Throughout 2023, office markets across the nation saw trends in hybrid and remote work, causing an increased number of vacancies across the board. Many companies have been rethinking how they interact with office spaces over the past year, and to get a clearer idea of how that might affect office spaces in 2024, The Registry sat down with Unispace’s Albert DePlazaola. As lead of the company’s strategy team, he works to understand what companies want out of their office spaces today.
Can you tell me a little about Unispace and the work you do there?
Unispace is a global leader in workplace strategy, design, and construction. Unispace is a part of Unispace Group, a portfolio of brands focusing on global strategy, design, and construction across offices, labs and life sciences facilities, sports venues, and retail spaces. Some of the biggest brands in the world are clients of Unispace Group, including Pernod Ricard, Hugo Boss, Biogen, Tata Consultancy Group, Boston Scientific, Eli Lilly, Orrick, Las Vegas Raiders, and University of Oregon, to name a few. Unispace creates people-centric spaces that spark brilliance, deepen connections, foster a sense of belonging, and propel success. Clients benefit from its integrated model across strategy, design and construction, as it results in shorter project timelines and cost efficiencies.
I lead the strategy team at Unispace. My team works with clients to understand the desired experience for employees, and then provide data driven recommendations around how the work environment delivers on that experience. To do this, we work with clients to understand their business strategy, organizational culture, brand, HR/return to office policies, technology and overall appetite for change.
In your opinion, what has been the most significant trend in office development during 2023?
I think the obvious trend is the normalization of the hybrid work model. It’s likely here to stay. The more nuanced trend around this is how organizations need to pivot to optimize hybrid models that work for the business and the employee. This can have implications for space, technology, workplace services, policies and benefits, and attraction and retention. The hybrid work model has brought (or sometimes forced) these stakeholders together because they are so interdependent. When they are not aligned, it can put significant stress on the business and typically leaves employees frustrated.
Which trends have been the most surprising to you?
The most surprising trend is the fact that leadership is increasingly out of touch with what employees want.
In our Global Workplace Insights report ‘Returning for Good,’ we saw significant differences between what employers or leadership think employees want, and how employees really feel about the workplace. When employers and employees were asked about critical workplace performance indicators such as productivity, innovation, creativity and the benefits of the workplace, considerable differences emerged.
When asked about the workplace and productivity:
- 58% of employees revealed that they struggle to effectively carry out their core job when in the office, while…
- 83% of employers indicate that the office is set up for staff to be productive
When asked about the workplace and innovation:
- 67% of employees said that their office enables them to be innovative, compared to…
- 81% of employers
When asked about the workplace and creativity:
- 67% of employees said that their office enables them to be creative, compared to…
- 81% of employers
When asked what employees dislike about returning to the office:
We believe these deltas are evidence of the “Paradox of Perception.” A condition where leadership’s perception of employee needs conflicts with what employees actually think or want. A general lack of empathy and understanding by leadership around desired employee experiences and how a workplace can and should deliver on such experiences not only results in poorly designed workspaces, but also amplifies an “us vs them” narrative. A workplace can be the most visible expression of a company’s culture and values, and when leadership gets it wrong, it simply reinforces the frustration, anxiety, and fear of those who have always been marginalized by modern workplace design – which are predominantly women, minorities, the LGBTQ+ population and introverts.
Do you see any of these trends carrying into the new year?
I think hybrid work is here to stay. The challenge moving forward is: how will organizations support this? Employees are increasingly pushing back against mandates, and there is little evidence that RTO mandates have any positive impact on productivity. Workspaces will likely shrink, but they will have to be reimagined and redesigned to support and enable new experiences and new work behaviors and outcomes.
Based on current market trends, what would you say is going to define office spaces in 2024?
We are seeing a lot of hospitality-based designs, which encourage employees to connect, interact, socialize, community build and collaborate. These were all performance gaps of remote working; a study in Nature last year found that virtual communication can curb creativity. We saw anecdotal examples of remote working having an impact on speed to market as well.
The office market has seen a larger shift in remote and hybrid work. How has this shift changed what companies are looking for in terms of office space?
Along with more hospitality spaces, we are seeing a need for high performing “Problem Solving” zones in a post-Covid work environment – which may seem counterintuitive. There is however, a need for employees, especially introverts, to enter a “flow” state, described well in Susan Cain’s book, “Quiet.” Flow is a psychological state where individuals focus on a single task, void of self-awareness. Introverts are often the most creative and imaginative, yet rarely have the right spaces in offices that provide respite for the quiet mind. In focus groups, participants state they can complete everyday tasks such as email and administrative work at home, but struggle with flow work because the Amazon delivery person demands a signature, or the dog needs to be fed. Innovation and creativity is not always a sole product of collaborative behavior. Problem solving and innovation zones are interdependent spaces that should reinvest in each other.
What opportunities do you see in the coming year, and how is Unispace preparing for the year ahead?
There is no silver lining associated with COVID, we all suffered, but if there is one externality, one unintended consequence related to workplace and design, it is that COVID served as the most impactful change management mechanism to demonstrate that alternative modalities of work have efficacy. We can and did work in ways we never intended, and COVID happened to be the unfortunate burning platform that forced those alternatives upon us.
At Unispace, we are investing considerably in research to test new workplace models and how well they perform. Historically, office performance was evaluated by occupancy. Now we think office performance is based on outcomes. We are working with clients to design and develop workplaces that create value where working from home cannot, specifically around problem-solving, innovation, and community building. These are drivers and outcomes that remain elusive for remote employees and virtual workers.
