Current trends in the labor market and the future way of working will influence the evolution of business needs for office space in the following years. The demand will depend on each company’s remote work policy, which may or may not lead to a lower GLA, depending on the workplace, as well as on the hiring plans, according to Colliers consultants. As near-term hiring intentions are encouraging enough, suggesting either stagnation or an expanding labor force, the major demand driver will be the business environment’s approach to the hybrid work regime. The office will remain the central element within companies, reveals Colliers in its latest “Exploring the post-COVID Workplace” report, since work-from-home cannot fully replace the importance that offices have as a medium for building teams, mentoring and corporate culture. Further, Colliers consultants expect a new way of working, which will involve a mix between work from the office and from distance, from home or from other spaces, and a recovery for the labor market taking place in about roughly one year versus two years in most cases following the 2008 global financial crisis.
During the pandemic, more than 4,000 professionals globally have used Workplace Expert, an innovative online tool developed by Colliers to help businesses determine the optimal work environment for their organization and people. Based on data that has been collected during the pandemic period through Workplace Expert, Colliers consultants now have an initial view of how organizations are thinking and provide insights into what direction companies are heading.
The three main goals that companies have in mind when rethinking their post-Covid strategies in the workplace are flexibility (14% of the responding companies), productivity (11%) and collaboration within teams (10%), notes Colliers in its “Exploring the post-COVID Workplace” report. Cost reduction (9%) is also important for many companies, but often not seen as a standalone goal. Most organizations set the ambition to create an office that positively impacts on business performance, which is likely to have a larger positive financial impact than pure cost reduction. Other goals mentioned in the study are collaboration across teams, attracting and retaining talent, employee engagement, client focus, innovation, wellbeing, and sustainability.
In other words, “offices will increasingly become social meeting places to collaborate, connect and interact with teams. On average, up to 70 percent of office space pre-COVID was allocated to individual work settings. In post-COVID workplace strategies it is rebalanced to on average between 20-40 percent for individual settings and between 60-80 percent for collaborative settings”, explains Dominique Bogdanas, Workplace Advisory Specialist Office 360° at Colliers.
“Finding the most effective balance between working from the office and working remotely post-pandemic is arguably the most pressing question companies face. One-size-fits-all approach does not suit all businesses. Different business and activity patterns require different approaches. Typical pre-COVID office was facilitating individuals to find the right work setting for their activities. Post-COVID office is facilitating teams to find the right work settings for their team collaboration. The office of the future is integrating the virtual and physical world and facilitating distributed teams to work together, according to the data we have. Colliers responds to current challenges and future needs in the office market with Office 360°, a complete approach of the office with all its touchpoints, carried out in a unique and highly complex process that is tailored to the very last detail to fit the companies’ needs and strategic plans”, explains Daniela Popescu, Associate Director Tenant Services & Workplace Advisory Office 360° at Colliers.
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