Steve Hunt
Is there still a need for traditional office space?
And the answer is - It depends. Where is your company located? Had you adopted the “Open Space” design concept? Were you working at a sit-stand desk, in a “benching environment”? Does your job require team collaboration? Is your personal situation conducive to working from home?
Chattanooga is no Chicago. Or New York. Or Nashville. And, thank goodness, we’re not Atlanta. A commonality among these other cities is the density of their urban centers and their reliance on mass transit. Crowded subways and commuter rail lines. Packed sidewalks and elevators. Ingredients in the recipe for concern in this age of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fortunately, Chattanooga is still a 20-minute commute for most; travel to and from downtown is a piece of cake compared to those big cities. Our office environment is better suited to engage in the recommended social distancing protocols prescribed by the CDC mostly because we don’t have companies like Barclays who had upwards of 7,000 employees working in one building in New York City.
In a recent article from the Nashville Business Journal, an architect was quoted (and I paraphrase) “Gone are the days that you will be working 3 ½ feet from your co-worker.” I thought, who works 3 ½ feet from a co-worker? Well, that’s the benching environment – rows of sit-stand desks not only side-by-side, but also facing each other. The primary function of this environment was to create energy and excitement for freight brokers or insurance brokers and other sales people. To foster competition among co-workers for the benefit of the bottom line. I get it. And isn’t that still essential? How do you do that on Zoom? What about human interaction? Who won last night’s game? How’s your mom?
This workplace phenomenon of benching also created the concern for the densification of the office space and the strain it places on parking facilities and other infrastructure (typical restroom facilities, as designed pursuant to applicable building codes, may no longer be adequate). Something had to give.
In “Back to the Office – Briefing #1”, Gensler published the results of its U.S. Work From Home Survey 2020 with a headline that states “Only 12% of U.S. workers want to work from home full-time. Most want to return to the workplace, but with critical changes.” When answering their question “Do you prefer to go back to the office or continue to work from home?, 70 percent of people want to work in the office the majority of their week. It went on to say, “They want more space (less density) for social distancing and an assigned workspace. These measures can also improve the performance of the workplace, addressing issues of noise and distraction that were already diminishing effectiveness.” The report continues, “The preference for working in the office is consistent with Gensler’s workplace research data collected regularly since 2005.”
Working From Home has also been referred to as Living At Work. Without stringent guidelines for employees, team leaders are getting pinged with text messages and emails at all hours. Many small businesses cannot afford the technology that allows an employer to check on employees. And on the flip side, many folks report putting in more time working from home but getting less accomplished. Even with our city’s GIG-speed internet (thank you EPB), who pays for all of the individual gig-speed connections?
Let’s keep this in perspective. One size does not fit all. Just like comparing COVID-19 metrics on a per capita basis paints a clearer picture of what’s happening in a particular county, so does understanding Chattanooga’s center city is not nor has ever been shoulder-to-shoulder on our sidewalks and in our buildings (save for the aforementioned benching workplace).
Referring back to Gensler’s report, “People expect to return to a different workplace: more space, less desk sharing, and increased support for mobile and virtual work.” https://www.gensler.com/research-insight/workplace-surveys/us-work-from-home-survey/2020 It’s a really good read.
And since confession is good for the soul, our company leases and manages numerous downtown Chattanooga office buildings.
R. Steve Hunt
Managing Partner
Berry & Hunt