As Productivity and Morale Drop, Companies Set Their Sights Back on Returning to Office Life
The world is watching as some of the country’s largest companies, which also have some of the country’s largest and most legendary office campuses, decide how to approach the return to work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some, such as Google and parent company Alphabet, have pushed return-to-work timeline estimates back to the summer of 2021. After reclosing most of its brick-and-mortar stores across the country, Apple is walking back return-to-office plans and urging all employees to continue working remotely at least through the end of 2020. Salesforce is teaming up with CVS Health to create a master platform to monitor the COVID-19 status of employees, enforce regular testing, and facilitate human traffic and workflow in the post-COVID-19 office space. No doubt, their own employees will be some of the platform’s first users, with the end goal of a partial or full return to office life.
It’s clear for the time being that most companies, especially huge corporations with hundreds or thousands of employees, would rather continue operating remotely than risk the public scrutiny and the health and wellbeing of their human capital. While there have certainly been defectors, the “norm” holds true here in Miami, with the governing rule for most businesses in our network being “if you can work remotely, do.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, this trend inspired hundreds of news articles exploring the fact that workers, employers, and analysts began to question whether office spaces would ever be relevant or needed in the future again. However, The Wall Street Journal recently reported that executives from Google, Canon, and other household-name company executives were starting to see cracks in productivity and morale, and looking to get back into an office environment. At Metro 1, we’re picking up on this counter-trend that may swing the pendulum back the other way. Employees are becoming burnt out on the very same work-from-home lifestyle that they eagerly embraced several months ago.
What does this mean for commercial real estate professionals? Although many have predicted the “death of the traditional office” in the wake of COVID-19, we are predicting something different: the evolution of the “Pandemic-Proof” office. Here are the things that will matter most to companies looking for office space post-COVID, and what real estate agents should start scouting for NOW:
- Private Entrances and Parking
Remember the days of crowding into an elevator with nine other people so that you didn’t have to wait for the next one to come and take you up to the 7th floor? Those days are long gone, as this scenario is the last thing employees want to go through upon returning to work. Now that just touching a door handle is enough to give you health anxiety, employees, customers, and clients will feel much more secure in buildings with individual private entrances, and preferably in spaces that are one story. No elevators or stairs mean fewer surfaces or enclosed spaces that could increase the risk of infection.
2. Outdoor Spaces
Whether meeting with clients or simply eating lunch, people are learning to be much more comfortable interacting in close quarters outdoors versus indoors. If you have the right setup, WiFi, and live in the right climate, employees may even prefer to work outside with their laptops vs. risk spending the whole day indoors with others. Outdoor spaces — from balconies and rooftops to patios and gardens, will come at even more of a premium post-COVID.
3. Individual, Fully Enclosed Offices
The now infamous “open concept” workplace touted by the likes of Burger King, Zappos, and other big-name companies, may become a thing of the past. The safest scenario for employees working indoors is for them to be separated into individual offices that are sealed and closed from floor-to-ceiling and that prevent prolonged contact with others. Yes, you heard us right — cubicles may be making a comeback. Only this time, with hospital-grade glass and floor-to-ceiling privacy.
4. Upgraded Sanitation Features
It goes without saying that you should expect — as will your employees — to be greeted with hand sanitizer everywhere you go in the post COVID world. For an office space, having multiple sanitation stations throughout the footprint, especially close to heavy touch-point areas, is paramount. You may also want to invest in touchless technology such as motion-sensor bathroom appliances, sliding automatic doors, touchless waste bins, voice-controlled lighting, and so on and so forth in order to absolutely minimize heavily touched surfaces. Imagine walking into your office building and the only thing you need to touch all day — except maybe the fridge handle — is your own desk and computer. This is the ideal in the new normal.
5. Separate HVAC Systems
“Central AC” is usually a deal-breaker — if a building DOESN’T have it. Individual HVAC systems are often older, less efficient, and more expensive to operate. However, in the age of COVID-19, we want our social distancing to include even the air we breathe. Sharing air with the business next door is no longer appealing. Buildings that have their own HVAC per unit or are separate altogether will have a leg-up on spaces with shared heating and cooling.
6. Space Designed with Virtual Technology in Mind
Even companies who do return to the office in the next six months will likely do so in a hybrid fashion, and continue meeting with clients, customers, and stakeholders at the very least semi-virtually. Having the correct spatial arrangements and technological capabilities to do work and hold meetings virtually will come into play as an important factor as tenants evaluate spaces. Whether the company needs to have Zoom meetings from a conference room or make remote training videos, businesses will be looking at spaces from a virtual viewpoint and thinking about how they can leverage their physical resources in the online world.
The office as we know it isn’t going to “die” from COVID-19, but like everything in life when faced with massive change, it will need to evolve. These are the things that companies will be looking for, and so as real estate professionals, so should you.
Metro 1 has multiple listings available currently in South Florida’s urban core, from adaptive re-use warehouses to boutique retail, that contain many of the characteristics listed above. Talk to us today about investing in your own pandemic-proof workspace. www.metro1.com/contact.
