Corner office makes a comeback as city firm ditches hot desking
A national law firm has ditched the decade-long trend to open-plan offices that swept through the country’s premium towers, bringing back individual offices.
In a bid to encourage health conscious staff to return to the office environment, partners in national law firm Holding Redlich have made a $12 million commitment to upgrade their premium Sydney premises.
In turn, employees are expected in the office the “majority of the time”.
While the firm follows government health advice allowing people unwell to work from home, but if well they are expected back to the office.
The law firm has re-signed a long lease on the top floors (65-67) of Dexus’ 25 Martin Place (formerly the MLC Centre) and will spend the money removing “hot desks” and installing walled-off individual offices.
National managing partner Ian Robertson AO said Holding Redlich is focused on having most partners and staff working from the office, not home. Robertson says the future of law offices is giving people their own space.
Notwithstanding the current third COVID wave, Robertson said, “we expect the majority of our people will be in the office the majority of the time.”
“If our people will be engaged with our firm and receive proper supervision and feedback, they must be in the office most of the time,” Robertson said.
Holding Redlich’s contemporary design approach has already been rolled out in Brisbane, Cairns, Canberra. Now it is Sydney’s and Melbourne’s turn.
“In short, at Holding Redlich, open-plan and hot desking are out, and offices are in,” he declared.
“It’s clear from the response of our people that when you have your own, or a shared, office you’re much more comfortable working in the office.”
Open-plan layouts and hot desk settings were enthusiastically embraced by large corporations, not only because it saved space but because it was thought to foster team building and creativity.
Other law firms have adopted a mixed style office fit-outs. Arnold Block Leibler has mostly closed offices across its national locations, including at 333 Collins Street in Melbourne, whereas Norton Rose Fulbright’s new office at 60 Martin Place, Sydney, has a hybrid layout.
Despite the desire of employers to get staff back into the office, occupancy across the country has stalled.
The Property Council’s June survey shows Sydney slipped to 53 per cent and Melbourne inched up to 49 per cent, compared to 60 per cent and 48 per cent respectively for May.
In Sydney, there has also been the impact of disruptions to the train network, various strikes and inclement weather, which have forced people to work from home.
Property Council chief executive Ken Morrison said the impact of the spread of COVID-19 and the flu was “clearly stalling the return to office”.
“Although office occupancy rates have steadily recovered since the beginning of the year, this month there was a clear pause in workers heading to the office,” Morrison said.
“The continued spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses, extremely wet weather on the East Coast, combined with industrial action in NSW, have all clearly hampered workers being able to get into their CBD workplaces.”
Property Council’s NSW executive director Luke Achterstraat said the survey was conducted by the PCA of its members between 23 and 30 June 2022, which coincided with a rise in the number of COVID-19 and flu cases around the country.
“One month of data does not equal a trend, so now is the time for government and employers to double down and maintain momentum for the return to office,” Achterstraat said.
Owners of flexible offices are also confident that the demand for the model remains strong, despite any concerns of the third wave of the coronavirus that could see workers stay home.
IWG, the world’s largest and fastest-growing flexible office space provider, with brands including Spaces and Regus, has announced the addition of five new centres across Australia to meet the growing demand for hybrid work solutions.
These include Spaces Collingwood, in Melbourne, Spaces Jubilee Place and Spaces 80 in Ann Street, Brisbane, and Spaces Parramatta Square and the latest at 1 Denison Street, North Sydney.
“It’s a unique time for Australia’s workforce right now with unemployment rates at an all-time low. In the current candidate market, returning to pre-pandemic working arrangements is simply not viable for competitive business anymore,” said Damien Sheehan, country head for IWG in Australia.
“Instead, we’re seeing a significant shift to flexible working with more companies adopting the hybrid work model. Hybrid working has been, and will continue to be, in front of mind for Australia’s workforce”.
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