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WOD Welcomes Another UK Core Team Member

March 10, 2026

We’re thrilled to welcome Urszula Bytnar, Director of Marketing, Sustainability & Tenders at TASK Systems, as the latest member of our UK Core Team. We had the following conversation with Urszula and discussed her industry experience, her role at TASK Systems and more…

WOD: Let’s start off with your background and how you became involved with the workspace sector…

UB: It’s quite a roundabout story, actually. I graduated in Poland with a degree in IT, specialising in databases, so furniture was about as far from my plan as you could get. When I moved to England, my first job was making coffee in a café, which is a love that has absolutely stayed with me to this day! But my first professional role was building websites and writing newsletters, back when that meant coding everything by hand in HTML.

Someone called me one day to ask whether I’d be interested in interviewing for a furniture company. I thought, why not and that was that. I joined Task Systems and never really left the industry.

What started as creating marketing documents, developing the company website and designing newsletters gradually evolved into a deep understanding of the tendering process and the complexity of it. Learning to compile commercially viable proposals that genuinely address what clients need became a discipline in itself.

From there I moved into sustainability, and that’s a journey I’m still on. It really is like going to university again. Ensuring ESG compliance, meeting green building criteria such as SKA, WELL, LEED and BREEAM, managing audits for certifications including ISO 14001, FSC, FISP and EcoVadis, learning to calculate the embodied carbon of products — that’s another story entirely and embedding sustainable business practices throughout the organisation.

Over time I developed a deep understanding of workplace design, interiors, supply chain and the importance of transparency. But the part I value most is the client-facing side, actually seeing what clients need and finding the right solution across all the areas I lead. Seeing across all of those areas is what makes the role so interesting.

Nearly 18 years in, what still fascinates me is how much the industry has evolved and how much I’ve evolved with it. The best growth has always come from being pushed outside my comfort zone. That’s where the most meaningful learning happens.

WOD: Tell us more about your current role…

UB: My role is an interesting bridge and I think that’s what makes it work. Marketing, tendering and sustainability might sound like three separate functions, but in practice they are deeply connected.

Marketing naturally feeds into commercial bid proposals. A well-positioned business tells a more compelling story in a tender. And the tendering process itself constantly surfaces what clients actually require which increasingly means demonstrating real ESG credentials, not just stating them. So sustainability becomes the thread that runs through everything.

As Director across all three areas, my job internally is to align those departments so they move in the same direction. Externally, it’s about communicating clearly and credibly that we have the commitment, the processes and the evidence to work with corporate clients in London and beyond..

It’s a role that requires you to think commercially and strategically at the same time and to listen to people’s requirements with genuine interest. That’s what I enjoy about it.

WOD: What are the key issues relevant to your client base at the moment?

UB: The workplace was never quite the same after the pandemic, and honestly, most of our clients are still navigating it. The question of how people work, where they work, and what ‘flexible’ actually means in practice is still very much live. There’s no single answer and I think that uncertainty is something a lot of organisations are still sitting with.

What I find interesting is that the office may actually be one of the last places where we genuinely gather. Where compromise happens, where debate happens, where you encounter people and ideas you didn’t plan to. Every other environment we chose to be in – social media, remote working, even leisure is increasingly curated and controlled. The office, at its best, is none of those things. It’s unpredictable. And I think that’s precisely what makes it valuable.

The clients who understand that are the ones designing the most engaging workplaces right now.

WOD: Can you provide some examples of recent projects or initiatives you have worked on? And tell us what makes them stand out to you…

UB: The projects I’ve been most engaged with at Task have been fully bespoke and I love that. What strikes me every time is how specific clients are about their vision. They know exactly how a product needs to work within a space, how it needs to serve the people who will be using it day to day. That level of intention makes the whole process more meaningful.

Watching our product designers and manufacturers work in close collaboration is fascinating and the fact that we work locally makes an enormous difference.

I also can’t help but notice a real return of the boardroom. Clients are investing in these spaces again and I think that tells us something important. People still want to come together, to sit across from one another, to talk face to face. For all the flexibility and technology we’ve embraced, that fundamental human need is still there.

WOD: What are your thoughts about the role of women in our industry? Are there still barriers and ‘glass ceilings’? What changes are needed, if any, to support women in office design?

UB: My first instinct was to say there’s still a long way to go and there is.. But I want to stay positive about this, because I think the honest picture is more nuanced than the headline.

I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by incredible women who do not compromise on their ambition or their needs. Women who thrive in successful careers and have beautiful families they are proud of. Of course it isn’t easy. Of course there are hardships and sacrifices along the way. But nobody said it would be easy and it is absolutely worthwhile.

Representation is everything. As a mum of two young daughters, I feel that I want to model a reality in which I can care for them, give them a loving home, and still have my own goals and ambitions. And I want to show any young woman who comes to this country wondering whether she belongs here that we create our own realities. We are the engine of our own achievements.

Does the industry still have a way to go? Absolutely. Success in the workplace has been defined on terms that were never designed with women in mind and too many of us have carried the quiet weight of moulding ourselves into it. But something is shifting. I see more and more women being successful on their own terms, stepping into leadership unapologetically, owning their voice with confidence. And that makes me proud in a way that is very hard to put into words.

I am incredibly grateful to be part of the WOD core team. It is an honour that a younger version of me would never have dared to dream of. And it feels like exactly the kind of space we need more of, where women from across the industry and beyond can gather, support one another and learn from each other. That, to me, is how things actually change.