Written by Pippa Boothman. Narrated by Colleen Lex. Content originally from CoreNet Global’s the SOURCE magazine, April 2022.

Climate change, accelerated by global warming, is one of the most pressing problems facing the world today. Buildings are the largest contributor to carbon emissions around the world. Thirty-nine percent of the annual global greenhouse gas emissions is attributed to buildings, with 28 percent originating from the operation and maintenance of existing buildings and 11 percent from building construction.

Written by Ryan Mullenix. Narrated by Gayle Crew. Content originally from CoreNet Global’s the SOURCE magazine, April 2022.

The first time I heard author Daniel Pink speak about creativity was in 2003. As a futurist, he projected the employment challenges society would face because the jobs we’d steadily relied on were quickly becoming anything but. Roles that were “routine, rule-based, single discipline and managed” were disappearing, or at least becoming less important. Even two decades ago, the fields of accounting, law, manufacturing, and retail were feeling this impact. In Pink’s words, work in the 21st century would be conceptual, empathic and big-picture – perhaps not surprisingly, the very traits of creativity that make us distinctly human.

Written by Kristiana (Kris) Greenwood. Narrated by Gayle Crew. Content originally from CoreNet Global's the SOURCE magazine, April 2022.

The global market for cleaning robots is exploding and is forecasted to reach $24 billion by 2026. This trend has been fuelled by global production efficiencies, improvements in technology, and rising labour costs. The COVID-19 pandemic has also amplified the need for robotics to clean commercial facilities due to heightened demand for cleanliness, safety, and fewer people in public spaces.

Written by Rob Kubiak. Narrated by Colleen Lex. Content originally from CoreNet Global's the SOURCE magazine, April 2022.

Offices are the physical heart and soul of a business and there is no better place for casual interactions, collaboration, innovation, and creativity. Leaders understand their inherent value but, right now, they also recognize that they need to reconfigure and, in some cases, redesign these spaces. They need to make offices into destinations people want to come to. These updated spaces need to provide areas for employees to converge, thrive, learn, grow, inspire, innovate, create, and collaborate. Not via Zoom or Teams from a spare room or home office, but together in a physical space.

When a leading global advisory, brokering and solutions company decided to reimagine its workplace to meet the changing needs of its business, it launched a design competition. The organization called on architects and designers to deliver an initial conceptual floor plan that created an inspiring new vision for the firm that would set the standard for its offices moving forward.

Modern enterprises often don’t have a fully in-person or fully remote workforce. Some employees come to campus every day. Others are distributed across the country – or even the world – and rarely, if ever, come into the office. And plenty of employees work in the office on some days and remotely on others. Hybrid workplaces are becoming increasingly common and are likely here to stay. COVID-19 forced a lot of businesses to temporarily become hybrid or fully remote, and now employees and executives alike are seeing the appeal on a much larger scale. Many employees now expect this flexibility, and some business leaders are eager to reduce their real estate portfolios.

Change can be hard, but it can also be healing. As a society, we’ve found ourselves unable to avoid change and are facing new realities to the way we live, work, and play as a result of a global pandemic. Virtually everyone has been touched in some way, shape or form. Although many of the changes we’ve experienced have been thrust upon us rather than chosen, we do have the power to manage some of the change that’s affecting us. Dedicating his life to the study of change, Charles Darwin remarked, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Those who are responsive to change not only survive, but often thrive. This applies as much to individuals as it does to groups and organizations.

Tenants and their landlords should look to innovative steps taken in the entertainment and leisure sectors for a post-COVID road map to make the office appealing again. Bottom line: Employers are going to need to spice up their workplaces if they are going to compete with the array of opportunities that employees have embraced and enjoyed in the last two years.

In this episode of What's Next, CoreNet Global's Thought Leader Contributor, EY, joins the show to talk about EY's Future Workplace Index.

In this episode, Gensler’s Amanda Ramos interviews George Kreitem and Amanda von Almen of Salesforce, and Devon Bertram of Stok, as they discuss the Salesforce Sustainable Global Real Estate Program, which won the 2021 Global Innovator’s Award from CoreNet Global.

Additional Resources:

https://www.corenetglobal.org/kco/content.aspx?ItemNumber=46729

https://www.corenetglobal.org/kco/content.aspx?ItemNumber=38437

https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/a-new-milestone-in-sustainable-real-estate-salesforces-journey-to-healthy-materials-and-leveraging-buying-power-for-good/

https://www.salesforce.com/content/dam/web/en_us/www/assets/pdf/sustainability/sustainability-healthy-materials-workplace.pdf