September WE:binar- Just use my office when I’m out” is not a workplace strategy.

Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST
Moderator: Kari Smith

Speaker: Jesse Garcia, Senior Director, Global Consulting 

Most organizations have already redesigned their open floor plans. The private office is the piece still stuck in 2019, assigned to a role for the life of that role, whether or not the person occupying it is regularly in the building.

In this session, Jesse Garcia of JLL Global Consulting will explain why the common workaround of allowing employees to use someone else’s vacant office often fails and what works instead: an unassigned, reservable model that closes the utilization gap without adding a single square foot.

Drawing on 2026 occupancy benchmark data and workplace territoriality research, Jesse will explore why the most senior employees are often the least likely to use their assigned offices consistently. He will also explain why this workplace shift is most successful when organizational leaders adopt the model first.

You’ll leave with:

• An understanding of why allowing employees to borrow an empty office fails as a policy and what that means for change management.

• Insight into why seniority and travel patterns weaken, rather than strengthen, the case for permanently assigned private offices.

• A practical, benchmarked approach to setting a reservable-office target ratio and rolling it out from the top down.

About the Speaker

Jesse Garcia is a Senior Director with JLL Global Consulting, specializing in workplace strategy, change readiness, and organizational performance. He provides thought leadership, coaching, and people-focused workplace solutions for organizations navigating workplace change.

Before joining JLL in 2021, Jesse spent 14 years at Herman Miller, where he led a team of workplace consultants across the United States and Canada. He is also a faculty member at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi and Texas Woman’s University, where he teaches in the Colleges of Business.