Real Estate is Due a Seat at the Corporate Table

Corporate real estate is moving beyond just being a cost center. It’s now something more strategic.

This is not a new trajectory—other disciplines have made similar journeys, such as procurement and human resources in earlier years. Now it is real estate’s turn.

These corporate departments will need to consider ways to give a more distributed workforce the flexibility to choose when and where to work, which could mean a network of workspaces across various markets, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s Workplace Ecosystems of the Future report

“More than ever, corporate real estate functions will need to partner with human resources, business strategy, finance and technology to achieve thoughtful and impactful workspaces,” it said.

Companies will focus on an ecosystem of multiple options for workers in the future. While many will be leaning on the core office for learning, mentoring, team connection and collaboration, the home may be a viable second workplace in the future. Additionally, workers may choose a third place to work, like coffee shops, on-demand event spaces, coworking spaces, retail spaces and suburban “spoke” offices, according to C&W.

“These third places may appeal to employees for a variety of reasons—for example, a spoke office might be more conveniently located than the core office and it might offer a better social outlet than home,” according to C&W.

But a distributed workforce means managers will need to be intentional about when and how they bring people together since even small amounts of flexibility can erode communication among teams. And organizations will need to implement reliable technology to manage space, allow transparency for accessing space and ensure connections between people inside and out of the office, according to C&W.

Smart technologies that help manage real-time building data and facilitate employee meetings will also be necessary to ensure ongoing data and predictive analytics of workplace use and employee experience. C&W says companies can’t just look at the impact on real estate and cost savings without also ensuring investment in managing people to facilitate employee performance, wellbeing and engagement.

For companies that can navigate this new reality, there will be benefits in attracting and retaining talent.

“Investing in this new redefined workplace will be a competitive advantage to attract and retain the best and brightest,” Stuart Harris, principal at business consulting, interior architecture and design firm PDR, told GlobeSt.com in an earlier interview. “Once the economy comes back, talent will hold the upper hand, and employees will pick and choose organizations that invested in people through compelling work settings and flexible work models. Owners should prepare buildings to support and enhance these tenant strategies.”