Speakers at the GuocoLand webinar Working, living and investing in a new world (clockwork from top left): Dora Chng, general manager (residential), GuocoLand; Bernard Tong, CEO of EdgeProp; Yvonne Siew, head of real estate advisery and investment at Bank of Singapore; and Eugene Goh, co-founder of TalentKraft
SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - With Covid-19 restrictions extended to Nov 21, work from home (WFH) is once again the default mode and social gatherings are still capped at two. Companies are increasingly coming to terms with the fact that “the 100% in-office work experience is pretty much gone,” says Eugene Goh, co-founder of TalentKraft, strategy consultants for human resource, specialising in talent attraction and retention.
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Hybrid work — a mix of remote and in-person work — is now the norm. “Companies need to be prepared and remain agile,” adds Goh, who was speaking at the Working, living and investing in a new world webinar on Oct 23, which was sponsored by GuocoLand.
Goh believes that companies need to engage their staff in a contactless fashion. For instance, if a company used to pay for transportation and meal allowance in the past, that savings could now be channelled towards helping their staff WFH more effectively such as offering a home office setup allowance. This could take the form of a good office chair, desk or a good microphone and webcam, he adds.
Besides the home office setup, interaction and collaboration in the virtual work environment is equally important. He recommends the use of online collaboration tools such as Google Workspace or Slack. “If your team members frequently hold meetings on zoom, just pay for their zoom accounts so they don’t have to tell the other party to log back in every 40 mins,” he adds.
Staying connected is equally important, notes Goh. He suggests virtual team lunches and non-work discussions. Food vouchers for staff to allow them to order in for such team lunches could be given once a month. Non-work conversations are vital, he adds.
“The quality of relationships is not the same if you’re working from home and especially if you are a new staff member, trying to learn the ropes and trying to get to know your colleagues,” says Goh. Several different applications match people like “blind dates” where they can have a 15-minute chat to find out more about each other. “It may feel a little artificial but once people get into the flow, it becomes a nice way to meet your colleagues.”
An important subject that used to be overlooked, but is now at the forefront is mental wellness. “It’s increasingly clear that the stress of WFH is affecting people in negative ways,” notes Goh.
Show suite of a unit designed as a home office at Midtown Bay (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
These structural shifts in the way people work and live have certainly changed the way space is used. “Most of our corporate tenants have already adopted hybrid work arrangements,” says Dora Chng, GuocoLand general manager (residential).
Even if only 50% of their staff were to return to work, the office space requirement would not be halved, she notes. Instead, it would mean their staff are likely to come to the office two to three days a week. The office space would then serve a different purpose: for brainstorming sessions, group discussions or meetings. “This is unlike the past where you come into the office and sit down to work,” says Chng. “You now do that at home, and come to the office to interact with colleagues.”
With hybrid work, offices are becoming “more residential”, observes Yvonne Siew, head of real estate advisery and investment at Bank of Singapore, a wholly-owned subsidiary of OCBC Bank. “People are more concerned about how the office looks, sanitisation and wellness issues.”
There is a flight to quality, adds Siew, with rents holding firm in newer premium-grade office buildings, especially those in the city area, located close to transportation hubs and amenities.
Siew heads the private banking arm at Bank of Singapore and her clients include high net-worth individuals, family offices and multi-family offices as well as institutional investors.
These structural shifts have changed investment behaviour too, notes Siew. Investors are focusing on sectors such as prime residential or multi-family housing, logistics, e-commerce distribution and data centres, she says.
Besides traditional physical assets and real estate investment trusts (REITs), investors are seeking alternative investments such as private funds and private REITs. Some are looking at discretionary real estate funds or co-investment opportunities with asset managers, investing in income-producing assets with a longer-term view of an exit via a trade sale or IPO as a REIT.
“Investors are hunting for yield,” says Siew. There’s still interest in prime Grade-A office space but the focus is on assets with a long WALE (weighted average lease expiry) and built-in rental escalations, she adds.
Artist’s impression of the Guoco Midtown integrated development (Credit: GuocoLand)
Even as offices assume a more residential aspect, homes are becoming more “corporate-like”, notes GuocoLand’s Chng. Catering to those who want a home address that also doubles as a business address is GuocoLand’s 219-unit Midtown Bay.
Units are designed with the flexibility to accommodate a home office. The marble flooring on the ground floor extends from the living area to the bedrooms. The units come with 3.2m ceiling height and a load-bearing structure that allows the homeowner to convert the upper level into a bedroom, a games room or a study, adds Chng.
The duplex penthouses at Midtown Bay have an added advantage: The homeowner could turn the upper level into a private residence, and the lower floor into a home office. Businesses that want to operate in a residential unit will need to register with URA. Under the guidelines, only a maximum of two non-occupiers are allowed to work there.
As Midtown Bay is part of the Guoco Midtown integrated development, residents will be able to enjoy the amenities such as the 80,000 sq ft network hub, which is designed as a social and business club. “It’s a hybrid clubhouse with corporate facilities for residents and lifestyle amenities for corporate tenants,” says Chng.
At Guoco Midtown, there is a Grade-A office tower with large floor plates averaging 30,000 sq ft and a total space of 770,000 sq ft. The lifestyle component includes three retail villages and an F&B cluster on the ground floor of Midtown House, the conserved building that was once the Beach Road Police Station. Residents at Midtown Bay will be able to use all these facilities, including the public gardens.
In terms of accessibility, Midtown Bay is directly connected underground to the Bugis MRT interchange station and linked to City Hall MRT interchange station as well as the Promenade MRT interchange station and Esplanade MRT station.
Will the future Beach Road-Bugis area eclipse the CBD-Tanjong Pagar area once Guoco Midtown and the other new developments are completed over the next three years? “Interest in Singapore’s office and residential property is strong enough to support the co-existence of CBD-Tanjong Pagar, Marina Bay and Midtown,” says Chng.
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