Half the world's biggest companies are downsizing office space amid hybrid working

An empty office. Thomas Barwick/Getty Images

• A Knight Frank survey of 350 companies found half of large companies plan to downsize office space.
• That’s been sparked by a move towards hybrid working, but trends are different in smaller companies.
• 31% of those surveyed are implementing an “office-first” approach.

Half of the world’s biggest companies are planning to downsize office space as hybrid working continues, according to a survey from real estate agent Knight Frank.

The largest firms – defined as having more than 50,000 employees – anticipate cutting 10% to 20% of their office space by 2026.

The report is based on a sample of around 350 businesses around the world, employing a total of 10 million people.

Most of those companies are moving towards hybrid work, but 31% are implementing an “office-first” approach.

Fortune reported Wednesday that Salesforce is trying to lure its employees back to the office with a $10 charity donation every day they come in – willing to give up to $2.5 million in total. It has over 79,000 staff.

“Now that we are in a truly post-pandemic world, corporate decision-makers are ‘removing the blinkers’ and making clear decisions around their future corporate real estate strategy based on a broader array of business issues than just the pandemic,” Dr Lee Elliott, global head of occupier research at Knight Frank, said in a statement accompanying the report.

“Firms are looking to work their offices harder, but still offer some flexibility to staff,” he said.

Elliott told The Times of London that there’s “a strong push towards better quality, amenity-rich, sustainably accredited space that better aligns with prevailing work styles.”

But while the larger companies are scaling back on office space, 55% of all the surveyed companies said they expect to “increase or greatly increase” office footprints over the next three years. This was led by companies with up to 10,000 staff, which made up 211 of the 347 companies polled.

“There are examples where companies are losing space … but equally there are a lot of organizations, particularly mid-cap companies, that are actually expanding their global footprint,” Elliott told CNN.