Tech Giants’ Projected Headcount Growth Means They Won’t Be Giving Up on Office Space
Many large tech companies have vocally praised remote working. In the meantime, they’ve been expanding their office holdings.
September 22, 2020 | Patricia Kirk | National Real Estate Investor
Earlier this year, many of the largest technology firms announced they would let their employees work from home well into next year or even permanently. This made it seem like the technology sector was fully on board with adapting a remote working model permanently. Yet the fact that many of the tech giants have continued to significantly expand their office space holdings throughout the pandemic tells a more complicated story.
It’s true that many tech companies are holdings off on making new space commitments until 2021 and some are giving back space they have already committed to, says Colin Yasukochi, executive director of the tech insights center with real estate services firm CBRE. For example, Twitter has made the decision to allow employees work from home permanently. Pinterest has terminated a deal for 490,000 sq. ft. of office space near its current San Francisco headquarters. But some of the largest companies in the sector recognize they will likely eventually need more office space due to future growth, even with many employees working from home, he notes.
All major tech companies have adopted flexible work policies, but despite decreased urgency for leasing space in the short term, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon all continuing to expand their office footprints.
