TenantSee Weekly: Ice Cream on a Hot Summer Day
It’s not difficult to sell ice cream on a hot summer day. People want it because it tastes good, it’s full of sugar, it’s cold, etc. It has intrinsic appeal.
TenantSee Weekly: The Questions
We’re having the same important conversation with nearly all our clients. It stems from 2 basic questions; 1) What if we don’t have an office, and 2) Can we structure the lease so that if the market declines over the coming years, the rent for our space will similarly decline?
TenantSee Weekly: Why You Need to Spend More on Design
Architecture, interior design and furniture design each impact how we feel. If you’re someone who is not particularly aware of this connection, take a moment over the coming days to note your feelings upon entering different buildings, different spaces. Notice the volume. Contemplate the impact of day light and other light sources. Consider the way the rooms are designed, the flow. What about the furnishings? Is it comfortable? Does it look interesting? Is there artwork? If so, how does it affect you? Does the space inspire you? Does it make you feel content? Does it make you anxious? Does it make you feel gloomy?
TenantSee Weekly: When Workplace Isn't a Place
Technology used to compliment space. It was an adjunct to the physical office. However, today’s workplace is really not a place at all; rather, it’s a hub of technology resources that travel with the employee wherever she may go, which may or may not include a corporate office. Tech has jumped ahead of space as the more important element in defining the total workplace.
TenantSee Weekly: Got Leverage?
With the exception of premium view space, which is leasing at rates above pre-pandemic highs, many office owners in San Francisco are heading into a prolonged period when competition for tenants will be intense. There are several reasons, but let’s start with a few stats:
TenantSee Weekly: Following the Money: A Tenant Advisor's Compensation
Ever wonder how and/or how much a tenant advisor is paid? It’s an obscure compensation model. In the interest of transparency, we thought it might be useful to provide a more detailed view.
Tenant advisors (in most cases) are not paid a salary. Their compensation is usually 100% commission-based. This is among the reasons why the industry lacks diversity, both racial and socio-economic…it’s nearly impossible for someone without a measure of financial support to get started. The path to compensation begins with being retained by a client. Yet being selected to advise a client is not easy. It is typically the culmination of a long period of marketing, knowledge sharing and relationship building. Developing a meaningful relationship may take several years (and probably should). Hence a lot of the activities in which a tenant advisor is engaged are non-compensatory…they’re speculative.
TenantSee Weekly: Culture and the Modern Workplace
Culture: noun: the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group.
We all want to be part of something great. We want our workplace culture to be worthy of its “Best Places to Work” status. But in many cases, the corporate “cultural persona” does not fully reflect the cultural reality.
Why? Firstly, leadership. Leaders tend to focus on the desired culture as opposed to the existing culture. It’s easier (and more uplifting) to identify the cultural characteristics you want, as opposed to sifting through the complexities of the culture you have. But when the aspirational culture fails to align with the existing culture, it results in an authenticity problem. However, you can’t fully blame leaders. Most companies lack the right incentives for leadership to invest in the hard work and difficult decisions necessary to bridge the gap between existing and aspirational culture. For example, achieving cultural alignment might necessitate terminating individuals who are financially productive but culturally cancerous. There could be entire groups within the company who behave in a manner that is inconsistent with the aspirational culture.
TenantSee Weekly: Stupid is Easy (and expensive)
In tenant-favorable market environments, landlords often provide more concessions to compete for tenants. Concessions come in many forms, the most obvious being, landlord funding for tenant improvements, free rent, reduced rent and more flexible lease terms. But understanding the value of the concession is not always easy, especially relating to tenant improvements, one of the biggest economic variables in leasing.
TenantSee Weekly: Thinking vs. Doing
Much of what we “do” every day is driven by long established norms, norms that most of us rarely give much thought. Societies always have outliers who think about things a little differently. Often, these thinkers are entrepreneurs. Their journey usually begins with “why” or “what if”. Why are most people seemingly happy to exist within the status quo? I believe it’s the discomfort created by stepping outside the normalcy bubble to think for oneself. Just spend one day asking yourself why you do the things you do and you’ll see how easy it is to imagine different solutions. Of course, you have to accept that your solutions might be worse. And should you wish to advocate for your new solutions, be prepared for resistance. People resist out of fear of the unknown, or because they have a vested interest in keeping things the same. But resistance is a powerful force against change.
TenantSee Weekly: Equity and the Hybrid Workplace
Workplace equity is a big, important topic. The pandemic has helped advance a better discussion about how to create workplaces that are more inclusive, that support the specific and differing needs of the employee base. It’s not so much that we’ve learned our offices don’t serve all equally well, we already knew this. Instead, companies have been forced to address this reality head on because the concept of the office has been turned on its head. The act of creating equity when everyone was remote has (hopefully) built some institutional “muscle memory” that will serve us well as we embark on what’s next.
