In this ever-changing world of work, CRE facilities leaders need to stay current on emerging technologies. Hybrid work has transformed physical and virtual workplaces.

CRE leaders are optimizing office space utilization to ensure hybrid work environments fit employees' new working patterns, and to create safe and secure workplaces that are welcoming and up to code. Here is a summary from a few of the Top 20 CRE Facilities leaders that are shaping the future of work. Read what they are doing to to stay current on emerging technologies and new regulations create hybrid workplaces?

This is how the corporate real estate and facilities managment leaders are using their important role to earn a seat at the table as they shape their organization's workplace experiences:

Larry Morgan, Director of Global Facilities Management and Corporate Sustainability Initiatives at SAP

”Pre-COVID, CRE and FM was always about being efficient, and budget-driven. Cost per dollar per square meter, or per square foot per square per person…we were very efficiency-driven. Now, my opinion is we need to become much more effective. Are we being effective in our service delivery models? That's the big question, because if we're going backwards and we're looking at being the same level of efficiency, we've missed the primary reason for our existence post-COVID.”

Mayra Portalatin, VP of Facilities Services at NVE, Inc.

Everybody’s moving or downsizing space. That’s forced them to think more about telecommuting policies or procedures, looking at technology for hot desking so that you can reserve all these spaces so that you can control how you can manage it. Technology has definitely given us more information and ability to understand our work even more.”

Darin Rose, Director of Facility Services at Credit Union of Colorado

“In the built environment, ‘Work’ used to be a noun, a place for people to go to, but it is now considered a verb, an activity people do. They don’t want to just work from home or just from the office. Community is strengthened, and creativity is developed when people engage with other humans face to face. Facilities managers can and should take the lead to be creative in the engineering world, to be the person/department to deliver engaging interactions to the workforce.”

Christa Dodoo, Head of Facilities Management Services at United Nations World Food Programme

“One of the main opportunities I see for facilities management in the wake of the pandemic is to take advantage of that seat at the table that we've been given finally and to be able to impact the workplace in ways that we were not doing in the past. It's not just about the buildings that we manage anymore, but what we do beyond that. It’s about making sure that we look at not just how people feel when they come into the building or when they come to work, but outside of that, wherever they are working. How can we impact that? We can give them the tools, the guidelines, the protocols that they need.”

Lynn Baez, Enterprise Vice President of Facilities and Workplace at McKesson

“There's going to be a significant ask of facility managers to either be a strong contributor to or lead in strategic planning and digitization in our operational technology. Where we're headed next is so much more into predictive analysis; it is moving into machine learning in this space, leveraging our operations and maintenance space into a way that we can use things like digital twins to help really understand, in a very predictive and proactive way, how we can maximize the effectiveness of the spaces that we oversee and lead.”

Kay Sargent, Senior Principal and Director of WorkPlace at HOK

“Hybrid is the hardest model there is to pull off, but it’s also more of an operational model than a workplace solution. But everybody’s just looking at the workplace as a kind of a silver bullet that they’re hoping will solve their problems. The complexities and challenges of implementing a successful hybrid work model demands a deep operational and cultural transformation. Companies must commit to redesigning their operational strategies to support this model effectively.”

Need assistance with your facilities and in getting your employees back to an interesting, safe, and healthy workplace?

Reach out to Corporate Real Estate Advisory Services for assistance and guidance, we are here to help you!

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