COVID-19 has changed the way people physically interact with real estate. The longer the pandemic persists, the more likely we are to see lasting behavioral changes in the way businesses operate and work. Physical quarantine and social distancing have impacted businesses, their employees, and their customers everywhere. The importance of digitization has exploded world-wide.
Digital is impacting all aspects of individual life. The spectrum is widespread including banking, healthcare, dining, and sports. Traditional office work is transitioning rapidly as well. Businesses are recognizing that employees can be equally productive working remotely thanks to strong technology, Wi-Fi, collaboration tools and video platforms. Businesses can benefit from combining digital with physical space, but in order to do so, businesses must think outside their physical space.
Prediction
Over the next 5 years, the purpose of office space will transform. Office space will provide places for hospitality, meeting and innovating rather than the typical 9-5 grind.
Pre-pandemic, workspaces were already evolving into highly digital places to promote engagement, collaboration, creativity and health and wellness. The need to meaningfully engage with customers and employees in physical spaces will persist, but the need to work in cubes everyday will not.
Businesses might question why they need office space at all. However, employee experience is still important, and workers can’t get the same experience nor adopt a corporate culture remotely. The new workplace will evolve to enable meaningful, collaborative interaction. Office spaces will rearrange into a hub-and-spoke model that will encourage brand and corporate collaborations, facilitate special meetings, welcome out of town workers, and entertain clients.
How employees view work inside and outside the space will be a blurred line. To find a clear balance, and gain a competitive advantage, businesses need to be symbiotic. Businesses will become outdated unless they quickly build a new plan to adapt to the new reality. Real estate advisors must be as well-versed in the digital aspects of real estate as they are with physical real estate in order to properly guide businesses to the right solution.
Conclusion
COVID-19 has accelerated the need for business transformation. Those that haven’t yet made steps toward transformation need to act quickly. Those that succeed will gain a competitive advantage and become future winners.
Vestian is focused on helping you work where your employees can be most productive, inside and outside your physical space. We break the norm of real estate advisory conflict and put you in a position of strength. The current change in markets and workplace dynamics has accelerated the need for correction. It is an optimal time to scenario plan and work toward reversing long-term expenses. Whether you need to implement a remote work policy, redesign your space and technology, restructure your leases, lower rents, or shed excess space, we create strategies to achieve the best real estate outcomes. Vestian gives you the power to capitalize on today’s market.