US Workplace Return Accelerates... Largest Since Pandemic

(Photo by WSJ)

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] As the endemic phase (periodic outbreak of infectious diseases) begins and more office workers return to their workplaces, office return rates have reached their highest levels since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 19th (local time).

Castle Systems, a building security management company, tracked the use of office security badges in 10 major cities over the week from the 8th to the 14th, finding that the average office occupancy rate in these cities was 47.5%, nearly half of the level seen in early 2020.

This is the highest figure since the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak in late March 2020. In particular, office occupancy rates in the middle of the week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays recovered to 55%, more than half of the pre-pandemic levels.

Office returns among American workers surged around the Labor Day holiday earlier this month. In the New York metropolitan area, office occupancy rose from 38% to 46.6% immediately after Labor Day.

The number of commuters using the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), the main commuter train for workers traveling between Long Island and Manhattan, exceeded 200,000 on the 14th for the first time since March 2020.

On the same day, the number of users of the Metro-North Railroad (MNR), used by workers living in northern New York City, reached 174,900, marking the highest since the COVID-19 outbreak.

The WSJ also reported that in Texas, where office returns are the fastest in the U.S., worker commutes have increased since Labor Day.

According to Central Houston, which tracks cellphone movements of workers entering offices, the rate of workers commuting to downtown Houston had remained in the 50% range for the past five months but rose more than 10 percentage points to 63% after Labor Day.

Christopher Larson, CEO of Central Houston, said that some companies combining office attendance and remote work are recently attempting to increase mandatory office days from twice a week to three times a week.

Initially, U.S. companies had pushed for employee returns to offices last fall and earlier this year, but plans were postponed due to the fall Delta variant surge and the winter Omicron variant wave.

Even in the spring when COVID-19 spread had calmed, companies hesitated to demand office returns due to employee resistance threatening to quit if forced to return.

However, the WSJ reported that as infection numbers sharply decline and the economy wavers, companies demanding office attendance are becoming increasingly firm in their stance.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.