Tech giants are their biggest victims

The "billion" workplace ... from luxurious architectural icons to empty offices

"Apple" has spent more than $ 5 billion on its Apple Park headquarters in California.

From the source

During the past five to seven years, giant technology companies have competed in establishing luxurious and huge main workplaces, according to the latest modern architectural and technical models, and spending on these headquarters broke the barrier of one billion dollars (about 3.67 billion dirhams), while it reached its maximum in the case of the company «Apple », With more than five billion dollars, which it spent on its headquarters, Apple Park, in Cupertino, California, and with the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, and the great shift to a remote working mode, these headquarters turned from modern“ icons ”of architecture and civil engineering, Technical progress and innovative creative work methods have become a huge problem because they have become empty or almost empty most of the time, and while this crisis was somewhat emergency during 2020, analysts expect it to become a "chronic worry" in 2021.

Luxurious residences

According to a survey conducted by analysts of the technology website cnet.com, and published on December 17th, the huge, almost empty headquarters crisis is facing the big technology giants more than others, most notably the companies: "Apple" and "Google", And "Amazon", "Microsoft", "Sales Force", "Uber", and "Dell", which have either already completed previous projects, or have ongoing projects that are about to be completed, to create luxurious and modern headquarters.

The survey estimated that the cost of the headquarters construction projects in these companies ranged between $ 1.2 billion - which is represented by spending on Uber's headquarters, which is intended to manage and accommodate the movement of about 22,000 employees - and more than $ 5 billion, which is the number that was spent on the headquarters of the company. "Apple" in California, while spending on other headquarters projects falls between these two figures, led by the headquarters of "Microsoft", which is to be built on an area of ​​up to 30 acres in Washington, and is expected to cost not less than three billion, in addition to the headquarters of "Dell" and " Facebook », which began before the pandemic and has not yet ended.

Hybrid action

The "CNET" survey indicated that Uber, Google, Dell, and Facebook are now implementing a work environment based on the hybrid approach, which includes attending part of the week and working from home in The other part, and thus companies may resort to adopting a "fast office" approach, in which office space, especially personal offices, disappears, and work is done wherever there is space.

Hardware companies are also likely to expand lab and laboratory space, where working machines and a collaborative atmosphere will be the reason some people need to come.

And given that technology companies rely most of their work on creative and talented people, they have spread different work culture ideas, such as encouraging more artistic workspaces, free cafeterias, and activities such as yoga classes, table tennis lounges, and open gardens, and these are ideas. Helps attract employees to spend as much time as possible in the office.

The survey stated that the hybrid work approach was applied by Uber at its new headquarters, which absorbs about 10% of its workforce, which is 22,000 employees. Google also confirmed, this December, according to its CEO, Sunder Peshai, that it is studying the approach. similar.

Dell also announced, which more than 60% of its 134,000 employees said they want to stay away, and only need places where teams or employees meet to work in labs and laboratories.

As for the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, he announced that the company is moving forward towards a thoughtful and systematic approach to hybrid, to include all 48,000 employees.

Futuristic ambiguity

Analyzes conducted by the company, "CBRE", which specializes in real estate services and helps companies determine the nature of work environments and how to invest headquarters, revealed that companies do not yet know what the work environment will look like after the decline of the "Corona" epidemic.

According to the chief manager of the company, Casey Garcia, ambiguity still surrounds the new normal for these companies, and it is likely that technology companies in particular will switch to the hybrid business model for a period of time in order to find out what works, and they have already entered a race of time to do so. Whatever these solutions may be, it is unlikely that things will return to how they were, or to what was planned at the beginning of the construction of the buildings.

However, the leasing broker and Vice President of "CBRE", Elizabeth Hart, believes that the currently empty billion buildings do not seem a bad thing along the line, because the solutions and work cultures that creative technology companies will reach will provide an inspiring model for other companies, Not only in the technology sector, but in other sectors, as well as for companies of all sizes, even if they do not have billion headquarters.