east valley
Volume 3 Issue 48 Mesa, AZ
June 13, 2021
Valley could be heading for post-pandemic of�ice glut BY PAUL MARYNIAK Tribune Executive Editor
A
IN THE BIZ
s the pandemic appears to be giving way to a semblance of normality, the world of commercial office space is anything but normal. Just ask Jay S. Kramer, an experienced real estate and finance attorney. As Fennemore’s commercial transactions section director, Kramer has counseled numerous commercial and industrial developers, national and local homebuilders, planned community developers as well as financial institutions. These days, as companies recall workers from their home offices or look at what post-pandemic work sites might look like, Kramer sees many employers asking themselves, “What now?” Owners of big office complexes also are wondering the same thing. “What now?” is only the beginning of a cascade of questions reflecting the uncertainty of post-pandemic office life. “I think we’re all kind of focused on the same type of issues,” Kramer said: “How do you return to the office? Are we ever going to have 100 percent work from home? 100 percent at the office? Or some type of a hybrid approach. How do we retain and recruit employees in either a hybrid or work-from-home environment? How do we develop a sense of community, camaraderie or whatever kind of firm togetherness? “Those are the kind of large issues that everybody is grappling with,” he said. Public Notices ............... page 2 © Copyright, 2021 East Valley Tribune
The pandemic brought a new sensibility to office workers that can’t be undone with a simple directive, Kramer suggested. Thanks to the virtual office environment, qualified employees often have more options since they can seek jobs at companies hundreds of miles away without ever thinking of moving. Kramer sees no one-size-fits-all answer to the myriad of issues that the pandemic has raised for employers who inhabit large swaths of office space in many parts of the Valley – and the country. For some employers, he said, the questions include: “How do you make offices places where people want to come?” and “How do we make the office more enticing?” Others are grappling with how they can provide a comfortable environment for workers who want to alternate work time between home and office. “One thing that we’ve been talking about for a long time is hoteling, where you have offices that you reserve,” Kramer explained. “But I think a lot of people feel their office is almost like a second home. They want to make it more personal. They’ve got papers all over the place and pictures of their family and what-have-you. “So the idea that every day you’ve got to pack up your stuff and either take it home with you or put it into a locker …that’s kind of disruptive.” Kramer said the fact that many employers discovered employees often are more productive working at home complicates (USPS 004-616) is published weekly
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the issue. Some workers might actually yearn to shed the sweat pants and head into an office at least a few days a week. “It’s really the younger people who crave having that office experience, where they can be mentored and trained and have those interactions,” he explained, “while lot of the older people who already have their connections and relationships may never come back to the office.” To some degree, employers may find themselves caught between a rock and a harder place. On the one hand, some employers may find it beneficial for team spirit to have all their workers in one place. Yet, team spirit may have to defer to other considerations, Kramer said. “You spend a lot of money training them and getting them familiar with your systems and so you’ve got to retain them. It seems to be just extremely difficult to do and not just because it is an employee market,” Kramer said. “It’s a challenge and it’s going to be a challenge for quite some time,” he said. Kramer also said many employers that carried empty office space on their books realized some benefits of a home-based workforce, at least for a while, since they could cut as much as 20 percent of other expenses and they obtained increased productivity from workers and wound up with higher profits as a result. “I think short term is going to be a positive to the bottom line,” he said, noting that office expenses for supplies, food and even Subscriptions are $26 for 2 years, $14 for one year. Periodicals postage paid at Phoenix, AZ 85026.
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