Aude Grant has been following the Paris Workplace since 2014. As Deputy Managing Director of Asset Management and Investment, she led a number of emblematic projects at SFL, such as #Cloud (headquarters of Facebook and BlaBlaCar), and was a privileged witness to developments in the Paris commercial real estate market.
Aude Grant
Deputy Managing Director, Asset Management and Investment
SFL
Measuring changes in people's habits before and after Covid was a key objective: what results do you particularly remember?
What's really interesting is that, in the end, the figures show that confinement has not revolutionised anything, and that employees' aspirations for greater flexibility remain in the majority. 87% of the working people questioned by Ifop in February wanted to telework 'ideally' at least once a week, and 86% said the same in September 2020. So there's nothing new here.
On the other hand, the experience of confinement and 'forced' teleworking has made many people aware of the advantages of office space. On a day-to-day basis, I can even see an interesting phenomenon taking shape: at the start of the year, employees were insisting to their managers that they could telework more, but now many companies in the Paris region are faced with the headache of numerous employees wanting to return to work in their usual office environment, even though health constraints are greater than ever.
It's true that the French have been productive when teleworking, but at what cost and for how long?
What risks do companies run if they "lose touch" with their remote employees?
The central role played by offices in a company's performance and image is well established. We have seen this in previous editions of Paris Work Place, all of which have highlighted the importance of 'totem' seating as a guarantor of corporate values, the importance of mobility for employees and the crucial role of relationships between employees during the working day.
From a health point of view, reducing accessibility to offices is obviously understandable, but once the crisis is over, what price will we have to pay? Corporate real estate is the place where links are forged, where the commitment of employees is nurtured, and from which their performance stems. Companies, too, need to rediscover their roots.
Real estate is that 'embodied' place where you can 'recharge' with cross-functional exchanges, management and leadership. Without this 'recharge', a company can continue to move forward, but as time goes by, like a high-speed train, it ends up slowing down and then coming to a halt. It's true that the French have been productive in teleworking, but at what cost, and for how long?
So what can be done to ensure that office property is a strength for businesses in the post-Covid era?
It's not a question of pretending that nothing has changed, or thinking that everything will go back to the way it was before. On the one hand, it's clear that this period is forcing companies to question their real estate strategy. It's probably even a unique opportunity in history, with almost all of the country's companies rethinking their work organisation, management, layout and geographical positioning at the same time. For example, the problem of transport has been highlighted by the health situation. Long commutes are simply no longer tolerable for many employees. At the same time, two-thirds of the people we interviewed today told us that they mainly want to work in the office. The question of location is therefore essential: the previous editions of our Paris WorkPlace study convinced us of this, and it is now a well-integrated reality.
The office is that 'embodied' place where cross-functional exchanges can be 'recharged'. Without this 'recharge', a company can continue to move forward, but as time goes by, like a train travelling at high speed, it ends up slowing down and then coming to a halt.
What does this have in store for the 'office of tomorrow'?
Our sector has been talking about usages for almost ten years now. This time, we're really there! Once again, employees' aspirations in terms of workspaces have not been overturned by the period we have just been through. On the other hand, companies are not going to be able to ignore them if they want to reconnect with employees who sometimes haven't been to their workplace for more than 6 months! The employees we interviewed - and particularly the under-35s, who are the trendsetters of tomorrow - confirmed this and emphasised their need for space, their attraction for offices located in central areas with good transport links, places that encourage interaction and are equipped with services... With the spread of partial teleworking, some companies will be tempted to reduce their floor space. The trade-offs will therefore be sensitive: the temptation to "sacrifice" square metres must not be at the expense of employee well-being. The crisis will sort out the companies that have understood these issues from those that have not.
