Too many office strategies are still stuck on the wrong questions, such as “Is this space built for the job or the person?” But questions like these miss the bigger picture.
Office design today is not about roles or individual preferences; it’s about intent. Why are people walking through the door at all?
With 64 percent of companies embracing hybrid work, we are well past the day of assuming people will come in just because it is Monday. If you can’t explain what the office is meant to support, the space probably isn’t doing much in the first place.
Showing up Does not Equal Getting Work Done
There was a time when being at your desk was the gold standard for productivity. But now? Results matter more than presence. A report from January 2024 states that 52 percent of global employees said they would give up pay to keep flexibility. Additionally, companies that trust their people to manage their own time tend to see better outcomes across the board. What this shift tells us is simple. Coming into the office shouldn’t be a proxy for contribution.
If the metric is performance — not physical attendance — then the workplace needs to support meaningful, high-value work, not just seating charts.
And that leads directly to the next point: just being in the same room isn’t collaboration.
Don’t Confuse Proximity with Connection
One of the biggest myths still floating around corporate boardrooms is that in-person presence equates to innovation. It doesn’t. A study analyzing over 4,800 workplace “weak ties” found that those spontaneous hallway or breakroom moments — the ones that often lead to big ideas — actually disappeared when people were forced into arbitrary office days without structure.
Proximity only matters if the time spent together is intentional and meaningful. Otherwise, you’re just burning hours under fluorescent lights. Nearly half of job seekers today are actively seeking hybrid roles that offer meaningful in-person interaction, rather than mandatory attendance.
Without purpose, the commute feels pointless, and people are walking away.
People Plan Their Office Days — So Should You
The best-performing teams aren’t showing up randomly. They plan. They anchor in-office days around workshops, mentoring sessions, and creative sprints — activities that are more effective when done face-to-face. Meanwhile, they save solo tasks for home, where 77 percent of people say they’re more productive anyway.
This shift has changed how people think about the office. Autopilot is off. Employees are looking for value when they step into the building. If that value isn’t there, attendance becomes a box-checking exercise — or worse, a reason to leave. In Scotland, more than 80,000 workers resigned over in-office mandates they saw as unnecessary or tone-deaf.
It’s not the Office; it’s what You Do with it
The office still has a place, but it’s no longer the default. Instead, it’s one of many tools in the toolkit.
Leaders need to stop asking how many days people should come in and start asking why they should come in at all. The goal isn’t to fill a calendar; it’s to match space with the kind of work that thrives in person.
One Boston CEO scrapped rigid return-to-office rules in favor of a “FOMO strategy,” making office days so valuable that people actually want to be there. The result? Higher engagement and less pushback from staff.
When companies clearly define which activities benefit from in-person interaction, such as onboarding, high-stakes problem-solving, and cultural rituals, they stop chasing compliance and start building alignment.
Experience is the Differentiator
A well-designed office used to be the competitive edge. Now, it’s just the baseline. What matters more is how the space is used. Gallup’s research found that when companies actively engage employees in shaping hybrid work policies, engagement rises by 60 percent, yet only 11 percent of people say their employer actually asked for input.
Workplace experience isn’t about fancy amenities or ping pong tables; it’s about whether the space supports the work that needs to get done. Curation matters. Resetting spaces based on the day’s goals, team needs, and project cycles turns the office into a strategic asset, not a sunk cost.
Design for Connection, not Control
When people come in, they want to connect with the people they actually collaborate with, not just be near a bunch of strangers in the same building. That’s typically a core group of 6–15 people, not the entire organization.
And they’re watching how leadership handles this shift. In the UK, nearly 48 percent of professionals say they’d consider quitting if forced back into the office full-time without good reason.
The takeaway? If you’re still designing your office strategy around visibility and control, you’re playing the wrong game.
Closing Thoughts: Start with Purpose
The job versus person debate is outdated. The real question is, what’s the purpose of being in the room together? When office strategies start by identifying what’s truly better done in person, they get buy-in instead of backlash.
Design for purpose. The rest will follow.
