A rendering of cloud software company Okta's 24th floor, which is made in part for a future of increased flexible work.
Before the coronavirus stormed workplaces worldwide, the office sector had hummed along relatively unchanged for much of the past several decades.
Before the pandemic, about 10% of workers able to work remotely did so full time, and an additional 20% did so some of the time, according to Gartner. Now, chief financial officers the company surveyed indicate 19% of workers will go remote full time and 29% will go remote some of the time.
In part, that change is also a result of workers' preferences for flexible work. Only 15% of workers want to work from the office full time, according to a survey conducted by CommercialCafé.
Now, months into a pandemic, commercial landlords are tasked with trying to lure companies permanently back from what has been, at least for some, a surprisingly successful experiment in remote work. Some may not be able to bring people back to their current properties. Those that do must reorient around helping foster collaboration, building company culture and boosting talent-recruitment for occupants, experts told Bisnow.
But the short-term prospects alone are a challenge for commercial landlords. As local economies reopen and re-entry unfolds, owners and property owners must sufficiently sanitize, allow for social distancing and contend with the elevator-as-a-choke point conundrum.
Longer-term, companies’ leasing decisions are in question in a way they weren’t pre-pandemic, before thousands of companies were thrust out of offices.
“The wrong stock is going to lose tons of value, because who wants it?” CREtech Leadership Board Member Antony Slumbers said.
Many of those that don't want such stock will opt for remote work, like some apparent converts to the arrangement already have. Chief executives for Morgan Stanley and Nationwide Insurance, for instance, have both said their companies will reduce their office footprints in light of remote work’s effectiveness.
The movement has gained steam elsewhere. In a tweet announcing the $80B e-commerce company’s move to permanent remote work, Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke declared “office centricity is over.”
Some companies lacking a choice will still settle for offices set up for types of desk work that companies and managers now realize can be done remotely, according to Slumbers.
But companies in industries fit for remote work now know they have a less costly alternative, which likely necessitates changes for many owners, Gartner Vice President Brian Kropp said.
“If you’re still viewing your corporate real estate as the place where people sit in a cube and work, and that’s what you’re offering, it’s going to be harder to maintain your client base from that perspective,” Kropp said.