Office attendance levels continue to rise across Europe

Efforts to bring employees back to the office over the past year have generated high degrees of success, according to the 2024 European Office Occupier Survey from CBRE. According to the research, the proportion of companies reporting average building utilisation of 41-80 percent has risen to 61 percent, up from 48 percent in 2023. Conversely, the proportion of companies reporting lower utilisation has fallen, with only a third of companies reporting utilisation of 40 percent or below, compared with nearly half of the companies surveyed last year.

Around two thirds of the largest companies (5,000 employees or more) report utilisation rates of 41 percent or higher, a result of both what the report calls ‘natural momentum’ and the increased use of mandates.

The proportion of employees going to the office three or more days a week has risen to 43 percent, compared with 37 percent in 2023, reflecting the increase in average utilisation. This suggests that the higher utilisation rates are mainly due to employees visiting the office more frequently, instead of stemming from companies reducing their portfolio size.

Although operating at lower overall levels of utilisation, smaller companies are seeing improved rate of high-frequency attendance. According to the findings, companies with less than 5,000 employees have seen an 18 percent increase in the four?to?five-day group. This is even more pronounced for companies with less than 1,000 employees, with 31 percent of this cohort achieving four-to-five-day attendance.

In parallel to rising utilisation rates, the implementation of mandates also continues to grow. CBRE’s research claims that more than three quarters (76 percent) of companies have some form of attendance policy in place, although only 40 percent said that the policy is mandatory. A further 17 percent of respondents said that office attendance decisions are made within individual teams, indicating that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to monitoring and enforcing mandates.

Despite increased momentum and higher levels of office attendance, further consolidation is expected. Just over half (57 percent) of companies plan to decrease their portfolio size over the next three years, likely due to larger companies carrying surplus space and the need to reduce real estate costs.

Nevertheless, portfolio consolidation is not a universal view. A number of companies (17 percent) plan to maintain their current portfolio size and according to CBRE’s research, a further 24 percent said that they plan to expand, with almost three quarters (74 percent) of this group citing anticipated business growth as the key driver.

Most of those looking to reduce their footprint plan to do so by exercising lease expirations. However, 58 percent of respondents said they are likely to renew existing leases where they remain fit for purpose, as landlords increasingly show a willingness to negotiate and offer more flexibility.