How will the commercial real estate environment in Canada be reshaped as workers gain the option to return to their workplaces? Some clues are already evident. Amid the pandemic’s disruption of economic sectors and lives, it seems that many workers adjusted well to the enforced work-from-home environment. One workplace research study found that nearly two-thirds prefer either to work from home or in a home/office hybrid environment. Business are rethinking their space needs as a result. Other studies suggest ways that the pandemic shifted attitudes. For example, one survey revealed that 27% of Canadian workers feel their careers have stalled since the start of the pandemic and nearly half feel burned out, prompting concerns about team cohesion and employee retention. At the same time, more than 60% of employers consider increased worker turnover an emerging problem. Other property owners and tenants are weighing the implications of maintaining rigorous distancing and cleanliness standards. Gensler, a global architecture, design, and planning firm, notes, “We now value space and the experience of being together more than ever. The office matters as a place to come together with each other for a common purpose. And for employees, choice, privacy, unassigned seating, and health and well-being are top of mind.” Investors, meanwhile, are keeping an eye on potential new opportunities, with MSCI estimating the inventory of managed real estate held for investment at CAD $546 in 2020, a CAD $3.6 billion gain from 2019. Employee restiveness, shifting workplace expectations and health factors are spurring many property management companies to rethink operations in areas ranging from employee amenities and tenant service to investor relations and vendor management. As professional services consultant Deloitte says, “The development of emotional connections between employees and their place of work, post-COVID, will lead to lower...