We all know that the landscape of work has transformed drastically since the onset of the pandemic. But beyond the press headlines and executive statements, it’s difficult to tell how drastic this change has actually been. What does hybrid work really mean in 2024? To answer this question, we pored over data from our Smart Water Coolers® spread across thousands of offices nationwide, belonging to various industries, regions, and company sizes.
Discover more insights to help shape your own return-to-office benchmarking and planning, including our predictions for what office attendance will look like nationally in 2024.
By the end of 2020, we only made it back to 21% of the office attendance that we saw at the end of 2019. How much closer did we get by the end of 2023? Our data suggests that, nationally, we ended last year at 56% of pre-pandemic office attendance—and are continuing to trend upward.
In contrast to their northeastern and western counterparts, southern metropolitan areas, especially those within Florida and Texas, are seeing a boom in office attendance. Dallas saw its in-office attendance surpass pre-pandemic levels by 12% in 2023, ranking second nationally behind this sunny hub for technology and real estate.
Whereas office attendance was more evenly dispersed across the five-day work week before the pandemic, the time employees spent in the office last year condensed around a new part of the week. Which day is now the most popular one to be in-office? Clue: It’s not Friday or Monday, the bookend days to the workweek that saw 2023 office attendance levels reach only 50% and 44% of their pre-pandemic levels, respectively.
Unlock our report to find additional insights: Which company size offers the most flexible work setups? How do the trajectories of office attendance differ between industries, especially financial services and technology? Plus, which city ranks last in the office return race?
Unlock our report to find additional insights: Which company size offers the most flexible work setups? How do the trajectories of office attendance differ between industries, especially financial services and technology? Plus, which city ranks last in the office return race?