About Place

In this season of MillerKnoll’s podcast, we’re deepening our focus on the impact of the workplace on organizational outcomes—and our lives. What new ideas or practices are making the places where we work and live better around the world? How can we all apply them? We get into it in this season of About Place. Start listening.   millerknoll.com/ideas-in-action/about-place-podcast  

Two experts from MillerKnoll’s Global Research and Insights team recap last episode’s conversation on the Harkin Institute’s inclusive design, before revealing new insights from our Global Workplace Assessment and examining the current state of work location policies. Next season, we’re reshaping the podcast to examine the future of work, plus our clients’ most pressing near-term needs for supporting new ways of working. 

The road to inclusivity stops for many buildings at ADA compliance, but two architects for The Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement at Drake University are charting a different path. Listen in as they discuss replicable design principles of the institute, which combines sustainability, accessibility, and inclusivity for people with an array of disabilities.  

Thirty years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), there’s one research institute still pushing for more inclusive spaces for all. The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement at Drake University was created to deliver lasting support for social justice issues such as disability advocacy. Listen in as its founders, Ruth Harkin and former U.S. senator Tom Harkin—who authored the 1990 ADA—revisit the fascinating makings of the ADA and share about the institute continuing its legacy. 

What does it take to create workspaces people actually want to be in? Using smart technology as a sandbox, our guests explore how workplaces can forecast employee needs, measure results, and use data to ideate new people-centric solutions for using space. Listen in as Alea Fairchild, Ph.D., Director of the technology policy think-tank The Constantia Institute, and Jeremy Pollack, CEO and co-founder of the workplace experience platform Calven, talk about how we can effectively push the needle on the workplace experience.

Office density before the pandemic didn’t provide an ideal workplace experience for anyone. That’s just one of the takeaways from our chat with two experts from the Global Research and Insights team at MillerKnoll. Listen in as Katie Finlayson, our Workplace Strategy Manager, and Bertie Van Wyk, our Insight Programme Manager, touch on employee connection and belonging and unpack the power of purposeful, personalized strategies for supporting employees whether they work remotely, in the office, or a mix of both. 

For this episode, we welcome two guests from the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies (CIFS). Carsten Beck is Director of Research and Lovisa Volmarsson is an Advisor and Futurist. Our conversation started with a question about the implications of remote work on urban centers, but wandered into issues of livability, sustainability, economics, and public policy. The discussion generated plenty of ideas about how cities might adapt to become more affordable, regenerative, and desirable places to live and work. 

Pallavi Shrivastava, Head of Workplace Consulting, West Asia for JLL, discusses the state of work in Mumbai. Mike Petrusky, Director of Podcasts for Eptura, offers insights from workplace strategists and real estate leaders. They discuss workplace experiences, cultural context, status roles, community needs, social sciences in workplace strategy, and the debate between remote work and office.

Our guests for this episode come bearing research from their respective organizations to spark business leaders to think differently about the physical environment. Despina Katsikakis is an Executive Partner and Global Head of Total Workplace for global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. Kevin Delaney is CEO, Editor-in-Chief, and co-founder of Charter, a future-of-work media and research company. They balance eye-opening data with practical advice throughout their conversation with host Ryan Anderson.  

When the insights come at you as fast as they do in this podcast, sometimes you need a chance to reflect and consider how they apply to your world. So, this season, we’ve invited members of our Global Research and Insights team to join Ryan to discuss the themes that surface every couple of episodes. This week, we welcome Michelle Ossmann, PhD., Director of Healthcare Knowledge and Innovation, and Mark Catchlove, Director of our Global Insight Group. They reflect on themes that stood out for them so far this season, from the need for workplaces to provide meaningful experiences to the responsibility of leaders to invest in employee wellbeing.