They really wanted people in the office four days a week and so they said, ‘That’s our policy between St. Patrick’s Day and Thanksgiving when it’s colder and darker. If you need to work from home or another location, we’re going to give you that flexibility, which is something you’re also asking for, but we’re prioritizing that in-person collaboration and culture-building time during these core months.’ It’s based on employee feedback, so it wasn’t just, ‘Let’s pull this out of a hat.’ It’s ‘let’s think about what employees are asking for.’

You said equity can mean a lot of different things, including access to daylight for all workers. Tell me more about the “equity” needs of one of your recent clients?

The number one thing [employees] said they needed when they came into the office was focus space. Number two was collaboration space when they needed to meet with people.

Does that mean they contemplated doing away with all the communal work spaces that were so popular pre-pandemic?

It was really the inverse of that. [They said] everyone is eligible for an office. Anyone can reserve a windowed office no matter where you are within the organization and the only way you get an assigned office for this company is that you had to demonstrate that you were coming into the office five days a week for a 90-day period.

Aside from those new building amenities, including fitness centers and spaces aimed at making the workplace fun and healthier, is any of that enough?