As we all continue to work from home, many of us wonder if this work arrangement will be just a temporary hiccup or a permanent paradigm shift in the way we work and operate. During a catastrophe such as COVID-19, there is often a tendency to jump to rash conclusions about how office tenants should consume and utilize office space.
Law firms are no different and in general, make up a large portion of the Dallas-Fort Worth office market. While these firms vary in sizes and specializations, there are a few strategies that law firms need to consider in preparation for a post-COVID-19 office environment.
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TAKE A “WAIT AND SEE” APPROACH
Companies don’t want to spend millions of dollars to reconfigure or reconstruct space based on a pandemic that might resolve itself in the next 12 to 18 months.
While there is no doubt that social distancing measures and precautions should be taken when people start to return to work, complete office rebuilds in the middle of a lease based solely on fear are not viable solutions for most firms. As long as people don’t feel safe at the office and can get their work done from home, they’re not coming to the office.
We won’t truly see a shift back to normalcy until contagion is no longer an issue.
As consumers of office space in Dallas-Fort Worth, law firms should be asking themselves a few key questions: Post vaccine, do I expect a change in the number of people who work full time in my office; how do I expect my current experience to impact our future office decisions on office space; and would you expect more people to work from home than before?
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DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE VALUE OF RE-INVESTING IN YOUR WORKPLACE
When looking at expenses, real estate costs account for approximately 6 to 8 percent of a firm’s overall gross revenue. While some experts may be sounding the alarm for firms to redesign and reconfigure their spaces, does a reduction in footprint really move the needle enough to see significant returns? Or, does it end up hurting company culture more in the long run with the removal of communal spaces in the office?
While every firm is different in size and specialization, the need to reduce a firm’s footprint in a building might be measured by comparing the real estate cost savings vs. the reduction in company culture.
If a large law firm is looking to reduce its footprint by 20 to 25 percent, the overall cost savings in relation to gross revenue will only be roughly 1.5 to 2 percent in real estate expenses. However, if you choose to shed the communal space in favor of keeping attorney offices, the reduction could likely create a drastic drop in company culture as the collaborative environments diminish. In the long run, this can greatly hurt a firm’s overall success and competitiveness for recruiting. This balance is something several firms struggle with.
The overall question: Does reducing my footprint to save on real estate expenses now truly hurt the firm’s long-term growth and revenue? Perhaps the building’s landlord can be leveraged to lower real estate costs by restructuring a firm’s lease without the tenant taking a loss in valuable collaboration space.
and read on at https://www.dmagazine.com/commercial-real-estate/2020/06/5-strategies-law-firms-should-consider-in-a-post-covid-19-office-environment/
