Employers and landlords are looking at the entire employee experience to create a meaningful office experience.
The buzz around “employee experience” has been percolating for years since the pandemic, but this is the year that employers and landlords are taking the plunge and truly incorporating that experience into physical office design.
Call it Street to Seat, and it’s a hot trend in 2025, according to a new report by commercial real estate investment firm JLL. “Street to seat experience will become more crucial for developers and employers in attracting talent, boosting workplace attendance and revitalizing urban centers,” according to JLL’s 2025 Outlook on Design Trends.
The street-to-seat concept might sound flashy, but it hinges on a very simple premise: how to heighten the experience before a person walks into the space or the building. It could be designing for the experience of parking your bike or car at the office, what you see when you enter the building, the private areas to take a phone call, the elevator, the office branding, the concierge greeting you in the space, and more.
It’s about taking inspiration from the hospitality sector to deliver memorable moments personalization and human connection.
—JLL
Employers tested out some of these ideas in 2022 and 2023, but the concept really gained traction this year, says Christina Piper, JLL’s senior vice president of workplace design.
“They’re taking a plunge and saying we’re going to design our space and appeal to our employees—with all the data, insights and sentiments we’ve gained from our research or our polling — and we’re going to design spaces that directly correlate to our brand values,” she says.
A big driver: Employees have never had more choice in the kinds of companies or organizations they want to work for and in deciding how their own individual values align to that company’s brand and mission and vision. In the past, pay once was a top driver of how a person would choose an employer, but today, people are evaluating a job based on how the culture aligns with their personal values.
Organizations across all sizes and industries, she says, are now focused on making investments to attract and retain top talent and they’re overhauling spaces with the employee experience in mind. Much of that comes down to focusing on branding, community, connection and purpose, says Piper. Research shows that the built environment influences culture and it impacts how employees feel and behave, and how productive and engaged they are at work.
It’s not just employers making the investments. Landlords, too, are focused on integrating this experience concept into their buildings, and they’re investing in property upgrades. Tenants have more real estate choices, too, and landlords are seeking to attract the best companies.
Going beyond a room with four walls
Street-to-seat design goes beyond looking at a space plan for an office and each individual room with four walls, says Piper. JLL’s clients are looking at how an employee would move through their day and how they will feel inside those spaces. Employers are taking into consideration employee surveys, feedback and data and making aggressive investments to elevate their spaces. “It’s not just about the rooms, cafe, office, workstation, you know, showroom, it’s about the mood and experience,” Piper says.
To ideate on those interiors, Piper’s team uses words like “educate” and “inform” to inspire a showroom, and words like “collaborate” and “connect” when designing a workspace. It’s less literal and more of a way to discern how spaces should do, how they connect, and how they engage with each other, says Piper.
Do gathering spaces, workspaces and conference rooms foster connection and impromptu conversations? Do they allow for important heads-down work and private calls? Is the furniture customizable for different bodies, postures and preferences?
—JLL
Rebranding with intrinsic values in mind
Often this street-to-seat mindset involves wholesale rebranding of spaces, making them much more mission-centric to their company values. This isn’t limited to graphics or logos on the wall; it’s about intrinsic values, says Piper.
Take, for instance, showing transparency and positivity by incorporating more glass and natural light coming into spaces that boost those feelings, says Piper. They may showcase a feeling of flexibility by incorporating temperature and lighting choice in work settings.
The successful companies JLL is seeing are those that are innovating rather than waiting on the sidelines to see what everyone else is doing. “People know they need to make a change and need to stand for something,” she says.
New social spaces
As employers look closely at the employee experience, they’re revising their spaces for special events, whether it’s hosting external speakers or cooking demonstrations as a way to incentivize the return to office. At least 43% of employees need suitable spaces to support these events, and 17% are considering them for 2025, according to JLL.
Sustainability and the environment are top priorities in these redesigns, and the topics are typically addressed by clients in the very first meeting, says Piper. Organizations want to hit sustainability benchmarks and comply with regulations, and they’re concerned with employee health inside buildings.
“It’s not simply sustainability, but also employee wellness, and folding those into the design of their spaces for a curated experience,” she says. “Organizations know they need to raise the bar.”
