Four ways to refresh the office for hybrid working

One challenge is right-sizing the corporate footprint. Early hybrid programs often focused on collaboration-first initiatives. Outcomes typically included a reduction of the number of individual workstations available and an increase in the availability of collaboration spaces, with the potential to shrink the footprint. Organizations investing in workplace redesigns tended to focus on collaborative and social spaces on the premise that the opportunity to interact with colleagues was the dominant reason to come to a corporate office.

However, a more nuanced understanding of daily work shows that individual workspaces are just as important as collaboration and social spaces. The lack of quiet and focused spaces, and the need for individual workplaces, during weekly occupancy peaks is a continued challenge across all sectors and industries. JLL’s occupancy benchmarking research shows that lack of choice of space, privacy and individual workstation quality along with quiet, focused work areas are the workplace factors that are most reported to negatively impact performance.