Updated: Mar 18
Workplace Culture is the cornerstone of employee retention —it’s the foundation of why employees stay.
While today’s workforce may be more vocal about prioritizing workplaces that feel engaging, supportive, and meaningful, this has long been a key factor in retention. Organizations that intentionally shape their culture and workplace experience are not only retaining top talent but also fostering a strong sense of community and purpose.
Through recent conversations with professionals and leaders, we’ve identified elements of workplace culture that are making an impact on employee engagement and retention.
What’s Keeping Talent Engaged in the Workplace?
A Sense of Belonging | Employees who feel connected and valuable to their team and the company’s mission are more likely to stay. Intentional relationship-building—both in-person and virtually—fosters this connection. As one professional shared, “Even if people meet only once, it changes the relationship completely.”
Leadership Transparency | Open, honest communication from leadership is key. When employees understand the why behind decisions and company changes, they feel more invested. Lack of clarity, on the other hand, creates barriers to trust and adoption.
Professional Growth | What people value more than a job is a career path. Companies that invest in mentorship, skill development, and internal mobility keep employees engaged and reduce turnover. Some of the most effective teams make career growth visible and accessible, ensuring employees see their unique future within the organization.
Work-Life Balance | Without flexibility, burnout is inevitable—especially for teams navigating multiple time zones. Companies that embrace asynchronous work, set clearer boundaries around meeting times, and offer flexible schedules and location are seeing greater productivity, higher retention, and happier teams.
A Culture of Recognition | Employees stay where they feel valued. Simple, meaningful acts of recognition—whether through peer shoutouts, leadership acknowledgment, or structured rewards programs—help people feel seen and appreciated. As one professional noted, "The best teams don’t just focus on results; they celebrate the efforts behind them. A culture of appreciation creates a work environment where people want to contribute and grow."
Building a Thriving Workplace Culture
Companies that prioritize culture as a strategy aren’t just retaining employees—they’re building communities of engaged, purpose-driven teams.
Purposeful office attendance makes a difference. Employees and leaders alike value in-person collaboration when it’s intentional and engaging.
Flexibility is key, but structured social and work-based events help teams feel connected and motivated.
Culture is reinforced through leadership support, strong peer relationships, and shared experiences—all of which make employees feel valued and committed.
Through employee engagement, workplace consultants can help refine a company's vision for their culture and ensure their physical space seamlessly aligns. Let’s build a workplace culture worth talking about!
Up next: How Leaders Are Building a Positive Workplace Culture and How Employees Are Strengthening Workplace Culture.
Updated: Nov 27, 2023
The Workplace Gamble.
If your “Build it and they will come” approach hasn't panned out, you're not alone. It's a gamble. We’re hearing a lot about mandates and seeing less evidence that newly designed office spaces are reaping optimal occupancy results.
Not only do employees want to be included in the process of creating their new workplace, both the project and company benefit from employee engagement. We're calling this, the "Engage them and they will come" approach.
Let’s imagine this is a restaurant:
A restaurant is losing business. On what have historically been the busiest nights of the week, the restaurant is quiet. Below are two imagined scenarios.
Scenario 1- Build it and they will come. The owners decide to invest in renovating their restaurant with the latest furniture and decor, and new items on their menu. After being closed for renovation, they open up, hoping customers will flock to their restaurant. Maybe it’s a hit, maybe it’s a flop, it’s a real gamble.
Scenario 2 - When they come, I will build. Now imagine the same restaurant- digs their heals in the ground. It’s clear they need to make a change, but they want proof of use and funds to necessitate the space. They delay new investments in their restaurant, asking their customers to continue to patronize their outdated establishment, promising to make updates in the future. (ring any bells?) They are asking their customers to take a gamble – if you keep coming, when the time is right, you’ll be rewarded, maybe.
In these scenarios, there is a promise, a gamble, a hope. It's a bit of fantasy thinking, the solution is not likely to meet some groups’ expectations.
We’re seeing this in office spaces.
A company unveils a shiny new space for their employees. As employees were not meaningfully involved in the planning of the space, it doesn’t fully meet their needs. The company took a gamble with their workplace, and while the space may be beautifully designed- the lack of emotional ‘buy-in’ and functionality for employees’ needs lowers occupancy.
“If employers are looking to see employee commitment to the office prior to making informed changes- they are very likely to be disappointed. “
Optimizing Occupancy & Workplace Renovation
Now let’s talk about a reduced risk approach- the “Engage them and they will come” way.
Back to our restaurant. Upon losing business our restaurant begins speaking with customers and their workers to learn more about the state of their business. What are our best dishes, what would you like more of, how is the experience of coming here, working here? What would you like to see in this neighborhood?
Perhaps from this research, the restaurant tries out a few new sample dishes to gain feedback and show people they are listening and making changes. Then they shift their layout to experiment with service experience. They find people mostly come to them for a certain style of food and they can create more space in their menu for this type of cuisine, removing the dishes that are no longer being ordered.
Now this restaurant’s business is beginning to pick up – not because of any major changes- but because there are signs of greater attunement with their consumers. This change has immediately created a more desirable environment prior to a full overhaul. By showing interest in what their customers want, they've gained a wealth of information and fostered loyalty, delivering a clear path between customer feedback and the changes that are integrated.
"People want a high touch change where they don’t have to wait and guess what might happen, they can see the direction changing in a desirable way."
Now the restaurant is ready for their intentional renovation. As they've been creating pilot projects along the way, they feel confident their new direction will be a success. Their customers are cheering them on and telling their friends because they feel connected, valued, and exceptionally served.
An "Engage them and they will come" approach to workplace change, connects with employees throughout the process creating a solution that is built off evidence, insights, and successful pilot experiences. With the guesswork removed, the outcome will already have benchmark data as a proof of concept, ensuring the results you've invested in materialize.
There’s no need for gambling or leaps of faith with your real estate. Creating a Real Estate and Workplace Strategy with a focus on workforce engagement provides a clear and reduced risk path to a successful solution.
If You Upgrade it, They Will Come- Myth or Fact?
It's a common misconception that upgrading office hardware alone will magically boost occupancy rates and employee performance. While investing in good hardware is undoubtedly valuable, its impact on performance and experience hinges on how well it aligns with the way people work.
In our recent study of hybrid readiness, within companies aiming to optimize occupancy, a recurring pattern emerged – many had implemented new technologies, but few had coupled that action with engaging employee knowledge and change management processes.
There's an evident gap here.
Consider this, if your company has invested in cutting edge technology or a new platform, will you see the full benefit if the product doesn’t align with your employees' actual needs? Can you be sure you’ve applied the new products in locations that give people the functionality they need and want, without soliciting their input?
Impactful Investment or Dust Collector
Simply because the technology can do the job or is popular doesn't guarantee user-friendliness or employees' willingness to adapt to it.
As an example, we worked with a major client who had an expensive system gathering dust in a corner of a meeting room while staff used their own laptops for meetings. Without prompting, they indicated that they hadn’t received proper training on how to use it and it was “all too complicated.”
Many organizations budget and select technology solutions through their IT department. When the decision-making process does not include employee insights, the selected products might be state of the art- but often miss the mark when it comes to employee buy-in and workplace experience.
Human-Centered Technology Selection
A human-centered approach to workplace design, especially technology integration, can be a top contributor to employee occupancy and space usage. We’ve found the tools which enable productivity are intuitive to use, familiar, and create a frictionless experience across locations.
If employees have been trained on a product but are still not using it as intended, a human-centered approach to change management finds the root barrier to acceptance and supports employees with the necessary tools to integrate new skills.
Workplace Enhancing Apps and Platforms
Implementing seamless booking or workplace experience applications can enable individuals to locate their spaces and amenities with ease, significantly alleviating stress upon arrival.
Silos often exist in workplace and productivity technology purchasing decisions.
As workplace experience tools are often budgeted through different teams (ie: Facilities and People) we are seeing that employees are bombarded with a plethora of apps that serve a single focus. When departments are in communication, employees benefit from holistic applications that understand the intersection of functional and social needs.
In addition to engaging with your employees, by involving your People team in this selection process, you can incorporate more workplace experience pillars within one product, which enhances employee experience and facilities management.
Why the Approach Matters
Forcing technological solutions on employees won’t build company loyalty or make employees feel good at work- in fact just the opposite. We’ve found that hard to use or poorly designed technology is a leading cause of workplace stress.
The bottom line: It’s all about the people! Including employees in the decision-making process leads to better technology investments. Engagement is typically carried out through interviews and workshops, to decern the functional needs, the locations, and the products that are truly needed. This process weeds out the products that sound good on paper, but don't align with how people actually do their jobs.
Insisting that people to power through, adapting to something that makes their lives worse without considering how their jobs are actually done, is a waste of energy.
You may feel hesitant to include employees in the decision-making process, as we covered in our article, Myths of Engagement. By defining the scope of the conversation, you can gain a tremendous amount of insight into employee’s technology needs and move the needle on performance, without opening a can of worms.
Creating a Positive Technology Experience
Technology integration is more than product selection & installation. When done correctly- technology has the power to draw people back into the office. For example, we’ll hear employees say, “I love my monitor at work, so I prefer to do this task at the office” or “Meetings are better in the office.”
Here are some important components of successful workplace technology projects:
1) Employee Engagement: Understand the needs of different roles, how they use technology, and where and how they hold meetings.
2) Change Management: Take employees on a journey to adoption to ensure the systems are approachable for employees without the need for constant IT support.
3) Hybrid Meeting & Collaboration Effectiveness: Integrate meeting technology with the design of the furniture to enhance hybrid meetings. Consider the culture of meeting style within your organization, for example placing whiteboards, monitors, and cameras in the spots that support effective communication and collaboration.
Workplace consultants play a pivotal role in helping organizations uncover their technology needs and integrations, ensuring confident procurements and smooth employee adaptation. Ultimately, a human-centered approach to technology integration can transform your workplace into a hub of productivity and satisfaction.