‘ Figuring out the footprint’
Office managers in Connecticut factor in people and processes against coronavirus perils
Office managers in Conn. factor in people and processes against virus perils.
Despite a standard workstation configuration measuring roughly eight feet by six, over the years designers worked wonders with the office cubicle, creating the illusion of space by raising ceilings, flooding work bays with light and expanding sight lines.
Entering the pandemic summer of 2020, it is the workstations themselves that are expanding to accommodate extra distance between people, with the optimal ratio as yet to be determined. Where that calculation falls will be one factor that dictates office needs — but only one, with flex scheduling and lease expiration dates also influencing how commercial tenants will map out their spaces.
It is a formula that will be in flux for some time to come as workers trickle back to newly reconfigured offices, with wide latitude for many to continue working from home.
“A lot of companies are saying, ... ‘ We need more [ workstation] space; we’re trying to figure out our footprint; [ and] working from home isn’t so bad as we thought it might be,’” said Jim Fagan, executive managing director in the Stamford office of Cushman & Wakefield of Connecticut. “One mistake we all make is we draw a trend line, and then we think that trend line is going to go on forever. I don’t think this is going to go on forever.”
But with companies staggering work schedules and adopting sterile “hot desk” setups for workers to use for any one shift, a summer school of sorts is in store for office managers as they gather feedback on what is working best.
After that, Connecticut’s office markets could be in for a seismic shift, with the complicating factor of New York City office employers reconsidering the suburbs to spare their people the commute.
That remains an open question, after the viral video website TikTok made a vote of confidence in the Manhattan market by leasing more than 230,000 square feet of space in Midtown, the first major deal in the two monthsplus since New York shuttered offices to all but essential workers.
But brokers expect some disruption, with the first signs likely to be sublease solicitations from existing tenants to recoup a portion of monthly rent that otherwise will be spent on empty space. According to the commercial brokerage firm CBRE, heading into the coronavirus crisis many tenants facing deadlines on expiring leases chose to stay put by taking extensions or renewals, biding their time to see how needs shake out in the coming months.
In the first quarter of this year, Fairfield County and neighboring Westchester County led commercial real estate markets nationally for percentage increases in sublease vacancies, CBRE determined. Westchester and Hartford led the nation for the biggest increases in overall vacancies including direct leases, but that only drew the former in line with Fairfield County’s vacancy rate, with Hartford edging closer.
Cushman & Wakefield estimates that Fairfield County office buildings had more than 10 million square feet of vacant space on average in fhe first quarter of 2020 — enough for more than 60,000 workers under the old measure of 175 square feet for each one.
Is the 2020 office scene the historic equivalent of a trending TikTok video destined to be elbowed aside in time? Or is the pandemic laying the cornerstone for a permanent change in work culture and by extension layout?
The CEO of Steelcase, the Grand Rapids, Mich.- based company that is the largest seller of workstations in the world, said last month a definite new order is in store based on what the company is seeing in Europe and China from customers that have repopulated offices.
“It’s not coming back to the way it was before — not exactly,” said CEO Jim Keane on a conference call. “There will be a new sensibility ... and series of expectations that people will have around, how remote work should be done more productively and also how the workplace should be a safer place to be.”