The Phenomenon of Near-home Office and the Supported Space: Evidence from Shenzhen’s Employees

Abstract

At present, working near home has gradually become prominent. This paper uses a fieldwork approach to investigate the characteristics and motivations of near-home office, and introduce and evaluates the support of near-home office space in Shenzhen. Commonly, the near-home office workers have three behavioral characteristics; Activating in the community; Working flexibly; and Blending life with work. With the development of the office concept and mobile information technology, more people choose and prefer near-home office, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The near-home office space provides working environment and services; however, the near-home office space needs to be improved. This study indicates that near-home office may play an important role in the future, therefore more studies are required in the future focusing on this aspect.