The world's largest commercial real estate services and investment firm is showing off its newest Los Angeles office, a workplace that's found success in drawing employees back to in-person work even as part of the U.S. workforce shows a lingering lack of enthusiasm for workplaces after the pandemic.

CBRE has pivoted away from cubicles at its new, 21,400-square-foot office in West Los Angeles. The company moved into its new digs in Century City in December after spending roughly a year on modern upgrades as employers look to unique features to lure staff to return to working in the office.

The space is smaller than the company's previous office about a half-mile south in Century City in Los Angeles, but that hasn't translated into fewer employees working out of the space; in fact, the firm found that attendance more than doubled to roughly 90 employees when compared to in-office attendance for the prior office last year, even without an in-office mandate for workers.

"This space has made it really easy" to bring CBRE employees back, according to Andy Ratner, executive managing director and executive vice president of CBRE. The brokerage firm designed the space in-house — something the company typically does for its office locations.

The CBRE office shows one way U.S. companies are looking to bring employees back to the office. More businesses are requiring in-person attendance after nearly four years of remote work and cost cutting by employers in a move that stalled the national office market. The U.S. office vacancy rate is at a record high of 13.7%, while Los Angeles' vacancy rate has reached 15.9%, the highest since the pandemic struck the U.S. in March 2020, according to recent CoStar data.

Technology companies, including most recently Dell, are mandating employees return to the office as firms feel more confident in their ability to enforce stricter rules surrounding in-person requirements.

CBRE's initial results from its new office reflect an effort that's still in its early days, with employees in just their second month at this office. It's not clear how attendance will hold up over time as the novelty wears off, and there's no guarantee that attendance won't eventually decline to mirror the previous workspace. How to keep workers interested in coming into the office emerged as an important issue as employers and employees offered differing opinions on remote work in a recent survey from WFH Research.

The firm's executives say they are looking for a way to get workers to want to collaborate in person other than mandating in-office attendance.

While return-to-work mandates will be successful for some companies, Ratner notes, it could result in turnover as employees seek job opportunities at more appealing offices.

CBRE has sought to get ahead of the curve with its new office on the eighth floor of 2000 Avenue of the Stars, a space that hosts about 125 employees.

During a planned visit to the office on a recent Thursday, CBRE's space buzzed with employees milling about new private conference rooms, cafe seating and unassigned desks with insulated panels.

Ratner said the office's early success results from spaces that combine elements of remote work with features not found at home, and not just the 14 different types of workstations that aim to offer flexibility for returning workers. Ratner likes to work from a large leather booth behind the front desk.

"The idea was to bring the home to the office," Ratner said.

CBRE takes that idea literally in its so-called living room space, a warmly lit, walled-off office with a three-section leather couch, a soft arm chair, a marble coffee table and a TV with technology for video calls.

For employees who prefer working outside of their homes — whether it be an office or a coffee shop down the street — CBRE built rows of green, restaurant-style booths to create a cafe-like setting, and a "green room" available through a hidden door in the kitchen that offers a quiet area for client meetings, independent work or relaxation.

There are also more traditional desk stations and meeting rooms for employees, too, with added white noise to help workers focus.

The new office is a departure from the "sea of cubicles" CBRE previously worked within at its former Westside office, Ratner said. That office, dubbed "the past" in a CBRE presentation, had fewer collaboration spaces than the new space.

Ratner said it's critical for companies to bring employees together in person for sharing ideas, building relationships and getting and receiving feedback.

Creating a space where employees want to work is one very important way to do so, Ratner notes.

"You could provide breakfast burritos every day of the week — it's not going to get people to come back in," Ratner said.