JLL has named Melissa Strickland Senior Vice President and New Jersey Workplace Strategy Lead. Her job, put simply, is to get into the room before the lease is signed.
Strickland spent nearly a decade at design firm HLW, where she built the New Jersey office, led it, and doubled the team. But the part of the work she loved most came at the very start of a project, before a floor was picked or a footprint locked in. Too often she’d walk into a job with the lease already signed and realize the best decisions had been made without anyone asking how people actually planned to work. This role fixes that, placing her at the table during site selection and lease negotiations, advising brokerage teams and occupiers while the decisions are still up for grabs.
She’s arriving at a useful moment. Companies are still sorting out hybrid, still trimming footprints they oversized years ago, and still trying to figure out how much space they’ll actually need two years out (nobody has that crystal ball, as she’ll happily tell you). The workplace strategist has moved upstream to meet them there, from designing the space to helping choose it in the first place.
We talked with Strickland about what the job looks like week to week, why flexible space has grown up from a pressure-release valve into a real portfolio tool, and what New Jersey’s suburban, pharma-heavy market demands that Manhattan doesn’t.
Flex is incredibly valuable, but it delivers the greatest benefit when it’s part of an intentional workplace strategy rather than a substitute for one.
After nearly a decade at HLW — building the New Jersey office, leading it, doubling the team — what made this the right moment to leave a design firm you’d shaped that closely for a brokerage-and-advisory role?
My favorite part of the design process has always been the upfront, pre-design phase—figuring out what clients need, helping them find the right space, and fitting their program into it with the optimal workplace strategy. That passion is what drove my success in building and doubling the HLW New Jersey office. This role lets me focus entirely on that strategic phase and engage with clients even earlier, ensuring they make informed real estate and workplace decisions from the very beginning.
Was there a specific limit you kept hitting on the design side — a point where you wanted to influence a decision but it had already been made before you got in the room?
Yes, there were definitely moments like that. I’d walk into projects where the lease was already signed or the floor selected and realize that if I’d been involved in those early real estate conversations, we could have made significantly better decisions from the start. I’m skilled at solving design challenges within existing constraints, but I found myself increasingly wanting to influence those foundational decisions before they became constraints. This role gives me exactly that—a seat at the table during site selection and lease negotiations, where my workplace strategy expertise can shape outcomes rather than simply adapt to them.
Your title is New Jersey Workplace Strategy Lead. Walk me through what that actually means week to week — who’s calling you, and what are they asking for?
It’s still early—I’m a few weeks in—but the role is already taking shape. Week to week, I’m the person our brokerage teams turn to when clients need help thinking through how their workplace should support the business. That means brokers call me when they have a client evaluating space options and need someone to assess how different buildings or floor plates will work for their operations. I’m also working directly with existing JLL clients on portfolio-level decisions—helping them think strategically about their footprint, workplace models, and how their real estate aligns with their business goals. As I continue to ramp up, I’ll be building deeper relationships with the broader brokerage team and getting involved early on new opportunities, whether through broker referrals or clients who’ve heard about the service. At the end of the day, my job is to help clients make smarter real estate decisions before they commit to a space.
The role leans heavily on data and employee insights. What does that data actually look like in practice — surveys, badge and utilization data, observation — and how do you turn it into a real estate decision a CFO will sign off on?
We start by understanding how people actually work, not how we assume they work. That includes employee surveys, utilization data, occupancy patterns, observational studies and interviews with leadership. We look at how much time people spend collaborating, doing focused work, meeting virtually and using different types of spaces.
Then we connect those findings to business outcomes. If people are spending most of their day doing focused work but can’t find a quiet place to do it, that’s telling us something. If utilization data shows meeting rooms are constantly overbooked while assigned desks sit empty, that’s an opportunity to rethink the workplace. Ultimately, a CFO is investing in productivity, retaining talent and giving the business room to grow. JLL’s latest research reinforces this, showing focused work now accounts for most of the office time, while demand for meeting rooms continues to grow as hybrid collaboration becomes more common.
In plain terms, what’s the difference between leasing a company the right amount of space and giving them the right strategy — and where do most occupiers get it wrong?
Leasing the right amount of space is about the transaction: square footage, lease terms and cost. The real goal is making sure the space supports how the company operates and where it is going. It answers bigger questions: How do people work? What is driving productivity and retention? How much flexibility does the business need? What does the workplace say about the culture? Where companies sometimes get it wrong is treating those as design questions after the lease is signed. Ideally, those conversations happen before the lease is signed, because the real estate should support the business, not the other way around.
When you map a client’s portfolio, where does flexible or coworking space actually sit — a core part of the strategy now, or still the pressure-release valve for uncertainty?
I don’t think it’s either-or anymore. Flex space has matured into another tool in the portfolio strategy. For some companies it’s a way to establish a presence in a new market while others use it as swing space during growth or renovations. It can also help support project teams or employees who need occasional access closer to home.
The key is making sure flexible space complements the long-term portfolio rather than replacing thoughtful planning. Companies are becoming much more intentional about where flex adds value and where dedicated space makes more sense. Flex is incredibly valuable, but it delivers the greatest benefit when it’s part of an intentional workplace strategy rather than a substitute for one.
For a company that can’t predict its headcount two years out, what’s the honest case for committing to fixed office space versus flex — and has that calculus shifted in the last year?
The question has shifted. With the right approach, clients build flexibility into their own space. They’re taking fixed square footage but designing it to flex for their future needs. No one has a crystal ball, so the strategy is creating space that accommodates different scenarios without adding or shedding square footage. The goal is designing space that evolves as their business does, not locking into one way of working.
We recently studied which amenities cities and buildings are competing on. What’s the gap between the amenities companies think draw people back and the ones that actually do?
Flashy amenities certainly get attention, but they’re rarely what employees talk about after they’ve been in the office for a few weeks. The basics matter more than many organizations realize.
People want reliable technology, enough meeting rooms, places for focused work, good lighting, comfortable temperatures, quality food options and spaces that support both collaboration and privacy. Those things often have a bigger impact on the daily experience than amenities that look good on a tour but don’t necessarily make the workday any easier. The best workplaces have amenities that remove friction from the workday and that’s exactly what we’re seeing reflected in JLL’s employee experience research.
New Jersey is a particular animal — suburban campuses, a heavy life-sciences and pharma base, and a constant pull from Manhattan. How does that shape what flexibility looks like here versus a dense urban market?
New Jersey clients are solving a different equation than many Manhattan occupiers. People often have longer commutes than they do in Manhattan, so the office has to give them a reason to come in. They tend to have larger footprints, more specialized business needs and a workforce that’s spread across multiple suburban communities.
In NJ, flexibility is key when creating workplaces that can support any corporate teams while making the commute worthwhile. That means a strong focus on collaboration and community space, employee amenities and adaptable environments that can evolve as hiring and business priorities change. The strategy is always tailored to the workforce you’re trying to attract and retain.
Can a pharma or life-sciences footprint — with labs, compliance and specialized infrastructure — meaningfully embrace flexible or shared space, or is that a story that only works for white-collar offices?
Absolutely. Depending on the type of lab space, flexibility can be incorporated through moveable or height-adjustable lab benches and collaborative open meeting spaces. Plus, a great modern shift is positioning labs near windows to provide natural light for all users. All these new features create a more equitable experience for lab users compared to corporate functions. The surrounding workplace also helps support these users and gives them more options and space to workspaces like work cafes, touchdown areas, and a variety of open and enclosed meeting spaces that are all designed to adapt to users’ needs over time. So yes, pharma and life-sciences footprints can absolutely embrace flexible and shared space.
If a mid-sized company called you tomorrow, unsure whether to renew, downsize or go flexible — what’s the first question you’d make have them answer before anyone talks about real estate?
“What are you trying to accomplish as a business over the next three to five years, and when can we meet in person to discuss?”
Everything flows from that. Are you hiring? Trying to improve collaboration? Recruiting different talent? Expanding into new markets? Real estate should support those conversations. Once we understand the business strategy, we can determine whether renewing, relocating, resizing or adding flexible space is the right answer. I also believe in seeing their existing space, walking through it and understanding what’s working and what isn’t. The understanding and connection you build at that first in-person meeting is invaluable for building trust and establishing a long-lasting relationship.
Looking three to five years out: what’s one assumption about the office that the industry is still clinging to that won’t survive?
I think we’ll stop talking about the office as if it’s competing with home. Both companies and employees will accept that flexibility is just part of life moving forward. The conversation will shift to how the office complements flexibility and what unique value it provides that you can’t get anywhere else.
Employees come to the office to collaborate, build relationships, and solve problems together, but they also do focused individual work, which means workplaces must support both equally well. The companies that get this right won’t be debating who’s coming in; they’ll be focused on creating spaces that help people do their best work.
At the end of a productive day at the office, people leave feeling confident, connected and satisfied. You don’t get that working alone at home. Flexibility isn’t going away, but going to the office doesn’t mean losing it; it means gaining culture, collaboration, and confidence in your day.
