Nearly 50% of Manhattan workers return to the office

New York City’s offices became empty in the early days of the pandemic. The popularity of remote work has risen and provided office workers with more freedom and the opportunity to avoid crowded morning commutes. But Manhattan’s offices are slowly luring their workers back to the desks.

Nearly half (49 percent) of Manhattan workers are present in the office on an average weekday, up from 38 percent in April, according to the latest data from the Partnership for New York City. Return-to-office rates are expected to grow even more by the end of this year, with 54 percent of workers back in their workplace by January 2023. 

Most workers follow a hybrid schedule: 37 percent of employees come to the office three days per week, 12 percent four days, 15 percent two days, and 11 percent commute to the office just once a week. The real estate industry has the highest average office attendance, with 82 percent of workers spending their day at the office. Law firms are seeing the second highest attendance (63 percent), followed by financial services (61 percent). 

The share of fully remote workers is decreasing. As of mid-September, 12 percent of office employees work from home full-time, down from 28 percent in April 2022. Only 9 percent of workers are back in the office full time, according to the survey.

The size of the company also plays a significant role when it comes to workers returning to the office. Smaller firms with fewer than 500 employees have a higher attendance – 53 percent of workers are in the office on an average weekday. 

By contrast, companies with more than 5,000 employees are seeing only 31 percent of their workers in the office on an average weekday. The Partnership for New York City surveyed more than 160 major Manhattan office employers between August 29 and September 12, 2022. 

Resources:

“Partnership survey finds slow but steady increase in workers returning to the office, topping 50% by the end of the year,” by Natasha Avanessians (Partnership for New York City, 2022)

“Nearly 80% of New York City Employers Anticipate Hybrid Work Model Moving Forward, Partnership Survey Finds,” by Katy Feinberg (Partnership for New York City, 2022)

“New York City is getting closer to the tipping point in return to office work,” by Eric Rosenbaum (CNBC, 2022)

“Nearly 50% of workers return to office post-Labor Day,” by TRD Staff (The Real Deal, 2022)