In short
Workplace design is shifting due to hybrid work debates and office mandates, with clients increasingly asking for “belonging” in office spaces. Samantha Jinks explains that companies are being pulled in different directions as US decisions (e.g., requiring employees back 4 days/week) force UK real estate planning changes. She notes that many offices were designed for 2–3 days/week, so adding extra days creates major capacity and redesign challenges.
Key claims
office mandates are common; “belonging” is a response to hybrid-work tension; US-based policies can trigger UK “panic” about space needs.
Notable examples
US mandates to return 4 days/week; UK companies needing to accommodate 500 people back in four days/week; mentions “back in five days a week” mandates.
Guests
Samantha Jinks (workplace design professional).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00So what is it like? What are clients kind of, I mean, they're asking for belonging, but and a sense of belonging is like kind of what people are talking about now. Why are they saying it? What problem are they trying to fix with that?
0:10Samantha Jinks:Well, I think we're still having conversations around hybrid work and how much space we need. People are being pulled in different directions, especially like American companies right now making decisions that are based off of what's happening in the US that's going to affect UK real estate decisions. So it's happened several times where we've had people um or companies in the u.s say okay everybody's got to be back four days a week we've all built designed offices for two to three days a week so if you add in that extra day how do you make that happen and it's putting you know the uk side into a panic that's a massive ask to say like okay now we need 500 people back in four days a week are you finding that a lot yeah it feels like everybody's doing and it does feel like a lot of people are doing an office mandate nowadays.
0:59Yeah. A lot of people are saying like, we need you back in five days a week as well.
1:03Samantha Jinks:Yeah.
From the publisher
We solved productivity. So why don’t people want to come back to the office?
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