The return-to-office movement still hasn’t brought workplace attendance back to pre-pandemic levels, but new metrics show office usage is the highest it has been in the half-decade since the pandemic began.
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Average office visits per working day last month were just 32.9% lower than November 2019 levels, according to a Placer.ai report. That is the closest the two metrics have been since early 2020.
Building security firm Kastle Systems’ office usage tracker showed similar gains. Occupancy levels across all office buildings it tracks surged to 56.3% for the week of Dec. 8, also the highest level recorded in the post-pandemic era.
Miami led the pack with a monthly office attendance rate just 15.9% lower than six years prior, according to Placer.ai.
New York City, which has long been a leading return-to-office adopter, was No. 2, at 23.2% lower than November 2019 levels, according to Placer.ai. Dallas came in third, with an office attendance rate 26.2% lower than November 2019.
San Francisco was near the bottom of the pack, with an attendance level that reached just 47% of the November 2019 level, but it led the way in year-over-year growth. Placer.ai found that the California city had a 13.7% boost, compared to the national year-over-year growth of 2.9%.
The data analytics firm attributed this to a strong tech sector benefiting from artificial intelligence tailwinds. Tech-centric cities like Denver and Boston saw year-over-year jumps of 3.7% and 3.1%, respectively.
Office usage has been increasing since the first quarter, when JPMorgan Chase and Amazon made waves by mandating full-time in-person work. A July JLL report found 54% of Fortune 500 employees had a five-day in-office mandate.
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