Workplace Data In Action: A Conversation with Jennifer Mannier, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
We hosted a CoreNet Global Virtual VIP Partner webinar session on October 21, 2025, featuring Jennifer Mannier, Associate Director, Workplace Transformation & Space & Capital Planning, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), joined by Eldar Gizzatov, Basking’s cofounder, CEO, and David Mirmelli, Basking’s Board Member. This recap centers on Jennifer’s on-the-ground perspective: start with the problem you’re solving, rely on privacy-first signals you already have, and keep a light operating cadence that teams can own.
“While organizations may set return-to-office rules, people still choose when they come in, which is what we’re seeing. Policy can only go so far, so you need a clear purpose and intentional mechanisms for the office.”
Jennifer Mannier, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Why MSK’s scale changes the workplace equation
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) is one of the world’s most influential cancer centers, treating 74,000+ patients and supporting over 1 million outpatient visits each year. Patients travel from more than 70 countries to access MSK’s expertise, underscoring its global role in cancer care. With a workforce of 21,000 employees connecting research and frontline care, MSK operates at a scale where workplace clarity directly supports its mission: accelerating discoveries, delivering exceptional care, and expanding access for patients worldwide.
This scale also creates a uniquely complex workplace landscape. Each reclaimed hour, each well-planned space, and each predictable team rhythm contributes to the performance of clinicians, researchers, and the support functions that link them. Understanding how people use space — and enabling teams to act on those signals — becomes more than an efficiency exercise. At MSK, it is part of sustaining a high-impact ecosystem where scientific work and patient care reinforce one another every day.of roughly 21,000. These dynamics shaped the conversation with Jennifer Mannier — not around mandates, but around the practical mechanisms and signals that help MSK’s teams make better decisions every week.
Source: mskcc.org
Rituals over mandates
As Jennifer shared in the session, policy helps, but people respond to purpose. Mandates set a starting point; simple mechanisms — everyday rules and rituals — shape behavior and keep the experience consistent. The working question shifts from “how many came” to “did the office enable the work we needed to do today?”
Like many organizations, MSK sees mid-week peaks and thin bookends. Instead of pushing harder on policy, teams use local rules and a few “magnet” moments so people have clear reasons to overlap. As Jennifer put it, if a department chooses two or three onsite days, one should sit at the week’s edge to smooth the curve — and local leadership is where the shift actually happens.
“If a department chooses two or three on-site days, one of them should be a Monday or a Friday, to balance the week rather than stacking Tuesday and Wednesday.”
Challenging space assumptions with real-world use
When MSK looked at how people actually use space, a familiar healthcare pattern stood out: some clinicians “drop and go,” a quick stop at a desk followed by most of the day in clinical areas. In practice, that turns a 160 sq ft private office into an expensive locker. With that evidence, it is easier to sit down with leaders and swap some dedicated rooms for flexible setups that fit the role better and free capital for where it makes a difference. The point is not to remove focus space, but to match it to roles that truly need long on-site stretches.
Where CRE Meets HR: A Unified Approach to the Hybrid Workplace
Because signals are anonymized yet viewable by department and job role, HR can set realistic hybrid expectations, CRE can align capacity with confidence, and IT can support the model on networks the company already runs: a shared, privacy-first picture everyone can act on. Focus on steady, practical change.
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