The year 2020 has introduced a lot of changes in our everyday life, both personal and professional. For employees, one of the main changes introduced this year is working from home. Recently, this form of work has caught on popularity.It has gained acceptance not only from employees (they can save time to travel to work) but also from entrepreneurs (they have not to renting space for office).

Office furniture market - general trends

Until 2020, the office furniture market was developing very dynamically. The market regularly grew around 4% year over year. However, as the data show, this year will be a breakthrough and the upward trend will be interrupted. Previously planned investments will be suspended or canceled, and the furniture market will also be affected.

The charts below show the global level of revenue in the office furniture industry and the general trend of development.




Source: https://www.statista.com/outlook/17050000/102/office-furniture/europe

When analyzing the above statements, it can be noticed that the office furniture market has recently developed very well. Its value grew every year. However, the upward trend was broken in 2020. It is influenced by the uncertain economic situation related to the pandemic with which currently the whole world is fighting. However, good information is that the situation should improve in the coming years. The market will adjust to changes and its value will increase again.

Rise in popularity of work in the office home system

Observing the market, it can be said that working in the system home office has been generally accepted. There is a very strong probability that some workers will not leave their homes too soon. Perhaps this form of work will become a standard in some professions.



Source: https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/09/11/the-home-office



As can be seen from the graph, in many countries employees spend some of their working time at home. How much time we spend working at home depends not only on general trends but also on the specialization of the economy - not all industries and professions can do their work outside the company.

Forecasts for the office furniture sector

If the forecasts are correct, it will not be positive information for the office furniture industry, not only for manufacturers, but also for: carpenters, upholsterers, architects, interior designers, but also for also space rental companies.

The dangers of working at home include: 

Transfer of work realized in offices to home space. Which will reduce the need for entrepreneurs to purchase office furniture even in the case of employ a new employee..

Total resignation from renting office space and creating/keeping workplaces only in form office home.

Nonnecessity to "refresh" the image and design of offices -nonnecessity to make furniture purchases.






The advantage of this situation is that at home we will also have to prepare our workspace, so may need to purchase a new office chair or desk. Also, only some employees can work from home permanently, many tasks cannot be done at home.

We hope that the current situation will be stabilizing, the turnover in the office furniture industry will return to the previous level, and the creativity of entrepreneurs will allow for further development.

In addition, there are also opinions that employees do not want to work from home in the long term. Not all of them have the best conditions to perform their work at home. Also, the lack of contact with colleagues is very tiring and makes cooperation difficult.