AI-informed Data Enables Peak Performance in Workplaces

In the last few years, we’ve learned a lot about what employees want most from their workplaces. Collaboration spaces? Yep. Quality hybrid-meeting technology? Definitely.  

But companies may still be missing an important piece of the employee-data puzzle, says Brian Zuercher, whose company helps employers and those in commercial real estate navigate what he refers to as the “North Star around functional data.” 

“All the information they have around employees tends to be around employee engagement, to employee sentiment, to the organization's vision, mission, and values,” Zuercher says. “Companies actually don’t know much about what people do, how they do it … and what would ultimately result in what we would call ‘peak performance work.’”

While the functional data that Align’s AI gathers is specific to each team or company being analyzed, Zuercher says broader trends about employee work habits and demands emerge when client data is aggregated.

For instance, there’s increased interest in real estate consolidation, based on quality rather than quantity. 

Before hybrid work, the amount of workspace a company needed was traditionally calculated based on desks and headcount. Now, companies are more focused on investing in the right type of consolidated physical spaces, specifically looking for space that fosters connection, collaboration, and team engagement. 

Zuercher compares this shift to your experience when riding an exercise bike. 

Riding alone at home you’re still getting a workout, but other things are missing, he says. “You’re not getting in a hot room with other people, sweating, talking to people before class.” He believes that “community camaraderie,” is why many people prefer both in-person fitness and in-person work. 

Another key trend is widespread demand for flexibility, says Zuercher.

“A common denominator around what the individual is looking for is autonomy. And it’s usually described as flexibility,” in terms of workplace policy, access to tech and space. 

Of course, policy is written by people and can be shifted as needed, Zuercher notes. And tools can be upgraded as technology advances. But what about workplaces?

Offices built with conventional materials such as drywall can't adapt and change without a fair amount of construction, time, and cost. Modular solutions, on the other hand, allow a space to be whatever its occupants need in the moment — while also enabling future changes as required, quickly, and inexpensively.