Post COVID-19 Bangkok Office Dynamics – 2020 (Knight Frank)

It has been over a month since Thailand announced the state of emergency to combat the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The global pandemic has created disruptions to the Thai economy to the extent that the Bank of Thailand has had to revise the previous 2.8% GDP growth projection to a 5.3% contraction for 2020. We are seeing a variety of ways in which different organizations are responding to the crisis as part of the largest workplace experiment conducted to date. Some companies are...

It has been over a month since Thailand announced the state of emergency to combat the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The global pandemic has created disruptions to the Thai economy to the extent that the Bank of Thailand has had to revise the previous 2.8% GDP growth projection to a 5.3% contraction for 2020. We are seeing a variety of ways in which different organizations are responding to the crisis as part of the largest workplace experiment conducted to date.

Some companies are shuffling their staff, rotating their employees between entering the office and working from home schedules. Others have their entire staff working from home. This has radically impacted the way in which both organizations and employees work, especially in a country with a relatively high level of resistance to prior changes in the workplace. It has also led to many questions and judgements on the long-term impact that COVID-19 will have on the office property market, including those that radically proclaim the demise of the office.

The following dynamics are what we at Knight Frank and Peoplespace Thailand believe will shape the workplace as a result of COVID-19. COVID-19 most likely will not completely revolutionize or cause the death of the office. While the pandemic will lead to greater scrutiny and change in some prior market behavior, its most profound impact will be to drive and accelerate trends that were already underway for many of the leading office market participants.