The impact of the pandemic on office spaces continues to reverberate | Business Observer

With the fourth quarter of 2021 underway, the office sector remains a shell of what it once was – and other potential issues are set to end the year.

A new survey by small business review and website digital.com found that nearly four in 10 businesses, or 39%, plan to close some or all of their offices in the next six months. next months.

This adds to the elephant of the office market in the room: remote working. The survey of more than 1,200 companies nationwide, namely, includes the following findings:

• Almost seven out of 10 American companies, 69%, have already closed some or all of their offices permanently since March 2020.

• More than a third, 37%, have permanently closed all their offices.

• Almost half, 41%, of companies have reduced their existing office space since the start of the pandemic.

• More than half, 51%, who plan to retain office space will allow employees to choose to work remotely indefinitely.

• Some 64% of large companies, companies with at least 500 employees, small office spaces. Another 36% closed some offices.

• Firms with 10 or fewer employees were the most likely not to have closed any office space – almost half keeping the doors open.