In a rapidly evolving workplace landscape, the transition to distributed work has ushered in unprecedented challenges and opportunities. To explore how organizations can navigate this new reality, I spoke with Adel El Mawla and Asaël Akkerman, co-founders of Workplaced. Their platform takes a data-driven approach to workplace strategy, helping companies align their real estate, HR, and operational objectives with employee needs.
This conversation revealed how Workplaced leverages technology to enable smarter, human-centric workplace decisions, creating a blueprint for success in the age of hybrid work.
Bridging the Gap Between Work and Place
Adel El Mawla, CEO of Workplaced, introduced the platform’s mission succinctly: “We leverage people and place data to define optimal workplace strategies.” With a background in engineering, real estate, and PropTech, El Mawla brings a systems-level understanding of workplace challenges.
The platform’s goal is multifaceted—improving productivity and cost-efficiency while enhancing employee satisfaction and well-being. “It’s about aligning the needs of the business with the preferences of the workforce, whether through hybrid models, office layouts, or alternative workspaces,” he explained.
Co-founder Asaël Akkerman, Chief Strategy Officer, emphasized the nuanced approach Workplaced offers: “Instead of top-down decisions, we integrate personality data, work patterns, and preferences to create solutions that work for individuals and teams.” Drawing from his experience in workplace strategy, Akkerman highlighted how the platform moves beyond cookie-cutter solutions to deliver precision-driven outcomes.
From Data to Decisions
Central to Workplaced’s approach is its reliance on robust data inputs. El Mawla and Akkerman described how the platform collects employee personality profiles, work schedules, and activity preferences, alongside corporate strategic goals. This comprehensive dataset enables their algorithm to provide tailored recommendations for work arrangements, office configurations, and even building selection. Workplaced also offers a management tool for space booking, featuring a “continuous listening” capability that enables companies to measure the impact of workplace changes on employee experience.
For instance, Workplaced’s algorithms can analyze an organization’s needs and simulate scenarios for growth. “If you’re a scaling company planning to add 100 employees in two years, our platform can show how to optimize your existing space or determine whether a move makes more sense,” said El Mawla.
This data-driven process offers a level of foresight that traditional methods, such as surveys and focus groups, struggle to achieve. “Surveys are useful but inherently limited—they’re a snapshot,” Akkerman noted. “We combine quantitative data like occupancy and utilization with qualitative insights to create a dynamic, holistic view of workplace performance.”
Addressing Complex Workplace Needs
The evolving workplace landscape demands adaptable solutions, particularly as companies face challenges like low office utilization, generational shifts in work preferences, and trends like quiet quitting. Akkerman explained, “We’re in a period where the complexity of workplace needs has skyrocketed. Standardized solutions no longer cut it.”
One of Workplaced’s key innovations is its ability to cater to diverse work styles. Whether employees work fully remotely, in hybrid models, or in third-party co-working spaces, the platform offers strategies that align with individual and organizational objectives.
This adaptability is especially valuable for organizations managing varied pain points. For example, HR may focus on retention and attraction, while corporate real estate prioritizes cost management. Workplaced bridges these priorities, delivering actionable insights through metrics like the “alignment score,” which evaluates how well a workplace setup meets the needs of both employees and the business.
Human-Centric and Future-Ready
A recurring theme in our conversation was the platform’s human-centric ethos. “Businesses often overlook the individuals who make up their workforce,” said El Mawla. “We emphasize listening to employees because their needs directly impact productivity and engagement.”
This focus extends to the platform’s iterative growth. Akkerman revealed plans to integrate additional functionalities, such as enhanced behavioral mapping and deeper industry benchmarking, ensuring that Workplaced remains at the forefront of workplace strategy innovation.
As organizations grapple with uncertainty and rapid change, Workplaced offers a way to make evidence-based decisions that resonate across all levels. From providing C-suite leaders with data-driven justifications to empowering employees with more personalized work options and recommendations, the platform delivers measurable outcomes that go beyond guesswork.
Transforming Workplaces for Tomorrow
El Mawla and Akkerman concluded our discussion with a clear message: workplaces must evolve to keep pace with a changing world. “We spend significant time personalizing our homes, but workplaces are often treated as afterthoughts,” said El Mawla. “That has to change.”
Workplaced exemplifies the potential of combining advanced analytics with a commitment to employee well-being. It empowers organizations to make better choices, not only about where and how work happens but also about creating environments that foster success for all stakeholders, which is what I always emphasize when I advise my clients about refining their flexible work arrangements.
As distributed work continues to redefine the professional landscape, platforms like Workplaced are paving the way for smarter, more inclusive workplace strategies—strategies built not on assumptions, but on data-driven precision.
Key Take-Away
Workplaced uses data-driven insights to create human-centric workplace strategies, helping organizations optimize real estate, HR, and operations while enhancing employee well-being and fostering success in hybrid work environments…>Click to tweet
Image credit: Pavel Danilyuk/pexels
Dr. Gleb Tsipursky was lauded as “Office Whisperer” and “Hybrid Expert” by The New York Times for helping leaders use hybrid work to improve retention and productivity while cutting costs. He serves as the CEO of the boutique future-of-work consultancy Disaster Avoidance Experts. Dr. Gleb wrote the first book on returning to the office and leading hybrid teams after the pandemic, his best-seller Returning to the Office and Leading Hybrid and Remote Teams: A Manual on Benchmarking to Best Practices for Competitive Advantage (Intentional Insights, 2021). He authored seven books in total, and is best know for his global bestseller, Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters (Career Press, 2019). His cutting-edge thought leadership was featured in over 650 articles and 550 interviews in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, USA Today, CBS News, Fox News, Time, Business Insider, Fortune, and elsewhere. His writing was translated into Chinese, Korean, German, Russian, Polish, Spanish, French, and other languages. His expertise comes from over 20 years of consulting, coaching, and speaking and training for Fortune 500 companies from Aflac to Xerox. It also comes from over 15 years in academia as a behavioral scientist, with 8 years as a lecturer at UNC-Chapel Hill and 7 years as a professor at Ohio State. A proud Ukrainian American, Dr. Gleb lives in Columbus, Ohio. In his free time, he makes sure to spend abundant quality time with his wife to avoid his personal life turning into a disaster. Contact him at Gleb[at]DisasterAvoidanceExperts[dot]com, follow him on LinkedIn @dr-gleb-tsipursky, Twitter @gleb_tsipursky, Instagram @dr_gleb_tsipursky, Facebook @DrGlebTsipursky, Medium @dr_gleb_tsipursky, YouTube, and RSS, and get a free copy of the Assessment on Dangerous Judgment Errors in the Workplace by signing up for the free Wise Decision Maker Course at https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/newsletter/.
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