Most Workers to Face ‘Shared Seating’ on Return to Physical Office: Gartner

Workplaces with “shared seating” will be the new normal after COVID-19, reported Gartner Tuesday. It canvassed 127 finance and real estate executives last month, finding 59% expect shared seating arrangements will be the norm for at least a quarter of their employees who return to the physical office. “An increase in remote working will meaningfully change office space configurations,” said analyst Tammy Shoham. “The most obvious consequence is that firms will need less office space per employee.” More than a third of the survey respondents expect most employees to be in shared seating for at least the next year or two. This would be a “significant shift from the pre-pandemic workplace,” in which 80% of management leaders report that fewer than a quarter of their employees were in shared seating, Gartner said.