How people use the office has changed, and with it the ways that companies have long tracked productivity and built their corporate culture.

This has put leaders under pressure to create experiences for employees that complement, and in some ways even compete with, the comforts of home. As a new balance emerges, office design is witnessing one of the biggest rethinks in decades.

We spoke to Rémi Calvayrac, Head of Work Dynamics France and Head of PDS France, BeNeLux & Nordics at JLL, and Adrian Davidson, EMEA Head of Design at Tétris, to find out how the “hybrid enablement challenge” is affecting the workplace.

Rémi Calvayrac: Companies are becoming less insular. They’re developing more of a sharing economy that considers social value. They’re seeking connections with local neighborhoods. For example, can we open our restaurant or gym to the public at evenings or weekends? It’s tricky, because of security issues, especially cyber security.

You can see the shift in the investor side, too, with many more mixed-use developments. Adaptability is crucial as we can’t predict the next 30 years, we need to plan for agility.

Adrian Davidson: Certainly there’s more mindfulness of sustainability, not designing spaces for single use and utilization of the circular economy - repurposing buildings, furniture and materials.

Companies have a willingness to be more inventive, they’re starting to engage and open up to show a friendly face to the city and the public. It’s more of a retail mindset that showcases brand.

We’re already working with some clients who want to use private spaces for public benefit and no doubt we’ll see more of that in future.