We Need a Better Definition of Office Engagement

Organizations large and small are rethinking their commitment to the office. Companies worldwide are considering shrinking their footprints, trying to measure exactly how much office space they need. But business leaders are pushing back, warning that too much remote work degrades corporate culture and undermines productivity. Offices are being complemented by amenities, tools, and programming to help them be as impactful on an organization as possible. That has put real estate and workplace leaders at the heart of a new puzzle: how to understand not only how much people come into the office but what exactly they get from it. Utilization metrics no longer tell the full story.

What leaders are turning to instead is engagement. The idea isn’t new, but the way it’s being applied is. Engagement measures the sum of how workers connect with their workplace—whether that’s through desks, meeting rooms, gyms, or even digital platforms like Slack and Teams. The trouble is, there’s no consensus on how to define it. “There is no global definition for engagement,” said Michelle Needles, Global Head of Enterprise Solutions at Savills. Without a standard definition, companies are stuck trying to figure out exactly how good their workplace engagement is and how to make it better.

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RSK: Just bringing people back to the office does not mean more collaboration....its just sets up the possibility for it. You need to engage employees and measure if it is working.