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Cubicles are out. Bars, neighborhoods and sensors are in
THE OFFICE used to be a place people went because they had to. Meetings happened in conference rooms and in person. Desks took up the bulk of the space. The kingdom of Dilbert and of David Brent is now under threat. The pandemic has exposed the office to competition from remote working, and brought up a host of questions about how it should be designed in the future.
Start with what the office is for. In the past it was a place for employees to get their work done, whatever form that took. Now other conceptions of its role jostle for attention. Some think of the office as the new offsite. Its purpose is to get people together in person so they can do the things that remote working makes harder: forging deeper relationships or collaborating in real time on specific projects. Others talk of the office as a destination, a place that has to make the idea of getting out of bed earlier, in order to mingle with people who may have covid-19, seem attractive.
In other words, a layout that is largely devoted to people working at serried desks alongside the same colleagues each day all feels very 2019. With fewer people coming in and more emphasis on collaboration, fewer desks will be assigned to individuals. Instead, there will be more shared areas, or "neighborhoods", where people in a team can work together flexibly. (More hot-desking will also necessitate storage space for personal possessions: lockers may soon be back in your life.)
To bridge gaps between teams, one tactic is to set aside more of the office to showcase the work of each department, so that people who never encounter each other on Zoom can see examples of what their colleagues do. Another option is to ply everyone with drink. Expect more space to be set aside for socializing and events. Bars in offices are apparently going to be a thing. Robin Klehr Avia of Gensler, an architecture firm, says she is seeing lots of requests for places, like large auditoriums, where a company’s clients can have “experiences”.
Designs for the post-covid office must also allow for hybrid work. Meetings have to work for virtual participants as well as for in-person contributors: cameras, screens and microphones will proliferate. Gensler's New York offices feature mini-meeting rooms that have a monitor and a half-table jutting out from the wall below it, with seating for four or five people arranged to face the screen, not each other.
Variety will be another theme. People may plan to work in groups in the morning, but need to concentrate on something in the afternoon. Ryan Anderson of Herman Miller, a furniture firm, likens the difference between the pre- and post-pandemic office to that between a hotel and a home. Hotels are largely given over to rooms for individuals. "Home is thought of as a place for a family over years, hosting lots of different activities."
All of which implies the need for flexibility. Laptop docking stations are simple additions, but other bits of office furniture are harder to overhaul. Desks themselves tend to be tethered to the floor through knotted bundles of cables and plugs. The office of the future may well feature desks with wheels, which ought to go well with all that extra alcohol. Meeting rooms are likely to be more flexible, too, with walls that lift and slide. |     | |
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New demand for office space is down 30% since peaking in August 2021.
New demand for office space fell for the second consecutive month in October to its lowest rate since the first quarter of 2021 suggesting that the initial post-vaccine surge of demand for office space has run its course.
Down 30% nationally since peaking August 2021, all seven markets analyzed by the VTS Office Demand Index (VODI) saw declining demand for office space over the two-month period.
Even before the emergence of the Omicron variant, it was clear that the office recovery had started to falter in the face of the ongoing recovery.
Occupancy fell by 2 million square feet as of November, compared to the third quarter in 2021, bringing the total loss in office occupancy to 133 million square feet, according to the National Association of Realtors.
This was despite an increase in occupancy of six million square feet during the third quarter and a decline in work-at-homes from 35% of American laborers during the pandemic to 12% in October.
The VODI tracks unique new tenant tour requirements, both in-person and virtual, of office properties in core US markets, and is an early indicator of upcoming office leasing activity.New demand for office space increased dramatically since bottoming out in June 2020, rising 444% by August 2021 before the prolonged, seasonality-defying surge ran out of steam. Since peaking in August, demand for office space fell 15 points in September and 11 in October.
It is believed that the large ramp-up was due to pent-up demand—a surge of employers getting off the sidelines and into the market once sentiment brightened in light of the COVID-19 vaccine, VTS reported. The recent decline in new demand for office space suggests that the initial wave of pent-up demand has already materialized. | | |
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The author of Generation We says Zs are not against traditional jobs. They just want companies to understand their priorities, then craft workplaces and roles that deliver on those expectations.
There’s no doubt that the impact of the pandemic and the Great Resignation on our country is unprecedented. Nineteen million workers quit their jobs between March and July this year. Job openings surged to an all-time high of 10.1 million in June.
While informative, these numbers are inherently flawed because they don’t differentiate between generations—which means that they aren’t telling us the whole story. Think about it: there’s a big difference between a 37-year-old Millennial who has been working for 15 years and a 22-year-old Z who is just entering the workforce. What each looks for in a job is wildly different, but the data doesn’t give us insight into their unique wants and needs.
To rectify this, we conducted a study of 500 Zs across the United States, ages 18–24. Our goal? To better understand what Zs really want and how companies can create work environments (as well as compensation and benefits packages) that will both attract and retain this talented, creative generation. As we reviewed our findings, one thing quickly became clear: What Zs expect from potential employers is much different from what the previous generation expected. If we want to attract and retain Zs, we need to acknowledge they aren’t Millennials.
The created narrative around compensation
Here are the first two bombshells we discovered in the results of our survey: remote work is being overrated. And salaries—yeah, that actually matters to Zs quite a bit. Sixty-one percent of Zs told us fair pay and benefits are most important to them.
Meanwhile, remote work—which has become the assumed preference for younger workers who entered the workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic—isn’t that big of a priority for Zs. In fact, in our study, only 34% of Zs rated remote work options in their top three most-important job benefits, and only 30% of Zs wanted a fully remote position.
Along with fair pay, another area of emphasis was mental health support. Fifty-one percent placed this expectation in the top three most important things they look for in a job—and that preference held true across ages, geography, and political affiliation. This is a strong indication of how broadly Zs prioritize (and have de-stigmatized) mental health.
Clearly, Gen Z’s focus on mental health and wellness is a generational hallmark—one that employers would do well to heed. But what does that actually look like in practice?
The myth around mental health
When Gen Z talks about mental health support, they aren’t talking about squishy self-care. For them, mental health has a medical basis.
According to a National Institutes of Health study, one in three people ages 13–18 will experience an anxiety disorder. Teen suicide rose 56% between 2007 and 2017.
It should come as no surprise, then, that Zs want paid-time-off—think sick days, not vacation days—to care for their mental health. They also want mental-health benefits, like therapy, and they want employers to emphasize a better work/life balance.
It can be hard for prior generations to empathize with Zs on this. In decades past, long hours, toxic leadership, harassment, discrimination, and workplace dysfunction were the norm.
Permissive attitudes towards toxic workplace behaviors are rapidly shifting, though, and older generations need to shift too. If companies want Zs in their workforce, they must embrace the cultural shift that is occurring around mental health and how people are treated at work.
The remote work fallacy
Let’s return to the topic of remote work. Part of the reason our results showed that working remotely is a low priority for Zs is that they actually want to work in an office. In fact, 70% of respondents said they preferred a hybrid work model (48%) or working mostly in the office (22%). Only 30% of Zs who took our survey wanted to work mostly remotely.
That’s pretty shocking, right? Well, if you consider the context, it begins to make more sense why Zs feel this way. Because of the pandemic, most Zs never had in-person internships or have taken a business trip. Many working Zs have never even set foot in a physical office.
That’s why the vast majority of Zs are eager to experience what it’s like to work in an office. They want to get out of their house (which has served as both college campus and workplace for the past two years) and establish a routine. They want to meet other young professionals and experience the sense of community and connectedness that is only possible in person.
They also want to collaborate with others and receive mentorship on a deeper level than they’ve experienced before. While Zs are very comfortable interacting digitally, they also realize there is a certain level of connection that can only be achieved when people are face-to-face. | | |
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As people go back to the office, safety is a prerequisite and collaboration is a draw.
Office workers across a number of the world’s capitals say they will return, full or part time if their workplaces offer more leisure options, safety measures, indoor air quality tracking and technological advances such as touchless access control, a survey of thousands of white-collar staff found.
More than 3,200 respondents across three global regions — including major U.S. cities, London, Dublin, Sydney and Melbourne — were polled by digital tenant and workplace experience platform Equiem. The platform is used by big office owners like Nuveen in the U.S. and Blackstone in the UK.
The survey found only a small proportion of workers are back in the office full time. A greater proportion are hybrid workers, but people working fully remotely still make up a big proportion of office staff, although the number is shrinking.
Beyond this, the biggest insight for landlords and property managers is the data on what workers care about when they do come into the office. Here are the key takeaways:
Remote Easing Off
Nearly half (49%) of office workers are working exclusively from remote locations, down from 91% in May 2020. Almost a third (30)% of occupiers are hybrid workers, dividing their time between their main HQ and remote offices, with the remaining 21% back to full time.
Sanitizing To Stay
Looking toward the future, hand washing/sanitizing will be an ongoing and permanent change in societal behaviors toward health and safety in public spaces, among other safety measures, the survey found. Office workers expect hand washing (88%), surface disinfection (76%), social distancing (55%) and mask-wearing (52%) to remain in place, even when 80% of people are vaccinated.
A Hands-Free Future
The report found office workers want commercial landlords to prioritize safety, convenience and flexibility in their ideal workplace. Touchless access control (54%), indoor air quality (38%) and flex space options (37%) are among the highest-rated features desired by returning occupiers. These weightings are consistent across the U.S., UK, and Australia.
Workers Say Relax
When asked to describe their ideal offices, occupiers rated relaxation zones (49%), fewer desks (34%), and more gym and workout areas (34%) highest among the desired features.
Offices Are Chiefly For Social Connections
After Covid-19, people want the office to be a hub for community and connectivity. Almost three-quarters (73%) of occupiers said the main purpose of the office is to stay connected to colleagues; the second-highest-rated purpose (70%) was a ‘place for collaboration’.
Remote Working Fatigue
Occupiers are finally adjusting to remote working, but remote fatigue is a concern. Nearly half (46%) of occupiers said they are more productive when working remotely, compared with 33% in May 2020, the last time the study was conducted. Conversely, the number of people who said they are just as productive in the home as in the office has dropped: 40% in 2021, compared to 48% in 2020. Other global studies have indicated similar results.
“Globally, we always knew that human connection would be the main driver for why people would want to return to the office, but we wanted to uncover what they wanted from the office experience to bring them back on a regular basis,” Equiem Chief Executive Gabrielle McMillan said. “During the pandemic, landlords and office managers have had to listen to their tenants' concerns, fears and needs unlike ever before, and this will shape the office experience for years to come. Going to the office will need to be more experiential and technology-driven for it to be a drawcard, but the positives will be increased connectivity and greater engagement.” | | |
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This is a video interview with Sanjay Rishi, CEO of JLL Work Dynamics discussing the concepts and reasons behind his recent book The Workplace You Need Now. | | |
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Despite the popularity of remote work, author and speaker Mark Crowley has come to believe that doing it full-time is detrimental to human well-being, not to mention organizational success. | | |
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A new variant of the coronavirus could upend already scrambled return-to-office plans. | | |
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