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We are back with our Experts on Employee Experience Webinar Series. It is a monthly webinar series where Jade Choy, Epoch’s CEO, has conversations with leaders and innovators in the Employee Experience and engagement space. Today’s conversation is around designing workplaces that boost employee engagement and workplace ROI.
In case you missed it, here are some key learnings and takeaways from our webinar featuring Rob Sadow, Co-Founder of Flex Index, and Jackie Tsai, Senior Manager of Workplace Experience at Chime.
View the full recording here. Scroll on for notes!
Jackie started her workplace experience career stocking copy rooms, sorting mail, and setting up for happy hours. She now leads the Workplace Experience team at Chime - responsible for fostering an environment that sparks collaboration, innovation, and a sense of shared purpose.
Rob is the CEO & Co-Founder of Flex Index, the leading insight platform around data and trends associated with return to office, hybrid, and remote work, collecting data from 13,000+ companies and 100,000+ office locations. He has been cited in Bloomberg, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal, and recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice and part of the 2023 Forbes Future of Work 50.
Both Jackie and Rob discussed how the shift to hybrid workplaces is reshaping people programs and the Employee Experience. Jackie explained that Chime has 1,400 employees with about half working remotely. They’ve adopted a hybrid policy requiring employees to be in the office two days a week, soon increasing to three. She acknowledges that working remotely is not the same as being in the office. Therefore, the Workplace Experience team plays a crucial role as culture carriers. Inclusion is always top of mind ensuring that employees feel connected to the company, their work, and each other, no matter if they’re remote or in the office.
Rob provided data-driven insights on the current landscape of workplace flexibility. He noted that 2/3 (67%) of companies in the U.S. offer some form of flexibility, whether hybrid or fully remote, while 1/3 (33%) are fully in-office. The average across the U.S. is 2.63 days in the office per week, depending on the company size. He highlighted that larger companies, like Salesforce and Meta, tend to have more structured in-office requirements, often mandating three days a week. Companies that have a smaller number of employees, like 100-250 employees, have a higher likelihood of having no required office policy. These companies may have offices but don’t require employees to go in, or may be fully remote.
Jackie expressed that at Chime, they wanted to continue establishing an in-office culture, so it was only a matter of time before the leadership team implemented this decision.
Rob explained that over the last 18 months, there's been a divide between executive leadership and the average employee at most companies. Executive leadership leans more heavily toward wanting people in the office more frequently and employees desiring more flexibility. In practice, he believes that most companies have employees in the office 2-3 days a week because it is a truce between these 2 groups. Spending half the time in-office and half the time remote appeases some of the sentiment from executive leadership on getting people together and creating connectivity and collaboration, while matching employee desire to have some of that flexibility and not work in the office every day.
Rob also explained that tech firms may be influenced by the policies in place at larger tech firms. Over the last 12-15 months, more large companies have enforced roughly a 3-day-a-week in-office policy. This is the case with Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Alphabet. However, notable exceptions include Microsoft and Nvidia, which doesn’t have a required office time policy.
Jackie outlined that leadership has a big role in setting the tone for the workplace culture. This is done through their actions and behaviours. The workplace team also holds a lot of responsibility as culture carriers of the company, reporting insights upwards and sharing a common message from the top down.
Rob emphasized the importance of executive alignment with hybrid work policies. If executives are in the office more often than the policy requires, it can create a perception that the minimum policy is inadequate, potentially undermining motivation. Executives need to model the same attendance expectations they set for others to avoid these issues.
In today's evolving hybrid work landscape, the most successful companies are those that have a clear vision of what the office is for and how it supports differentiated work. Rob emphasized that the most frustrating experience for employees is when they are required to commute to the office only to perform the same tasks they could do at home. To avoid this, companies must design their office environments to facilitate activities that cannot be replicated remotely, such as mentorship opportunities, collaboration, and social interactions. The key is to differentiate the in-office experience by aligning it with specific activities or meetings that drive professional development and relationship-building.
Jackie spoke about Chime’s flexibility being key to continue meeting the changing needs of employees and the company. For example, they have designed flexible, modular spaces that can be easily reconfigured to accommodate different team needs. She also mentioned that having a sense of flexibility needs to apply to everything, including their tools. Having a willingness to pivot when current things no longer make sense is crucial.
At Chime, the focus is on creating an environment that encourages employees to come into the office by promoting moments of connection rather than enforcing strict penalties for non-compliance with in-office policies. Jackie explained that while Chime currently does not impose penalties for employees who fail to adhere to the hybrid work policy, the topic remains a point of ongoing discussion.
Rob shared how tricky it can be to enforce in-office policies, noting that no company has completely figured out the best approach. One big challenge is that employees often find clever ways to work around policies they don’t like, like ‘coffee badging,’ where they briefly show up at the office just to check a box. Even with advanced data tracking, it’s tough to monitor and enforce these policies accurately. On the flip side, if a company sets a policy but doesn’t enforce it, it can weaken the company culture and erode trust in the leadership.
Rob also mentioned how challenging it is for managers, who are expected to enforce these policies while also keeping their teams motivated and focused on their core goals. It’s a tough balancing act that adds another layer of complexity to an already thorny issue.
Rob shared an interesting insight on how some companies are getting creative to make the office more appealing by reducing the amount of usable office space. He used a great analogy to explain this: imagine going to a party where everyone you want to see is there, but the room is way too big. It feels awkward and uncomfortable, even though the right people are there. Similarly, if an office space is too large for the number of people, it can feel empty. To counter this, some companies are deliberately downsizing their office space to create a fuller, more vibrant atmosphere. This strategy can generate a sense of FOMO that motivates employees to come in, making the office feel like a desirable destination rather than just a place they’re required to be.
Jackie emphasized the need to assess if the company is meeting their goals and moving the needle on business objectives. It's crucial to measure how connected employees feel to coworkers, the company and it’s mission, and the juggle of work-life balance. Measuring engagement levels is also an important factor at Chime. Tracking and comparing participation at company events using Epoch and verifying with industry benchmarks like Flex Index are central to this evaluation.
For Rob, the question of measuring success is the measure of “Return on Office”, as an investment has been made in the office, experience, and facilities, and assessing the benefits that come with that (versus if we didn't have an office). This involves analyzing factors such as attendance patterns, recruitment and retention metrics, and their impact on performance and productivity. He stressed that different roles and seniorities may have different success metrics, making it essential to integrate data from multiple sources into a comprehensive view. Some important questions to ask include:
Rob explains that measuring success requires integrating data across occupancy data, lease data, financial data, performance data, hr data, and, engagement data. In the coming years, the answer will be stitching this data together so it can be digested. Then, we’ll be able to compare internal and external trends at scale.
At Chime, Jackie highlighted their successful initiatives, including a $150 monthly commuter benefit for employees who come into the office and a childcare support program through Urban Sitter. This program provides quarterly funds to help with unexpected childcare needs.
Jackie mentioned Chime’s efforts to create a welcoming office environment by offering lunch and breakfast five days a week, along with high-quality coffee. These perks not only make the office more appealing but foster a sense of community, as employees make coffee together and connect over meals.
Rob added that everything about going in-office is more expensive than being at home, from commuting and parking to paying for food. Companies offering workplace benefits change the cost equation for employees.
Rob tackles the common question of an employee choice office model versus a structured office model. The downside of employee choice models is it is more complicated to get the right people together at the right times, and this escalates with the size of the company. For this reason, employee choice models are less common at larger-scale companies because they require more coordination. On the other hand, employees lose a sense of agency in more structured models. For these reasons, it's important to set policy thoughtfully, adhere to that policy, and make it a clear expectation that employees need to buy into.
Either way, a selection will have some downside associated with it. Jackie states, “You’re not going to please everyone” and this statement is the reality when making unique decisions for your company.
Many organizations have small or stretched Employee Experience teams. Epoch is here to help make internal event planning easy.
Use Epoch to plan your employee events and programs, then track analytics on how the events went! Epoch is an employee engagement platform used by people teams at companies like Reddit, Asana, and more. Epoch supports any internal event through email, Slack announcements and reminders, calendaring, and reporting. On top of impactful engagement and feedback analytics, Epoch provides a simple way to communicate and promote events to your workforce, helping events reach employees where they prefer to receive messages.
Increase productivity and connection among employees through company culture with Epoch. Curious to learn more? Book a demo today!
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