Should #CRE help companies shift from office centricity?

#WorkBold Podcast

Alex Turner, Strategic Advisory for CBRE, joins Bold Founder, Caleb Parker, to discuss his report on Hybrid Working and how it will affect office real estate.

What if the real estate industry taught people how to be successful working remotely? Would that be counter-intuitive?

Instead of standing on our soapbox and yelling for people to come back to our offices,

Would it be more strategic if we helped educate & train people how to lead remote teams, starting with ourselves?

Could teaching a curriculum of new leadership & communication skills, best practices, productivity tools, new way of using office assets be a better value-led approach?

Well, enter Alex Turner.

Alex (and his colleague, Will Wilson from Savills) published a report on Hybrid working, breaking down the benefits of working from an office and working from anywhere - basically how to get the best of both worlds.

We talk about the demands of highly skilled talent, whether companies should repurpose their HQs for new ways of working and what impact will this have on real estate portfolios, and cities?

Alex says “Successful companies need to be online first organisations” and “Corporate real estate is no longer an obligatory line on the balance sheet” BUT he also says “There is still a need for real estate and demand is not going away”

Connect with Alex on Twitter https://twitter.com/PropTechAlex

Connect with Caleb on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Caleb_Parker

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of Alex Turner and do not necessarily represent the view of CBRE.

If you have any questions or feedback on this episode, email [e-mail]

Value Bombs

• The work from anywhere (WFA) movement is underway.
• It’s never been easier to access the best talent from around the world.
• There is too much hype around the word hybrid, and not enough thought about application.
• There are a lot of false paradigms around hybrid working that are not based on real evidence.
• If we give people of choice of when they come into the office, we have to be careful not to slide back into a “rewarding attendance over output” culture.
• It’s dangerous for a company to make the decision to remain 100% office shift to 100% WFA.
• We’re going to see a polarisation of companies who do hybrid well and those who don’t
• Successful companies need to be online first organisations.
• Today, hybrid meetings are not the same as having everyone in the same room, but in the future technology will enable it to feel the same.
• Companies that get hybrid right will ensure time spent remote or in the office is maximised and effective.
• If your office or remote work environment is ineffective at providing productivity and wellbeing benefits, then the same can be said about your workforce.

The Office

• Currently, the office is better for collaboration, socialising, communication, creativity, training and development, enabling certain technical capabilities, preventing isolation, and facilitating corporate culture.

WFA

• WFA is better for concentration, focused deep work, work life balance, wellbeing, finding purpose, feeling of autonomy, and cost savings for both employee and employer.
• Prior to Covid the biggest challenge people faced was their commute.
• We can gain 26 days per year in personal time by reducing commute.

Post Covid this wellbeing benefit will have a massive impact on corporate real estate portfolios.

• Corporate real estate is no longer an obligatory line on the balance sheet.
• More and more corporates are collecting data around their portfolio and how its used. As a result of understanding these data driven insights it’s inevitable that fragmented portfolios will be consolidated and the way occupiers interact with real estate will become more flexible and ad hoc.
• This will result in a reduction of leased office takeup, and an increase in flex office.
• There is still a need for real estate, it just needs to be repurposed to meet demand.
• The cost savings of reducing real estate footprint is not what’s going to drive a company’s success and stock price growth, it’s the culture shift to empowering. workplace choice and being able to attract top talent to help the company grow faster.
• The biggest competitor to physical space is digital space.

Resources

1. Why the hybrid model is hype https://www.proptechonapage.com/the-hybrid-future-of-the-office/
2. They Hybrid Model Breakdown (report) https://www.notion.so/The-Hybrid-Model-Breakdown-707dc27cb2184fd1858260ef387af623
3. Remote work company tracker https://lifeshack.io/
4. Alex's Newsletterhttps://www.proptechonapage.com/
5. Charter Cities Podcast https://www.chartercitiesinstitute.org/category/podcast

About Alex Turner

Alex Turner is part of CBRE's newly formed Strategic Advisory team. Alex is focused on solving the business challenges that interface with real estate.

His team delivers value to their clients across physical and digital transformations, smart buildings, and major infrastructure projects, such as East West Rail and TFL (Transport for London.)

In his spare time, Alex is also helping to educate and build a global community of blockchain advocates as part of the Committee and Community Lead for the Tech London Advocates

Prior to joining CBRE, spent time with Capita Real Estate and Berkeley Group PLC, where he focused on real estate and planning respectively.

He holds a Masters of Sciences in International Real Estate and Planning from UCL and completed his undergrad University of Liverpool.

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