Revival of Branch Offices

September 30, 2020

One unexpected consequence of the COVID pandemic has been the return of the branch office. Previously relegated to the list of increasingly obsolete business utilities, branch offices in industries such as banking and insurance are seeing a resurgence, though distinct from their original design of serving customers.

Repurposed as in-house co-working spaces for employees who don’t want to or aren’t able to commute into a bigger office in a larger metropolitan area, but who also aren’t satisfied with working from home, branch offices present a useful option to displaced office workers.   

This re-centralization of the workforce is an interesting hybrid development since the immediate urgency of work-from-home at the height of the pandemic has subsided, and bodes well for more compact office locations where employees can continue to have human interaction and a more intimate physical affiliation with their organization. And, of course, not everyone wants to hold business meetings at their kitchen table or living room at their personal residence.