Organizations' reduction of office space following COVID-19 pandemic 2020

47 percent of respondents say that their companies will see some form of a reduction in their physical office space in the future as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This is rather not surprising as there has been a trend to working from home since the beginning of the pandemic and even before. However, the COVID-19 pandemic may be the catalyst that ultimately changes the outlook of how and where many people work in the future. On the other hand, there are still more than 50 percent of organizations that currently do not plan to reduce their physical office footprint.

Working from home (WFH)

The concept of working from home has become a relatively new and popular one, with many companies forced to switch their workers to a remote environment in order to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and to stay economically afloat. However, the return to an office space may come sooner than expected, with almost a third of respondents within the IT industry answering that they have already gone back. Many others who were surveyed answered that they will go back as soon as regulations allow or within one to three months after regulations allow.

Post COVID-19 vaccine

The trend to WFH following the COVID-19 vaccine will persist for many but not for all workers. Before the pandemic, approximately 14 percent WFH, where after the vaccine, it is expected to be around 22 percent, according to respondents. This may only be a seven percent increase, but when this is compared to the full workforce, this seven percent will have an impact for millions across the world. For the workforce in the global ICT industry this would mean that around 3.7 million workers, of the more than 53 million full-time employees, will potentially not return to the office but will continue working from home.