Office connection is the dominant driver for workplace design

There’s a significant but underreported shift happening in workplaces right now. Office design is no longer being dictated purely by organisations. Increasingly, it is being shaped by employee behaviour. In my opinion, it is rightly being led by a growing demand for connection.

For the past few years, much of the conversation around the future of the office has focused on one question: how many days a week should employees be in it? But that debate is increasingly outdated. At the same time, there’s a clear and growing ‘connection gap’. Randstad’s 2025 Workmonitor found that 83% of workers globally value a sense of community at work, while more than half would consider leaving a job if they didn’t feel they belonged.

Hybrid working has, for many organisations, become an established part of working life. While some businesses are encouraging, and sometimes requiring, employees to spend more time in the office, actual usage patterns remain largely people-led. Employees tend to cluster their office attendance around the middle of the week, while continuing to value the flexibility that hybrid working provides.

The result is a fundamental mismatch between how offices were traditionally designed and how they are now being used. The traditional office was designed around consistency. Rows of desks, individual workstations and meeting rooms were planned on the assumption that most people would be present for most of the working week. Today, that model needs to be reconsidered.

Businesses are having to think much more carefully about what the office is actually for. In my role at TSK, I see this often, and I see a clear correlation with the need for connection. People are not necessarily coming into the office simply because they need somewhere to sit and work. They are coming in to collaborate, build relationships, exchange ideas, learn from colleagues and be part of something.

Workplace design is, therefore, a potential gamechanger in this scenario. We have to be mindful that, because employees have more autonomy over where and when they work, organisations need to create offices that offer something that is difficult to replicate at home. So, how is this influencing the way workplaces are being configured?

We are seeing more space being designed around peak-day collaboration, rather than full-time occupancy. Desk numbers are shrinking in some organisations, while shared spaces, informal meeting areas and flexible environments are taking their place. Offices are becoming more social and hospitality-led, with greater emphasis on spaces that encourage people to interact naturally.

This represents a significant shift in the balance of power. Organisations may still set workplace policies, but employees are increasingly influencing how offices are actually used. Their behaviour is providing a clearer indication of what works than any top-down attendance mandate.

The question, therefore, is not simply whether employers can persuade people to come back to the office. It is whether the workplace is giving people a reason to want to. That distinction is important. A workplace that is designed primarily around attendance targets risks becoming an expensive and underused asset. A workplace designed around the needs of its people has a much greater chance of becoming a destination that employees actively choose to use.

But there is still work to do. Simply adding more breakout areas, coffee bars or social spaces will not automatically solve the connection problem. The most effective workplaces will be those where design is supported by a strong culture, purposeful collaboration and a clear understanding of how employees actually want to work.

All of this must, in my view, be woven into a workplace design strategy from the outset, in order to meet the objectives of business leaders. This also has implications beyond individual businesses.

As offices become destinations for collaboration and connection, rather than places employees are expected to occupy five days a week, this is reshaping demand for commercial real estate and influencing the future of our city centres. The office may become smaller, but its role could become more important, feeding into the wider economy of a town or city.

The organisations that recognise this shift will be better placed to attract and retain talent, support collaboration and make more effective use of their real estate. The future of workplace design, then, is not about getting people back to the office. In my view, it is about giving them a reason to come. That cannot happen without real thought, data and strategy from all areas of a business.

That, I believe, is an exciting prospect and one that means I love the challenge and opportunity of my job. It’s about being creative and purposeful in workplace design. Bridging that connection gap presents a brilliant opportunity for organisations to lead the way and ensure their workforce values everything a new office can bring to their careers and work-life balance.