Office Space Management

Key Takeaways

[Music] hello everyone and welcome to cyber smart conversations with hersha i'm so delighted to be joined today by anna ho real estate advisor at gll anna help companies reduce occupancy costs and enhance workplace culture and productivity through real estate business intelligence and technology solutions thank you for joining anna how are you doing today i'm doing very well thank you so much for having me great to have you anna and one of the questions i always like to start with is to share about the career path like did you anticipate that this would be where you are in your career when you were in university uh quite the opposite actually um as you had mentioned i'm at jll now doing obviously seeing workplace strategy and sustainable city building is what i like to call it but i actually spent eight years in social work and not for profit before joining real estate um i started as a frontline trauma and crisis counselor at victim services and then also did some child welfare policy reform work with the government while doing a lot of not-for-profit consulting for boards and committees um throughout those eight years and um in my undergrad you know i was studying social work master's i studied social work so my intent was always to stay in the non-for-profit sector but i ended up getting into a fundraising project um as you would in the world of charity and it involved the mixed-use property and it was through that that i discovered my passion for real estate and i realized that you know at the core of what real estate is all about is really building healthy equitable and sustainable communities and i couldn't kind of let myself or let that go i was like i have to learn more about this industry i had no exposure prior to um this project on what commercial real estate is all about as most people don't and so i did a deep dive i met with 50 people in our industry and ended up you know deciding that i'm going to pursue a career in commercial real estate and join jll wow that's that's so inspirational and like from where you started and now where you are that's truly inspirational and you know what i was browsing your linkedin profile and and um i like this saying of yours that there's a grit and resilience to accelerate anything that's set in your mind it's so inspirational thank you so today's topic is office space management and space as we all know it's too precious commodity like workplace are constantly evolving whether that is a response to growth incorporating technologies or adapting to the world around them like in pandemic and one thing that is making sure is all these phase that is employed is effectively used and this is one of the ongoing concern and we have all seen that one of the very important factor in shaping the real estate strategy is maximizing space utilization so anna like why space management is higher on the corporate agenda than ever before well i think covet has been a huge catalyst for a major culture shift and new ways of working um there are companies you know many companies out there like citrus that actually had a hybrid work model even before the pandemic but what's happened is the pandemic has really accelerated this trend and pushed you know a lot of groups that were more office-centric like law firms the j.p morgans of the world um to consider hybrid work or at least allowing their employees to work from home parts of the week or work in the community right wherever it is that allows that employee to be most productive and the most efficient um so i think you know covid really challenged leaders to think differently about the purpose of the office and how do we achieve you know quote unquote the highest and best use so highest and best use for many groups might look like driving collaboration how do we enhance training and development how do we manage new employees how do we onboard new employees and ultimately those three things are really about driving innovation and always being on the cutting edge for those employers in those companies and you brought this important point management of new employees especially during pandemic like it's so challenging when you want both new employees so like what are some of the ways in which we can smooth this on boarding process for new employees mm-hmm i think um i can talk a little bit about my onboarding experience because i onboarded during the pandemic as well last april and um you know what my team did for me was have a 15-hour training program one hour a day over the course of 15 days to introduce me to everything i needed to know about the company at least you know a high level introduction and obviously did a deep dive um as i kind of onboarded and i spent more time in the company but um i think making sure that you have a set schedule where the manager is going to touch base with the employee at least once a day for those new employees really really important for those employees some of your more seasoned employees maybe you only need you know a weekly touch base of schedule that's consistent um but not not the case for new employees and then in addition to that make sure that you emphasize to the new employee that you know at any point during the day if you have a question send me an email or give me a call you know let's try to mimic some of those interactions that we have in the office keeping that door open that open line of communication is really really critical yeah and this is so helpful especially when everyone is working remote now coming back to space management you know there are different elements that we use to increase the space management like use of technology and use of aesthetics lighting there are so many things so what are some of the key elements you think are important that can increase the space management effectiveness so i think first and foremost is leveraging technology like that is number one so many groups i mean the big fortune 500 companies they have already been leveraging technology you know gathering data through utilization sensors all of these things for a long time but you know some of those other companies um it's a newer kind of tool that's being introduced to their employees and due to management so you know leveraging technology to ease things like scheduling desk booking meeting room booking um and then you know tying that those type of apps that allow employees to book those spaces et cetera into um facilities management so you know jll jet as an example um we it's a comprehensive hybrid workplace app that allows employees to sort of have access to one a one-stop shop a one platform to do all of their workplace kind of requests and and and management and needs so you can book space you can generate guest passes you can um submit service or facilities requests you can sync your calendars schedule meetings all with using one app and then from the facilities management standpoint um you can also sync this app to you know sensors beacons lighting environmental control av control so it's you know about leveraging technology to automate some of those mundane tasks um to drive efficiency and effectiveness in the workplace so you know from a sustainability standpoint it's even more important that we have these type of sensors because um you know as we know almost 40 percent of total carbon emissions in the globally is as a result of real estate so as real estate service providers at jll as you know landlords owners and developers and as tenants we have a paramount role to play in making sure that we're doing our part to reduce our emissions and save the planet and you know you mentioned about technology so in panama we have seen an increase in use of these visitor management system but before that all these were manual like there was a manual workflow that needs to be followed but we have seen a increase in use of visitor management and these mobile apps and touchless sensors in in office space and um one thing that is um you talked about sensors like capturing data to know how well the space is utilized and you know then driving in size out of those sensor data but then we have also seen integration with other building systems like building automation system and lighting so that you know when these spaces um is utilized at its maximum capacity or when there are no occupants so so that we can you know optimally change the temperature settings and lightings so what are the benefits of integrating the space management with other building operations and what are the trends you are seeing the benefit of you know having building automation and you know utilization sensors to help us gather this data is because data equals insights equals efficiency right and for any you know landlord building manager or any company data is um intangible it's invaluable you know to have access something like this so you know when you're able to kind of use an app like jll jet as an example to integrate you know all of your employees day-to-day needs and then also your facilities manager and your building operators their needs um you know it just drives like i said more efficiency um more insights how do we you know um improve um how we manage the building currently how we manage our tenant space um as a tenant how do we maximize the use of our space while also keeping in mind those things like you know controlling temperature controlling lighting because you know one of the things that we also talk about at jlo it's part of our our um 420 million dollar technology platform is somehow 330 300 which is essentially you know you spend three dollars on utilities thirty dollars per square foot on rent on average and three hundred dollars per square foot per employee you know the the opportunity for savings is really around the employees and we're not talking about cutting salaries by any means that's not what we're talking about we're talking about you know how do we drive productivity health and wellness to drive the bottom line when employee employees are happier and they're healthier they're going to be more productive and they're going to be more effective in their jobs you know harvard university the world green building council they've done studies on this and they found that you know employees are 14 or x amount of percent more productive when they have exposure to things like biofilia natural lighting temperature control all of these things that maybe traditionally as employers we don't think about but these are the things that landlords and building operators think about and it's so so important for keeping employees happy healthy productive which ultimately drives you know the company's bottom line and it's a win-win for everybody yes and we have seen this you know as the lighting and the temperature are optimum it drives productivity it absolutely does yeah and we talk a lot about this at jll with our 33300 principle tool yeah and now coming back to pandemic and you mentioned this before you know um there's a need of hybrid workplaces so organizations have had to do without the office during lockdown and we we are seeing this the question is will they ever go back and uh recently i was reading this article on workplace fomo israel which is like fear of missing out so like how has kobe changed the demand for office space and how you'll answer this like will they ever go back or will will go with the hybrid work culture like what are the changes you are seeing in the office space demand whenever i get this question i like to talk about the hybrid continuum because there is no one size fits all for any company um we've seen jpmorgan goldman sachs law firms in particular um come out and say we're going to stay office centric so they're on the other side of the spectrum but then we have folks like twitter that are embracing remote work um but then we also have folks like microsoft you know that in the middle microsoft and netflix they're like you know we want to embrace a hybrid model of work because we still see the value in having a physical office space um but it's also the benefit of giving employees the flexibility to sometimes work from home around a coffee shop or at a client's site um so what's interesting to note is that amazon microsoft google they've all publicly come out and said they've spent more money on the real estate this year in 2020 than ever before and in 2020 42 of u.s companies surveyed in 16 cities actually expanded their real estate in 2020. that's interesting so you know it's not quite the narrative of everyone is downsizing um and everyone's gonna go hybrid that is not the case it really depends on your industry the employee specific job function the employees at preferences and living situation at home there's so many factors that you know go into considering whether work from home work in the office work in the community is a good fit for the employee so with the companies that are looking to downsize we are seeing roughly 30 of space that they're shedding um and for those are kind of who are upsizing we're also seeing you know a 20 to 30 percent increase in space so um you know i think it's an ever evolving and moving target there is no one-size-fits-all like i said and you know we saw shopify as an example you know indian ecommerce company come out last year in april and said we're going to send our employees to work remote after the rest of the year and we're going to take a more permanent approach to remote work but in july of 2020 they had the option to give back 25 of their space at the well in downtown toronto and they chose to exercise that option so we have to be very um kind of uh mindful of what are headline grabbers or what are decisions that are made being made in the middle of the pandemic versus what's actually happening on the ground um it's not to say by any means that shopify you know is going to um commit some more office space or going to be office centric by any means but it's to say that you know they made that announcement but yet just three months later um they still chose to keep their office space so you know what i would gather from all of these studies that were done by gensler steelcase pwc all of these consulting firms is that you know every three months a new survey comes out new data comes out new employee and employer preferences come out um one study by steelcase as an example um from globally around the world surveyed countries like china u.s canada sweden um australia the employee sentiments that they gathered in january of 2021 was that roughly 40 to 70 percent in the country of employees said that they only want to work from home one day a week that's a really really interesting insight um canada and china both had almost the exact same employee sentiments even canada is you know or was still under a lockdown in january while china was you know the first to open their economy and get back to the offices so at the end of the day um you and i have talked about this before is that as human beings you know even though we can and we have the ability to work 100 remote meet new people and live our lives behind a computer screen it doesn't mean that we should you know psychology and physiology tells us that as human beings we still need physical touch um you know a hog is so powerful to boosting those um you know hormones and those stress reducing hormones and resilience and boosting your immune system so so many studies that talk about this so you know i'm a hard worker personally i have to say i do love the the balance between work from home and work in the office um and being under lockdown right now in an emergency stay at home order um i'm really really missing the office um but i imagine that even when post pandemic when things open up i'm going to be a hybrid worker so even though i work in real estate and you know my opinion could be biased but i'm really trying to stay as neutral as possible and really talk about all of the insights that we're seeing around the world that are being published by you know third-party companies like deloitte pwc all of these folks so so the last piece that i want to sort of leave everybody with is um you know once again it's not one size fits all every company industry employee job function is going to be different and even though i work for jll second largest global commercial real estate firm um and obviously we're in the business of doing real estate um you know i think at the end of the day though here at jll and my role whatever it is that is the best fit in the best interest of the client um that's what we should be that's what we should be doing so whether that is downsizing by forty percent or seventy percent um i just helped a not-for-profit downsize by you know almost 70 percent actually um they were way oversized even before the pandemic so that's why you know they they downsized so much they really should have been roughly 50 of the space that they already had pre pandemic so that's the reason why they downsized so significantly but for some organizations you know they're gonna keep the same size of their existing office because even though they introduced remote work the company has grown by 30 during the pandemic right or more or less give or take so um you know it's really uh individual to that specific company to that specific culture and whatever it is is the best fit for that client that's we're going to support you to do and that's what your real estate advisor should support you to do at the end of the day so i'll leave it at that um and thank you so much for having me hersha it's been a joy to chat with you thank you thank you anna thank you for sharing those practical insights and it was pleasure to have you on the podcast