What Bosses Really Think About Returning to the Office
The rise of the remote work culture has meant that many workers have been forced to abandon their offices. The resulting rise in office space vacancies is placing pressure on property owners. When that happens, they turn to companies like ours to secure the best possible fit for their tenants.
This week I talked to Peter Rolfe, our head of property at Kingsland, but his perspective is likely to appear in many of our stories over the coming months. We reached out to Peter to help us understand the key requirements that would encourage tenants to be happy in his workplace.
The Rise of the Remote Work Culture
As an employer, you may be keen to know whether people prefer working from home and office.
When people are encouraged to work from home, they have a different outlook on work. They perceive it to be more flexible and less demanding than in-office hours. It also makes them feel more at home.
Remote working has become a huge industry phenomenon, with almost four in 10 employees from company to company choosing the option. Indeed over half of all employees claim to have worked from home.
The rise of the remote work culture means that offices are going by the way-side. A recent report shows that almost one in five companies across the UK have shut down or made drastic staffing changes in the face of falling demand.
This means that many companies face the prospect of having tenants unhappy with the space and looking to move on.
That is bad news for landlords, who are often keen to fill offices to ensure that tenants stay.
Many tenants move from their office space to work from home on a regular basis, suggesting that vacancy rates are at about 100 per cent.
These vacancies can be very unwelcome for landlords, as they mean that companies have to pay more to rent them. There could be issues around the rent burden, utilities and the security and wellbeing of tenants living in the space.
Landlords may become less inclined to offer flexible ways of working such as working from home, particularly if it takes over all of the space.
Landlords have to ensure that the tenants do not suffer unduly in this situation, as it is not ideal for