Hybrid work patterns reveal occupancy varies throughout the week with Tuesdays typically being the highest day of the week and Fridays being the lowest. The chart below tracks Tuesday occupancy over time in ten cities and provides a new dimension to the weekly Barometer report. The Peak Day Hybrid Index will now be published weekly, offering a wider aperture into the full picture of workplace occupancy.
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Class A+ Occupancy
Winter weather once again depressed average office occupancy across the nation this week, hitting several major cities where Class A+ building concentrate; occupancy in A+ buildings was down for the week nearly 11 points, to 65.4%. Tuesday occupancy, which is typically the peak for the week, was down about 14 points, to 74.3%. The drop was less severe across all buildings, which are more broadly distributed than A+ class buildings, falling only about 1 and a half points for the week (to 53.7%) and about 1 point on Tuesday (to 61.8%).
Peak Day
Office occupancy dropped to record lows this past Monday in Philadelphia (6.1%) and New York (5.8%), under the influence of a major winter storm. Occupancy remained low the next day, in Phili only reaching 38.6%, down nearly 11 points from the week prior (which had already been low after a Monday holiday). New York’s Tuesday was down more than 22 points, at only 39.9%. Washington DC’s Monday was also low for that city, at 31.6%, down about 20 points from a more typical Monday in that city. By Tuesday, DC had recovered, reaching 62.8%, a 1.5 point rise over the week prior. These cities dragged down the national average occupancy on Monday to 43.0%, ten points below a more typical Monday, and Tuesday to 61.8%, a drop of about a point from the week prior. This was despite strong Tuesday occupancy in cities like San Jose CA (up more than 9 points, to 59.8%) and San Francisco, up 8 points to 53.8%.
Weekly Average
Office occupancy rose in several cities this past week, however, winter weather caused such severe drops in New York (down 15.6 points to 39.7%), Philadelphia (down 8.4 points to 34.0%) and Washington DC (down 2.6 points, to 51.1%), that the 10 City Back to Work Barometer was dragged down 1.6 points, to 53.7%. Occupancy rose in San Jose CA and Los Angeles by more than two points each, to 50.2% and 48.6%, respectively. Dallas (up 1.8 points to 67.3%), Houston (up 1 point to 63.8%), Chicago (up 1.2 to 56.9%) and San Francisco (up 1.8 points, to 45.1%) all experienced increased occupancy compared to the week prior, which had included a federal holiday.
Methodology
To provide some clarity on the issues facing American businesses, Kastle has been studying keycard, fob and KastlePresence app access data from the 2,600 buildings and 41,000 businesses we secure across 47 states. We’re analyzing the anonymized data to identify trends in how Americans are returning to the office.
We have tracked and published U.S. office occupancy status in Kastle-secured commercial properties since the beginning of the Covid crisis in early 2020. We continue to seek to help companies navigate the ever-changing workplace landscape and adjust to the ‘new normal’ of office occupancy. Whether full-time hybrid or in-person, our commitment remains to helping American businesses understand how average workplaces are being attended weekly, monthly, and annually.
Kastle’s reach of buildings, businesses and cardholders secured generates millions of access events daily as users enter office complexes, and individual company workspaces. The Barometer weekly report summarizes access control data among our business partners in ten major metro areas, not a national statistical sample. Charted percentages reflect unique authorized user entries in each market relative to a pre-COVID baseline, averaged weekly.*
*On March 22, 2021, Kastle moved from daily to weekly data reporting to provide a more robust and comprehensive picture of office occupancy. We have also recalculated data back to the start of the time series for consistency. This has only a marginal impact on most cities and the national average.
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