Tech Republic: “Firms’ enthusiasm for scaling back on office space may have cooled slightly, with a new survey by professional services group KPMG suggesting that CEOs no longer intend to downsize their physical footprint after the COVID-19 pandemic. KPMG’s 2021 CEO Outlook Pulse Survey indicated that only 17% of chief executives plan to reduce office space, compared to more than two-thirds (69%) of those surveyed in August 2020. At the same time, just 30% said they planned to have the majority of employees working remotely 2-3 days per week – potentially scuppering the hopes of employees who hoped, or even expected, for remote working to become the “new normal” in the post-pandemic workspace. KPMG said the results suggested that bosses were more confident about a return to normal office life thanks to the “positive momentum” of COVID-19 vaccine rollouts. CEOs also feel they are on stronger footing than they were a year ago, thanks to successful digitization initiatives. Despite this, only one-third (31%) of CEOs said they anticipated a return to normal in 2021, while 45% expect things to return to normal in 2022. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of companies said they would wait until a vaccine had been rolled out successfully before they asked their staff to return to the office, and 76% said they would wait until the government said it was safe to return to the office before encouraging their staff to do so…”