How two people leaders designed their post-RTO workplace

We’re in a post-RTO world.

More than half (54%) of Fortune 100 employees are in the office full-time, according to a July report from real estate firm JLL, up from just 5% in July 2023. The average weekly requirement for in-person attendance also increased to 3.9 days, up from 2.6 in 2023.

While many HR leaders said they were done with the RTO debate last year, some are still figuring out how to make their workspaces conducive to the combination of in-person, hybrid, and remote work their companies offer.

KPMG’s “return to experience.” After the Covid-19 pandemic, the way people work changed. Whether employees returned to their commutes or continued working in their pajamas, their expectations and work styles shifted, creating a “density of work,” said Sandy Torchia, vice chair of talent and culture at KPMG US.

“You’re back to back from one conference call to the other…You’re seeing people sitting in their cubicle or in their office with headphones on, focused on a screen,” Torchia said. “We’ve got to be able to figure out how to break down that density of work, so that you have the space within your day to enjoy the surroundings that you’re in.”

The roughly 36,000 employees who work from KPMG’s 90-plus US offices follow a hybrid schedule, with in-office days determined by individual teams and managers, Torchia told HR Brew. Given that, she wanted to create a workplace that was a “return to experience” and “worth the commute.”

“As you’re driving home, you’re reflecting on your day, and you’re like, ‘You know what? I connected with that person. I was able to solve that problem in person. I really liked the work experience that I had,’” Torchia said. “That’s when people want to keep coming back, so really focusing on the experience that people have, I think, is a key component of people wanting to be back together in person.”

To that end, KPMG opened a new office in New York City featuring a variety of workspaces—from open rooms for collaboration to tucked away desks for quiet work—for its nearly 5,000 employees based there.

“Part of it is the design, the intentional design, with collaboration in mind. Part of it is when others want to come [in], you’ve got a collective group of people that are working together, and it just feels good to be surrounded by colleagues in a space that’s so open and inviting,” she said.

Understood.org’s mindful spaces. In recent years, people leaders have been incorporating more collaborative spaces into offices. Deb Wilson, chief people and culture officer at Understood.org, is one of them.

Understood.org is a nonprofit providing resources and support to individuals who think and learn differently. When opening the company’s New York City office in 2021, Wilson wanted to incorporate this inclusive mission into the space for its 106 employees. So Wilson said she focused on minimizing noise and distractions, allowing employees to adjust the lighting, and providing a mix of quiet and collaborative spaces.

“There is a notion of trying to create space in the office that is as conducive for people as possible, because during Covid…people were comfortable, very, very comfortable,” Wilson said, adding the lasting effect has changed “what it means to be in the office post-Covid and the value proposition that employers have to create for their employees.”

The company’s employees work from home on Wednesday and Friday, as part of “a new rhythm of work model that offers more predictability in terms of how we structure when we are in the office,” Wilson said. “While it’s not overly structured, we’ve given people guidance on how to make the most of their time in the office, as well as limiting meetings on Wednesdays and Fridays when they’re working from home.”

Wilson suggested that people leaders navigating new work models gather feedback from employees. She does this through Understood.org’s Thriving Together Council, a business resource group.

“Those collective, continuous feedback loops is something that I think is really, really important for employers to keep in mind,” Wilson said. “[The] nuggets of information you’ll get from a diverse group of people all coming at a topic from their many different, individual, and diverse perspectives.”