By Stacey Messier, General Manager of CIC New England
If I gathered 100 business leaders in a room and asked them if they spent a significant amount of time last year thinking about return to office, the vast majority of hands would go up.
I facilitated two workshops last year in the Boston area that focused on the topic at the Mass Technology Leadership Council Innovation unConference and with the Kendall Square Association. We heard from business leaders about what’s gone well, what challenges they’ve faced, and what they hope to try.
It’s clear that we are all learning together how to navigate this shift. Opening up a conversation about where we are today will help us create plans for how we move forward tomorrow. A lot of external factors are out of our control as leaders, but one important factor is in our control: cultivating a strong company culture.
Strong company culture = organizational success
Whether you’re a leader of a Fortune 500 company or an early-stage startup, invest the time and resources to build a strong company culture. In the Redefining the Workspace to Strategically Support Corporate Culture, Innovation, and Growth report from HBR Analytic Services, 98% of respondents said that the quality of an organization’s culture impacts its ability to succeed.
If you build it (read: a strong company culture), they will come. Your mission and values are the blueprint for your company’s culture. A recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce report shows that “The Great Reshuffle,” formerly “The Great Resignation,” is still alive and well. Resignation rates are high, but hiring rates are higher.
So, what are transitioners looking for? “Improved work-life balance and flexibility, increased compensation, or a strong company culture,” according to the report.
A strong culture is just as vital to keeping employees engaged at work. When Gallup examined engagement elements across generations, it found that younger employees are missing a connection to their company’s mission, do not feel cared about at work, and also think there are fewer opportunities to learn and grow.
Your company values set the tone for the organization’s culture and impact decision-making. Stating values alone creates an aspirational view of what your organization will do. Truly embodying and acting upon those values is where the rubber meets the road in creating a strong culture. If there is a disconnect between your stated values and culture, your employees will likely feel it.
Think of it like buying a house with a partner. If you both agree that you value cooking together and entertaining, you may prioritize properties with a large kitchen and space for people to gather. You would be confused if your partner insisted on a purchasing home with a postage-stamp-sized kitchen with no counter space.
Your employees may feel similarly if your organization’s culture or decisions are not aligned with your stated values, especially if there is little or unclear communication behind those decisions. Just like you want a house that feels like a home because it serves both your needs today and your future plans, employees want to work in a place they feel aligns with their values and where they can picture a long-term future.
The best place to start enacting your values is right in front of you—your leaders.
It has been long known that leadership behaviors are about twice as impactful at influencing organizational culture than the other way around. The challenge, however, is that expecting leaders’ behaviors to align with aspirational culture, mission, and values can’t be left to chance.
Studies show that while 95% of people think they’re self-aware, only 10% to 15% of adults actually have self-awareness about how their behaviors impact others. As such, all the cultural tenants and leadership behaviors described herein should be incorporated into organizations’ leadership development programs. Develop adaptive and flexible managers to enable company culture!
Speaking of adaptivity… while company values are important, they don’t need to be set in stone. The world has changed drastically over the last few years and you may need to refresh and redefine your values to reflect the culture you want.
Activate your workspace for community and culture building
A building or an office alone is just space –it’s how you use the space that matters. A common hurdle business leaders face in implementing return to office policies is a lack of critical mass working in person. No one wants to be the sole person sitting in an office space meant for 50 only to use the space for video calls they could have taken elsewhere. Employees also want to be able to interact with their remote colleagues while in the office and that means investing in relevant technology to support these experiences in the office.

With intentional placemaking, business leaders can create a physical and cultural place where people want to spend their time and energy. Space-making can – and I deeply believe should – encourage community.
Creating a community of colleagues, rather than a collection of employees, allows employees to produce their best work. Further, community is an excellent tool for retention. Research found that when people felt a sense of community at work, they were more engaged, more likely to stay, and more likely to thrive.
As leaders, we need to clearly articulate the purpose and benefits of coming into the office. Very few people are likely to say they thrive in a setting that requires them to commute into an office to sit on video calls all day with headphones in. Over time, requiring in-person work without purpose will erode trust in your company.
A pizza party or free snacks are great (and delicious) perks, but they are not a replacement for purpose. Collaborative activities, like a whiteboard session to get to the bottom of a sticky problem, make gathering together in the office relevant and meaningful.
Goal-setting is another easy win with a boatload of purpose. To kick off the year, we gathered CIC leaders from around the New England region for an offsite that set the tone of our campus goals. We are in the process of organizing another gathering focused entirely on employee feedback: more interaction, more team members presenting their work, and two-way conversations about the work.
Inviting even more of our team members to present their work, we’re taking a science fair approach where each project team has a table where they can showcase their wins, pivots, and pro-tips with each other.
Activating your workspace for collaboration does not need to be tied directly to productivity to be beneficial to your employees and business. Nurture curiosity, creativity, and an innovative spirit by making space for play at work – that’s right, good old-fashioned playing with puzzles, board games, adult coloring books, etc. Play at work is well-studied and has so many benefits for culture, including increased trust, bonding, engagement, and job satisfaction.

Shared experiences offer common ground for additional relationship building. Arranging a potluck lunch, for example, can let employees indulge in a shared meal. Invite employees to host a lunch and learn about their favorite hobby or create an optional book club.
Another aspect to consider is how activities in your workplace encourage employees from all generations to participate and learn from each other. Mentorship can be a pull for younger employees, who want to learn how to grow their careers while engaging more experienced employees in sharing what they’ve learned. Mentoring workshops, lunches, or activities can help encourage in-person attendance that strengthens relationships that aid collaboration down the line.
TL;DR – A purposeful workspace boosts company culture
If there are only three things you take away from this article, I hope they are:
- Flexibility is important to employees, and creating the flexible hybrid workplace you want to see means building a strong company culture
- Strong company culture means living by your organization’s values and building inclusive policies that empower your employees
- An engaging, activated and appropriately outfitted workspace encourages employee attendance that positively influences your workplace culture
We are closely watching the future of work at CIC – check out our blog for more insights and advice including our recent discussion about what research tells us about the future of flexible work with Ryan McCreedy, a senior organizational effectiveness consultant at Slalom.