As companies push for office returns and employees cling to flexibility, the real opportunity may lie in reintegration—designing work so both our professional and personal selves can thrive together.
If you watched Severance—that eerie Apple TV series where employees surgically divide their work selves (“innies”) from their outside lives (“outies”)—you probably enjoyed it as the thoughtful sci-fi satire it is. But fast forward to today’s workplace—post-pandemic, mid-hybrid, and deep in corporate tug-of-war—and it’s starting to hit a little close to home.
The genius of Severance isn’t just in the shock of psychological division; it’s in the hope of reintegration: that moment when a character begins to blend their innie and outie into one whole person. That concept of reintegration just may be what the modern workforce is yearning for, too: a version of work-life where boundaries exist, but both halves are in conversation.
Achieving reintegration will be no easy feat, especially when companies like Apple, Meta, and Moderna are calling people back to the office and the built environment is scrambling to make it worth the trip (“earning your commute”).
The Office Was Everything… Until It Wasn’t
Before 2020, many of us were more “innie” than “outie.” Work hours bled into dinner hours. We built our identities around titles, commutes, and LinkedIn. The office wasn’t just a place, it was the place: where we showed ambition, where we formed friendships, and even where we found snacks and dry cleaning.
Then, COVID hit. Home became office. Pajamas became the new slacks. Almost overnight, that once-clear line between the innie and outie blurred.
For a while, it was liberating. Many found themselves reacquainted with family dinners, daylight walks, and kids who somehow grew up during those early pandemic years. Others found quiet joy in ditching the performative culture of the office. Productivity didn’t drop; for many industries, it even soared.
Welcome to the Hybrid Tug-of-War
Hybrid work was supposed to be the sweet spot: a post-pandemic middle ground where you could pop into the office for a brainstorm and still hit your kid’s soccer game by five. For many knowledge workers, it’s worked. Flexibility became the new currency of loyalty, and employees felt empowered to shape their own rhythms.
But for the C-suites of the world, the office still matters, a lot. Apple, Amazon, and Meta have implemented mandatory in-office days. Moderna wants its teams to collaborate in person. Commercial landlords are rolling out next-gen amenities like rooftop bars, meditation domes, pickleball courts, plunge pools, speakeasies, and even doggy daycare, all in an effort to make buildings unique destinations.
Some of it works. Some of it gathers dust.
The challenge isn’t the lack of cool spaces. It’s the deeper question: What actually makes people want to be there?
Reintegration isn’t about free cold brew; it’s about making the office meaningful again.
Life Sciences: Reintegration with a Lab Coat On
Nowhere is this tension more critical than in the life sciences sector. Unlike their purely digital peers, scientists and researchers don’t have the luxury of full remote work. You can’t do cell culturing on Zoom. You can’t run assays from your kitchen. Research, experimentation, and real-time collaboration with lab techs and instruments require presence.
Despite this in-person necessity, hybrid has reshaped the workflow. Bioinformaticians can crunch data remotely. Protocol reviews can happen over Teams. Scientists might not be in the lab five days a week, but their innie and outie personas are starting to blur in productive, if uneven, ways.
Still, the sector faces a harsh reality: life sciences real estate is sitting on unprecedented vacancy. What was once the most resilient asset class—durable, recession-proof, mission-critical—has hit a slowdown. VC funding has cooled, startups are extending runway, and space needs are shrinking or shifting.
In light of this economic reality, the question becomes: how do you build the lab of the future for a workforce that needs both in-person science and the freedom of flexibility?
Designing focused lab space adjacent to generation-aligned social spaces allows workers to step away to allow mental breaks, letting their outie selves be better balanced with their innies. Bright colors, textures/materials, biophilic elements, outdoor spaces, and unique amenities are geared towards making the worker simply feel good and motivated.
Reintegration as a Design Principle
Maybe reintegration is more than a sci-fi plot point; it may be a design philosophy for how we move forward.
For lab workers, reintegration could mean seamless transitions between heads-down data work at home and benchwork in highly adaptable, tech-connected lab environments. For developers, it might be rethinking lab space with built-in flexibility, converting dry to wet space, designing modular layouts that scale with shifting programs, or planning for the space to be a completely different use – aiming for future proofing the building.
For employers, it’s time to stop equating “presence” with “productivity” and start focusing on purpose. Why do people need to come in? What can they only do there? And how can the workplace amplify—not distract from—that work?
We’re past the point of “forcing” return. The future is about inviting it—through clarity, culture, and design that supports the human, whole self.
So, What Would an Innie and Outie Want in 2025?
If an employee did have a literal innie and outie today, what would each want from a modern workplace?
The Innie would want:
Purpose: If they’re clocking in with no idea why, give them meaningful, human-centric work.
Autonomy: Control over when and where to work, not just what to work on.
Recognition: Validation that their work matters—even if they’re not around to see the outcome.
The Outie Would Want:
Flexibility: The freedom to prioritize personal time, kids, travel, or passion projects.
Boundaries: No weekend Slack messages from the innie side. Clear start and stop times.
Mental Health: Time, space, and benefits that support emotional wellbeing and avoid burnout.
Together, they’d both demand a system that sees them as whole humans, not just functions: the crux of the hybrid promise.
Will the Innie and Outie Ever Be Friends?
Here’s the optimistic take: they already are. Hybrid work didn’t sever us; it cracked open the door to reintegration. We’re learning how to be full humans at work and home without amputating one side of our identity for the other.
But for that promise to stick, organizations must evolve: not just with policies and perks, but with empathy and infrastructure. Whether you’re a scientist in Cambridge, a lawyer in San Francisco, or a financial analyst in NYC, the new gold standard isn’t presence; it’s balance.
The reintegrated employee of 2025 wants flexibility and focus, solitude and community, a mission to rally around and a life to live outside of it. The future of work (and of life sciences) isn’t about splitting the self; it’s about stitching it back together.
That’s the kind of science we should all get behind.
Looking for deeper Severance connections? Read more here.
The Next Evolution: What ‘Severance’ Reveals About the Future of Work [Part I]
The Next Evolution: What ‘Severance’ Reveals About the Future of Work [Part II]
