Office of the future is a thing of the past, claims PA survey

Companies will need radically less office workspace for their employees in the future, according to a survey into workplace trends by PA Consulting Group. The firm predicts a complete shift from desk-bound employees to remote workers, with as much as 25 per cent less office space.

The survey estimates that as many as half of all workers will hot desk, spending just half of their time actually in the office.

“Whereas in the past employers have provided dedicated places, there is a strong view that hotelling will become a strong part of the business,” said Peter Osborne, property management expert at PA Consulting Group.

“Consultancies are at the leading edge of this. Almost all space is hot desked, and consultants are all equipped with laptops and remote access to systems so we already do work remotely to a very large extent.”

Workspace will be used in a much more transient way, and some companies may rent space as they need it from property owners. But Osborne said hot desking would never get to the extreme where no one met at all. He said: “You have to manage the human interaction. Human interaction is essential to business, and if businesses don’t do that they get into problems.”