Future of Office Spaces

Zoom, of all organizations, understands distributed work. But like every company with an office lease, they’re trying to figure out how to make the best use of that investment. In-person time still matters, but real estate costs are no longer formulaic. So how can companies make more data-driven decisions about what to do with offices? Here are 3 metrics Atlassian uses to make sure we’re spending on real estate in a smart way: 1. Cost-per-visit: How much does it cost each time an employee visits an office? (Divide the total cost of operating the office by the total number of visits in a quarter; compare your cost per visit from pre to post pandemic, and flag any office where the cost per visit is 3x higher than pre-pandemic) 2. Visitor Engagement: How many employees come into an office and for what purpose? Look at what type of work they’re doing (collaborative or deep, individual work), how often they’re coming in (frequency based on anonymized IP addresses), and if they’re local or traveling in for an offsite. 3. Utilization: Do you have the too much square footage? (Divide average daily number of visits to an office by the capacity of that office — to find capacity, assume 150 sq ft per person / total square footage) We used these metrics to reduce our office footprint in some places, and grow our footprint in others. By continuously monitoring our office ROI, we’re able to offer employees a cost-efficient place to collaborate, without mandating in-office attendance.

Stop seeing employees as faceless figures. Start acknowledging them as unique individuals. That’s how you create vibrant and engaged workplace environments. Here’s how you can lead: ✅ Define collective values: ↳ Work together to create core principles everyone can align with. ↳ Let these values influence decisions and actions across the board. ✅ Encourage open dialogue: ↳ Create regular spaces for all team members to voice their thoughts. ↳ Embrace feedback and implement it where possible. ✅ Foster shared moments: ↳ Plan events, challenges, or volunteer opportunities that connect people. ↳ Strengthen bonds through common experiences. ✅ Highlight individual efforts: ↳ Acknowledge both the large and small contributions. ↳ Show your team that they are truly appreciated. ✅ Prioritize development: ↳ Launch mentorship programs and provide career advancement opportunities. ↳ Help people grow personally and professionally. What to avoid as a leader: ❌ Enforcing participation: ↳ Avoid pressuring people into social activities. ↳ Let relationships develop naturally over time. ❌ Overlooking remote workers: ↳ Ensure your efforts to build community include those working remotely. ↳ Keep everyone connected. ❌ Skimping on resources: ↳ Don’t cut corners on building culture. ↳ Invest the necessary time and resources to make it successful. ❌ Relying solely on top-down approaches: ↳ Don’t assume leadership has all the answers. ↳ Empower everyone to help shape the community. ❌ Ignoring differences: ↳ Stay away from one-size-fits-all solutions. ↳ Be mindful of diverse needs and cultural differences. See your team for who they are, not just what they contribute. Lead the way you wish someone had led you. ♻️Repost for those needing to hear this. ➕Follow Justin Bateh, PhD for more. Want to level up your management and leadership game? Try my free newsletter:  https://lnkd.in/e9xftTyU

Last year, we rolled out an experimental company perk: Ethena employees can expense up to $100/month towards bonding activities with each other. Why? Because even though a good chunk of the workforce has gone remote, employees still crave a sense of community. And as many of us in the HR/People space have had to learn the hard way: *More* virtual happy hours and pizza parties isn't going to cut it. So what's a People professional to do? Explore new and experimental ways to provide the sense of community employees want — while keeping things sustainable for both the People team and the company budget, of course. So how did our little experiment shake out? - The response was instantaneous. All across the company, our location-based Slack channels started pinging with employees eager to organize get-togethers: Dinner, rock climbing, trips to the nail salon for a fun mani-pedi. We've even opened the perk up to virtual bonding activities, i.e. a virtual cooking class with a personal chef. - Our employees are leveraging this perk in exactly the ways we hoped they would. So far, employees all across the US and Canada have met up to: Watch a Broadway play, go out for tapas, spend a day canoeing — and more! - The sense of camaraderie and inspiration around this perk has been incredible to watch. People are sharing pictures of their meetups on Slack, getting others excited about arranging get-togethers for their own local groups, and showing us as a company the many, varied ways of building team culture and employee satisfaction. And before you ask: No, we're not overly prescriptive about it. If the money is going towards hanging out with someone (or several someones) at the company, we tell our employees to go ahead and expense it. Although this is just one of many efforts we've continued to make towards fostering a sense of community at work, it's one that has stood out for the flexibility it allows employees to connect in the ways that work best for them without requiring an incredible lift from the People team. What are your favorite ways of building community at work?

What if we stopped thinking about office buildings as real estate and started thinking about them as hotels? Jamie Hodari's $800M vision: I asked Jamie Hodari: What would you do with a sad, empty Class B office building? His answer? Scrap everything you know about office buildings. It's time to run them like hotels. Not just with concierge desks and fancy lobbies. With an entirely different operating model. Here's what Jamie proposes: Option 1: "Hotel-style productized workplace" Turn the entire building into a flex space where: • It's 80% built out already • You take what you need (5K or 50K sq ft) • The building runs everything for you • There's a GM, not a property manager • Every experience feels seamless Option 2: "Building nerve center" Convert lower floors into a powerhouse that: • Functions as the building's engine • Houses all shared conference rooms • Provides flex space for everyone • Runs programming for all tenants • Supports traditional leases upstairs This isn't about better design. It's about a fundamentally different approach. Most office owners are still playing the wrong game: Traditional owners focus on: • Marble lobby upgrades • Flashy building amenities • Leasing broker relationships • Asset management metrics • Rent per square foot The winners care about: • Operational excellence • Experience programming • Tenant service levels • Daily user satisfaction • Value beyond four walls The results speak volumes: Tenants will pay more for: • Less space they control • More services they receive • Better experiences for employees • Simplified real estate decisions • A building that works for them Here's why this matters: For Class B buildings with: • Location challenges • Dated infrastructure • Competition disadvantages • Lower leasing velocity • Pricing pressure This isn't an incremental improvement. It's completely rewriting the rules. As Jamie told me, it's the Malcolm Gladwell basketball strategy: "When you're David fighting Goliath, don't try to meet them on their terms." What has an office building done that you loved?

Did you know that over 80% of employees are at risk of burnout this year, according to Mercer’s 2024 Global Talent Trends report? With stress and anxiety on the rise, healthcare experts are increasingly prescribing nature as a remedy. So, why aren’t we embracing the healing power of nature in our workplaces? Studies show that even simple changes—like adding plants to the workspace—can boost productivity by 15% and help reduce illness and sick leave, with improvements ranging from 20% to over 60% in some cases. In honour of #WorldMentalHealthDay, here are 3 quick, easy ways to bring some more nature into your workplace: 🍃 Take it outside: Swap a boardroom meeting for a walking meeting. Fresh air + movement = clearer thinking and better ideas. 🏃♀️ Micro nature breaks: Encourage mini-breaks that get people moving and outdoors. One company I know even locks people out of their computers for 5 minutes every hour to make this happen. 🌵 Bring the outside in: Add plants, natural light, and nature-inspired designs to boost mood and productivity. If we want teams to thrive, we need to design environments that do more than support work—they need to support people. How are you bringing nature into your team’s day-to-day? #NatureForWellbeing #MentalHealthMatters #Leadership

I've spoken to 4,000+ companies about remote work since March 2020 Here are the most common things I've heard 👇 1. 🏢 HQ Obliteration: Return to office has stopped, companies have cut back the real estate they could, and will cut a lot more as leases expire. The majority of workers will work remotely at least part-time and the amount will grow 2. ⭐️ Access talent: The first reason they are going remote-first is simple – it lets them hire more talented people. Rather than hiring the best person in a 30-mile radius of the office, they can hire the best person in the world for every role 3. 💰 Cut costs: The second reason is because it makes them more cost-efficient. Rather than spending $10K-$20K per worker a year on office space they can provide a worldclass remote setup for less than $1,000 a year 4. 🌐 Universal problems: doesn’t matter the size of the organization, every company is dealing with the same thing. How do we operate as a global business? Equipping teams and managing assets is a huge pain point 5. 🏭 ESG Considerations: many companies care massively about the environmental impact eradicating the office – and the commute – has. 108 million tons of Co2 less every year. Boards are looking here as well 6. ❤️ Quality of life: companies also know they don’t need workers to waste 2 hours a day commuting to sit in an office chair for 8 hour. Companies have seen reducing commute frequency leads to happier more productive workers 7. 🚀 Outcomes vs. Time: the measure of performance in the office is how much time you spend sat in your seat. The measure of performance while working remotely has to be output. Companies are moving slowly here 8. 🎡 Hybrid Conflict: what companies and workers think hybrid means are two different things. Workers think it is being able to work remotely whenever they want. Companies think it is telling workers when they must attend. Big problem 9. 🛑 Bad Software: companies continue to use software and tooling designed for in-office teams causing issues for distributed workers. New tools developed by remote-native startups are emerging but not being adopted fast enough 10. 🔐 Tech & Security: in the old world the edge from a security perspective was the office, now it's every device. This creates big security risk and vulnerabilities as devices are lost. Companies lack good solutions

"We stopped talking about return to office and started talking about reattaching." — Ryan Anderson, MillerKnoll Stress and burnout continue to grow and building engagement at work has taken a distant back seat to the continued drive for efficiency. Recent Upwork research reveals a troubling trend around AI: heavy users are becoming emotionally disconnected from their teams -- they actually trust AI more than their colleagues. What if, instead, we took some of that time back and invested in relationships? As Ryan put it "looking at AI as a way of reinvesting time savings in more relational human activities." The solution isn't just getting bodies in seats. It's designing spaces that strengthen human relationships. His team at MillerKnoll has identified what works in "relationship-based design": 🏢 Cafes with intention: Different table heights and seating arrangements that give people "permission to go meet someone new"—from quick corridor intercepts to intimate booth conversations. 📺 Meeting spaces for equity: Moving away from "Death Star-like" conference rooms to inclusive spaces where everyone has clear sight lines, whether remote or in-person. 🚪 Private offices reimagined: Designs that invite people in rather than create power distance—even executive offices can build relationships if you're intentional. Anderson's insight: successful workplace design is "50% space, 50% engagement." If people understand that a space is designed to help them connect and learn from each other, they'll actually use it that way. 👉 Read on for more in-depth #workplace design research: https://lnkd.in/d6fDvugg How are you designing your workplace to strengthen relationships, not just support tasks?

8 ways Gen Z is already transforming the workplace. (Most companies aren't ready for it) I've taught them and coached them. They are demanding what we all deserve. If you are hiring, you better be prepared. Here's what they bring to the table: 1) Digital Natives 💻 ↳ They're raising the bar on tech ❌ Old systems and clunky processes won't cut it ✅ Companies that use systems wisely will win talent 2) Work-Life Balance⚖️ ↳ They won't sacrifice their personal lives for work. ❌ 9-5 in the office is a huge turn-off ✅They're pushing for flexible hours and hybrid/remote work 3) Mental Health Matters 🧠 ↳ They're talking about mental health and take it seriously ❌ Leaders with "suck it up" attitudes will lose talent ✅ Leaders who respect the whole person will gain allegiance 4) Diversity as a Default 🌈 ↳ They're the most diverse generation ever ❌ Homogeneous leadership is a red flag ✅They want to see workplaces that look like them 5) New Rules of Engagement 📱 ↳ They want fast, clear, and digital-first communication. ❌ They won't read endless email chains, and don't answer the phone ✅ They need unambiguous directions and super clear expectations 6) Purpose Over Paychecks 🎯 ↳ They're choosing jobs based on values, not just money ❌ Lip service to doing good a few times a year isn't enough ✅ Real community engagement and investment matters 7) Hierarchy Shakers 📊 ↳ They prefer flat structures and minimal meetings ❌ Protocols and gate-keepers ✅ Direct access, efficiency and impact are their game 8) Always Be Learning 📚 ↳ They want to grow, and fast. ❌ Days of slogging away in training classes before they can work ✅ Self-paced instruction and support for continued learning The future is here. Gen Z is leading the way. I'm rooting for them! What's been your experience working with Gen Z so far? Tell us in the comments👇 ♻️ Repost to help others manage multi-generational workplaces ➕ Follow Sarah Baker Andrus for more career and workplace insights

Gen Z isn’t just asking for more flexibility at work. They’re asking for connection. And they’re hungry for it—literally. A major new global study from Compass Group and Mintel across 30,000 employees just revealed that 78% of Gen Z employees place a high value on social connection in the workplace. More than half said they would consider leaving their job if they felt lonely. What stood out most in the study wasn’t just the data—it was the role of food. Yes, food. The research shows that food is no longer just fuel at work—it’s a facilitator of belonging. From café-style coffee corners and wellness-focused cafeterias to snack stations in reading nooks and music lounges, Gen Z is demanding that the office be reimagined to encourage spontaneous interaction and meaningful connection. This hit home for me. For the past ten years, I’ve hosted hundreds of experiences that use food as a tool to bring people together. No titles, no small talk—just gratitude, storytelling, and shared humanity. And without fail, someone always says, “This is what I’ve been missing.” Gen Z is simply saying it out loud—and they’re saying it with urgency. Only 29% of Gen Z employees in unsocial workplaces feel connected to their company’s goals. Only 14% plan to stay long-term if the culture lacks real human connection. In contrast, those who take regular, intentional breaks are 52% happier than those who only stop when they’re burnt out. What’s clear is this: the companies that prioritize human connection—who create space for people to pause, gather, and be seen—will be the ones who win the future. Because this generation of employees isn’t just working for a paycheck. They’re working for purpose, people, and places where they feel like they belong. Sometimes, the most strategic thing you can do for your business is invite someone to coffee. Or better yet—dinner. Read the full study in the comments below!

Yoga, meditation, pizza parties, and smoothie bars often get a bad rap—or become easy scapegoats—for ineffective wellness strategies. But these activities can support well-being when used alongside deeper organizational efforts. Real change only happens when organizations tackle the core drivers of burnout and embed well-being into their core values and culture. This includes: • Fair workloads and staffing levels to prevent chronic overwork • Clear roles and expectations to reduce confusion and stress • Psychological safety so employees feel comfortable speaking up • Supportive leadership that models healthy boundaries • Flexible schedules and work options where possible • Opportunities for career growth, learning, and personal development • Effective communication and alignment to reduce unnecessary stress • Access to mental health resources and peer support networks Sustainable and holistic well-being isn’t served by isolated activities or “wellness programs.” It requires building a culture of joy, purpose, and connection where people feel valued and empowered to thrive in their work and life. Have you seen organizational cultures that get this balance right? #JustOneHeart #Wellness #Leadership #Culture