Measuring only office attendance no longer suffices to assess workplace performance, according to a joint survey by Savills and CoreNet titled "Measuring the Value of the Evolving Workplace." The study compiled responses from more than 240 corporate real estate and workplace leaders worldwide.
Since Covid, employee physical presence has often been used as a proxy for office success, but Savills warns that presence data alone is incomplete: it is also important to know what employees do in the office and how the work environment contributes to organizational outcomes and culture.
Where do workplaces create the most value?
Respondents ranked the areas where the workplace adds value as follows (share of respondents):
- Culture and relationship building: 100%
- Collaboration and teamwork: 100%
- Innovation: 100%
- Mentoring and learning: 99%
- Customer experience: 99%
- Attracting and retaining talent: 98%
- Improving productivity: 97%
- Focused individual work: 92%
These results indicate that companies increasingly treat the office as a space that supports person-to-person collaboration, knowledge transfer and culture-building rather than merely a site of task execution.
Changing role of the office and the impact of AI
Michelle Needles, global managing director for corporate solutions at Savills, says the office is increasingly tied to activities that are more effective with in-person presence—teamwork, mentoring, relationship-building and onboarding. The spread of artificial intelligence could reinforce this trend: many business leaders expect future competitive advantage to depend on human skills that technology cannot replace.
What metrics do firms use today?
According to the Savills survey and additional analysis, the most commonly used metrics are:
- Employee engagement and satisfaction surveys: 73%
- Workplace utilization or occupancy data: 65%
- Financial/business performance metrics: 53%
- Employee retention or talent metrics: 37%
- Productivity or output metrics: 22%
- Collaboration or innovation metrics: 13%
Many organizations still prioritize presence and utilization data, while collaboration and innovation measures are less frequently tracked in practice.
Concrete examples and cost context
Savills cites research at a Fortune 500 technology company showing that software engineers working together in person performed 23% higher-quality code reviews than remote peers; the effect was strongest for junior engineers, suggesting a role for the office in knowledge transfer and skill development.
Savills’ analysis of financial reports from 50 publicly listed global companies found that workplace costs account on average for 8.4% of revenue and 12.5% of operating costs, which motivates firms to make the return on workplace investments measurable.
Limited confidence in current measurement methods
Although employee satisfaction surveys are widely used, confidence in them is limited: only 25% of respondents who use these tools felt the surveys truly demonstrate the value of workplace strategy. Survey fatigue is a common problem.
To address this, some organizations are adopting AI-driven, conversational survey approaches that adapt questions based on individual answers and can provide a more detailed view of employee experience.
Integrating data sources — the next step
Savills argues that the next step in measuring office value is linking different data sources: utilization data, employee feedback, HR indicators and business performance data have often lived in separate systems, making it hard to understand how workplace changes affect organizational outcomes.
Technology and AI can help: tools already exist that identify patterns, benchmark performance and show which workplace changes have the biggest impact. Microsoft Viva Insights, for example, can map collaboration networks, making it easier to see how teams work together, how new hires build relationships, and where knowledge-sharing can be improved.
Savills recommends a measurement framework covering four types of indicators—operational, experience, behavioral and business—each illuminating different aspects of workplace value.
Conclusion
The study concludes that companies need more complex, joined-up data to measure office value: not just presence, but the performance driven by office use and its business impact. AI and integrated analytics offer the potential to link workplace interventions with organizational results, though current measurement practices still show significant limitations and room for improvement.
An AI assistant contributed to preparing this article; the final content was edited and verified by our journalist. Tags: office market, artificial intelligence, productivity, remote work, hybrid work, HR
