How College Board is Building an Office that Belongs to Everyone

The Challenge: Rethinking the Traditional Office 

The consolidation gave the team a chance to rethink not just where people worked, but how the office supported them. That meant building a hybrid office that felt intuitive to everyone who walked in, whether they'd been coming to that office for years or it was their first week. 

“Before, it was very much a space that our workplace experience team completely operated and ran. It was almost like our space that we were inviting employees into," said Skye Volkening-Jeffrey, Director of Workplace Experience. 

The tools behind their office had been set up for an old way of working. "We didn't have a unified system," he said. "Nothing integrated with the rest of the technology that we use." 

The Solution: A Platform That Gave the Office Back to Everyone

Skye measured every decision against one question: does it make the office easier for people to actually use? Robin won them over for feeling intuitive from day one: "It's all in one place," Skye said, "and the UI just makes more sense."

Employees can open an office map and reserve a desk in seconds. Conference rooms show photos, specs, and capacity before anyone books. And visitors check in through a simple process Skye compares to "getting onto the subway or checking into a hotel."

"Robin is a tool that allows my workplace experience team to be more impactful and intentional, and less dragged down with busy work." Skye Volkening-Jeffrey, Director of Workplace Experience

The Outcomes: An Office For Everyone

The biggest change is who the office belongs to. It used to feel like the workplace team's space. Now, every employee knows their way around as well as the team that runs it.

For most employees, that starts the moment they need a place to work. The workplace experience team used to spend up to an hour each morning walking the floor to manually assign desks. Now employees can open an office map and reserve their workspaces in seconds. Booking a conference room used to require emailing the workplace experience team without knowing a space’s capacity or amenities. Today, all staff can see photos, room specs, and capacity before reserving a meeting space themselves. 

"With Robin, our team is more aware and engaged in the office." Skye Volkening-Jeffrey, Director of Workplace Experience

That shift has freed up the workplace experience team, too. With visitor registration running through Robin, the front desk coordinator can focus on the people walking in. "My coordinator is [now] free," Skye said. "With Robin, they can really be present at the front desk, ready to answer questions and put out any fires." 

Skye says Robin also lets the team be "more impactful and intentional, and less dragged down with busy work." Booking data from Robin now feeds College Board's real estate strategy. Executive leadership reviews it regularly, and it's informing decisions about the company's long-term footprint. 

What's Next

With the New York and Reston offices both running on Robin, Puerto Rico is next in line, bringing all three College Board offices onto one consistent experience. "Robin is allowing us to bring them into the fold in a meaningful way," Skye shared, "so that it's more of a unified experience across all three offices."

"Robin is a helpful tool for workplace experience teams, but the bigger sell is how it improves your average employee's experience and how they engage with the physical workspace." Skye Volkening-Jeffrey, Director of Workplace Experience

For Skye and the workplace experience team at College Board, Robin has helped deliver the consistent and simple office experience they were looking for. "The biggest impact is actually on your end user," Skye said. "The bigger sell is how it improves your average employee's experience in the workspace and how they can engage with the physical workspace."