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.
Get Weekly UpdatesYou can now track the Return to Work Barometer on the Bloomberg Terminal, available under {ALLX KASL<GO>}
The 10 City Back to Work Barometer rose two tenths this past week to 54.2%, most cities experiencing only small changes in occupancy from the week prior. Austin TX, however, rose 1.9 points to 70.3%, while New York rose 2 points, to 57.6%. San Francisco also experienced a significant change, falling 1.2 points to 41.0%, as did Houston TX, which fell even more, 1.6 points, to 61.1%.
Austin Texas experienced its highest single-day occupancy since the pandemic this past week, on Wednesday, reaching 86.7%, beating its prior record set in September by some 1.8 points. However, most cities on the 10 City Back to Work Barometer experienced daily drops in occupancy, probably related to the Columbus day holiday. Even Class A+ buildings, which for the week overall experienced a slight gain in occupancy over the week prior (up nine tenths to 78.3%), experienced an occupancy drop on the Tuesday following the holiday, falling three full points to 93.7%.
NOTE: Due to the stability of the Back-to-Work Barometer data and its very minimal deviation each week, we are now going to be distributing the graphic illustrations of the Barometer only once per month rather than our current weekly cadence. However, we will continue to send the text portion Barometer status email weekly (and add the illustrations every fourth week). We will also only be updating the website Barometer graphic illustrations every four weeks.
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.
Click here for more information about the Barometer methodology and FAQ
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