Office workers in Manhattan continue to return to their workplaces in sufficient numbers for many of their employers to maintain or expand their footprint in the city, according to a survey of more than 140 major Manhattan office employers conducted in January by The Partnership for New York City.
The survey found that 52% of Manhattan office workers are currently at their workplace on an average weekday, up from 49% in September 2022. Hybrid working arrangements are still the norm, as just 9% of employees are in the office five days a week, a percentage that is unchanged from September.
The share of office employees that are fully remote, though, dropped from 16% in September 2022 to 10% as of late January. For employers with a hybrid model, the survey reports that 59% of employees are in the office at least three days a week.
While 29% of employers have reduced their real estate footprint since February 2020, 17% increased their footprint, and 54% had no change. A larger share of employers (26%) expect to increase their real estate footprint over the next five years than expect to reduce it (18%); the majority (56%) expect to maintain their current footprint.
About half (48%) of employers expect to increase their New York City workforce, 45% expect to maintain current headcount, and only 7% expect to reduce headcount.
The majority of respondents are in financial services (37%), real estate (17%), law (11%), tech (6%), media (6%), and consulting (4%). The majority of surveyed employers have offices in Midtown West (54%), Midtown East (23%), or the Financial District (15%).
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