Why Employees Expect Work to Feel Personalized

Nathan Bricklin
1 day ago
3 min read

The Consumerization of Work (Part 3)

One of the biggest changes in workplace experience over the last several years is how much personalization people now expect in their daily lives.

Most consumer experiences already adapt to individual preferences in ways people barely think about anymore.

Streaming platforms recommend content based on viewing habits. Maps adjust routes in real time. Retail apps remember preferences and purchase history. Hotels recognize loyalty status and personalize the experience around previous stays. Even our phones quietly adjust around how we work and communicate throughout the day.

As those experiences become normal, expectations around work begin changing too.

Employees increasingly expect the workplace to feel responsive, relevant, and adaptable to the way they actually work.

That doesn’t necessarily mean every experience needs to be customized for every individual. It usually means people expect less friction and less unnecessary effort.

If someone spends most of their day in video meetings, they want spaces that support that type of work well. If teams regularly collaborate across locations and time zones, they expect tools and workflows that make that easier. If employees commute into the office for collaboration, they expect the environment to support interaction and connection rather than forcing everyone into identical experiences regardless of how they work.

What’s interesting is that organizations often think personalization means adding more technology, when in many cases it starts with paying closer attention to employee patterns and needs.

Which spaces do people consistently use? Which services do employees rely on most? Which tools create friction? Which teams need more focus space versus collaboration space? Which moments in the day tend to create unnecessary stress?

The workplace becomes more effective when those signals start informing decisions.

This is another area where hospitality organizations tend to think differently.

Good hospitality experiences adapt around the guest without making the personalization feel overly complicated or performative. The experience simply feels smoother, more intuitive, and more aligned to what people need in the moment.

The workplace benefits from the same mindset.

Employees don’t necessarily expect perfection or unlimited flexibility. But they do notice when workplace experiences feel disconnected from how work actually happens.

In my experience, the organizations creating the strongest workplace experiences are usually paying close attention to behavior patterns, operational friction, and employee needs in real time rather than assuming everyone works the same way.

Because increasingly, people expect work to feel less standardized and more responsive to the realities of how they actually work day to day.

Nathan Bricklin

Senior Consultant, Global Workplace Experience

Helping enterprise leaders close the gap between executive intent and lived employee experience at scale.

Email Nathan

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