It's no secret that people aren't going to the office as much as they used to.
Return-to-office rates stalled for most of 2023 as more white-collar workers settled into a routine of going to the office no more than three days a week.
Office badge swipes in the 10 biggest U.S. cities are at about 52% of what they were before the pandemic as of February 2024, according to data from Kastle Systems.
Perhaps no one has a better understanding of what's happening with offices — and the efforts to get employees to use them — than the people who design these buildings.
Andy Cohen and Diane Hoskins, co-CEOs and global co-chairs of the architecture and design firm Gensler, whose projects include Marriot's headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland and Google's newest office at St. John's Terminal in New York, which opened on Feb. 26.
The "biggest mistake" companies make when thinking about the office itself, and its role in enticing people back in, says Cohen, is not understanding what their employees actually want from the office.
"If you want people to come in, the office has to be a place people want to go, not a place they feel obligated to go," he explains.
Employees want different things from a workspace, and the pandemic has changed many people's working conditions and attitudes on the role of the office. Some might appreciate more collaborative spaces to socialize with co-workers, while others might look at the office as a quiet, focused place to work — but more often than not, Cohen says, employers will only consider some of these needs in their return-to-office plans.
"What many companies don't realize is that the office needs to give employees the space and resources for both collaborative and deep focus work, not one or the other," he explains.
Hoskins agrees, adding that some employers mistakenly think that adding a single amenity — say a cocktail bar or a game room — will be enough to lure employees back to the office, without soliciting their direct feedback on what they want, or need, in a workspace.
"What creates a great office experience, one that employees look forward to, is giving them a sense of choice," she explains. "That means offering a mix of communal and private spaces, so employees can work how they want to work, not just have the option to sit at their desk all day."
To make returning to the office more appealing to employees, Hoskins and Cohen recommend business leaders survey employees to better understand what they want from the office, and adjust the space accordingly — whether that means getting creative with dividers, repurposing conference rooms or using movable furniture to create more collaborative spaces.
The businesses that don't adapt to employees' evolving preferences and needs, says Cohen, could see their offices become obsolete. "Employers expect their employees to adjust [to returning to the office], yet the space hasn't changed at all since the pandemic," he adds. "If they don't change, they're going to become archaic. They'll be left in the dust."
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