Last week I walked into the main office building at my university to drop off a check. As I stepped into the area that held the cubicles and desks for at least 50 people, I was struck by how empty it all felt.

Looking over the entire floor, I saw 2 desks with actual people. Everything else was deserted.

I’m sure you’ve seen it too…big, beautiful office buildings created for vibrant, office work that is now just a little lonely and a little sad.

To be clear, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Most of these organizations listened to the voices of their employees and embraced hybrid and flexible work policies. But there are unintended consequences.

When employees come into the office and find empty hallways, empty conference rooms, and empty desks, they start asking a simple question:

Why did I come in?

Radostina Purvanova and Alanah Mitchell, in their book The New Workplace, describe a “tipping point” when that critical mass of in-person workers has declined so much that employees “choose to work remotely not necessarily because they want to or need to, but because they assume others won’t be in the office.”

Once that cycle starts, it feeds on itself. Fewer people come in because fewer people are there.

As we navigate the ever-changing workplace, we need to pay attention to these unintended consequences. Flexibility may be here to stay, but offices still need a purpose.

If we want people to gather in person, we have to create experiences worth gathering for.

The future of work may be flexible, but flexibility works best when people know why, and when, it is worth coming together.