What Is the Future of Work Space in RI – Will Staff Ever Return to the Office – GoLocalProv

Thursday, February 18, 2021

GoLocalProv News Team

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Providence - what is the future of the office PHOTO: Will Morgan

Now, 71% of those workers are doing their job from home all or most of the time. And more than half say, given a choice, they would want to keep working from home even after the pandemic, according to aPew Research Center survey.

The impact to the economy, how we work and how we live in our homes is in complete transformation.

I don't know any organization thatrents office space that isn't rethinking its value, including our team at BIF," said Saul Kaplan, Founder and Chief Catalystof Business Innovation Factory (BIF). BIF is known globally for their innovation conferences.

"There's nothing like a year of paying foremptyspace to focus any renter's attention," he continued. "Being forced by #COVID19 to operate remotely has helped us and others to more clearly separate out those activities that require a central office from those that dont.

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One of BIF's major creations was the annual Summit which brought hundreds to Providece

Given what businesses in general have learned during the pandemic, there is an increased and significant need for flexible work environments. We expect the opportunity to choose between working in person or remotely will become the norm, said Kelly Ramirez, CEO ofSocial Enterprise Greenhouse(SEG) one of the critical startup incubators in Rhode Island.

For SEG, this means that we will continue to develop creative ways to accommodate Rhode Island businesses and workers across many different situations and provide dynamic working environments that can support new team needs such as asynchronous working, shared team spaces, and meeting spaces, said Ramirez.

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Wexford office building/CIC, RI invested more than $40M

Ramirez says that it is critical for early stage companies to have a network of resources. Prior to the pandemic there was a wave of startup spaces being created across the state from shared resources to open office spaces. Rhode Island invested upwards of $50 million in Providence and Newport alone on the Wexford complex andInnovate Newport respectively.

Entrepreneurs require a community of support, be it virtual or in-person. It is vitally important for them to foster connections and find the resources they need to overcome challenges and grow. Because of the pandemic, they are facing absolutely new challenges, and the goalposts are constantly moving. They will need to find creative and adaptable ways to engage at multiple different levels with audiences and customers, said Ramirez.

They will need to find new ways to collaborate with partners and peers, both in person and remotely, and discover flexible options to support teams. Many Rhode Island entrepreneurs and startups have already demonstrated their versatility in developing new models of engagement. Entrepreneurs are, after all, adaptive. We are eager to continue to support the leaders in our social impact community who are driving change and building a brighter future, in ways that are most beneficial, she added.

Architectural critic Will Morgan, who has spent his career looking at the spaces people live and work in, says he believes a majority of now home-ensconced workers will return to the office, or some kind of traditional workspace.

Most of all, people are social animals, and we need constant human contact. Interaction, even gossip at the water cooler, is an essential ingredient in productivity. Also, a work identity can be valuable, whether a series of recognizable tasks or being associated with a certain brand: a name on the door is better than a zoom screen, said Morgan.

"How different will the post-Covid office be? Many changes being predicted now are not, in fact, the result of the virus. The transformation to hybrid workspaces was already happening, as was experimenting with flexible work schedules. And, there has long been pushback against the open plan office. The need for improved and even incorporated childcare services has only been heightened by recent events, added Morgan. As always, smart developers and thoughtful architects can improve our working environments.

The Trends

Matt Fair of the commercial real estate firm Hayes and Sherry tells GoLocal, All indications are that the 'office' will remain an important cornerstone of commerce due to the need to bring team members together for collaboration and culture building, both of which enhance long term productivity. So far newly adopted digital tools have not been able to fully replace the physical gathering wants/needs of employees.

The office is likely to change over the next several years as companies redesign their spaces and in many cases shrink their footprints to accommodate their new needs. This will likely skew towards a more flexible working arrangement that many employees will require their employer to offer, such as working from home part time, said Fair.

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Home office - will it be the future PHOTO: GoLocal

As Fair points out, Rhode Island is a state of small businesses rather than tech giants. Companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter are telling workers that there is no rush back to the office and for many key functions, they will never return to the brick-and-mortar workplace.

We think the office market around the country will remain soft as tenants give back space, but will eventually strengthen again over the next few years as spaces absorb due to new job growth demand. The Rhode Island market is somewhat insulated from the negative absorption trends that we are seeing in other major markets around the country due to the small number of large corporate tenants in the market. The Rhode Island market is largely made up of a smaller regional and local companies whose space shedding is likely to happen to a lesser extent than the larger corporate entities, added Fair.

But uncertainty is certain. A survey of 2,200 U.S. workers conducted by the Conference Board, a research group, found that 44% of employees polled didnt know their companys plans to return to the workplace.

Fair added that in his work, collaboration is critical and that some of it can only be experienced in person.

"Our office has found that having a physical space to come together is very important," he said. "Not being able to bump in to co-workers and grab them for 15 second conversations to keep productivity churning has been a problem and has negatively impacted our business."

"We are an office of 10 people (8 brokers + 2 admin). Weve been back full time since June 2020 as nearly everyone has private offices. We did shut down again for a couple of weeks during the spike in late 2020," Fair added.

Smaller and More Remote

While the office may return, Kaplan predicts it will be far smaller, less formal and more shared space. Many workers will never or only partially return to the office. The pandemic has changed everything.

As the crisis subsides office activity will surely return but demand for office space will change dramatically. As current office leases end many organizations will consider smaller space commitments, rely more heavily on remote collaboration/work platforms and increase their use of shared physical meetingspaces and amenities as needed. The future of work is here and the market for office space will be changed forever, said Kaplan.

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What Is the Future of Work Space in RI - Will Staff Ever Return to the Office - GoLocalProv