We embedded in a company to find out
How do you create a workplace that people want to work in?
By RADOSTINA PURVANOVA
Drake University, Alanah Mitchell – Drake University (The Conversation) I t’s been _ve years since the pandemic lockdowns of 2020 disrupted the traditional of_ce workplace.
For a while, it seemed COVID-19 killed the of_ce.
Companies are now returning to the of_ce in ever greater numbers.
As professors who have researched remote work and collaboration for decades, we have our counterarguments. But there are lessons to be learned from what we are calling an “of_ce-forward” approach, where companies are encouraging employees to work from the of_ce most of the time.
Back to (field) work
We studied an of_ce-forward company headquartered in the Midwest with multiple satellite of_ces across the U.S. before the pandemic, during lockdown, and as it navigated the return-to-of_ce landscape.
We embedded ourselves within the company for just over two years and conducted _eld observations, focus groups and one-on-one interviews with a total of 56 employees. We were struck by how employees talked about their place of work: “This is my place. I feel very taken care of here.”
“Every time I come in, I feel welcomed.”
“It is such a welcoming place to come back to work every day.”
These comments speak to the positive culture of this company. But they also hint at something really interesting: Employees may see the of_ce space as a welcoming place to be.
This is signi_cant because research across disciplines – from anthropology to organizational science – has shown that people develop attachment to places, not spaces.
Think about a house versus a home.
A house is a structure; a home is a place of community.
And so, while the of_ce is not a home, we learned that an of_ce-forward strategy can be successful if employers transform their workspaces into workplaces, or into places of community. Here are three transformation tactics we discovered:
1. Provide space for place
Can the of_ce support community? Can the workspace be a workplace?
Our research shows that employees see the of_ce as a positive place when it meets their needs. The more goals people can accomplish in a space, the more attached they feel to it. As one employee told us: “If you want to work independently, there’s a space for that. If you want to collaborate with others, there are spaces for that. If you want to eat lunch with 50 people, you can do that.
Or, if you just want to have, like, a one-on-one, you can do that as well.
There is exibility, just depending upon your mood, and maybe what you need to accomplish that day.”
We think this shows the value of redesigning “spaces” as “places” that meet multiple work-related and human needs.
We also documented the importance of providing a workstation for every employee. It’s simple: Humans are territorial. If you can’t put a picture of your family on your desk, you feel stripped of your humanity.
An employee shared: “I know a lot of companies make you bounce around. Sounds terrible to me. Here, I have my little cubicle, and I love that.”
Not to mention the huge inconvenience of having to truck your stuff – even your mug and your mouse – to and from the of_ce every day.
Desk-sharing is antithetical to place attachment because it treats people like cogs.
2. Pass the place-making baton to workers
People are the ones who turn spaces into places. To accomplish this, some critical mass of people must use the physical infrastructure together.
The company we studied imagined its of_ce as a social – not just a work – arena. It dreamed up all sorts of engagement opportunities. It hosted breakfasts and lunches, had movie nights, invited food trucks and ice cream vans, threw silent dance parties, and more.
Employees told us they enjoyed both “the informal, organic interactions when I go down to get coffee in the morning” and the “energy I feel when there are events in the of_ce.” Infusing social opportunities of all shapes and sizes into the of_ce means people are making memories in the of_ce together. And this means they are building community.
But this company went further.
It passed the place-making baton.
Employees could personalize the space. One team installed a minigolf course; another painted a mural on an of_ce wall in the center of the building. Employees used the space how and when they wanted to. Some did walking meetings on the treadmills; others played video games after lunch.
Most importantly, employees hosted their own activities in the of_ce.
We don’t just mean baby showers and such; we mean inviting the board of a nonpro_t for a meeting at the of_ce or inviting a group of students for an of_ce tour. Turning space-users into place-makers means people develop a sense of shared ownership of the space-turned-place. No wonder we kept on hearing possessive language: “There’s a lot of pride in the fact that this is our place” and “This is a building of the people, to put it in a slogan-y way.”
The of_ce had become a place of community.
3. Use technology to create community
Technology is an integral part of the post-pandemic workplace. With increased exibility, employees aren’t in the of_ce all the time, even in companies with in-person policies.
Since 2022 a number of companies – some recent examples include Amazon, AT& T, Tesla and others – have implemented strict in-person requirements, suggesting that technology is disruptive to of_ce community. But technology can be a place-maker. It can virtually extend the sense of community from the company of_ce to the home of_ce.
The company we studied ensured that employees continued to feel a connection to the of_ce when working from home during the pandemic.
Executives created videos, human resources staff created newsletters and mailed company swag and treats to employees’ homes, and team leaders hosted virtual events and games to keep everyone connected.
Even after the pandemic, the company built Zoom rooms conducive to hybrid team meetings where all employees could feel present. It created branded virtual backgrounds and added branding to their virtual meeting rooms and software systems to remind of the of_ce. It even hired an intern to post updates on company happenings on the company’s social media channels. The result?
We heard this: “I feel welcome in this virtual of_ce, too!”
The prize of it all
Place-making works, but it doesn’t work for everyone. In our research, most employees were what we call “place-attached” before the pandemic. But after the pandemic, some had lost their sense of connection to the of_ce and the sense of community they used to feel there. These place-detached employees felt “I’m just there to be there” and “The touchy-feely is not where I get my value from.” We estimate that about 30 percent of the post-pandemic workforce at this company now feels disconnected from the company culture and the emphasis on being in the of_ce for work.
But considering how many people discovered during the pandemic that they prefer to work from home, 30 percent is actually quite a low number.
The surprise – for us, at least – was that about 70 percent of employees in the company we studied remained attached to their of_ce space in 2025. In other words, 7 in 10 continue to _nd community in the of_ce.
Our research unpacks this abstract concept further: What does “_nding community” mean? What outcomes does it translate into?
The answer is that place-attached employees experience intrinsic satisfaction from of_ce work. “It’s like going to the gym,” one employee told us. “It’s hard to go, but the energy here is so much higher.”
They feel more embedded in the company’s social fabric: “Grabbing a cup of coffee, just talking to your colleagues, makes you feel connected.”
They feel more productive: “I feed off other people’s energy in the of_ce.”
They feel seen: “We work hard, but we celebrate each other here.”
And the big one – they derive a sense of meaningfulness and purpose: “Getting into work, it’s like someone needs me, I have a place to go, a place of purpose.”
And so, contrary to our own preconceived notions as remote work researchers about the bene_ts of remote work, we learned that of_ce-forward workplaces need to be a part of the post-pandemic workplace mix. While some employees value work from home, others value working from the of_ce. What we hope employers learn from our research is that for an of_ce-forward approach to work, workspaces must transform into workplaces, or into places of community.
The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. This article is republished under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article at https:// theconversation.com.
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