Practical Facilities Tips, News & Advice.
That’s right, 24% of under or unoccupied office space will be blasting air conditioning for nobody this summer. At the end of each day, these same vacant, cooled spaces and unused bathrooms will be cleaned by the maintenance crew. The obvious contributing factors are summer vacations, hybrid schedules, and team outings. The less obvious and […]
Facilities managers know the drill. The thermostat complaint arrives before the morning coffee gets cold. Someone is always too hot, someone else is always too cold, and the ticketing system fills up with grievances about stuffy air and odd smells. It can feel like an endless, unwinnable battle. A new national survey suggests those complaints […]
The global workforce has found its post-pandemic equilibrium, stabilizing around structured hybrid models, according to a new report from JLL. But with hybrid work here to stay, will more organizations turn to artificial intelligence (AI) to boost occupancy planning and management? JLL’s Global Occupancy Planning Benchmark Report 2026 draws on insights from 84 organizations representing […]
In a world where employees can log on from anywhere, what role should the office play? With more than half of Fortune 100 companies now implementing return-to-office policies, leaders are working to answer this question. Pressures are rising for office environments to deliver distinct connections and energy that home workspaces can’t replicate. Modern offices have […]
Despite anxiety over the current war in Iran and economic uncertainty at home, U.S. office demand posted sizable quarterly and annual gains in the first quarter, according to the latest VTS Office Demand Index (VODI) report. The increased growth in Q1 was primarily driven by finance, legal, and technology tenants—with quarterly and annual demand for office […]
Facilities teams have invested heavily in booking platforms, occupancy sensors, and space-planning tools. Yet many organizations still face a common problem: empty desks reserved but never used, crowded collaboration areas midweek, and employees who bypass the system altogether. According to JLL’s Global State of Facilities Management Report, 38% of facilities leaders rank space utilization and […]
Four out of five commercial real estate (CRE), workplace, building management, and facilities professionals lack the data they need to make confident space-planning decisions, according to a new report. The survey, conducted by Wakefield Research, interviewed 400 decision-makers in the U.S. for Butlr’s “Beyond Occupancy: The State of Office Space 2026” report. The results show […]
For many years, shared commercial spaces such as offices, lounges, and lobbies followed stark and simplistic design templates. Elements such as white walls, rigid layouts, and lackluster furniture were standard. As consumers and workers continue to gravitate toward spaces they find aesthetically pleasing, thoughtful and personalized interior design has become essential. It is now a […]
Five years into the remote work era, the push to bring employees back to the office continues. But the modern workplace can’t simply revert to its pre-pandemic state. With 14% of U.S. office space still vacant, return-to-office mandates remain a tough sell. In fact, 46% of employees have said they would consider leaving their job […]
The U.S. office vacancy rate reached another all-time high in the second quarter of 2025 at 20.7%, as Moody’s recently reported. That’s the highest vacancy rate in three decades, ABC News reported, with more than 900 million square feet of empty office space—enough to fill New York City’s One World Trade Center 300 times. U.S. […]