Chris Herd, Founder & CEO of Firstbase, joins Bold Founder, Caleb Parker, to discuss remote first mentality and the future of office work.

You may know Chris from his consistent social media posts, but in this episode you'll get to understand Chris's vision for the #FutureOfWork - where he expects more people will be empowered to do better work than ever before - and why so many office customers (including BILLION DOLLAR global corporations) have chosen his company to help them evolve into a remote first or hybrid work model.

Coming off a $13M dollar Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, we learn how Firstbase is building an "AWS for the physical world", what superpowers knowledge based workers need, the risks to going remote and tips to getting it right.

Caleb asks Chris whether he expects companies to go back to the office full-time, and gets a surprise answer.

Connect with Chris Herd on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisherd/

Connect with Caleb Parker on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebparker/

If you have any questions or feedback on this episode, email [email protected]

Value Bombs

• Almost everyone will spend some time in the office – Chris Herd

• The data coming out is saying that 90 plus percent of people want to work remotely at least one or two days a week – Chris Herd

• I'm a big believer in the benefits of remote work and remote being a tool in the platform of work – Caleb Parker

• There are always going to be certain things where being in-person, whether it's quality of communication, quality of collaboration for certain things, is going to be better – Chris Herd

• In the past, work had been designed for the collective. Looking forward, the future of work is really about choice – Chris Herd

• As leaders, we have to listen first and understand and empathize with people, so we can create the culture that works – Caleb Parker

• The reality is a lot of habits and behaviours have calcified super deeply and many people see that they've had a massive quality of life upgrade – Chris Herd

• Remote for some has been a saviour – Caleb Parker

• As millions of people get exposed to normal remote working, instead of pandemic remote working, many of them will realise that they want a lot more remote work than they may necessarily have expected – Chris Herd

• You're giving superpowers to companies who want to make sure that their teams are successful working remotely – Caleb Parker

• The reality is there is going to be this combination approach, which is focused on choice for the individual, but spread across multiple different locations – Chris Herd

• To attract and retain the best talent to grow faster, if you don't embrace flexible working, workplace choice, remote then you're going to lose opportunities to attract that talent – Caleb Parker

• What companies require are really easy and efficient ways to set up support on scale remote teams globally – Chris Herd

• Remote first organizations should be the most inclusive, diverse and accessible in history – Chris Herd

Resources

• Chris' Linkedin

www.linkedin.com/in/chrisherd

• Chris' Twitter

@chris_herd https://twitter.com/chris_herd

• Firstbase website

www.firstbasehq.com

About Chris Herd

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisherd/

Chris Herd is the founder and CEO of Firstbase, an all-in-one provisioning platform that lets companies provide all the practical equipment remote workers need at the touch of a button. He believes that replicating office working styles remotely rather than leveraging the advantages of remote will lead to bad outcomes. The synchronous-first instantaneous gratification that adult kids club offices encourage destroys productivity, while remote empowers workers to do deep focused work without distraction. The latter is what he passionately believes needs to emerge for remote to deliver on its promise.

Previously Chris founded a remote-first FinTech startup and installed physical equipment in the most remote environments on the planet. He regularly shares his thoughts on remote through twitter, his blog, and speaking engagements.

Sponsors

Fortune Favours the Bold

Bold works with forward thinking landlords, asset managers & enterprise to create & manage workplace communities for entrepreneurs & innovators to dream, create, share, & succeed.

We merge property management & Space-as-a-Service to drive asset value and help office customers grow faster. Now part of NewFlex (www.workbold.co)

Future Proof Your Portfolio with NewFlex

NewFlex delivers and manages a range of branded solutions for every type of building, in every type of location, for every type of occupier. Including the flexibility to develop your own brand. All enabled by flexible management contracts where we are invested in making money for you. (www.newflex.com)

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. (https://www.apodcastcompany.com)

Subscribe to the #WorkBold Podcast

For full episode transcript please visit https://workbold.co.uk/podcast/

Melanie Jones and Todd Simpson, from Berkshire Hathaway company CORT, join Bold Founder, Caleb Parker, to discuss Furniture-as-a-Service (FaaS).

In this episode Melanie shares how the term Furniture-as-a-Service was coined, then her and Todd go on to tag team some real life examples of how landlords are partnering with CORT to deliver value to their mutual office customers. We dive into some high level numbers, cover sustainability, and the circular economy.

And Caleb's favorite part of this episode of course is how CORT is leaning into the future with their new digital solutions that help landlords close deals faster.

Connect with Melanie Jones on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/melaniejonesebb/

Connect with Todd Simpson on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-simpson-329b188/

Connect with Caleb Parker on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/calebparker/

If you have any questions or feedback on this episode, email [email protected]

Value Bombs

• The simple description for Furniture-as-a-Service is that it's a subscription-like approach that provides an access to furniture instead of ownership – Melanie Jones
• It comes down to flexibility and choice for the tenant – Todd Simpson
• The more we can go into access versus ownership, I think the more likely a company can be successful – Caleb Parker
• Imagine everything you needed in an office environment, available in any quantity for almost any length of time, that you can change your or switch out at any time – Todd Simpson
• The business environment is more volatile than it's ever been. And so, planning 10-20 years ahead is not going to be a thing in the future – Caleb Parker
• Our offering, which is truly circular, has a place in this conversation as we try to make significant steps to help our world – Melanie Jones
• We're bringing the commercial real estate industry additional tools, additional solutions that they can use to close more business – Todd Simpson
• There are additional costs and burdens that come from owning furniture. I think a lot of companies aren't really considering those costs when they make a purchase – Todd Simpson
• A company may say that they're willing to pay a certain premium to have flexibility, so they don't interfere with the business agility, or the high financial cost of getting a real estate decision wrong – Melanie Jones
• We have customers where they want to expand and explore new markets, but they use subleases and they use Furniture-as-a-Service to get a foothold in the market to stay flexible – Todd Simpson
• If it's something that's flexing and changeable, reduces risk and capital, then Furniture-as-a-Service must be on the table in the conversation – Melanie Jones
• The most common scenario I'm seeing going forward, is that operators are going to take a hybrid approach to owning and renting furniture - Todd Simpson
• Before COVID, densification was the huge thing. Well, it's not the huge thing now – Melanie Jones

Resources

• Upstarts by Brad Stone book recommended by Melanie: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=the+upstarts+brad+stone&adgrpid=119907307880&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9vu93JuJ8gIVZGHmCh0N4wFXEAAYASAAEgKEsPD_BwE&hvadid=496680604976&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1006565&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=4725473440798133617&hvtargid=kwd-300366608349&hydadcr=11465_1841697&tag=googhydr-21&ref=pd_sl_26ua497rj_e
• Melanie's PropModo Article: It Takes A Village To Create A Flexible Office https://www.propmodo.com/it-takes-a-village-to-create-a-flexible-office/
• The Real Innovation Academy www.realinnovationacademy.com
• 4site www.4sitebycort.com
• Alex Edds article part 1 https://blog.cort.com/workplace/the-sustainable-innovative-future-of-commercial-real-estate/ Alex Edds article part 2 https://blog.cort.com/workplace/the-sustainable-innovative-future-of-cre-part-2/

About Melanie Jones

Melanie is a passionate leader supporting change in commercial real estate, in how furniture is utilised in buildings & the workplace. Melanie is CRE at CORT, in her role supporting teams in the commercial real estate industry, Melanie focuses on building awareness and sharing strategy around a furniture access rather than an ownership approach to the workplace and in buildings. CORT's Furniture-as-a-Service™ (#FaaS) provides flexible furniture for flexible space. This supports positive cash flow, reduce CAPEX, and leave all options on the table during times of uncertainty. Nationally I collaborate with CRE leaders in offering concepts to support change and provide flexibility for their tenants and building owners.

CORT's Furniture-as-a-Service™ "subscription-like" approach is about access rather than ownership. Clients utilizing our many, many millions of $ of furniture help the planet because it's sustainable and circular, it supports cash flow, it's on-demand, and fast. We help reduce risk. The model is ideal for swing space projects, spec suites, flexible space, sublease situations, short-term office leases (1-3 years), asset-light operations model, incorporating into sustainability plans and any situation where a customer (landlord/occupier) has unknowns. Melanie considers herself an FaaS activist and a frequent writer and speaker on the subject

About Todd Simpson

Todd Simpson is a Managing Director, Strategic Business Development at CORT and is based in Chantilly, Virginia. CORT focuses primarily on furniture rental to apartment communities, students, the military and office spaces. Their mission is to be an indispensable resource to people who are looking to make a house a home, an office a great place to work, and an event a memorable celebration.

Sponsors

Fortune Favours the Bold

Bold merges property management & Space-as-a-Service to drive asset value and help office customers grow faster. Now part of NewFlex (www.workbold.co)

Future Proof Your Portfolio with NewFlex

NewFlex delivers and manages a range of branded solutions for every type of building, in every type of location, for every type of occupier. Including the flexibility to develop your own brand. All enabled by flexible management contracts where we are invested in making money for you. (www.newflex.com)

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. (https://www.apodcastcompany.com)

Subscribe to the #WorkBold Podcast

https://workbold.co.uk/podcast/

In this episode Caleb, Jonathan and Dave talk about COVID's impact on the office market, the hybrid work model, whether companies will shrink their office footprint as a result, and what customers are saying they want from office buildings going forward.

Jonathan Pearce from Canadian based real estate investor and developer Ivanhoé Cambridge, who manage of billions of dollars worth of assets globally, joins Bold Founder, Caleb Parker, to discuss COVID's impact on the office market, the hybrid work model, whether companies will shrink their office footprint as a result. They talk about what customers are really saying they want from office buildings going forward and how Space-as-a-Service can bridge the growing gap between supply and demand. They are joined by CBRE's Dave Cairns, a prominent thought leader within the commercial real estate industry.

Connect with Jonathan Pearce on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-pearce-7b7b3b1b/

Connect with Dave Cairns on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-cairns-5644a233/

Connect with Caleb Parker on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/calebparker/

If you have any questions or feedback on this episode, email [email protected]

Value Bombs

• Quality will trump commodity – Jonathan Pearce
• I believe the office has a major role to play in the platform of work – Caleb Parker
• If the office going forward is simply a desk and a chair, that just isn't going to be good enough. There needs to be a compelling value proposition, a reason to come in, different types of spaces, maybe an environment that people are going to miss when they're not there – Jonathan Pearce
• We've reached an unparalleled and unprecedented era of polarisation. Some companies leaning into a future of workplace choice and others hoping for a return to the old ways of working – Caleb Parker
• I fundamentally believe that COVID has changed the job market forever – Dave Cairns
• Everyone's heard of following the money, but we're trying to follow the people – Jonathan Pearce
• Over the last 14 months, we've demonstrated that technology supports remote work – Jonathan Pearce
• CBDs and those prime locations are going to be more important than ever – Dave Cairns
• It all begins and ends with listening to the customer - Jonathan Pearce
• People will be much more judicious with their time, and have interactions with a sense of purpose – Jonathan Pearce
• It always baffles my brain that commercial real estate is the only sector that I can point to that doesn't currently solve all of their customers problems for them – Jonathan Pearce

Resources

• Dave Cairns article:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-cure-workplace-pandemic-dave-cairns/

• Dave Cairns #WorkBold Podcast Episode: https://workbold.co.uk/why-is-cbre-forward-cofounder-all-in-on-space-as-a-service/

• Pontus Kihlman's LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/pontuskihlman/

1. Ivanhoé Cambridge "Do You Miss The Office?" Podcast https://www.Ivanhoécambridge.com/en/news/podcasts/

About Jonathan Pearce

Jonathan Pearce is responsible for leasing across Ivanhoé Cambridge's Office and Industrial platforms in North America. He is also Co-Head of Development for Ivanhoé Cambridge's Office & Industrial asset classes. His responsibilities include leasing for all owned (managed and non-managed) office and industrial properties and developments in Canada and the Continental US, currently comprising more than 120 million square feet in multiple markets, which include: Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Chicago, New York, Boston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Mexico City, Houston, Dallas, Tampa, Jacksonville, Nashville, Salt Lake City, Denver, and Greater Los Angeles and the Inland Empire.

Ivanhoé Cambridge currently has five office developments under construction or pre-development in the Americas in the following markets: Toronto, Dallas, Denver, Houston and Mexico City, and a variety of industrial projects under development across the United States.

Jonathan has more than 25 years of experience in office & industrial leasing and the sale of corporate investment assets in multiple markets. He also holds a BSc. (Hons) in Urban Land Economics and is a Professional Associate of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

About Dave Cairns

Dave Cairns started his career at CBRE in 2012 after being a professional poker player where he was ranked as one of the top 100 online tournament players in the world for a time. Since then, Dave has become a thought leader within the commercial real estate industry with global recognition. He is an avid content creator on LinkedIn, who is highly respect by his peers, and has received over 1 million views in 2020 alone.

Working alongside his team, Dave's focus is on working with high growth companies in the tech sector, Space as a Service Operators (#SPaaS), and with financial services firms on a local, national and global level. Dave also leads a partnership with Deloitte on their Technology Fast 50 program, advising many of Canada's fastest growing technology companies on their real estate requirements. He is also the co-founder of CBRE Forward, a platform designed to showcase the fastest growing tech companies in Canada.

Sponsors

Fortune Favours the Bold

Bold merges property management & Space-as-a-Service to drive asset value and help office customers grow faster. Now part of NewFlex (www.workbold.co)

Future Proof Your Portfolio with NewFlex

NewFlex delivers and manages a range of branded solutions for every type of building, in every type of location, for every type of occupier. Including the flexibility to develop your own brand. All enabled by flexible management contracts where we are invested in making money for you. (www.newflex.com)

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. (https://www.apodcastcompany.com)

Subscribe to the #WorkBold Podcast

https://workbold.co.uk/podcast/

Joe Walton, Cofounder and Managing Partner of London-based Fight or Flight, a dynamic B2B media company helping brands raise the pulse and give people goosebumps, joins Bold Founder, Caleb Parker, to discuss the challenges of growing a business during a lockdown, benefits of remote and why he plans to have an office for his team post pandemic.

Enterprise companies make all the headlines, but they employ just 40% of the UK population. 60% of UK employees work for SMEs (small to medium sized businesses). It's time SMEs like Fight or Flight get some airtime.

Joe Walton has a "Challenge the status quo" mindset.

He says "building a business used to be synonymous with having an office - not anymore."

"Virtual meetings level the playing field for new companies when pitching" and remote working has enabled Joe to hire senior talent who he wouldn't have considered in a pre-pandemic world.

But, Joe still believes the office has tremendous value and will be an important tool for his company's business growth.

In this episode Caleb and Joe talk about challenges of establishing company culture, how to engage team members about workplace, testing flexible work policies and how workplace brand plays a role in deciding where to work.

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/joegileswalton/

Connect with Caleb on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebparker/

If you have any questions or feedback on this episode, email [email protected]

Value Bombs

• Launching a business during the pandemic has levelled the playing field for businesses pitching new clients
• Clients now have to make a decision based on the way someone looks and sounds on Zoom, not by how flashy their office is
• The flashy office can work against companies when clients feel that their budget might not match that of the partner they are seeking to work with
• Holding virtual meetings with partner organisations has produced more clarity for clients because it enables them to focus on the things that matter when selecting partners, which is quality people that you trust, that you believe can get the job done for you
• The pandemic has enabled the recruitment and employment of international staff which would not have been feasible or conceivable before working virtually
• The office is distracting for extroverts
• WFA enables more focus
• The challenges of remote work are culture building, celebrating wins together as a team and missing out on camaraderie
• We are also missing out on learning by osmosis, by watching people within the team, the way they work and modelling their experience and expertise.
• The office helps with learning, training and mentoring
• On return to the office, it will be important that everybody is in at the same time to invest in the culture of the team, whilst retaining flexibility of working from home.
• The feeling of comdadarie is strengthened when everyone is together
• When recruiting new candidates for roles, potential talent will gravitate towards the organisations that correspond to their values and the way they want to work
• Flexibility is key
• Businesses looking for real estate space value flexibility, shorter lease terms to accommodate team growth
• Brand has a huge role in deciding on a workplace
• Brand is not just a logo
• Brand is intrinsically wound up in the space, the ethos, the experience and the community within the building
• The workplace you choose says something about you and your brand
• In commercial real estate right now, there is a much more promiscuous group of customers, who are happy to experiment and happy to try new things
• The old model of signing a long-term lease and thinking you can sit back as a landlord and just collect cheques for the next 10 to 15 years is over. It's very much hands-on, staying close to the ground with your customer, making sure that you're providing with any evolving your experience with their needs and their desires as they grow, otherwise someone else is going to win them over.

Resources

1. Fight or Flight website https://www.fightflight.co.uk
2. Tim Ferriss Podcast on Applehttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-tim-ferriss-show/id863897795
3. Harvard Business Review Podcast on Applehttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hbr-ideacast/id152022135

About Joe Walton

Joe Walton, managing partner at Fight or Flight, a B2B agency specialising in integrated communications that deliver emotional and commercial impact. Joe and his cofounders launched the firm in April 2020.

Joe has 15 years' experience creating and executing international communications programmes for enterprises like Microsoft, BAE Systems, Capgemini, Honeywell, Symantec and IBM, as well as high-growth scale-ups like Tableau, Concur and hybris.

Prior to founding Fight or Flight, Joe spent 13 years at global PR firm Weber Shandwick (where we met in my previous role - more about that later). He was managing director of its technology and B2B practice for the last 4 years. In this role he led a team of 40 consultants in the firm's London office, and led the IBM-Weber relationship across 40 markets in Europe.

Sponsors

Fortune Favours the Bold

Bold merges property management & Space-as-a-Service to drive asset value and help office customers grow faster. Now part of NewFlex (www.workbold.co)

Future Proof Your Portfolio with NewFlex

NewFlex delivers and manages a range of branded solutions for every type of building, in every type of location, for every type of occupier. Including the flexibility to develop your own brand. All enabled by flexible management contracts where we are invested in making money for you. (www.newflex.com)

Launch Your Own Podcast

A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. (https://www.apodcastcompany.com)

Subscribe to the #WorkBold Podcast Apple | Spotify | Google | Stitcher | Podbean

Michele Schnieder, Senior Vice President of Workplace Services for Salesforce, joins Bold Founder, Caleb Parker to share insight into their recently launched "success from anywhere" program and how her team, who is responsible for the workplace experience for 57,000 employees across more than 100 offices globally, are rethinking the role of their real estate.

Salesforce is a massive customer of office real estate.

In this episode we learn that Salesforce has hired and onboarded 10,000 people throughout the pandemic who haven't even been into an office yet.

Michele explains how they are using data, and their own Work.com platform to inform how best to make hybrid working seamless for everyone.

Post-pandemic up to 65% of their workforce will work in a hybrid capacity, and 20% of the workforce will work from home permanently (up to 85% NOT working in an office every day).

We find out what impact this has on their global real estate portfolio, and how they're repurposing their spaces for new ways of working.

Connect with Michele on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/micheleschneider/

Connect with Caleb on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebparker/

If you have any questions or feedback on this episode, email [email protected]

Value Bombs

Remimaging the office

• Salesforce recently launched "Success from anywhere" as they begin opening their offices around the globe
• This enables their teams to choose where they work by making hybrid working seamless for everyone
• This new approach was created after asking their teams what capacity they want to return to the office
• 20% of the workforce will work from home permanently
• Up to 65% of the workforce will work in a hybrid capacity
• They're currently learning in real-time using data from their Australia and New Zealand offices who have returned to the office to inform other markets best practice when opening their offices
• Most people want to use the office to collaborate and work cross functionally
• Type of work in the office: Collaboration, customer meetings, presentations in person
• Type of work at home: Private one on ones chats, focused work
• But the actual use case is job or role related; for example sales and marketing teams have different requirements than engineering teams
• Salesforce expects to reduce desk space and increase collaborative space to host more meetings
• But they do not expect to reduce their overall real estate footprint
• Their forecasted growth in team count offsets any reduction in demand for space, so on aggregate they won't shrink their office footprint
• WFA policy has been great for increasing access to talent
• Have hired 10,000 people who haven't even been to an office yet
• The company culture has been an in person culture, so they've modified their onboarding process to put more emphasis on introducing people to colleagues quickly

Questions we must ask when enabling Hybrid working

• How do we repurpose space and what tech do we need so teams get the most out of their time in the office
• How can we create equality between in office and distributed team members
• What can we do to enable everyone to feel part of the team

Tips

• Test running all staff meetings virtually
• Meet quarterly in person
• The office becomes the event venue and replaces what used to be offsite events

Resources

1. Global Return to the Office: The Salesforce Approach: https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/global-return-to-the-office-the-salesforce-approach/
2. Creating a Best Workplace from Anywhere, for Everyone https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/creating-a-best-workplace-from-anywhere/

About Michele Schneider

Michele oversees Guest Services, Internal Hospitality & Events, and Building Operations within Salesforce's Global Real Estate organization.

As a physical expression of the company's culture, her team is responsible for delivering world-class workplace experiences, day-in, and day-out for over 57,000 employees across more than 100 offices. Today, she's focused on Salesforce's return to the office strategy and the future of work.

A Salesforce veteran of over 12 years, Michele was previously the Vice President of Strategic Events where she led the company's World Tour, Connections and Salesforce Essentials event programming. (Shout out to my fellow EventProfs out there)

Ad before joining the company, she held marketing and events positions at Cisco and BEA Systems (Oracle). Michele holds a B.A. in Communications from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Sponsors

Fortune Favours the Bold

Bold merges property management & Space-as-a-Service to drive asset value and help office customers grow faster. Now part of NewFlex (www.workbold.co) Future Proof Your Portfolio with NewFlex NewFlex delivers and manages a range of branded solutions for every type of building, in every type of location, for every type of occupier. Including the flexibility to develop your own brand. All enabled by flexible management contracts where we are invested in making money for you. (www.newflex.com) Launch Your Own Podcast A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. (https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com) Subscribe to the #WorkBold Podcast Apple | Spotify | Google | Stitcher | Podbean

Alex Turner, Strategic Advisory for CBRE, joins Bold Founder, Caleb Parker, to discuss his report on Hybrid Working and how it will affect office real estate.

What if the real estate industry taught people how to be successful working remotely? Would that be counter-intuitive?

Instead of standing on our soapbox and yelling for people to come back to our offices,

Would it be more strategic if we helped educate & train people how to lead remote teams, starting with ourselves?

Could teaching a curriculum of new leadership & communication skills, best practices, productivity tools, new way of using office assets be a better value-led approach?

Well, enter Alex Turner.

Alex (and his colleague, Will Wilson from Savills) published a report on Hybrid working, breaking down the benefits of working from an office and working from anywhere - basically how to get the best of both worlds.

We talk about the demands of highly skilled talent, whether companies should repurpose their HQs for new ways of working and what impact will this have on real estate portfolios, and cities?

Alex says "Successful companies need to be online first organisations" and "Corporate real estate is no longer an obligatory line on the balance sheet" BUT he also says "There is still a need for real estate and demand is not going away"

Connect with Alex on Twitter https://twitter.com/PropTechAlex

Connect with Caleb on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Caleb_Parker

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of Alex Turner and do not necessarily represent the view of CBRE.

If you have any questions or feedback on this episode, email [email protected]

Value Bombs

• The work from anywhere (WFA) movement is underway.
• It's never been easier to access the best talent from around the world.
• There is too much hype around the word hybrid, and not enough thought about application.
• There are a lot of false paradigms around hybrid working that are not based on real evidence.
• If we give people of choice of when they come into the office, we have to be careful not to slide back into a "rewarding attendance over output" culture.
• It's dangerous for a company to make the decision to remain 100% office shift to 100% WFA.
• We're going to see a polarisation of companies who do hybrid well and those who don't
• Successful companies need to be online first organisations.
• Today, hybrid meetings are not the same as having everyone in the same room, but in the future technology will enable it to feel the same.
• Companies that get hybrid right will ensure time spent remote or in the office is maximised and effective.
• If your office or remote work environment is ineffective at providing productivity and wellbeing benefits, then the same can be said about your workforce.

The Office

• Currently, the office is better for collaboration, socialising, communication, creativity, training and development, enabling certain technical capabilities, preventing isolation, and facilitating corporate culture.

WFA

• WFA is better for concentration, focused deep work, work life balance, wellbeing, finding purpose, feeling of autonomy, and cost savings for both employee and employer.
• Prior to Covid the biggest challenge people faced was their commute.
• We can gain 26 days per year in personal time by reducing commute.

Post Covid this wellbeing benefit will have a massive impact on corporate real estate portfolios.

• Corporate real estate is no longer an obligatory line on the balance sheet.
• More and more corporates are collecting data around their portfolio and how its used. As a result of understanding these data driven insights it's inevitable that fragmented portfolios will be consolidated and the way occupiers interact with real estate will become more flexible and ad hoc.
• This will result in a reduction of leased office takeup, and an increase in flex office.
• There is still a need for real estate, it just needs to be repurposed to meet demand.
• The cost savings of reducing real estate footprint is not what's going to drive a company's success and stock price growth, it's the culture shift to empowering. workplace choice and being able to attract top talent to help the company grow faster.
• The biggest competitor to physical space is digital space.

Resources

1. Why the hybrid model is hype https://www.proptechonapage.com/the-hybrid-future-of-the-office/
2. They Hybrid Model Breakdown (report) https://www.notion.so/The-Hybrid-Model-Breakdown-707dc27cb2184fd1858260ef387af623
3. Remote work company tracker https://lifeshack.io/
4. Alex's Newsletterhttps://www.proptechonapage.com/
5. Charter Cities Podcast https://www.chartercitiesinstitute.org/category/podcast

About Alex Turner

Alex Turner is part of CBRE's newly formed Strategic Advisory team. Alex is focused on solving the business challenges that interface with real estate.

His team delivers value to their clients across physical and digital transformations, smart buildings, and major infrastructure projects, such as East West Rail and TFL (Transport for London.)

In his spare time, Alex is also helping to educate and build a global community of blockchain advocates as part of the Committee and Community Lead for the Tech London Advocates

Prior to joining CBRE, spent time with Capita Real Estate and Berkeley Group PLC, where he focused on real estate and planning respectively.

He holds a Masters of Sciences in International Real Estate and Planning from UCL and completed his undergrad University of Liverpool.

Sponsors Fortune Favours the Bold Bold merges property management & Space-as-a-Service to drive asset value and help office customers grow faster. Now part of NewFlex (www.workbold.co) Future Proof Your Portfolio with NewFlex NewFlex delivers and manages a range of branded solutions for every type of building, in every type of location, for every type of occupier. Including the flexibility to develop your own brand. All enabled by flexible management contracts where we are invested in making money for you. (www.newflex.com) Launch Your Own Podcast A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. (https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com) Subscribe to the #WorkBold Podcast Apple | Spotify | Google | Stitcher | Podbean

Francesca Brady, CEO of AirRated joins Bold Founder, Caleb Parker, to share how her company is helping asset managers improve the wellbeing of their real estate customers, and leverage this to win business.

As more and more companies move to a hybrid world where workplace choice is ubiquitous, customers who are "voting with their feet" will choose to work where they feel most productive, and feel safe and taken care of….especially coming out of the pandemic.

In this episode Francesca and Caleb talk about the importance of good air quality in our offices, why this matters to the customer experience and how LGIM is rolling this out across 2M SqFt of real estate this year.

They discuss the science behind how good air quality affects productivity, we learn what an AirScore is and how customers will choose where they work based on its AirScore, and ultimately how this could affect asset valuation.

Connect with Francesca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesca-brady-833987108/

Connect with Caleb on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebparker/

If you have any questions or feedback on this episode, email [email protected]

Value Bombs

• There are health benefits and productivity benefits of good air quality
• People who work in buildings with good air quality are more productive than people who don't
• CO2 impacts how our brains function - elevated levels of CO2 fogs our brains and reduces cognitive performance
• By monitoring CO2 levels we can action things to improve air quality and keep levels optimum
• It's the landlord's responsibility to inform large real estate customers on how best to use their buildings to maintain optimal air quality
• Every asset should have a framework that defines the operational accountability between the landlord and the large real estate customer
• Asset managers should be responsible for improving, monitoring, and maintaining the mechanical infrastructure of their asset
• Building air quality standards are out of date and need to be bumped up
• Buildings that deploy smart technology can optimise based on demand and save money
• Soon tenants will want #AirQuality paremeters secured in the lease
• In the near term, asset valuation could be affected positively by acceleration of leasing campaigns and reduced void periods.
• In the long term, buildings with healthy AirScores will be valued at a premium
• Soon, everyone will be able to test the air quality of a building with their mobile phone

Resources

1. Air in Review Report
2. New rules to improve air quality in office space (The Times)
3. LGIM to bring air quality score to 2m sq ft portfolio (EG)

About Francesca Brady

Francesca holds a Masters degree in Environmental Geoscience from Royal Holloway, University of London; home to some of the world's leading experts in the sciences. And during her degree, she found specific interest in the topic of indoor air quality (IAQ), so after graduating, she channelled her knowledge and passion for this into her career.

In 2019, she co-founded AirRated to further pursue her interest in the effects of IAQ on the health, wellbeing and productivity of people. Learn more about AirRated at: https://airrated.co

Sponsors Fortune Favours the Bold Bold merges property management & Space-as-a-Service to drive asset value and help office customers grow faster. Now part of NewFlex (www.workbold.co) Future Proof Your Portfolio with NewFlex NewFlex delivers and manages a range of branded solutions for every type of building, in every type of location, for every type of occupier. Including the flexibility to develop your own brand. All enabled by flexible management contracts where we are invested in making money for you. (www.newflex.com) Launch Your Own Podcast A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. (https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com) Subscribe to the #WorkBold Podcast Apple | Spotify | Google | Stitcher | Podbean

David O'Coimin, CEO of The DO Company joins Bold Founder, Caleb Parker, to discuss the ingredients of neuro-inclusive spaces, and his workspace invention called Nook.

As Space moves from product to service, it's crucial that we understand our customers and we put them at the center of the universe. Employees have never been more empowered to tell their companies what they want from their workplace like they are today. When we have the choice, we're only going to work in an office if that's where we do our best work.

So it's important to create spaces that give people superpowers, and companies agility.

In this episode David explains the difference between hyper-sensitive and hypo-sensitive people, and why this matters to creating a desired user experience.

We learn about the most important work setting, and how the DO Company makes furniture for offices without having an office themselves.

Connect with David on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidocoimin/

Connect with Caleb on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebparker/

If you have any questions or feedback on this episode, email [email protected]

Value Bombs

• Employees have never been more empowered to tell their companies what they want from their workplace
• When we have a choice we're only going to work in an office if that's where we do our best work.
• The key to productivity is creating office environments that are connected and flexible so people can tap in and personalise their workspace for the exact work they're doing in that moment.
• The formula of an inclusive space is the personalisation of office products to individual needs through the integration of digital services into physical products
• Light has a profound effect on our brain's ability to process information, so giving users the ability to control their own lighting impacts productivity
• The ingredients of a neuro-inclusive space include a variety of work settings
• The most important work setting is quiet space

Resources

1. Toby Mildon: https://www.mildon.co.uk/
2. Neurodiversity at Work by Theo Smith (and Amanda Kirby): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neurodiversity-Work-Performance-Productivity-Neurodiverse/dp/1398600245
3. Kay Sargent, Director of WorkPlace, HOKhttps://www.hok.com/people/leadership/view/kay-sargent/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kay-sargent-53b2431
4. The Good Ancestor: https://www.romankrznaric.com/good-ancestor
5. The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century by George Friedman: https://www.amazon.com/Next-100-Years-Forecast-Century/dp/0767923057
6. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Quiet-Power-Introverts-World-Talking/dp/0141029196

About David O'Coimin

David is Founder and CEO of The Do Company.

He cares about how work, learning and event spaces can help us be better for each other, bring our whole selves to bear and build back better from this anxious challenging situation. He focuses on inclusivity, improving work/life balance, knowledge sharing, powerful partnerships and being a good ancestor to the future. He believes that design for the extreme benefits the mean.

Founded in the UK in August 2016, The Do Company exists to deliver smart solutions to the challenges posed by rapidly changing living and working environs. They do this by creating innovative new products & services – delivering bold solutions which take advantage of fresh mentalities in lifestyle and work-life balance. The company's first invention is called Nook. Learn more at www.nookpod.com

Sponsors Fortune Favours the Bold Bold merges property management & Space-as-a-Service to drive asset value and help office customers grow faster. Now part of NewFlex (www.workbold.co) Future Proof Your Portfolio with NewFlex NewFlex delivers and manages a range of branded solutions for every type of building, in every type of location, for every type of occupier. Including the flexibility to develop your own brand. All enabled by flexible management contracts where we are invested in making money for you. (www.newflex.com) Launch Your Own Podcast A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. (https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com) Subscribe to the #WorkBold Podcast Apple | Spotify | Google | Stitcher | Podbean

Andrew Carne, bp's Global Workplace Procurement Manager & Ciaran Delaney, CEO of MeetingsBooker.com join Bold Founder, Caleb Parker to share insight into their partnership and how bp has balanced the wellbeing of their team members while maintaining their strategic pillars of safety and sustainability.

Andrew shares how bp is evolving their portfolio strategy for hybrid working to empower their teams and enable success where face to face may be less frequent, but more valuable than ever before.

We hear about how they've teamed up with meetingsbooker.com to enable over 10,000 employees to book space for focused or collaborative work (aka meetings with colleagues and customers) either near home or anywhere outside the head office via Meetingbooker's digital booking tool.

bp did a £250M sale and leaseback deal on their London HQ, then right after did a deal with The Office Group for 50,000 SqFt of flexspace. We find out what signal we should take from that.

The discussion goes on to cover the future of commercial real estate, including how the hospitality and commercial real estate industries are beginning to merge, with space operators and hotels starting to compete for workspace customers and a look at the parallels in the business travel industry.

Watch the video version of this episode here:

https://workbold.co.uk/workbold-podcast-season-4-episode-5

*Special shout out to Skift for publishing an early preview of this episode. Skift is the most influential media brand in the global travel industry, also known as the daily homepage of the global travel. As of last year Skift is a fully-distributed company with no physical offices, and teams across various parts of U.S., Europe and Asia. Thank you Rafat Ali and team!

LinkedIn

Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn

Connect with Ciaran on LinkedIn

Connect with Caleb on LinkedIn

If you have any questions or feedback on this episode, email [email protected]

Value Bombs

• There is considerable change ahead
• bp is repurposing their portfolio for task based working; will result in a smaller footprint
• Hybrid working is the future for most people
• Important to have office environments accessible for certain types of work, and for people who can't work from home comfortably
• Duty of care is an important factor when evolving a workplace strategy
• Meetingsbooker.com helps bp meet their core pillars for development and governance to deliver optimal performance
• The digital booking platform balances the wellbeing of their team members while maintaining bp's strategic pillars of safety and sustainability.
• There is a convergence in demand for workspace and meeting rooms
• Hotels are starting to compete for workspace customers
• Brand is important because it promises a consistent experience
• The hospitality and commercial real estate industries are beginning to merge
• Business travel procurement directors and real estate directors of enterprise companies are teaming up on workplace strategy
• We're seeing different use cases
  • Some companies are reducing their office footprint, and booking space for their distributed team members to meet weekly
  • Some companies who use workplace choice as a recruitment strategy are giving their distributed teams a budget to book 2 days per week with a local coworking operators across dozens of cities around the world
  • Other companies with thousands of distributed team members are booking quarterly offsites to bring everyone together
• Digital booking tools are helping enterprise companies navigate this transition period from office first to more agile ways of working
• Every office landlord should be thinking about offering flexible space for people to tap into
• Offices won't go away, but they will become more flexible to manage fluctuating demand
• Former retail assets will be converted to flexible workspaces to accommodate work near home We're going to see more hotels partnering with coworking operators

Resources

Skift preview

https://skift.com/2021/04/02/oil-and-gas-giant-bp-as-a-case-study-on-the-future-of-the-workplace/

bp + MB Case Study

https://www.meetingsbooker.com/case-studies/bp

About Andrew Carne

Andrew is Global Procurement Advisor for bp.

Based in London, England, he globally leads the bp meetings and events programme, as part of bp's global reinvention of the workplace.

Digital transformation and supply-chain agility is part of his everyday, to create the ecosystem bp needs today, and tomorrow.

About Ciaran Delany

Ciaran is CEO and Founder of Meetingsbooker.com (MB), the global leader in meeting and workspace bookings. With over 150,000 spaces globally, MB helps organisations to adapt to the new normal by creating a dedicated enterprise solution for global teams with inbuilt usage, expenditure and safety controls. In his position as founding CEO, he conceived the product vision, concept and direction and scaled the growth of the Meetingsbooker.com with meeting and work space across in 134 countries. In this time, he scaled the team, led product design, online marketing, strategic partnerships, and global enterprise client acquisition. MB has raised over €3 million funding from leading venture capitalists and angel investors. Prior to creating Meetingsbooker.com Ciaran spent 7 years with Tourism Ireland as Market Manager Norway, Italy and then Global Internet Manager. He then became Director of Marketing for the 1,344 bedroom Citywest Hotel where he doubled online revenue and then worked as an independent digital marketing consultant.

Sponsors Fortune Favours the Bold Bold merges property management & Space-as-a-Service to drive asset value and help office customers grow faster. Now part of NewFlex (www.workbold.co) Future Proof Your Portfolio with NewFlex NewFlex delivers and manages a range of branded solutions for every type of building, in every type of location, for every type of occupier. Including the flexibility to develop your own brand. All enabled by flexible management contracts where we are invested in making money for you. (www.newflex.com) Launch Your Own Podcast A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. (https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com) Subscribe to the #WorkBold Podcast Apple | Spotify | Google | Stitcher | Podbean

Mark Gilbreath, Founder and CEO of LiquidSpace, joins Bold Founder, Caleb Parker, to discuss why he believes we've reached peak portfolio.

Mark says "infinite workplace" enables work from anywhere to proliferate, and as a result 80% of enterprise customers in the US will significantly reduce their leased office portfolios.

We learn about the new LiquidSpace Enterprise solution, and hear stories of their early days with enterprise customers, as well as a new big partnership with Comfy, which provides tens of thousands of workspace options to hundreds of thousands of employees.

Mark says landlords need to recognise that flexible use of space must be a principal asset management strategy. Traditional real estate leasing practices do not solve for delivering thousands of workplace options at scale for employees today.

The two also discuss how Workplace Brand is going to become a fundamental part of commercial real estate.

Connect with Mark on Twitter

Connect with Caleb on Twitter

If you have any questions or feedback on this episode, email [email protected]

Value Bombs

• Real estate will become more liquid going forward
  • Mindsets are shifting profoundly in regards to fixed real estate portfolios
  • We're no longer having a binary debate between working from the office or home.
  • The challenge for enterprise companies is how to provide tools that enable flexibility and workplace choice while maintaining duty of care and ensuring the overall financial objectives of the company are met.
  • Workplace will be a continuum
  • Traditional real estate leasing practices do not solve for delivering thousands of workplace options at scale for employees
• We are at Peak Portfolio
  • 80%+ of US enterprises will significantly contract their lease office portfolios
  • Infinite workplace enables work from anywhere to proliferate
  • Digital online and mobile transactions have potential to break the broker commission fee model
  • Office landlords must become more liberal in their thinking
• Landlords need to recognise that flexible use of space must be a principal asset management strategy
  • The 10 year lease and bond-like structure will not be the only asset strategy
  • Flexible asset strategies complement traditional asset strategies
  • Flexibility has value - the economic activity of an asset with flexibility can be higher than those just deploying traditional leases
  • Occupiers need the ability to easily tap into the thousands of workspace options globally.
• Workplace Brand is going to become a fundamental part of commercial real estate
  • Workplace is becoming a consumerized experience, and that will scale as employees come back from the pandemic with workplace choice and autonomy
  • We're going to see people choosing their workplace based on trust, and that's where brand becomes important
  • Brand creates trust in the experience that will be delivered
  • Landlords who aren't conscious of the brand experience delivered across their portfolios will see a lag in their economic performance

About Mark Gilbreath

Mark is the Founder and CEO of LiquidSpace, which he founded in 2010 and has raised $34.5m from investors, including Reid Hoffman of Greylock partners, Mike maples Jr. of gateway Fund, Roth capital partners, Shasta ventures, CBRE, Steelcase, and the GPT group. He holds a BSEE in Computer Architecture from the University of Virginia.

His motto: More happy people working in fewer buildings, the planet smiles.

LiquidSpace invented real-time real estate and disrupted the traditional office industry. Its digital marketplace enables professionals, companies and real estate leaders to fluidly discover, transact, and manage workplaces on flexible terms and puts the commercial real estate buyer in control.

The platform provides access to real-time office inventory on flexible terms with over 20,000 venue partners around the world.

Sponsors Fortune Favours the Bold Bold merges property management & Space-as-a-Service to drive asset value and help office customers grow faster. Now part of NewFlex (www.workbold.co) Future Proof Your Portfolio with NewFlex NewFlex delivers and manages a range of branded solutions for every type of building, in every type of location, for every type of occupier. Including the flexibility to develop your own brand. All enabled by flexible management contracts where we are invested in making money for you. (www.newflex.com) Launch Your Own Podcast A Podcast Company is the leading podcast production company for brands, organizations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right equipment, training, and guidance to ensure you sound amazing. (https://www.apodcastcompany.com and www.podcastsyndicator.com) Subscribe to the #WorkBold Podcast Apple | Spotify | Google | Stitcher | Podbean