Five costly workplace design traps that waste 30-40% of your investment

Organizations sign leases, select systems, and commit to workplace designs under pressure while uncertainty looms. This session identifies five traps that force organizations to spend 30-40% of their investment undoing recent decisions. Magaret Serrato reveals real-world examples where smart institutions fell into these traps and demonstrates scenario planning frameworks that protect against multiple futures. She delivers specific warning signs that signal each trap before resources are committed, provides data-driven language for advocating with leadership when decisions drive toward these pitfalls, and equips space planners with immediately applicable decision frameworks. Rather than predicting an unpredictable future, she shows how to design workplace strategies that remain viable across multiple outcomes, reducing risk while maintaining flexibility for RTO, hybrid work, and evolving space utilization goals.