Trends and Hot Topics

by Kate Davis

There is a great deal of chatter right now about the hybrid-remote workplace. Everyone just wants the answer and therein lies the problem.

Hybrids don’t naturally occur. They occur only as produced through human manipulation for specific genetic characteristics. They require intention, necessity, humility, curiosity, experimentation and an innovative spirit. Our workplaces are no different. The beauty of hybrid work ecosystems is that they are inherently authentic and simple. Authenticity and simplicity, however, are not easy to achieve.

Pre-pandemic, our desire to mitigate risk forced over reliance on trends and benchmarks, a sort of expected “Easy Button” for workplace creating a false sense of security in the knowledge that someone, somewhere had done it before without catastrophic outcomes. This was always flawed logic because no two organizations have exactly the same mission, vision or values. If there are no benchmarks for where we find ourselves now then how do we forge a new path?

Pressure to reduce square footage has been driving the standard workplace metric of usable square feet per seat (usf/ seat) down dramatically over time with even executive level offices taking a hit and clocking in at a 16% reduction in the last decade. This push was always coming from the position of asking, “How can we spend less on real estate?”

Great offices have been increasingly understood as having a role in attraction of talent and beacons of culture, but often fell short of truly expressing a company’s mission, vision and values. Usf/seat may have looked like efficiency, but it created a value-based equation that could never hope to quantify effectiveness.

A global crisis and more than a year of working from home has given talent the time to reprioritize and adjust not only to new ways of working, but reliance on new tools, expectations around increased responsibility, and autonomy. This acquired taste for independence requires asking the question from a different perspective: What do we need to support our single biggest investment, our talent?

Predicting growth in knowledge work is exceptionally tricky even for the most process-driven groups. The problem with usf/seat was that the minute you needed to add seats, you had to add square footage. Even pre-pandemic, we know that employees around the globe were not at their desk 50-60% of the time. Ubiquitous technology, mobile devices, and management training for outcomes vs. presence are key underpinnings to hybrid work. Think of it this way: Would you rather invest in building offices and buying workstations that are empty most of the time, or would you prefer to shift those resources to building a strong, flexible infrastructure to support the changing nature of work over time? We don’t need more space. We need smarter space.

If we can work from anywhere, then where do we want to work? We will always need places that allow us to share knowledge, be inspired, generate ideas, and pool resources and perspective. There was never a rule that mandated all this and deep work had to happen in the same place, at the same time, Monday thru Friday between the hours of 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Designing for talent aggregation, interaction and even a little friction provides a vital spark for creative knowledge work. Creating affordances for greater environmental control and choice can support effective conditions for focus and flow. An ecosystem that relies on policy, technology and contextual nuance of place can unlock the potential of our greatest asset: our people.

Kate Davis is principal and director of commercial interiors at HKS.

RISE Together is a minority-owned development firm bridging the communication gap, engaging with the community, and providing a connection between residents and businesses to foster significant growth and development opportunities in Boston.

High-Profile did a virtual sit-down with RISE Together’s CEO, Herby Duverné, about the company’s mission to put communities first, give everyone a seat at the table, and promote value creation in Boston’s neighborhoods. High-Profile: Can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself? Herby Duverné: I came to the United States at 20 years old from Haiti without money and speaking no English. From there I worked my way up from a grocery store bagger and janitor, put myself through college and graduate school, and achieved success in the world of corporate security and emergency management. I obtained both my undergraduate and master’s degrees from Northeastern University.

I have spent more time in Boston than any other place as a student, a business owner, entrepreneur, and developer. I was raised by a single mother who spent

Herby Duverné

the majority of her times working so she could provide for me and my sister, and I believe that I am a product of my community. My community played a large part in shaping the way I grew up and who I am today, and I want to be part of the transformation of some of Greater Boston’s communities. HP: What would you say has been your biggest challenge in life, both personally and professionally, thus far? HD: Personally, my biggest challenge in life is seeing all the good that I could do and realizing that I am limited by time and sometimes resources. Professionally, my biggest challenge is making sense of the data in terms of where the economy will be in two to three years. Having the foresight to predict, especially in real estate, is key to success. HP: How does one go from studying criminal justice in college to becoming a real estate developer? HD: Ah. I have never been asked this question before. I am an entrepreneur and that means I am in the value creation business. When talking about building wealth, especially for Black and brown people, real estate is one that you can count on for a high level of success most of the time. Real estate and my work at RISE Together gives me an opportunity to see where I can create wealth throughout the community and with other people. HP: Can you tell us how RISE Together came to be? HD: I founded RISE Together as a development and investment company. I approached longtime friends Jim Grossmann and Brian Anderson, veterans in the real estate industry, to partner with me to create RISE Together. HP: Your firm’s website reads, “Lifting all Boston communities through development.” How is RISE Together doing just that? HD: RISE Together is currently working on several projects locally, and our goal is to ensure those communities are not only reflected in the projects we are creating, but they are participants in the success. Our method proactively brings people together, giving everyone a seat at the table, and working as one toward a common cause: a thriving, diverse, and healthy neighborhood. HP: Can you share your firm’s mission? HD: We have found a lack of consideration and flexibility in the existing development process. What I mean by that is, we have found landowners many times would like to participate in the longer-term

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