What is the role of a workplace strategist?

A guide for People & Culture leaders

The role of a Workplace Strategist has gained a lot of attention post-pandemic as businesses focus on attracting and retaining talent and enticing people back into the office. 

But what exactly does a Workplace Strategist do, and how can we help People & Culture leaders drive employee engagement?

 What we do

Workplace Strategists leverage design thinking principles with an analytical business mindset. 

We create a strategic framework that captures the complex essence of your business — your unique operational structure, how it functions, how employees interact, and how your office space can support these dynamics. 

Rather than jumping straight into the planning phase and putting desks and offices onto a floor plan, a Workplace Strategist knows how to transcend aesthetics and deliver a workspace that aligns with your company’s mission, values, and goals,...

First published on COMUNiTI, September 2024

How People & Culture teams are repositioning this Boardroom conversation

“Can you help me explain what a workplace strategy is, to my leadership team?”

It’s a question that we get asked a lot at COMUNiTI, and it’s easy to understand why: while workplace strategy is a pivotal concept for forward-thinking organisations, it continues to be misunderstood among many executive teams, who consider their workplace as simply a “place to accommodate people to work”, resulting in a desk + chair approach where they see no strategy is needed.  

Re-imagining, redesigning, recreating, and rebuilding a workplace often falls in the remit of the Facilities Management, Operations, or Accommodation teams. HOWEVER, what this approach fails to acknowledge is that our workplaces are created for PEOPLE.  To ensure that organisations consider all aspects of what people need to thrive at work, the workplace...

First published on COMUNiTI, September 2024

Making the office better than home

Commentary on return-to-office mandates certainly heated up in recent weeks following the NSW Premier’s directive for employees across the public service to work principally from an approved workplace. While this mandate appears to be less about concerns relating to employee productivity and more to do with the reactivation and revitalisation of the city centres [a whole other conversation!], employee reactions to mandates remain unchanged.


While some organisations are mandating employees return to the office, others are exploring a motivation-based approach, with the state of their workplace being a key consideration.

And, it’s an important strategy.

The average workplace experience, as measured through the Leesman Index score (Lmi) has increased by nearly four points from 64.3 pre-pandemic to 67.9 post-pandemic. Organisations are clearly investing in workplace improvements to make the...

What’s the right solution for you?

First published on COMUNiTI, March 2024

As a workplace strategist I often get asked: "What's the best flexible work option: hot-desking, activity-based work or hybrid work?"

The answer isn't straightforward, and what I have learned is that people tend to use the terms interchangeably when they are all very different things.

Hot-desking:

Hot-desking became popular in the early 2000s when laptops and wireless connectivity meant employees didn’t have to work from a fixed desk.

My verdict:

I am not a fan of hot-desking. No matter how it might be ‘sold’ to employees, hot-desking is really about cramming more people into less space without any added amenities.

Activity-based work (ABW):

ABW and hot-desking often get confused, but they are not the same thing. ABW has surged in popularity in recent years as hand-held devices and cloud-based apps enabled even more work flexibility. Technology aside, ABW is also being...