Weyco renovations ease return to office
More technology, more open spaces make it possible for employees to safely be face to face, distant
Shoemaker Weyco Group Inc. was just completing a major renovation of its Glendale headquarters when the COVID-19 pandemic hit hard in March. “It was unsettling. We knew how much Weyco had invested in this space. And now we were being told we all have to go home,” said Alicen Damico, interior designer/associate vice president at HGA architectural, engineering and design firm. However, thanks to the HGA-designed renovations, Weyco — which includes Stacy Adams, Florsheim and Nunn Bush among its brands — has safely brought its employees back to the office.
And that could provide a formula for other companies that want to encourage better collaboration among office staff while guarding against the coronavirus — and future pandemics.
“I think it’s going to develop where there’ll be much more flexibility from employers,” said Thomas Florsheim Jr., Weyco chair and chief executive officer.
“We need people to work together,”
Florsheim said.
At Weyco’s headquarters, 333 W. Estabrook Blvd., that’s accomplished through social distancing and mask wearing.
The latter is mandatory for all employees. That includes 142 office workers, as well as 74 people working in the adjacent sprawling distribution center.
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“The whole concept of office space has just changed so much. It’s not just a place where we come and go into our cubicles.”
Thomas Florsheim Jr.
Weyco chair and chief executive officer
Social distancing is made much easier by the renovation project — Weyco isn’t disclosing the cost — that included converting part of the building’s warehouse space into offices.
Weyco began working with HGA in 2018 on designing the renovated space, said Jane Dedering, HGA senior designer/interior design department leader.
The conversion of that 18,900square-foot mezzanine space was finishing up in summer 2019 when Weyco decided to also remodel its 31,500square-foot first-floor offices.
The project was prompted in part by Weyco’s growing sales — some of that generated by the 2011 acquisition of the Bogs and Rafters outdoor footwear brands.
New design and marketing employees were hired, including people who were doing jobs previously outsourced to contractors.
Also, Weyco wanted to make office technology changes.
The Glendale facility was constructed in 1999 with the company moving from its longtime home in Milwaukee’s Brewers Hill neighborhood — since converted into Cobbler’s Lofts condos, 234 E. Reservoir Ave.
Finally, Florsheim wanted the offices to reflect the trend of designing workspaces to encourage more interaction among employees.
“The whole concept of office space has just changed so much,” Florsheim said. “It’s not just a place where we come and go into our cubicles.”
“In the creative environment, it’s really important to have that face time,” said Keven Ringgold, Weyco’s vice president of design.
Open space proves valuable
Minneapolis-based HGA, which operates a Milwaukee office, designed new conference rooms, smaller meeting rooms, work stations and other areas that are much more open than what Weyco employees had been using.
The renovated offices also added mobile monitors, cameras, microphones and other new equipment to better connect with customers as well as Weyco employees at the company’s offices in Portland, Oregon; Montreal, Canada; Melbourne, Australia, and Hong Kong.
Those changes became especially valuable when COVID-19 hit in March. That led Gov. Tony Evers to issue a “safer at home” order that forced many businesses to shut their workplaces.
The new technology, and increased space to better spread out employees, allowed Weyco to bring back most of its office staff within three weeks after the Evers order was overturned by a May ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Some employees continue to work remotely on rotating schedules that have them working alternatively at their homes and the office, said Jeff Douglass, vice president of marketing.
Also, office staffers now have choices beyond their traditional workstations.
That includes a work café featuring chairs, sofas and high-backed booths.
The open layout also created expansive meeting space that allows employees to stay 6 feet apart from one another, Dedering said.
“There’s less anxiety about having closed-in meetings,” she said.
With the monitors, cameras and microphones, employees can even sit in separate spaces within the building for the same meeting.
Meanwhile, the traditional office visits from Weyco’s customers — including such retail chains as Nordstrom, Kohl’s and DSW — have been temporarily suspended in favor of Zoom meetings.
Each Weyco brand now has its own room where products are displayed for buyers to view.
That helps better highlight each brand’s separate characteristics.
“That’s really transformed our meetings” with buyers, Douglass said.
Also, the offices now feature open “pin up rooms,” where shoe designers can work on new models.
That’s a big change from the “really confined space” in which they used to work, Ringgold said.
The renovations included larger windows on the mezzanine level, as well as new solar tubes — akin to mini cylindrical skylights.
Those create more natural light — something that is particularly important when shoe designers are considering various colored materials, Ringgold said.
Tough times for retail
The changes come amid challenging times for shoe and clothing makers that rely on retail chains for much of their sales.
Many fashion retailers have seen declining revenue because of the pandemic and its effects on the economy.
That includes Menomonee Fallsbased Kohl’s Corp., which during the first nine months of fiscal 2020 reported a 25.9% net sales decline compared with the year-earlier period.
Weyco posted net sales of $133.4 million through Sept. 30, a 38.5% decline from $217.1 million during the year-earlier period. The company lost $13.6 million, compared with net earnings of $12.1 million.
Still, Weyco — which reports yearend financial results on March 9 — said web-based sales performed well.
That underscores the strength of its brands, Florsheim said.
Meanwhile, Weyco’s redesigned headquarters could provide a template for other companies to follow as the pandemic recedes and more workers return to their offices.
Many Milwaukee-area businesses continue to have employees working remotely.
And, when employees do come back, companies are allowing more flexibility between working at the office and working at home.
That’s the plan for Wantable Inc.’s new headquarters in Walker’s Point, as well as North Shore Healthcare LLC’s corporate offices, which moved last fall from Glendale to downtown Milwaukee.
Infinity Benefit Solutions Inc. in September moved from the 100 East office tower, 100 E. Wisconsin Ave., to the Pabst Professional Center, 1036 W. Juneau Ave., in a lease brokered by Alyssa Geisler of CBRE Inc.
Infinity, an employee benefits broker, was growing and needed around 6,000 square feet for its 15 office staffers. It leased 8,000 square feet at the Pabst building, with that additional space for future growth.
In the meantime, having extra space allowed Infinity to create an office with increased social distancing, said Chief Operating Officer Chris Urban.
“Instead of just setting up a bunch of cubicles,” Urban said, “we had two or three open areas that we just decided to leave open and allow people to have work stations that could space out.”
That included creating “nooks and crannies in different areas where people could just not be near people,” he said.