Are Satellite Offices Truly Sustainable?

Millions of workers have left the office to work in the safety of their homes as the ongoing pandemic rages on. The workforce saw an exodus of people who no longer have to travel to large cities on their commute and can continue to work from the comfort of their suburban homes.

Now, with many companies maintaining their operations and even improving productivity, organizations are reconsidering their need for office space.

While it appears that remote working is not going anywhere, some workers prefer to be in an office setting where they can have in-person collaboration with colleagues. The solution to this would be adopting satellite offices across the suburbs instead of massive complexes in the heart of metropolitan areas.

Using smaller satellite offices provides workers with a chance to work together a few times a week, while providing a work environment that has less distraction and more office amenities.

However, when a company decides to implement 10 separate locations opposed to one large one, maintenance can become more of a challenge and can split incentives. This means there are more landlords, renters and operators in the mix, making it difficult to keep everyone on the same page.

“A larger site campus may be able to put in more technologies because you have greater control over that property,” said  Kyle Goehring, executive vice president of clean energy solutions at JLL. “Whereas if you’re in much smaller sites and you have multiple tenants, you may not be able to implement an on-site renewable or energy-efficient solution because you’re sharing the asset with multiple parties. You may not be able to get agreement.”