Pinterest recently paid nearly $90 million to terminate a San Francisco office lease. While paying that amount of money to get out of a long-term lease seems counterproductive, it indicates how the view of office space is shifting among large companies.
The social media website, along with several other major companies, have started to rethink their workplace strategies as the ongoing pandemic continues to rock the global economy and simultaneously accelerating the future of work trends.
Shifting to flexible workplace operations means more than allowing employees to work from home when needed — it also indicates a company’s ability to shapeshift to whatever obstacles come their way.
Flexible businesses can easily adapt to the evolution of economic, cultural and political factors, while also improving on their own employee experience to keep workers healthy throughout all of the uncertainty.
JLL analysis predicts that 30% of office space will be flexible by 2030, making it clear that having an agile real estate portfolio will be essential moving forward. However, offices will look much different when they reopen as an emphasis on cleanliness, distancing and safety will be at the forefront.
Overall, while remote working has provided its own benefits, many workers are eager to return to the office where they can truly collaborate with their colleagues.
