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Can a workspace ‘Be Like Mike’? Imagining workplace as a consumer product
Corporate Real Estate Journal,
13
(4),
378-395
(2024)
Abstract
Resistance by employees to return to the office is not entirely driven by reluctance or fear or commute times, but by stale and tired workspaces that historically have undelivered on the employee experience, especially for women and minorities. Employees want engaging work environments to connect and build community, yet organisations and service providers deliver painfully bland benching solutions that repel instead of magnetise. Open office models resemble high-density storage facilities with high occupancy and utilisation metrics as performance indicators — and leadership wonders why their staff wants to stay home. Employees want Jordans and we fit them with last year’s Skechers. We need to develop workspaces in the same way consumer product companies generate excitement and buzz. In other words, the new workplace needs to be more like Mike.
Keywords: workplace as product; consumer product; experience design; user experience; workplace performance
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Albert De Plazaola is a Senior Principal of Workplace Strategy at Unispace. Based in San Diego and San Francisco, he has extensive experience in people-centred design and change strategies for private and public institutions. By leveraging design thinking and a user-centric approach, he moves beyond the typical motivations to explore how meaningful change can occur to foster greater organisational responsiveness, adaptability and innovation. Albert is interested in the interdisciplinary intersection of human behaviour, culture and technology, with a strong foundation in philosophy. He developed an early interest in the ways technology shapes human lives and societal norms. This curiosity led him to pursue a BA in philosophy and English at Boston College, and an MA at Georgetown, where he explored media arts and critical theory. He spends much of his time wondering if the workplace is a simulation.
