Japan Office Occupier Survey 2025

Companies in Japan are increasing investment in office environments to attract and retain talent, but discrepancies are emerging between worker preferences and company initiatives regarding flexible working styles and office locations.

 

• CBRE’s July 2025 Survey on office usage found that most managerial-level respondents prefer full-time office attendance from their employees. However, while the nationwide office attendance rate is 72.2%, employees across all generations want to reduce their office attendance frequency in the future.​

 

• In a repeat of last year’s results, the top risk companies face in their business activities is “securing human resources”. Amid this environment, “recruitment advantages” has emerged as another key factor prioritized when developing office strategies, alongside the category’s other long-time leaders, “comfort”, “cost”, and “location”.​

 

• For employees, the criteria most highly prioritized in an office are “comfort”, “location”, “ample floor space”, and “earthquake resistance/BCP”. Among younger generations, a relatively higher percentage of respondents indicated a preference for added value in terms of buildings with auxiliary facilities such as “lounges, cafes, and cafeterias” and space for events, reflecting their preference for offices that can facilitate interactions with other workers.

 

• Many companies are planning to increase capital investment in improving or upgrading office environments. The survey results revealed that companies that have carried out office overhauls have had more success in hiring than those that have not.​

 

• While fixed seating plans make up over half of current workplace layouts, a significant number of companies are planning to introduce flexible working styles, such as Activity-based Working (ABW). Among employees, while those preferring flexible office layouts look certain to increase in the future, the majority still prefer fixed seating.​

 

• When comparing initiatives implemented by management in order to attract and retain talent with the factors prioritized by workers and job seekers, significant discrepancies can be observed in areas pertaining to working styles and office location, such as flexibility in working hours/ location, as well as offices in locations with excellent transportation access​.

 

• Companies that have implemented measures to enable more flexible work styles have had greater success in recruitment. CBRE believes companies must consider both the hard and soft aspects of the work environments they offer to effectively market themselves as attractive places to work.​