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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Office Occupancy Rebounds After the Winter Holidays
Peak day office occupancy was 56.5% on Tuesday, up more than 37 points from the previous week as workers returned to work after the holidays. Chicago and New York rose more than 50 points on Tuesday to 67.9% and 65.4%, respectively, and most cities experienced double-digit occupancy increases nearly every day compared to the prior week. The average low was on Friday at 26.3%, up over 10 points from last week.
The weekly average occupancy rebounded nearly 24 points from the previous week to 43%, according to the 10-city Back to Work Barometer. Nine of the 10 tracked cities experienced double-digit increases, most well above 20 points. Only Washington, DC lagged behind due to heavy snow on Monday, rising only 8.4 points to 24.9% average occupancy.
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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