Christian Ulbrich is making a straightforward case for the office: not every job needs five days a week on-site, but the core place for work is the office. He said the upside of people interacting, communicating, sharing best practice and exchanging ideas outweighs the cost of office space.
Ulbrich, who leads real estate giant JLL, tied that view to his own experience. He said he learned by sitting near his boss early in his career, and that his son’s first job during the COVID-19 pandemic was largely remote for 15 months and left him devastated. In Ulbrich’s view, the learning process was minimized when work moved home.
The market has already voted on part of that argument. JLL sits at No. 175 on the Fortune 500, up from No. 188 a year earlier, and its share price hit a high of $393 in August, compared with a five-year low of $123 in 2023. On its Q2 earnings call in July, Ulbrich said JLL was raising its profit guidance after 11% revenue growth across the business and a 21% increase in revenue from advisory property services.
That matters because office demand is not just a culture-war slogan. It is capital allocation. If companies want employees on-site, Ulbrich said, the office has to be 'absolutely state of the art' on sustainability, in a professional location, and built with good architecture, light and terraces that make people comfortable. JLL’s new London office also reflects that message: much of the material and furniture is recycled, and there are few separate offices across the three floors.
Ulbrich stopped short of saying everyone must be in the office every day. He said JLL practices flexibility and that employees can work from home when needed. But he made clear that the basic principle is still office first.
He also used the setting to make a broader point about global business. Despite JLL being headquartered in Chicago, he said London is the global hub because it attracts people from every background and passport. In his view, the city’s draw is part of what gives it an edge in international business.
The larger lesson is simple. When office work is treated as the default, companies still have to earn attendance with better spaces, better design and better productivity. That is not bureaucracy; that is free enterprise responding to how people actually work. And if JLL’s numbers are any guide, the market rewards that discipline.
