Why Flex Work is the Next Normal

In the March 2021 livestream, Wendy Spreenberg kept bringing flex work back to a harder question than vacancy: what operating model will make the space useful once people arrive? Underused space alone was not the strategy.

Space becomes an opportunity only when the use case is clear

Wendy Spreenberg described multiple flex formats, shorter commitments, stepped suite paths, management contracts, and shared services instead of one standard product. That mix mattered because tenant uncertainty was part of the problem the space had to solve.

Hybrid work still needs a culture owner

She was just as direct about hybrid work. Wendy asked, "Do you have someone who's actually going to manage the culture around having a disparate workforce?" That question kept culture, schedules, and communication inside the real-estate discussion instead of outside it.

Local conditions still shape access

Later in the livestream, Wendy and I also connected work access to commute patterns, broadband, home conditions, and neighborhood investment. A flexible-work offer becomes more useful when it is designed around those local conditions, not only around empty square footage. That is why the first operating choice is the user, the service mix, and the culture owner, not the flex label itself.