“If we don’t get people back into the CBDs, back into work this recession is going to be far more painful than it needs to be,” Dexus CEO Darren Steinberg claimed yesterday, during a AFR Property Summit panel.
He noted that it was about more than simply filling the empty office blocks that his company owns and manages.
“We don’t get the multiplier effect into the small to medium businesses that inhabit the CBDs.”
Mr Steinberg is currently working in the office for nine days a fortnight. He urges bosses to take the lead in this return.
“I implore business leaders to get their people back to work. The easiest thing to do right now is say, ‘Hey, we’ll stay at home and see how this thing plays out’
“I am absolutely certain that those businesses that get people back to work will have a sustained competitive advantage over those businesses sitting at home saying ‘We’re doing fantastically’.”
Mr Steinberg also touched on the topic last week, during an interview with AFR.
“People will sit there and say it’s the death of the office, but I don’t think that’s the case based on what we are seeing today and the deals we are still doing.”
He suggests that post-pandemic, we will see a similar return to CBD offices as was seen in the 18 months after 9/11.
“After the planes ran into the buildings, everyone was saying: ‘No one is going to be working in a building ever again. New York is going to be decimated, it’s going to empty out.’
“And then 18 months later everything was back to normal, they’re building more buildings … there was a boom time in offices.”
Elsewhere in the AFR interview, he questioned whether simply maintaining the status quo while working from home was sufficient.
“I think people are comfortable when they can sit at home and say, ‘I’m doing a great job.’ But are they really doing a good job that they’re paid to do? And are they really growing their businesses? They might be maintaining the status quo, but, quite frankly, I don’t think that’s good enough.”
At this point, it is worth noting that Dexus are the largest landlords in the country, with a business model that relies upon people returning to offices in droves.
A fortnight ago, Dexus sold a 22-level, $450 million tower in the Melbourne CBD to a German investment company.
