Navigating Change to Better Serve People and Communities

Hines’ Senior Managing Director and European Head of Management Services Ronen Journo was recently featured on the Looking Forward podcast, presented by design agency MillerKnoll. Disruption has been the theme of Ronen’s 28-year career, so his perspective on this period of rampant experimentation in corporate real estate is particularly prescient.

During the episode, Ronen discusses ideas on how corporate real estate can navigate change to better serve people and communities. In conversation with VP of Global Research and Insights at MillerKnoll Ryan Anderson, the two agree that the days of the one-size-fits-all workplace strategy are done, exploring how the pandemic provided an accelerant for challenges that had been on a slow burn for decades and highlighted the need for corporate real estate professionals to focus on the experiences of the people who use the built environment in order to fully realize its value.

A focus area of the podcast was on the employee experience, with the two taking a deeper dive into the shift toward greater employee autonomy and ownership of their time. In particular, Ronen explains that management models cannot rely on in-person workplace presence as a barometer for success, and that leaders should concentrate on accomplishments and how employees create value, wherever they are. Though seemingly at odds with the large-scale return-to-work policies being implemented across virtually every industry, the goal of having employees in the office should be to create experiences and build culture, not determine who is sitting in a desk for how long.

“We’re going through a correction period where employees are saying, ‘I really just want you to trust me, and I want you to give me the space to manage my time to produce work, and I want you to manage my output and the way I collaborate. Don’t measure me by presenteeism,’” Ronen said. “That is a social transformation we are going through.”

To listen to the full episode, visit the Looking Forward page here.