In the wake of COVID-19, commercial real estate brokerages have been wearing a few new hats, helping office clients re-evaluate their leases, and the use of their space to adjust to social distancing protocols.
They’re also using their own offices as a testing ground of sorts, getting imaginative with their local operations as employees begin to return to the office.
It’s not just a matter of a new, spread-out office design, they emphasize.
“When getting back to the office, we are focusing on environmental and behavioral changes,” notes Greg May, Newmark Knight Frank’s executive vice president and west region market leader.
The company, OC’s No. 3 brokerage with $4.1 billion in volume last year, has yet to open its local office in Irvine’s Von Karman Towers complex, but is preparing for these changes when it begins the first reentry phase in about a month or so.
Environmental, or physical, changes are the easy part, May said, such as switching up the office layout, and adding partitions and sanitation stations.
Behavioral changes, or the way in which employees interact within the office, takes more communication and effort.
“Behavioral changes are how we maintain social distancing in the office, which includes not using common areas, no visitors and taking preventative steps like washing hands and wearing masks,” May said.
JLL’s Approach
The Irvine office of JLL, which was among several brokerage firms to provide materials to clients on work reentry strategies after corona-virus shifted the workplace to a remote one in March, has begun a phased reentry of its own.
“A lot of offices in Orange County are still remote, but it’s starting to move in the other direction as the county and state reopens,” said Peter Belisle, a market director for the southwest region for OC’s No. 5 brokerage by transaction volume with an estimated $2.4 billion.
“It is still quiet in our building, with only about 20 to 25 employees back in the office as part of the first phase.”
This has worked out in the company’s favor, allowing the firm to test out new guidelines set in place to encourage social distancing and safety, which includes keeping a 6-foot distance between employees, controlling the direction of foot traffic, and requiring masks upon entering the office, though not when employees are at their desks.
“We are providing washable face coverings to our employees as a welcome back gift,” Belisle said, adding that employees are not required to return to the office, with some preferring to remain working from home while some choose the practicality of the office.
“People have really missed the collaboration that occurs in the office,” Belisle said.
While spacing protocols and clear signage are a must, JLL has urged clients to consider creative ways to direct traffic flow and block off areas that more subtly communicates distancing rules, such as using room partitions made of plants rather than an artificial wall or basic signs.
“Creating the right mood and atmosphere is imperative,” Lee Daniels, global product manager for workplace and occupancy strategy at JLL, said in one of the company’s posts to clients. “People have been confined for some time at home and returning to an office full of ‘Do Not Enter’ or ‘Please Wait Here’ signs could feel intimidating.”
Use of Space
There are typically about 100 employees at JLL’s Irvine office and another 40 at the company’s Newport Beach office, which holds the brokerage’s capital markets group.
The two teams will join under one office later this year when they move into their new full-floor space at Intersect, which underwent an extensive $27 million renovation in recent years led by CDG Builders Inc. (see tenant-improvement contractors list, page 23).
The impacts of the coronavirus and its effect on the office space have not changed JLL’s space requirements, or the needs of its clients, Belisle notes.
“People aren’t yet modifying the size of their space; they’re changing the use of their space. Headcount density is the thing that’s changing, with space needed to maintain social distancing,” Belisle said.
CBRE Group Inc., OC’s largest CRE brokerage with some 390 employees in OC, has a companywide policy for its reopening.
To promote minimum social distancing requirements, CBRE will “initially limit office occupancy to 40% of normal capacity” as employees return to work, it said.
In addition, CBRE will support flexible work policies—for the first 30 days following reopening, “no clients, guests or visitors will be permitted” in its offices.
Long-Term Effects
Newmark Knight Frank’s May believes that office design will face a shake-up in the short term, but long-term changes are not likely to be as drastic.
Currently, companies are faced with county requirements that factor in increased cleaning and social distancing efforts.
Newmark has created what it refers to as a “COVID-19 Overlay,” which is an examination of the office’s floor plan to determine spaces with the highest risk of contamination.
Phased reentry efforts are made easier by the limited number of employees that return to the office, with just 25% of Newmark’s Irvine office slated to return in the first phase.
Newmark also has a few physical benefits: its office is on the ground floor of 18401 Von Karman Ave., with its own separate entrance and no shared spaces with other offices.
Landlord Discussions
The company is urging its clients to have discussions with the landlord of their respective office to explore building access, common areas, use of elevators and cleaning specifications.
“In the short term, smaller offices or those with easier access will look more attractive,” said May, adding that design will heavily emphasize distancing for the foreseeable future.
Longer term, expect a return to normalcy.
Many companies have pointed to success with switching to a remote workforce as a reason to rethink the need for a physical office space, but brokers have maintained the need for a gathering point.
“How else can you create a culture, train employees and have collaboration?” May asked.
“Safety is of the utmost importance now, but when this pandemic is over and behind us, it will be less of an issue and things will return to normal.”
