Bookmarks: 5 Interesting Articles That May Help You This Week

Each week, I select a few articles that rise above the fray and hopefully help you on your journey in the CRE world. They pull from one of four "corners": corporate real estate, technology, management science and anything positive. I welcome your comments on these articles.

1. #CREi: The 2020 Top Influencers in Commercial Real Estate

It’s getting hot in Atlanta which means we strive for air-conditioning and – a list of the commercial real estate industries top influencers!

BIG NEWS! - the brand new #CREi: The 2020 Top Influencers in Commercial Real Estate list is coming very, very soon so stay tuned!

If you see someone doing something interesting, innovative or good in social media, then email us and let us know. Also, as you see new professionals join the social media world, please make us aware. We are keeping our master list updated throughout the year. Some estimates say there are 330 million handles on Twitter, so letting us know about folks we should be aware of his helpful! Let’s join together and lift each other up!

2. Adventures in Alternative Work Arrangements

Peter Cade/Getty Images

Before having kids, we tend to envision ourselves as the devoted company worker, always present, fully committed, and willing to give extra effort to get the job done. But with kids come new demands, especially for the majority of us who are in dual-career households. Our commitment and career ambitions hold true, it’s just harder to fit life around traditional work structures. It would seem that alternative work programs — flexible hours, remote work, part-time salaried work, job shares, and lateral moves — create a win-win for employers, employees, and families.

Unfortunately, alternative work is a bit of a ruse. Most employers offer it, usually as part of their inclusion programs to attract quality talent (you!). But, often it’s an empty gesture as few employees ever use these options. Research in the U.S. and Europe confirms consequences we already know: using these programs means certain career death.

We desperately need these options. Not on paper, but in practice in our lives. With no yellow brick road to follow, we must find our own way forward. 

3. Trucking, Warehouse Companies Boost Hiring in June

DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Logistics operators hired at a brisk pace in June as companies serving the e-commerce market brought on more than 80,000 workers and factories started resuming production following coronavirus-triggered shutdowns.

Trucking companies also added 8,100 jobs from May to June, the biggest one-month gain in the sector since September 2018, according to seasonally adjusted preliminary employment figures the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released Thursday.

Employment in trucking has been gradually increasing after companies slashed jobs in March and April, when lockdowns aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus led to a collapse of economic activity. Trucking companies, largely focused on industrial shipments, have added more than 10,000 jobs since then, but payrolls in the sector are still down about 95,000 from a year ago.

4. U.S. may need another 1 billion square feet of warehouse space by 2025 as e-commerce booms

Matt Adams | Optoro

With online sales proliferating during the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. is going to need more warehouses to store hoards of boxes and handle those orders. 

Holed up at home, and with many bricks-and-mortar stores temporarily shut, shoppers have turned to their computers and smartphones to buy everything from fresh groceries to new home furnishings to pet toys. And even after the pandemic subsides, the trend of people buying more and more online is expected to stick around. 

And so with more people clicking “buy” instead of venturing to the mall, demand for industrial real estate could reach an additional 1 billion square feet by 2025, according to a new report from JLL. 

5. Urban to Suburban: The Growing Shift to the Suburbs at COVID-19 Changes the Way People Live

The arrival of COVID-19 has been a trigger for new modes of work. Office buildings across the globe have emptied out, but employees are still working. They’re just working from home instead. Cushman & Wakefield’s proprietary tool, Experience per SF™ (XSF), found that workers are as productive at home as they are in the office, and in some cases, even more productive. 

The positive experience that many occupiers are having with working from home is now being considered a potential major turning point in how they think about real estate. Whatever the future holds, the discussion about office real estate has shifted from strictly urban to a broader range of alternatives including the suburbs.

While we are not convinced that occupiers will need less real estate, we do think that where an occupier’s real estate is located may change in response to the events that have transpired since the arrival of COVID-19.

After a decade that increasingly focused on central cities, it feels like everything has been turned inside out. The next big thing is now not only the big new development in an urban core, but also a walkable suburban development near a transit hub.  

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!