A New Workplace: Employers Becoming More Thoughtful of Workers in Redesigned Office Space

This article is originally from The Columbus Dispatch, published May 30, 2023.

Employers are doing more to address workplace needs in an era where work can be done just about anywhere, said Megan Spinos, Director of Workplace Strategy at Vocon, a National design firm. “It’s really about connecting people in a thoughtful way,” Spinos said.

Amy Taylor, President of the Columbus Downtown Development Corp., previously said that according to data collected by Placer.ai, an average of about 60,000 workers a day were back Downtown in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 55,000 in October 2022.

According to the Capital Crossroads and Discovery special improvement districts’ recent report on the state of Downtown, there would be 89,410 workers Downtown if offices were occupied the way they were before COVID shut things down in March 2020.

While office workers have shown their jobs can be done just about anywhere, what’s missing is the critical social connection they have with others, the learning and development that take place in the office and the impromptu meetings and conversations, Spinos said.

All of that is critical for businesses to lay out its space in a way that fosters that, she said.

“There is no following the leader. It’s an opportunity for an organization to follow its own rules,” she said.

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