Survey: Companies still see the role of the office as significant

On average, respondents rated the significance of office premises for their corporate culture and business as 4.1 on a scale of 1 to 5. A total of 1,076 Technopolis customers responded to the question during 2023. The customer survey is sent to the decision-makers and practical contacts of rental customers, and it is conducted by Innolink on behalf of Technopolis.

"The significance of the office is still a much-discussed theme. Our survey shows that companies still see the office as significant for both corporate culture and business. In order for an office to support the success of an organisation, it must meet the needs of both the company and its employees, and the ways in which people work today," says Technopolis' CMO Karri Hautanen, who is responsible for customer experience.

The significance of office premises for companies increased by 0.2 points from the previous year's result (3.9). Of the countries where Technopolis operates, the significance of the office was rated highest in Sweden, but the differences between the countries were small.

Location, location, location

The survey results show that the most important factor related to the working environment is the location of the office premises, which was selected as the most important factor by 31% of respondents.

"Location has been the most important factor influencing the working environment throughout the history of our survey. The location is essentially linked to accessibility, which means good and varied transport links and, for example, sufficient parking spaces and bicycle parking," says Hautanen.

More than a fifth of respondents felt the most important factor is the office space meeting the needs of the company.

"Every company is different, and each company also has its own unique needs for the office. With the establishment of hybrid work, companies have become increasingly aware of the need for space planning to start with the needs of the company and the ways in which its employees work. In our survey, the price-quality ratio of the office space was clearly rated as a less important factor than location and meeting the company's needs," Hautanen says.

Attracting and retaining employees is still the biggest challenge for companies

The survey also looked at the challenges that companies face. In 2023, 28% of company decision-makers saw attracting and retaining skilled employees as their biggest challenge.

"Attracting and retaining skilled employees has been the number one challenge for companies in our survey for years. With functional and user-oriented space planning, it is possible to influence a company's ability to attract and retain employees, which means that we can help our customers with this challenge," says Hautanen.

The second biggest challenge among respondents was unpredictable changes in the local or global economic environment (19%).

"The volatility of the global economic environment is a major challenge for companies in various sectors, and this was also evident in our survey. It's important for us to understand our customers, and that's why we also use this year-round survey to identify what kinds of challenges they face in their day-to-day work," says Hautanen.