Pandemic and teleworking lead to the fall in the cost of a workstation in a company in 2020

The impact of the pandemic is being felt at almost all levels, from real estate to the wage bill, including technical and functional operations, resources and equipment and employee services. Concerning the first year of the pandemic, the health measures thus significantly affect the cost of a workstation per employee, the latter being on average 10 euros per employee, falling by 246% compared to 23 (2019 euros).

For Latifa HAKKOU, president of ARSEG: "On the strength of these edifying lessons, to guarantee the future performance of companies, the Work Environment sector will have to make choices, reinvent professions and forge new agile, innovative and sustainable models." None of this will be possible without a full understanding of this crisis, its ruptures and the emerging opportunities for a sector which has always known how to adapt successfully to the transformations of the company, the economy and society. French. "

Employee services on the decline

For months, the buildings were emptied of their occupants, and teleworking has become a massive professional activity in most tertiary companies in France. In this sector, the model of which is mainly based on the presence in the office, confinements and periods of partial activity have resulted in a drop in the variable costs of the Work Environment. We are thinking in particular of employee services, which have seen a drop of around 32% per workstation due to the reduction in the volume of services intended for occupants (eg company catering). In the field of operation, the reduction of 16% per workstation is mainly attributable to the drop in the level of certain services (e.g. safety and security) and to the reduction in energy consumption during periods of occupation. weak.

Stable real estate (for now)

Unsurprisingly, the most stable costs in 2020 were decorrelated from site activity, first and foremost building costs (rents, insurance and taxes), which experienced a slight decrease of around 1% per workstation. If real estate is the first cost item in the budget, it has been marked by an almost constant decline in the occupancy rate since 2,9, with in parallel a rate of teleworking employees which has increased over time.

In the near future, these trends could accelerate: according to a survey carried out in 2021 by the consulting firm Génie des Locations, more than 68% of the employees consulted wanted their companies to evolve based on the lessons learned from containment and of the health crisis. Among the expectations mentioned, 42% wanted better consideration of the hybridization of modes and workspaces. For a sector which in 2020 dedicated almost 70% of its budget to real estate costs, the hybridization of work is a new avenue to work on to optimize surfaces while offering working methods more suited to the needs and desires of employees.

Other stable costs are those linked to the upkeep and maintenance of establishments, which for their part fell by 3,4% and 1,3% per workstation.