Reen Baskin, Baskin Strategies, LLC (Nashville Business Radio, Episode 20)
Reen Baskin and Baskin Strategies proved to be ahead of their time when the pandemic hit, as the need for their work–designing flexible workspace and hybrid work models–was affirmed. Reen joined host John Ray to discuss the shifts in workstyle in 2020, how businesses should measure the productivity of remote workers, factors a company should consider in any flexible work plan, and much more. Nashville Business Radio is produced virtually from the Nashville studio of Business RadioX®.
Baskin Strategies, LLC
Baskin Strategies was founded on the principle that employee satisfaction, right-sizing your real estate, and cost savings can ALL be achieved. 
They know that significant cost savings can occur when an organization places the emphasis on benefiting its employees and better serving its customers, followed by reducing its unnecessary real estate square footage.
Baskin aligns people, technology and workspace with business objectives to create a better working environment. They partner with states, municipalities, and companies to truly assess their organizational needs, prior to making a real estate change.
At Baskin Strategies, they flip the norm. Workspace design and real estate needs are determined by employee function and how it can be more efficiently performed. They prioritize the people and partner to right-size your real estate accordingly. They know that when employees are provided a workspace that fits their task at hand, increased productivity, engagement, and enthusiasm result.
Reen Baskin, Co-founder and Principal, Baskin Strategies, LLC
Reen co-founded Baskin Strategies in 2018 with the goal of benefiting states, municipalities, and private organizations with Leading Work Solutions. Since its inception, Baskin Strategies has provided flexible work opportunities for employees and recommended square footage and modernized workspace options for large and small multi-purpose organizations across the Southeast.
From 2011 to 2018, Reen established herself as a leader within Tennessee State Government. Serving within the executive branch, she focused on increasing customer service, streamlining process efficiencies, and reducing taxpayer costs. She served her last year in The Office of the Governor, as Governor Bill Haslam’s Director of Communications.
During her time in Tennessee State Government, Reen served as Deputy Director of Customer Focused Government, providing consultation services to the departments of the Executive Branch. Reen developed the State of Tennessee’s Alternative Workplace Solutions initiative, where she became the state’s first Director of Alternative Workplace Solutions, leading the strategic implementation throughout multiple state agencies. Alternative Workplace Solutions produced largely successful outcomes at Tennessee, including but not limited to:
Better customer service to its citizens,
Boosted employee mobility, flexibility, and productivity,
Improved recruitment and retention of employees,
Improved and modernized workspace use, and
Reduced total occupancy and real estate cost, saving taxpayer dollars.
Reen first served the citizens as Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer for the Department of General Services. As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, she established direction, developed strategies, and created short-term and long-term goals which resulted in transformative change for the Department. She also led collaborative, enterprise-wide initiatives that incorporated business best practices into government including Master Planning, Facility Assessment & Facility Management improvements, Transforming Tennessee for Tomorrow (Project T3), and Statewide Shared Videoconferencing.
Prior to her service with the State of Tennessee, Reen was an Associate Attorney with Farris Mathews Bobango, PLC in Nashville. Reen was honored in 2011 as one of Nashville’s Top 30 Under 30 Honorees, and in 2017 as one of Nashville’s Top 40 Under 40 Award Recipients.
Questions and Topics in This Interview
- What inspired you to start your own business around promoting workforce flexibility and reduced square footage need?
- Did the COVID-19 pandemic make you re-think anything?
- Where do you see the future of remote work going? What does it look like?
- What are the three most important things companies need to consider when implementing a successful remote work program?
- What would you tell a company CEO who operates “old school” (i.e. believing that every employee needs to be in the office 8 am-5 pm)?
- What are some mistakes that you see businesses making when coming back into the office after the pandemic and a year of working from home?
“Nashville Business Radio” is hosted by John Ray and produced virtually from the Nashville studio of Business RadioX®. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.
