Why Sensors Outperform Badge Data Across a Right Size & Right Design Strategy.

Problem.

Badge swipe data – the most commonly available metric – falls short of whatʼs needed. While badge systems count how many people enter a building each day, they do not measure real-time occupancy or space utilization. Badge data can tell you that 500 employees came in on Monday, but not where they went, how long they stayed, or whether spaces were actually used to capacity.

Crucially, badge systems have blind spots: people tailgate or forget to badge in, and few organizations require badge out swipes, so true occupancy duration is unknown, often inflating counts. Estimates suggest badge reports can be off by 20% or more due to these gaps. This lack of accuracy and detail makes it hard to trust badge data for serious portfolio decisions, risking errors in rightsizing space and missing opportunities to improve the workplace.

Comparison: Badge Data vs. Sensor Data.

To illustrate the differences, the table below summarizes how badge swipe data compares to sensor-based occupancy data on key aspects:

Aspect	Badge Swipe Data	Sensor Occupancy Data
Data Captured	Entry/exit events (attendance counts per day)	Continuous occupancy presence (real-time people count)
Spatial Granularity	Building or floor level total; no insight into specific spaces or desks	Per workspace/room utilization (e.g. each desk, room, or zone usage)
Temporal Granularity	Entry time stamp; no duration or real-time status	Ongoing, real-time status (e.g. how many people now, peak and usage over time)
Occupancy vs. Utilization	Shows how many badged in a day, not concurrent occupancy or seat usage	Shows actual occupancy at any moment and how spaces are used (who is where, when)
Data Accuracy	Prone to error (tailgating, missed scans, no badge-out) – often 20% gap	High accuracy (>95% with modern sensors) counting every use, in and out movements
Insights Available	Basic attendance trends; limited ability to identify underused vs. crowded areas	Rich insights: peak occupancy, utilization by space type, dwell times, meeting sizes, etc., enabling redesign
Privacy Considerations	Tied to personal IDs (who came in); can raise privacy concerns if used for monitoring individuals	Anonymous occupancy data (e.g. non-optical sensors detect presence/counts without PII) ensuring privacy while tracking usage
Infrastructure & Cost	Leverages existing access system (low incremental cost)	Requires sensor hardware and software investment (upfront cost, but yields high ROI through savings)

As shown above, badge systems provide convenient but basic data, whereas dedicated sensors offer granular, actionable intelligence. Badge data is essentially an attendance log – useful for security and basic headcounts – but it cannot reveal real occupancy or utilization patterns inside the office. In contrast, modern workplace sensors (such as Freespaceʼs presence and people counting sensors at desks or in rooms and entrances) deliver a continuous stream of occupancy data. They detect how many people are actually in a space throughout the day and which spaces are being used.

Solution: Leveraging Sensors for RSRD (Right Size & Right Design).

To support effective Right Size & Right Design (RSRD) strategies, organizations are turning to sensor analytics for evidence based decisions. By deploying Freespace sensors, workplace leaders can measure exactly how space is used across the four pillars of RSRD:

Lease and energy cost reductions are another direct ROI from this data-driven consolidation and organizations’ carbon footprint is lowered by operating fewer buildings or floors. In summary, sensors validate where space can be trimmed at a macro level and provide credible business justifications when defining near and long term Real Estate Portfolio Strategies.

2. Optimization – Maximizing Utilization & Capacity.

Even for space that remains in use, sensor data helps optimize how itʼs used day-to-day. This is about ensuring the right capacity and smoothing out inefficiencies. Badge data might show average daily attendance, but sensors uncovers the actual demand of the office – how workspaces in the office are being used at peak occupancy times, fluctuating daily demand, and unused capacity. Sensors enable benchmarking across the portfolio, comparing key indicators like Density Ratio (SqFt per person vs. SqFt per utilized desk) to show how efficiently each building is being used and enables accurate capacity planning of an office headcount and daily attendance.

This information helps leaders implement hybrid scheduling strategies or redistribute team office days to better balance loads.

3. Rebalance – Adjusting Space Mix & Solving Bottlenecks.

The Rebalance pillar focuses on the right design: ensuring the mix of space types (offices, meeting rooms, open collaboration areas, focus pods, etc.) matches employee needs. Sensor data only can show which spaces are actually being used and to what extent. Badge data cannot tell if your huddle rooms are full while private offices sit empty, but sensors can show, for example, that certain conference rooms are occupied 80% of the day (high contention) while some large meeting spaces are rarely half-full. With this knowledge, a Workplace Designer or Strategist can rebalance the space allocation – perhaps converting some underused large conference rooms into multiple smaller meeting rooms or phone booths that better serve demand.

By measuring space utilization rate per square foot by space type (desks, meeting rooms – small vs large, collaboration spaces, focus pods) highlights the imbalances and companies can target specific improvements.

Rebalancing the floors, significantly improves the user experience and also ultimately enables for more growth on the floor as provision for all space types are aligned and demand will grow in proportion. Over time, this leads to a more effective and satisfying work environment, as the workplace is continually tuned to actual usage patterns rather than guesswork.

4. Redesign – Data-Driven Workplace Design & Experimentation.

Finally, sensor data supports the Redesign pillar by providing deep behavioral analytics that inform how to design spaces for the future. Beyond just counts, sensors can track metrics like dwell time (how long people stay in a space), frequency of use (e.g. how often a given desk or room is occupied per day), and even environmental conditions if equipped (temperature, noise, etc.). These insights allow workplace teams to answer questions like: Are our meeting rooms the right size? Do employees prefer certain types of work settings? Is our new agile seating layout actually encouraging more use of collaboration zones? With data in hand, a Workplace Designer can confidently propose design changes and also validate their impact.

Sensors enable an iterative, data-driven design process: piloting a new layout or furniture arrangement, measuring usage with sensors, and then scale up changes that prove effective. Over time, this creates a workplace that is both efficient for the business and engaging for employees – a win-win that badge data alone could never guide, since badge logs canʼt capture these behavioral nuances.

ROI Opportunity.

Investing in sensor technology yields a compelling ROI through both cost savings and business value gains. While sensors require an upfront investment (for hardware, software, and deployment), the financial payback is immediately evident because the insights lead directly to reductions in real estate expenses and improvements in space efficiency. Organizations spend enormous sums on underutilized offices – an average 15,000 sq ft office (100 employees) can waste over $300,000 per year on unused space if half the space is not utilized.

Sensor data enables recapturing that value by identifying and cutting the waste. For example, by tracking space utilization, one company avoided acquiring new space and instead consolidated its footprint, realizing $5 million in annual savings over a multi-year lease by not expanding unnecessarily. In another scenario, simply improving the utilization of existing space by 10-20% (through optimization and redesign) can translate to supporting more staff without new leases or enabling a lease termination – easily justifying the sensor project cost.

In conclusion, the shift from badge swipe data to sensor-driven data analytics is transformational. Sensors provide the real-time, granular, and reliable evidence needed to execute a Right Size & Right Design approach with confidence. The outcome is a workplace that is “right-sized” – no excess, idle space draining resources – and “right-designed” – spaces optimized and configured for how people truly work.

For any organization building an internal business case for smart sensors, the message is clear: investing in sensor technology is not just about high-tech gadgets, but about empowering data-driven decisions that unlock real estate value and create better places to work. The ROI is realized in both dollars and delighted employees, making it a strategic win for forward-thinking real estate and workplace leaders.