Behind Office Doors: Designing Better Workplaces, Everywhere

meeting room with people inside collaborating

Payton Tysinger

Published on

June 25, 2025

Whether you’re designing a new HQ or refreshing a single floor, the goal is the same: create a space that makes the workday better and supports focus, flexibility, connection, and purpose.

And while there’s no one-size-fits-all playbook, there’s one thing every company on this list has in common: they’ve made the workplace a strategic priority. From Brooklyn to Newcastle, these teams are rethinking space with intention, and it’s paying off.

TraceLink: Scrapping the One-Size-Fits-All Approach

Who they are: TraceLink is a supply chain software company with 1,000 employees across North America, Europe, and India.

What they’re doing:

TraceLink’s headquarters in Wilmington, MA, was designed to bring distributed teams together intentionally and to accommodate an array of working-styles. Instead of one-size-fits-all, TraceLink broke the office down into pods. Each one is equipped with its own:

Kitchenette (with different snack and coffee options)
Private spaces for phone calls
Standard closed conference spaces
Open collaboration spaces with different types of seating
Workstations

However, the exact layout of each pod varies; they are tailored to the work styles of different teams.

“The engineering side might have more open collaboration space with soft seating, while the finance side might have more closed conference rooms." - Jen Bozec, Senior Facilities Manager, TraceLink

Why it makes an impact:

The results speak for themselves: a 166% increase in collaborative space usage, and over 60% of employees across offices actively coming in monthly, not because they have to, but because it makes their work better.

This is hybrid done right. Thoughtful design, enabled and enhanced by the right workplace tech, creates an office experience that aligns with how people want to work.

Squarespace: Bringing Brand Identity to the Workplace

Who they are: Squarespace is a design-driven web publishing platform based in New York City, with 1,700+ employees globally.

What they’re doing:

Their headquarters spans five floors in the West Village and was purposefully built to reflect the company’s aesthetic values. There’s a rotating art installation in the entrance gallery. The rooftop terrace doubles as a workspace and event venue. Each floor includes communal lounges with a blend of soft seating, ambient lighting to support creativity and community.

The environment also supports their hybrid cadence, but the office isn’t just about presence, it’s about immersion. “There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach that will work for every individual and every role. We trust our people to decide what work style best suits their needs and their role, said Mary Good, Chief People Officer, Squarespace.

Why it makes an impact:

By aligning the office design with the product and brand experience, Squarespace reinforces company culture every time someone walks through the door. It doesn’t feel like just a place to work. It feels like an extension of the creative digital spaces they build.

Front: building a culture of focus, flexibility, and trust

Who they are: Front is a customer communication platform with around 400 employees and offices across the U.S. and Europe.

What they’re doing: Fridays at Front look a little different. No recurring meetings. No nonstop Slack threads. No pressure to always be “on.”

In 2021, Front rolled out “Focus Fridays,” a simple, powerful idea to protect one day a week for deep, uninterrupted work. It’s not just a calendar hack. It’s a culture shift. Employees use the time to tackle complex projects, close the week with clarity, or just breathe without the usual buzz of meetings and messages.

One year in, the impact was clear with 87% of employees reporting that Focus Fridays positively impacted their desire to stay at Front for the next two years, and 89% said they felt happier at work. All without sacrificing customer satisfaction and maintaining a 98.6% CSAT score.

Why it makes an impact: Front didn’t just block a day. They sent a signal: we trust you. We respect your time. And we know that work is better when it has room to breathe. In a hybrid world full of context-switching and calendar chaos, Focus Fridays are a reminder that sometimes the best thing a workplace can give is space.

Etsy: Well-Being and Creativity, Built Into the Space

Who they are: Etsy is a global marketplace for unique and handmade goods, headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, with 2,400 employees worldwide.

What they’re doing: The Brooklyn HQ is a 200,000-square-foot building that centers sustainability and wellness. Features include reclaimed wood from decommissioned buildings, solar panels, a rooftop garden, and 11,000+ indoor plants.

“They had a rule… that wherever you stood, you needed to be able to see a plant or see greenery, and it makes a difference in how you experience your day,” said John Mulling, Design Director at Gensler and Etsy’s HQ architect, told the Washington Post.

It makes sense; research suggests adding greenery to the workplace can increase productivity by up to 15% .

Etsy employees can also book time in yoga and meditation rooms, visit the “Garden Library,” or relax in the open-air terrace.

The company’s hybrid model allows employees to choose remote or in-office work. About 50% still come in monthly, drawn by amenities that support both personal well-being and creative connection.

Why it makes an impact: The space fosters calm in a high-output environment and it mirrors Etsy’s values around care, community, and craftsmanship. For many employees, it’s a place that supports not just productivity, but balance.

Opencast: Designing to With Goals In Mind

Who they are: Opencast is a 400-person tech consultancy headquartered in Newcastle, with offices in Leeds, London, and Edinburgh.

What they’re doing: After outgrowing their original office, Opencast moved into a new headquarters four times larger, but they didn’t just scale up desks. They reduced the proportion of desk space and used the extra square footage to create café-style gathering zones, social lounges, enclosed quiet areas, and multipurpose meeting rooms.

Design choices were driven by employee feedback, such as comfortable breakout spaces and more functional collaboration zones . “We’re not trying to recreate people’s home offices. We’re trying to build something that you can’t get from home. And that is socialization and collaboration,” said Daniel Pearson, Opencast’s Workplace Project Lead. Their space also hosts internal meetups, onboarding sessions, and community events, reinforcing the office as a shared hub, not just a work station.

Why it makes an impact: The new layout gives employees freedom to choose how they engage with the space. From heads-down days to high-energy workshops. It reflects a deeper trust in employee autonomy, and it’s helped shape a more connected, inclusive culture across a growing team.

**VHB: Engineering Spaces That Work and Look Good**

Who they are: VHB is a 2,000-person engineering and design consultancy headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, with offices spanning the East Coast.

What they’re doing: After relocating their Boston office to a 25,000-square-foot space in the Seaport, VHB rethought everything from layout to user behavior. Assigned seating gave way to activity-based zones. There are now collaboration tables, soft lounge seating, traditional desks, and clearly designated neighborhoods for focused work.

Each team has the autonomy to define how they use their space, and the workplace team tracks usage across 30+ locations to optimize layouts based on real behavior. Boston was their test case: after seeing how employees navigated and adopted the new layout, they used those learnings to inform the redesign of their Raleigh office.

This case study illustrates a broader movement toward team-based schedules and layouts; it’s typically a win for all parties involved. The teams get more customized space, office admins get a functional, trackable workplace, and execs save on CRE spend.

Why it makes an impact: The office gives teams what they need without over-prescribing how they work. That balance of structure and choice has made hybrid feel seamless, not forced, and gives employees a sense of control when they do commute in.