In Proptech, Is Out of the Office the New In the Office?

Ask proptech principals about deciding on a fully in-office, remote or hybrid workforce — or whether that workforce should be in one place or distributed over locations — and they might reply, “It’s complicated.”

Technology has created flexible workplace opportunities, but blending the demands of workers, the company and clients can be a bit of a Where’s Waldo puzzle.

“Dealpath currently has a hybrid work policy in which employees are required to come into their assigned office a minimum of three to four days per week, depending on their role, in all four of our North American offices: San Francisco, New York City, Toronto, Austin,” said Mike Sroka, CEO of the real estate investment management platform, in an email. “Some team members, including myself, choose to work in-office five days per week.”

However, arriving at Dealpath’s current workplace configuration was anything but a no-brainer, even for a sophisticated technology company, said Sroka.

“Honestly, we never expected to go remote, and it’s been an important leadership challenge to bring teams back to the office and the working rhythms of pre-pandemic. We believe that it’s important and a journey that continues.”

Dealpath uses collaboration tools such as Zoom for video conferencing; Slack for group chat; Google Apps drive, sheets, and docs; Atlassian’s Jira for software product development; Asana for project management; and other cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) applications, he said.

“Whether we’re in-office, hybrid or remote, technology is a fantastic enabler that helps keep us tethered to our teams and teammates as we collaborate to identify opportunities, bring forward solutions and solve challenges,” Sroka said.

Still, the human touch remains much in demand, he added.

“We’ve heard loud and clear from our clients that they appreciate the opportunities to meet in person, which they take us up on frequently,” Sroka said. “We believe that we’re most effective working together in person and in market where our clients work. This enables faster collaborative innovation and problem solving as we build a new category of software and data services. It fosters strong personal relationships with colleagues, prospects, clients and partners. And it embeds us in the local and professional communities that we serve and are a part of. As such, we want our team to overlap in person as much as possible.”

It might be different for younger proptech firms (Dealpath started in San Francisco in 2014). Take tech-enabled self-storage company Stuf, which has had to quickly and nimbly make its way through workplace options since its founding in 2020, the year the pandemic started, said CEO Katharine “Kat” Lau.

“We are a national network of hyper-local and tech-enabled self-storage, so the inherent nature of our business means that we actually have to run remotely,” said Lau. “It’s also the reason why we built out our proprietary management software, because it allows us to manage a physical business with a click of a button. I think it’s interesting because the inherent business is meant to be remote, but we’ve ended up becoming distributed and hybrid.”

Stuf’s 13 full-time employees operate from a coworking space in Manhattan, as well as at locations across the U.S.

Despite its in-house communications technology capabilities, over the last two years Stuf’s employees expressed a strong desire for more in-person interaction, said Lau.

“When I started doing quarterly team surveys, the team was like, ‘We actually really like each other. Can we meet? Can we be together? Can we do an off-site? Can we be in the office?’ So I got us an office here in New York,” Lau said. “We have an office two to three days per week for the New York team, but otherwise we have this combination of distributed and hybrid, depending on where you are.”

Having worked at real estate coworking company Industrious prior to Stuf, Lau feels like she has come full circle in workplace configuration strategies. “I think it’s really interesting, because it validates what Industrious is saying, that it gives you the flexibility of being in office or not. You can create a package however you want.”

Neither Dealpath’s Sroka nor Stuf’s Lau has experienced pressure from investors concerning their in-office, distributed or hybrid work decision-making.

“We have strong alignment and support with our investors on our company policies and reasoning,” said Sroka.

In early 2023, Stuf closed an $11 million Series A financing round led by Altos Ventures and Allegion Ventures, with participation from existing investors Wilshire Lane Capital and Harlem Capital, all of whom also make the most of hybrid work and extensive use of artificial intelligence and technology, said Lau.

“Our investors do not push their way of working on us,” Lau said. “And I think the sign of a good investor is, ‘You are the founder. You manage the business how you deem appropriate.’ However, I have found my investors take very different approaches, depending on who the investor is. But no one is preaching, ‘Hey, Kat, you have to do this. You have to do that.’ It wasn’t a deciding factor if they were going to invest in us or not.”

Some more established proptech companies like MRI Software have created their workplace configuration technology in-house.

“Last year we launched Flex@MRI, a program that integrates remote work, hybrid schedules, and in-person attendance,” Susan Avelluto, chief people officer at MRI Software, said in an email. “Employees come into a core location two or three days a week and have flexible hours.”

Bringing employees together in-person is important to building the company’s culture, said Avelluto. “We also believe in the diversity of locations, talent pools and work preferences, and we know that many people like to work remotely part of the time. That’s why we chose a hybrid approach.”

MRI is also finding that investors and clients like its workplace options, she said. “Our clients would be surprised if we didn’t have a policy of flexibility. Combining in-office and distributed work supports the real estate industry and your workforce, and maximizes your investment in each.”

Of course, even the most flexible workplace strategy has drawbacks, said Dealpath’s Sroka.

“The pandemic forced the market, including us, to prove that remote work is possible and that business can continue moving forward,” he said. “There have been personal convenience benefits such as repurposing commute times and the ability to have personal activities interspersed during the workweek. There have also been business benefits with access to broader talent pools across geographies.

“On the other hand, there are also clear drawbacks to remote work for our business. There is a tax on collaboration, professional development, exposure cross-functionally, and building connective tissue with the company beyond the direct team, which increases based on the number of time zones separated. For our business, we believe that remote work is possible — however, not optimal — and, with the opportunity to choose, we choose to overlap in person as much as possible.”

Stuf’s Lau agrees. 

“I think there is so much meaning and weight behind in person,” she said. “And as someone who talks to commercial real estate owners, especially office owners, a lot every single day, I think there’s a silver lining. I know for myself and for my team, they’re the ones saying, ‘Hey, we want to be together, want to be in person.’ All of that requires a place, right? And so I’m a little bit more optimistic about the commercial landscape than others might be.”

Philip Russo can be reached at prusso@commercialobserver.com.