Several companies in southeastern Wisconsin have invested millions into office renovations over the past few years – a reflection of a national trend toward hybrid work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic – but how have those redesigned spaces fared in bringing employees back together?
BizTimes Milwaukee spoke with three local companies that recently renovated their offices, representing a combined total of 449,000 square feet of space, to discuss the renovations, what’s working, what isn’t and what they’d do differently.
Mission-driven renovation
When the Dohmen Company Foundation initially purchased the former Fein Brothers Building on King Drive in Milwaukee’s Halyard Park neighborhood for its headquarters, the organization’s values became instrumental in guiding both leadership and employees through the renovation process.
The 34,000-square-foot building at 2007 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and an adjacent building at 334 W. Brown St. now make up a campus that houses operations for the foundation as well as its nonprofit spinoff Food For Health and social enterprise The Food Benefit Co.
Key to finding a new headquarters was securing a space that allowed the organization to co-locate within the community it serves, said Kathy Koshgarian, president and chief executive officer of Food For Health and The Food Benefit Co.
If the organization was going to establish a brand-new home, the goal was to “truly start fresh and come from what we want to embody,” said Koshgarian.
Food for Health moved into the main headquarters building on King Drive in May of 2022 and into the food production facility on Brown Street seven months later.
The ground floor of the headquarters building includes space for community events and programming, a demonstration kitchen, a fitness facility and two clinical wellness rooms. The upper floor houses the organization’s administrative staff.
“We needed an open concept and enough room to deliver all of this programming,” said Koshgarian. “Our vision was to create a community health hub that felt open and welcoming.”
As as organization, Food For Health strive for sustainability. To that end, the office features lights with motion detection sensors and secure remote access to the building via mobile device. Koshgarian said Food For Health has invested significantly in technology and seen a significant return on investment.
Conference rooms in the building are outfitted with video conferencing technology called Airtame. The organization also invested heavily in office phones and telecommunication infrastructure but found it to be somewhat obsolete. Instead of landlines, employees use computer software that functions as a telephone.
“If I were to do it over again, I wouldn’t have purchased a desk phone system. That was a big aha moment,” said Koshgarian.
Within the office space, cubicles are built with higher walls for privacy, and there are two private rooms employees can use for individual phone or video conversations. Since the move, Koshgarian has seen teams use open collaboration spaces for meetings more often as opposed to closed conference rooms.
The new headquarters straddles the line between having open areas for collaboration, while still providing opportunities for privacy. Koshgarian said this balance has strengthened Food For Health’s culture.
“What really excited (employees) was they were part of the design of the build-out,” she said.
Other employee benefits like access to healthy vending machines and Food for Health’s programming have also helped generate excitement within the organization.
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At Milwaukee Tool’s new downtown office, conference rooms are the areas in highest demand by employees.[/caption]
Striking the right balance
Milwaukee Tool is another company that’s sought to provide the perfect balance of collaboration and privacy for employees at its newest office building, located at 551 N. 5th St. in downtown Milwaukee.
Nicknamed the Red Beacon, the recently unveiled Milwaukee Tool building currently houses 900 employees, which will eventually increase to about 1,200.
At the center of the five-story downtown office building is an amphitheater with stadium-style seating, designed to encourage gathering among employees. Milwaukee Tool removed some office space from the building, which was originally 370,000 square feet and now is about 350,000 square feet, to create a more open layout. The company also doubled the number of windows in the building for more natural light.
“Collaboration is the cornerstone of how we innovate, so any of the areas within our building that allow for collaboration are utilized the most,” said Tim Brasher, senior vice president of brand marketing at Milwaukee Tool.
Conference rooms are the spaces used most frequently. At times, there are more employees who need a conference room than spaces available. To help solve this issue, each floor of the building features small, collaborative work areas.
“These flexible workspaces are designed for more organic flexibility, allowing spontaneous work groups to form versus having to formally reserve a meeting space,” said Brasher.
There are also smaller, one-person rooms for employees who need to make a call or host a private meeting. Based on feedback, the amenities employees are most excited about are the full-service coffee shop, on-site gym, full-service cafeteria and outdoor heated patio. The one-person booths are also popular.
From a design standpoint, the openness of the company’s new office is, without a doubt, the element that’s paid off the most, said Brasher.
“We all but eliminated closed-wall offices and utilized glass on the interior to ensure clear line of sight,” he said. “In fact, the cubicles are all lowered to 40 (inches) so you’re able to see clear across the 67,000-square-foot floors.”
Attracting employees into the office
In a post-pandemic world that allows employees more workplace flexibility but has many employers emphasizing the importance of face-to-face collaboration, office space needs to not only be functional, but also attractive enough to make employees want to work in-person.
From 2020 through 2021, Johnson Financial Group remodeled two floors at the Cathedral Place building at 555 E. Wells St. in downtown Milwaukee. Its vision was to encourage interaction, but there was uncertainty around how to accomplish that.
“We built this really great space, and it sat empty for a year, year and a half, so we crossed our fingers and rubbed our lucky rabbit’s foot and hoped that everyone would come back,” said Jim Popp, chief executive officer of Johnson Financial Group. “And they did, the remodel was successful.”
The remodel was also extensive.
“We didn’t take these two floors down to the studs, we took them down to the floor plates. I don’t think we saved a single wall,” Popp said.
As a result of the open floor plan, employees have been working together as intended but the design also allows for the most light and best views to be accessible to everyone, rather than just those with private offices. This has made the office more attractive to employees.
Throughout the office, casual spaces where employees can meet with one another or just have a change of scenery have been popular, Popp said.
But some of the most worthwhile investments have been the simplest ones – adjustable desks so employees can stand or sit throughout the day and kitchens stocked with coffee and snacks, bringing a residential comfort to the space – but don’t cost much in in the long run.
“I think when you build a space that has a nice fit and finish and has collaborative space that is high-end, and has great views and great amenities, it makes people feel like the office is a really good place to get stuff done and spend time with colleagues,” Popp said
