Exclusive: How Guild's corporate experiment could fuel downtown's revival
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Guild CEO Bijal Shah, left, and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston discuss the state of downtown during a fireside chat at Guild's office in downtown Denver on Jan. 14. Photo: Alayna Alvarez/Axios
Guild, the Denver-based education benefits company, is testing whether a corporate experiment built on employee choice can solve two problems at once: fill empty office chairs and help revive downtown's struggling economy.
Why it matters: With roughly 5 million square feet of vacant office space downtown, local leaders in search of solutions are turning to private companies to accelerate the city center's sluggish post-pandemic recovery.
Driving the news: Guild CEO Bijal Shah told Axios in an exclusive interview that the company's voluntary "Denver Density" program, launched this month, encourages city-based employees to work from the downtown office three days a week.
- Those who opt in get perks — including stipends for lunch, parking and public transit — but there are no penalties if they don't.
- About 40% of Guild's roughly 900 employees are based in Denver, Shah estimates. Her goal was 100 opt-ins. In just two weeks, she's already reached 150.
The big picture: It's all about "agency," Shah said. "When people feel like they have a choice, they're more likely to say, 'Yeah, let's do it.'"
- Shah is careful, however, to frame the approach as specific to Guild's culture and constraints, not a one-size-fits-all playbook.
Between the lines: The idea crystallized after Mayor Mike Johnston urged business leaders at a town hall last year to jump-start downtown.
- "That was the first moment I really connected being a business leader with having a civic responsibility," Shah said.
- More workers downtown means more spending, which brings retail, which attracts more people, she explained. It's a "self-reinforcing loop."
How it works: To better foster in-person work, Guild recently redesigned its office into team-based "neighborhoods." It now hosts monthly "Magnet Weeks," when company leaders gather in the Denver office Tuesday through Thursday.
- It also curates in-person moments — including guest speakers, like Johnston, who appeared last week.
What they're saying: Shah believes in-person work speeds up decision-making by strengthening relationships — and trust.
- "One of the biggest inhibitors of speed is people's inability to give others the benefit of the doubt," she said. Face-to-face time helps teams "cut through the noise quicker," understand the full context and recover faster when things go sideways.
- Johnston praised Guild's leadership, telling employees the company — "one of our highest-profile, most respected entities" — is setting an example for other downtown businesses.
What we're watching: Guild's early results suggest incentives — not return-to-office mandates — appear to be working.
- Whether that momentum holds is the question City Hall and other employers will be keeping an eye on.