The only thing that is ever constant is change. Working in commercial real estate, I see trends and fads come and go. New concepts, ideas and formats for business are tried and dismissed; molded and shaped until something makes sense.

Even though the past year has forced change into our lives and work environments, change is ever present. How we work the best isn’t always determined by a pandemic. The office sector of our workforce has been one that I get questions about the most. With the technology available to us, remote working is here to stay – and had existed for many people for years.

A recent article published by Joseph J. Ori on http://www.globefest.com titled “15 Reasons Why Office Demand Will Remain Robust Post Covid” outlines what to expect for office users this year.

“One important reason for increased space demand will be due to new office space layouts. Post-Covid, the open office concept, which most companies adopted during the last 20 years, will be out the window and cubicles will be back in style and so will more and larger conference rooms, wider hallways, more individual offices, larger kitchens, lobbies, and meeting areas. This will require many existing office tenants to demand more, not less space.

The primary sector that will adopt a work at home or hybrid workforce model is the technology industry. The total office market in the US is approximately 12.5 billion square feet and the tech sector accounts for 20% or 2.5 billion square feet of the entire market. Even if the tech sector sheds 20% of its total space for work at home programs, this will only amount to 500 million square feet or 4.0% of the total rentable space. The increased demand from the growing economy and new space layouts will more than offset any of the potentially 500 million square feet of space lost from tech industry work at home programs.”

Here are a few things I want you to consider as you think about how you work the best:

• Does your work environment play a factor in your productivity?
• Do you have a need for daily collaboration?
• Does having a private space make you feel more comfortable in an office environment?

And here are some final words of support during this crazy time: even though our work and work environments are changing, there will always be opportunities to share your talents.