Office Occupancy Hits 44%, Its Highest Point Since The Pandemic Began

There is a long way to go, but a national report shows employers are making progress in their efforts to get workers back in the office.

Average office occupancy in 10 major U.S. metros came in at 44% of pre-pandemic levels during the first week of June, the highest mark since the pandemic began in 2020, according to Kastle Systems. The week before occupancy was 41.2%, a drop from previous weeks in May that probably reflected the Memorial Day weekend.

Metro Austin leads the country in office occupancy at 61.3% and remains the only city on Kastle’s 10-city Back to Work Barometer to have risen higher than 60% occupancy.

Metro San Jose, California, is the lowest at 33.8% occupancy during the first week of June. All of the 10 cities the company tracks saw rising occupancy during the first week of June, however.

Kastle tracks access activity data from its app, keycard and fob usage in 2,600 buildings and 41,000 businesses in 47 states to estimate office occupancy rates.

Despite the national gains, the growth of office occupancy remains unclear, as many workers don't want to return to an office environment five days a week. A study by WFH Research, as reported by Quartz, found that slightly fewer than half of employees who are expected by their employer to return to the office full time are actually going in five days a week. The finding flies in the face of demands by some companies, most notably automaker Tesla, that laptop-enabled employees go back to a five-day-a-week schedule.

Companies that ask people to come in two, three or four days each week are having better results, with 84% of workers following those policies, according to WFH Research.

“After more than two years with a lot of working from home, it's not very realistic for companies to expect office workers, and those who can do at least part of their job remotely, back to the office full time,” Jose Maria Barrero, one of the authors of the WFH Research study, told Fortune.

The sticking point for many workers isn't often the office itself but the onerous commute each day to get there. Employees are less likely to have returned to the office in cities that had longer average commutes, according to an analysis of Census Bureau and Kastle Systems data.

More than half of the respondents to a Gallup 2021 survey said avoiding their commute is a top reason for not going into the office in person.

Continue reading this story with a free account

Log in or register
Sign up for more articles like this
Subscribe to Bisnow's National Newsletters
Related Stories

FoxRock Buys Quincy Office At 78% Discount After Luring Tenant Away

'Illegitimate' Or 'Leveling The Playing Field'?: Why Habitability Cases Are Surging In Eviction Court

Walker & Dunlop Execs On Dealmaking Volatility, Data Center Risks, Housing

SL Green's $2.5B Sell-Off Hits Interest Rate Snag

Hines Closes $591M Multifamily DST Offering

CBRE Leans On Data Center Business As Higher Rates Squeeze Capital Markets

Bill Barr's Law Firm Expands Footprint In Move To Pennsylvania Avenue

Blackstone Writes Down Real Estate Values But Remains Bullish On Data Centers

Debt Flood Shrinks Bank OZK's Real Estate Book Faster Than Planned

Conversions Ramp Up As New Report Calls For Resident-Led Downtown Denver Recovery

The Governor Races And Referendums Where Housing Is On The Ballot

Trump: Data Centers 'Mandated' To Supply Own Electricity, Should Pay 'Dividend' To Communities