A great deal of current research and anecdotal evidence suggests that engaged employees are much less likely to leave their current organisation, are more productive and take less sick days that their disengaged colleagues. But according to a recent survey by Deloitte while 87 percent of organisations cite culture and engagement as one of their top challenges, almost two-thirds of executives do not feel they are effectively driving this desired culture within their business. A global study by my own firm Steelcase found that one-third of workers across 17 of the world’s most important economies are actually disengaged. The findings make worrying reading for employers around the world, as engagement is so demonstrably linked to business critical outcomes such as employee retention, productivity and even profits. It certainly raises the question of what more can be done, including in terms of workplace design, to boost engagement levels amongst these employees.

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When we think about the evolution of office spaces, our minds often go to recent innovations: shared workspaces, open floor plans and increased worker mobility. But meeting rooms, too, have kept up with the pace of change. More than just a space that offers the obligatory long table, today’s conference room boasts video conferencing tools, well-designed furniture and interactive whiteboards. These conference rooms can be key locations where employees can innovate, collaborate and inspire. In a business environment where space is at a premium, every room has to be thoughtfully designed. Oftentimes, this means creating more small meeting rooms as opposed to investing in large boardrooms. After all, 59 percent of meetings involve only two to three people. In other workspaces, it may mean creating flexible, multipurpose areas that can be sectioned with moveable walls.

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Not a day goes by when some organisation or other isn’t found extolling the virtues of flexible working or urging everybody to adopt the practice. While it’s easy to be cynical about the results of surveys from technology companies which are a staple part of this media onslaught, they are actually on to something. And that is why governments, employers and their associations and employees are all attracted to the idea of flexible working as a way of achieving whatever it is they want. The result is the stew of motivations, ideas and terminology that can lead commentators to make grand and daft pronouncements about flexible working; pronouncing it dead, most famously in the case of Yahoo but more subtly in the case of the grand new Xanadus being created in Silicon Valley by the area’s Charles Foster Kanes, or as the harbinger of death for the office based on the notion that somehow we’ll all be working in exactly the same way at some point in the future.

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No one has assigned desks in CBRE's new downtown office — not even senior managing director Pete Schippits, who oversees the commercial real estate firm's entire Colorado operation and about 500 employees. You won't find a single corner office on the top floor of 17th Street Plaza anymore, those spaces now dedicated to collaborative work areas shared by everyone, no matter their title or tenure.

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Why do we expect to see waiting rooms in hospitals but not in shopping malls? How come lawyers work in private offices but software engineers, who require just as much focus and concentration, hang out in open offices with ping-pong tables?

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The workplace continues to evolve rapidly and flexibility drives many organizations when it comes to decisions about their workplace. Last week at the Rocket Fuel office in Chicago, we probed industry leaders on the topic, including Elissa Beckman, head of talent and HR at SpotHero, Charles Hardy, chief workplace officer for GSA, Steve Teubner, principal at FOX Architects, and Randy Tritz, partner at Shen Milsom & Wilke.

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