CEOs Can't Fix Our Biggest Problem With RTO: Commuting
Covid showed that many of us don’t have to endure miserable commutes to be productive. No amount of free breakfast will change that.
Ugh.
Source: Bloomberg
Whether pressured to return or wooed with free breakfast, many workers are filing back into downtown offices. But few are going in five days a week, and many don’t plan to for the foreseeable future. That’s because employers can do little about the primary pain point that’s keeping people at home: commuting.
Office avoidance is most dramatic in big metro areas where commutes are especially painful. According to US Census Bureau data, 1 in 10 workers has a one-way commute that lasts over an hour, but in New York, almost 23% do. Other expensive metro areas — such as San Francisco (19.4%) and Washington (18.3%) — aren’t far behind. All of these cities had office occupancy rates under 50% as of Sept. 14, according to data from Kastle Systems. Meanwhile, major cities with shorter commute times — such as Austin, Houston and Dallas — have long had occupancy rates over 50%.