Skip to content
Listen up – here’s how to transform the workplace
With over 20 years’ experience creating places that support people and planet, Sue Hyun, Mitie’s Principal in Smart Workplaces, has worked across a wide range of environments, from offices to critical facilities.
In this Perspectives article, Sue reflects on why organisations may overlook an important dimension of workplaces: it’s not just about how spaces look, but how they make people feel.
To understand this better, she suggests organisations need to strengthen one critical skill: listening.
Throughout our careers, many of us have encountered workplaces that didn’t always support people as well as they should. I’ve often observed individuals who are left vulnerable to excessive noise, harsh lighting, uncomfortable temperatures or poor air quality. When these fundamental factors are overlooked, they drain energy, undermine focus and quietly erode wellbeing. In such conditions, good work becomes harder to achieve. Too often people are expected to rely on their own tolerance and resilience rather than being supported by the environment.
How buildings shape experience, health and wellbeing
As a built environment professional, I’ve devoted much of my career to addressing challenges like these. At the same time, I’ve also been fortunate to see environments that worked well – places where people’s attention sharpened, focus deepened and energy grew. All because the workplace actively supported them.
I trained and practised in architecture early in my career, becoming increasingly interested in evidence-based design. I began exploring how design decisions could move beyond aesthetics to enhance building performance. This led me into environmental science, where I developed a deeper understanding of how buildings perform and how they shape user experience and wellbeing. Over time, my work expanded into operational delivery and workplace transformation. My experience brought these disciplines together to support organisations in creating positive change.
I have always paired this curiosity with a data-driven mindset, yet many organisations still underestimate the value of evidence and insight in shaping workplace experiences.
Making the invisible visible
One of the greatest challenges is that people’s workplace experiences are often hard to measure. We can count desks, square metres, or kilowatts – but it is not as easy to understand how supported or distracted people feel in their work. Too often, these experiences are only recognised when problems escalate and people become stressed, disengaged or even consider leaving.
So, how do we bring the invisible into view? Understanding user sentiment is key to uncovering how workplaces are experienced and where they can be improved. This involves looking at:
- The work people do and how well the environment supports it.
- Everyday comfort and how design can support them.
- Tools and services and how they help people do their jobs effectively.
- Wellbeing and engagement and how the workplace helps to nurture them.
Rather than relying on assumptions, these insights provide a clearer picture of workplace experience. They uncover patterns that might otherwise remain hidden, making it easier to identify priorities and take action.
What I find most rewarding is using these insights to guide positive change – collecting and analysing data and using it to inform changes that make workplaces healthier, more inclusive and better for everyone.
The power of listening
Creating meaningful change in the workplace begins with listening. This can take many forms – from sentiment surveys and quick pulse checks to open workshops, everyday data from sensors or booking systems, and even informal conversations. They all create accessible ways for people to be heard.
Listening sets the stage for action, grounding decisions in real needs. A workplace should never be considered “finished”; it needs to adapt as people’s needs evolve. That is why the conversation should be ongoing – lasting progress depends on dialogue.
Looking ahead
I’m optimistic about the future of the workplace. Our workplaces are likely to become less tied to fixed office environments, with hybrid working meaning that, for many, the workplace will be wherever they are on a given day. Organisations will retain hubs – flexible spaces that enable people to focus, collaborate or recuperate.
Crucially, inclusion will be embedded in design from the outset, with wellbeing and the needs of neurodiverse people fully considered. Although progress is being made, these considerations too often remain an afterthought.
This is why I encourage organisations to start listening and embracing this vision today. Creating environments that attract talent and inspire people to do their best work is key to securing the future. After all, we are moving towards a world where workplaces are no longer just where we work, but how we thrive.
As part of her workplace advisory role, Sue and the Smart Workplaces team use Sphere – Mitie’s workplace experience measurement platform, approved by the International WELL Building Institute as a WELL survey. Sphere turns workplace data into insights on health, wellbeing, and experience.
Read next
Can you really create a workplace that works for everybody?
For the first time, UK workplaces need to cater to five different generations at once. Our new report unpacks the needs and challenges of today’s multigenerational workforce, asking: how do you create a workplace…
Are you ready for the workplace reckoning?
Post-Covid, the workplace, as we know it, is undergoing profound transformation. While many organisations are making changes to keep up, few are preparing for the scale and pace of the seismic shift on the…
Cleaner air, safer workplaces
The pandemic has brought to the forefront just how important fresh air circulation and a healthy environment is to well-being and performance in the workplace. Good ventilation and the flow of fresh air reduces…