Abstract
Purpose Triggered by public concerns over office workplace safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study sheds light on the office workplace environment and aims to investigate how organisations respond to forces from the external environment (impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic) and how they modify their office workplace management strategically and operationally to suit the stakeholders’ needs and future development in the post COVID-19 period. Design/methodology/approach A desktop study was conducted to provide the framework for the in-depth interviews with five corporate real estate (CRE) managers and three workplace consultants. Thematic analysis including coding technique was adopted to analyse the qualitative data. Findings The findings show that during the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the intended and implemented office workplace modifications are mainly related to two types of risk control: administrative control and personal protection. At a strategic level, organisations react to the external forces by re-modelling their businesses and working towards re-orienting their CRE strategies, such as portfolio transformation, agile portfolio strategies and redesign of the office workplace, etc. Originality/value This is a topical and timely study that presents the general practice of office workplace modification during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the related CRE management (CREM) strategies developed for the new normal. The findings obtained through in-depth interviews have well supported the CREM strategic alignment theory. It is foreseen that office workplace management will encounter other challenges due to uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of this study provide a practical lens to look at the future changes of office workplace environment.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted unpredictable impacts on the global society by causing damage to the international economy and drastic changes to all human activities
As reflected by the findings summarised under Theme 1, corporate business strategies and office workplace modification activities have been found to vary substantially by industry sector during the COVID-19 pandemic
The findings summarised under Theme 2 and Theme 3 reveal that, though the initial managerial responses from the corporate real estate (CRE) managers mainly focus on complying with the community measures, the office workplace modification activities vary in different organisations
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted unpredictable impacts on the global society by causing damage to the international economy and drastic changes to all human activities. Hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant percentage of business activities has been. Workplace management during and after the COVID-19 pandemic has become a global challenge. Organisations, which have owned or leased office area to implement their core or supporting business activities, have either taken initiatives to extend the workplace in the virtual dimension with the support of technology, or engaged in preparing for workplace re-entry. These organisations have been committed to modifying their office workplace in various ways to comply with the COVID-19 measures and suit the working practice in the new normal
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