Bosses of departments at CBRE France (1,400 people) – a subsidiary of the world leader in real estate consulting firm – Gregory of la Ferté (head Office IDF) and Amandine Dumont (director, business consulting) interpret the state of the commercial property market hit by the health crisis.
The Point : What has changed the epidemic of coronavirus in your internal organisation ?
Grégoire de la Ferté, director Office IDF CBRE France. © DR Grégoire de la Ferté : Since the implementation of the containment plan, CBRE France has switched 100 % of its employees teleworking. We work remotely with digital tools, such as Zoom, Klaxoon, Microsoft Teams, etc, We hold daily virtual meetings to keep the link between the members of the various teams, as well as with the general management of the group. In the first quarter of 2020, the market for commercial real estate has accounted for 40 % of transactions in less than a year ago. This significant decline is the result of a very bad cocktail : yellow Vests in January, transport strikes in February and, finally, the epidemic of Covid-19 in the month of march ! Operations of medium-sized and large areas continue to advance, but at a pace greatly slowed. The weather is much more sullen for transactions of small size (up to 1 000 square metres), which obey to faster decision-making. Lack of visibility in this period of economic crisis, companies did not rush to pass the act.
learning is forced to telework will he change choice of future office tenants ?
Amandine Dumont, director of business consulting at CBRE. © ELMERICH Amandine Dumont : The Covid-19 has been acting as the accelerator of the experience of teleworking. Companies that, willingly, unwillingly, have had to completely revise their organisation by the way, when it was possible, work remotely, and have done a triple observation. Not only will the “home office” is possible, but directions real estate companies have seen that the implementation of this solution was not as difficult as they would have been able to imagine. At the same time, this mode of work has also shown the limits of technical and social order. First of all, digital tools and workspaces ” home “, not always adapted to the needs : Internet connection is inefficient, insufficient material, lack of space, lack of ergonomics of the office, etc, Then telecommuting full-time results in a lack of social ties important. This major constraint can affect the dynamics of a team, and, more generally, to the sense of belonging to the company.
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This mode of outsourced work will accelerate in the future ?
Grégoire de la Ferté : The request for a use of telework is expected to strengthen after the confinement period, particularly in companies where this practice was still minor. However, this mode of work will remain, including the limitations revealed by this test grandeur nature, a complementary solution to the classical work. It is too early to tell whether the companies will sharply reduce the wing surface purchased or rented. But the directions the real estate of major companies have taken into consideration that telecommuting one or two days per week may be the solution to reduce certain fixed costs and give a greater autonomy to the staff.
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What barriers can hinder this mini-revolution in tertiary ?
Amandine Dumont : employees of the companies are rather seekers of telework, but this requires prior approval by an update of the company agreements. These should combine the accountability of the employee with his new independence. In addition, the individual control of employees is more global. Studies have shown that two or three days of telework per week had a beneficial effect. Beyond that, it is more difficult, in particular because of the social interactions essential to the life of the enterprise and of the human being. The younger generations have less difficulty than their elders to cope with the new ways of working : “flex office” (without offices dedicated), “coworking” and ” proworking “, ” home office “. Always it is that the it departments of large companies (IT) have already taken into consideration the need to increase the power of the infrastructure of their digital networks. This is in order to streamline and enhance remote access to tools and data of the company. It is a sign that does not deceive.
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