Occupancy and space planning

Occupancy planning is the strategic discipline of matching an organization's workforce demand for space to its real estate supply by analyzing data on headcount, utilization patterns, work styles, and growth projections to determine how much space is needed, where, and in what configuration.

In a hybrid workplace environment, occupancy planning has moved from a periodic space audit to a continuous portfolio management function. JLL's Global Occupancy Planning Benchmark Report — now in its 10th edition, drawing on data from 99 organizations managing 745 million+ square feet — shows that global office utilization reached 54% in 2025, up from 41% in 2023 but still well below the 79% target most organizations set. That persistent 25-point gap represents billions of dollars in underutilized real estate across corporate portfolios worldwide.

Occupancy planning addresses this gap through four core functions:

• Demand analysis: Forecasting how many people need space, when, and what types of space they need — factoring in hybrid schedules, growth projections, and seasonal patterns.
• Supply assessment: Mapping available space across a portfolio by type, location, capacity, and condition — identifying both surplus and deficit.
• Scenario modeling: Testing multiple futures (different hybrid policies, headcount trajectories, consolidation options) to quantify the financial and operational impact of each.
• Implementation planning: Translating analysis into actionable recommendations — move plans, reconfiguration designs, lease decisions, and change management strategies.

JLL manages occupancy planning across 880 million+ square feet globally, giving clients access to the industry's largest benchmarking dataset and a methodology calibrated against hundreds of peer organizations.

Hybrid work has made traditional space allocation models obsolete by introducing day-of-week variability, role-based flexibility, and a structural mismatch between assigned capacity and actual presence that requires continuous, data-driven occupancy planning.

JLL's Global Occupancy Planning Benchmark Report quantifies the scale of this shift:

• Assigned seating collapsed: The share of organizations using assigned (dedicated) seating dropped from 56% in 2023 to just 25% in 2025 — the fastest structural change in workplace allocation in decades.
• Weekly patterns are extreme: Tuesday occupancy peaks at 58.6% while Friday drops to 34.5% — meaning organizations must design for peak-day capacity while paying for space that sits largely empty two to three days per week.
• Allocation exceeds capacity: Average office allocation rates now exceed 111%, meaning more employees are assigned to a building than there are physical seats. This works only with reliable seat-sharing systems and accurate occupancy data.
• Space types are shifting: Organizations are converting individual workstations to collaboration zones, focus rooms, and flexible neighborhoods that accommodate varying team sizes and work modes throughout the week.

The result is that occupancy planning has shifted from a periodic exercise (conducted every 3–5 years during a lease event) to a continuous portfolio management function. JLL's occupancy planning practice provides ongoing monitoring, scenario modeling, and strategic recommendations that adapt as hybrid policies, headcount, and business conditions evolve.

Occupancy planning connects directly to business strategy by turning real estate from a fixed cost into a strategic lever that affects talent attraction, workforce productivity, capital allocation, and ESG performance.

• Talent and productivity: Workplace quality directly influences recruitment, retention, and daily productivity. Occupancy data reveals which space types employees actually use and prefer, enabling evidence-based design decisions that improve the work environment.
• Capital allocation: Occupancy insights inform the most consequential financial decisions in a CRE portfolio: which leases to renew, where to consolidate, when to expand, and how to balance owned, leased, and flexible space.
• ESG performance: Space optimization reduces energy consumption and Scope 1/2 emissions—directly measurable outcomes that support corporate sustainability commitments and regulatory compliance.
• M&A readiness: During mergers, acquisitions, or restructuring, occupancy data provides the analytical foundation for integrating real estate portfolios quickly and making defensible decisions about which locations to retain.

JLL's consulting practice — combining workplace strategy, location strategy, and portfolio management — uses occupancy planning data as the quantitative foundation for strategic recommendations. JLL's partnership with Koch Industries demonstrates this integrated approach: JLL delivers occupancy planning, workplace strategy, experience services, and portfolio optimization across Koch's 140 million square feet in 50+ countries under a unified ""LIFT"" operating model.

JLL integrates occupancy planning with workplace strategy through a shared data-and-design methodology — using utilization analytics to inform strategic vision and design decisions, rather than treating space optimization and experience design as separate workstreams.

The integration operates at three levels:

• Data informs strategy: Occupancy data reveals which space types employees actually use, when collaboration happens naturally, and where friction exists in the current environment. This evidence base replaces assumptions in workplace strategy development.
• Strategy shapes space: Workplace strategy defines the vision — how the workplace supports culture, collaboration, and productivity. Occupancy planning translates that vision into specific space type ratios, density targets, and allocation models.
• Experience validates both: Post-implementation occupancy monitoring confirms whether strategy and design achieved their intended outcomes — and identifies adjustments needed as work patterns evolve.

JLL's integrated approach is demonstrated in its work with a leading technology company's new sales headquarters — where JLL's consulting team integrated occupancy analytics, workplace strategy, service design, and experience management to create a workplace model that delivered improved occupancy rates and employee satisfaction.

JLL's occupancy planning practice connects occupancy data to workplace strategy, sustainability, leasing advisory, and facilities management execution—with defined handoff points and shared data platforms that prevent service silos.

• Occupancy to workplace strategy: Utilization data informs space type ratios, collaboration-to-focus ratios, and activity-based working models. JLL's workplace strategists use occupancy findings as the evidence base for design briefs.
• Occupancy to sustainability: Space optimization scenarios include modeled carbon reductions. JLL's sustainability team uses occupancy data to quantify emissions impacts for GRESB, CDP, and CSRD reporting.
• Occupancy to leasing : Utilization data provides evidence for lease renegotiations, right-sizing decisions, and location strategy. JLL's tenant representation advisors use occupancy insights to negotiate from a position of data-backed clarity.
• Occupancy to facilities management: Real-time occupancy data drives demand-based cleaning, HVAC optimization, and predictive maintenance—managed through JLL's integrated facilities management platform using Corrigo and Smart Building technology.
• Occupancy to experience management: Employee experience data (surveys, sentiment, satisfaction) is layered onto utilization data to ensure space changes improve both efficiency and employee well-being.

This integrated model is operational, not theoretical. JLL's engagement with Koch Industries demonstrates the full integration—occupancy planning, workplace strategy, experience services, portfolio optimization, and facilities management delivered under a unified operating model across 140 million square feet in 50+ countries.