The power of nature in the workplace with Brett Hautop

Brett Hautop, former VP of Workplace at LinkedIn, is passionate about designing the best environments for employees.

An image of a man and a woman having a conversation face to face on a patio with palm trees in the background.

Brett Hautop, a workplace consultant and former VP of Workplace at LinkedIn, is passionate about designing the best environments for employees. His strategy focuses on using the outdoors to create spaces that feel more human and relatable than traditional sterile offices.

The recuperative powers of nature are well documented, and Brett's own experiments have shown that this applies to working outdoors as well. Time spent working outside consistently leaves employees feeling energized and motivated rather than drained. This makes outdoor workspaces a powerful recruitment and retention tool that's far more effective than traditional amenities companies use to incentivize workers.

"We found very quickly that if [employees] spent two hours indoors [and] two hours outdoors...it was tremendous, the difference between being indoors and outdoors, always leaning towards how much more positive it was to be outdoors, how much more energy people felt like they had, how much better they retained knowledge and information," he says. "When people come to the office we want them to leave saying, ‘I can't imagine not having come in today. I got so much out of being here.’”

Tags:

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

Time spent working outside consistently leaves employees feeling energized and motivated rather than drained.
Outdoor workspaces can be a powerful recruitment and retention tool that are far more effective than traditional amenities.
Brett's strategy focuses on using the outdoors to create spaces that feel more human and relatable than traditional sterile offices.
DisruptCRE founder shares how corporate real estate is changing

DisruptCRE founder shares how corporate real estate is changing

Companies are moving employees from underutilized offices into "space as a service” options with utilization data.

Watch now

Most recent

What is a good office space utilization rate?

What is a good office space utilization rate?

A useful utilization target depends on the space, denominator and busiest-day needs. Learn how to set a target your workplace can act on.

Looking for an occupancy analytics platform to optimize your office space?

Looking for an occupancy analytics platform to optimize your office space?

Choose a platform around the space decision, sensor coverage and reporting workflow. Use a practical pilot to test the evidence before a rollout.

How do you manage hot desking in a hybrid office?

How do you manage hot desking in a hybrid office?

Plan shared desks around actual demand, make the rules easy to follow, and measure availability alongside employee experience.

How can radar sensors help optimize office space?

How can radar sensors help optimize office space?

Measure how rooms and desk neighborhoods are used, test a layout change, and compare results before committing to a larger redesign.

Explore other Density Products

Atlas

A visual insights dashboard that tells you how your space is performing.

Learn more

Atlas for Workplace

Insights for the workplace that help you cut costs and deliver better spaces.

Learn more

Live Wayfinding

A real-time map of available spaces, built for employees.

Learn more

Density Advisory

Your partner in turning complex workplace data into actionable strategy.

Learn more