The Implementation Plan for Your Workplace Roadmap

Recently, I introduced the idea of a workplace roadmap and promised to share the actual implementation plan. Well, here are the practical steps that turn "we should probably fix this" into "we actually fixed this." The kind of changes that make your team wonder why you didn't do this sooner.

Also, I'm hosting a keynote soon to walk through what we're building at Joan Workplace. If you want to see where workplace technology is heading, register here.

Now, before we dive into the pillars, we need to start with something most leaders skip entirely.

Define what you want to achieve

Before you start mapping out your workplace strategy, take a moment to pause and reflect. What are you really trying to achieve? It’s easy to follow trends or mimic what other companies are doing, but a successful strategy starts with clarity about your unique goals.

Ask yourself:

• What do I want my workplace strategy to accomplish?
• Am I trying to increase in-office attendance, and if so, why?
• Do I want to improve collaboration, culture, or employee wellbeing?
• Am I addressing burnout, retention, or team silos?

Be honest with yourself. Don’t assume what’s best based on what others are doing or what seems expected. 

This is your chance to define the real purpose behind your workplace plan.

Until you’re clear on this, any next step is just guesswork.

The three pillars

Once you know what you're trying to achieve, you need real data from the people your decisions will impact. 

Your employees.

The trick is matching your research methods to the outcomes you want. Each pillar needs a different approach to gathering insights.

Pillar 1: Digital workplace planning

Your digital workplace includes everything from Slack and Teams to your booking systems and IT infrastructure. The goal here is figuring out what technology your people actually use, how it impacts their work, and where you're falling short.

How to gather insights:

Pulse surveys: Get a broad sense of how people feel about your digital tools. Ask directly about their favorite systems and what feels clunky or outdated. Keep these short and frequent.

Deep-dive surveys: Focus on productivity, digital collaboration, and tech frustrations. The key question to ask is this one: How do our tools impact your ability to work efficiently?

Usage monitoring: Track how employees are using the systems you already have. Are they logging into your communication tools daily? Are they avoiding your project management platforms entirely?

One-on-one interviews: Go deeper into specific frustrations. Ask about their experiences with digital onboarding, cloud storage, file sharing systems, and remote work tools.

Pillar 2: Physical space planning

This pillar covers your office layout, desk arrangements, meeting rooms, collaboration zones, and hybrid work setup. You need to understand how your space supports or hinders the way your team actually works.

How to gather insights:

Physical walk-throughs: Observe how employees use different areas. Are certain zones always crowded while others sit empty? Are meeting rooms being used for their intended purpose or has everyone turned them into phone booths?

Workspace surveys: Ask about preferences for office layout, seating arrangements, collaboration zones, and noise levels. Questions like: What areas in the office help you focus? What areas create distractions?

Space usage monitoring: Track how often rooms get reserved and which spaces people prefer through your booking software. This data guides decisions about reconfiguring areas or adopting hot-desking.

One-on-one interviews: Ask how people feel about the current setup. Do they have the right spaces for collaboration? Are there areas that hinder their productivity?

Pillar 3: Employee experience planning

This pillar covers the entire employee journey, from recruitment through onboarding, career development, wellness programs, recognition, and retention. You're designing a workplace that keeps people engaged and motivated throughout their time with you.

How to gather insights:

Employee engagement surveys: Run these regularly to track satisfaction, engagement, and wellbeing. Focus on areas that affect morale and retention. Ask questions like: How valued do you feel at work? What could make your experience better?

One-on-one interviews: Dive deeper into individual career goals, feelings of burnout, and what employees value most about working at your company. Ask how they see their career growing within your organization.

Exit interviews: Understand why departing employees are leaving, what could have kept them, and what you could improve. These conversations are gold because people tend to be more honest when they're already out the door.

Always-open feedback channels: Set up Slack threads or digital suggestion boxes where employees can share thoughts on work environment, company culture, and personal wellbeing anytime.

New ways to act on insights

Once you’ve gathered insights from your team, communicating changes and updates efficiently becomes just as important as making them. 

For this reason, we built Joan Announcements, a feature that lets you send location-aware messages, urgent alerts, maintenance updates, or even fun notices like leftover cake in the lobby, directly to the people who need them. 

It’s basically a simple way to make sure your roadmap’s actions actually reach the right audience at the right time.

Build the actual plan

Now you have clarity on what you want to achieve and real insights from your team. Time to create a structured plan. Your actual workplace roadmap.

Break it down into three phases based on timeline and impact.

Short-term wins (0-3 months)

Implement small, high-impact changes based on the feedback you gathered. Adjust meeting policies, improve work-from-home setups, add more focus spaces to your office. These quick wins build momentum and show employees you're listening.

Mid-term changes (3-12 months)

Start addressing more foundational issues. Redesign office spaces, upgrade digital tools, refine hybrid work policies. These changes take time but are crucial for long-term success.

Long-term transformations (12+ months)

Plan major initiatives like cultural shifts, complete office redesigns, or tech stack updates. These require careful thought, alignment with broader company goals, and significant resources.

A few things to keep in mind as you build this out.

• Assign clear ownership to specific people or teams for each phase. Someone needs to be responsible for execution.
• Keep communication transparent across all levels. Share what you're doing and why you're doing it.
• Track success by establishing metrics for each pillar. Employee engagement scores, office usage patterns, productivity indicators. Whatever makes sense for your goals.

One more thing. 

Don't expect your roadmap to be perfect. The real key to success is adaptability. Things change quickly, so make sure your plan can evolve as needed.

Your roadmap should evolve over time

Your workplace roadmap is not a static document you create once and file away. It's a living document that should evolve as your company, your team, and their needs change.

Schedule regular reviews of your roadmap. Quarterly or twice a year works well for most teams. Make sure flexibility is baked into the plan from the start.

Track ongoing metrics like employee sentiment and engagement, office and remote usage patterns, collaboration quality, wellbeing and inclusion measures, and retention and recruitment numbers.

That's it.

Three pillars, real steps, and a roadmap that evolves with your team instead of gathering dust in a folder labeled "Strategy 2025."

If you're ready to start building this for your team, we're hosting a keynote soon to share what we're building at Joan. I'd love for you to join us. 

You can register here.

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