70% of CEOs expect office space to shrink after the coronavirus

Almost three-quarters of leading members of the business world predict office spaces around the world will “shrink” as a result of the coronavirus crisis, KPMG has revealed. 

KPMG’s CEO Outlook 2020: The coronavirus edition

KPMG’s annual CEO Outlook report has revealed that around 70 percent of the top people in business around the world expect to reduce their current office space as a result of the coronavirus crisis. 

The international network spoke to more than 1.800 CEOs worldwide before and after the outbreak of the coronavirus, talking to them about working from home and office spaces. Almost three-quarters of respondents said they plan on reducing the current number of square metres of office space “in the short term,” KPMG chairman Stephanie Hottenhuis said. 

KPMG’s report also revealed that the loss of key figures and the ability to attract enough highly skilled workers is now seen by 20 percent of respondents as the greatest threat to the growth of their company. Before the coronavirus crisis, it was only one percent.  

Working from home in the Netherlands

The global pandemic has left people in several countries working from home as much as possible for the foreseeable future, and many have become accustomed to this new way of life and are not eager to return to the office full-time. 

A recent survey conducted by the Royal Dutch Touring Club (ANWB) revealed that only 21 percent of people working in the Netherlands wanted to return to working full-time in their office. But 67 percent of survey respondents would prefer to split their week between working at home and at the office in the future.