Less offices, less commuting, less community density. That is the upshot of the post-pandemic predictions of Hamid Hussain, president of commercial real estate at Banc of California.Based in Santa Ana with sub-headquarters in downtown Los Angeles and Century City, Banc of California has a scattering of offices throughout L.A. County region, including one at 21700 Oxnard St. in Woodland Hills.Hussain shared his insights from his bank’s perspective on what has unfolded in the last year since the outbreak started. First off, 90 percent of Banc of California’s own workforce has shifted to work-from-home.
“We went remote within the first week of the shutdown (and) productivity actually went up,” he said.With remote working situations has come a growing push for companies to meet their employees where they live in the suburbs with remote offices. Hussain believes this trend will strengthen into a permanent situation for many companies even after the virus has dissipated.
“COVID proved that you can be productive working from home,” Hussain said.A recent Banc of California in-house survey culled from 600 employees yielded a surprising revelation: most of the workers would feel OK going back to the work environment post-pandemic.However, many still want to avoid a commute and allow for flexibility.“Most of our employees were already in the suburbs. … We always allowed them the flexibility to move around the office,” he said. “What’s interesting about the (Woodland Hills) office is we can let our employees work out of that office because it’s closer to their homes.”Moving forward, Hussain sees the bank meeting halfway with its workforce’s needs.“It will increase employee satisfaction,” Hussain said. “We haven’t lost productivity not seeing clients as much you’re not going to see clients every day in commercial business lending. What we really care about is the satisfaction of our employees.”There is, however, the reverse-minded members of the workforce: employees crowded by family or housemates who seek to be in the office as a matter of an escape from a busy, noisy environment where one’s focus could be compromised.
“We’ve definitely seen that, too,” Hussain said.However, giving the employee the option to come into the office or work from home or work from a satellite or a hybrid of all these options will become the new norm, he believes.“More and more companies are going to start doing that,” he saidLow-rise officesBeyond the immediate North L.A. markets of the San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita, Hussain predicts that satellite offices will begin to pop up in the Antelope Valley, where cheaper prices have increased home ownership in cities such as Palmdale and Lancaster.“I absolutely think that’ll happen,” he said. “People are going to look for those bigger houses. It’s going to drive some growth of those offices closer to those areas.”Looking forward at the office sector, Hussain firmly believes that mid- and low-rise buildings with more space and parking will overtake interest in office towers.Overall, Hussain is confident there will be a substantial increase in transactions by end of this year.
Will Suburbia Fill With Future Satellite Offices?
