21% of Company Execs Say They Plan To Reduce Office Space

Even as Covid vaccinations bring a return-to-office closer to fruition, more companies are expecting to reduce their real estate footprints.

A recent survey conducted by the American Institute of CPA found that 21 percent of company executives said they expect to reduce their office space in the next 12 months, Bloomberg News reported. That’s up by 3 percentage points from the third quarter of 2020.

Big employers including Dropbox, Zillow and Twitter have already announced that a majority if not all of their workforce can permanently work from home. Other companies have adopted hybrid models, allowing employees to come in at their own discretion.

At the same time, 72 percent of executives said they expect no change in their office footprint, down by 5 percentage points from the third quarter of 2020.

“As the recovery progresses and we move toward the next-normal, more and more people will return to their traditional places of work,” Ash Noah, vice president at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, told the publication. “But this doesn’t change the fundamental shifts we’re seeing toward more virtual and remote operations.”

But working from home isn’t for everyone: 7 percent of respondents said they plan to increase office space, up by 2 percentage points from the third quarter of 2020.

There were 693 chief financial officers, controllers, and other senior-level certified public accountants and management accountants surveyed between Feb. 2 and Feb. 24.

[Bloomberg News] — Akiko Matsuda