Commercial real estate leaders offer key steps to reopening your workplace
While many companies are still waiting for funds from the Payroll Protection Program, dealing with furloughs and how to pay rent as a result of the coronavirus, some have begun to switch gears and are devising plans to return employees to offices.Where to start can be daunting since so many issues are involved and focused on health and safety. Many commercial real estate firms have recently come up with playbooks to guide companies through the process, which has been informed by their experiences in other countries that have re-entered office environments after the coronavirus has leveled off.“One of the first things to do is get a committee because it’s too much for one person to think about,” said Paul Garvey, a senior director in Conshohocken office of Cushman & Wakefield. “It touches every piece of an organization from HR to training, the mailroom to the cafeteria. It’s a big thing even for a small company.”One tip is to ensure the committee is diverse from working parents and single parents to mass transit commuters and those who might have special medical needs. “There is strength in diversity,” Garvey said.While everyone is working from home, it’s a good time for a company to begin preparing its employees for what returning to work in an office might look like and find out their needs by surveying them, according to the research. Part of that involves finding out how they are doing mentally and taking into consideration where they live.Chances are that a company with employees in New York or other hard hit areas know someone who has died from the coronavirus. Not only will they be mourning, they will be more cautious about re-entering an office environment where their health could be compromised. “That is why communication is key,” Garvey said.
BOMA has requested tenants alert the organization when an employee falls ill with the coronavirus.
“We don’t need names but we need to know if they have infected other people in the building and where they went,” Resinski said. “Did they use a bathroom, go the bank branch in the lobby or Starbucks? Then, you have to attack that floor. It’s really the weak link in the chain but the more we strive to mitigate it, it will help with our curve flattening.”
While landlords and tenants are preparing for re-entry to offices, figuring what pace to get people back will be another challenge. Once Gov. Tom Wolf re-opens Southeastern Pennsylvania, companies should have a plan and be prepared while making sure safety is a priority.
“Early lessons from Asia indicate bringing teams back ‘full throttle’ is unwise and inconsistent with most public health guidance, which recommends that social distancing measures be reduced in a gradual and thoughtful manner,” according to a CBRE Inc. report on the subject. “Employers should establish a plan that enables gradually increasing the number of people who return to work.”
Another complication is determining whether a landlord or tenant is responsible for taking certain measures. “The lease is the roadmap,” Garvey said. “That is the agreement and every lease is different. That notwithstanding, your landlords are in the business of customer service and very good landlords are very good at that. It’s working together.”
Cushman & Wakefield has boiled down its recommendations for reentry into what it’s calling “Six Readiness Essentials.” They are:
Prepare the building: cleaning plans, pre-return inspections, HVAC and mechanicals checks;
Prepare the workforce: mitigating anxiety, policies for deciding who returns, employee communications;
Control access: protocols for safety and health checks, building reception, shipping and receiving, elevators and visitor policies;
Create a social distancing plan: decreasing density, schedule management, office traffic patterns;
Reduce touch points and increase cleaning: open doors, clean desk policy, food plan and cleaning common areas;
Communicate for confidence: recognize the fear in returning, communicate transparently, listen and survey regularly.