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3-2 flex schedule becomes industry standard

NAREIM Member Survey, January 2022

Return to Office: Flex schedules and office space use post-Covid

January 24, 2022


Almost two-thirds of real estate investment managers are offering a 3-2 flex schedule – with NAREIM members saying the core days in the office were Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.


The latest update to NAREIM’s return to office member survey – conducted between Jan 12 and 18 and focused on flex schedules and use of corporate office space – revealed 64% of firms were adopting 3-2 (three days in the office and two days at home) as a flex schedule. One member said 3-2 was becoming the “standard” for the industry.


NAREIM has regularly asked members about their return to office strategies, including policies on vaccination, flex, business travel and annual meetings.



The January member survey update showed that members are moving away from offering employees the ability to work from home full-time or four days a week.


Instead, firms are concentrating flex strategies around three, four or five days in the office. Members said Wednesday and Thursday were the core days, followed by Tuesday and then Monday.


The NAREIM member survey was completed by 16 organizations representing almost 2,500 real estate employees. The average participant employee count was 154. The Survey also asked firms how they were planning to use or change the use of their corporate space in 2022 bearing in mind hybrid work and headcount changes.


Key metrics include:


Survey Demographics


Flex strategies

  • Is the ability to work from home offered to employees on a permanent/long-term basis?

  • What ratio of days in the office/days from home has or is being offered to employees?

  • Which days of the week are 51%+ of FTEs physically in the office?

  • Do you have a formal policy for flexible work?

  • Is flex work being offered as an employee- requested benefit or overall corporate practice?


Use of space/hoteling

  • Are you introducing hoteling or hot desking in 2022?

  • What is driving the decision to introduce hoteling?

  • Who gets to hotel/hot desk?

  • Decision-making, perceptions of discrimination & reservation systems


Equipment & cost of hybrid

  • What tech is provided at home/in office?

  • Are you scaling back/changing equipment provided in the office, such as landline phones?

  • What corporate equipment is changing?


The full report data is restricted to NAREIM member organizations. If you are a NAREIM member, please click here to access the full Member Survey report.


Non-NAREIM members can access an executive summary version. To download a condensed version of the report, click here. 

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