June was a watershed moment for post-pandemic office attendance.
That’s according to the Office Building Index from location intelligence software company Placer.ai, which found the national average for office attendance was down only 29.4% compared to June 2019.
Placer.ai’s data was based on foot traffic analytics from commercial office buildings in major metro areas.
That’s the highest post-pandemic recovery rate yet — marking yet another example of how workplace trends around hybrid work are shifting as sentiments of employers and employees evolve.
There are signs the in-office momentum is likely to build even stronger in the remainder of 2024 — especially with September typically being marked by a jump in in-office rates. But beyond that, more top executives are expecting a full return to the office for many positions.
That would be a welcome sign for commercial real estate developers, landlords, cities and small businesses that are dependent on office commuter traffic
How office return rates compare by city
Some major cities saw even stronger numbers.
Miami topped the charts for overall office attendance recovery, with June 2024 visits only 9.8% below June 2019 levels. One factor could be in-bound moves to the growing Sun Belt market.
A similar year-over-year analysis reveals Atlanta (+10%) and Boston (+10.3%) experienced the largest uptick in office visits.
Houston’s traffic fell by 9.2%, while Dallas (+1.8%) and Denver (+2.4%) saw little change.
Sentiments shifting around office work
As we’ve reported, preferences around remote work have shifted for executives and employees alike.
A growing number of CEOs are expecting a full-scale return to the office in the coming years, according to data from KPMG.
The firm’s U.S. CEO Outlook survey found 62% of respondents believe corporate employees whose roles used to be based in the office would again be working in the office in the next three years — a huge jump from the 34% who believed that in 2022.
Additionally, about 34% of the respondents envision workers in hybrid positions, down from the 45% who believed that in 2022. But just 4% of CEOs say corporate jobs will be fully remote, down from 20%.
But employees are also shifting their preferences on remote work, which was widely viewed as an expectation in the immediate wake of the pandemic, as The Playbook’s Marq Burnett recently reported.
New data from Resume Builder indicates 40% of full-time employees prefer working fully in-person, while 32% favor a hybrid-work model.
That means more than 7 in 10 workers of the 1,250 full-time employees surveyed don’t prefer full-time remote work.
“While the desire for some in-office presence remains prevalent, the extent of this preference remains subject to flux,” said Resume Builder Chief Career Adviser Stacie Haller said in a statement with the results. “It’s clear that a one-size-fits-all approach is no longer tenable in today’s diverse workforce landscape.”
Haller said the specific configurations of in-office, fully remote and hybrid work remain a matter of negotiation and adaptation.
The current dynamics are likely to give employers additional leverage when it comes to flexible work arrangements and could accelerate moves away from hybrid arrangements.