Real Estate Strategy - Offices in 2030 according to Mazars

After EY (ex-Ernst & Young), Robert Walters and Jacques Attali, Deskeo continues its series of interviews "Offices in 2030" with Claire Gueydan-O'Quin and Cédric Anquetil, real estate consulting experts at Mazars. We take a look at the real estate strategy of the French financial audit giant.

Although teleworking at Mazars was already present before the Covid period, Claire Gueydan-O'Quin admits that it was a difficult exercise from a managerial point of view because supervising teams from a distance is complicated. "From a managerial point of view, we had to adapt because supervising 100% remote teams is a way of working that we discovered during the confinement" she says. Indeed, even if combining professional and personal life is a positive aspect of teleworking, it is difficult to find a good way of working within the teams.

"In terms of teaching, we notice that there is an evolution in management. We are moving towards management by output (results) rather than by input." (how much time we spend at work).

In terms of de-confinement and returning to the office, both of our interviewees report that they have adapted the rules of office life with regular communication in order to move towards reopening the workspace in the long term. In their opinion, 100% teleworking cannot work. It is therefore important to combine telework and face-to-face work. They also note that some aspects of their business are not effective when teleworking: "Employee appraisal is difficult to do from a distance" admits Claire Gueydan-O'Quin. "The same applies to business development, and in particular the implementation of new business initiatives which require regular exchanges.

Our two experts share the vision outlined by Jacques Attali the day before, namely a convergence between the hotel industry and corporate real estate. Indeed, Claire and Cédric both insist that the corporate restaurant, too often neglected, will today switch to the codes of the hotel industry with a higher level of refinement. In order to follow this logic, Mazars is already working with hotel experts to build service offers within its clients' workspaces.

"It's important to put people back at the centre of our offices." Cedric Anquetil

Finally, Cedric Anquetil advises companies to favour flexibility in their real estate strategy in order to be able to adapt to the future.