HOW WORK FROM HOME OR THE NEW NORMAL WILL CHANGE THE ENTIRE OFFICE SETUP IN FUTURE?

October 07, 2020

Work from home policies have emerged as a life saver for businesses en masse, amidst the turmoil brought in by the outbreak of the coronavirus. While work from home policies were a common sight in the IT sector, post the pandemic outbreak, other business sectors followed suit and extended this option for most of its employees, thereby ensuring business continuity during this black swan event. With more than 50% employees working remotely, corporate real estate is being relooked and redesigned for effective office space utilization.

IMPACT OF WORK FROM HOME POLICY ON OFFICE INFRASTRUCTURE

The announcement of work from home policies by companies large and small was immediately followed by initiating pre-closure of leases, negotiations on the existing agreement, restructuring to short term leases, thereby managing the impasse caused due to the pandemic. Negotiations on the force majeure clause that pre-existed or to be factored in, is becoming the need of the hour to ensure sustainability and business continuity. These factors ultimately lead to a reduction in office space demand that is widely visible across major cities and have disrupted growth prospects forecasted before the pandemic.

In 2017-18, only about 25 percent of U.S. workers worked at home at least occasionally and only 15 percent had specific days on which they only worked at home, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For multinational companies, they had it in their DNA to provide work from home option for their employees.

Today, a large number of businesses are beginning to realize that work from home, though not a new concept, is here to stay. Many working professionals are now beginning to return to their offices, in person, for the first time in months. However, in the United States, 2 out of 3 workers still feel uncomfortable returning to the workplace, according to a Qualtrics study. As companies begin to reopen their office doors, the following are of top priority for businesses:

  • Preventing communicable diseases
  • Ensuring worker safety
  • Employee welfare

    • LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY FOR SMART OFFICES

    Leveraging technology serves as a driving factor in making offices smarter to facilitate these needs. From autonomous cleaning solutions to people-counting sensors, the future of office space is sure to see a drastic change in the way we worked before and after the pandemic. With social distancing norms, wearing of masks, frequent usage of sanitizers becoming the norms of the day, companies will have to focus on ensuring a safe workplace, overcoming the concerns of employees with regards to safety, as well as adhering to the health and safety guidelines as regulated by local and national authorities.

    While corporate real estates were well equipped with safety standards even before the pandemic, loopholes exist in terms of non-adoption to hands free methods, voice recognition that enables touch less interaction with systems and processes. In the wake of the covid-19 outbreak, touch less technologies have gained prominence in the office setup.

    As offices are being unlocked, we will see increased installation of:

  • Pre-entry wellness checks at the entrance of office buildings
  • Touch less entry to elevators and common area
  • Social distancing sensors to check desk spacing and footfall at any point of time
  • Remote collaboration tools and more

    • All these, in addition to the fluctuating demand for office spaces makes it vital to reshape commercial real estate into a ‘real estate as a service’ or ‘infrastructure as a service’ kind of a business model, that ensures more agility and enables plug and play services while ensuring hygiene standards.

    Many companies have started using mobile apps and daily health surveys to screen employees before arrival. This ensures that employees experiencing symptoms or have been exposed to a positive case of Covid-19 do not enter the office premise. A report published recently by CBinsights states that QR code based immunity passports embedded within super apps is also an option that is being tried and tested.

    This is done by employees filling out a form in the app and the software uses big data to generate a QR code depending on a user’s contagion risk based on their recent travels. This can be taken further to link Covid-19 test results with the digital identity of an individual for easy screening.

    CONCLUSION

    To serve the needs of “The New Normal”, the office setup is getting revamped to a large extent, paving the way for the next normal in the business world. A completely remote workforce seems unlikely, given the intangible benefits of social connection, collaboration and innovation that in-person working provides. Nonetheless, it will be crucial to create optimal conditions for employees to work remotely as well as in the office.

    By Raghu Ramachandran

    Raghu is the President for Sybrant Real Estate, a leading private real estate / property management services firm based out of Chennai, India that has global customers. Raghu has decades of hardcore experience in Real Estate and Property Development business. In this place he will share his thoughts on real estate as a business, technology, entrepreneurship, and anything else that piques my interest.