Offices as arenas for excellence

Uli Gwinner-led Steelcase adapts workspaces for the era of smartphones and data privacy

Can a functional and comfortable workspace help an employer to retain prized human resources and avert attrition? That's a no-brainer, according to Uli Gwinner, president for the Asia-Pacific regional operations of Steelcase Inc.

He should know. Gwinner has been overseeing the Michigan-based global office environments manufacturer's determined bid to transform workplaces in China and other countries in the region. The big idea is to make offices so employee-friendly that collective peak performance can be produced on a sustained basis.