The New York City enterprise elite organization, “Partnership for New York City,” recently released a report on the return-to-work situation in Manhattan office buildings. The results show that office usage is at 70% of pre-pandemic levels, indicating that a hybrid model combining physical office presence and remote work remains the top choice for employers.
Between April 19 and May 6 of this year, the “Partnership for New York City” surveyed 130 business owners with offices in Manhattan, including real estate, law firms, finance, technology, and media companies, to understand the proportion of New York City employees returning to the office versus working remotely.
The report indicates that currently, an average of 56% of office workers are working in the office on weekdays, compared to 78% before the pandemic. In other words, the current office usage in Manhattan is only at 72% of pre-pandemic levels.
Regardless of pre-pandemic or post-pandemic times, the real estate industry has the highest office usage rate, with 95% before the pandemic and 83% currently. As for the technology industry, which had the lowest pre-pandemic office usage rate at 73%, now has 59% of employees working in the office, making the current office usage 82% of pre-pandemic levels.
The survey conducted by the “Partnership for New York City” found that the media industry has the lowest office usage rate. While 87% of media personnel worked in the office before the pandemic, only 45% are currently doing so, with office usage at 51% of pre-pandemic levels.
The report notes that the current office return rate in Manhattan has slightly decreased by 2% compared to September 2023 when it was at 58%.
Of the employees surveyed, 11% work in Manhattan offices five days a week, 17% work four days, 38% work three days, 17% work two days, 9% work one day, and 7% work remotely full-time.
According to the report by the “Partnership for New York City,” 38% of business owners plan to increase their workforce in the next year, while 10% intend to downsize.
Among the surveyed business owners, the areas most willing to increase staff are the technology industry (71%) and law firms (69%).
In conclusion, the “Partnership for New York City” states that a hybrid work model combining physical office presence and remote work remains the top choice for Manhattan businesses, with sixty percent of enterprises choosing this approach.