Hybrid Work Demands a Refresh. Here's How Our Own Office Design Measures Up

Mansueto Ventures, the publisher of both Inc. and Fast Company, is headquartered in downtown Manhattan and currently has more than 200 employees. Since September 2022, the approximately 146 commuting employees have been required to work in the office on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  

But after more than 15 years in the space, the office needed a refresh, says Randy Davis, executive director of facilities and office services at Mansueto Ventures: "It no longer functioned to meet all of our business objectives." 

First, the company needed its own production studio to better support its growing multimedia content. But second, it needed spaces for employees to partake in video and audio calls and explore new ways of working that have become a staple of the in-office experience since the pandemic.  

The overall goal, Davis says, was to create a space where "the staff are more productive" and where they're "more comfortable. They get more done. They find that it's worth their time and energy to come here." 

Before the refresh, Davis spent significant time observing how employees worked in the office and asking informal questions. For instance, why would workers choose to sit in a particular chair away from their desk? "By interacting informally, casually...you can glean better information that's more accurate," Davis says.  

One of her observations: Ever since the pandemic, when a small group of employees looks for a casual space to meet in person, they almost always bring their laptops with them. So, Davis incorporated tables into the designs for the office's three new "collaboration booths." 

There are also numerous new "focus rooms" where employees can take private meetings or video and audio calls without disturbing their seatmates. These have become a new favorite work station for Dan Skahen, director of custom presale and new business at Mansueto Ventures: "I'm someone who thrives in a quiet, focused space, which was often hard to come by before the renovations."

Some employees might use these kinds of focus rooms for heads-down work, while others might use them for small group meetings, says Caren Foster, principal at the design firm Moody Nolan, who reviewed the designs.  

It reflects a trend she's seeing towards companies giving workers more "choice and control on how they work" in the office. Indeed, experts previously told Inc. that some newer office designs are now including "neighborhoods" --varied workspaces to facilitate different types of work.  

Focusing on collaboration and relationship-building while in the office is key to maximizing hybrid's benefits, experts have told Inc. Looking at photos of the Mansueto Ventures office refresh, the emphasis on social spaces is clear, says Jennifer Kaufmann-Buhler, associate professor of design history at Purdue's Rueff School of Design, Art, and Performance.  

"A lot of leadership thinks that good collaboration doesn't happen except in person," Kaufmann-Buhler says, noting that this observation is true of company leaders generally. "I think a lot of companies are going that way right now to say, 'Don't you remember how nice it was to have a chat with your cup of coffee in our nicely refreshed kitchenette?'"  

Before the pandemic, cameras in the conference rooms weren't a priority, Davis says, but now that's changed: "People didn't just want to do a Zoom with their laptop camera or without a camera." So, Davis had one camera installed in each of the two smaller conference rooms and two cameras installed in the larger conference room, as well as enhanced audio equipment.  

With employees joining meetings both virtually and in person, technology snafus or shortcomings could inadvertently put virtual employees at a disadvantage, Foster says. With more high-tech, user-friendly solutions, companies can "level the playing field for everyone," she says.  

To figure out the most urgent needs for your office refresh, Davis recommends listening to employees, first and foremost. But Foster also says that monitoring your room scheduling system--if you have one--is another helpful way to determine which spaces are used and which are not, and thus might need a reevaluation.  

Knowing your budget is also key, Davis says. And if you're refreshing existing space, a "larger contingency fund" is necessary, she says: "It's just like on a home improvement show--you open a wall and there's a pipe that you really didn't think was there."  

That budget will also help you understand the "level you're designing to," Davis says--whether that's top-of-the-line, lower grade, or somewhere in between--and establish some consistency throughout. But she adds there are ways to make even more moderate materials look "luxurious"--like the stone backsplash in the lobby that many employees thought was real marble. 

And once the refresh or redesign is complete, keep an eye on how employees continue to use the space, Kaufmann-Buhler recommends: "You get over that kind of novelty phase, and then you kind of settle in. That really reveals the effectiveness of the space."