Are Office Buildings for the Job or the Person?

The answer to this question isn’t simple because it’s the wrong question. The better question is: what makes coming into the office worthwhile?

Office buildings aren’t really about the job or the person. They’re about the purpose of being together. If someone’s sitting in traffic, paying for parking, and stepping away from their home desk, it needs to be worth it.  

People perform best when they come in with a purpose, not because they are mandated to. The real question isn’t whether people show up. It’s whether the office gives them a reason to be there.

From Presenteeism to Performance

There was a time when badge swipes and desk checks reigned supreme. Today? Output matters more. 

The shift toward performance-based management is no small trend—61% of global employees say they’d accept a pay cut to keep hybrid flexibility. That’s a clear message: people value autonomy and results over the ritual of showing up. 

Presenteeism just doesn’t deliver. If your workplace strategy is still built around attendance, you’re fighting yesterday’s battle. Modern workplaces are focusing on outcomes and how teams perform, not on how many chairs are occupied.

It’s not just about showing up, it’s about what happens when you do. That’s where many organizations misstep: they assume that performance and presence go hand in hand, or worse, that presence itself is a form of performance.

Simply being located in the same space doesn’t automatically lead to better outcomes.

For building owners and facility managers, this means success metrics must evolve too. Instead of measuring occupancy rates alone, track how well your spaces actually support productivity. The utilisation of collaboration areas, number of meaningful meetings, or project milestones achieved in-person. These are stronger indicators of a high-performing workplace than attendance.

Co-location Does Not Equal Collaboration

You’ve probably heard that proximity equals innovation. But the data tells another story. A large-scale study found that 4,800 weak ties (the causal connections that spark ideas) vanished during the COVID lockdown. That means casual drop-ins and hallway chats matter. But here’s the kicker: you won’t recreate that in cookie cutter open office layouts or by mandating attendance. 

What does work, then? Intentional collaboration through curated experiences. Nearly half of job seekers say they’re actively looking for hybrid roles, and one reason is the opportunity for meaningful in-person time. When office days are organized around purposeful interactions (onboarding, mentorship, group problem-solving, social events), they succeed. Otherwise, they just become checkboxes. 

For facility teams, design office zones around activity, not hierarchy. Create spaces optimized for dynamic collaboration that can be curated for specific experiences) rather than static rows of desks. Align layout design with how teams actually work, not just how leases are written. 

Every In-person Visit Should Be Intentional

Today, people are intentional. They don’t wander into the office because it’s Tuesday. They go in for a purpose. We see much better results when employees cluster in person days around collaborative work and leave solo tasks for home (where productivity often rises). 

And it’s about respect—respect for the commute, the time lost, the work-life trade-off. Clichés like “earn the commute” started as buzzwords, but they hold truth: if the office isn’t earning its place in someone’s week, attendance drops and morale dips. In Scotland, 80,000 workers quit in 2024 over in-office mandates (this represented three percent of the workforce). That’s a steep cost for ignoring purpose. For building operators, it’s important to show occupants that their time and comfort are valued. Small operational upgrades often yield large returns in engagement. 

The Office: A Purpose-driven Place

The office isn’t dead, it’s just one tool in an ecosystem. Its value depends on whether it supports the user’s activities. That means leadership must ask tough questions: which activities truly benefit from in-person interaction? Onboarding? High-stakes problem solving? Team rituals? Networking?

One Boston CEO didn’t mandate attendance, he created FOMO, making in-office days meaningful though optional. That’s a signal: the office can inspire genuine engagement when it’s integrated into the company’s purpose.

Experience Over Aesthetics

Sure, a swanky fit-out looks appealing in a brochure. But it’s becoming table stakes. The real frontier? Experience. 

On-site spaces are now being curated like live events, reset daily for workshops, training, and collaboration. That takes resources, but it pays off: Gallup found that hybrid work increases engagement by 60%. Notably, only 11% of employees helped shape those policies, yet those who did were more satisfied. 

It’s no longer enough to build “cool spaces”; we must orchestrate the meaningful use of them. 

Proximity That Matters

The key driver for coming into the office is typically about being with your sub-team of 5-15 people, not about being co-located in the same building as a full department.

Evidence backs this up. While 77% of workers say they get more done remotely, only 10% report feeling more connected. In the UK, 48% of professionals say they'd consider quitting if forced to return to the office full-time. 

The message is clear: proximity needs to mean connection, not simply co-location.

That’s why blanket policies fall flat. Just showing up doesn’t create alignment, being close to the right people, for the right reasons, does. When teams coordinate their in-office time around shared objectives instead of arbitrary schedules, the office becomes more than just a backdrop. It becomes a catalyst for meaningful work and activation.

If you design for around purpose, intentionally and the ability to curate experiences, you end up with an office that feels relevant and has vitality. Whether one day or five days a week, it becomes a destination, not a requirement.