Working from home is possible. Companies that hadn't allowed their employees to work from home before the coronavirus pandemic have noticed this for a good year now. But what will happen after the pandemic? Survey by the Information Service of the German Economic Institute (IW) provides answers.
Will more people be working from home in the future, thus requiring less office space? An IW survey of nearly 1,200 companies as part of a personnel panel shows that only just over six percent of companies in Germany plan to reduce their office space by the end of the year. Large companies with over 250 employees, as well as law firms, consultancies, and auditors, are most likely to want to reduce their office space, but even here, fewer than ten percent of the companies surveyed are planning to do so.
Redesign of office space
However, 17 percent of the companies surveyed can imagine redesigning their office space. Group offices could be eliminated, distances between workstations increased, and additional communication areas created. Large companies with over 250 employees (41 percent) and business-related service providers (24 percent) in particular can envision redesigning their office space.
Back to work
Furthermore, two-thirds of the companies in the IW survey stated that they do not plan to allow their employees to work from home more often in the post-coronavirus era. A fixed office space is often also part of the employment contract. Since a large number of employees will return to the office, the commercial real estate market is unlikely to collapse in the near future.
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