.

The analysis first indicates that, in hot‐desking environments, there may be an emergent social structure distinguishing employees who settle in one place, and others who have to move constantly. Second, the practice of movement itself generates additional work and a sense of marginalisation for hot‐deskers.

The paper does not provide a generalisable theory, but suggests that loss of everyday ownership of the workspace gives rise to particular practical and social tensions and shifts hot‐deskers' identification with the organisation.

Official requirements for mobility may result in a new social structure distinguishing settlers and hot‐deskers, rather than mobility being spread evenly.

The paper contributes to the literature on organisational spatiality by focusing on the spatial practices entailed in hot‐desking, and by contextualising hot‐desking within the wider spatial configuration of capitalism, in which space is used exchangeability in order to realise greater economic returns. Rather than using the popular “nomadic” metaphor to understand the experience of mobility at work, it uses a metaphor of vagrancy to highlight consequences of the loss of ownership of space.

Understanding the behavioral change process of system users to adopt safe security practices is important to the success of an organization’s cybersecurity program. This study aims to explore how the 7Ps (product, price, promotion, place, physical evidence, process and people) marketing mix, as part of an internal social marketing approach, can be used to gain an understanding of employees’ interactions within an organization’s cybersecurity environment. This understanding could inform the design of servicescapes and behavioral infrastructure to promote and maintain cybersecurity compliance.

This study adopted an inductive qualitative approach using in-depth interviews with employees in several Vietnamese organizations. Discussions were centered on employee experiences and their perceptions of cybersecurity initiatives, as well as the impact of initiatives on compliance behavior. Responses were then categorized under the 7Ps marketing mix framework.

The study shows that assessing a cybersecurity program using the 7P mix enables the systematic capture of users’ security compliance and acceptance of IT systems. Additionally, understanding the interactions between system elements permits the design of behavioral infrastructure to enhance security efforts. Results also show that user engagement is essential in developing secure systems. User engagement requires developing shared objectives, localized communications, co-designing of efficient processes and understanding the “pain points” of security compliance. The knowledge developed from this research provides a framework for those managing cybersecurity systems and enables the design human-centered systems conducive to compliance.

The study is one of the first to use a cross-disciplinary social marketing approach to examine how employees experience and comply with security initiatives. Previous studies have mostly focused on determinants of compliance behavior without providing a clear platform for management action. Internal social marketing using 7Ps provides a simple but innovative approach to reexamine existing compliance approaches. Findings from the study could leverage proven successful marketing techniques to promote security compliance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the topic of parents who work on a flexible basis and use coworking facilities to find a work–life balance and overcome work–family conflicts.

The author uses a qualitative approach to explore the research questions. The first part of the empirical research undertakes an ethnographical approach in carrying out the unobstructed participant observation within five European coworking spaces targeted at improving comprehension of the spaces’ mediation mechanisms and development of supportive interactions. The second part traverses into conducting unstructured interviews with parents who work on a flexible basis and use a coworking space as their daily workplace.

This research paper reveals that flexible workers who found themselves juggling work tasks and family obligations tend to seek better conditions that assist them in tackling conflictual situations and, in addition, enhance their social lives to create further career opportunities. Coworking spaces are thus perceived as optimal workplaces by working parents in that they can find stability and scale their social networks within. Moreover, the continually evolving user interactions resulting from effective mediation mechanisms let these individuals find emotional support, increase productivity and exchange knowledge.

While the coworking industry is rapidly evolving and the academia is keener on investigating the field, the subcategory of work–life and family care within these collaborative environments is virtually unresearched. This paper provides valuable insight into the topic and serves as a knowledge base for the future exploration of this field.

This paper aims to illustrate the extensive benefits of qualitative data analysis as a rarely undertaken process in post-occupancy evaluation surveys. As a result, there is limited evidence of what occupants say about their buildings, especially for operational parameters, as opposed to how they rate them. While quantitative analyses provide useful information on how workers feel about workplace operational factors, qualitative analyses provide richer information on what aspects of the workplace workers identify as influential to their comfort, well-being and productivity.

The authors analysed 6,938 comments from office buildings worldwide on workers’ perception of workplace operational factors: design, storage, needs, space at desks and storage in their work environments. These factors were analysed based on the buildings’ design intent and use, and the associated comments were coded into positive, negative and balanced comments. The authors used a combination of coding, descriptive analysis, content analysis and word cloud to dissect the comments.

The findings showed that whereas workers rated these operational factors favourably, there were significantly more negative comments about each factor. Also, the Chi-square test showed a significant association (p < 0.01) between the satisfaction scale and the type of comments received for all the operational factors. This means that when a factor is rated high in the satisfaction score (5–7), there were fewer negative and more positive comments and vice versa. The word cloud analysis highlighted vital aspects of the office environment the workers mostly commented on, such as open plan design, natural lighting, space and windows, toilets, facilities, kitchens, meeting room booking systems, storage and furniture.

This study highlights the importance of dissecting building occupants’ comments as integral to building performance monitoring and measurement. These emphasise the richness and value of respondents’ comments and the importance of critically analysing them. A limitation is that only 6,938 comments were viable for analysis because most comments were either incomplete with no meaning or were not provided. This underlines the importance of encouraging respondents to comment and express their feelings in questionnaire surveys. Also, the building use studies questionnaire data set presents extensive opportunities for further analyses of interrelationships between demographics, building characteristics and environmental and operational factors.

The findings from this study can be applied to future projects and facility management to maintain and improve office buildings throughout their life cycle. Also, these findings are essential in predicting the requirements of future workplaces for robust workplace designs and management.

The authors identified specific comments on the performance of workplaces across the globe, showing similarities and differences between sustainable, conventional, commercial and institutional buildings. Specifically, the analysis showed that office workers’ comments do not always corroborate the ratings they give their buildings. There was a significantly higher percentage of negative comments than positive comments despite the high satisfaction scores of the operational factors.