Re/Max cuts size of DTC headquarters, embraces working from home – The Denver Post

Re / Max is downsizing its headquarters in the Denver Tech Center as the company introduces flexible work arrangements for its employees.

But a step that was apparently triggered by the pandemic was already in the works, according to a manager.

Susan Zimmerman, senior vice president of human resources, told BusinessDen that the real estate franchisor will use five floors of its office building at 5075 S. Syracuse St. in Denver, up from nine previously.

In the course of this, the company renovated four of the floors it used.

“We’re about 50 percent done with the last two floors and 100 percent done with the first two floors,” Zimmerman said in early June, adding that the work would be completed by the end of summer.

Zimmerman said CBRE and Re / Max Commercial are marketing the four floors Re / Max is giving up for sublet.

In fact, Re / Max is renting the entire 12-story building and has already sublet part of it. The structure was last sold to KORE Investments of Greenwood Village in 2018 for $ 115 million.

Zimmerman said Re / Max traditionally wanted employees to work from the office, but that policy relaxed two years ago.

“In 2019 we started a remote working program,” she said. “We have never really worked remotely before, giving our employees more flexibility in terms of their schedules and their preferred workplace. We just got a great response. The staff just absolutely loved it. “

At the same time, the company wanted to “freshen up” its premises in the building that it moved into in 2008. So it decided to upgrade for flexibility from home.

March 13, 2020 was the day Re / Max employees cleaned up their offices so construction could begin, Zimmerman said. It was also at the precise time that the home stay orders were issued.

Originally it was only planned to move the employees to different floors. That didn’t happen.

“We assumed that most of the staff would be working from the office during construction,” said Zimmerman. “But it turned out there was nobody but construction workers.”

The pandemic resulted in some minor changes to the renovations, mostly related to increasing the space between workplaces and using materials that are easy to clean, Zimmerman said.

Courtesy of Re / Max

A meeting room on the 9th floor of Re / Max’s headquarters.

When everything is ready, Re / Max’s new space will include 56 private offices and a total of 337 workspaces. 73 areas are considered “meeting spaces”, from sofas to telephone booths to conference rooms.

Incidentally, these conference rooms are named after everything from Re / Max sales premiums (“100% Club”) to the company’s philanthropic efforts (“Craig Hospital”) and the German Shepherd Dog from company founders Dave and Gail Liniger (“Max”).

Employees who do not have an office can reserve any workstation using the software.

“If you want the morning sun or the sunset in the evening, you can have that,” said Zimmerman. “You can sit next to colleagues or sit far away if you need more privacy or more headless work.”

Re / Max has around 600 employees and expects their office to regularly host around 280 employees, with the rest working from home. In some cases these employees are not even on site. The company said about 150 people from overseas work for the company.

“This is new to us,” said Zimmermann.

Denver-based interior design firm Acquilano helped design the company’s new space while Centennials Ponderosa Construction completed the work.

Last month, Washington-based Re / Max sued competitor eXp Realty, saying the company had “induced” several Re / Max franchisees to “give up” their franchise before the contract term expired. The case has now been moved from the state to the federal court.