Alternative Work Styles

The idea of a workplace means something very different today than it did five years ago. Even before the pandemic, offices were not at full capacity. While occupancy rates have rebounded from their low point in 2020, commercial building spaces are now being used only about 30% of the time. That reality creates an opportunity to rethink what the remaining office space looks like. Employees want a reason to leave the comfort of their homes and endure the commute to the office. They are looking for purposeful presence.

JLL’s Global Future of Work survey has explored the evolving world of corporate real estate since 2011. This year, it analyzes the key priorities, challenges, and strategies of more than 2,300 professionals and decision-makers from around the wold. Recent insights show that companies are adopting a cautiously positive outlook in this increasingly dynamic and ambiguous environment. With plans to increase and rebalance organizational headcount in the coming years, many are ready to invest in their real estate as they expect to increase their budget and footprint.

The decreasing amount of time researchers spend in their labs is changing research facility design and space allocation, with an increased need for lab support space, a more significant reliance on core facilities, the creation of additional write-up and data analysis environments, and the purposeful inclusion of collaboration spaces.

Highly accurate badging data generated by workers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., is giving space planners and administrators powerful new insights for making more efficient space planning decisions in the post-pandemic era. As the nation’s largest Department of Defense University Affiliated Research Center, the 450-acre campus consists of nearly 4 million sf of space, including cutting-edge cybersecurity, spacecraft, and robotics facilities. Badging data from APL’s 8,000-plus workers provides detailed information for comparing projected space needs with the hybrid utilization behaviors established during the COVID-19 pandemic. These new data-driven insights are now being used to inform decision-making for high-cost capital construction projects and short-term space planning initiatives. 

When the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), began to develop a new vision for its historic urban campus, they knew they wanted a high level of stakeholder engagement. The team that came together to work on the academic and research building called on elements of Lean construction, including Gemba walks and journey mapping, as part of design thinking, to empower users to co-create the spaces in which they will work. The new facility—a 310,000sf space in a dense urban environment—is scheduled for completion in 2028.

Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., is a highly collaborative organization at the forefront of both research and clinical care, with 20% of clinical faculty supporting research studies and 12,000 studies under way at any given time. A central paradigm of its translational research workplace is a “condo” model, where a group of investigators with a well-defined mission elect to share research space and equipment to foster collaboration and innovation. Now, a recent initiative is harnessing data in new ways to build upon and expand the power of the condo to advance Mayo Clinic’s mission for decades to come. 

Post-pandemic employees expect their workplaces to offer amenities similar to those they grew accustomed to while working from home: access to outdoor spaces, the opportunity to choose between working from home and in the office, areas for individual and team work, and the ability to focus on their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing with amenities such as a gym, quiet lounges with technological support for laptops, and nearby places to socialize.

The sudden pivot to virtual learning during the COVID pandemic has changed higher education for the foreseeable future. Interviews with more than 250 students, professors, and space planners at more than 100 campuses around the world reveal that 18- to 24-year-old students missed being on campus and are glad to be back. But they have changed; the institutions have changed; and campuses don’t quite fit anyone’s needs anymore. Learn the 10 insights from these interviews that can help shape the future of your campus design.

In March 2021, Citi CEO Jane Fraser announced a new hybrid work model requiring most Citi employees to work in the office at least three days per week. On the campus of Citi’s global operational headquarters, the recently completed renovation of a centrally located amenities building supports this initiative with a coworking environment incorporating a wider array of space types that support employees in face-to-face work during the time they spend on campus. And it’s having some unforeseen benefits, too. 

Incubators are essential to the development of many innovative ventures, but it’s in the stage between venture and company where many going concerns stop going. That’s when they don’t know exactly how much space or how many people they will need, and how fast the operation can grow. If they lock into a spot, they can end up choking on the lack of space or drowning in more space than they need or can ultimately afford. This is especially true of research labs.

University Health Network of Toronto, Canada’s largest research healthcare system, increased space efficiency and improved employee morale by reengineering its practices and workspaces to accommodate a hybrid work model. Of the 6 million sf occupied by the network, 1 million sf was office space, 200,000 sf of which was used by people who could be hybrid workers. The transition required a concentrated change management strategy, an investment in technology, and a reconfiguration of space and the way it was managed.

Now that we know working from home works, how can employers entice workers back into the office? The answer lies in pilot studies and data analysis that focus on the collaborative, activity-based work spaces that make the commute worth their while.

A healthy work environment—with good air, good water, the right kind of light, and a comfortable temperature—is not just a nice-to-have perk. Studies show that attending to "cognitive ergonomics"—how a workspace impacts the occupants’ ability to think—can improve cognitive performance by as much as 50 percent.

The post-pandemic science facility needs to be configured to adapt to the changing demands of both the research and the researchers. The balance between offices, collaboration spaces, and labs must be fluid enough to change with the science. And organizations must accommodate growing expectations for a hybrid work environment that provides staff with an acceptable work-life balance.

The University of Toronto was able to repurpose leased space in an off-campus office tower into biosafety research labs for its Temerty Faculty of Medicine by implementing innovative HVAC solutions and modular design. Filtered ductless fume hoods obviated the need to vent exhaust up 20 stories to the roof, and a flexible floorplan can accommodate fluctuating research teams.