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Learn How KBS is Creating Safe Work Environments
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News & Insights

Keeping Employees On-Site Calls for an Amenity Rich Office Environment.

  • January 3, 2023
News & Insights

Keeping Employees On-Site Calls for an Amenity Rich Office Environment.

  • January 3, 2023
In the wake of what’s transpired over the past two and a half years, workers are seeking out employers who offer flexibility and on-site amenities that support their wellbeing — all while nurturing the personal connections that fuel office culture and camaraderie.

“To be there or not to be there?” Prior to 2019, that was a question hardly ever posed by the average American worker. Doing your job from home was something of a rarity. Then, the pandemic hit. New options and new attitudes surfaced in a big way.

“With the shift toward greater flexibility allowing us to do much of our working tasks remotely,” Jay Olshonsky, president and CEO of NAI Global, said, “people who work in offices, which make up approximately 30 percent of the American workforce, have been able to do their jobs as well, nearly as well, and in many instances better, than they did before the pandemic, from anywhere.”

Today, the key for keeping employees happy, healthy — and under the company roof — means understanding and meeting their expectations.

According to Cushman & Wakefield’s Experience Per Square Foot™ survey, employees with flexible hours are 1.4-times more engaged — and their workplace experience is 1.9-times better — than those without flexibility. Rather than focus on employee sentiments, Gartner emphasizes the three drivers of employee engagement: organizational trust, commitment to coworkers, and worker capabilities.

“Compassionate leadership, enhanced employee engagement and creating more opportunities for employees starts with accepting, promoting and then effectively managing a flexible workforce . . . that either structurally or organically benefits and performs better through greater and consistent interaction,” said Olshonsky, predicting that by 2026 or 2027 most people will be working in traditional, yet more flexible, offices most of the time. “When people are happy, you get way better performance.”

“People choose to work in flexible-office and traditional-company-office spaces for similar reasons — largely to socialize, collaborate and feel connected,” added Bryan Berthold, Global Lead of Workplace Experience at Cushman & Wakefield.

Employees initially found themselves holding most of the cards in the labor market, however employers are increasingly encouraging employees to return to the office for the camaraderie and healthy human interaction that they provide.

Employee preference for digitized work environments will continue, and new amenities help establish a fresh, diversified environment that lends itself to productivity with increased morale and a greater sense of belonging.

In addition to increased mobility, choice and privacy, Gensler, the global design firm, asserts that in the post-pandemic world people expect “health and wellness to be built into everything.” Home is where the heart is for employees, as well as better access to the outdoors, environmental adjustability and comfort. The office of today should aim to match those things. Continued innovation through PropTech will only serve to further flexibility, including making it more convenient to access high-quality flex workspaces worldwide through an easy-to-use app, according to Berthold.

KBS has found spec suites to be a great example of how office owners can implement tenant-friendly amenities in the workplace. Owners can implement the most commonly requested building features that can boost leasing activity and retention levels in specific markets. By offering these amenities in turnkey office spaces, tenants cut down on their own development costs. In most spec suites KBS doesn’t only renovate the space the company invests in innovative furniture systems that can be reconfigured as tenants move through their post-pandemic, return-to-office process.

“Before COVID-19, workplace amenities were obviously important but mostly viewed as a standardized, check-the-box feature for office developments,” said KBS’ David Jenkins, Senior Vice President, Capital Project Management Eastern Region. “Now the focus is so much more on what contributes to the well-being of the people there — physically, emotionally and spiritually. With more than $50 million invested in amenities across our portfolio since mid-2020, I could not be prouder of KBS’s efforts once again in being a leader in this routine turned revolutionized office category.”

Learn more about office commercial real estate, visit KBS.com/Insights.

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Industry Trends

Underwriting the Perceived Instability of Short-Term Office Leases

  • February 16, 2021
The threat of shorter office lease terms has been looming over the commercial real estate industry for several years. Companies first braced for the potential impact of new standards from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) recognizing all leases on the balance sheet, which took effect in January 2019. Then, the office leasing world was hit with additional challenges from COVID-19 as many companies opted to work from home and re-evaluated the role of their physical office space.
Industry Trends Insights

Envisioning the Future of the Built Environment

  • January 29, 2021
Amidst the ongoing crisis, built environments are at the front lines of change and will play a huge role in creating a more resilient world going forward. Office architects are re-envisioning the future of the workplace—where and how we work. Unfortunately, there is no crystal ball to predict exactly what the new future-oriented office will look like, but what we do know is flexibility and adaptability will be key in resilient design.
Industry Trends

Why Texas is becoming a commercial real estate powerhouse

  • January 21, 2021
It looks like 2021 will be another big year for Texas, a year when a lot of major companies will make the jump and move to the Lone Star state. Just look at these transitions:
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