Many Seeking Physical Office Return as Soon as Spring, Says Steelcase CEO
The “rising confidence” in the COVID-19 vaccine brought “more urgency” to Steelcase’s conversations with CEOs who were “eager to put their real estate investments back to work” by returning workers to the physical office, said CEO Jim Keane on a…
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fiscal Q4 call Wednesday. “Now we're seeing an increase in actual projects,” he said. The world’s largest manufacturer of office furniture is taking tremendous financial hits during the pandemic, with physical workplaces shut down. Profit of $6.6 million in the quarter ended Feb. 26 was 10% that of the year-earlier Q4. Revenue of $2.6 billion for the year was $1.13 billion lower than in the previous 12 months. Before the vaccine, many CEOs were targeting Sept. 1 for returning employees to the physical office, “and now we're hearing more talk about early summer or even spring,” said Keane. His optimism doesn't square with the results this month of a Partnership for New York City survey that canvassed local employers and found companies expect 45% of their employees to return to the office by September, down somewhat from the survey in late October, when employers anticipated 48% would return by July.