This is happening more in certain companies than others, of course-around 63% of companies with fewer than 500 employees are fully flexible, according to the Flex Index, compared to just 13% of companies with more than 50,000 employees. “I think a lot of employers are reenvisioning their offices to be better shared offices, less places you go into to do heads-down work,” says Robert Sadow, the CEO and co-founder of Scoop Technologies, which puts out the Flex Index. Rotating art exhibits pop up in NBBJ's new offices. Further, around 30% of companies now allow for hybrid work, up from 20% in the first quarter, the report finds. Though 42% of companies had a full-time in-office policy in the second quarter of 2023, that’s down from 49% in the first quarter of the year, according to the Flex Index, a database of surveys and publicly available information that tracks the return-to-office policies of more than 4,000 companies. Such hybrid workplaces appear to be the future of corporate offices. During the pandemic, Bungie decided to allow for fully remote work today, the company is expanding its square footage from 80,000 to 200,000. “We’re never going to force people back into the office, but we feel a sense of responsibility to build an office space that is delightful,” says Holly Barbacovi, the head of human resources at the video game maker Bungie, which is nearly finished building its new office space in Bellevue, Wash. But now that the Biden Administration has declared the pandemic officially over, some companies are ready to declare hybrid work the new reality and are redesigning their offices accordingly-taking advantage of low prices and desperate landlords and creating spaces in which employees might actually want to work. Many companies are now battling workers over whether return to office will be a requirement and how many days will be mandatory, including Amazon, the Walt Disney Company, and the New York Times. cities, according to Kastle Systems, which tracks unique card swipes in office buildings. The commercial real estate market is still in the dumps, with office occupancy at around 50% of pre-pandemic levels in the 10 largest U.S. It’s nearly twice as big as the company’s former office space, and with its natural light and dark green tones, seems to communicate more “cool Airbnb” than “office.” NBBJ's new office have a variety of seating arrangements. The Flatiron space, which opened in November, feels like a mix between an office and a social club, with conference rooms giving off living room vibes, thanks to their homey bookshelves and couches a lab where employees can look at tiny models of buildings the company is designing green carpets throughout that feel like forest meadows and rotating art projects on screens stretching towards the high ceilings. “We’re in the early stages of a deep recognition that the workplace needs to be different,” says Steve McConnell, NBBJ’s managing partner and board chair, who spearheaded the redesign. NBBJ could then take what worked and use that as the basis for designing offices for their clients also looking towards the hybrid future. The idea wasn’t to force NBBJ employees into the office five days a week, but instead to create a place for hybrid work where people would actually want to come, despite the long commutes typical in the New York area. It took over the former offices of the clothing company Eileen Fisher in the Flatiron district of New York City and started ripping out walls and creating a 28,000 square foot “living lab”-a space where the company could test what type of design and layout works best for hybrid work. When many companies were trying to get rid of their office space to save money during the pandemic, the architecture and design firm NBBJ was doing the opposite.
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