Using space management tools post-COVID-19

This article was written by Philip Lehrman, MRI Software.

Every business has been affected in some way by the COVID-19 crisis. Successful businesses will see this as an opportunity to re-imagine their workplace and adapt to changing times. Space management tools are essential when it comes to managing costs during normal business cycles, but it’s even more vital in times of change like we’re seeing now.

Space management tracks people, places and things. Combining floor plans with data makes space management systems extremely powerful, consolidating disparate information into one system. Department, personnel, and asset information can work together with your CAD drawings to create powerful color-coded plans and reports which will inform your business decisions going forward, saving your company valuable time and expense.

5 questions to ask when reopening your facilities post-COVID-19

As companies start planning to reopen their facilities, there are several important factors to consider. Here’s how implementing a space management system can help:

• Will much of your workforce continue to work from home, or is your company reducing headcount? If so, will your company look to shed space to save money? A benchmarking report that returns the rentable square footage (RSF) per person, and RSF per capacity of each floor and building, can be used to calculate potential reductions in your real estate portfolio. If you decrease 10% of your in-office workforce, for example, you will be able to calculate the corresponding square footage should you decide to reduce it. Once these portfolio reductions have been determined, a space management system would be essential for planning restacks and portfolio consolidation. Moves can be scheduled in phases and set to future dates.
• Are employees going to return to work on a part-time basis? Some companies are bringing their employees back into the office part time, with the remainder of their work week spent at home. With a space management system, you can track which employees work Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and which work Tuesdays and Thursdays on alternate weeks.
• How are you implementing social distancing at your offices? We can help you put 1×1 grids on all of your CAD drawings so you can assign employees to desks at least six feet away from each other. Using move management tools, this information can be combined with alternate day office worker schedules and office evacuation plans to maximize social distancing while still meeting safety requirements. In addition, directional arrows can be placed on the floor plans to show foot traffic direction in common areas such as hallways and corridors, which can be easily printed and posted, as well as distributed electronically to your staff.
• What about employees that will still be working from home? For those employees, regional maps can be added that show where these employees are located, and those maps can be automatically color-coded by department or personnel type. Maps can be created by country, state, city, or whatever region you require. Assets can be assigned to remote employees, giving you the ability to track all mobile devices, laptops, or other company equipment that your personnel have brought home.
• Do you need flexible space planning? Spaces can be designated as free spacing, hoteling desks, and drop-down desks, setting those aside from permanently assigned spaces for occupancy planning.

Companies that already have space management tools in place have access to all of this information at their fingertips. It does not take much effort to adapt a tool for post-COVID-19 planning, and companies that don’t currently have a space management solution would be well served to implement one now. The MRI ProLease Space Management module can be implemented quickly, within weeks, providing you with a detailed understanding of your real estate portfolio to inform your business decisions going forward.

Learn more about MRI ProLease and request your free consultation here. We’ll help guide you through these turbulent times.