.png)
Epoch hosted an energizing evening in Los Angeles this March, bringing together a vibrant group of workplace and employee experience leaders. With our biggest community turnout of the year so far, the room was filled with conversation, curiosity, and connection. Thank you to everyone who joined us.
The evening opened with a welcome from Epoch co-founder, Keith, who set the tone for an honest and insightful conversation on the evolving role of the workplace. He was joined by two standout speakers for a fireside chat:
Both speakers brought fresh perspectives from their new roles, just five to six months in, and shared how they’re navigating rapid growth, evolving employee expectations, and the challenges of return-to-office policies.
Francis kicked things off by reflecting on his first few months at Metropolis. When he joined, he expected to manage a handful of office leases. That quickly grew to over 50, with the company scaling to more than 20,000 employees. His core focus? Building consistency and alignment across offices, while ensuring each space still reflects the identity of its city.
“It’s not about copy and paste,” Francis said. “It’s about building spaces that feel like Metropolis, but also like Nashville, or LA, or wherever we are. It’s about soul, not just branding.”
Nasim echoed the importance of intentional design at Riot Games, where she’s leading a continuous assessment of global office spaces to identify opportunities for improvement. As the company continues to embrace hybrid work, her team is working to ensure each space supports purposeful in-person collaboration. “We’re focused on activating the workplace in ways that feel thoughtful and flexible,” she said.
Return-to-office (RTO) continues to be a major topic for workplace teams. Metropolis recently rolled out a new RTO policy, asking employees to be in the office four days a week. Francis emphasized that the focus is less on control and more on purposeful presence.
“We’re asking people to come in to connect, to build relationships, to collaborate,” he said. “It’s about finding the ‘why’ behind being in the office and designing experiences that support that.”
At Riot, Nasim’s team observed that while Tuesdays and Thursdays were originally emphasized for in-office work, employees naturally gravitated toward Wednesdays. Instead of trying to redirect behavior, her team leaned into it, building programming and experiences around the day that employees had already claimed as their own.
“It’s about meeting people where they are and supporting what’s working,” she said.
Both leaders emphasized the importance of data when advocating for workplace strategies. Whether it’s tracking badge swipes, measuring participation in events, or analyzing how often conference rooms are booked, data provides the foundation for conversations with leadership.
“We can’t just say employees are unhappy,” Francis said. “We have to find qualitative and quantitative ways to show it, and then translate that into action.”
Nasim noted that it’s just as important to connect with mid-level managers to understand how their teams are operating. “Somewhere between the CEO and the day-to-day, there’s always a strong point of view,” she said. “Our job is to surface those insights and help leadership make informed decisions.”
Francis and Nasim both spoke to the value of intentional, customized workplace experiences. Whether it’s sourcing local treats that reflect the culture of a city or designing around ergonomic needs for specific teams, their teams are focused on creating environments that feel tailored and human.
At Metropolis, Francis described how his team is designing spaces that go beyond aesthetics. “We don’t want to rely on posters that say ‘we value you.’ We want the experience itself to make that clear,” he said.
Nasim added that well-being is foundational to productivity, and that means going beyond basics. “If we’re asking people to come in, we’re competing with the comforts of home,” she said. “We need to make it frictionless, and we need to make it meaningful.”
As the conversation wrapped, both speakers reflected on what’s ahead for workplace experience in 2025.
Nasim is focused on helping her team grow into this next phase of hybrid work. “We’re in a fuzzy but stable moment,” she said. “It’s time to invest in the right infrastructure and ask, now that we’ve adapted, where do we want to go?”
Francis shared that, after years of shifting priorities, he’s energized by the continued evolution of the workplace function. “We were at the center of everything in 2020. Now we’re finding our place again, but with even more experience, and even more opportunity to create impact.”
The evening closed with audience Q&A, where questions ranged from remote culture-building to DEI, workplace rituals, and how to support leadership in crafting intentional strategies. As always, the takeaways weren’t just tactical, they were deeply human.
We’re grateful to our community for showing up, asking big questions, and sharing openly. And we couldn’t have done it without our event partners: Instacart Business, Industrious, PLANNET, and LifeWorks Restaurant Group, who helped bring the space (and the snacks) to life.
If you’re hungry for more conversation, we’re hosting upcoming events in New York and Atlanta, and we’d love to see you there.
And don’t miss Epoch Connect, our flagship event in San Francisco this May 14-15. It’s our biggest yet, and built for those shaping the future of employee experience.
Let’s keep building, together.
Looking to level up your employee engagement strategy? Epoch makes it easy to plan, promote, and analyze the impact of your internal events. Ready to create meaningful experiences? Let’s talk.
One email, every month.
.png)
.jpg)
.png)