The virtual office and other approaches that address the challenges of the current times
By Rene Ryan
When COVID-19 sent millions of workers home in a flash to set up remote offices, Judy Poitevent, CRS, broker/owner of WATER Street Realty LLC, didn’t miss a beat. “I’ve been working from home since 1999 and even started my own full-service, boutique virtual brokerage in 2015,” she says. “So when the pandemic hit, it didn’t change much for me. I knew customers didn’t really need to come to an office—and I didn’t need to go to one.”
Poitevent realized that working from home meant she could work smarter. “I was spending so much time driving into the office to get files and then backtracking. I don’t do that at all anymore,” she says. Her home office is in her living room. She has a private business mailbox on her driveway for real estate transactions. Security cameras monitor the comings and goings of people dropping off paperwork. And once a week, at least before COVID-19, she and her staff would meet at a local restaurant for dinner and some face-to-face time. “That allows us to support brick-and-mortar businesses in our community without having our own physical space,” she says.
Working remotely also allows for more flexibility. “Real estate agents can work 24/7,” Poitevent says. “So being at home has allowed me to schedule my day in the most productive way. Plus, I can take breaks when I need to. I’ll tend to my garden, walk my dog or row from my home gym.”
Years ago, there were moments Poitevent questioned whether a virtual office was the right move. But given the current global pandemic, she knows it was. “I couldn’t be happier,” she says. “I don’t have a lease to pay or a space people are afraid to visit.”
Going 100% virtual also made sense for Angela Cutter, CRS, Overland Park, Kansas, who recently joined eXp, an online brokerage, as a broker associate. Cutter pays eXp a monthly cloud brokerage fee. “I don’t want to offend any people who work in commercial real estate, but the expense of having an office for big brokerage firms just doesn’t seem necessary anymore.”
Cutter’s monthly fee at eXp allows her to access listings, trainings, brokerage meetings and presentations. “Today’s technology makes it all possible,” she says. “I can’t imagine going back to a physical office. This is a great, safe model, and it also reduces our environmental footprint.”
The touchless office
But the virtual office isn’t for everyone—and when it’s not, alternative safety measures need to be considered.
Before the first known case of COVID-19 was identified in Virginia, the 300 employees and independent contractors working at Coldwell Banker Elite—across nine offices—were notified that they should begin working from home immediately. “It seemed daunting, but we’d been preparing for this for years with cloud-based technology solutions,” says Matthew Rathbun, CRS, broker/executive vice president. “But as the months went on and we began to bring people back into the office, especially financial staff, we needed to think through the physical safety of what that experience would look like.”
Everything was on the table, from facial recognition cameras and temperature monitoring, to keyless doors and touchless lights. “These considerations are costly, but the cost of shutting down repeatedly every time someone is sick is much more expensive,” says Rathbun.
“Historically, pandemics have only been healed when the majority of people are willing to take actions. We’re convinced that investing in changes now will help us in the long run.”
Rathbun’s team is also looking at limiting the amount of in-office touch points by following these best practices:
- All meetings and trainings are virtual.
- All closings are done remotely.
- All TVs and monitors are smart and work with employees’ devices, thereby avoiding the need to touch remote controls, share pens or enter passwords.
- All mail—unless it is personalized, first-class mail—goes into recycling to avoid multiple people handling it.
“We believe that being thoughtful about these changes, and how they will affect business in the future, gives us a competitive edge,” Rathbun says.
6 tips for remote success
Melissa Hailey, CRS, broker/owner, North Texas Top Team REALTORS®, serving the Dallas-Fort Worth area, has worked remotely for 15 years. “All of our REALTORS® and employees work from home,” she says. “We usually meet clients at coffee shops and houses. That’s the beauty of being a REALTOR®.”
Hailey offers the following tips for productivity based on years of success.
Set your alarm
Just because you work from home doesn’t mean you don’t have to get up. Don’t try to roll out of bed 10 minutes before you are supposed to “be at work.”
Follow your normal morning routine
Keep doing what you did when you went to the office. If you got up and showered, ate breakfast, had coffee, got dressed and got the kids ready, then you need to do all of those things before you go to work at home, too.
Get dressed
Do not go to work in your pajamas. Especially if you might be on a video conference call. Even if you don’t actually need to see anyone, you will be more productive just by getting dressed.
Set up your office space
If you don’t have a dedicated home office space, then it’s time to get one. It doesn’t have to be a separate room. Even if you just move your dining table into a corner and use a cardboard box for your file cabinet—just find some separate space.
Set your work hours
It’s very easy to work all day, work through lunch and also work into the evening. Make sure to set boundaries.
Get some exercise
If your Fitbit usually says you get 10,000 steps walking around at your office, to/from your car and to/from kids’ activities, keep a goal of still getting those steps in. You will be sorely surprised to see how few steps you take from the bedroom to the study.
For more tips on productivity, visit northtexastopteam.com/blog/tips-working-home.
Photo: iStock.com/filadendron
