“Office Space Barometer” 2020: The home office share of work time will rise from 12% before coronavirus to 25-30%

At the start of June, the LINK Institute carried out a survey on the topic of “home office” on behalf of Wüest Partner AG of decision-makers from 500 Swiss companies in sectors with mostly conventional office use.

After many employees were forced to work from home from March to June due to the lockdown, many companies conclude that home office works very well for the most part and also has its advantages. 85% of the respondents specified the time won through not having to commute as an advantage, and 56% specified the improvement in the work-life balance for the employees.

Wüest Partner AG aims to use the study “Office Space Barometer” 2020 to better assess how companies deal with working from home and examine the future demand for office space. 44% of the companies expect their employees to work more from home in future than before the coronavirus crisis. It is worth noting that those financial and insurance service providers for which the issue of working from home did not play a major role until March 2020 now also want to rely on it more.

There should be more working from home in the future especially at companies with more than 50 employees and in companies with open-plan offices. Wüest Partner AG expects the share of home office work time in the next one to two years to rise from 12% before coronavirus to 25-30%, hence showing a longer-term trend.

The Wüest Partner AG draws a positive conclusion from the survey. There will probably be no slump in the demand for space in the real estate market. 17% of the companies surveyed expect a reduction in purely office space. 69% expect the demand for office space to remain about the same. Wüest Partner AG sees the reasons for a stable demand for space in the changed space needs: The need for space used for meeting/customer rooms, break rooms, or sport and relaxation zones will rise, which should offset the general trend toward a declining demand for purely office space.