New data suggests that almost half of all office visits have come in at an average of once a week this year.
According to the findings from workplace occupancy firm Basking.io, just 21% of office visits occurred once a week in the four months prior to the pandemic.
What this indicates is a shift in long-term post-pandemic office expectations. Although politicians and executives have been eager for a return to the office, employees are growing more courageous in their workplace demands. For many of these workers, this means having guaranteed flexibility.
For those who are returning to the office some of the time, the data shows that Tuesday was the most popular day representing 23% total office visits. Friday came in last, making up just 15% of office visits.
Daily office visits aren’t the only dip occurring within the workplace — the data showed that 37% of these visits were less than six hours during the first quarter of 2022. From October 2019 to February of 2020, only 20% of visits in the office lasted less than six hours.
While this may be alarming for the commercial real estate sector, which currently has a surplus of supply, flexible offices and coworking spaces are prepped to alleviate some of the complications that come with the transition to new work arrangements.
“Pre-Covid, having a flexible workplace was seen as innovation, right? But now it’s an expectation,” said Eldar Gizzatov, CEO of Basking.io.