This archive report was first published on 16 July 2020.
Covid-19 Accelerates Shift Away from Traditional Offices ¶
As the pandemic continues to spread, companies are being forced to adapt to a new reality. In March, Andela, a pan-African software company, directed its engineering and enterprise staff to work remotely. Three months later, the company had ditched all its offices, describing itself as a “remote organisation”.
Andela Vice President, Partner Engineering Wambui Kinya told KTN News that the company had to support 1,000 offices, as everyone worked from home. While there were some bumps in adjusting, Kinya noted that productivity among employees had improved since the directive.
However, Kinya also emphasized the importance of giving workers utmost support to succeed in working from home. Most urban houses are not designed to accommodate work spaces, and employees had to be provided with desks and computers to create space in their homes.
According to a report by Knight Frank, the pandemic has redefined the modern workspace. The report, dubbed Africa Market Pulse Survey Covid-19 Responses and Strategies, notes that while there may not be an extreme shift to remote working, flexibility and collaboration will be core values for any organisation going forward.
Changes will be witnessed in office layouts and designs, with overall employee density remaining low in line with the pandemic’s containment measures. In the long-run, the use of office space premises will be as collaborative spaces, where talent retention and health and wellness for employees will be a key aspect of the new office-as-a-service for corporates.
As companies scale down from expensive offices, rental yields for commercial offices are set to fall this year. Majority of office landlords have also re-negotiated their leases in order to keep the spaces occupied. Half of the landlords polled in the Knight Frank report remained uncertain of the commercial property market, terming it the “greatest challenge” to their real estate portfolio.
