According to survey results, more than half of the survey respondents said at least 10% of their knowledge workers work remotely and 65% of respondents said they have stopped providing workspace for at least 10% of their work force. The factors driving this trend are corporations' desire to reduce costs and workers' desires for more flexibility in where and when they work. "Today's forward-thinking, results-driven companies are sending workers home, purging underutilized real estate, saving money and reinventing the whole concept of 'going to work,'" says CoreNet Global director of global research Eric Bowles.

To complete the survey, CoreNet Global spoke with 27 top corporate real estate professionals from Fortune 500 firms, their global equivalents or service providers.

The survey results are consistent with CoreNet Global's study conducted in 2004, "Corporate Real Estate 2010: Enabling Work in a Networked World (CoRE 2010)." That study showed that at least 25% of corporations' knowledge workers would work remotely by 2010.

From the employers' perspective, the desire for efficiency is driving workplace initiatives. According to the survey, 54% of respondents cited higher utilization of space as one of the top three workplace objectives, 58% named the need to improve efficiency and productivity and 45% said they wanted to reduce costs.

Among other survey results, 73% of respondents said introduced or increased desk sharing/unassigned workstations were deployed workplace tactics in the past year; 69% said improved ergonomics, lighting, comfort and functionality were deployed tactics; and 60% said introduced or increased drop-in spaces were deployed tactics.