WORK Then PLACE: Navigating Modern Work & Where it Happens

Is your workplace built for how we work today—or stuck in the way we worked yesterday?

The world of work changed overnight in 2020, when COVID-19 forced millions of corporate employees to work from home—yet many organizations have still not adapted to the new standards of modern work. Since then, we’ve lived through the Great Work From Home Experiment, the Great Resignation, the Great Reshuffle, and now find ourselves grappling with the Age of AI. While most workplace debates still focus on where people work, the more important question is how work actually happens, and how places support work.

WORK then PLACE redefines the workplace for the 21st century. The modern workplace isn’t a fixed location, but an ecosystem of behaviors, systems, and environments tailored to the unique attributes of your organization. This book provides a clear and adaptable guide to developing a workplace strategy that aligns with business goals, helps employees thrive at work, and evolves alongside your company.

With WORK then PLACE, you’ll learn how to:

• Distinguish between the work your company does and the places (physical, digital, and experiential) that support it.
• Develop a workplace strategy that centers workflows and the people who power them.
• Use practical frameworks and decision-making methods to define and evolve your approach.
• Navigate hybrid work, AI shifts, cultural transformation, and the growing demand for adaptability and purpose.
• Measure effectiveness and drive meaningful change that enables employee success, rather than just requiring compliance.

What you won’t find in WORK then PLACE: Prescriptive formulas, nostalgia for the pre-pandemic Before Times, justification for half-baked RTO policies, or stale remote vs. office debates. The conversation has evolved. Our approaches must, too.

Written by workplace transformation and employee experience experts Sara Escobar and Corinne Murray, WORK then PLACE distills decades of real-world experience into an approachable, provocative guide for anyone shaping work and workplaces today. WORK then PLACE helps you build a workplace strategy that is structured as an organizational strategy, not just a real estate one. Better workplaces help companies become more effective, more adaptive, and more human. It all starts with understanding how we work now.

Modern work needs modern strategies. Create yours with WORK then PLACE!

Sara Escobar utilizes knowledge built over her 20-year career leading Workplace for global companies, including CBRE, Riot Games, Netflix, Honey, and Hulu. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Development from Pepperdine University and a Bachelor’s in Communications from the University of Oregon. She is also the Founder and President of Wielding Workplace, a consultancy that supplies solutions to corporate workplace challenges and fractional workplace leadership. As a true workplace nerd, Sara believes that when we improve how we work, we improve how we live! She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, Mike, their twin girls, Lauren and Karen.

Corinne Murray is a work futurist, workplace strategist, and writer with 15 years of experience in organizational change, employee experience, and workplace transformation. She has led initiatives for companies including WeWork, American Express, RXR, Gensler, and CBRE. As the Founder and Chief Transformation Strategist of AGATE, Corinne helps organizations navigate the evolving nature of work by aligning people, systems, and technology, particularly in the context of hybrid work, four-day workweeks, and emerging AI tools. Her approach integrates behavioral science, organizational design, and systems thinking to create environments that are adaptive, human-centered, and future-ready. Corinne lives on Long Island and writes The Workplace Strategist on Substack.