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75% of companies plan to cut office space in 2024
Dive Brief:
- Seventy-five percent of businesses surveyed plan to reduce their office square footage in 2024, nearly 30% more than in 2022, according to a 2023 office space report from workspace platform provider Robin.
- However, 88% of the companies surveyed said they are mandating that employees work a certain number of days onsite — up nearly 20% since 2022 — the firm stated.
- Eighty-two percent of the companies surveyed expressed concern about their ability to retain their current office space due to recession or space underutilization, the report said.
Dive Insight:
Robin, which offers a platform for desk booking, room scheduling, visitor management and workplace analytics, polled more than 500 facilities managers and business owners to gather insights into how they’re using their current office space and what they are planning for 2024.
The survey found a 19% increase in predominantly full-time office work and a 21% decline in hybrid work, since its last report in 2022. Fifty-six percent of respondents said the majority of their employees work on-site full time, while 40% said a majority of their teams are hybrid.
The length of time employees must be in the office appears to be growing: The number of businesses with four-day-a-week in-office mandates has increased by 32% since last year, while the number of companies with three-day-a-week in-office mandates has dropped 16%, the report states. Fifty-two percent of companies reported that their employees must be in the office four days a week, while 26% and 16% said they mandate three days and two days per week, respectively.
Despite this increase in on-site attendance, 80% of offices surveyed have downsized their space since the pandemic — a 20% increase since 2022, the report said. The growing proportion of companies that plan to reduce space next year may indicate that companies are waiting for utilization to increase before they make space-cutting decisions, Robin said.
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