The CRE Workforce of the Future

CREW Network 2022 Research Paper Launch: Building the CRE Workforce of the Future

Navigating through a pandemic, commercial real estate companies are working to restructure the new normal. Amidst the ambiguities of working from home, a potential recession, supply chain issues and finding workforce talent, the CRE industry is undergoing fundamental changes.

CREW Network’s 2022 industry research paper shows insights into these topics and the CRE workplace. Some 1,200 CRE professionals, located across five countries, were surveyed to offer an analysis on the current state of the industry. The paper, Building the CRE Workforce of the Future, highlights this year’s survey responses.

Questions the paper and its related webinar aims to respond surround hybrid work, navigating the geo-political landscape as a woman, mentorship and new hiring strategies. Of the participants in the survey, 96 percent identified as women, 18 percent identified as mixed race or non-white and 11 percent identified as having a work-impacting disability.

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Wendy Mann, CEO of CREW Network, facilitated the webinar surrounding Building the CRE Workforce of the Future and its findings, joined by Lightbox’s CEO Eric Frank, CBRE’s Chief Responsibility officer Tim Dismond and Capital One’s Senior Vice President Head of Agency Finance Kate Byford.

Flexible work spaces

One of the survey insights Mann covered during the webinar stated that 26 percent of respondents said they are required to work in an office. Of those, 63 percent said this situation is working out for them and they enjoy it, while 36 percent said this was not ideal and they would prefer flexibility.

On workspace flexibility, Byford spoke to Capital One’s hybrid work approach they are implementing. The firm is asking their employees to come into the office Tuesday through Thursday, while Monday and Friday remain optional.

“Finding somebody who has been there before, who can guide you and help you with your career and help you with challenges, whether it is with an employer or management or whatever it is, is so important when you are starting out to know who you are working with,” said Frank on the benefits of being in an office space. “I think it is an incredibly valuable time in your life to be able to engage with other people.”

Diversity and inclusion

Another main webinar and survey topic examined diversity in CRE companies and across industries. 34 percent of survey respondents said that one way industry leaders can advance women and underrepresented people in their industry was through conducting equal pay assessments, while 27 percent said they implement more flexible work policies and 19 percent said firms need to actively recruit more of these individuals into the workforce.

Dismond spoke to how CBRE has implemented a holistic approach toward ensuring women and underrepresented people have equal opportunity.

“I think employers, especially CBRE, are being incredibly mindful about what happens and the power of actually collaborating and being inclusive within the office,” said Dismond on the focus of belonging and what happens in an office across diversity, equity and inclusion.

Key insights from the survey include a finding that 92 percent of respondents said their companies are inclusive. More specifically, 48 percent said very inclusive, while 44 percent said somewhat.

Other survey insights

In terms of the pandemic, 29 percent of those surveyed said that women in their working location have voluntarily left their company as a result of COVID, while 27 percent said they have taken a new CRE-related job since the onset of the pandemic. Of the women that left their work locations, 95 percent have not returned.

Other survey results include:

• One-third of women globally have the option to work hybrid
• 70 percent of CRE professionals prefer working for a company with flexible working arrangements
• 19 percent of respondents said their company has not adapted to the changing needs of their employees

Read the full report by CREW Network.