What makes the workplace worth choosing? Insights from WorkSpaces 2026

By Christina Jameson and Wesley Edmonds, Directors of Workplace, OFS

We spend a lot of time at OFS thinking about what makes the workplace worth choosing. WorkSpaces 2026 gave us the opportunity to hear directly from the workplace leaders responsible for making that choice worthwhile every day.

The conversations covered everything from AI and real estate strategy to evolving work patterns, but what stood out most was how often success came down to the everyday experience. Finding someone who can help. Getting a meeting started without a technology issue. Having a quiet place to finish something important. Feeling comfortable asking a question when you are new.

These moments may seem small, but they are where workplace strategy becomes tangible. They are also where the investment in space, technology, and experience begins to show up in someone’s actual day.

Here are the ideas from WorkSpaces 2026 that stayed with us most.

Consider a newer employee who needs to hear how an experienced colleague approaches a problem. That learning might happen in a scheduled meeting or in  a  five-minute passing conversation. We can make those encounters easier through planned shared spaces with access to teams.

Twilio offered an interesting example of what happens when a company gets specific about why people come together. The global technology company operates remote-first, using physical workplaces and in-person gatherings more intentionally for collaboration, connection, customers, and community.

At WorkSpaces, Noel McNulty shared how that shift allowed Twilio to reduce its footprint and reinvest in the moments when people do gather, including the spaces, hospitality, and programming around those experiences. The goal is not simply to bring people into a room. It is to make being together worth the trip. McNulty captured that idea well: “We will remember the creative breakthroughs, the laughter, the moments we’ve had in this room.” 

That will look different for every organization. One team may need regular access to shared tools, while another may see the most value in onboarding, mentoring, or several concentrated days of planning. The lesson is not that every company should follow Twilio’s model. It is that we first need to understand what people need to accomplish together, then design the workplace to make that time more valuable.

Mauricio Toledo’s facilities session made the connection between workplace design and daily operations especially clear. As Warner Music Group’s Global Head of Workplace Experience, Real Estate, Security, Hospitality & Facilities, his role spans nearly every part of the experience employees have once they walk through the door.

That perspective matters because even the most thoughtful workplace can break down quickly when the operational experience does not support it. A badge that fails or a room that is not ready can undo a great experience in minutes. Employees feel the inconvenience regardless of which department owns the fix.

Hospitality starts well before the coffee counter. It includes knowing what to expect before arrival, finding your way easily, and having someone available when something goes wrong. Twilio’s support for gatherings and visitors was another example of how much coordination sits behind an experience that feels effortless.

That is a reason to widen the conversation around a project. Alongside the specification, we should be asking how people will find and use the settings we are helping create. Who will explain the options? How will the workplace team know when something is frustrating people? Those answers can influence design. A shared setting may need to be more visible. Focus space may need stronger acoustic separation. Furniture intended to change frequently must also be practical for the people responsible for moving it. Understanding the operating experience helps us make better design recommendations.

“There’s no crying in real estate,” Hillary Green of Scotiabank joked. Her session made a thoughtful case for giving people more support through workplace change because, as she put it, “change feels personal.”

A new workplace can disrupt routines people have built over years. That means change management should not sit at the end of the process. It should help shape it.

A few practical takeaways stood out:

- Bring change practitioners early. If a design decision will affect how people work, their perspective should be part of the conversation before the plan is finalized.
- Treat resistance as useful information. Concerns about shared seating, noise, storage, or proximity may point to a real operational need.
- Use pilots for real work. Give employees enough time in a proposed setting for the novelty to wear off and make sure their feedback can still influence the outcome.
- Show people what changed because of their input. Closing the feedback loop builds trust and makes participation feel worthwhile.
- Stay engaged after move-in. Floor walks, informal conversations, and quick responses to small frustrations help teams adjust and show employees the organization is still listening.

The goal is not simply to communicate change. It is to give people a meaningful role in shaping how that change works.

A busy room can still be a frustrating room. It may be the only place available, or the only setting large enough for a team. Utilization tells us that people used it. We need to ask them what the experience was like.

That point connected the office-purpose panel with Green’s emphasis on measuring adoption. If a project is meant to improve collaboration, we should be asking whether teams can work together more easily. If mentorship is a priority, are newer employees getting the access and support they need? Attendance can help us understand patterns, while conversations help explain them.

AI adds possibilities here. Caroline Quick of Cloudflare and Monica Larson-Wetherell of Deloitte discussed practical ways to connect information and reduce friction in workplace processes. Easier reservations and better access to information can give employees time back and help workplace teams respond more effectively.

Brent Arnold offered a useful caution: “AI is the easiest part of this. Meaning is the hard part.”

Toledo’s examples of inconsistent employee and location records showed why that matters. We need to know that different systems are describing the same place or person before we use their combined data to make decisions. Arnold also drew a distinction between precise calculations and the work language models can do to retrieve and interpret context. Human review remains part of the process.

For design, we see an opportunity to connect what we intended with what happened. We can revisit a floor plan alongside employee feedback and patterns of use, then carry that learning into the next project. That would help more of our recommendations benefit from experience beyond the people who happened to work on the last job.

Grant Christofely of M Moser Associates brought the discussion back to action. His approach to adaptability included the space, technology, and operations required to make change possible.

That is an important consideration when we talk about flexible furniture. We need to understand who will reconfigure it, how power and technology will support the change, and whether teams know they can try a different arrangement. The ability to move something has more value when there is a practical reason and a workable process for doing it.

Grant’s 90-day toolkit offered a manageable next step: choose one consequential business problem, apply the most relevant lever, and agree on an outcome and review date. It gives a team a way to learn without waiting for an entire workplace transformation. We are bringing that idea back to our conversations at OFS. We can help a customer identify a setting that is falling short, understand why, and test an adjustment with the people who use it. We can then ask what improved and what still needs attention.

The conversations at WorkSpaces reinforced our belief at OFS that workplace choice has to be earned through daily experience. Providing a range of settings is only the beginning. Their value depends on whether people can find them, understand how to use them, and accomplish something more easily because they are there.

That gives designers, dealers, and workplace leaders a shared responsibility: connect each design decision to the experience it should improve. If we create space for mentorship, we should ask how it will bring newer employees into contact with experienced colleagues. If we recommend adaptable furniture, we should understand who will make adjustments and what will prompt them. Those questions belong in the design conversation, with time set aside after move-in to see whether our assumptions held up.

Our takeaway is to make that follow-through part of the work. Choose one experience the workplace needs to improve, design for it, and return to learn from the people using it. A workplace becomes worth choosing when people can feel how it helps them succeed. Helping customers make that connection should shape both what we recommend and how we define a successful project.