By Cameron King
"For those of you who are fortunate enough to go into an office” was not the perspective I ever thought I’d hear at a client offsite meeting.
But it’s true — going into an office is a privilege. I mean, we get it. Working remotely is, for the most part, easier. No commute. No pants. No brushing your teeth? That crosses the line. But now a few years into the post-pandemic workplace, CASE has a strong point of view about the value of the hybrid model.
Space should inspire culture
Since the beginning, we’ve understood the value design-centric environments bring to inspire creativity. And so does location. When we selected our new space in Soho, we chose a place with deep roots in the arts. Our gut-renovated space (thanks to TBD Architecture) of an old publisher is two floors above The New York Earth Room and surrounded by the best places to shop and understand retail trends. And our West Hollywood co-working space is in the center of everything.
Our very first purchase twenty years ago was our set of Herman Miller Eames Management chairs (even though it made no sense financially). And thanks to a partner that understands the value of community and collaboration, Herman Miller, we’ve been able to outfit our Soho space with beautifully designed, comfortable furnishings that help us do our best work. Their design ethos guided our welcome space for clients. And the fact that our office space can flex between a photoshoot studio, workspace, and dancefloor helps dramatically. Everything we’ve considered and created is for our team. An amazing Jura coffee machine with a coffee bar to help the team ease into the morning, team-sourced snacks and drinks throughout the day.
We also love the opportunity of being bi-coastal. Our NYC team members enjoy our Soho office and our LA team thrives at NeueHouse in West Hollywood. Thanks to platforms like Zoom or Teams, we get together virtually whenever we can.
Our case-in-point for the hybrid model
When we returned to the office, almost all of our team selected our hybrid plan. Currently, we’re IRL on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. We WFH on Mondays and Fridays with the option to come into our Soho or West Hollywood office with fewer people and less distractions.
So how does creating a team-centric office foster a collaborative culture? Millie was a great digital designer with a great in-house job and good connections with her co-workers. But working fully remote wasn’t cutting it, especially when she was craving personal connections with the people she spent 40 hours of her week with. Enter CASE. A mutual friend introduced her to us and we offered her a co-working space in our Soho office. Millie fell in love with the culture and connections she had found with us and joined the team. We’re thrilled with the enthusiasm, talent (and pop-culture trivia) that she brings to our communal lunch table.
The hybrid model works well for us. Working from home allows more of our real selves to show up at the office because it engenders flexibility and autonomy. Trust is developed faster and deeper by relying on the team to navigate creative challenges with focus and accountability.
But we also use the days we work from home to deepen our connections: our weekly full-team status meeting is every Monday and our full-team inspiration meeting is every Friday. While an inspiration meeting may seem a little “woo-woo” it’s actually an amazing opportunity for everyone on the team to share observations about culture and helps shape our perspectives based on what everyone finds cool: your own personal board of directors, spaces that inspire you, our own version of Brett Goldstein’s “Films to be Buried With”, and everyone’s favorite memories from our twenty years in business. It’s amazing how much deeper our connections go when we’re vulnerable. And Zoom levels the playing field so everyone has a voice—from founders to interns.
Speaking of interns, we’ve found that their development is supported exponentially when they join us in the office. While we love giving everyone a chance to team up with us, we only offer internships to those who can have a face-to-face visit with their supervisors, so they can glean from all the conversations that happen around the office, over-the-shoulder reviews, seeing what types of interactions and engagements are successful.
Even though we made it through a global pandemic, loneliness is an epidemic and it’s spreading. According to the Cigna Group’s recent study conducted in 2023, 58% of US Adults consider themselves lonely and burnt out particularly amongst workers. And that’s even greater in racial minorities, lower incomes and younger people–otherwise known as the emerging talent that’s entering the workplace (42% of 18 to 34-year-olds experience feeling left out!). So what do they need? A community, and where’s a great place to find it? An inspiring workplace.
Want to learn more about working with us? It worked for Millie.
