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People just want a space where they can get their jobs done in peace, and hopefully dodge the company's next round of layoffs. With that in mind, what do you think about the return of the 🏢office cubicle? Annie --- Cubicles were the hallmark of a dull, soul-sucking job. Now they seem like paradise lost. Then he does something truly rebellious: Using a power drill, he tears down his cubicle wall, revealing a window view. His triumph of workplace defiance is complete. In a memorable montage from the 1999 workplace satire "Office Space," Peter Gibbons, a fed-up office drone, decides to take a stand. He parks his Toyota Corolla in his Porsche-driving boss' parking spot, saunters into the office in flip-flops, and guts a fish on his desk — all to the tune of Geto Boys' "Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta." For years, the office cubicle was the four-walled avatar of corporate disaffection. Its bad rap was at least partly circumstantial — the rise of the cubicle through the 1980s and '90s coincided with sweeping company mergers, acquisitions, and downsizing that rewarded space-efficient office layouts that were easy to reconfigure. The most disposable workers were relegated to interchangeable, ever-shrinking cubes, while bosses maintained offices with obscene luxuries like windows and doors. ...READ More... #officeculture #workspaces #officedesign #cubicles #work Hon.

The Neiman Marcus Group office, which has been so carefully designed to appeal to workers who can drop in at their leisure, is “a magnet, not a mandate," The company's bankruptcy “allowed us to make some tough choices about what we wanted to do with our corporate real estate,” Eric Severson, NMG’s chief people and belonging officer, tells Fortune. Ditto for tough choices about its work model: The company officially became remote-first, allowing employees to work from anywhere, with no in-office requirement. Some may wonder why NMG even invested in an office at all if they can’t guarantee—by brute force—that it will be filled with people. But Severson takes a different perspective. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eT8wigZ7

New Post: The Neiman Marcus office ‘is a magnet, not a mandate’ - After filing for bankruptcy shortly into the pandemic—and emerging guns blazing three months later—leaders at Neiman Marcus Group (NMG) realized that in order to keep up with an entirely new way of work, drastic changes needed to be made.  The first major change: a vast, permanent downsize of its corporate office space in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, from half a million square feet to about 100,000, with no plans to grow it back.  The bankruptcy “allowed us to make some tough choices about what we wanted to do with our corporate real estate,” Eric Severson, NMG’s chief people and belonging officer, tells Fortune. Ditto for tough choices about its work model: The company officially became remote-first, allowing employees to work from anywhere, with no in-office requirement.  The NMG office, which has been so carefully designed to appeal to workers who can drop in at their leisure, is “a magnet, not a mandate,” Severson says.   Some may wonder why NMG even invested in an office at all if they can’t guarantee—by brute force—that it will be filled with people. But Severson takes a different perspective: The hubs are the inverse of a typical pre-pandemic office, which was mostly individual work stations, with small pockets of collaborative space. The Dallas hub has been retrofitted for 70% collaborative space and 30% individual space, a key balance. It can fit about 800 people at any given time, the Dallas Morning News reported, and while it has a wealth of offices and meeting rooms, no one—not even executive brass—has a permanent desk. With shared-use spaces and connection spaces in ample supply, the idea is that “people will come together” at the Dallas hub because they want to, and it serves their needs, not because they’re required to.  Productivity and choice are at the heart of the matter Despite NMG’s salient approach, most companies nonetheless stick with mandates. Severson says it’s not so much because they’re doubtful it works, but rather that “inertia is a really powerful force,” and it’s easier to stay the same than to risk a major change.  “Many companies have not necessarily done a great job of measuring outcomes related to initiatives,” he goes on. “I see CEO after CEO saying that they’re forcing you back into the office to improve collaboration and innovation. Not one I’ve seen has cited any statistical research or other proof that that’s true.”  To be sure, the jury is still out on the real link between productivity and work location. While many workers insist they’re more productive at home, others admit they accomplish more at the office. And while some amount of worker-led flexibility is roundly considered the best approach, each team is different, and most U.S. companies are still struggling to land somewhere everyone is happy with.  The unfortunate state of affa

From Walt Bialas of our research team in the Dallas office, the best in our business. I have been there seen it done it, so let me and the AY team platform know how we can assist your concerns. Like all major office markets, the sector’s shift has caused total DFW office availability (direct and sublet) to rise precipitously. As of Q4 2023, class A availability came in at 32.3%, up from 24.9% at year-end 2019. This is also slightly ahead of 2023’s class A and B average of 29.9%. While this 7.4% average increase since year-end 2019 for the market is significant, some of DFW’s submarkets fared better, seeing only a minimal rise, while a few saw improvement. Of DFW’s core submarkets, Central Expressway, LBJ Freeway, and Allen-McKinney saw availability rise but are still below the total share for the region. This is primarily due to more resilient space demand attributable to easier access from their close-in suburban locations. In comparison to the other submarkets, availability came down slightly in the high-demand Preston Center submarket, even with a major new delivery over the period. Other areas, like Fort Worth CBD and West SW Fort Worth, also performed much better than average in total availability, as well as improving slightly due to their limited new development and a more local serving office base. Submarkets that saw availability rise significantly all had unique demand challenges. These included the ongoing slippage in demand for Dallas’ CBD which carries extra weight due to its large share of inventory, Uber’s retrenchment in emerging Deep Ellum, and the long-term redevelopment of EDS’ large campus into a life sciences hub and the re-tenanting JCPenney’s former HQ in West Plano. January 31, 2024

The Chicago Business Journal reports that expansion deals highlighted Chicago's office market recovery in the third quarter. Robert Sevim spoke with Alex Zorn and shared, “There is activity in the marketplace, and there are some signs that businesses are in a position to take on more space and make commitments. What stands out is there are new realities for companies and business leaders who are looking at the office environment and are doubling down by saying there is value in coming into the office.” Check out the article that also references data from Savills Q3 2023 Chicago office market report: https://lnkd.in/gaxaJnn7 #WeAreSavills

We can do the structural framing inside of the architectural work.

Interesting data on Fortune 500 HQ trends from 2018-2023. A couple points that stuck out to me: -Between 2018 and 2023, 30% of Fortune 500 firms took major action on their physical HQ -28 Fortune 500 companies opted to move their headquarters out of state. Notably, Sunbelt states had the largest net gains of Fortune 500 firms, led by Texas with 10 and followed by Florida ( 4) and Georgia ( 3). California experienced a net loss of eight F500 firms I agree with the sentiment in the article that as firms continue to evaluate the purpose of physical office space, understand the best location in relation to skilled talent and leverage the role of the workplace to promote company culture and values you will continue to see movement among large employers. #commercialrealestate #tenantrep

Atlanta’s office market faced challenges in the second quarter due to continued layoffs and paused expansion plans in the technology industry, resulting in decreased leasing activity. Check out our Q2 office and industrial reports below. #marketreport #office #atlanta

Bloomberg LP is well known for not having private offices. A lesser-known cultural anchor is that everyone has the same-sized desk. There are practical reasons for standard sizes. Desks with the same dimensions are interchangeable, easier to move, repair and replace. But the conviction goes deeper and comes from founder, Mike Bloomberg. Mike’s view is that bigger desks, just like walls and offices, create barriers to communication. They obstruct the information flow that is the lifeblood of modern knowledge workers. “There are no private offices at Bloomberg,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in a 2015 interview. “My desk is exactly the same size as everyone else’s.” Mike’s corporate philosophy and conviction about desk size was tested during the 12 years he left the company to be mayor of New York City. When he returned in early 2014, the company had been transformed. It was perhaps three times larger and had moved into a new flagship headquarters on Lexington Avenue. The changes in the product, people and environment were profound and a lot to absorb. But at some point, Mike realized some senior executives and managers had installed larger desks. Others had turned conference rooms into private offices. He was not amused. He called the facilities department and over one weekend had those larger desks replaced with standard-sized versions, the same size he used. Desk size wasn’t a kind of faux equality signal. It was about communications and efficiency, issues he viewed as critical to success. He explained the decision to one of the sales reps: “When the top people get bigger desks, then everyone wants bigger desks. It stops people from coming up to you with ideas.” I had a meeting with Mike soon after he returned and he mentioned how angry he was about the big desks and private offices. He saw it as a kind of cultural erosion. It made sense to me. I had friends at other companies that rewarded managers with large private offices that sported couches and plants. All of those things cut them off from the day-to-day flow of connecting with colleagues. One of the challenges for leaders is to know which traditions to keep and which to discard. That's especially true for idiosyncratic markers that help define corporate values and priorities. Like the pledge from Costco Wholesale’s CEO that the company will never raise the price for a hot dog lunch at its stores above $1.50. That re-enforces a message that Costco is cost-conscious. At most companies, the size of one’s desk and office convey status. At Bloomberg, desk size does matter, but for a different reason. It’s a way to remind everyone that the company is in the information and communications business. (Part of a series of lessons I learned from three decades at Bloomberg LP.)