Companies want workers back in the office, but are simultaneously reducing office space, new survey finds

• Around 75% of companies plan to reduce their office square footage next year, a new survey found.
• Robin Powered surveyed over 500 business owners about how their office space is being used.

Companies have been pushing workers to return to the office but at the same time have been cutting back on office space which in turn will leave employees with less space to work, a new survey found.

Robin Powered, a desk booking platform, surveyed 530 business owners and facilities managers across the US about how their company's office space is currently being used and what the future of the physical office will look like.

It found that 80% of businesses have downsized since the start of the pandemic, with a further 75% planning to reduce their office square footage next year.

Over 60% of companies who responded to the survey said they are paying $50 or more per square foot of their office space. As a result, over two-thirds plan to reduce their office space by 50% or more with almost a third planning to right-size their office by a quarter or less.

At the same time, 88% of companies are mandating that staff work a certain number of days in the office, with 52% mandating at least four days a week in the office.

The return-to-office mandate is an effort by business owners to ensure they're getting the most out of office space given the high costs associated with renting.

However, 40% of respondents in the survey said that they're only utilizing half of their available office space or less, and only 28% said they're using 100% of their space.

Although 42% are hopeful that offices will go back to pre-pandemic levels of attendance, 58% are sure that that volume of office attendance is a thing of the past.

Many major companies including Meta, Google, Dropbox, and Salesforce have scaled back on office space in the past year as a cost-cutting measure.

Employees at Meta who have been forced to return to the office have even complained about the company's lack of office space, with some having to sit on the floor in conference rooms.

Meanwhile many workers are resisting RTO mandates and are reluctant to give up the freedom that flexible work offers.

Office vacancies even soared to a 20-year high of 20% from July to September this year with an investment in offices falling sharply in corporate hubs like New York, according to data from CoStar.