Will Businesses Stay Remote After the Pandemic?

Companies are planning on retaining remote work options to a greater degree than they did pre-pandemic once workplace restrictions ease, the third-quarter AICPA Economic Outlook Survey found. The survey polls chief executive officers, chief financial officers, controllers and other certified public accountants in U.S. companies who hold executive and senior management accounting roles.

Topline results of the survey were released Sept. 3 but business executives were also asked supplemental questions about their workplace plans for the next 12 months. Half said they plan to return principally or entirely to traditional onsite operations, provided restrictions are eased or not in place. (Another 15 percent said remote work was never an option for them). Some 22 percent, however, said their company’s operations would be primarily remote, with an additional nine percent saying they planned to be completely virtual. In comparison, only four percent of companies said they operated as all-virtual concerns before the pandemic.

So far, the shift to remote work hasn’t led to widespread plans for a reduction in office space, confirming that – while businesses will leverage the flexibility that remote working enables – physical office and collaboration workspace remains an essential part of the future-of-work landscape. More than three-quarters of business executives (77 percent) said they expected no change to their brick-and-mortar office footprint over the next 12 months. Some 18 percent said they expected some consolidation, with five percent saying they planned to give up 50 percent or more of their space. Five percent said their companies plan to increase space.