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CUSTOMER STORIES

How a Global Biotechnology Company Avoided $13M in Expansion Costs with Amenities Changes

INDUSTRY:
Life Sciences / Biotechnology
IMPLEMENTATION:
Phased Across Campus
COMPANY SIZE:
10,000+ Employees
USE CASE:
Workplace Design
KEY RESULT:
$13M Expansion Costs Avoided Annually

The Challenge

At this biotechnology company’s sprawling 30-building, 4M+ square foot campus, the workplace team was under pressure to expand. After shifting to a flexible seating model, employees reported that desks and workspaces felt constantly occupied. Teams were requesting additional space, and leadership was evaluating a costly portfolio expansion.

But the workplace team suspected the problem was a perception vs. an actual space shortage problem. In a flexible seating environment, laptops left on desks, jackets on chairs, and bags under workstations made spaces appear occupied when they were actually available. Traditional badge and headcount data couldn’t distinguish between an employee actively working and a space held by belongings.

Without understanding passive occupancy, the phenomenon of spaces being claimed by objects rather than people, the company was at risk of spending $13M+ on expansion that wasn’t actually needed.

The Solution

The company deployed VergeSense sensors with Passive Occupancy Detection, a capability that uses AI to distinguish between active human presence and objects left behind. This was a game-changer: for the first time, the workplace team could see that up to 50% of what appeared to be occupied space was actually passively claimed.

Armed with this data, the team implemented targeted amenity changes: they created designated areas for personal belongings near building entrances, adjusted signage and cultural norms around desk claiming, and redesigned zones to encourage items to be stored rather than left at workpoints.

VergeSense also provided the data to optimize the space mix across labs, offices, and manufacturing areas - each with different KPIs. By combining sensor data with WiFi analytics and employee surveys, the company built a 360-degree picture of how every type of space was actually used.