The Dynamics Determining the Post COVID Office

Since March, job losses have skyrocketed and office professionals have learned to work from home. The adaption to remote work has in turn helped boost the economy.

A May 2020 Stanford University survey reported that up to 60% of US economic output depended on working from home.

Cushman & Wakefield’s New Perspective: From Pandemic to Performance series, conducted in affiliation with the George Washington University School of Business Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis and Places Platform LLC, identifies the factors that will determine remote work’s impact on offices in the future.

It should come as no surprise that productivity ranks as the top factor. Can workers produce as much from home as they can from the office/?

Research suggests that there could be diminishing returns from telework. Cushman & Wakefield cites a 2007 meta-analysis of 46 academic studies of literature suggesting that workers see greater autonomy and lower work-life conflict when working up to 2.5 days per week. However, beyond 2.5 days per week, there were more significant harms to relationships with coworkers.

Beyond mere productivity, there are concerns regarding around innovation. Organizations have to determine if they can generate new ideas and products while employees are working at home and separated from each other.

Company culture, including personal connections, mentoring and learning, is also a consideration for remote work. Organizations often establish a culture that represents their values and mission, and physical space can communicate that message. This is harder to execute when workers are logging in from their kitchens.

Offices can also play a role in retention, which is another consideration with remote work. Organizations need to determine which amenities, technology solutions and employee services are more or less important in a post-COVID world.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, even if remote work increases, it shouldn’t reverse the trend of offices within walkable areas in both urban centers and suburbs. Having an office in these submarkets can have both internal and external benefits for a company’s brand. In the report, Cushman & Wakefield argues that the spontaneity that comes from walkable urban places is essential to companies.

In the future, offices located in the central business districts may need to provide more flexible office environments and a more activity-based approach to working, according to a separate report Withersworldwide, an international law firm.

“Owners and developers will need to identify how to configure a building so that it can be quickly repurposed for the different uses and types of working demanded by occupiers, evolving previously homogenous single-use buildings into mixed/multiple-use environments,” according to Withersworldwide. “The aim will be to change the utility of a space within days, so a building isn’t just tied to a particular usage, or a single occupier.”