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More than half of NYC workers won’t return to offices by September

Majority of employers won’t require vaccination to return

About 45 percent of companies would bring employees back to offices by September. (iStock)
About 45 percent of companies would bring employees back to offices by September. (iStock)

It’ll still be some time before Manhattan’s office buildings are even close to being full again, according to a new survey of big employers.

Only 45 percent of employees will be back in offices by September, according to the report from the Partnership for New York City, which was first reported by Gothamist.

But 14 percent of the companies that responded said they were unsure when a majority of their employees would come back to offices. And at least some of the time, their employees will work remotely, said 56 percent of employers.

As of early March, just 10 percent of Manhattan office employees have returned to the workplace.

The survey also found that 8 percent of employers will require their returning workers to be vaccinated, while 61 percent will not.

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“The overwhelming message is that both employers and workers are uncertain as to when they’re going to come back to the office and under what circumstances,” Kathryn Wylde, the Partnership’s CEO, told Gothamist. “From an employer standpoint, they’re very concerned about the mental health, stress, burnout impact of Covid. Many of them feel that they cannot put any more pressure on their employees in terms of the expectation of them coming back to the office, even though most of the CEOs I know would like to have the team back.”

The study, which was conducted between Feb. 24 and March 8, surveyed 174 companies with 209,000 office workers.

The pandemic forced a majority of office workers to switch to remote work at the onset of the health crisis, and some experts believe the trend of working-from-home or work-from-anywhere is likely to continue even after the pandemic.

Prominent companies, including JPMorgan and Salesforce, have taken steps to reduce their real estate footprint in anticipation of the changed world in the post-pandemic era. [Gothamist] — Akiko Matsuda

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Commercial Real EstateCoronavirusManhattan Office MarketOffice Leasing