The Real Estate Cost Crunch: Why California Workplaces Need Smarter Office Data

In this article, we’re going to discuss…

• Why California’s high real estate costs demand smarter office data.
• How hybrid visibility connects to confident real estate decisions.
• What companies can learn from real-world hybrid case studies.
• The role of an attendance management system for employees in smarter planning.

California companies are feeling the real estate squeeze. In San Francisco, average office rent is still above $70 per square foot, while vacancy rates hit record highs,  leaving leaders paying premium prices for space that often sits empty. Add in shifting hybrid schedules and return-to-office mandates, and suddenly office planning becomes more guesswork than strategy.

If you’re trying to cut costs without killing collaboration, the answer isn’t another spreadsheet. Insightful’s software for employee time tracking helps clarify how time is spent and provides visibility into where and how work actually happens.

If your team struggles to justify real estate spend, read on. By the end of this article, you’ll see how smarter office data can help California companies right-size their space, enforce hybrid policies, and keep budgets under control with Insightful’s location insights.
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Why Office Costs Are Crushing California Companies

California’s commercial real estate market is a unique challenge. Companies in San Francisco and Los Angeles pay some of the highest rents in the country, even as office attendance lags. That creates a costly mismatch between what’s leased and what’s actually used.
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• Flawed assumption: “If we keep offices open, people will return.” In reality, hybrid policies haven’t guaranteed attendance. Many companies report empty desks on mandated in-office days, wasting thousands each month on underused space.
  
  
• Flawed assumption: “High rent ensures high value.” Expensive leases don’t automatically translate into productivity. Without visibility into whether in-office time boosts performance, CFOs question whether space justifies its price tag.
  
  
• Flawed assumption: “Traditional occupancy data is enough.” Badge swipes or headcounts only tell you who showed up, not how location impacts work quality or collaboration.

According to CBRE, more than 40% of U.S. office space could be underutilized by 2030, with California’s tech hubs feeling the sharpest squeeze. Without better data, leaders are left making million-dollar office decisions based on partial truths.
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How Location Insights Brings Clarity to Hybrid Workflows

Location Insights takes the guesswork out of office planning by showing exactly how, when, and where employees work. Instead of relying on badge scans or gut feelings, leaders can see productivity patterns across office, remote, and hybrid setups in one place.

With Insightful (formerly Workpuls), you can customize what “in-office” means, track hybrid policy compliance, and break down attendance and productivity by team, individual, or location. The result is real data to defend budget decisions, enforce fair policies, and plan future office space with confidence.
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Right-Sizing Office Footprints in High-Rent Cities

In California’s high-rent markets, office space can cost upwards of $70 per square foot—and yet many companies find their desks sit empty half the week. The problem isn’t just expensive leases; it’s the lack of real data to prove which space is worth keeping.

Insightful’s Location Insights fixes this by showing exactly how offices, floors, or departments are used day to day. Instead of relying on badge scans or occasional headcounts, leaders get precise attendance and productivity data tied to each location. That clarity lets finance and facilities teams defend decisions with hard numbers instead of guessing.

Here’s how the tool makes it possible:
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• Custom in-office definitions: Define “present” using IP/MAC address and time thresholds, ensuring accurate usage data.
  
  
• Office-level breakdowns: See which locations or floors are consistently underutilized.
  
  
• Productivity by location: Understand whether in-office time actually improves outcomes.
  
  
• Trend reports: Track space usage over weeks or months to forecast future needs.

With these insights, California companies can cut costs strategically, shedding unnecessary space while keeping the offices that truly support performance.
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Enforcing Hybrid Work Policies Without Micromanaging

Many California companies have adopted hybrid policies, often requiring employees to be in the office on set days, like Tuesdays and Thursdays. The problem is that attendance often drifts, with some employees ignoring mandates while others shoulder the burden of showing up. HR leaders end up relying on unreliable self-reporting or awkward manual checks.

Insightful’s Location Insights solves this by tracking real compliance with hybrid schedules. By tying office presence to IP or network data, it verifies whether employees are in the office when they’re supposed to be, without managers resorting to micromanagement.

Here’s what the feature enables:

• Hybrid policy compliance reports: Instantly see who followed mandated in-office days.
  
  
• Team-level trends: Identify departments with chronic attendance issues.
  
  
• Policy enforcement data: Use reports to guide conversations with non-compliant staff.
  
  
• Fairness assurance: Ensure policies are applied equally across the organization.

Instead of nagging employees or sending repeated reminders, HR can rely on verifiable data to keep hybrid policies consistent. That means less guesswork, fewer disputes, and a workplace that runs on trust backed by proof.
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Linking Office Usage to Productivity Outcomes

For many executives, the real question isn’t just who comes into the office—it’s whether in-office time actually boosts results. Without that proof, CFOs and CHROs struggle to justify expensive leases. Traditional occupancy data like badge swipes offers no connection to productivity, leaving leaders in the dark.

Insightful’s Location Insights connects the dots by comparing productivity across remote, hybrid, and in-office setups. Leaders can finally see whether employees work more effectively from home or the office, and use that data to shape smarter policies.

Here’s how the feature delivers clarity:

• Productivity by location: Directly measure output differences between office, hybrid, and remote work.
  
  
• Trend analysis: Track changes over time to see if hybrid strategies improve or stall performance.
  
  
• Employee-level detail: Spot who thrives in-office versus those more effective remotely.
  
  
• Team comparisons: Understand which groups benefit most from office collaboration.

With these insights, California companies can base real estate decisions on outcomes, not assumptions. Instead of paying for space “just in case,” leaders can invest only where office presence clearly drives measurable performance.
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Smarter Space Planning for the Future

Facility managers in California face a tough balancing act: too much office space wastes millions, but too little disrupts collaboration when teams show up. Traditional tools only provide snapshots of headcount, leaving long-term planning full of blind spots.

Insightful’s Location Insights equips leaders with the data to plan ahead. By tracking office usage patterns over time, it reveals not just how space is used today, but how it’s trending, making it easier to predict future needs and avoid costly missteps.

Here’s how the feature supports smarter planning:

• Historical usage reports: Spot seasonal or project-based shifts in attendance.
  
  
• Trend forecasting: Use data to anticipate whether office demand is rising or falling.
  
  
• Desk and floor planning: Allocate space based on actual usage, not assumptions.
  
  
• Budget alignment: Match office capacity to real workforce demand, reducing wasted spend.

Instead of reacting to empty desks or overcrowded days, California companies can use Location Insights to build a proactive space strategy, ensuring every square foot of high-rent real estate serves a clear purpose.
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How Stratum Benefits Gained Clarity on Hybrid Work with Insightful

For many California companies, the hardest part of managing office costs is knowing whether space is being used in ways that justify the rent. While Stratum Benefits, a financial services firm, didn’t set out to cut real estate expenses, they faced a related challenge: proving when employees were in-office versus remote, and how that affected performance.

Before Insightful, Stratum relied on manual records and fragmented systems that made hybrid oversight unreliable. After rolling out Location Insights, they replaced guesswork with clear, real-time data showing attendance and productivity by location.

The results were:

• Fair hybrid policy enforcement—no more disputes about attendance or in-office expectations.
  
  
• Trustworthy productivity data—managers could see performance patterns across both office and remote setups.
  
  
• Smarter workforce planning—leadership could align hybrid policies with actual employee behavior.

While Stratum’s goal was performance management, not real estate optimization, the lesson translates: once you have clear visibility into how hybrid work unfolds, you can make defensible choices about space usage too. In high-cost markets like San Francisco and Los Angeles, that clarity is the difference between overpaying for empty desks and investing in the space that drives real results.
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FAQs

What is the best employee monitoring software for tracking remote employee activities?

The strongest tools combine time tracking with real visibility into distributed work. Insightful gives leaders the clarity to manage a remote sales team or any hybrid group, ensuring accountability without losing flexibility.
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Which employee monitoring software includes automated productivity analysis tools?

Insightful includes built-in analytics that capture app usage, idle time, and workflows automatically. This goes beyond timesheets by showing how work actually gets done, supported by its employee time attendance software.
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Which employee monitoring software options provide a free trial or demo?

Insightful offers a 7-day free trial so companies can test its monitoring and analytics tools risk-free. During the trial, teams can explore features like remote employee time tracking free for hybrid and distributed workforces.
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Ready to Make Office Costs Defensible?

In high-rent markets like San Francisco and Los Angeles, every square foot counts. The companies that succeed aren’t the ones guessing on space—they’re the ones proving usage with data. With Insightful’s Location Insights, you can track hybrid attendance, measure productivity by location, and plan offices with confidence.

It’s no coincidence that Insightful was rated #1 for transparency by Forbes. Start a 7-day risk-free trial or book a free demo to see how you can turn office space from a liability into a measurable investment.

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