The Outlook for Global Offices

Following the recent experience of many global office employees working from home, debate now rages on the outlook for office demand going forward, including how offices will be used and where companies should choose to locate. At this stage we are a long way from having hard answers to these issues and should expect the final outcome to differ across various markets.

To present the bigger picture regarding how corporates need to think about the provision of workspace, we invited McKinsey to run through their research on the future of work and recent survey findings that pertain to how office use may change. McKinsey approached this by examining first the changing wishes of employees, and secondly the respective costs and benefits to organisations from increased remote and flexible working, before using these factors to draw conclusions as to the changing need for office real estate.

In discussion, our panel concluded that the outlook for aggregate office demand appears to be finely balanced. Employees’ desire for greater flexibility can be accommodated by many office employers. This will shift the utilisation of office spaces to further engender collaboration, networking and culture, recognising that more routine and individual tasks can be achieved at least as productively from home. But the aggregate demand for office space is unlikely to change materially, given the need to accommodate a significant majority of the workforce on peak days. However, there will be significant variation as to how this plays out across global office markets, resulting from cultural differences and locally-specific considerations.

Download the PDF to learn more about our outlook for global offices.

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