Around the same time, Woodhouse hosted two industry roundtables exploring what makes workplaces successful today. One brought together occupiers responsible for creating environments employees genuinely want to use. The other gathered landlords, asset managers and property professionals focused on investment and asset performance. Although the discussions approached the challenge from different directions, both quickly moved beyond amenities and arrived at a remarkably similar question: how do we better understand the people workplaces are ultimately designed to serve?
The workplace market has spent years responding to changing expectations by adding more. More amenities. More services. More experiences. Yet both roundtables challenged whether "more" remains the answer.
Occupiers discussed attendance, culture, belonging and employee experience. Landlords focused on investment decisions, flexibility and occupier demand. Despite their different priorities, both groups repeatedly highlighted the importance of understanding people before making decisions about workplaces, buildings or investment strategies.
One of the strongest themes from both discussions was the growing recognition that workplace success cannot be measured by amenities alone. Participants reflected on how workplace perks that once felt distinctive can quickly become expected, whether complimentary food, wellness facilities, fitted space or hospitality-led services.
Rather than asking what else can be added, the conversation increasingly focused on what genuinely improves experience, influences behaviour and creates lasting value.
Both groups arrived at a similar conclusion from different starting points. Occupiers spoke about understanding employee behaviours, motivations and barriers to attendance before making workplace decisions. Landlords discussed understanding occupier needs, local market conditions and building context before committing capital investment.
Several participants shared examples where relatively simple interventions proved highly successful because they responded to a specific need, while more substantial investments sometimes delivered limited impact when based on assumptions rather than insight.
Perhaps the most interesting outcome was that neither discussion remained focused solely on physical space. As conversations developed, participants repeatedly returned to themes such as culture, communication, leadership, behaviour and workplace change.
These themes closely align with Woodhouse's Irresistible Workplace Trio: cultivated behaviours, hospitality-grade experience and supported change. Together, the discussions suggested that successful workplaces depend not on any single intervention, but on how these elements work together to support both people and performance.
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Attendee feedback was glowingly positive, and we are very grateful for the excellent participation of all those that attended. We’ll be collating the insights gained and the live research results to share in upcoming content – watch this space!
