Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Nirit Cohen – WorkFutures
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
This article is the second in a new series from Andrea Pirrotti-Dranchak, in which she explores the real ROI of returning to the office. The first article dug into the numbers behind that recovery — and what it means for the future of work. Click here to read “The Real ROI Of RTO: How Cities Are Finding Their Pulse Again.”
The biggest loss of the remote-work era wasn’t square footage. It was spark. The spontaneous energy that happens when people gather in person — the ideas born over coffee, the mentorship that happens in hallway conversations — went missing.
Those moments were doing more than we thought: they were driving innovation, belonging, and mental health.
A future-of-work thought leader once said, “There’s a certain crackle, a spark that happens when people connect live and in person. Innovation is snuffed with virtual meetings.” He’s right. The engagement that happens in person can’t be replicated through a screen.
And the data backs it up: connection is the hidden driver of performance — and disconnection carries measurable costs.
The Crackle Effect: Why Proximity Matters
When people come together, ideas accelerate. Harvard Business Review reports that collaboration drops by nearly 25% among fully remote teams compared with co-located ones.
Gensler’s 2025 Global Workplace Survey found that employees who spend the majority of their week in person report 2.5 times more opportunities for mentorship and informal learning.
In a Forbes column, workplace strategist Kyle Waldrep noted that younger professionals in remote environments miss out on relationship-building and career-shaping experiences — the hallway conversations and cross-functional interactions that can’t be scheduled.
“No one achieves success alone,” he wrote. “We all need each other, and we need the workplace of the future — it’s time to embrace both.”
Remote work made us efficient. In-person work makes us effective. The distinction defines the next phase of workplace value creation.
The Mental Health Equation
While productivity levels remained steady in hybrid models, the human costs have mounted. A SHRM study found that remote and hybrid workers report significantly higher rates of anxiety and depression compared with on-site peers. The Integrated Benefits Institute identified a statistically significant increase in anxiety and depressive symptoms among remote employees.
The U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 Advisory on Loneliness went further: chronic isolation raises the risk of premature death by 26%, comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Loneliness isn’t just an emotional issue; it’s a public health crisis.
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The Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance estimates that absenteeism due to stress and loneliness costs U.S. employers $154 billion annually. Those aren’t simply soft costs — they hit the bottom line.
While many may feel that human connection is a fluffy metric, the numbers say otherwise.
The Belonging Premium
Connection improves morale and amplifies results.
According to Gallup, employees who have a best friend at work are seven times more engaged and 12% more productive. McKinsey & Company’s 2025 Workforce Report found that companies fostering belonging experience 56% lower turnover and 75% higher engagement.
As Harvard Business Review notes, connection operates on multiple levels — to colleagues, leaders, and the larger mission. When all three align, performance follows. Forbes called it “the missing element in workplace culture.”
Belonging has an economic value. Retention, innovation, and engagement are all downstream effects of feeling connected to a shared purpose.
Purpose-Built Space: Where Connection Happens
Physical space plays a central role in restoring that sense of belonging.
According to Gensler’s 2025 Workplace Survey, only 26% of workers say their office helps them do their best work. We’re not talking about desks here – we are talking about design. Design that supports and enhances collaboration, focus, and social connection.
Purpose-built environments combine all three. They blend collaboration zones for innovation, quiet rooms for concentration, and shared lounges for casual connection. Outdoor terraces, cafés, and “third spaces” extend that design beyond the office, turning the workplace into an ecosystem rather than a floorplate.
The investment is measurable. JLL’s Work Dynamics Report found that 68% of corporate real estate leaders are now evaluated on employee experience and productivity — not cost savings. Space has become a strategic lever for human performance.
The Human ROI
The return-to-office debate has been framed as a policy issue. In reality, it’s an investment strategy — one that values human connection as a driver of engagement, health, and growth.
Connection improves retention. It reduces absenteeism. It boosts innovation. It builds culture that compounds over time.
The human dividend is measurable — and it’s multiplying where companies are designing for it intentionally.
Remote work proved that we can operate efficiently apart. The ROI of RTO proves that we perform better together.
