Talking Property | A safe return to work with James R. Bilger

SL: 
Hello and welcome to Talking Property with CBRE. A podcast in which our team of experts share their commercial real estate insights. I'm Suzette Lamont, Regional Director of Client Solutions here in Australia and New Zealand, and I'm your host for today's episode.

In this podcast, we're going to be talking about workplace experiences and what our Property Managers are doing to ensure that everyone returns to the workplace in a safe and stress-free way. We're going to look towards the United States to learn a little bit more about how they're weathering the COVID storm and what insights they might have for us. 

I'm joined by Jim Bilger. Jim is CBRE’s Executive Managing Director of Business Operations for Property Management, and Jim today joins me from the lovely Palm Springs, where it's always summer. Thanks for joining me, Jim. How's your day been? 

JB: 
So far, it’s been really good. Started at 5:30 this morning with calls to Hong Kong. So yes, I'm going on 12 hours, a typical day. 

SL: 
And are you still in t-shirt weather over there?

JB:  
Less than t-shirts, more like tank tops. 

SL:
Well we’re the opposite here, we’re starting to head in winter, and we’re sort of nine weeks into lockdown. How long have you been at home for now Jim? 

JB: 
12 weeks, because I'm in California, we were one of the first states in the United States to go into sheltered in. So even before the California governor selected to do a shutdown, we personally had elected to just start social distancing, even a week before that time period. So not going to the gym anymore, trying to stay away from the market during peak hours, things of that nature we did before lock down.

SL: 
Getting a bit sick of it now aren’t we?

JB:  
Well, we are,  fortunately because we do have these beautiful, sunny days that we do, it is good to be able to get out early in the morning if time allows and enjoy the good weather, get some fresh air before we head into the ‘home’ office. 

SL:  
The ‘Zoom Room’ so to speak. 

Look, I know being a part of your Property Management team that you've been incredibly busy with our ROOP and now our REO, you're the author of those acronyms. We've got a whole new acronym there.

JB: 
Well listen, because I've been with the company for so long - 29 years. I know CBRE is really good with three letter acronyms, so ROOP, although it's a four-letter acronym, doesn't quite fit in with our guidelines but we’ll take it.

SL: 
What does it mean, could you explain to our listeners exactly what it means?

JB: 
So ROOP was the Reduced Occupancy Toolkit that our Operations team put together during the initial stages of COVID-19 pandemic. So fortunately, we had experienced this back in 2008 with the SARS scare, so we already had a toolkit. So, fortunately, we thought we already had a toolkit out and start vesting up. 

So, we were like 60% ahead of the curve in getting that produced when it was time to really make things more customised for COVID-19, so that was fortunate. So then once we completed that, we went over to the next acronym which was the re-entry toolkit, which included the landlord briefing guides, the tenant briefing guides as well as the whole re-entry plan.

SL: 
Our playbooks have been completely rewritten, haven't they? All the things that we've done in a normal way for many, many decades now have been completely thrown out the window.

JB: 
Right, I mean now you're looking down at the floor and there’s so many signs on the floor now in detail and in office. Everywhere you go, there's a sign telling you where to stand and which way to walk. 

SL: 
It's really different. So, it's great to have your support in all those documents Jim and I know in Australia we've been starting to really think about gathering all the occupancy statistics. Just to let you know we're currently setting it about a 65% occupancy in office and already a 95% occupancy in industrial. 

Now, of course, most of those people are under some kind of skeleton staff or reduced capacity. How does that compare to the states? 

JB: 
Well, for the states that have re-opened, we're seeing office occupancy being anywhere between 15 to 25% in some cases within the suburban areas where there is no transportation and people can drive without having to be on a train or on a bus - those occupancies are higher. But within the CBD’s, the Central Business Districts, they're much lower. The tenants are not returning as much as we thought that they might have. 

So, companies are being, I think, very cautious about the return to work and we're finding even the larger tenants, the multi floor tenants, the Fortune 500 tenants they’re very careful about that and they have not completed their re-entry plans yet. There has really been a lot of collaboration between the landlord and Property Management themselves before they submit those plans. 

SL: 
Yeah, that's really interesting and I guess part of that planning session is that you having lots of conversations with, them. What are you hearing those large multinational CBD tenants are saying are their main concerns around returning to the workforce?

JB: 
Their first main concern is just the overall entry and way finding of getting people up to their offices, within high rise buildings for example. Again, back in the suburban lower buildings it’s pretty easy, they can use stairwells and their smaller tenants within those spaces, so they've been able to space their employees out and so they're getting back to work is what we're seeing there. But in the larger, you know high rise, where people are having to get on the elevators, there's concern there. 

Those high touch point areas making sure they're getting disinfected and they keep getting cleaned and then just overall things that we take for granted, just ordering food. So how are we going to get Uber Eats in and out of the building? How are we going to be setting up an Uber Eats area now outside the building and allow people to come at certain times to pick up their lunches and and things of that nature. 

SL: 
One of the things we've seen in Australia is that return to wanting a delivery to your desk. So whether it's Uber Eats or even your concierge in the building, who is bringing your lunch up to your desk, I think that minimising of human contact, whether it's in the foyer, around the cafe or in the lifts to go and get that food, has never been greater. So, I guess that's why people are thinking they will potentially stay at home for a bit longer.

JB: 
Right, exactly. Now the one thing we have though, in the States that are returning and within the high-rise buildings, we have not had a lot of issues so far and we've been checking with people crowding into elevators. So again, the states that have returned, are not the New York and California states where we have a high population, larger buildings, larger populations within those buildings then you would say, like Atlanta and those like Dallas and Houston. 

So, tenants are behaving themselves and they are following the rules and regulations and they're following the signs. They're all concerned, and they want to collaborate with our landlords, and they want to make a successful re-entry. 

SL: 
We're hearing some stories here from Australia as well, of humans speaking to each other like humans Jim, and sort of understanding that it's not just a sign that tells us what to do, but we also as humans can tell each other what to do and to the line with the rules.

JB: 
Right, you can’t communicate now with the smile because you have a mask on. So now you have to be more vocal in order to communicate with someone.

SL: 
Well, speaking of communication, one of the cleaning methods that personally I hadn't really heard much about before COVID has been fogging. You know, and I've seen all the photos on YouTube, it's really like the Ghostbusters have come into your building and are wearing white gowns and creating this sort of 1980’s disco atmosphere around the office. Are you seeing that fogging’s a big deal in the United States, Jim? 

JB: 
Well, I am seeing that everybody is looking at fogging, and I also know that there are a lot of companies out there that say that they're providing it. I get inundated with emails from vendors that are providing all sorts of, not only fogging but supplies and things that just are not, what we really would want to utilise. We do in fact, have a team that vets all of this information for us so that we can look at these things and then we determine whether or not there are best practice and then we have created a best practice handbook, so to speak. That is both US based, but also, it's a global base. 

So, we're taking best practice from your teams in the Pacific as well as through Asia and throughout EMEA. So, a lot of best practices that are happening around the world, we’re vetting them, taking a look at them and then putting them in jar of our best practice and lessons learned book. We also want to learn what's not working out there so that we can warn other Property Managers not to do these certain things whatever that lesson learned might be. 

SL: 
Well, that sounds amazing and it sounds like there might be another podcast for us Jim to talk about some of those products that perhaps the ‘snake oil’ salesmen are out there trying to flog us at the moment compared to what is actually efficient and effective for our building. Yes, well, it's been a pleasure speaking to you today, Jim. I do wish you all the very best, in your returning to the workplace. When do you think that might be?

JB: 
Well, nothing will happen until after the end of July, I think, but I'm hearing the first half of July, maybe July 4th for California, but we'll see. 

SL: 
Sounds like a great time and I look forward to also seeing you back out in Australia very soon. 

JB: 
Yeah. I can't wait to get on a plane and come see you guys. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. 

SL: 
Thank you, Jim. Thanks for listening to Talking Property with CBRE. If you like the show and you want to check out more, visit cbre.com.au/talkingproperty. Join us next time.