One year has passed since a shelter-in-place order was issued in Dallas County in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since then, Dallas has gone remote and most companies have still not returned to the office. In the meantime, companies are having discussions about what the future of the workplace will be in a post-pandemic world and how the physical office could change because of COVID-19. There has so far been no universal answer to the following questions, and each company is approaching these topics differently.
To gain further insight on what companies are doing locally, the Business Journal asked CEOs and top executives of North Texas companies when they plan to return fully to the office and what their future office space needs could be moving forward. The following responses are edited for brevity and clarity.
Fred Perpall, CEO of Dallas-based architecture and construction firm The Beck Group
We plan to follow the CDC’s guidance and that of our state and local officials before safely inviting all employees back to the office at one time.
We technically never stopped working. As an essential business, our construction teams were critical in keeping projects going, including health care projects. The pandemic hit during the construction phase of our design-build project for the new Texas Health Hospital Mansfield. We put safety protocols in place, and the team remained focused despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic. I’m proud to say we completed it last October, and the hospital started serving the Mansfield community in early December.
We’ve always prioritized safety. In the first few months of the pandemic, we were exceptionally agile in implementing protocols to keep our field and office teams and our trade partners safe. Safety looks different at an active jobsite than it does in a corporate office environment. Still, we successfully put procedures in place early-on, like A-B schedules, de-densified office plans, mandatory masks, and temperature checks. These measures gave employees and their families peace of mind despite the uncertainty of the time.
Calvin Carter, CEO of Addison-based technology company Bottle Rocket
To be a work from wherever company, one of the wherevers needs to be the office. We felt a duty to provide that for those who wanted it. When we felt like we had rearranged the office layout and procedures to safely invite Rocketeers back, we did (in September). Our office is now laid out in different neighborhoods, each designed to meet a different work style such as bright, no lights, social, quiet, etc. Masks and temperature checks are required. Our logs have prepared us for contact tracing should that be necessary. All desks are on a hoteling system now. The office is open every day.
The office is still not being used very much. That will change at the end of the year when everyone is able to get the vaccine. Except for the legally required exceptions, we will be expecting each Rocketeer to be vaccinated before they can return to the office. However, the numbers will still be low. We estimate 25 percent office attendance.
Recently we surveyed everyone and noticed three very interesting things. Employee engagement has actually gone up during the pandemic. Employees reported they felt supported by the company and their manager. But they also reported a lack of social connections such as the number of friends they have at work. We use the same questions every year so we can do apples to apples comparisons and share the results publicly as part of our commitment to transparency and trust.
I was very pleased to see engagement rise and to learn people appreciated the extra support the company and managers have been providing during the pandemic. But we have some work to do on the social element. Fun is still one of the most-used words to describe working at Bottle Rocket. We don’t think there is a single solution, but we will keep testing things until we optimize the career experience for our valued Rocketeers. Nothing is more important to me than that.
Peter Greenley, managing director of corporate communications at Charles Schwab
The current COVID trends are hopeful, and while our return-to-corporate-office plans remain unchanged, we will watch these developments in the near term and adjust our approach appropriately. Schwab’s guidelines and expectations for corporate offices remain in effect. For the protection of those employees who are currently working in our offices, social distancing, wearing appropriate masks, and health screening attestations will remain a critical part of our daily routine. Approximately 95 percent of our employees continue to work from home.
As we look to the future, we will continue to assess employees’ needs and make adjustments as our environment changes. Once a decision is made, we will provide a 60-day notice to employees before we initiate a broad return to our corporate offices, enabling those who may be coming back ample time to adequately prepare.
Sabine Gaedeke Stener, CEO of Dallas-based developer Gaedeke Group
We anticipate to be back in the office full time in May. This is predicated by CDC guidance, which we follow. We are currently working in a rotation; two days in the office, three days work-from-home. That said, employees who wish to work in the office every day can and currently do.
Return to office policies vary greatly among our tenants, even in the same industries, as well as regionally across the country. Some are already fully back, most are partially back. Overall, leasing momentum has significantly picked up since the beginning of the year across all markets, especially from technology, advertising, media and information tenants. Indications are that the office is here to stay and will be the place for collaboration, creativity and innovation with more engaging and multi-functional layouts.
