International businesses are struggling to manage the complexity of the workplace post-covid and increasingly returning to office-centric models, according to a new report written in a partnership between Knight Frank and commercial real estate firm Cresa.

Their combined (Y)OURSPACE report, published every two years, is one of the world’s most comprehensive surveys of international businesses on their workplace strategies and real estate requirements. It reflects the priorities and challenges of senior leaders responsible for real estate decisions at over 350 firms, which collectively employ more than 10m people.

The report lays bare the practical challenges employers face in implementing a post-pandemic workplace strategy that meets a growing list of corporate requirements. As many as 60% of respondents expect the complexity of managing their workplace strategy to increase or greatly increase in the next three years.

Most global corporates, 56%, plan to move towards a ‘hybrid’ workstyle, offering employees a mix of home and office working, but almost a third, 31% are implementing an ‘office first’ or ‘office only’ approach. Just 12% of firms plan to implement a ‘work from anywhere’, ‘remote first’ or ‘fully flexible’ workstyle.

The need for firms to meet their strategic objectives, transform for the post-pandemic era and overcome the growing challenges of both functional and physical obsolescence will also lead many occupiers to seek new office buildings, according to the report, which added that 47% of global firms expect to replace their corporate HQ in the next three years, an increase on 40% in 2021.