'No one size fits all' for businesses' post-COVID return to the office
A 17-page report by the Boulos Co., "Where is Maine Working?" released this week, includes many insights into companies' thinking about post-pandemic work setups.
As Maine companies now working remotely start to think about post-pandemic setups, the vast majority plan to keep the same amount of office space.
That's one of the findings of a survey by commercial real estate firm Boulos Co., based on responses from more than 160 professionals statewide representing a range of industries, company sizes and geographies. The report was published on Thursday.
Most respondents identified themselves as office-lease decision makers. While only 11% plan to reduce square footage because of COVID concerns, 70% intend to keep the same footprint.
Of those who elaborated on their plans, some said they will keep the same amount of space while reducing capacity, while others had planned a shift before the pandemic. The vast majority of open-ended responses indicate that safety, comfort level and employee preferences will dictate future office-space decisions.
"The biggest takeaway [from the survey] is that there is no 'one size fits all' approach for companies grappling with how and when to bring their employees back to the office," Jessica Estes, a partner and designated broker at Boulos, told Mainebiz.
"In fact, the majority of respondents reported they 'sometimes' work from home, which means that many companies have already taken a phased approach to repatriating their employees to the offices," she added.
While Maine employers have been grappling with COVID's impact on the workplace since early on in the pandemic, the impact on commercial real estate remains unclear.
Ahead of the publication of Boulos's office market outlook next week, Estes told Mainebiz that the overall office vacancy rate has increased but is still relatively low compared to the last 20 years.
"We were at record occupancy levels last year," she said, "so some softening in demand still leaves us with a healthy market. It will be interesting to see that happens in 2021."
Work productivity insights
The report also touched on productivity, with 21% of respondents saying they felt more productive working at home, 32% feeling less productive and 43% reporting no change.
Based on that picture, Estes said she expects most companies will have the majority of employees return to the office, saying, "If only 21% of all employees feel they are more productive working from home, we don’t expect companies to jettison physical offices."
At the same time, she said there are still a lot of unknowns.
"The general expectation, or at least hope, is that we’ll eventually get back to normal," she added. "But 'when' is the big question mark. And when I dig a bit deeper with them, most company executives cannot say for sure what they expect 'normal' to look like. We have noted that for most companies we deal with, employee safety and comfortability will be at the forefront of their decision-making process going forward."
Find the full report, "Where is Maine Working?," here.
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