All we hear these days is how real estate is going to be completely different post-COVID-19. Supposedly either every employee will never return to the office or they will all return immediately. It’s possible that workplaces should not have heads down desks because only collaboration will happen in the office. On the other hand, it’s also possible that more people will be in the office in the future.
Figuring out what all of this will mean to your organization’s real estate portfolio is a hot mess. Planning a portfolio before COVID-19 was hard enough with the massive amount of uncertainty. Now take that same uncertainty and multiply it by a global pandemic that is entirely changing how companies and their employees get things done. It’s not a recipe for easy decisions.
With that, there are a handful of key questions to ask yourself, your teams, and your business leaders in order to develop the framework for a future plan.
1. Have the financial goals and strategies of the firm changed and will those changes directly impact the ability to drive real estate change?
Real estate is a big cost for most companies. If the financial health of the organization has changed, there may be a significant knock-on effect on what is possible within real estate. If there is no money in 2021 to invest in workplaces, then it makes no sense to plan as if you can make changes. Limited budgets will also impact which locations could have projects.
2. Has the nature of the business changed or expectations from clients and customers?
With all the changes from COVID-19, there could easily be material changes to the way business is planned to be done going forward. Retailers have an accelerated reliance on e-commerce. Professional services have discovered new ways to collaborate globally. Back office operations have discovered a capability to get things done outside the office. If the nature of work changes for the business, real estate would have to change with it.
3. Do your employees have a new perspective of the office after extended WFH?
Not every group of people that have been working from home feel like it was effective for them just as not all of them have felt it was a failure. Culture and technology play a significant role in whether employees are anxious to get back to the office as quickly as possible or if they are happy to stay put longer. If they do not have the tools or support to work from home, no amount of desire or other capabilities will make it work.
4. Do managers and leaders support their teams working differently?
A critical aspect for any worker is their manager’s view on how they should do their work. If a manager requires their teams to be in the office, there is no way to effectively convince those teams to actually work from home. For better or worse, it can sometimes be tougher for managers to change how they ask their teams to work than to convince individuals to change. Getting leaders on board with thinking differently about real estate is fundamental.
5. How will the future workplace be used?
Once you know that change is necessary, it’s important to figure out what that change actually means. Does the space need more four-person conference rooms? Should there be fewer standard desks? Do spaces need to be reservable or first-come-first-serve? How will this all change around the world based on business needs and cultural nuances?
6. Is it possible to achieve the desired outcome?
Even if there are clear answers to questions 1 through 5, there’s still a hurdle of determining if the change is feasible within your real estate portfolio. Compromise lives at the heart of real estate. Knowing the targets and constraints allows the design to be based on the best possible outcomes. Hoping for the best is not a strategy, but planning for the worst is always for the best.