5 battlegrounds reshaping the modern workplace

In the new world of work, are tech companies still on the cutting edge of workplace design?

New data from Density and Hassell suggests that even tech offices are struggling - average peak utilization in tech offices doesn't exceed 34%, wasting up to $40M per year on underused space.

To unpack these findings Density’s Director of Analytics, Annie Cosgrove, had a thought-provoking conversation with:

• Daniel Davis, Head of Research at Hassell
• José Latorre, Sr. Manager of Global Space & Occupancy Strategy at Netflix
• Phil Kirschner, Senior Expert at McKinsey & Company

In their discussion, the panelists surfaced five major points of tension in modern workplaces, and how they’re thinking about them. 

The new world of work is being forged every day on these battlegrounds: ‍

1. 2 vs. 3 days in office

Remember when we all trudged to the office five days a week? Those days are gone. Now, it's all about finding the sweet spot. Phil Kirschner from McKinsey & Company says:

"The battleground in terms of hybrid days is really between 2 and 3. Employees will come in 2 days a week without very much pressure at all. If you want 3, you have to earn 3, and 4 is kind of a nonstarter. If you want 3 days a week, it's gotta be worth it. Give me a return on that commute in a way that many offices still struggle with." 

This aligns with the finding that going from an “employee decides” policy to a 2 day in-office policy only increases utilization by 6% - not much at all. The 3 day in-office policy increases utilization by 17%, still not as big a lift as you’d expect.

This suggests that employees do what works best for them, which includes time in the office. But to convince employees to come in 3 days a week or more, companies have to make it worth their commute.‍

2. Me space vs. we space

Dedicated desks used to be a given in workplaces. Not anymore. In the new hybrid reality, employees often need to spend more time collaborating with colleagues - both in–person and distributed - and less time beavering away at a desk. Here’s what José Latorre says about how Netflix is handling this transition:

“In our legacy spaces, there was a higher emphasis on assigned seating, making sure everyone got a seat. That led to a lot of space dedicated to open-plan seating. We’ve found that by leveraging data like sensor data, attendance data, different types of data, we are able to challenge those assumptions a little bit and allow for more space to be dedicated for collaboration. Whether that’s enclosed or informal, but making sure that what we call “we space” gets more of the share of the office compared to the individual “me space.”” 

This battleground can be especially fraught - teams will claim they need desks for everyone, only to leave them open most of the time. We found that while open-plan areas take up 39% of floorplans, only 19% of this space is utilized – even at peak hours. Data is the key to navigating this political battleground without bias. 

3. Offices designed for a few things vs. trying to please everyone

Your office can't be everything to everyone. This has become even clearer as the variety of ways people work has become even more fragmented in recent years. Phil Kirschner from McKinsey & Company advocates for a targeted approach to office design:

"Define the purpose of why you have an office to begin with. What is that place supposed to do? It can't do everything. Pick the 3-5 things you want your office to be exceptional at, and make sure that they are a clear A."

Whether you want your office to be a great spot to host client meetings, enable focused work, or encourage collaboration, you need to design your workspace for that purpose. It’s time to choose: what's your office's superpower?‍

4. Measuring averages vs. extremes

The new ways of working require a new approach to measuring the workplace. While average utilization may have worked well in the past, when most people came in most days, companies today also need to consider the extremes.

At one end are the infrequent but important peaks. Think all-hands, quarterly on-site planning meetings, and other opportunities where big groups get together to align and collaborate. These peaks are incredibly important for the culture and productivity of teams but only show up as outlying blips when looking at utilization. José Latorre shares how Netflix thinks about these metrics:

“What we’ve done lately is to start looking at not only averages, but start to do some education around percentiles so we can understand some of the variance. We don’t necessarily see lower averages as bad news as long as we have those peaks that show that our offices are well-utilized when they’re needed.” 

At the other extreme is completely unused spaces, indicating opportunities for a better use of that space. Here’s what Latorre had to share about those: 

"We've started looking less at the overall daily peak and more at your totally unused seats… We're interested to know, are we leaving space completely unused during the day? If so, we start by addressing that."

Companies can turn to data for completely unused spaces to make more informed occupancy planning decisions. 

5. Flexible messaging vs. one size fits all

When it comes to change management in the workplace, one size does not fit all. The new approach? Keep it simple, keep it flexible, and make it personal. José Latorre shared how they approach change management at Netflix:

“Often, the language around change management assumes that we all work the same way and have the same behaviors. The messaging needs to be flexible so that it really resonates.

We find organic opportunities for change management versus “Welcome to the lunch & learn about how to behave in the workplace.” How can we integrate components of workplace change management into onboarding and be consistent around that? Can we do it in the town halls? Simplicity is key.”

Want more insights? Watch the webinar to learn the 5 reasons to rethink the office: