While many employees prefer remote or hybrid work arrangements, a study published in the Harvard Business Review found that office space has not shrunk dramatically to reflect this shift.
According to a survey of 5,000 American workers and 500 employers, there is an emerging trend. Three days at work and two at home are becoming the new norm, which reduces working days by 30%.
According to Regus, a U.K.-based office-service company, ”Companies are looking to reduce the amount of space they lease per worker.”
But according to HBR, office space is only being reduced by 1-2 percent on average, indicating that “density not space” is being reduced. Employees appreciate an empty office, but employers want to create “inviting social spaces that encourage face-to-face collaboration, creativity, and serendipitous encounters.”
It’s also popular when workers have Monday and Friday off, which means they still want to work in an office environment at some point. Office space isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but it may be time to rethink how they are organised. It may be time to rethink the corporate office’s traditional layout.
As a result of the pandemic, there has been an overall decrease in the amount of office space available.
According to research done by Norm Miller at the University of San Diego, new leases on office space in 2013 averaged 183 feet per person, with Deutsche Asset Management data showing the trend has continued from 2013 to 2016.
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