“Return to the office or leave.” (CBC News). Musk recently warned employees at his electric car company that remote work is no longer acceptable, according to news reports last week.
A bold statement that made many sit up, right? Let’s face it, his words basically underline questions already floating around employment, labour, management, construction and commercial real estate sectors: “When will people go back to their physical work environments?” “What should we do with unused office real estate?” And “How can we repurpose unused commercial and industrial properties?”
And then there are varying thoughts on work models:
▪️The Hybrid work model creates more efficiencies & saves on costs.
▪️The back-to-the-office, full-time model maintains company culture, employee morale & boosts productivity.
▪️The tech industry says offering flexible work arrangements enables recruitment of amazing talent anywhere in the world.
▪️Companies like Airbnb say employees can live & work anywhere (pandemic was the most productive two-year period in its history).
▪️ The Ontario public service says remote workers must be in the office a minimum of three days a week.
Regardless of the employment working “model,” the bottom line for the CRE industry is we’re now moving businesses and people, repurposing work spaces, sub-leasing spaces, shifting warehouse spaces and even acquiring properties outside the GTA. Businesses need the expertise of CRE agents.
