NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Nearly a quarter of Manhattan office employees had returned to their workplaces as of late August — but nearly half of Manhattan employers pushed their return-to-office timelines back due to the rise of the delta variant, a new survey found.
The Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit business-centric organization, spent Aug. 9 to Aug. 20 asking Manhattan’s “major employers” what their return-to-office plans looked like amid the new COVID-19 surge the country is navigating.
The organization’s survey found that 23% of Manhattan office workers had already returned to their offices, with employers anticipating a 41% return by Sept. 30.
In late May, however, employers said they believed that 62% of employees would return to work in person by the end of September, the organization said.
The survey also found that 44% of employers had pushed back their return-to-office dates “because of the recent rise in COVID-19 cases due to the delta variant.” Two percent, meanwhile, were on the fence about whether to push the date back, according to the survey.
“Large employers (5,000+ employees) contributed most to the summer return to office, jumping from 8% in late May to 25% as of late August,” the Partnership said in its report. “Among firms with fewer than 500 employees, over one-third (34%) of office workers have returned, up from 24% in May.”
“Consistent with past survey findings, the vast majority (70%) of employers are adopting a rotating or ‘hybrid’ office schedule in which employees can work remotely for part of the week,” the report added. “Only 26% of employers are requiring employees to be in the office full time; 5% will not require employees to return to the office at all.”
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