Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Workplace Analyst

🎯 Role Definition

A Workplace Analyst designs, measures and optimizes the physical and digital workplace experience by combining data analytics, stakeholder engagement, and real estate strategy. The role focuses on occupancy and utilization analysis, workplace technology and tooling (IWMS, room booking, sensors), cost and space optimization, and cross-functional programs that support hybrid work, employee experience, and business continuity. Candidates are expected to translate workplace data into actionable recommendations, build dashboards and reports, and partner with real estate, facilities, HR and IT teams to implement space strategies that reduce cost and improve employee productivity.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Workplace Coordinator / Office Coordinator
Facilities Analyst / Facilities Coordinator
Junior Data Analyst or Business Analyst (with interest in workplace/real estate)

Advancement To:

Senior Workplace Analyst
Workplace Strategy Manager / Head of Workplace Experience
Real Estate Manager / Portfolio Analyst

Lateral Moves:

Employee Experience Manager
IWMS Analyst / Facilities Manager
Corporate Real Estate Analyst

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead quantitative analysis of space utilization and occupancy patterns using badge data, sensor data, booking systems and survey results to inform right-sizing and hybrid-work planning across multiple sites.
Design, build and maintain interactive dashboards and recurring reports (Power BI, Tableau, Looker) to communicate occupancy trends, desk/room utilization, cost per square foot and change-impact forecasts to leadership and stakeholders.
Conduct regular workplace audits and capacity planning exercises, including headcount-to-desk ratio modeling, floor-by-floor occupancy validation and scenario modeling for future growth or consolidation.
Partner with HR, IT and facilities to translate changing hybrid work policies into operational requirements and metrics (hot desk ratios, reservation uplift, cleaning cycles, and neighborhood configurations).
Implement and administer IWMS and room-booking platforms (e.g., Archibus, FM:Systems, Trimble, Condeco, EMS), including configuration, data hygiene, user permissioning and integration with HR and calendar systems.
Manage sensor and IoT programs (occupancy sensors, badge swipe, Wi-Fi analytics) to ensure data quality, calibration, anomaly detection and privacy-compliant collection methods.
Deliver actionable workplace optimization recommendations that drive efficiency and cost savings (desk reassignments, space consolidation, lease optimization, and alternative workspace strategies).
Lead or contribute to workplace change management initiatives: training, communication plans, pilot programs, and feedback loops to increase adoption of new ways of working.
Support real estate and lease strategy by producing forecasts, utilization-based scenarios, and financial models to support portfolio decisions, renewals and subleasing opportunities.
Perform root-cause analysis on workspace pain points (noise, capacity constraints, booking conflicts) and coordinate cross-functional remediation plans with facilities, vendor partners and IT.
Prepare executive-level presentations and business cases that summarize analysis, ROI, and recommended next steps for workplace investments and programs.
Develop and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs) and data governance practices for workplace analytics, ensuring single source of truth and consistent metric definitions across teams.
Execute ad hoc data requests and exploratory modeling to answer business questions related to headcount density, team collocation, and long-term office footprint needs.
Manage relationships with external vendors and consultants for sensor hardware, IWMS implementations, occupancy analytics and workplace design services.
Coordinate space assignment and seating strategies for new hires, transfers and organizational restructures to minimize disruption and support team performance.
Monitor and report on workplace KPIs such as utilization rate, peak occupancy, average booking length, no-show rates and space vacancy to track program effectiveness.
Support workplace experience programs including neighborhood design, collaboration hubs, touchdown areas and quiet zones by providing data-driven recommendations on layout and amenities.
Ensure compliance with health, safety and accessibility standards in space planning and occupancy decisions, including social distancing or capacity constraints when required.
Lead pilot programs for new workplace technologies (room sensors, touchless check-in, digital wayfinding) and measure impact on utilization and employee satisfaction.
Continuously improve data collection and analytics processes through automation (APIs, ETL pipelines), data validation checks and integration with HRIS and FM systems.
Collaborate with design and architecture teams to translate utilization data into practical floor plate changes, furniture reconfigurations and phased move plans.
Conduct workforce clustering and adjacency analysis to support collocation strategies and minimize cross-team disruption during moves or consolidations.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Advanced data analysis using SQL for data extraction, transformation and reporting from HRIS, IWMS and booking platforms.
Proficiency with data visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau, Looker) and dashboard design for executive and operational audiences.
Strong Excel skills including pivot tables, advanced formulas, and modeling for capacity planning and financial scenarios.
Experience with IWMS and room-booking systems (e.g., Archibus, FM:Systems, Trimble, Condeco, EMS) including admin/configuration and integrations.
Familiarity with occupancy sensing technologies and data sources (badge swipes, Wi‑Fi analytics, PIR sensors) and methods for cleaning and reconciling those data streams.
Basic scripting or data engineering skills (Python, R, or ETL tools) to automate data pipelines, perform analysis and run simulations.
Knowledge of GIS/floor plan mapping tools and CAD/BIM familiarity to align data with physical floor plans and workspace types.
Ability to build and maintain APIs and integrations between HRIS, calendar systems (Exchange/Google), IWMS and analytics platforms.
Experience with A/B testing, pilot evaluation and measurement frameworks to validate workplace interventions.
Strong financial modeling skills to calculate cost per seat, ROI of workplace initiatives, and long-term portfolio impact scenarios.
Understanding of data governance, privacy and compliance considerations when collecting and analyzing employee movement and presence data.

Soft Skills

Excellent stakeholder management and the ability to influence cross-functional partners (HR, Real Estate, IT, Facilities) at all levels.
Clear, concise communicator who can translate complex analytics into business-focused recommendations and executive presentations.
Strong project management skills, including planning, prioritization, and the ability to manage multiple workstreams and vendor relationships.
Critical thinking and problem-solving orientation with attention to detail and a bias for action.
Change-agency capabilities: able to lead pilots, drive adoption and handle resistance during workplace transformation.
Collaborative team player with empathy for employee experience and practical constraints of facilities operations.
Comfortable working with ambiguity and developing pragmatic solutions for hybrid and evolving work models.
Data curiosity and continuous improvement mindset — proactively seeking better data, metrics and automation opportunities.
Time management and the ability to adapt to shifting business priorities, tight deadlines and competing stakeholder needs.
Presentation and facilitation skills for workshops, town halls and stakeholder alignment sessions.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Business Analytics, Data Science, Real Estate, Facilities Management, Human Resources, Architecture, Engineering, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree or postgraduate diploma in Real Estate, Data Analytics, Business Administration (MBA), Organizational Psychology, or Workplace Strategy.
Professional certifications such as IFMA FMP/CFM, CoreNet Workplace Strategy, IWFM, or data analytics certificates (Power BI, Tableau, SQL).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Real Estate / Corporate Real Estate
Data Science / Business Analytics
Facilities Management / Engineering
Human Resources / Organizational Development
Architecture / Interior Design

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–7 years of combined experience in workplace analytics, corporate real estate, facilities management, workplace strategy, or data/BI roles supporting workplace programs.

Preferred:

5+ years supporting multi-site portfolios or global workplace programs with demonstrated impact on utilization and cost metrics.
Proven track record implementing or administering IWMS and room-booking systems, running sensor programs, and delivering executive-ready dashboards and business cases.