Working Remote: Reducing the office footprints and using more freelancers

Last March, before we were all consumed by the spread of Covid19, DoD launched a collaboration platform called Commercial Virtual Remote Environment to accommodate users working remotely. Shortly after, when the coronavirus spread rapidly, and DoD workers who could work from home, the user base for this new collaboration tool reached 900,000. Now DoD leaders are examining how many jobs or billets could remain remote permanently post Covid19?

Such considerations require:

> Improved remote network security against cyber threats.

> Safety examinations of the workers’ home or location environment.

> Restricted access to files and passwords, etc.

> Continued cyber-surveillance of the connectivity site.

While these and other considerations of retaining remote telework are expected, a calculation of what to do with the vacated real estate is not likely a significant concern for any government-owned or leased property.

However, in the commercial real estate world, the square footage abandoned for remote (from home) working during this pandemic will mostly be an overhead expense to be released, sold, or just left permanently empty. No one knows how many square feet of high rent commercial real estate this represents, but you can bet it’s a considerable rent revenue loss to building owners.

As an example, leasing 20,000 square feet of prime commercial real estate in the Perimeter of Atlanta for 200 office workers would range from $125 to $200 per sq. ft. annually. Assuming half of those workers were able to work from home during this pandemic and choose to remain working from home, approximately 10,000 sq. ft. could be repurposed, used to expand the business, or turn back to the landlord with some contract penalties. If the now unused space were returned to the landlord, the landlord would lose $1.5 million in rent annually if a subleased or new renter could not be secured. Now multiply $1.5 million by 200 or 300, and you can imagine how the office vacancy might be when or if a vaccine is fully available.

And that’s just one subset of the total Atlanta commercial real estate market. Multiply $375 million times 1000 metro markets, to be conservative in annual rent lost by telework that will likely not return as rented office space. Ramifications of such reductions are sufficient for another article.

These illustrations point to the reality of remote working, which may be as high as 25% of the workforce, depending on whose data one believes. Based on the greater acceptance by corporate America of remote workers, who have shown increased productivity during the pandemic, and the potential cost savings and other benefits it brings, working remotely may increase to as much as 40% of our workforce by 2022.

This reality should strengthen the case among HR and the C-suite decision-makers for using more freelance and independent workers with skills needed for less than full time and on-demand. It will also increase the monetary value of these workers who bear the cost of healthcare and business liability insurance as part of their fee structure.

These indicators are all the upside of surviving the Covid19 pandemic for freelancers. Currently, with fewer gigs, many freelancers and independent workers can barely survive without increased unemployment benefits or business subsidies for local and state governments. Most freelancers and independent contractors like the work/lifestyle, and freedom of working independently are not looking for full-time employment or a handout. Like all of us coping with the unknowns of this pandemic, we must find ways to survive.

If you have a project or gig available or are planning for which a qualified freelancer in your area would be suited, why not give him/her a try. We all need to help each other to survive this horrific virus.