Office Desks Are Shrinking While Social Spaces Surge 120%, Global Study Finds
Published on 07/29/2026 at 16:52 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The traditional fixed desk is vanishing from corporate offices worldwide. A new report from CBRE, released July 28, 2026, reveals that companies are pouring resources into spaces designed for informal interaction rather than individual work.
The “2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights” study shows that so-called amenity areas — spaces for social encounters — have ballooned 120 percent since 2021. Over the same period, the share of individual workstations has dropped from 56 percent to 35 percent.
Flexible Seating Becomes the Norm
The move toward flexibility is unmistakable. Permanently assigned desks have fallen from 83 percent to 55 percent of office layouts. Hybrid models and desk-sharing arrangements, by contrast, have climbed from 12 percent to 36 percent.
A full 83 percent of surveyed companies now plan activity-based workspace designs. “Firms are deliberately remodeling their offices for direct exchange,” said Stephan Leimbach of CBRE.
To manage these new layouts, 78 percent of companies rely on occupancy data. Dr. Jan Linsin predicts office occupancy rates will continue rising through 2027.
AI Drives Change — and Extra Hours
Artificial intelligence is a major force behind the transformation. The study forecasts a 327 percent increase in AI usage. Already, 79 percent of companies deploy AI technologies, and 88 percent of executives intend to boost their investments further.
One striking finding: employees who use AI intensively work an average of 2.75 additional hours per week compared with colleagues who do not use AI.
Home Office Preferences Tied to Office Design
Supplementary data from the Konstanz Home Office Study, released in March 2026, adds depth to the picture. Among 1,017 respondents, 35 percent said their offices lack adequate spaces for interaction.
Office format strongly influences how much people want to work remotely. Employees in desk-sharing models prefer an average of 3.40 days per week at home. Those with assigned desks want only 2.59 days.
The strongest desire for remote work comes from people in large open-plan offices with more than 24 workstations — 3.56 days per week. The lowest figure, 2.34 days, comes from workers in private offices.
Flexible offices appear to boost satisfaction. Only 14 percent of users in such spaces report missing social areas. Workers in these environments also report more collegial support and lower levels of exhaustion and loneliness.
Commercial Real Estate Struggles Despite New Concepts
The commercial property market is under pressure. The DIP Office Market Report for the first half of 2026 recorded a 6.2 percent drop in transaction volume compared with the previous year.
Frankfurt am Main was hit especially hard. Office space turnover there collapsed 49 percent to 177,000 square meters, according to Aengevelt analyses. The decline stems from geopolitical tensions, rising raw material costs, and the entrenchment of home-office models. Frankfurt’s vacancy rate has climbed to 11.6 percent.
Still, new concepts are emerging. In Berlin-Mitte, Homaris opened the “K48 Studios” in June 2026 — a former office building converted into 90 serviced apartments with integrated coworking spaces.
In Potsdam, the Kreativ Quartier is set to open on September 4, 2026. The project, backed by investor IDEAL Lebensversicherung, spans 25,000 square meters. Most of the space will be offered at reduced rates to the creative industries.
In Zurich, sportswear company ON is redesigning its headquarters. By 2027, the ground floor, archive, bar, and showrooms will open to the public — a move designed to encourage interaction between the company’s more than 1,300 employees and the broader community.
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