We build environments that work.

Why the workplace still matters

The office has to earn the commute.

Workplace design shifted dramatically in the last five years. The pandemic arrived at the same moment that video conferencing, screen sharing and cloud-based files became fully viable on a mass scale, and a great many people discovered they could be effective from virtually anywhere. Commuting is expensive and it costs productive hours. So the workplace can no longer justify itself by being the place work is required to happen. It has to add real value to the organization and to its people to be worth the trip.

What it has to deliver is specific. Focused thinking and collaboration, in the same building. A social environment — for many people it is their primary one, and Covid taught us how debilitating isolation can be. A place of acculturation, where less experienced people learn from their leaders and more experienced people can supervise. And enough crossing of paths between departments that chance interactions still happen, because those are what often bring new innovations.

None of which is an argument that working from home does not work. It often does, and the advantages are real: commuting time regained, commuting cost regained, lunch almost always cheaper, and longer hours worked because the day starts earlier or runs later. People who can control their environment can tune it to how they focus, and video conferencing lets them interact successfully from it. None of that should be discounted. It is also not the whole story.

Most organizations do not give employees the funds, or the guidance, to buy proper home office setups. Employees are shocked when they learn the cost of the products their employer has provided for them at the office, and often end up with equipment that gives no real support, or work at the dining table, which certainly gives none. Many live with other people who are home during the workday and simply cannot focus or feel professional through the distraction. Corporate culture and connection establish loyalty and are far harder to build with remote employees. Overhearing a conversation transmits learning between more and less experienced staff, and surfaces a misconception in time to correct it. And the proverbial water-cooler exchange really does start conversations that a remote reach-out would take more effort and more intention to begin — and would therefore be far less likely to happen at all.

Both halves of that are true at once. Which half your floor has to answer is the question we open with.

Commercial interiors products

Solutions designed for performance.

From ergonomic seating to modular workstations — durable, intentional, and specified for real use.

Resources to support your planning

Tools you can use independently — or with us.