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Workplace design becomes a business strategy when an organization states the outcome it wants, measures conditions before and after a change, and tests the result against more than one source of evidence. Employee experience surveys, leadership and client-development interviews, operating data, technology records, space information, and building-performance measurements can be combined into a defensible picture without commissioning an entirely new data system.
A 2017 Perkins&Will case study shows how that approach can work across four offices. It also shows the boundary of the evidence: the projects illustrate a measurement method, not a controlled experiment proving that a particular design feature caused a quantified financial gain.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesWhat it means to treat design as a business strategy
A strategic design decision starts with a business question rather than a visual preference. “Will this layout help teams collaborate?” is testable. “Does the investment support recruitment, retention, client work, operating efficiency, wellbeing, or environmental commitments?” is measurable when the organization defines indicators, a baseline, and a comparison.
The design is then treated as a hypothesis. For example, a plan that offers a range of settings may be expected to help people choose a space suited to focused work, teamwork, or confidential conversations. The organization records whether people can actually use those settings, whether leaders observe the intended behavior, and whether relevant business or operating indicators move in the expected direction.
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No single metric can answer all of those questions. A satisfaction score can reveal an employee experience, but it cannot by itself establish improved project margins. An energy reading can show building performance, but it cannot tell you whether clients found meetings more effective. A useful evaluation therefore triangulates: different evidence streams illuminate different parts of the same business hypothesis.
What the Perkins&Will case covered
Perkins&Will described the work in its article “Design as a Business Strategy: Tapping Data is Easier Than You Think,” published April 3, 2017. During 2016, its Chicago, Minneapolis, and Seattle studios moved, while its New York office was renovated. The four projects shared several stated aims:
- Facilitate collaboration.
- Enable choice in how and where people work.
- Promote health and wellbeing.
- Improve sustainability.
The authors organized their inquiry around a skeptical but practical question: “How do you know?” They did not present the four offices as a controlled sample or claim that one design intervention generated a particular return. Instead, they described how a design firm can assemble information that an organization already holds, add targeted observations where necessary, and connect the findings to its stated goals.
How the evidence was assembled
Employee experience and the Leesman benchmark
Employees completed the Leesman Workplace effectiveness survey. The four-office responses were compared with the Leesman Index’s global responses, which the article described as more than 200,000 responses across industries. That figure is the historical benchmark count reported in the April 3, 2017 article; the article does not provide a separate date for when the benchmark total was collected, so it should not be presented as a current total.
A survey can show whether people believe the workplace supports the activities they perform, where friction exists, and whether different groups experience the space differently. It does not, on its own, show that a design caused a business result. Use it as one layer in the evaluation, not as a substitute for operating or financial evidence.
Leadership interviews and the business vision
Perkins&Will interviewed office leaders to examine how the business vision appeared in the workplace. This is a qualitative check on intent and execution: leaders can describe the behaviors the organization wants to encourage, while interviewers can look for physical or operational conditions that support or contradict those behaviors.
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The team spoke with marketing leads about the quality and quantity of prospective-client engagement and about successful pursuits. These conversations connect the workplace to a revenue-related process without pretending that a new reception area, meeting room, or collaboration zone automatically wins work. They help an organization ask whether the setting enables the interactions its client strategy requires and what evidence would demonstrate that.
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Operations and efficiency
Operations data were used to compare efficiency with other Perkins&Will offices. A comparison of this kind requires consistent definitions: the same activity, period, and denominator should be used across locations. Otherwise, a difference may reflect accounting or workload rather than design.
Technology, lighting, acoustics, and space programming
The case also tracked technology investment, measured lighting and acoustics, and reviewed space programming. These streams test whether the workplace works as a system. A room labeled for collaboration is not meeting the goal if connectivity fails, speech privacy is poor, or the program provides too few suitable settings at peak times.
Energy, material health, and sustainability
Finally, the authors reviewed energy use, material health, and sustainability in relation to employee health, wellbeing, and productivity. This recognizes that environmental performance and human performance can be related, while leaving room for careful qualification. The article does not publish a quantified productivity gain attributable to a specific material, energy measure, or design feature.
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Before collecting numbers, write the decision the organization needs to make. The following framework adapts the evidence categories described in the case into a practical planning table.
| Business goal | Useful evidence | Decision the evidence can inform |
|---|---|---|
| Improve collaboration | Employee survey responses, leader interviews, observations of team settings, technology reliability, and space-program data | Whether settings, booking rules, and equipment support the collaboration model; where capacity or behavior needs adjustment |
| Give people meaningful choice | Survey questions by work activity, utilization or booking records, interviews, and acoustic or lighting measurements | Whether the range of settings is usable and appropriately distributed, rather than merely present on a plan |
| Support health and wellbeing | Employee experience responses, lighting and acoustic readings, material-health review, and environmental conditions | Which physical conditions require remediation and whether employees report better support for their work |
| Strengthen client engagement | Marketing-lead interviews, records of prospective-client meetings, engagement quality notes, and successful-pursuit information | Whether the workplace enables the client interactions the business values; which improvements merit further testing |
| Increase operating efficiency | Consistently defined operations data, space programming, technology investment records, and comparisons with peer offices | Whether process, capacity, or workplace changes are associated with more efficient delivery |
| Advance sustainability | Energy use, material-health information, and employee wellbeing or productivity indicators | How environmental measures perform and where health, comfort, and sustainability objectives reinforce or conflict |
The table describes what each evidence stream can answer; it does not imply that any stream produces a score or ranking by itself.
A step-by-step measurement playbook
- State the business hypothesis. Write one sentence linking a proposed workplace condition to an outcome. Specify the population, location, and time period. “More collaboration space” is incomplete; “Teams handling interdisciplinary pursuits will have easier access to suitable meeting settings during the next two quarters” is testable.
- Define the outcome and its owner. Assign each indicator to the person who can explain it. A workplace lead may own survey and space information, operations may own efficiency measures, technology may own reliability and investment records, and marketing may own client-engagement information.
- Record a baseline before changes. Capture the existing survey response, operating measure, energy reading, technology condition, or space-program fact. If a move or renovation has already occurred, document the earliest reliable post-change period and label the limitation instead of reconstructing an invented baseline.
- Choose a comparison. Comparisons can be the same office over time, a similar office that did not change during the period, or a peer-office measure using the same definition. Note differences in workload, staffing, geography, and operating policy that could affect the result.
- Collect the minimum additional data needed. Start with systems already in use. Add targeted interviews, observations, lighting or acoustical measurements, or a short pulse survey only where existing information cannot answer the question. Avoid collecting a large volume of data that no decision-maker will use.
- Segment the results. Examine differences by office, work activity, team type, tenure, or frequency of attendance when sample sizes and privacy rules permit. An overall average can hide a problem affecting a smaller but critical group, such as client-facing teams or people who need confidential conversations.
- Triangulate before interpreting. Put employee responses beside leader observations, operating indicators, technology records, and building measurements. Converging signals strengthen confidence; conflicting signals identify a question for investigation rather than a reason to select the most favorable number.
- Document the decision and retest. Record what changed, why it changed, the evidence considered, and the next review date. After an adjustment, repeat the relevant measures under comparable conditions so the evaluation becomes a management cycle rather than a one-time report.
How to compare results without overstating causality
The four-office case supports a disciplined evaluation, but it does not isolate the effect of individual design choices. A move or renovation occurs alongside changes in staffing, technology, management practice, workload, and external conditions. If an indicator improves afterward, the design may have contributed, but the case does not establish how much or prove that design was the sole cause.
Use precise language in reports:
- Say that an indicator changed after the project when you have a before-and-after observation.
- Say that findings are consistent with the hypothesis when several evidence streams point in the same direction.
- Reserve caused or a quantified return claim for a stronger design, such as a well-matched comparison and controls for major confounding factors.
- State the period, geography, edition of a survey, and measurement conditions beside every number.
The Leesman comparison is useful context, not a universal target. The article reports the benchmark as more than 200,000 global responses across industries, while the projects involved four offices of one firm. Differences in profession, geography, attendance patterns, and survey timing can affect comparability.
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Build a practical dashboard
A dashboard should help a decision-maker choose an action, not simply display activity. Keep each measure tied to a question and show its source, period, owner, and limitation. A useful layout might include:
- Experience: responses about support for key work activities, with response rate and the survey edition identified.
- Business connection: qualitative themes from leaders and marketing leads, plus the count or quality definition used for client engagements and pursuits.
- Operations: an efficiency measure with a consistent denominator and a comparison office or prior period.
- Workplace system: technology reliability, space-program capacity, and lighting or acoustical readings where they bear on the hypothesis.
- Environmental performance: energy use and material-health findings paired with relevant wellbeing or productivity observations.
Do not combine unlike measures into a single unsupported “design score.” A traffic-light status can be useful for governance if the underlying evidence remains visible and the rule for each status is documented.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Common failure modes and fixes
Starting with a preferred design
If the team chooses a layout first and searches for confirming data later, the evaluation becomes advocacy. Fix this by writing the business hypothesis and success indicators before final design decisions.
Using satisfaction as a financial proxy
Higher satisfaction is valuable information, but it is not the same as higher revenue or lower cost. Pair experience data with the operating, client-development, technology, or environmental measure that corresponds to the stated business objective.
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Comparing incompatible offices
Offices differ in size, work type, attendance, and local operating practice. Standardize definitions, disclose material differences, and use a matched comparison where possible.
Ignoring negative or mixed signals
A new workplace can improve choice while creating acoustic problems, or improve energy performance while reducing convenience. Report the trade-off and assign an owner to test a remedy; do not average away a problem that affects a critical activity.
Collecting identifiable employee data without safeguards
Limit access, aggregate small groups, explain the purpose, and separate feedback from performance evaluation. Trust affects response quality, so privacy is part of measurement design rather than an administrative afterthought.
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A worked example without invented results
Imagine a studio introducing more varied meeting and focus settings to support interdisciplinary pursuits. The evaluation team could survey employees about support for collaboration and concentration, interview leaders about the intended behavior, ask marketing leads how client meetings are conducted, check technology reliability, review the programmed area by setting type, and measure acoustics in the rooms used for confidential discussions.
The team would record the pre-change conditions, compare the same indicators after an agreed period, and note workload or staffing changes. If employees report better support but acoustic readings and client-meeting observations reveal privacy problems, the appropriate conclusion is mixed: the choice objective may be progressing while the acoustic requirement needs a design or operating response. No numerical win should be claimed until the relevant measures support it.
What the 2017 article establishes—and what it does not
It establishes that one firm evaluated four 2016 office projects by combining employee feedback with leadership, marketing, operations, technology, space, and building-condition information. It records goals around collaboration, choice, health and wellbeing, and sustainability, and it reports comparison with a historical Leesman Index benchmark of more than 200,000 global responses.
It does not publish quantified before-and-after business outcomes, isolate the effect of an individual design decision, or provide a causal estimate of financial return. Its value is methodological: it demonstrates that organizations can often begin with information they already track, then add focused measurement to answer “How do you know?” more credibly.
Making the approach part of governance
Assign a cross-functional review group with workplace, operations, technology, people, sustainability, and client-development representation. Meet on a schedule tied to the business cycle, preserve definitions when staff or systems change, and keep a decision log showing which evidence led to each intervention. Reassess after changes to policy, attendance, technology, or space—not only after construction.
Perkins&Will concluded that deeper exploration can make design’s value understood as both an art and a science. Read as an author’s conclusion rather than an independently established causal finding, that statement points to the practical standard: design earns strategic credibility when its intent is explicit, its measures are traceable, and its claims stay within what the evidence can support.
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