FUTURE OF CRE IN WORK FROM ANYWHERE ERA

BY Realty Plus

Vishal- Executive Director, India Mentor – Workthere, Head Commercial Advisory and Transactions, Savills Property Services (India) Pvt Ltd made an interesting point, “Wi-Fi was introduced commercially in the year 1997 and it got popular by 2005 but it took one virus to ensure that we take a leap faith in zoom calls and have technology move to another level. There are three entities that matter in this entire discussion, the employees the employer or the occupier, and the developer or the owner of the office space. At the center of all these entities sits the CRE professional.”

Aryaman Vir, Founder and CEO, MYRE Capital believes working remotely has its own pros and cons but, for the teams to work together is critical. “Many of our employees had to face the challenge of fatigue, small households etc. while working from home, so during Covid, we booked a hotel and the team lived and worked together. In fact, we saw much more productivity and innovative solutions coming from the team. While flexibility is important, the workspace in itself is equally important to foster innovation.”

Kunal Walia, Founder & CEO, Simpliwork Offices shared, “Covid times changed the approach of traditional workspaces. It was a massive shock to the system but, now we are seeing a lot of strength coming back in corporate leasing. Work from anywhere has translated into distributed offices, closer to locations where employees are comfortable. Thus, there has been an emphasis on diversified geographic presence.”

Kushalappa KP, Director & Practice Head -Total Workplace & Workforce Analytics, Strategic Consulting, Cushman & Wakefield India expressed that it’s all about enabling engagements and collaborations from anywhere not necessarily office. It could be from any third place of work, such as café or co-working space.

Parthajeet Sarma, Sr. Associate - India & Workplace Productivity Strategist, Advanced Workplace Associates Ltd concurred, “The importance of the physical space of the office should not be taken lightly even if you work remotely. The sense of community building is very important. Without that, work from anywhere does not work. An employee needs a sense of belonging and be a part of something. If that is enabled, works from anywhere works from the commute perspective.”

Sumit Arora, Head - National Operations & Workplace Strategy, Consulting (India), CBRE light-heartedly said “After cricket and stock exchange, it is work from anywhere which is the most talked about topic. “The main crux behind this entire concept is more to do with getting multi-generational forces together and create an experience which is apt for all of them. Secondly it’s about the culture and transformation. Thirdly it’s about the behaviour. The behaviour of going to office is deep-rooted and in another year or so we will see remote or hybrid working scenario flip completely.”

CHANGING ROLE OF CRE’S

Sumit Arora, “Over the last 3 years the role of CRE’s in an organization has changed in terms of influencing the larger visions, strategies. It is no longer a real-estate decision and has a huge element of HR and business strategy. What is the hospitality quotient in my space and can I measure the level of employee’s satisfaction is what CRE is asking.”

Kunal Walia, “Nowadays RFP’s are designed with larger stakeholder base in mind. Occupiers are asking for more accountability and a collaborative approach. For a CRE professional it’s no longer just a transaction, but representing the organisation’s wants and making sure the employees are happy.”

Kushalappa KP, “CRE professionals from being facilitators to being C-Suite, they are moving towards the role of being the owners. The talk has gone beyond workplace strategy to managing talent. CRE’s are playing a role of managing vision, mission and annual targets of the firm.”

Vishal, “In the era of work from anywhere what we have is people who are willing to come to office and people who are not willing to come to office. That means hybrid work is here to stay.”

Parthajeet Sarma, “In an organisation employees are talking about having a choice and that is a bitter pill, the management has to swallow. This change is imminent for CRE professionals, that’s why the term hospitality quotient is coming up now. It has become a year from resignation to recalibration.”

Aryaman Vir- "India as a country has very young population where more than 50% of the workforce is below 27. Thus, you have processes to build, and innovations to do. Unlike developed western nations where everything is streamlined. Giving these kinds of insights is a new responsibility of a CRE professional which was heavily transaction oriented pre pandemic.”

ALMOST 75% OF PEOPLE IN WORKPLACES WILL BE MILLENNIAL AND GEN- Z BY 2025. THIS IS ONE GENERATION THAT WANTS EVERYTHING AT THE FLICK OF THE FINGER BE IT FOOD, TRANSPORT OR WORKSPACE.

Tags : Future CRE Work Era Commercial Real Estate Organization Growth vision