Around 50% of people are already back in their Dallas offices, research suggests, and that figure is expected to hit 85% come the New Year.
But will it be back to normal? Not everyone thinks so. In fact, some believe Covid-19 has changed things, for good.
At Bisnow’s The Evolution of DFW Office event this week, HqO Senior Account Executive Clay Curlee said: “I don’t think we’ll ever get back, quite frankly, to what we saw pre-pandemic,” adding that tenants of commercial office buildings “are doing more with less”.
Lauren Ladowski, ARCO/Murray Vice President, has seen two extremes of the ‘back to work’ spectrum.
One large fintech client is operating “as if Covid never happened,” filling its 50K-plus square foot facility with workers in cramped 150 SF cubicles. At the other extreme, another client is downsizing to a new, smaller workplace and embracing a flexible office hoteling environment with collaborative space.
In the end, it boils down to the employer and how flexible they’re willing to be. It also depends on how far they intend to go to optimize their space.
