About 40 percent of the workforce had returned to the office as of September, but the majority will return in early 2022, according to Cushman & Wakefield in its Predicting the Return to the Office.
The latest research finds that return to the office is directly correlated with high vaccination rates and low infection rates. Researchers also examined additional data, including government restrictions, school openings and public opinion regarding mass transit to project realistic return dates for industries operating in the Americas (U.S. and Canada), APAC (Asia Pacific), and EMEA (Europe) regions.
“It’s important to remember that pre-pandemic, office buildings were never 100 percent occupied on any given day; 60 percent was generally the norm,” said Kevin Thorpe, chief economist at Cushman & Wakefield. “Today, we are at 40 percent globally, but of course that varies greatly from city to city. In this study, we attempt to connect all the dots, a