This Occupancy Sensor FAQ for Employees is a practical guide to help you understand what occupancy sensors are, how they work, and what data they collect in the workplace.
It explains how occupancy sensors are used to measure space usage, how the information supports better workplace planning, and what the data actually looks like—so you have clear, transparent insight into the technology used in your office.
1. What are occupancy sensors?
Occupancy sensors are small electronic devices (they often look like smoke detectors) that detect the presence and movement of people in an area. XY Sense sensors use computer vision technology to understand how spaces are being utilized.
Companies use occupancy sensors to gain accurate insights into how their office spaces and resources are actually being used. Rather than relying on estimates or assumptions, these sensors provide real data about space utilization, helping organizations understand patterns like peak usage times, which areas are most popular, how meeting rooms and desks are being utilized, and where resources may be over- or underallocated. This information enables better decision-making about office design, space planning, and resource management to create workplaces that truly support how people work.
Through ‘edge processing’, all analysis happens in real-time directly on the sensor itself, converting what it sees into simple anonymous coordinate data showing where people are located in a space—without ever storing or transmitting images or personally identifiable information.
2. Why is our company installing XY Sense sensors?
Your company is installing XY Sense sensors to better understand how our office spaces and resources are actually being used throughout the day. Instead of making decisions based on assumptions, these sensors provide accurate data about space utilization patterns, which areas are most or least used, and how resources like desks and meeting rooms are being utilized. This information helps facilities and workplace teams make informed decisions about office layouts, resource allocation, and space planning to ensure our workplace is designed to support how people actually work. For example, sensor data can provide the data evidence that an organization needs more conference rooms or has equipment in one place that would be better utilized in another place.
3. It looks like the sensor has a camera—does it record video or take pictures?
While XY Sense sensors use visual information for detection, they are fundamentally different from consumer cameras. The sensor does capture visual input, but only to immediately convert it into anonymous X and Y coordinates in real-time—it never records, stores, or transmits pictures or video. The visual processing happens entirely on the device itself and is used purely for counting people and determining their location in a space. Think of it like this: the sensor “sees” to understand where people are, then instantly discards the visual information after converting it to simple coordinate points. Even if you physically opened the sensor, you would find no images stored inside. The visualization capability exists solely to provide accurate positioning data, not to capture or retain any images of people or activities.
4. What information do XY Sense sensors collect?
XY Sense sensors capture only X and Y ground point coordinates—simple numerical positions showing where people are located in a space, with approximately 30 cm (1 foot) positional accuracy. The sensors refresh this data every two seconds. This coordinate data helps track metrics like how many people are in a space, which areas are being used, desk and meeting room utilization patterns, and traffic flow through different areas. All scene analysis happens in real-time on the sensor itself, and only anonymous coordinate data is transmitted—never images, video, or any personally identifiable information.
5. Do XY Sense sensors collect any personally identifiable information (PII)?
No. XY Sense sensors never collect, store, or transmit personally identifiable information like your face, name, or employee ID. The system is not capable of identifying individuals or collecting personal information—it only records anonymous X and Y coordinate data. XY Sense does not use facial recognition or biometric analysis. Raw sensor images are never stored, sent, or retrievable from XY Sense sensors. Even if you physically opened up a sensor, you would not find any images on it or any other information about people or activities. The sensors are privacy-compliant by design.
6. How is this different from badge or keycard tracking systems?
XY Sense sensors provide significantly better privacy protection than traditional keycard-based access control or app-based tracking systems. Legacy systems like keycards and apps inherently collect, store, and transmit personally identifiable information directly linked to specific individuals—creating detailed records of who is present, where they spend time, and when. In contrast, XY Sense sensors are purpose-built to capture anonymous information about how spaces are being utilized, not to track or identify individual people. By focusing on space usage rather than individual tracking, XY Sense delivers the workplace analytics organizations need while offering substantially stronger privacy protections.
7. What are the benefits of XY Sense sensors for me as an employee?
XY Sense sensors help create a better workplace experience by providing accurate data that informs space planning decisions. The insights can ensure there are enough meeting rooms, collaboration spaces, and desks when teams need them. The data helps optimize office layouts based on actual usage patterns rather than guesswork. Because XY Sense provides highly accurate location data (approximately 1 square foot accuracy), it can inform decisions about specific resource allocation—ensuring the right types of workspaces are available where people need them most. Ultimately, these sensors help create a workplace environment designed around how people actually use the space.
8. Will this data be used to evaluate my performance or attendance?
No. XY Sense sensors collect only anonymous coordinate data. They cannot identify individuals. The system is not capable of tracking specific people or associating any data with individual employees. The data is designed for facilities management and space planning purposes, not recording individual attendance or performance management.
Any attempt to re-identify individuals or perform analysis where identity could be reasonably inferred would require both additional data sources (such as office assignments which include PII – which we do not have access to or control) and analysis activities performed outside of our platform (we do not currently allow for external data imports or data merging within our platform).
While we can’t make definitive statements about how customers are utilizing this 100% anonymous data outside of our platform, I can provide assurance that in addition to the data we collect being non-identifiable, XY Sense data is also aggregated by space type in our analytics application/dashboards – this means authorized users in your organization would be viewing data about groups of desks, meeting rooms or offices in a given location/floor. Measuring ‘individual assets’ such as one desk or office is not something we provide dashboards views for.
9. Do XY Sense sensors comply with privacy laws in my area?
Yes. XY Sense is fully compliant with GDPR (Europe), CCPA (California), PDPA, HIPAA, the Australian Privacy Act, and other major global data-protection frameworks. The sensors are certified and approved for deployment in 27+ countries, including Australia, the UK, the EU, USA, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, and Japan. Because XY Sense sensors never capture or store personally identifiable information and only collect anonymous coordinate data through edge processing, the technology is privacy-compliant by design. Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) have been completed for every region in which XY Sense operates.
10. Can I see what data is being collected about the spaces I use?
Yes. Since XY Sense only collects anonymous X and Y coordinate data showing occupancy patterns—not personal information about individuals—you can be shown the type of data collected. The sensor output displays simple coordinate points indicating where people are located within a space at approximately 1 square foot accuracy, without any identifying information. For XY Sense Flex Sensors (sensors on a stand), QR codes are available at the base of units that link directly to privacy information. We encourage you to ask your workplace, facilities, or HR team if you’d like to see example sensor outputs that demonstrate the anonymous nature of the data.
Here is an example of XY Sense sensor output.
11. What does the data from XY Sense sensors actually look like?
The data consists of anonymous X and Y coordinates—essentially dots on a floor plan showing where people are located at any given time, accurate to about 1 square foot. This coordinate data is presented as charts, heat maps, and statistics showing space utilization metrics. For example, reports might show “Desk cluster A was utilized 68% of available hours this week” or heat maps displaying which areas of the floor are most frequently occupied. The data is numerical information about spaces and usage patterns, not information about people. Your company cannot identify who is in the space from this data.
12. Where is the data processed—on the sensor or in the cloud?
All occupancy data processing happens “at the edge,” meaning directly on the XY Sense sensor itself. Data is processed in real-time via proprietary machine learning algorithms, with each device securely processing information independent of other sensors. Through this edge processing, the sensor converts what it detects into anonymous X and Y ground point coordinates. Raw sensor images are never stored or transmitted—not even during setup or calibration. Only fully encrypted, anonymous coordinate data is then transmitted to the secure analytics platform for workplace insights. This edge processing approach provides the strongest possible privacy protection since raw sensor data is not stored and never leaves the device.
13. How is XY Sense data protected during transmission and storage?
XY Sense uses comprehensive encryption to protect data. All data is fully encrypted from the sensor to the cloud using the MQTT protocol and TLS 1.2/1.3 encryption over port 8883. Data is encrypted at rest in the cloud using AES-256 encryption, an industry-standard security measure. The application itself is secured via HTTPS/TLS 1.2 over port 443. Additionally, because only anonymous coordinate data is transmitted—never images or personally identifiable information—there is minimal privacy risk even in the unlikely event of a security breach.
14. Who can access the occupancy data from XY Sense sensors?
Access to XY Sense data is controlled through strict role-based permissions with regular access reviews. The XY Sense application supports OAuth-enabled single sign-on as well as 2-factor authentication. Only individually authorized team members have access to the analytics platform for reporting purposes. The platform offers a range of permission levels to control data access at an individual or team level. All interactions are logged and auditable. Regardless of an individual’s permission, raw sensor inputs are never stored or transmitted, so no one can view them—only anonymous, encrypted occupancy coordinate data is available through the platform.
15. What happens if a sensor malfunctions or is tampered with?
XY Sense monitors all sensors in real-time to alert on any abnormal behaviors or connection issues. If data transmission stops due to malicious activity or a fault, the monitoring team is notified immediately and an investigation begins. By design, even if a sensor were physically removed and opened, no images or personally identifiable information could be found on it—the sensors do not store or transmit any information containing personally identifiable information or images. All raw scene data is discarded immediately after on-device analysis. This architecture ensures that even in a worst-case scenario, there is no sensitive data available that could be compromised.
16. Who can I contact if I have additional questions or concerns about XY Sense sensors?
For questions about the XY Sense sensor system, including technical details, data usage, or privacy practices, please contact your facilities management team/workplace experience team. For questions about company policies related to workplace monitoring or data privacy, reach out to your HR department. Your workplace team can also connect you with XY Sense representatives who can provide additional documentation, show you example sensor outputs, or address specific privacy concerns. We’re committed to maintaining transparency about this technology and welcome your questions and feedback.
