What Can Workplace Designers Learn From Top Athletes? It’s All About Performance.

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Next month, all eyes will be on the Olympics and Paralympics in Paris, and our attention will naturally gravitate toward the meticulous preparations of the world’s most elite athletes. Leading up to this excitement, we couldn’t help but start to draw parallels between the rigorous training regimens of these champions and the demands placed upon high-performing professionals across industries.  

Just as athletes rely on world class training facilities and equipment to refine their mental and physical preparations and set new world records, top talent knowledge workers need the best workplaces to excel at their jobs.  

Top performers have better outcomes.

Our recently launched 2024 Global Workplace Survey dives into what top performers need from their physical workplaces to do their best work. According to the report—in which we surveyed 16,000+ respondents, across 15 countries and 10 industries—top performers work differently, spending more time learning and socializing, and often sit with their team when they are in the office and 2X more likely to be aware of what their teammates are working on

• 97% of the most engaged employees say they are likely to stay with their company next year compared to just 53% of the least engaged.  

• 97% of employees with the strongest team relationships are aware of what their teammates are working on compared to 52% of the weakest teams. 

• 99% of employees in the most innovative companies say that they would recommend their organization as a great place to work, compared to only 37% in the least innovative. 

Top performers have better workplaces and better experiences.

• Top-performing individuals, teams, and innovative companies are more likely to work in high-performing workplaces (defined as the top 25% of space effectiveness and workplace experience scores).  

• High-performing workplaces offer employees autonomy—with more choice in where to work within the office, greater access to diverse spaces, and spaces to perform critical work activities. 

Exceptional workplaces differentiate themselves within an ecosystem of spaces in and beyond the office.

• Employees spend about half of a typical work week (51%) working at the office, 20% working from home, and 27% at other locations.  

• Workplace performance increases with building quality. Most (93%) occupants in higher quality buildings are satisfied with their office location. And the majority (80%) of higher-quality buildings are in city centers. 

• High quality buildings are more likely to be in amenity-rich neighborhoods with a diverse range of places and services—and occupants use them more often. 

Next Steps: How to go from a good workplace to an exceptional one. 

According to Gallup, U.S. workers feel more detached from their employers than they have in over a decade—especially for remote, hybrid, and younger workers entering the workforce. 

It’s clear that organizations have an opportunity to redesign good workplaces into exceptional ones to help employees stay engaged and perform at their best. Here’s how to identity the optimal workplace environment:  

• Good workplaces are designed to optimize the space and resources for each of the five work modes (working alone, working with others in-person, working with others virtually, learning, and socializing).  

• Great workplaces provide spaces for each work mode, but the design also engages people’s emotions through beauty, a sense of welcome, and the ability to inspire new thinking.  

• Exceptional workplaces have the spaces and design of good and great offices, but they also include inside-the-office amenities such as work cafés, outdoor workspaces, and focus rooms, as well as outside-the-office spaces such as childcare services, museums, and spiritual facilities.  

Work occurs everywhere and exceptional, high-performing workplaces utilize an ecosystem approach both in and out of the office to provide effective work settings and great work experiences for employee success and well-being. 

Explore more of our data on high-performing workplaces in Gensler’s Global Workplace Survey 2024. 

Written by Janet Pogue McLaurin, Global Director of Workplace Research at Gensler 

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Join the conversation. What do you think is the most important feature of an office? How can your workplace better support your work? 

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