Workplace Matters: Workplace Design After Hybrid – Why Not Rethink It All?

Workplace Matters is an editorial series which explores thought-provoking and knowledge-based opinions on the workplace. This monthly series sparks meaningful conversations and shapes workplace design discourse.

Workplace Matters continues with a thought-provoking perspective of Natalia Ratajczak, Founder & Creative Director of WHY NOT Design, who shares her blueprint for the next generation of workspaces.

The seating area where comfort fuels conversation!

Written by Natalia Ratajczak, Founder & Creative Director of WHY NOT Design

‘Let’s face it: the “office” as we knew it is gone. Hybrid work cracked it open, employee expectations smashed it wider, and now we’re standing in the rubble of the old 9–5 cubicle culture asking, *“what’s next?”*

The problem? Too many workplaces are still pretending nothing’s changed. Some cling to open-plan clichés. Others scramble to add “Zoom pods” like sticking plasters. But let’s be clear: workplace design isn’t about desks or meeting rooms anymore. It’s about people. How they feel. How they connect. Why they even show up.

At WHY NOT Design, we believe the next generation of workplaces must be bold, eclectic, and unapologetically human. Hybrid isn’t just a logistical challenge — it’s an emotional one. People want spaces that feel alive. Places that remind them why being together matters. Workplaces that are as comfortable as home, as inspiring as a studio, and as magnetic as a community hub.

So where do we go from here? For us, the focus is clear:

1. Flexibility with personality, forget bland modular furniture on wheels. Flexibility doesn’t mean stripping out character — it means creating spaces that can transform through the day and still carry identity. A morning pod for focus. A buzzing hub for team energy. A warm, textured corner that feels like it belongs to humans, not robots.

2. Well-being as a given, not a gimmick tick-box biophilia and a sad desk plant won’t cut it. True well-being is about trust, safety, and belonging. That might mean acoustic design that protects deep work, or spaces where people can pause without judgment. Well-being isn’t an add-on; it’s the foundation.

3. Storytelling spaces every workplace should tell a story — not with branded wallpaper, but through design choices that speak to culture. Hybrid workers want more than a desk; they want a reason. A workplace should whisper (or shout): this is who we are, and this is why you’re part of it.

This is where WHY NOT comes in. We’ve spent years shaping interiors across London, and now we’re free to push beyond the safe, formulaic “office of the past.” That freedom gives us a sharper vision: to design workplaces that don’t just function, but ignite. To strip away the beige and the bland, and replace them with spaces that people remember, love, and actually want to return to.

Our manifesto is simple: safe is boring, bold means yours! Hybrid work has rewritten the rulebook. Employees aren’t tethered to desks anymore; they’re tethered to experiences. If your workplace doesn’t deliver one, people won’t just disengage — they’ll disappear.

So here’s our challenge to the industry: stop tinkering with the old model. Stop designing offices people merely tolerate. Start creating workplaces people crave. In other words: why play safe? Why blend in? WHY NOT reimagine the workplace entirely?’

Natalia Ratajczak, Founder & Creative Director of WHY NOT Design

Natalia Ratajczak is the Founder & Creative Director of WHY NOT Design, a London studio rethinking workplaces for the hybrid era. With years shaping interiors across the city, she launched WHY NOT to combine strategy, story and character — designing environments that ignite culture and nurture well-being. Her guiding line: “safe is boring, bold means yours.” When she’s not nudging spaces beyond beige, she’s being “assisted” by Mr G, the studio’s blonde Goldador and unofficial morale officer.