Work from home: bane or blessing? Implications for corporate real estate strategies

Technological progress and developments in the economy and society are constantly changing the way we work. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the move towards multilocal working: knowledge workers worldwide have been forced to gain experience of working from home. Based on this experience, they are now in a position to weigh up different places of work and articulate desires for the distribution of working time between home workplace, third places and office. Previous studies have shown that working from home can have positive effects for corporates in the form of productivity increases. However, it has so far remained open which employees exactly are successful at different workplaces. The aim of the study is to identify clusters with their own workplace distribution based on personal, work-related and real estate characteristics, and to investigate whether the desire for specific workplace distribution promises success. Identification of the subgroups is done by conducting a hierarchical cluster analysis that includes previously identified personal, work-related and real estate characteristics. The evaluation and interpretation of the cluster solution is based on the desired workplace distribution and identified work success variables. Data from a survey of 2000 German and US knowledge workers is taken into account. The results of the survey suggest that knowledge workers in Germany and the US have developed a good sense of the workplace in which they can work successfully. At the same time, the decision-makers in the corporates have to decide carefully who should work at which workplace with a view to the corporate’s success. It is also clear that as work becomes more multilocational, real estate resources must play an important role in creating a corporate culture and identity.