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New Paradigm: Defining Your Future Criteria

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Contacts & Related Research

In the first part of this series, “The New Paradigm: Office Space Occupier Decision Making Criteria in the Post-COVID-19 World,” we examined the changing criteria and rebalancing of criteria that occupiers may evaluate in decisions impacting real estate in the post-COVID-19 environment. With this second installment, we provide survey questions and checklists that occupiers may utilize to define their optimal real estate portfolio and office solutions. As with the previous paper, five subject areas are explored, including Real Estate Strategy, Labor Strategy, Workplace Strategy, Technology Strategy and Risk Mitigation Strategy.

Real Estate Strategy

COVID-19 will change the expense profiles and operational requirements of real estate for every organization. A key strategic question for an organization regarding its real estate is:

  • What role does the office serve in your business? This strategic question is the starting point for several layers of additional questions.

As leadership articulates its vision for the role of the office, additional diligence is required to understand the “how” and “where” of an organization’s real estate:

  • Where should the company utilize space? This will impact labor strategy and technology strategy.
  • How should the company utilize space? This will impact workplace strategy and technology strategy.
  • How should the company control/finance its space? This will impact financial and operations strategy and risk mitigation strategy.

On a tactical level, additional questions may include:

  • Has COVID-19 impacted your budget such that you will allocate more/less of the budget towards real estate?
  • How does this change in budget impact your existing portfolio?
  • How does this change in budget impact your future portfolio?
  • As you assess your portfolio strategy, can you separate your portfolio into long-term, medium-term and short-term spaces, and can you apply a different real estate financing solution for each group?
  • Are there different levers you can pull to produce savings, as the previous levers of increased density and increased occupancy percentage are no longer available?
  • Are there quick-win opportunities that make long-term strategic sense?

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