Everyone who works in human resources or knows somebody who does is aware that an entire generation of new workers is obsessed with the notion of working from the comfort of home rather than the structured (and some say stressful) environment of company offices.  Add to this paradigm shift older workers who were forced to work from home during the COVID pandemic…and liked it.  All of a sudden, C-suite decision makers are being forced to rethink their decisions surrounding the office: the where, how much, and most critically, the what. 

Gone are the days when, if you had 50 employees you needed office space for 50 people.  If any reader of this article has walked into a large residential real estate office in the last ten years, you know what I mean.  Twenty private offices around the perimeter, 100 workstations in the middle…and fifteen people in the office.  The residential real estate business model has for years foretold the issue that every other business is facing today.  Residential real estate agents do most of their work in the field.  They only need to be in the office for staff meetings, to shuffle paper, and to pick up their pay checks.  Today, most other industries are following suit.

The office space of tomorrow will eschew exclusive private spaces reserved for the use of one employee and will become an array of individual work stations, meeting rooms of various sizes, small quiet rooms where a private telephone conversation can take place, and a multitude of break spaces where staff can relax or take a break and still be talking to each other.  Picture a functional “people space” where staff can collaborate, socialize, and just be together but without personal effects like your own pencils and paper clips in the drawer and a picture of your kids on the desk.  The terms for this approach to the office are “hoteling” or “open address.”

How might this look for your business?  Brainstorm with an experienced tenant rep broker. Tour businesses that have adopted this approach.  Look at the furniture, the walls (or lack of same), and the amenities – in the premises and the common areas of the building.  If you can envision your company in space like this, get ready to save a lot of rent money.