Out of sight, out of mind. It’s all too easy to forget about asset maintenance when the assets themselves aren’t right in front of you. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this became more evident as employees went home and logged into a virtual workplace instead of coming to a physical space.

There are two distinct factions when it comes to working from home: those who relish it and those who despise it. Before COVID-19, working from home was a perk. When the pandemic hit, work-from-home (WFH) became a necessity to combat the virus’s spread. One person’s dream; the other’s nightmare.

As COVID-19 rolls on, employers are dealing with two sides of a war between those who want to return to the office and those who’d prefer working from home. Depending on who you ask, results are mixed:

The modern workplace is a far cry from spaces of the past. Banks of private offices gave way to an open concept fad that’s morphed into a hybrid of spaces, including personal desks surrounded by pony walls, hot and hotel desks, and collaboration areas.

COVID-19 threw workplace and space management into turmoil, but the return-to-work movement is underway. As employees come back to offices, stores, factories, and other businesses, the need for privacy in the workplace again takes center stage.

Mixed-use spaces – used by public sector agencies for different purposes – or even mixed-use cities present unique challenges for workplace managers under the cloud of COVID. Unlike single-use facilities, mixed-use spaces may see much larger groups of people come and go. Monitoring the health of every individual is likely impossible without strict contact tracing standards.

Historic buildings hold a special place in the hearts of architects, workplace planners, and employees. There’s something alluring about creating workspaces within the confines of century-old stone or retrofitting a Victorian Era home into offices.

For all their uniqueness, repurposing historic buildings for modern workplaces isn’t as easy as replacing a few light fixtures and brushing on a new coat of paint. Most older structures are governed by sometimes-strict regulations overseen by historic districts – the first was created in South Carolina in 1931.

Article originally posted to the GovDesignHub here.

Article originially posted to the GovDesignHub here.

One of the many challenges that organizations faced this year was the scaling of a remote work model. But with the prospect of life and work returning to normal in the coming months, those same organizations face a new challenge – scaling back up their facilities in a safe way. 

To learn more about how facilities and space managers are planning for this prospect, I sat down for a Q&A with Nick Stefanidakis, Vice President of Field Sales & Enablement at SpaceIQ.

The benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT) are undeniable. IoT-enabled technologies collect data that impacts cost, productivity, compliance, and security. However, that data is only as good as the analyses derived from it, especially when it’s connected to how workplaces are populated, and space is managed today and in the future.

Managing real estate for a single workplace is, in certain ways, simple. There is a single set of data for land, buildings, and leases. For companies with multiple properties or a global presence, the task becomes daunting.

A centralized data repository is the key to maintaining accurate and easily accessible information to manage real estate portfolios. But not all data systems are alike. Real estate planners and facility managers should consider several items when choosing a real estate portfolio management system: