Kforce Tampa Downsizing HQ Office As Remote Workforces Grow

TAMPA, FL — Following a national trend born out of necessity, one of Tampa Bay's largest publicly held companies announced Tuesday it is selling its Tampa headquarters and shifting to a hybrid work environment that allows more employees to work remotely.

Kforce Inc., a national professional staffing and solutions firm, has reached a deal to sell its Tampa corporate headquarters in Ybor City for $24 million. The company will close on the sale in May and then lease back space for 18 months while it searches for a "future state-of-the-art corporate headquarters" in Tampa Bay.

Kforce, which has 40 offices around the country, employs about 600 people at the Tampa headquarters.

Like hundreds of companies throughout the country, the coronavirus pandemic forced the company to transition to a remote workforce. In the process, Kforce discovered some unexpected benefits of having employees work from home.

“The pandemic has permanently changed the way we work and has showcased our ability to thrive remotely," Kforce President Joseph J. Liberatore said. "We believe our future lies in a technology-enabled, fully integrated hybrid work environment" in which employees have the option of working remotely or in the office environment.

Kforce moved into its current 130,000-square-foot corporate headquarters at 1001 E. Palm Ave., Tampa, in 2001.

Over the last several years, said Liberatore, Kforce has narrowed its focus on technology, finance and accounting staffing and solutions. This has resulted in Kforce requiring significantly less space for its corporate headquarters, he said.

“Before we began working remotely in March 2020 as a result of the pandemic, we were only utilizing roughly 50 percent of the capacity of our corporate headquarters," David L. Dunkel, chairman and chief executive officer, said.

After listening to employees who expressed a desire for a more flexible, technology-enabled work environment, the company agreed "it was no longer necessary to maintain a large real estate footprint in our corporate headquarters," Dunkel said.

He said the ease with which the company's employees adapted to the remote environment made the decision to sell the company's headquarters easy.

“Considering all the significant challenges our nation and world endured, it is remarkable to see how we have persevered, adapted and, in many cases, prospered," Dunkel said. "Our talented team delivered extraordinary financial results in 2020, and we are grateful and proud of their exceptional efforts."

"This decision is not only based on our review of business data and trends, but also on feedback from multiple employee surveys where they have indicated a strong desire for less time in the office and a greater amount of flexibility," Liberatore said. "We could not be prouder of how our people have adapted and performed during this pandemic, while working 100 percent remotely.”

Dunkel said a downsized corporate headquarters that uses technology to encourage collaboration also aligns with Kforce's evolution as a tech-centric leader.

"We could not be more excited about our future prospects and are confident this step will only further enable our Tampa-based teams to continue their contributions to Kforce capturing additional market share," he said.

Many Employees Prefer Working From Home

Kforce isn't the only major company in Tampa Bay that's come to the realization that it can function with much less space by offering their workforce the option to work remotely.

On March 18, 2020, Clearwater-based KnowBe4, the world's largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, mobilized its entire workforce of 884 global employees to work from home due to the pandemic.

"Setting up all 884 employees to work from home in just one day was a massive challenge,” said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of KnowBe4.

“KnowBe4 started adding money to people’s paychecks so they could buy the snacks, the coffee, the things you would have at work — the creature comforts — to try and help people maintain that at home," Sjouwerman said.

As a result, he said the company was able to remain productive and serve its more than 31,000 clients around the globe without missing a beat.

He said employees even had a bit of fun with the new work environment. They began to refer to their children as "coworkers." Sjouwrman related one amusing intranet conversation between two of his employees:

Carly S: “My coworker refused to put on pants this morning.”

Matthew S: “I promoted my coworker to director of personnel. Her job is to make sure that her one and only subordinate doesn't throw anything else into the toilets.”

Although the company is slowly transitioning employees back to the office, Sjouwerman said he feels no great urgency to return to the pre-pandemic work environment.

AdventHealth is another major Tampa Bay employer that's seeing remote work in a new light. The company announced it would not be renewing its lease in April for nearly 60,000 square feet of corporate office space in Telecom Park in Tampa after 80 percent of its 400 employees began working from home at the start of the pandemic.

According to Global Workplace Analytics, just 3.6 percent of the U.S. workforce worked from home in 2018. By the end of this year, an estimated 25 to 30 percent of employees will be working at home.

A Gallup poll found that three in five U.S. workers who began working remotely when the pandemic was declared said they would like to continue working from home once the public health risk has passed.

BuildRemote, a home office website, asked employees why they preferred working from home. Among the biggest reasons was not having to commute. Rather than spending hours in a car each week, employees could spend more time with their families, pursuing hobbies and staying fit.

Other reasons included less exposure to germs and viruses from fellow workers; the flexibility to pick up the kids from school or run other errands during the day; saving money on gas, car maintenance, lunches out, parking and work clothes; the ability to change your work environment from the local park to a favorite coffee shop; and less office politics.

Additionally, many workers found they're less distracted and more productive when they work from home.

Office Space Still Essential For Many Jobs

This doesn't mean Tampa Bay's downtown areas will turn into ghost towns of vacant skyscrapers.

If anything, Tampa Bay will see a greater demand for office space for fields where working remotely simply isn't practical — medical research facilities and other jobs requiring specialized equipment and jobs that require employees to collaborate such as architecture, design and engineering.

Currently under development, Water Street Tampa, a 56-acre mixed use redevelopment project will include 2 million square feet of office space. Much of it is pre-leased, said Mercedes Angell of Cushman & Wakefield, which is overseeing the office leases at Water Street.

She said many people are attracted to mixed use developments like Water Street that allow them to live, work, shop, exercise and socialize in a walkable environment.

"Demand for this office tower will be very high as companies continue to focus on their real estate as a way to attract and retain top talent," Angell said.

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